In this episode, we talk about the rise and evolution of the SS in Nazi Germany — from a personal bodyguard unit to a genocidal machine. We examine how Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels used propaganda, racial ideology, and social engineering to radicalize hundreds of thousands of men. We explore the SS’s role in the occupation of Poland, the invasion of France and the Soviet Union, the Kristallnacht pogrom, and the eventual implementation of the Final Solution. Firsthand testimonies from former SS members reveal how fanaticism, racism, and discipline created a generation willing to kill without question. The episode covers the internal structure of the SS, its control over police and intelligence, the use of concentration and extermination camps, and the lasting legacy of ideological warfare.
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