The German soldier swore an oath to Adolf Hitler vowing, “I shall at all times be prepared to give my life.” The SS-man, similarly, vowed “absolute allegiance unto death.”

Hitler generated the Holocaust according to the following logic: “If—as leader of the German nation—I am allowed to send the best, finest people to die—why can’t I also require the enemy of the German people to be obedient unto death?”

German soldiers swear the Hitler oath in 1934.

The Wehrmacht Oath of Loyalty: "I swear by God this sacred oath that to the Leader of the German empire and people, Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces, I shall render unconditional obedience and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared to give my life for this oath."

Annual midnight swearing-in of Nazi SS troops, Feldherrnhalle, Munich, 1938.

The SS Oath of Loyalty: “I vow to you, Adolf Hitler, as Führer and chancellor of the German Reich, loyalty and bravery. I vow to you and to the leaders that you set for me, absolute allegiance until death. So help me God.”