Pre-war Germany thumb|upright=1.0|Reinhard Heydrich (right) was Himmler's protégé and a leading SS figure until his assassination in 1942. After Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power on 30 January 1933, the SS was considered a state organisation and a branch of the government. Law enforcement gradually became the purview of the SS, and many SS organisations became de facto government agencies.
Pre-war Germany thumb|upright=10|Reinhard Heydrich (right) was Himmler's protégé and a leading SS figure until his assassination in 1942. After Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power on 30 January 1933, the SS was considered a state organisation and a branch of the government Law enforcement gradually became the purview of the SS, and many SS organisations became de facto government agencies.