Reich Main Security Office
The Reich Main Security Office (German: Reichssicherheitshauptamt, RSHA), was a subordinate organization of the Allgemeine SS, nominally under the Ministry of the Interior, with headquarters in the Prinz-Albrecht-Straße 8, Berlin and c. 50,648 employees throughout Europe as of February 1944.
History
The RSHA was created by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler on 27 September 1939 through the merger of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD, or Security Service/Agency) and the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo). The SiPo was composed of two sub-departments, the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo; "Secret State Police") and the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo; "Criminal Police").
The organization's stated duty was to fight all "enemies of the Reich" within and outside the borders of the German Empire.
Included within the rubric of "enemies" were Jews, Gypsies and other "racially undesirables" as well as Communists and other secret organization members such as Freemasons; thus the RSHA coordinated activities among a number of different agencies with wide-ranging responsibilities.
The first director of the RSHA was SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, who led the organization until his assassination on 4 June 1942 in Prague. SS-Obergruppenführer Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner replaced him for the remainder of World War II. The director of the RSHA oversaw the Einsatzgruppen squads that followed the campaign forces of the German army into the eastern territories.
Leadership
Minister responsible
- Heinrich Himmler (1939–1945)
RSHA executives
- Reinhard Heydrich (1939–1942), Head/Chief of SiPo and SD
- Heinrich Himmler (1942–1943), Acting Head/Chief of SiPo and SD
- Ernst Kaltenbrunner (1943–1945), Head/Chief of SiPo and SD
