Cory Perrette

Prof. Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1102
4/7/15
The Elite and Feared Nazi Schutzstaffel: A Research Review
This research review is about the Nazi Schutzstaffel, also known as the Nazi SS.
The Nazi SS were a special division of the German Army during World War II. They
were well trained and the most feared organizations of all Nazi Germany. The SS started
as a small group of bodyguards for Adolf Hitler, but grew drastically to over 800,000
members by 1944. One of my articles is focused on one particular SS Officer named Max
Tubner. Titled Unworthy Behavior: The Case of Officer Max Tubner by Yehoshua R.
Buchler, it discusses the only known case in history of an SS Officer who was punished
for his actions of killing Jews. The other article that I will be sharing with you in this
essay is titled The Denial of Homosexuality: Same Sex Incidents In Himmlers SS and
Police by Geoffery J. Giles. Both of these articles convey the brutality and secrecy of the
Nazi SS party and how the Jewish population feared them.
Tubner was viewed as a very violent and brutal in the way he treated the Jews.
Many SS members described him as savage like and said how he never thought twice
about his actions. Not only did they just kill men but also women and children. One of
the SS members who participated in these actions describes it as One of them, whose
nickname was "Long Hans," collapsed when he had to kill a woman with a baby.... I don't
know how many Jews were killed, maybe some dozens(14). After reading this quote, I
thought to myself how could someone do this? This was very disturbing to me and made
me realize how real and horrible the Holocaust actually was. Tubner and his men
traveled from town to town, slaughtering any Jew that stood in their path. They were

Cory Perrette
Prof. Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1102
4/7/15
known to make the Jews dig their own grave and then shoot them (19). Many of the men
in this platoon lost their minds trying to forget about all the murders they committed. It
took a couple of years before these killings stopped and this platoon of SS members was
reprimanded for their actions. Tubner finally got his trial on May 2nd, 1943 (53). He was
eventually sent to prison because the way he carried out is killings did not please
Himmler. I believe this is very interesting because it was the first time an SS Officer was
punished by the Nazis for his actions. This shows that the whole Nazi party did not carry
themselves out as savages like Tubner and his men. Even though they killed many of
Jews during this time, they disapproved of any brutal killings like these.
The SS also had many other problems within the Nazi Party during this time. One
of the main conflicts that caused commotion was homosexuality in Heinrich Himmlers
SS party. In the article The Denial of Homosexuality: Same Sex Incidents In Himmlers
SS and Police, the author talks about many incidents of sexual intercourse between men
in the SS Party. One incident occurred in March 1941; an SS member invited his lover to
join him at the SS headquarters. They both got in an elevator and had sex in there (25).
This was no the only case where a non-SS member entered the headquarters to have sex
with an SS member. I find this shocking that a civilian was snuck into SS grounds
undetected being that The Schutzstaffel was an elite group within the Nazi Party. Another
incident happened between and SS Sargent and a professor. The professor asked the SS
Sargent (Hans P.) to visit him at the university. Hans went and they engaged in sexual
activities. Other sources say they both went to Frankfurt for a weekend and had sex

Cory Perrette
Prof. Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1102
4/7/15
several times there (27). Homosexuality was not too common during WWII but still
happened on rare occasions. The SS did not take these occurrences lightly and
implemented the death penalty for anyone caught. But, like the majority of German men;
the SS had no desire in the same sex and homosexuality was not prevalent (78).
Before researching my topic of the Nazi Schutzstaffel, I had little background
information. These two articles that I found really gave me credible and thorough
information on my inquiry topic. Some things that I learned while reading through really
surprised me and made me want to read more. I learned many interesting things while
conducting my research and am very content with the topic I chose. It is topics like this
that will interest me to continue researching and out forth the effort to write a well
rounded research paper. I am glad that Professor Wertz-Orbaugh introduced this
assignment to us because it has helped me grow as a writer and a researcher.

Works Cited
Buchler, Y. R. ""Unworthy Behavior": The Case of SS Officer Max Taubner." Holocaust and
Genocide Studies 17.3 (2003): 409-29. Project MUSE. Web.
Giles, Geoffrey J. "The Denial of Homosexuality: Same-Sex Incidents in Himmler's SS and
Police." Journal of the History of Sexuality 11.1 (2002): 256-90. Project MUSE. Web.

Cory Perrette
Prof. Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1102
4/7/15