Emil Maurice as SS-Oberfuhrer, wearing the ribbon and medal of the Blood Order, 1930s.  Maurice was a bodyguard/driver of Hitler from the old days.  He is credited with the suggestion for setting up a dedicated bodyguard for Hitler's protection, the organisation that ultimately became the SS.  Maurice became SS No. 2, with Hitler as SS No. 1.  However, he never enjoyed a leadership role in the SS and, in truth, was probably lucky to survive Himmler's obsession with "tidying up" leftover prominent SS personalities (in this case, Himmler appeared to believe that Maurice was a bit Jewish).  Maurice survived because Hitler continued to protect him - the Fuhrer could be very loyal to at least some of this old friends ...  Best regards, JR.

The man who thought up the SS ...

Marga Siegroth, the future wife of Heinrich Himmler, in 1918.  They were, in some ways, an odd couple.  He was an organised, methodical Bavarian Roman Catholic; she was a somewhat flaky Berlin Lutheran.  Their main interests in common seem to have been racism in general; anti-semitism in particular; and agriculturalism.  This did not prove to be a sufficiant basis for a happy marital relationship in the long term.  Himmler's family never accepted Marga.  They thought that she was distinctly unstable and (in spite of her family's superior economic status) that Heinrich could have done better.  Funny, really - after all, she hitched herself to someone who turned out as one of Europe's leading mass murderers.  Who, pray, was unworthy of whom ?  Best regards, JR.

The future Frau Himmler

Mussolini and Hitler in visit on the Russian front