Schutzstaffel
(ˈʃʊtsˌʃtafəl)
Also pl. Schutzstaffeln, and with lower-case initial.
[G., lit. ‘defence squadron’.]
The internal security force of the Nazis in Germany, more usually known by its initials S.S. (see S 4 a). Also transf. and attrib.
| 1930 Times 18 Sept. 11/1 If the Storm detachments form the potential army of an imaginary Hitler State, the defence squads (Schutzstaffeln) are its police. 1932 [see S.S. s.v. S 4 a]. 1946 E. Linklater Private Angelo iv. 40 The Count was a prisoner of the Schutzstaffel. 1968 Punch 26 June 939/3 Certainly Richelieu was both cruel and sinister... But then, nobody runs a country for 18 years—single-handed except for cronies, spies and schützstaffel [sic]—without being ruthless. 1974 F. Nolan Oshawa Project xv. 94 The black Schutzstaffel uniforms. |