Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Barracks in Berlin. The rifles are Mauser Kar98k. The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) was Adolf Hitler’s personal bodyguard. The LSSAH developed into one of the most elite and hardened units in the German armed forces. The lightning bolts on their collars clearly indicate that they are SS men.

During the Nazi era, the LSSAH provided government officials, security personnel, and government buildings. It was located in the “Kaserne Königlich Preußische Kadettenanstalt” (Royal Prussian Cadet Institute), the former military academy in Berlin-Lichterfelde West, where recruit training also took place.

The LSSAH represented the pinnacle of Hitler’s Aryan ideal. Strict recruitment regulations meant that only those considered sufficiently Aryan—and also physically fit and National Socialists—were accepted.

The LSSAH provided the guard of honor at many Nuremberg Party rallies and participated in the reoccupation of Saarland in 1935. The Leibstandarte was the vanguard of the march into Austria during the Anschluss, and in 1938 the unit participated in the occupation of the Sudetenland. By 1939, the LSSAH was a full-fledged infantry regiment with three infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, as well as anti-tank, reconnaissance, and engineer units.