Schutzmannschaft

Ordnungspolizei officers visiting the Schutzmannschaft unit in Zarig (ukr), near Kiev. December 1942

Schutzmannschaft (abbr. Schuma) as well as Hilfspolizei (abbr. Hipo) were the collaborationist auxiliary police battalions of native policemen in countries occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. Created to fight the anti-Nazi resistance, many of them participated in massacres conducted by the German Ordnungspolizei, mostly in Eastern Europe. The term Hilfspolizei refers also to auxiliary police units such as HIPO Corps in occupied Denmark, Waffen-SS divisions, Selbstschutz, etc.^[1][2]

The term is mostly historical; it has been also applied to some units created in 1933 by the early Nazi government (mostly from members of SA and SS) and disbanded the same year due to international protests.^{[1][3][4][5][6]}

Within the territories seized from the Soviet Union, the Germans utilised local police auxiliaries much more freely. These volunteers were called Hilfswilligen ("those willing to help"),^[7] often abbreviated to "Hiwis". As the so-called Protective Detachments (Schutzmannschaft); they usually augmented the Order Police (Ordnungspolizei, Orpo) and Einsatzgruppen in their operations with organizational pragmatics. Eventually, they were numbered tens of thousands.^[6]

The Schutzmannschaft battalions were organized by nationality at each location: Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Tatars,^[7] and Poles (failed attempt; with two volunteers, and forcible draft of 360 men in Kraków,^[8] most of whom deserted to join the AK against the massacres of Poles in Volhynia).^[9] Each battalion had an authorized strength of about 500. Everywhere, local police far outnumbered the equivalent German personnel. For example, in the Brześć Litewski area, there were 26 German gendarmerie as opposed to 308 Belorussians. In the district of Baranowicze, there were 73 German gendarmerie and 816 native auxiliaries. By 1 July 1942, eighteen-and-a-half Ukrainian Schutzmannschaft battalions had been formed, with a further three battalions set up in Belarus mainly staffed by Ukrainians. Local police units were deployed in occupied territories to Anti-partisan operations and during the Holocaust.^[7]

Subsequently, as German casualties on the Eastern front mounted, many Schutzmannschaft battalions in Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine and elsewhere were joined in SS raised military divisions wearing national insignia.

Participation in the Holocaust

Following Operation Barbarossa, between September 1941 and July 1944,^[10] the SS began the process of recruiting collaborationist auxiliary police from among Soviet nationals in regions conquered by the Wehrmacht.^[11] They were known as "Trawniki men" (German: Trawnikimänner) for deployment in all major killing sites of Operation Reinhard on Polish territories (most deadly phase of "the Final Solution") – it was their primary purpose of training. Trawnikis took an active role in the executions of Jews at Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka II, Warsaw (three times, see Stroop Report), Częstochowa, Lublin, Lwów, Radom, Kraków, Białystok (twice), Majdanek as well as at Auschwitz, not to mention Trawniki itself,^[10] and the remaining subcamps of KL Lublin/Majdanek including Poniatowa, Budzyn, Kraśnik, Puławy, Lipowa, but also during massacres in Łomazy, Międzyrzec, Łuków, Radzyń, Parczew, Końskowola, Komarówka and all other locations, augmented by the SS and the Reserve Police Battalion 101 (alone, responsible for the annihilation of at least 83,000 Jews).^[7][12]

Schutzmannschaften became an indispensable component of the mass execution of Jews in Nazi occupied Soviet Union. In places such as Zhitomir, Korosten, Kherson, Kakhovka, Uman and many others throughout Ukraine, local militia formed part of the killing squads. The militia were paid by the German authorities, often with funds confiscated from the Jews. Ukrainians were frequently used in the shooting of the families of Jewish men,^[2] so that in Radomyshl (Radomyśl) for example, Einsatzkommando IVa could restrict itself to the killing of adult men and women. The Einsatzgruppen Operational Report USSR No.88 of September 6, 1941 records that, 1,107 Jewish adults were shot in Radomyshl while the Ukrainian militia unit assisted by liquidating 561 Jewish children and youths.^[13] By December 29, 1942, a year-and-a-half after the outbreak of war with the USSR the number of Jews executed on Soviet territories with the help of Schutzmannschaften amounted to 363,211 dead (Meldung # 51 to Hitler), with 285 Schutzmänner registered as “killed in action”.^[14]

SS-Gruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski established a special department in charge of foreign Schutzmannschaften that dealt with recruitment and deployment of units for security tasks, guard duties, and labour commando management. Although numerically fewer, Belarusian Auxiliary Police were used just as intensively as were the Ukrainians, even if, as Einsatzgruppe B noted, the general Belarusian population was "incapable" of acting on its own against the Jews.^[14]

Organization in Eastern Europe

Each battalion had a German command, and a projected number of four companies of 124 men each, one with a group of machine gun and three groups of infantry. In reality, the numbers varied greatly between occupied territories.

1. Belarusian Schutzmannschaft ^[15]
2. Danish Hilfspolizei ^[16]
3. Estonian Schutzmannschaft ^[17]
4. Latvian Schutzmannschaft (including Arajs Kommando)^[18]
5. Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft ^[19]
6. Polish Schutzmannschaft ^[20]
7. Russian Schutzmannschaft (later 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Russian))^[21]
8. Ukrainian Schutzmannschaft ^[22]

Schuma uniforms had a Escutcheon of nationality on the right sleeve.^[23][24][25] Some Schutzmannschaften were armed with Soviet rifle Mosin-Nagant 91/30, but also with Mauser Mk 98k rifles and MP38 and MP41 submachine guns.

Ranks

• 1. Schutzmann (Schütze)
• 2. Unterkorporal (Gefreiter)
• 3. Vizekorporal (Obergefreiter)
• 4. Korporal (Unteroffizier)
• 5. Vizefeldwebel (Unterfeldwebel)
• 6. Kompaniefeldwebel (Feldwebel)

Reichskommissariat Ostland (Baltic Land)

The OKW's Guidelines for Special Fields (Directive No 21, Case Barbarossa) issued on March 13, 1941 in Berlin, divided the new territories following the commencement of war with the USSR, into North (Baltic), Centre (Belarus), and South (Ukraine).^[26]

Generalbezirk Estland

Generalbezirk Lettland

Generalbezirk Litauen

• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 1
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 15
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 22
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 114
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 116
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 117
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 122
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 123
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 130
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 250
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 251
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 257
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 263
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 265
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 268
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 301
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 310

^[27]

Generalbezirk Weißruthenien

• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 57
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 61 Bogun

General Government (occupied Poland)

• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 107
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 202
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 203
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 213

Reichskommissariat Ukraine

• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 51
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 55
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 57
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 61
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 63
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 101
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 111
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 113
• Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 126
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 129
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 131
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 134
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 140
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 143
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 146
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 157
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 169
• Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 201 under Roman Shukhevych ^[14]

See also

• Collaborationism
• Collaboration with the Axis Powers during World War II
• Holocaust in Belarus
• Holocaust in Estonia
• Holocaust in Latvia
• Holocaust in Lithuania
• Holocaust in Norway
• Holocaust in Odessa
• Holocaust in Poland
• Holocaust in Russia
• Holocaust in Ukraine
• List of murders of children by Nazis
• Auxiliary police
• Blue Police

External links

• [http://www.usinfo.ru/c3.files/mify25.htm#Эстонские_диверсанты._Последний_период_войны_, "Герои" Украины. Украинская национальная армия]
• Schuma uniform
• Krim-Tatarische Legion

References

v t e Einsatzgruppen Director Reinhard Heydrich Ernst Kaltenbrunner Commanders and higher authorities Humbert Achamer-Pifrader Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski Rudolf Batz Ernst Biberstein Wolfgang Birkner Paul Blobel Walter Blume Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock Otto Bradfisch Werner Braune Fritz Dietrich Erich Ehrlinger Wilhelm Fuchs Karl Jäger Friedrich Jeckeln Heinz Jost Waldemar Klingelhöfer Wolfgang Kügler Rudolf Lange Erich Naumann Arthur Nebe Gustav Adolf Nosske Otto Ohlendorf Friedrich Panzinger Hans-Adolf Prützmann Otto Rasch Walter Rauff Martin Sandberger Hermann Schaper Karl Eberhard Schöngarth Erwin Schulz Franz Six Franz Walter Stahlecker Eduard Strauch Bruno Streckenbach Martin Weiss Udo von Woyrsch Members and others August Becker Lothar Fendler Emil Haussmann Felix Landau Albert Widmann Notable collaborators Viktors Arājs Herberts Cukurs Konrāds Kalējs Methods and documentation The Black Book Commissar Order Gas van Generalplan Ost Jäger Report Korherr Report Special Prosecution Book-Poland (Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen) Involved organizations SS RSHA SD Orpo Arajs Kommando Estonian Auxiliary Police Latvian Auxiliary Police Lithuanian Security Police TDA 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer Rollkommando Hamann Schutzmannschaft Ukrainian Auxiliary Police Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz Ypatingasis būrys Crimes by country Poland Operation Tannenberg Intelligenzaktion AB-Aktion Operation Reinhard Lithuania Ninth Fort Kaunas June 1941 Kaunas 29 October 1941 Ninth Fort November 1941 Ponary Latvia Burning of the Riga synagogues Dünamünde Action Jelgava Pogulianski Rumbula Liepāja (Šķēde) Estonia Kalevi-Liiva Belarus Łachwa Ghetto Minsk Ghetto Slutsk Affair Ukraine Babi Yar Drobitsky Yar Drohobych Kamianets-Podilskyi Lviv pogroms Mizocz Ghetto Odessa Russia Gully of Petrushino Zmievskaya Balka Lokot Autonomy The Holocaust Einsatzkommando Einsatzgruppen Trial

v t e The Holocaust in Latvia Main article The Holocaust Related articles by country Belarus Estonia Lithuania Norway Poland Russia Ukraine Crimes Burning of the Riga synagogues Dünamünde Action Jelgava Pogulianski Rumbula Liepāja (Šķēde) Nazi murders of women and children on the beach at Liepaja, Latvia, December 15, 1941 Victims Jewish people of Latvia Gypsies Joseph Carlebach Simon Dubnow Else Hirsch Perpetrators Alois Brunner Rudolf Batz Fritz Dietrich Otto-Heinrich Drechsler Erich Ehrlinger Karl Jäger Friedrich Jeckeln Heinz Jost Konrāds Kalējs Ernst Kaltenbrunner Wolfgang Kügler Rudolf Lange Hinrich Lohse Friedrich Panzinger Hans-Adolf Prützmann Eduard Roschmann Alfred Rosenberg Martin Sandberger Rudolf Joachim Seck Franz Walter Stahlecker Eduard Strauch Nazi occupation and organizations Einsatzgruppen Reichskommissariat Ostland Rollkommando Hamann Collaborators Individuals Viktors Arājs Herberts Cukurs Kārlis Lobe Organizations Arajs Kommando Latvian Auxiliary Police Schutzmannschaft Ghettos and camps Daugavpils Ghetto Jungfernhof concentration camp Kaiserwald concentration camp Riga Ghetto Salaspils concentration camp Documentation Generalplan Ost Jäger Report Concealment Sonderaktion 1005 War crimes investigations and trials Einsatzgruppen Trial Extraordinary (Soviet) State Commission Righteous among the Nations Jānis Lipke Roberts Sedols Memorials Bikernieki Memorial Related articles The Holocaust Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany