Reich Main Security Office

The Reich Main Security Office was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS, the head of the Nazi Party's Schutzstaffel . The organization's stated duty was to fight all "enemies of the Reich" inside and outside the borders of Nazi Germany.

Himmler established the RSHA on 27 September 1939. Himmler's assumption of total control over all security and police forces in Germany was the "crucial precondition" for the establishment and growth of the Nazi state. He combined the Nazi Party's Sicherheitsdienst with the Sicherheitspolizei , which was nominally under the Interior Ministry. The SiPo was composed of two sub-departments, the Geheime Staatspolizei and the Kriminalpolizei . The RSHA was often abbreviated to RSi-H in correspondence to avoid confusion with the SS-Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt .

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