Some people really are irritating. A person on Goodreads.com asked:
I didn’t understand your answer. Did I not make my question clear, or did you not find clear answers?
I tell you why I am interested in these figures: I keep wondering how high a percentage of the German population was ready and willing to commit terrible atrocities. I assume that most SS-members would “qualify” and a number of ordinary Nazis would, too. If I had the figure of how many SS-members there were, I would have a basis to go from. – I am not very internet-savvy. So I don’t know how to check this out.
To which I answered:
The WBK (Third Reich’s conscription board) stipulated that the Waffen-SS could have no more than 10% of the Heer’s (German Army) which was pretty much a stable number juntil 1944. All in all the numbers break down as such:
In SS-V Service, 1939: 35,000+
In Waffen-SS Service, 1940: 50,000+
In Waffen-SS Service, 1941: 150,000+
In Waffen-SS Service, 1942: 230,000+
In Waffen-SS Service, 1943: 450,000+
In Waffen-SS Service, 1944: 600,000+
In Waffen-SS Service, 1945: 830,000+
In Waffen-SS Service, Total: 1,000,000.
That is just the Military Arm of the SS and doesn’t include the number of Totenkopfverbände (concentration camp guards) or the SS-Mannschtaften (Auxiliary SS).
It’s somewhat difficult to get an exact number for the camp guards as many were taken into and back into the SS-Verfügungstruppe (Dispositional Troops, the precursor to the Waffen-SS 1934-1940) and the Waffen-SS (Weapons SS 1940 onwards)
As for complicity of the average German, those totals will never be known.
He then sent me a PM stating that it STILL didn’t answer his question!
While I am a firm believer of the adage of “there’s no such thing as a dumb question,” it really bothered me that I put in the work to try and help him understand and yet, instead of doing the work himself he dared called me an intellectual elitist because I refused to further answer his question.
I refuse to pander to such “intellectual -black holes” just because they are too lazy to tap a few keys on their computer.
Anyway, hope you folks are having a fine time.
Heilige!
M. Kalb!