In every occupied country, there were collaborators.

And as the German manpower shortage became increasingly severe,

the Nazis started getting, shall we say, flexible regarding their racial categories.

But collaborators were a small minority.

Most everyone else hated the Germans.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music The Episode 403, The Resistance, Part 2.

Today, I want to talk some more about the resistance in access-occupied nations, as I did last time. But before we get into that,

I also want to talk a little bit about collaboration in access occupied nations, which I also did

last time. I have talked a little bit about the SS back in the pre-war days, but this organization

has grown since then and has taken on new functions,

so let's have a bit of review.

The letters SS are an abbreviation for Schutzstaffel, which literally means protection squad.

It originated within the NSDAP, the Nazi party, as a unit of party

volunteers responsible for the security at party meetings. Heinrich Himmler became leader of the

SS in 1929 and worked to expand the organization. Starting with roughly a thousand members, Himmler got that number

up to 3,000 by 1930. By the end of 1933, the year Hitler became chancellor, SS membership was over

200,000. The SS was meant to be the most elite of Nazis.

Candidates had to prove Aryan ancestry back to the 18th century

and had to have the proper Aryan appearance, that is, tall and blonde.

Over time, and with a need for greater numbers, these strict requirements were gradually relaxed.

The SS was an organization within the Nazi Party, but after Hitler took power, the SS became functionally an arm of the German government.

...