Editing Schutzstaffel (section)

===The Holocaust===
[[File:Einsatzgruppen murder Jews in Ivanhorod, Ukraine, 1942.jpg|link=Ivanhorod Einsatzgruppen photograph, 1942|thumb|upright=1.15|Murder of Jews by ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'' in [[Ivanhorod]], Ukraine, 1942]]
The SS was built on a culture of violence, which was exhibited in its most extreme form by the mass murder of civilians and prisoners of war on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]].{{sfn|Fritz|2011|pp=69–70, 94–108}} Augmented by personnel from the Kripo, Orpo (Order Police), and ''Waffen-SS'',{{sfn|Krausnik|1968|p=77}} the ''Einsatzgruppen'' reached a total strength of 3,000 men. ''Einsatzgruppen'' A, B, and C were attached to [[Army Group North|Army Groups North]], [[Army Group Centre|Centre]], and [[Army Group South|South]]; ''Einsatzgruppe'' D was assigned to the [[11th Army (Wehrmacht)|11th Army]]. The ''Einsatzgruppe'' for Special Purposes operated in eastern Poland starting in July 1941.{{sfn|Longerich|2010|p=185}} Historian [[Richard Rhodes]] describes them as being "outside the bounds of morality"; they were "judge, jury and executioner all in one", with the authority to kill anyone at their discretion.{{sfn|Rhodes|2003|pp=159–160}} Following Operation Barbarossa, these ''Einsatzgruppen'' units, together with the ''Waffen-SS'' and Order Police as well as with assistance from the ''Wehrmacht'', engaged in the mass murder of the Jewish population in occupied eastern Poland and the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Rhodes|2003|pp=159–160}}{{sfn|Bessel|2006|pp=118–119}}{{sfn|Stackelberg|2007|p=163}} The greatest extent of ''Einsatzgruppen'' action occurred in 1941 and 1942 in Ukraine and Russia.{{sfn|Laqueur|Baumel|2001|p=164}} Before the invasion there were five million registered Jews throughout the Soviet Union, with three million of those residing in the territories occupied by the Germans; by the time the war ended, over two million of these had been murdered.{{sfn|Bessel|2006|p=119}}

The extermination activities of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' generally followed a standard procedure, with the ''Einsatzgruppen'' chief contacting the nearest ''Wehrmacht'' unit commander to inform him of the impending action; this was done so they could coordinate and control access to the execution grounds.{{sfn|Zentner|Bedürftig|1991|p=227}} Initially, the victims were shot, but this method proved impracticable for an operation of this scale.{{sfn|Evans|2008|pp=256–257}} Also, after Himmler observed the shooting of 100 Jews at [[Minsk]] in August 1941, he grew concerned about the impact such actions were having on the mental health of his SS men. He decided that alternate methods of murder should be found, which led to the introduction of [[Gas van|gas vans]].{{sfn|Longerich|2012|p=547}}{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=199}} However, these were not popular with the men, as they regarded removing the dead bodies from the van and burying them to have been unpleasant. Prisoners or auxiliaries were often assigned to do this task so as to spare the SS men the trauma.{{sfn|Rhodes|2003|p=243}}