History of the Inventory Designer: The idea of setting up a female SS news corps (WNK-SS) goes back to Heinrich Himmler's personal initiative at the beginning of 1942. On 17 February the latter had commissioned his office "Chief of Telecommunications" with the formulation of a constellation order as well as with the elaboration of guidelines for the tasks, organization and training of the Female Intelligence Corps of the SS to be created. The primary purpose of this measure was to be able to deploy male SS intelligence personnel to the front, and certainly also to make the SS intelligence more efficient and independent of Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe intelligence workers. It was planned to establish a "School WNK-SS" for the "training of radio operators, teletypists and telephones for the intelligence service at the offices in the entire area of the Reichsführer-SS and bosses of the German police". The town of Oberehnheim in Alsace, about 30 km south of Strasbourg, was chosen as the training location. It had sufficient accommodation with Oberkirch Castle, the "Ehn-Schlösschen", Villa Schwörer and Leonhardsau Castle. First commander of the SS-Nachrichtenschule Oberehnheim, later "Reichsschule-SS", became the SS-Oberführer von Dufais, who after his appointment on 29 June 1942 was responsible for the further technical and personnel equipment of the school. The latter consisted mainly of the advertising and training of teaching staff. The necessary preparatory work, which also included the organisation of the recruitment of junior staff, was completed by the end of the year, so that training could begin at the beginning of 1943. The advertising and recruitment of SS helpers was initially carried out exclusively by the SS upper sections on the basis of a decree issued by the Reichsführer-SS on 14 August 1942 (NS 32 II/3). During the war, SS helpers were called upon on the basis of the Emergency Service Ordinance of 15 October 1938 (RGBl I p. 1441) to establish an employment relationship corresponding to an employment contract. The prerequisite for recruitment was that the applicant met the "requirements placed on the spouses of SS members". The definitive termination was also preceded by a medical and intelligence test, a medical examination and an SD review. After being called up to the SS-Helferinnenschule, the SS-Maiden (official appointment of SS-Helferinnen during their training) underwent an eight-week basic training course, which, in addition to further examination and selection, served in particular ideological training. He was followed by a special training course in one of the five training groups (wire, radio, staff and administration service, housekeeping, subordinate school), which lasted between six and 24 weeks. After completing their training and passing their examinations, the helpers received their orders to go to an SS office in the Reich or in the occupied and affiliated territories. The original plan was to use it in closed military units (comradeships, trains, readies). However, this form of organisation never came to fruition, as the need for helpers at all times far exceeded the number of news maids trained in Oberehnheim. In practice, the SS-Helferinnenschule received daily reports of needs from the SS supplement offices (mostly sent in advance by telegram). In return, the supplementary offices were then notified of the marching in of a number of helpers who were mostly behind the number requested. In August 1942, after the advertising results of the SS sections had always remained unsatisfactory, the SS Supplementary Offices were also responsible for the recruitment of junior staff and the recruitment procedure. In addition, the BDM has intensified its involvement in the recruitment of junior staff. Nevertheless, the capacity of approximately 250 course participants reached at the beginning of the training could never be significantly exceeded. The total number of news workers trained at the SS-Helferinnenschule therefore amounts to about 3000. Structural changes occurred in November 1944, when the approaching Western Front made it necessary to withdraw from Oberehnheim. The staff and the basic training courses were moved to Geislingen an der Steige, the remaining training groups to Heidenheim. Just one month later (mid-December 1944), the wire training group moved into their quarters in the Erfurt Police Assistant School, which had previously been under the command of the Ordnungspolizei and was now subordinated to the SS headquarters. The local leader was SS-Hauptsturmführer Appelbaum, while the SS Helferinnenschulen, now distributed among Heidenheim, Geislingen, and Erfurt, were headed by Obersturmbannführer Mutschler, who had replaced Dufais in June 1944. Inventory description: Inventory description The files of the Provenance SS-Helferinnenschule originate from the collection "Reichsführer-SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei" (RG 1010), which contained documents that were transferred from American custody to the Federal Archives in the course of file returns. The files of the SS Helferinnenschule (formerly stock RS 5), which were handed down in the Federal Archives Military Archives, were merged with them. The NS 32 II collection was established in 1973 in Koblenz and made accessible in the form of a find book. Since 1973, the personal documents belonging to the inventory have been located in the Central Proof Office (ZNS) in Aachen, where they were evaluated for the purpose of issuing service time statements by means of automatic data processing on personal names. After the dissolution of the CNS at the end of 2005, the files were returned to the inventory. It should be noted that the files include several volumes of the provenance "Chief of Telecommunications at the Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the German Police", the classification of which seemed to make sense due to their clear content. These are numbers 1-6, 9, 22, 26, 27, 45, 47 and 110. Archival evaluation and processing The revision made only minor changes to the records. There were no cassations. Content characterization: Establishment, organisation and development of the SS-Helferinnenschule 1942-1945 (22), Lei‧tung, management and supervisory staff, medical care 1933-1945 (12), real estate, inventory and procurement 1942-1945 (14), internal service, training, work and duty schedules 1942-1945 (21), Advertising and recruitment of SS-Helfe‧rinnen 1942-1945 (11), requirements and deployment of female SS helpers 1943-1945 (18), Personalangelegen‧heiten 1942-1945 (24) Despite its relatively small size, this collection documents very well the history of the SS-Helferinnenschule and its relations to the state and the NSDAP. He thus makes a significant contribution to the topic of "Women in the SS State". State of development: Online-Findbuch (2006) Citation method: BArch, NS 32-II/...
