The defeat of Wilhelmine Germany and the origins of the National Socialist Party

The rebirth of national socialism and the creation of the SS

Heinrich Himmler

A new broom

Taking control

Consolidation

Dachau and the establishment of the concentration camps

The central organisation of the SS

The Race and Settlement Office

The SD : the intelligence and security wing of the SS

The path to genocide

Euthanasia and the beginning of mass murder

Origins of the Waffen-SS

Militarising the "political soldiers"

Expansion of the militarised SS

The invasion of poland and the special task groups

The SS and the Polish Jews

Gottlob Berger and the creation of the Waffen-SS

Making up the numbers : foreign volunteers and criminals in the Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS heads east

Operation Barbarossa and the first and second sweeps

The Wannsee Conference

The extermination camps

Auschwitz

The final act

Epilogue

Appendix : table of comparative military ranks.