EPIC The Story of the Waffen SS Documentary by Leon Degrelle Special English Translation (1:21:59)

This video (One hour twenty one minutes) tells the story of Leon Degrelle, who rose from the rank of private to General in the Waffen-SS (Armed-SS). 

In 1918, the German Government was overthrown and the Kaiser was forced to abdicate. Germany became a republic. The defeat in the war meant that large provinces were taken away and became parts of foreign- countries as war reparations. It also meant that huge sums of money had to be paid for the war, and Germay had to accept "guilt" for starting WW1. Communist revolts attempted to overthrow the republic. The republic descended into chaos. Economic recession plunged the country into mass unemployment and poverty. At this time, three forces held sway in the republic. There was the Socialists, the Communists, and the ex-veterans, who all had their private armies. Adolf Hitler was in a small political party (NSDAP) at this time. He saw that there was a need for the party to have its own force, these became known as the Stormtroops. Hitler realised that Leftist terror could be only broken by greater terror. The brown-shirted Stormtroops defended the meetings of the NSDAP and attacked the Communists or Socialists. Adolf Hitler was a gifted orator and the party soon expanded. It became clear that the NSDAP needed bodyguards for speakers, and a small group was organised. This group became the Protective Squadrons (Schutzstaffel or SS). The SS were dressed in black and adopted the skull symbol as used by elite Prussian cavalry. A British Dragoon regiment in the American War of Independence also adopted the same symbol adding "or glory". 

The SS soon became an elite formation as compared with the Stormtroops, and by 1935, when the NSDAP became the government of Germany, the SS had expanded its role and numbers. There was the general (Allgemeine) SS, SS units which guarded concentration camps, and a number of units which acted as bodyguards for Hitler, known as the Waffen-SS (Armed SS).  In 1939, the Waffen-SS expanded rapidly until it was nearly a million strong. A large number were foreign Volunteers. Leon Degrelle was one of this foreign volunteers, from Walloonia, in Belgium.