Heydrich Was NOT Second in Command of the SS

Many historians claim that Heydrich was Heinrich Himmler’s chief assistant and even “second in command of the SS”. In reality, neither was true. Himmler never had a “chief assistant” (he did not need one) and he was far too politically astute (he was a bureaucrat par excellence) to establish the position of his “first deputy”.
For a very simple reason – in every bureaucracy, the man in this position immediately becomes the existential threat to his boss. And Himmler would never allow that. Never.

Those who make such claims, simply do not understand what SS was and how it worked. The SS was a genuine SS-Staat, a state-within-a-state, a XX century reincarnation (neo-pagan or just secular – is still debatable) of a Teutonic order.

It was a complicated system of several key components: Waffen-SS (essentially, Himmler’s own army); the network of HSSPF (Higher SS and Police Leaders); SS-Sonderkommandos (Special Task Units) and twelve offices:

·         Personal Staff of Reichsf;hrer-SS

·         SS-Hauptamt (Main Administrative Office; SS-HA)

·         SS-F;hrungshauptamt (SS Main Operational Office; SS-FHA)

·         Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Main Office; RSHA)

·         Ordnungspolizei Hauptamt (Order Police Main Office; Orpo)

·         Economic and Administration Main Office (SS-WVHA)

·         Hauptamt SS-Gericht (Main Office of SS Legal Matters – Internal SS Court)

·         SS-Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt (SS Office of Race and Settlement; RuSHA)

·         SS-Personalhauptamt (SS Personnel Main Office)

·         Hauptamt Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VOMI)

·         SS-Schulungsamt (SS Education Office)

·         Main Office of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood; RKFDV)

There were also the SS Cavalry Corps, SS Medical Corps, SS-Frauenkorps, SS-Mannschaften (Auxiliary-SS) … and, yes, the (in)famous Ahnenerbe. Heydrich was in charge of RSHA only – and had zero control of any other offices (of HSSPF). Consequently, he was not “second in command” – just one of the twelve.