Germanic-SS

The Germanic SS (Germanische-SS) was the collective name given to SS groups which arose in Occupied Europe between 1939 and 1945.

The units were modeled on the Allgemeine-SS in Nazi Germany. The Germanic-SS were not raised as military units like the Waffen-SS, although many Germanic SS members did join the foreign combat divisions in the Second World War.

Duties
The purpose of the Germanic SS was to enforce Nazi racial doctrine and Anti-Semitic ideals. They typically served as local security police augmenting units of the Gestapo, Sicherheitsdienst, and other main departments of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA.

One of the most notorious groups was in the Netherlands where the Germanic-SS was employed to carry out Jewish round-ups. Those arrested were deported to Nazi concentration camps and death camps. Of the 140,000 Jews that had lived in the Netherlands prior to 1940, only 30,000 survived the war.

Germanic-SS Organizations
The following countries raised active Germanic-SS detachments:
 * Netherlands: Germaansche SS in Nederland (before 1942: Nederlandsche SS)
 * Flanders (Belgium): Germaansche SS in Vlaanderen (before 1942: Algemeene-SS Vlaanderen)
 * Norway: Germanske SS Norge (before 1942: Norges SS)
 * Denmark: Schalburg Corps

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 its national police force (particularly the Carlingue and Brigades Spéciales), and the paramilitary Milice of the Vichy Government assisted local SS police and RSHA security services such as the Gestapo or the Geheime Feldpolizei.

The British Free Corps (Britisches Freikorps), which was classed as a division of the Waffen-SS Foreign Legions, was not a Germanic-SS group. The BFC never saw action; it was used mainly for propaganda purposes by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

Post war
After World War II, many Germanic SS members were tried by their respective countries as traitors. Independent war crimes trials (outside the jurisdiction of the Nuremberg Trials) were conducted in several European countries, such as the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark.

Germanic-SS ranks
The Germanic SS maintained an insignia system based on the ranks and insignia of the Schutzstaffel. The various names of the ranks were slightly modified depending upon the particular country in which they were used.

The following is a comparison of regular SS and Germanic-SS rank titles.