Germanic SS

The Germanic SS (Germanische-SS) was the collective name given to paramilitary groups which arose in conquered and subject nations of Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1945 and which were modeled on designs of the German Schutzstaffel (SS). The Germanic SS was founded on principals identical to the Allgemeine-SS and its purpose was considered to be enforcement of Nazi racial doctrine and Anti-Semitic ideals.

The Germanic-SS typically engaged in such duties as servign as local security police, augmenting units of the Gestapo, SD, and other commands of the RSHA. The group was most notorious in Holland where the Germanic-SS was employed to a great extent in Jewish roundups for deporations to Death camps.

After the close of World War II, most members of the Germanic SS were branded as traitors to their countries and several independent war crimes trials were conducted by the nations in which the Germanic-SS had existed.

It should be noted that the Germanic-SS was not the same as the Foreign Legions of the Waffen-SS, although many Germanic SS members would join this sister organization in the last years of the Second World War.

• Holland: Germaansche SS Nederland
• Belgium: Germaansche SS Vlaanderen
• Norway: Germanske SS Norge
• Denmark: Schalburgkorps

An underground Nazi organization also existed in Switzerland, known as the Germanische SS Schweiz. It had very few members and was considered merely a splinter NAzi group by Swiss authorities.

France did not maintain a Germanic-SS group, but the police forces of the Vichy Government assisted local SS authorities to a great extent. The British Free Corps was at first considered part of the Germanic-SS but later became (at least on paper) a division of the Waffen-SS Foreign Legions.