The popular mythology of the SS has a clouded story, which is so complicated as to almost defy belief: a tale of intrigue and nepotism, of archaeology and Teutonism, of art and symbolism. The story of "Himmler's SS" is one of an organisation led by a man motivated by the belief that he was the spiritual reincarnation of the Saxon King Heinrich I, founder of the German Reich. It is the story of street fighters and convicted criminals becoming Ministers of State and police commanders; the story of charitable works and mass extermination being administered from the same building; the story of boy generals directing vast armies on devastating campaigns of conquest. Here, indeed, fact is stranger than fiction. This book covers in detail the origins, development and organisation of both the Waffen-SS and the Allgemeine-SS. Sections are also devoted to the uniforms and regalia that were carefully designed to set Himmler's men apart as a new elite in Third Reich society. Robin Lumsden details the wide-ranging effects which the SS had on the police, racial policies, German history, education, the economy and public life. The battlefield achievements of the Waffen-SS are considered alongside the appalling atrocities carried out by SS and police forces throughout Germany and the occupied territories. Fully illustrated with a wealth of contemporary photographs and drawings, "Himmler's SS" offers a new insight into the motivations and actions of this extraordinary organization, whose reign of terror was at the heart of Nazi Germany.