The SS and Police were one in the same eventually, this picture I can't date and although many policemen were probably good men through the pre-war years, it is typical of all totalitarian regimes to place reliable men in such institutions that protect the state. Himmler eventually absorbed the police and I suspect most of the men with character were systematically and cautiously replaced with men who had proven their reliability (like these).
As for the picture, it reflects the true nature of national socialist ideology and its character... far more than most pictures of SS men, - while most propagandized images show idealized Nordic stock, with god-like physiques and hard features, something Nietzsche could conjure up from his imagination, the true nature of the SS is better reflected in these men, - hard men to be sure, surely with little sentimentality or character or honor, men whose faces could as easily be believe in prison stripes or the attire of street thugs and muggers.
National socialism's rise to power was not some predestined eventuality or inherent in the nature of German society (
as anyone watching television you can see this is the human condition in its most primitive state, envious, lustful, barbaric and immune to reason, which is why religion has always been used to suppress human nature, - nazis, bolsheviks and the nuts burning cities and beating and robbing anyone too weak to defend themselves are little different than the barbarian tribes Herodotus tells us of...), Hitler's rise to power was as remarkable and baffling as the campaigns of 1940 in western Europe, these thugs were an significant aspect of that rise to power and such men were not ideological, not in any meaningful way, - as Röhm once stated, many of his men were former communists, you can also see this lack of ideological firmness in how so many of these men behaved in 1945-1946, the Sgt. Schultz of the SS, "General" Kaltenbrunner who saw nothing, knew nothing and what he couldn't dismiss was only following orders.
Besides, national socialism and communism are blood brothers, in all their core tenets they are very close to one another, their views of the relationship of the individual to the state, their views on private property are very similar beyond the facades, neither had any love of Jews, neither planned outright slaughter initially, both view groups united by faiths that are supreme to the state as enemies, plenty of Poles and Jews were murdered for the most trivial of reasons (
so too Christians, anyone who placed god above the state were enemies), before 1942 the Soviets were far worse in this regard, - Stalin easily murdered more Eastern Europeans and Russians than Hitler had, both were madmen and it taints the history of the United States that we allied ourselves with one monster to kill another, both equally evil and depraved, - these men and their counterparts in the communist party and Soviet Union are alike in character, put these thugs in NKVD uniforms and they could easily fit in...
I know everyone wants to punch some SS guys in the face lol. Is there anything more we can learn from the photograph?
