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Sicherheitsdienst

division of SS, Nazi Germany
Also known as: SD, Security Service

Quick Summary

The Sicherheitsdienst (SD) was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Founded in 1931, it was led by Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich. The SD's primary role was to gather intelligence on political opponents and to monitor public opinion. It worked closely with the Gestapo, the political police, to suppress dissent and enforce Nazi ideology. The SD was instrumental in identifying and persecuting Jews and other groups targeted by the regime, and its intelligence operations were crucial to the SS's vast power. The SS itself was an elite corps of the Nazi Party, initially formed as Hitler's personal bodyguard, which grew to wield immense police and military authority.123

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