The **

The ** was led by Himmler from 1926 and grew in size and power increasingly after the Night of the Long Knives. Their role was to enforce conformity through repression by identifying and arresting members of the society that caused problems for the Nazi regime. An example of this is The White Rose group which held anti-Nazi views; they were identified and executed.

The ** were meant to be role models for the racially pure 'people's community', all of its members were supposed to be pure Aryan race in promotion on the Nazi ideology. They gained full control of concentration camps by 1934, the torture and brutality many had experienced in the camps meant that they were unwilling to continue with their resistance against the regime. The ** had instilled fear in people in order to accomplish Hitler's wishes of a totalitarian state.

The ** weakened the SA and they took over as the main terror machine. It started off as Hitler's bodyguard who swore oath to Hitler , this along with the success of the Long Knives showed that the SA could be trusted and the right tool to deal with opposition. Their reward was that they were now the main policing weapon of the Nazi regime.