The Kindly Ones

WVHA (Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt, “Economy and Administration Main Office”): This SS structure was created in the beginning of 1942 to regroup the administrative-economic branch of the SS, the branches in charge of matters of construction and supplies, the economic enterprises of the SS, and the Inspectorate for Concentration Camps (IKL). Headed by SS-Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl, Himmler’s economic éminence grise, the WVHA included five Amtsgruppe, or “groups of offices”: Amtsgruppe A, Truppenverwaltung (“Troop Administration”), and Amtsgruppe B, Truppenwirtschaft (“Troop Finance”), managing all questions of administration and supply for the Waffen-SS (the fighting units of the SS) as well as the concentration camp guards; Amtsgruppe C, Bauweisen (“Construction”), including all technical services of the SS linked to building; the Amtsgruppe D was the rebaptized IKL; as for the Amtsgruppe W, Wirtschaftliche Unternehmungen (“Economic Enterprises”), it covered the immense SS economic empire, which included firms in sectors as diverse as construction, armaments, mineral water, textiles, and publishing.

TABLE OF GERMAN RANKS WITH APPROXIMATE AMERICAN EQUIVALENTS

SS * Wehrmacht * Police * American Army

Reichsführer-SS * — * — * —

— * Generalfeldmarschall * — * General of the Armies

SS-Oberstgruppenführer * Generaloberst * Generaloberst der Polizei * General

SS-Obergruppenführer * General. * General der.Polizei * Lieutenant General

SS-Gruppenführer * Generalleutnant * Generalleutnant d.P. * —

SS-Brigadeführer * Generalmajor * Generalmajor d.P. * Brigadier General

SS-Oberführer * — * — * —

SS-Standartenführer * Oberst * Oberst d.P. * Colonel

SS-Obersturmbannführer * Oberstleutnant * Oberstleutnant d.P. * Lieutenant-Colonel

SS-Sturmbannführer * Major * Major d.P. * Major

SS-Hauptsturmführer * Hauptmann * Hauptmann d.P. * Captain

SS-Obersturmführer * Oberleutnant * Oberleutnant d.P. * Lieutenant

S-Untersturmführer * Leutnant * Leutnant d.P. * Second Lieutenant

S-Sturmscharführer * Hauptfeldwebel * Meister * Sergeant-Major

SS-Stabsscharführer * Stabsfeldwebel * — * Master Sergeant

SS-Hauptscharführer * Oberfeldwebel * — * Sergeant First Class

S-Obersharführer * SS-Obersharführer * — * Staff Sergeant

SS-Scharführer * Unterfeldwebel * Hauptwachtmeister * Sergeant

SS-Unterscharführer * Unteroffizier * Rev. O. Wachtmeister * Corporal

SS-Rottenführer * Stabsgefreiter * Oberwachtmeister * Specialist

* Obergefreiter * * —

* Gefreiter * Wachtmeister * —

SS-Sturmmann * Oberschütze * Rottwachtmeister * Private First Class

SS-Oberschütze * Schütze * Unterwachtmeister * Private

SS-Schütze * Gemeiner, Landser * Anwärter * Private Recruit

About the Author and the Translator

JONATHAN LITTELL was born in 1967 in New York of American parents but was raised and educated mostly in France. Previously he worked for the humanitarian agency Action contre la Faim, mainly in Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He now lives in Spain.

CHARLOTTE MANDELL has translated fiction, poetry, and philosophy from the French, including works by Proust, Flaubert, Genet, Maupassant, Blanchot, and other distinguished authors. Her translation of The Kindly Ones is the sole English-language version.

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