Part II—Building an Order: Ritual, Myth and Institutional Identity
What distinguished Himmler was not flamboyance but administrative reliability. He believed institutions could reshape human character. Under his direction, the SS evolved from bodyguards into an ideological elite. When he became Reichsführer-SS (commander of the Schutzstaffel (SS) in 1929, the SS numbered fewer than 300 men.
The Order of the Death’s Head
German journalist Heinz Höhne called the SS a group of “idealists and criminals, of place-seekers and romantics: It is the history of the most fanatic association of men imaginable.” Yet fanaticism alone does not produce institutional durability. Himmler cultivated mystique. He patterned the SS partly after the Jesuit Order, whose organizational discipline he admired. Hitler himself referred to Himmler as his “Ignatius Loyola,” the founder of the Jesuits. The Jesuits’ strict hierarchy, obedience to a central authority, and internal cohesion resonated deeply with Himmler’s temperament. He believed ideology must be embedded within structure.
Equally important was mythology. Himmler immersed himself in romanticized Germanic history, medieval symbolism and racial mysticism. He was convinced that modern Germany required a new aristocracy rooted in blood and myth. The SS would be that aristocracy.
The SS became an “order” with “rituals and symbols borrowed—or imagined—from ancient German tribes,” historian Richard Breitman notes. Many SS officers wore Silver Death’s Head rings and carried SS daggers. Regardless of rank, Höhne said, SS men who had proven themselves were permitted to wear a silver death’s head ring. Originally, the signet ring was meant for “old fighters” and was awarded only to SS men with a membership number under 10,000. Slowly, the group increased and by 1939 virtually every SS Commander who occupied a senior position for three years wore the ring.
Himmler proceeded more guardedly with the dagger, “the sign of the SS Corps of Leaders; it became one of the most important adornments of neo-German knighthood.” The dagger was bestowed only to SS men with a rank of Untersturmführer (Second Lieutenant) and higher. Unlike the death’s-head ring, there was no definite rule but depended entirely on the Reichsführer’s discretion. Only graduates of the cadet schools were presented with the dagger automatically after passing their final examinations. The dagger was intended to indicate whom the Reichsführer viewed as a member of the Order’s hierarchy.
The SS was also insulated psychologically from broader society. Their appearance made them immediately identifiable and daunting. The SS was intended to be secretive, ominous and incomprehensible to the average German citizen. It deliberately fostered fear by its mere presence, journalist Heinz Höhne said. Their uniform, which distinguished them as an elite unit, consisted of a black cap, black tie, black trousers and black-bordered swastika armband and skull insignia (Totenkopf) signifying a Führer’s guard. “I know there are many in Germany who feel uncomfortable when they see this black tunic; we understand that and do not expect to be beloved by overmany [sic] people.” Himmler declared.
Himmler’s Renaissance Castle
Modern bureaucracies rely on impersonal procedure. Himmler added a sacred narrative. By fusing administration with myth, he deepened emotional commitment. Members were not merely employees; they were instruments of a historical mission. All Gruppenführer (group leaders) had coats of arms, which were mounted on a wall in Himmler’s Renaissance castle in the village of Wewelsburg. From his study of ancient romantic history, he discovered that King Arthur, the legendary British warrior who fought the Saxons, renowned for his Knights of the Round Table, had assembled 12 heroic and noble knights to sit at his table. As a result, Himmler never had more than 12 guests around his table. And just as King Arthur had selected his 12 bravest men, Himmler chose his best Obergruppenführer, the highest commissioned rank in the SS, to be his senior notables of his Order.
The Round Table was set in a 100-foot by 145-foot dining hall. Each knight had his own tall-backed pigskin chair with his name engraved on a small silver plaque. They also had their own separate living accommodations at the castle, decorated in distinctive historical motifs and dedicated to a historical figure. Their regular hour-long meditation conferences were similar to a mystic gathering, Höhne said. It was at Wewelsburg that Himmler expected that he and his Obergruppenführer would formulate the ideology of his Order.
Above the dining hall were Himmler’s private residences including a gallery for his substantial arms collection, a library eventually housing 12,000 volumes, a meeting hall and a courtroom for the highest SS court. There were also guest lodgings for Hitler, who actually never visited Wewelsburg. This led the local villagers to speculate that Hitler would be buried there someday. Under the dining hall there was a stone crypt with a wall 5 feet thick—“the holy of holies,” for the SS elite.
Wewelsburg was not to be the only castle for the SS. In 1937, Himmler said, “It is my aim that, if possible, the area of every Standarte [SS unit] should include a similar cultural center of German greatness and German history which should be restored and put into a condition worthy of a cultured people.”
Hitler’s Vision of the Volksgemeinschaft
German historian Michael Wildt, explains that Hitler’s vision was to create the Volksgemeinschaft (“people’s community”), with its “appeal of modernity” and its ability to unleash a “transformative dynamic that contributed decisively” in providing legitimacy to the Nazi regime, specifically to the younger generation.
Wildt asserts the “production of Volksgemeinschaft was a process of inclusion that was supported by promises of equality, economic prosperity, and symbolic recognition.” It also required a dictatorship, concentration camps and secret state police. Employing terror was a key element of Volksgemeinschaft that should not be limited. In other words, the National Socialists succeeded in linking their platform with the “political hopes and desires” of the nation.
Antisemitism played a key role in establishing the Volksgemeinschaft by creating a Judenfrei (“Jew- free”) German Reich and a system to totally destroy the civil and constitutional order of Germany. German Jews would be eliminated from the Volksgemeinschaft through myriad government laws and ordinances, and by banishing them from daily life, while leaving the rest of the population unaffected. The rights of German Jews would be reduced, while Germany would be transformed into “an aggressive and racist Volksgemeinschaft.”
In keeping with this ideal, Himmler sought to recruit the “primeval German peasant and warrior and farmers,” war veterans and police who possessed the requisite physical features. Although he and Hitler despised lawyers, if they were loyal and helpful, they could be useful. Intellectuals were also needed to manage the government and the SS. Together with “the irrational cult of the order,” Breitman said, it was an entirely realistic functioning apparatus.
Increasingly the SS became a “quasi-governmental conglomerate” that expanded as Himmler’s political influence rose after the Nazis assumed power. It included internal security, police functions, intelligence, and the concentration and extermination camps. Agricultural and industrial ventures were either absorbed or established, and they were also involved in academic, medical and archaeological research. Breitman said that in some situations, Himmler personally controlled his enterprises. The popular belief is that he designated staff to the camps “down to the last washerwoman.”
Historian Yehuda Bauer’s warning becomes sharper in this context. The danger is not that myth inspires fanaticism. The danger is that myth, fused with bureaucracy, can legitimize mass violence. By the late 1930s, Himmler had constructed the institutional vessel. It was disciplined, ideologically hardened, and insulated from moral restraint.
The next stage would involve expanding that vessel into the full apparatus of a racial state—integrating police authority, intelligence services and camp administration under a single command.
When ideology meets monopoly power, the consequences are predictable.
*To be continued in Part III—Constructing a Utopian Society With Help of the SS.
Dr. Alex Grobman is the senior resident scholar at the John C. Danforth Society, a member of the Council of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and on the advisory board of the National Christian Leadership Conference of Israel (NCLCI). He has an MA and PhD in contemporary Jewish history from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem