Blue Police

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The Blue Police, more correctly translated as The Navy-Blue Police (Polish: Granatowa policja, name originating from the colour of their uniforms) was the popular name of the collaborationist Polish police in the General Government during the Second World War.

It was created by Nazi-Germany as an auxiliary paramilitary police force in order to keep law and order in the General Government part of occupied Poland. Similar police organizations existed the all of the occupied countries. Initially used to deal with purely criminal activities, the Blue Police was later used to also prevent smuggling, and against the Polish Jewish population in the Ghettos. It was officially disbanded by the Polish Committee of National Liberation on August 27, 1944. [1] [2]

Contents

[edit] Organization

In October 1939, General Governor Hans Frank, ordered the mobilization of the pre-war Polish police into the service of the Germans. The policemen were to report for duty or face arrest.[3]

According to the German plan the police force was to consist of approximately twelve thousand officers, but the actual number of its cadre was much lower. [4] [5] However, some sources put the numbers as high as 14,300. [6] The Blue Police consisted primarily of Poles and Ukrainians from the eastern parts of the General Government.[7]

The Blue Police had no autonomy, and all of its high ranking officers came from the ranks of the German police (Kriminalpolizei). It served in the capacity of an auxiliary force, along with the police forces guarding seats of administration (Schutzpolizei), Railway Police (Bahnschutz), Forest Police (Forstschutz) and Border Police (Grenzschutz). [8] However, as the force was primarily a continuation of the pre-war Polish police force, it also relied largely on pre-war regulations and laws, a situation that was accepted both by the Nazis and by the legitimate Polish authorities. [7] The latter saw the existence of the Blue Police as a necessity.

[edit] Controversy

The role of the Blue Police in its collaboration with the Nazis is difficult to assess as a whole, and is often a matter of dispute. [9]

A significant part of the police personnel belonged to Polish underground resistance organization Armia Krajowa [10], mostly in the counter-intelligence of the Home Army and the Państwowy Korpus Bezpieczeństwa[11]. Some authors underline that the Blue Police followed German orders reluctantly [12] [9] and that the officers had little choice but to obey their orders or face death [7]. The Blue Police often disobeyed German orders or even acted against them [9], and some of its officers were awarded with the Righteous Among the Nations award [13] [1].

On the other hand the police did take part in street roundups and in the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto [6], as well as in numerous executions, of both Polish and Jewish citizens. [9]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

In-line:
  1. ^ (English) Abraham J. Edelheit; Hershel Edelheit (1991). A World in Turmoil: An Integrated Chronology of the Holocaust and World War II. Greenwood Press, 311. ISBN 0313282188. 
  2. ^ (Polish) Burda, Andrzej (1976). Polskie prawo państwowe. Warsaw: Państwowe Ẇydawnictwa Naukowe, 127. 
  3. ^ (Polish) Hempel, Adam (1987). Policja granatowa w okupacyjnym systemie administracyjnym Generalnego Gubernatorstwa: 1939-1945. Warsaw: Instytut Wydawniczy Związków Zawodowych, 83. 
  4. ^ (Polish) Wroński, Tadeusz (1974). Kronika okupowanego Krakowa. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 235-240. 
  5. ^ (English) Paczkowski, Andrzej; Jane Cave (transl.) (2003). The Spring Will Be Ours: Poland and the Poles from Occupation to Freedom. Penn State Press, 54. ISBN 0-271-02308-2. 
  6. ^ a b (English) Ringelblum, Emanuel (1992). in Joseph Kermish: Polish-Jewish Relations During the Second World War. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 133. ISBN 0810109638. 
  7. ^ a b c (Polish) Hempel, Adam (1990). Pogrobowcy klęski: rzecz o policji "granatowej" w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie 1939-1945. Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 435. ISBN 8301092912. 
  8. ^ (Polish) Daszkiewicz, Andrzej. Ruch oporu w regionie Beskidu Niskiego: 1939-1944. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa MON, 9-10. 
  9. ^ a b c d (English) Piotrowski, Tadeusz (1997). Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide.... McFarland & Company, 108-110. ISBN 0-7864-0371-3.  See also review
  10. ^ Paczkowski (op.cit., p.60) cites 10% of policemen and 20% of officers
  11. ^ (Polish) "Policja Polska Generalnego Gubernatorstwa". Encyklopedia Internetowa PWN. (2005). Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwa Naukowe.
  12. ^ (English) Gunnar S. Paulsson (2004). "The Demography of Jews in Hiding in Warsaw", The Holocaust: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies. London: Routledge, 118. ISBN 0415275091. 
  13. ^ (Polish) IAR (corporate author). "Sprawiedliwy Wśród Narodów Świata 2005", Forum Żydzi - Chrześcijanie - Muzułmanie, Fundacja Kultury Chrześcijańskiej Znak, 2005-07-24. Retrieved on February 20, 2007. (in Polish)
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