The SS was the Nazi regime`s most violent terrorist organization. According to Hitler`s and Himmler`s design, it was also meant to be National Socialism`s ""racial"" elite, the prototype for the eugenic ""Aryanization"" of the German population. In 1939, Himmler`s ""Black Order"" had 200,000 members. Who were they? How did they come to be in the SS? What actions did they carry out?