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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-Straรe 8, Berlin and c. 50,648 employees throughout Europe as of February 1944.
History
The RSHA was created by Reichsfรผhrer-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-Obergruppenfรผhrer Reinhard Heydrich, who led the organization until his assassination on 4 June 1942 in Prague. SS-Obergruppenfรผhrer 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 (1939โ1945)
RSHA executives
- Reinhard Heydrich (1939โ1942), Head/Chief of SiPo and SD
- Heinrich Himmler (1942โ1943), Acting Head/Chief of SiPo and SD
- Ernst Kaltenbrunner (1943โ1945), Head/Chief of SiPo and SD