SS Logo PNG
The readiness to punish the apostate is encoded in the emblem. The SS logo is a tribute to strictness, order, and precise execution. The main task of the military structure is to protect the regime and create a “better” world. Therefore, the symbols are so strong and strong, like pillars.
Schutzstaffel began in 1923 as a small security unit created to protect meetings of the Nazi Party in Munich. Early formations such as the Saal-Schutz and the Stoßtrupp served as personal guard detachments around Adolf Hitler. After the failed Beer Hall Putsch and the temporary ban of the Nazi Party, the organization was dissolved and later reestablished in 1925 under the SS name.
During its early years, the SS remained a minor branch inside the much larger SA paramilitary structure. That changed in 1929 when Hitler appointed Heinrich Himmler as Reichsführer-SS. Himmler transformed the group into an ideologically driven elite organization built around racial selection and personal loyalty to Hitler. Membership expanded rapidly, growing from a few hundred members to more than 50,000 by 1933.
In 1931, Himmler created the SD intelligence service under Reinhard Heydrich. Three years later, during the Night of the Long Knives, SS units helped eliminate SA leadership, securing the organization’s independence and political power. Between 1934 and 1939, the SS absorbed police structures, including the Gestapo, and divided into Allgemeine-SS for policing and ideology, and Waffen-SS as military combat formations.
During World War II, the SS became central to Nazi repression and the Holocaust. Einsatzgruppen units carried out mass executions in occupied territories. At the same time, concentration and extermination camps were administered through SS structures such as Totenkopfverbände. By 1945, the Waffen-SS had grown to roughly 800,000 personnel. After Germany’s defeat, the Nuremberg Trials declared the SS a criminal organization, and surviving leaders, including Ernst Kaltenbrunner, were prosecuted.
Meaning and History
The foundation of this military structure was laid by a security and assault unit called Saal-Schutz, which was responsible for safeguarding party meetings held in Munich. It was a small formation comprising party volunteers from the NSDAP. In 1925, the detachment was led by Heinrich Himmler. He turned it into a paramilitary organization during the Weimar Republic. From the moment it came to the leadership of the Nazi Party until its collapse, the SS was considered a key surveillance and terrorist group in all occupied corners of Europe.
The two base agencies of this structure were the Waffen-SS (Armed SS) and Allgemeine SS (General SS). The former included Nazi Germany’s fighting squads, while the latter controlled its racial politics. The scheme also included SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV or Death’s Head Units), which oversaw the concentration camps. There were also additional divisions, the Sicherheitsdienst and the Gestapo. They were engaged in identifying real and potential enemies of the Nazis, suppressed the opposition, watched over their people, provided support for Nazi ideology, conducted external and internal intelligence, and conducted punitive operations. The entire enemy structure was personally subordinate to Adolf Hitler.
The organization developed gradually, starting at the end of 1934 when its strengthening intensified. By the spring of 1945, the number of people in the composition had reached 830,000. In general, the SS was the main organizer of the terror and killing of people for political and racial reasons. She carried out criminal activities not only in Germany but also in the territories she had conquered. The service representatives were instantly recognizable by the chevron on their sleeves, shaped like a double zig rune. After World War II, all criminals associated with bloody crimes were brought before the tribunal, and the organization itself was liquidated and banned. Any of its attributes is also prohibited.
The group chose a special typographic ligature for their designation. It consisted of the letters of the runic alphabet, both historical and modern, published under the guidance of the occultist Guido von List in 1908. For this structure, the Sowulo rune was primarily used in the sixteenth century in the older Futhark, which, in pronunciation, coincided with the sound “s” and resembled this letter in outline.
The Nazis called this symbol “zig” because “von List” associated it with the Siegel sign, the Anglo-Saxon rune. The reason for this statement is that in German, the word Sieg means “victory.” Therefore, there is an opinion that this is its original name, but this fact is unreliable. The rune, which became the sign of SS, is rooted in the Etruscan-Old Italian alphabet. It is from him that the Latin “S” comes. And the ancient Italian analog of Sowulo refers to the Greek Σ or the Phoenician “shin.”
Font and Colors
The double Sowulo is not an inscription and therefore does not resemble any typeface. Rather, it is a graphic image consisting of two zigzags. Typically, the ligature is white and set against a black background. It was in this color version that it was used on the uniform of the Nazis.