A Waffen-SS badge
The Waffen-SS was the armed wing of the Nazi Party's SS paramilitary wing. Formed in 1933, the Waffen-SS was the official armed wing of the Nazi Party after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Nazi Germany, and it was intended to be a police force for occupied Europe after World War II was won. In 1940, the racial policy was relaxed due to Germany's need for soldiers, and the Waffen-SS recruited volunteers and conscripts from other countries such as Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the United States, across Asia and Arabia, and from England; it had 900,000 troops at its height. The Waffen-SS was responsible for mass executions of Jews and prisoners-of-war during World War II, leading to volunteers (those that joined from 1933 to 1943) being tried as war criminals. Some former Waffen-SS officers formed HIAG to revise history and rehabilitate the Waffen-SS, which became a legendary force in the eyes of neo-Nazis.
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