35055 SD IN AMBUSH, OCCUPIED EUROPE 1939-44

SD (Ger. Sicherheitsdienst - security service) is an element of the SS that performs tasks related to intelligence, counterintelligence and the tasks of the security service. This body functioned in the years 1931-1945. Initially, the SD (still known as IC) was responsible for collecting information on Nazi political opponents and conducting counterintelligence activities in its own environment. In 1932, the SD was headed by the future war criminal Reinhard Heydrich. From 1933, the SD became the most important element of the broadly understood security services of the Third Reich. Its boss, Reinhard Heydrich, was also appointed head of the Security Police (Sipo) after 1933, along with the Gestapo and Kripo. Over time, three departments were developed within SD: I (responsible for activities inside the country), II (responsible for activities outside Germany) and III. In the course of World War II, the SD was significantly expanded and was responsible for the implementation of many tasks related to the broadly understood security of the Third Reich. She was responsible, inter alia, for fighting and infiltrating the resistance movement in the occupied territories. She was also co-responsible for the genocidal crimes of the Holocaust, and its officers actively participated in actions against the Jewish population, often commanding Einsatzgruppen units. It was recognized as a criminal organization during the Nuremberg trials.