SS Race and Settlement Main Office

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SS Race and Settlement Main Office
Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt der SS

SS christening of a child born through the RuSHA's Lebensborn program in 1936
Agency overview
Formedc. 1931
Dissolved8 May 1945
Jurisdiction Germany
German-occupied Europe
HeadquartersSS Main Office, Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, Berlin
Employees1,500 (c. 1942)
Minister responsible
Agency executives
Parent agencySchutzstaffel Allgemeine SS

The SS Race and Settlement Main Office (Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt der SS, RuSHA) was the organization responsible for "safeguarding the racial 'purity' of the SS" within Nazi Germany.[1]

One of its duties was to oversee the marriages of SS personnel in accordance with the racial policy of Nazi Germany. After Heinrich Himmler introduced the "marriage order" on 31 December 1931, the RuSHA would only issue a permit to marry once detailed background investigations into the racial fitness of both prospective parents had been completed and proved both of them to be of Aryan descent back to 1800.[2][3]

  1. ^ [1] SS Collections: RuSHA (Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt) – Stenger Historica
  2. ^ Michael Burleigh (7 November 1991). The Racial State: Germany 1933–1945. Cambridge University Press. p. 84, 273. ISBN 978-0-521-39802-2.
  3. ^ Zentner & Bedürftig 1991, pp. 146, 576, 747.