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The ideology of the SS refers to the idealized values and motivations of the ''Schutzstaffel'' ("Protection Squadron"; SS), a huge and powerful paramilitary force of the Nazi Party. The SS had a unique double function in the National Socialist state: On the one hand, it served as an executive instrument to consolidate Nazi power. While at first only one of the paramilitary organizations of the Nazi Party, as a sub-section of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), it developed deep ties with the police forces after Hitler took over power in Germany. On the other hand, the SS served as an "institution for the realization of racial and biological conceptions" of the Nazi state. Both developments were mainly promoted by ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich Himmler, whose private world views were the main source for SS ideology. Racial purity, fitness, field exercises, and loyalty to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany played a large part in the organization's ideological fundaments. SS men were indoctrinated with the belief they were members of a master race. The ideology of the SS was, even more so than in Nazism in general, built on the belief of the superiority of the "Aryan race." This, in union with a refined mentality of obedience and violent group dynamics, executed through hard physical training and emphasis on violence and antisemitism in the internal literature and lectures of the SS, led to the SS playing the main role in political violence and eventually crimes against humanity, including the Holocaust and Action T4. == Ideological foundations == The ideology of the SS was built upon and mainly congruent with Nazi ideology in general. At its center laid the conviction of the superiority of the Nordic race. However, the SS also served as the central institution for the extension of Nazi ideology and its realisation. For this purpose, several divisions and enterprises were established within the SS to conduct research and carry out the steps deemed necessary to bring forward Nazi ideology. Himmler himself was appointed Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood on 7 October 1939 to oversee the expansion and racial "integrity" of the German ''Volk''. Not only did the SS espouse and help shape Nazi racial ideology, the SS monitored how all forms of ideology were being received through the use of its intelligence organ, the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' which reported its findings back to the Nazi leadership. Another component of the SS, the infamous Gestapo used their power to deal with ideological dissenters through the employment of what was known as ''Schutzhaft'' ("protective custody") to imprison people without judicial review, which no court could investigate or contest. Nazi ideology trumped the German legal system in a manner of speaking as the Gestapo (an SS organization) became the central organ for state-sanctioned Nazi terror. Representing the ideological opponents of the regime in one form or fashion, historian George C. Browder identified the Nazi state's list of enemies as follows: *''Enemy States'': Other nations' efforts to keep Germany down, to persecute or treat her unfairly or disrespectfully; any xenophobic statements *''Miscegenation'': The weakening of the German nation by the pollution of German blood with that of other "races" *''Jews'': Fear/hate of Jews as a major threat to the German nation *''Catholicism'': Conflicts with or hostility toward Catholic clergy; belief that Catholic Christianity is an internationalist, pacifist, alien ideology detrimental to the strength of the German spirit; belief that the Catholic Church is an international, conspiratorial power working against the German nation *''Freemasonry'': Belief that the Masonic order is a society of internationalist, liberal conspirators through which Germany's enemies operate to undermine natural German culture and society *''Communism'': Fear/hate of the KPD, Communist (Marxist) ideology, or an international Communist conspiracy SPD: Fear/hate of the Social Democratic Party, its labor organizations, and its influence in the Weimar "system" *''The Republic'': Hostility directed at the liberal republican constitution or form of government, politicians of the ("non-Marxist") pro-Republic parties, partisan politics in general, and the corruptions of the "system," and any expressed desire or act to overthrow the Republic *''Homosexuality'': Fear/hate of homosexuality or homosexuals as corrupting, weakening influences that "defied the command structure of government and military institutions" (Himmler wrote a 1942 memo urging "ruthless severity" to eliminate the "dangerous and infectious plague," and the death penalty was instituted for homosexuality in the SS) *''Moral Decay'': Concern with other symptoms of "moral decadence" as threats to the strength of the German nation *''Capitalists'': Hate/fear of economically powerful combinations or individuals as unjust, corrupting, undermining influences and forces in German society *''Old Guard'': Hate/fear of traditionally powerful influences and institutions of the old society as unjust, retarding influences in German society It was these enemies that the SS and its subordinate organizations comprehensively sought to delegitimize or destroy as they attempted to define and shape their ongoing ideological, albeit political mission. Himmler intended for the SS to be a hierarchical system of "ideological fighters" from the organization's inception. The SS proved to be that and more, essentially becoming the instrument most responsible for the actualization of Nazi beliefs. SS ideology comprised perhaps the single most significant philosophical dimension of Nazism, employing in the process, ontological, anthropological, and ethical elements to their methods under the guise of science, shaping the Nazi state's doctrine and crystallizing ideals (no matter how callous) into dogmatic truths. It was SS principles and thinking which provided the scientific impetus for the devaluation of humanity and their actions as ideological enforcers that propelled the Nazis forward into an ultimate paroxysm of destruction and genocide. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ideology of the SS」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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