The SS-Stammkarte (SS personnel card) of the Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS (SD) represents a significant historical document that chronicles the administrative and personnel organization of one of the most powerful and notorious institutions of the Nazi regime. This personnel card belonged to a criminal police officer who served at the SD office at the Criminal Police Station Koblenz and illustrates the close intertwining of regular police structures with the security organs of the SS.
The Security Service of the Reichsführer-SS was founded in 1931 by Reinhard Heydrich under the patronage of Heinrich Himmler. Originally conceived as an intelligence service within the NSDAP, the SD rapidly developed into a comprehensive surveillance and intelligence apparatus. After the seizure of power in 1933, the SD expanded continuously and became the central intelligence service of the Nazi state in 1939 with the formation of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA).
This personnel card documents the career of an official born in 1903 who entered police service on April 20, 1931. This date is of particular significance as it shows that this official joined the police service during the Weimar Republic, before the Nazi seizure of power. His entry into the NSDAP on January 1, 1940, however, occurred only after the beginning of World War II, which was increasingly becoming a prerequisite for further career advancement for senior police officials at that time.
The Criminal Police, colloquially known as Kripo, was merged with the Gestapo in 1936 under the umbrella of the Security Police (Sipo). The Sipo was in turn closely interlinked with the SD, with organizational boundaries increasingly blurring. From 1939, with the founding of the RSHA, all these organizations were brought under one roof, with the Criminal Police forming Office V of the RSHA.
The recorded German Rampart Badge (Deutsches Schutzwall-Ehrenzeichen) is another important biographical detail. This decoration was instituted by Adolf Hitler's decree of August 2, 1939, and awarded to persons who participated in the construction of the Western fortifications (also known as the Westwall or Siegfried Line). The award was given for work performed between May 1938 and April 1939. This indicates that the official was deployed during this period in the construction of border defense installations, which was not unusual for police forces, as they were often used for surveillance and organization of construction work.
The SD office in Koblenz was part of the regional network of SD sections and SD main and branch offices that covered the entire German Reich. Koblenz, as an important city in the then Rhine Province, played a strategically significant role in the surveillance structure. The Criminal Police Station was responsible for prosecuting criminal offenses, although in the Nazi era the boundaries between political and criminal prosecution increasingly blurred.
The personnel card as a document itself was a central element of the SS's meticulous personnel documentation. Such cards typically contained comprehensive biographical information, details about SS or police careers, promotions, transfers, decorations, and other official notes. The perforation of the document indicates that the card was removed from active files, which usually occurred upon end of service, death, or transfer.
The administrative apparatus of the SS and its subordinate organizations was characterized by extreme bureaucracy and density of documentation. Every member of the SS and SD was recorded in multiple card files, which allowed leadership comprehensive control over personnel. These documents are today important sources for historical research, as they make traceable the structures, personnel strength, and individual biographies of perpetrators of the Nazi regime.
The connection between regular police work and SS structures was characteristic of the Nazi state. Many criminal police officers from the Weimar Republic seamlessly continued their careers in the National Socialist system, becoming increasingly involved in the crimes of the regime. The Criminal Police was not only responsible for prosecuting ordinary crime but also played a central role in the persecution of “asocials,” “professional criminals,” and other “enemies of the people” as defined by the regime.
Today, such documents are important testimonies for the reappraisal of Nazi history and serve historical research in reconstructing perpetrator biographies and institutional structures of the NS repression apparatus.
