Hans, are we the baddies? The laziest of dystopian fiction writers could not come up with a more stereotypical army of evil minions, a modelistic pervasive fanatical ruthless force of crack fighters, goose stepping over Europe, with skulls and lightning bolts emblazoned on their black uniforms.

We are, of course, talking about the Stutstaffel, better known as the SS, one of the

paramilitary units to emerge from the ranks of the National Socialist German Workers' Party,

one which eventually grew to become a parallel force within the armed forces, a state

within the state, a horde of policemen, judges and executioners responsible for the killings

of millions of so-called undesirables.

In today's video, we will find out how the SS were first created, how they evolved into

Hitler's most trusted bodyguards, how they tricked and murdered their way into a position

of extreme prominence within the Third Reich, and how they differentiated into several

little-known and surprising enterprises during it all. The SA and the Stostrup.

The political party, colloquially known as the Nazis, was founded in January 1919, with the

unassuming name, the German Workers Party. During its first rallies, discipline was maintained

by loosely organized troops of stewards in charge of protecting party speakers and dejecting

hecklers.

The party grew in importance and visibility after hiring a certain Austrian painter as its

propaganda specialist and rebranding itself as the National Socialist German Workers'

Party in February 1920.

When the artist formerly known as Corporal Hitler rose to the top position, he saw fit

to reorganize the growing number

of stewards into a formal paramilitary force. These were the Storm Abtelung, the Storm Detachment,

or essay for short. Modelled after Mussolini's black shirts, these troops wore brown shirts

instead, and were led by Ernst Rom, a former officer of the German stormtroopers

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