Like other talented academics such as Helmut Knochen and Franz Six, Ohlendorf had been recruited by SD talent scouts.[7] Attached to the SS with the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer, by 1939, he had obtained the rank of SS-Standartenführer and was appointed as head of Amt III (SD-Inland) of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA),[8][9] a position he kept until 1945.[4] His role in collecting intelligence from his secret police agents was disliked by some of the Nazi leadership. Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler once characterized Ohlendorf as "an unbearable Prussian" who was "without humour".[4] Nonetheless, Ohlendorf was instrumental as a member of the SD in shaping Nazi economic doctrine, which became "increasingly virulent as the war progressed" as he attempted to mould the economy "in an ethnic context".[10] It was Ohlendorf's responsibility as head of the SD-Inland to collect data and scientifically examine social, cultural, and economic issues, assembling reports to his superiors in the Nazi government.[11] Routine public opinion surveys—which were under the purview of Ohlendorf and SS-Major Reinhard Höhn—constituted some of these reports.[12] These public opinion polls on the social climate of Nazi Germany were both unpopular and controversial.[13]