The SS Guard

Abstract

This chapter focuses on how rationality and irrationality of the SS camp guards was not engendered or as solidified solely under Nazi doctrine as often idealized in Goebbels’ escapist film and radio productions; rather the guards’ rationality/irrationality practices in this liminal state often fell far short of the stringent standards promoted in state depiction of the conceptualized SS man. The rationality of the SS relied on a two fold justification; first, the collective social knowledge of alleged crimes by the Jews against the state, and second, the significance of honor as encapsulated by the Fuhrerprinzip.