The images and the entire text used on this and all other USMBOOKS web pages are the copyrighted property of USM Inc.  Those images and the text may be used by others ONLY AFTER completion of a formal international licensing agreement and payment of a licensing fee! It is therefore, illegal for anyone to take any of the material found on USMBOOKS.com and use it for their own purposes without our written permission, irrespective of any excuse they may feel they have for doing so.

© text copyright by USM, Inc. 2018

Very few Third Reich books were ever printed for a smaller or more exclusive readership that the book we offer here. The Statistisches Jahrbuch der Schutzstaffel der NSDAP 1937 (1937 Statistical Yearbook of the SS of the NSDAP) was published in a very small press run in Berlin in March 1938 over the signature of the SS-Oberführer Chief of the SS-Ergänzungsamt (in charge of expanding and recruiting of the SS) of the SS-Hauptamt (SS-HA or SS Main Office) for circulation to SS leadership personnel, AND SPECIFICALLY NOT FOR circulation outside of that group.

Very, very few examples of this 80 year old 8-5/8 x 12 inch (22 x 31 cm) SS Statistical Yearbooks have survived into the 21st century in spite of the fact that the information in it is absolutely fundamental to an understanding of the SS in Hitler's Germany. We doubt that a better-kept or more complete example of the large black hardcover book with big silver SS rune blocking on the front cover, has survived anywhere.

At the time the statistical and historical information assembled in this book was gathered, the SS-HA or SS Main Office was the "Central Command" of the Schutzstaffel or SS everywhere under the direct personal command of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. He wrote the foreword for this book and it is printed on the very first page. Himmler was already in the process of making the SS "a state within a state", poised to assume complete control of the government in Germany by selecting and educating an entire leadership class within the SS from the best candidates available. The concept that drove the Statistical Yearbook of the SS of the NSDAP was Himmler's desire to carefully track and assemble all pertinent demographic data available regarding SS personnel, and then to circulate that data to the high leadership of the SS so knowledge of it could be put to work in recruiting the proper people for a vast expansion of the SS.

This specific book is stamped in red ink on the title page as the property of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA or National Security Main Office), the department of the Reichsführer-SS or SS High Command in charge of German Police including the Order Police (Orpo), Protective Police (Schupo), Criminal Police (Kripo), Secret State Police (Gestapo), State Security Police (SiPo) and the Security Service (SD).

This specific book is the actual Service Copy of the RSHA editorial control department.

The hardcover book as published contains 98 fascinating pages printed on very high quality white paper, and this specific book also contains eight supplemental loose pages (not bound in) on the same quality paper but stamped in red ink with the very large word Geheim! (Secret), a reference number, and the property stamp of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt. Those eight pages may be unique as they contain data regarding religion, reasons for discharge from the SS, and other very sensitive information.

The Statistical Yearbook of the SS of the NSDAP starts with a Foreword by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler who wrote:
It is my hope that all SS Leaders will study this Statistical Yearbook of the SS with great interest and that all will draw the necessary conclusions from it and put them to use in their fields of work. H. Himmler

The Introduction dated March 1938 mentions how this SS Statistical Yearbook is different from the two previous editions, and that this 1937 Statistisches Jahrbuch der Schutzstaffel is comprised of three important sections:

Part One covers the structure and development of the Allgemeine-SS in detail, including the SS-Verfügungstruppen, SS-Totenkopfverbände, SS-Abschnitte and SS-Standarten. Part Two deals with personal information of SS members (family background, religion, education, professions, etc.), and Part Three sheds light on the internal organization of the SS.

This incredibly rare "For Service Use Only" 1937 SS Statistical Yearbook starts by explaining the origins and growth of the SS from the 8 members of the Stosstrupp-Hitler in Munich on 9 November 1925 to around 52,000 members on 30 January 1933, to 208,363 SS members by 31 December 1937.

Then follows the explanation of the purpose of the Allgemeine-SS (leadership and administration), SS-Verfügungstruppe (4 years of military service for carefully selected men), and the SS-Totenkopfverbände (guard troops for concentration camps, service in which was not counted as part of 4 year military service).

The next few pages contain very detailed data showing SS membership growth by month and year (1935 - 1937) for the whole country and in the different Gaue of Nazi Germany, as well as a comparison of membership growth within the RAD and the Wehrmacht. There are additional charts dividing the SS membership into motorized troops, equestrian units, infantry, medical troops, etc. Then there are statistical charts dividing the membership by rank and age throughout the entire country and by area. Similar statistical charts show the membership development in the SS-Verfügungstruppen and SS-Totenkopfverbände for the years 1935-1937.

The section covering SS family data is also very detailed. It contains the marital status of SS members (single / married / divorced / widowed), births and numbers of children of SS men for all of Germany. That is followed by detailed statistics on the education and the jobs held by SS members. The professions are divided into agricultural, mining, metal industries, food production, wood industries, commerce, medical industries, government workers, etc. Salary comparisons for single SS men and married SS men with and without children are given.

Statistics about religions of SS men are also shown by area in Nazi Germany, as are Nazi Party memberships and the totals of SS men who were recipients of the Golden Nazi Party badge (1,885), Blood Order (181) and the Coburg Badge (130). This 1937 Statistisches Jahrbuch der Schutzstaffel also contains a section about deaths of SS members. The deaths are divided into natural deaths, death as a result of illness, accident or suicide, and by age group.

The eight pages of data loose in the back of the book contain several charts marked Geheim! (Secret!) in a bright red stamp. Those charts present very interesting statistics about numbers and reasons for expulsion from the SS - discipline problems, marriage without SS approval, relationships with Jews, murder, debts, perjury, malpractice, adultery, theft, murder, desertion, and other offenses.|

One of the other charts also marked Secret! deals with the number of SS men leaving their religions (Kirchenaustritte) per month in 1937 as well as percentages of Catholic and Protestant SS men in the different areas of Nazi Germany and in all of Germany. Those fascinating charts give separate totals for men of SS-Verfügungstruppe and SS-Totenkopfverbände.

Examples of the SS Statistical Yearbook are very, very scarce - so scarce that even some of the largest archives and libraries in the world do not have a copy. Many have no idea that the book ever existed. Inquiries among advanced collectors suggest that few of them are even familiar with the book or the data it contains. The book is seldom even cited in the bibliographies of the most respected books about the SS.

The opportunity to purchase any example in any condition might occur every decade or so. It is likely that the chance to acquire the Reichssicherheitsdienst's editorial / archival copy will never happen again. This book is in excellent lightly-used condition.