Karl Wolff - Nazi Party and SS

Nazi Party and SS

The 1931 Deutsche Bank economic crisis (brought on by the Great Depression) convinced him that only the more radical parties were capable of resolving the economic and political dilemmas in Germany. For him the only option was the more extreme Right. Drawn by the ideal of a reborn Germany after this economic crisis, Wolff joined the NSDAP in July 1931. His membership number was 695,131. His SS membership number was 14,235. Wolff still worked in his own public relations firm after training in the Reichsführer-SS school system. He served in a mustering squad in Munich, and later was commissioned as an SS-Sturmführer in February 1932.

In 1933, after the Nazi Party came to power, Wolff became a full-time political party member and was promoted to SS-Captain to serve as SS military liaison officer to the German Army. On 8 March 1933 he became a member of the Reichstag. In June 1933 with the leap from volunteer to full member of the SS, the associated financial security allowed him to relinquish his previous profession and to sell his company. He was personally recruited by SS Commander Heinrich Himmler to head the office of the Reichsführer's Personal Staff. Wolff became Himmler's adjutant (Chief of Staff) on June 15, 1933. By 1937 he was an SS-Gruppenführer and considered third in command of the entire SS (after Himmler and Heydrich). He was a rival to Reinhard Heydrich. This competition was accentuated by Himmler.

However, at this point his friendship with the chief of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Main Security Office) Heydrich was at its height, with whom he helped certain parties in conflict with Nazi party doctrine, including some Jews, to leave Germany.