The numerical strength of the Sicherheitsdienst des RFSS

Abstract

Such basic data as the size of an organization at various stages of its development are not only essential to more sophisticated quantitative analyses, but they cast light on many important aspects of organizational history. Since such data are available on the Sicherheitsdienst des RFSS for only the years 1935 and 1937-1944, the numerical growth of the early years must be reconstructed. This is done by projections from data on the F?hrerkorps compared with samples of known members and two surviving benchmarks. Further analysis of available data reveals: the effect of wartime personnel requirements on SD membership; the chan ging ratio between Amtst?tige SD and members in the police; and the relative size of the SD-HA and the RSHA office staffs. All together, the resultant data raises questions about previously cited sources on the size of the SD and analyses of its personnel policy. Before one can undertake any significant quantitative analysis, some rather basic data must be available. For an organization like the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) des Reichsf?hrers SS, such basic data often fail, for instance, its numerical strength, specifically its growth over its entire existence. Beyond the necessity for evaluating the significance of population samples, detailed growth profiles add depth to more traditional organizational histories. One must know the strength in order to make judgments about an organization's capacity to fulfill its mission. Even before more sophisticated quantitative analysis, a growth profile casts light on the membership, personnel politics, and those political, social, and economic forces and interests that influen ced the organization and its role in history. As a first step toward a more thorough analysis of SD membership, this article attempts to establish a profile of its numerical growth. For the years from 1935 through 1944, the problem is relatively simple (see Chart 1 and Table 1). For the first five months of 1935, official Gesamt starkemeldungen der SS containing data on personnel under the SD Hauptamt have survived.(i) The Statistische Jahrb?cher der SS for 1937 and 1938(2) provide details for those years. Of the biannual St?rkemeldungen der SS produced between 1940 and 1944, the author has found six.(3> Altogether, these sources provide twenty-six points from which a growth pattern emerges, so the approximate size of the SD can be estimated for any time between 1935 and late 1944. Furthermore, the data for the later years provide a significant detail: they distinguish between those members who were einberufen zur Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS oder zum Reichsarbeitsdienst and those who were on the job in Sipo and SD. The 1938 Statistisches Jahrbuch indicates 13O Zugeh?rige under the SD-Hauptamt (i.e. SS-Angeh?rige, die ihrer Dienstpflicht beim Reichsarbeits dienst oder der Wehrmacht gen?gen). Surviving SS personnel records^) indi + Address all communications to: George C. Browder, Department of History, State University of New York, Fredonia College, Fredonia, N.Y. 14O63, USA This content downloaded from 207.46.13.158 on Wed, 16 Nov 2016 04:23:14 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms