The élite corps of the German Nazi Party. Founded (1925) by Hitler as a personal bodyguard, the SS was schooled in absolute loyalty and obedience, and in total ruthlessness towards opponents. From 1929 until the dissolution of the Third Reich in 1945 the SS was headed by Heinrich Himmler, who divided it mainly into two groups: the Allgemeine SS (General SS), and the Waffen-SS (Armed SS). Subdivisions of the SS included the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst, in charge of foreign and domestic intelligence work. The Waffen-SS administered the concentration camps. After the fall of the Third Reich, Himmler committed suicide and the whole corps was condemned by the court at the Nuremberg trials.