The prewar background : the development of the concentration camp system and the SS Totenkopfverbände -- The Polish campaign and the creation of the SS Totenkopfdivision -- Growing pains : December 1939-May 1940 -- The SS Totenkopfdivision and the battle of France -- The long interlude : occupation duty and transfer to the East -- The SS Totenkopfdivision and the war in Russia : June 1941-January 1942 -- The Soviet counteroffensive : encirclement in the Demyansk Pocket, January-October 1942 -- Perpetual crisis : the Führer's firemen, 1943-1945 -- Some observations : ideology, personality, and the question of Totenkopf criminality
