Date of Award

Fall 2023

Degree Type

Restricted to Claremont Colleges Master's Thesis

Degree Name

History and Archival Studies, MA

Program

School of Arts and Humanities

Concentration

Cultural Studies with Museum Studies

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Joshua Goode

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Matthew Bowman

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2023 John E Cordero

Keywords

Antisemitism, Brutality, Complicity, Corruption, Murder, Violence

Subject Categories

History | Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Abstract

The SS have long been considered Hitler‘s elite forces, the most ideologically committed and advanced version of the New Nazi man. This work demonstrates as the war progressed, the SS came to rely more heavily on those who were not elite but rather of dubious, criminal, and poorly educated backgrounds. Thus, this work argues that the SS, rather than representing the elite and most ideologically committed, were often entirely corrupt, violent, and vicious. The SS were not just products of an ideological formation but rather individuals with dubious backgrounds. This work will demonstrate how suffering became exacerbated by the types of people drawn into SS service. Through an analysis of wartime behavior exhibited by the SS camp guards and front-line soldiers implementing the Shoah, this thesis examines the characteristics of SS guards who engaged in murder, corruption, and petty theft befitting their roles as Hitler‘s henchmen rather than the Fuhrer‘ elite.

ISBN

9798342762717

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