→ led by Heinrich Himmler ⇒ loyal to Hitler + Highly trained ⇒ was primarily responsible ⇒ destroying opposition to Nazism + carrying out racial policies of Nazis SS ⇒ had various subdivisions → which ensured Nazi control
- SD ⇒ monitored political opponents and stopped spies who tried to infiltrate Nazi party
- Secret state police
- Gestapo ⇒ would arrest citizens and send them to Concentration camps without trial or explanation
- sent about 160,000 to concentration camps by 1939
- was organization feared most by ordinary Germans