R & A No. 3113.7 / Principal Nazi Organizations Involved in the ...

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The name of each of the above home station indicates the site of a
concentration camp» All four Standarten were placed under the command of
SS-Gruf. Sicke, ?ho becar.e the Commander of all Totenkopfverbände- and con-
centr tion camps.
17ith the intensification of Nazi terror, the number of concentration
camps gr^w and with it the need for additional personnel for the TV. By 1939
the TV, according to some sources, nuroered 40,000.**• After the outbreak of
the war SS-Totenkopfverbande fought alongside the regular forces during the
campaign in Poland. Possibly in recognition of their meritorious conduct
before the enemy, those SS-T otenkopfverbSnde and ot.hrr Verfügungstruprien
w!dch had seen front service were mergsd to form the SS Totenkcpf Division.
This military section of the Totenkopfverbande must not be confused with its
civilian counterpart, the Totenkopf-wt tnderten and Totankopf-Stunrbrnnef
which stayed behind and continued to o-erate as concentration camp guards,,
Owing to the transfer of largp numbers of men to the V/affen-SS during the
war, these units underwent a considerable shrinkage. To replenish ths de­
pleted renks, foreign volunteers, notably "Volksdeutsche." but also vornan,
a; pear to .have joined the TV, or, at least, to have performed some of the
functions assigned to the TV.
lii. Purpose and Functions,, The chief purpose of the TV has been
defined, officially, -s tho guarding o. + ' concentration camps.2
1. This estimate a-ears to be at variance with other statistic; ^hich give
a figure of A0,0°0 as the total for all SS-Verfufqinrstrupne'a.
2, Gunter d'Alquen, Die SS. p. 20.
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