Reich Security Main Office

Reich Security Main Office

Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA)
Flag for the Chief of the SiPo and SD
RSHA overview
Formed	27 September 1939
Preceding agencies	Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) Sicherheitsdienst (SD)
Dissolved	8 May 1945
Type	• Secret police  • Intelligence agency
Jurisdiction	Germany Occupied Europe
Headquarters	Prinz-Albrecht-Straße 8, Berlin 52°30′26″N 13°22′57″E / 52.50722°N 13.38250°E / 52.50722; 13.38250
Employees	50,648 (February 1944 est.)[1]
Minister responsible	Heinrich Himmler, (1939–1945)
RSHA executives	Reinhard Heydrich (1939–1942), Chief of SiPo and SD Heinrich Himmler (1942–1943), Acting Chief of SiPo and SD Ernst Kaltenbrunner (1943–1945), Chief of SiPo and SD
Parent RSHA	Ministry of the Interior (nominally) Allgemeine SS
Child agencies	Gestapo Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) Kriminalpolizei (Kripo)

The Reich Security Main Office^[a] (German: Reichssicherheitshauptamt pronounced [ˈʁaɪ̯çsˌzɪçɐhaɪ̯t͡sˌhaʊ̯ptʔamt] ^ⓘ, RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as Chef der Deutschen Polizei (Chief of German Police) and Reichsführer-SS, the head of the Nazi Party's Schutzstaffel (SS). The organization's stated duty was to fight all "enemies of the Reich" inside and outside the borders of Nazi Germany. From its very inception, the RSHA was a central institution for the Nazis, playing a pivotal role in orchestrating and executing the Holocaust.

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