SS und Polizei: Myths and Lies of Hitler's SS and Police

by J. Lee Ready

  The Latvian Legion had proven itself in the front line, and was now told to recruit 3,000 engineer troops. Many would come from the Latvian Aiszargi militia, which was by now a whopping 94,000 strong.

  The Lithuanian Legion possessed five battalions serving separately in anti-partisan sweeps, and the Lithuanian Siauliai militia had 32,000 members.

  The Estonian Legion had performed well in combat. It had absorbed the ERNA, and now some Estonian schumas who had seen front line combat were transferred to the legion. The Estonian Eesti Kaitseliit militia still had 38,000 members. In addition the Waffen SS possessed the Estonian SS Narva Battalion.

  The BNS - Byelorussian Popular Self-Defense Corps stood at 55,000 members, and the huge UNS - Ukrainian Popular Self-Defense Corps had 180,000 personnel.

  The Versuchs Brigade RNNA had 10,000 men in one engineer, one artillery and four infantry battalions. There had recently been 300 desertions.

  Kaminski’s Lokot militia [RONA] was 20,000 strong by now.

  Other Russians served in smaller independent units, such as Druzhina, which was ferociously recruiting in the Globoku district.

  Additionally Army Groups North, Center and South had raised local troops for internal security.

  Hellmich concluded that there were 550,000 osttruppen soldiers in early 1943.

  However, Hellmich did not count the schumas nor hiwas, as they were police, though he knew they were light infantry in all but name. Indeed some schumas were armed with automatic weapons, armored vehicles and artillery. The Russian Self-Defense Corps raised in Yugoslavia had been granted schuma status by Himmler, which gave them access to provisions and equipment, while it also added to Himmler’s collection of paramilitary units. The Tatar schumas recruited by the SD now served as the Crimean Self-Defense Corps.

  By spring 1943 the schumas thus consisted of 3,000 Poles, 5,500 Byelorussians, 10,000 Russians, 10,000 Tatars, 13,000 Estonians, 12,000 Lithuanians, 20,000 Latvians and 40,000 Ukrainians. Some of the Ukrainian schumas were Cossack horse cavalry. Pavlov’s Schuma Regiment of Cossack horse cavalry was currently guarding General von Manstein’s headquarters, and Pavlov was eagerly gathering more recruits.

  About 20,000 Russians, Byelorussians and Ukrainians had joined the hiwas.

  Thus there were about 133,000 schumas and hiwas, and in addition there were tens of thousands of local ordinary policemen in the conquered areas of the Soviet Union and Poland who were always available to assist the Nazis.

  Though Hellmich was not the inspector for hiwis, he was now asked to count them too. Here he ran into resistance from German generals. They had been loath to admit their use of hiwis on racial grounds, and also because they wanted the high command to think their units were smaller than they really were, so that they would be eligible for replacements. As a result Hellmich could only guess at 310,000 hiwis. And even then he was only talking about the hiwis of the German Army. The SS had hiwis too, as did the German Police, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine [navy] and the many uniformed civilian organizations serving in the ‘east’. E.g. Fritz Sauckel’s office for forced labor had a thousand hiwis.

  Moreover private commercial enterprises had employed thousands of foreigners as Werkschutz.

  Thus of those men who had been Polish citizens on 1 September 1939 or Soviet citizens on 22 June 1941, about a million were serving in the German forces by 1943 in an armed capacity, and this did not count Volksdeutsch or ‘Margarine Germans’. There must have been about 200,000 of them serving in German uniform.

  To put this ‘1.2 million men’ into perspective - it is twice the size of the army that the British fielded in May 1940. As for the Americans, in this current war it would take two and a half years of ‘nose to the grindstone recruitment’ for them to be able to field this many ground troops in Europe. Thus it is not surprising that during one of Hitler’s tirades in which he threw out the remark that he was thinking of disbanding the hiwis and osttruppen, his generals blurted out that if he did - the war would be lost!

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  Himmler had colluded in the creation of councils to represent these foreign troops, and he was not averse to Hitler’s decision in January 1943 to recognize the ROA - Russian Liberation Army, as long as this change of heart only allowed this ‘army’ to recruit political adherents just as the Cossack National Council was doing, and did not permit the ROA to actually establish military units. To head the ‘army’ Hitler chose Andrei Vlasov, a Soviet general who had been captured in spring 1942 by the Netherlands Legion, and who was now publicly disavowing communism. Not all Russian hiwis and osttruppen trusted this man. Most of the Druzhina did not acknowledge him. However, this ‘army’ was useful for Hitler’s propaganda purposes and its existence caused many a Russian prisoner of war to sign up as a hiwi or osttruppen.

  Even more untrusting were those Russians who had fled the Communists years before the war and had settled all over Europe, including members of the Whiteshirts - the Russian branch of the SA.

  In Germany a woman suddenly appeared claiming to be Anastasia, daughter of the late Tsar of Russia, whom everyone had assumed had been executed by the Communists along with her father. The Gestapo checked her out and came to the conclusion she was a confidence trickster. Had they found an inkling of truth in her story they would no doubt have set her up as the heir to the Russian throne. That would have gained even more recruits.

  Following these major political recognitions by Hitler, the German government was soon bombarded by petitions from a host of ‘councils’ containing a plethora of demands.

  Hitler also approved talks about Estonian autonomy. Himmler saw his chance here. He had already created the Estonian SS Narva Battalion, and now he chose to create another Estonian formation, the 3rd SS Estnische Grenadier Brigade that would be commanded by Obersturmbannfuehrer Franz Augsberger, who had recently been serving in the SS Nord Division. This Austrian would use the Estonian Legion as a nucleus for the formation. These Estonian legionnaires were forcefully inducted into the SS, like the veterans of the other legions.

  Himmler also made a decision regarding the Latvians. He established the 15th SS Lettische Infantry Division by drafting the Latvian Legion, four Latvian schuma battalions and as many Latvian hiwis and osttruppen as he could find, plus he sent recruiters to acquire naive youngsters in the Latvian homeland. These recruiters quickly reported that their efforts had been so successful they believed they had enough recruits for two divisions.

  However, Himmler baulked at allowing Lithuanians into the SS. He never gave a satisfactory answer as to why.

  There is no doubt that the existence of the remnants of SS Einsatzgruppe A now commanded by Oberfuehrer Friedrich Panzinger in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia was an embarrassment to diplomatic dealings between the German government and representatives of these states. The locals wanted the unit to cease its activity or become a true anti-partisan force. The German government continued with the lie that the SS einsatzgruppe did not exist.

  The 1st Cossack Division was coming along nicely and Himmler began to take an interest in it. Von Pannwitz had gained the 102nd Cossack Cavalry Regiment to add to his division and he was currently training them at Lielau [Mlawa] in Germany where he had also found accommodation for their women and children. Von Pannwitz eventually formed his division so: the 1st Brigade of the 1st Don, 2nd Siberian Ussuri and 4th Kuban Cossack Cavalry Regiments; and the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Kuban, 5th Don and 6th Terek Cossack Cavalry Regiments. This gave the division 12,000 Cossack horsemen. In addition he had the Caucasus Artillery Regiment – horse drawn. The rear-echelon and commanders were Germans and Volksdeutsch, such as Oberst Alexander von Bosse a Latvian Volksdeutsch who commanded the 1st Brigade.

  Some bright spark sent the Kalmyk Legion to von Pannwitz, figuring ‘any Soviet who could sit on a horse must be a Cossack’. To the Kalmyks’ relief von Pannwitz refused them.

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  Himmler began rooting around within Hellmich’s preserve, looking for cannon fod
der. As chief of police he already controlled the 133,000 schumas and hiwas, and indirectly he controlled the thousands of local cops in the eastern territories, and he already had many Volksdeutsch in his Waffen SS, but he wanted more and more recruits. So he grabbed some of the best troops of the BNS and formed the Byelorussian Security Corps of six battalions commanded by Obersturmbannfuehrer Hans Siegling. It became an SS unit in all but name.

  By March 1943 Einsatzgruppe A was led by Oberfuehrer Humbert Achamer-Piffrader, and its personnel did double duty as the SD, Gestapo and Kripo for Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and north west Russia. By now SS Einsatzgruppe B was led by Standartenfuehrer Horst Boehme, C was commanded by Brigadefuehrer Max Thomas and D was controlled by Oberfuehrer Walter Bierkamp. Bierkamp was ex-Freikorps, a lawyer, who had risen in the SS through the Kripo and SD and had recently been a BdS in France.

  However, Bierkamp’s SS Einsatzgruppe D had fled as soon as they heard the Soviets were advancing, and had not stopped running until they reached Poland. In a deliberate shift to change the image of his formations, Bierkamp now referred to his force as SS Battlegroup Bierkamp and he was made BdS for Cracow, and supposedly he sent his ‘battlegroup’ on real anti-partisan sweeps in that region. Thomas, who wore a second hat as BdS for Ukraine, did not rename his SS Einsatzgruppe C, but did claim it was a bona fide police unit. Boehme was also claiming his SS Einsatzgruppe B personnel were ‘true soldiers’ in the anti-partisan war.

  Himmler’s officers, including Brigadefuehrer Otto the Baron of Waechter the governor of Galicia, had been telling him for four years that the Ukrainians made good soldiers, and Himmler had certainly been impressed by them when he saw them in action as hiwis at concentration camps. He now made a bold move. He announced that he was forming an entire SS division of Ukrainians. It would be known as the 14th SS Galizien Infantry Division. Galizien was the German word for the Ukrainian district of Halychina [Galicia] once owned by Austria and then captured by the Poles in 1919. During the invasion of Poland in 1939 western Galizien was occupied by German troops and the eastern part by Soviets. In 1941 all of it came under German occupation.

  Thus in theory Himmler retained the illusion that these people had all once been Austrian citizens. Of course he was aware that most of the division’s personnel would come from existing schumas, hiwis and osttruppen raised not just in Galizien but in Ukrainian lands far to the east as well.

  The move proved to be popular. Indeed so many Ukrainians volunteered to be transferred to the new unit, that the recruiting team led by Waechter could afford to limit the inductees to the age group 18-30 [except officers] and pick the cream of the crop. To cadre this force Himmler had hoped to use strictly Waffen SS personnel, but he found he had to borrow some officers and sergeants from the German Army, a humiliating move for him. However, he hoped to graduate many Ukrainians from officer and NCO academies, for his aim was to make this a 100 per cent Ukrainian force. All members were inducted into the SS with equal treatment to any other SS man.

  The Ukrainians were even in a position to bargain. Their own officers forced Himmler to agree that they would only be used against Communists, because they had no quarrel with the Americans or British. Furthermore, they wanted chaplains, both of the Eastern Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox faiths. Himmler agreed.

  The division started to assemble near the Galizien city of Lwow on 8 April 1943, and when the first contingent was ready to be sent off to Germany for training an open air mass was held to sanctify the event. Over 50,000 local Galizien civilians attended.

  The head of the Eastern Catholic Church in Lwow, Bishop Andrei Sheptytsky, was in a dilemma. He supported the Germans because they were the only major military power willing to fight the atheist Communists, and he certainly advocated the establishment of the SS Galizien Division, but he also believed murder was a sin, and he could not condone the killing of Jews. In fact he publicly intervened for them on several occasions and secretly he hid many Jews in his religious buildings! Others were hid by his priest brother and nun sister!

  As a further sign of goodwill Hitler acknowledged the Ukrainian Liberation Army. All Ukrainian soldiers, including members of the SS Galizien Division, could sign up for it. The ‘army’ was in fact a political council with no units of its own, but it was a start. No one else had recognized the right of Ukrainians to be free in the last twenty-two years, not even when Stalin’s Russian Communists had committed genocide in the Ukraine killing upwards of seven million of them. The British and Americans may have claimed to be freedom loving and democratic, but their armies had abandoned the Ukrainians to the Communists in 1921. Only Hitler’s Germans had shown any interest in respecting the Ukrainians. Not surprisingly about 75,000 Ukrainians signed up for the Liberation Army.

  However, not everyone was impressed. At Yarmolynci an entire Ukrainian schuma battalion killed its German officers and defected to the UPA - Ukrainian Insurgency Army, a body of guerillas who killed Nazis and Communists with equal relish.

  Himmler also liked the idea of pleasing Turkey by acknowledging some sort of autonomy for Turkic-speaking ethnicities in the Soviet Union, and as a result he established the East Turkic SS Corps. It would consist of two battalions of Turkestanis, two of Azerbaijanis and two of various ethnicities from the Idel-Ural region. Though under SS orders, these troops would not be members of the SS. He sent his recruiters to the prisoner of war camps looking for newly captured prisoners who could fit this racial makeup. To command the corps he came up with yet another flamboyant character: Harul as Raschid, an Austrian Moslem who held the very high rank of SS obergruppenfuehrer, and who had recently been Himmler’s liaison officer with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al Hussein.

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  Himmler thought the German generals were getting far too friendly with Vlasov, and when Vlasov rejected Himmler’s love letters, Himmler in a fit of pique ordered the SD to arrest twenty-eight Russian administrators of Vlasov’s ROA on trumped up charges and execute them!

  Everyone was startled by this move. Perhaps even Hitler was shocked? Vlasov was smart enough to say nothing. Having been a Stalinist officer he knew how to survive in a dictatorship run by lunatics.

  Viktor Lutze and his SA now approached Vlasov, offering to support the ROA. He left a liaison officer with Vlasov, namely Sergei Froehlich, a Russian Volksdeutsch. Everybody wanted to be friends with Vlasov.

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  Chapter Twenty-four

  REBELLIONS

  The Nazi police state was so all encompassing that few chances for rebellion could be seized. Yet in Berlin when the Allgemeine SS began to arrest Jews en masse, the ordinary German people seized the opportunity and protested in mass demonstrations. No members of the security forces were hurt, but it was enough to force the Nazi regime to go about the arrest of Jews in a more secretive fashion, often picking up a single family in the middle of the night. Even then many Jews were hidden by sympathetic German Christians. The ordinary Christian people did not know about the exterminations, but they did believe the Jews would be sent to primitive camps in inhospitable landscapes and that this in itself was a crime. The Jews did not know about the killings either of course, for they had already received postcards of the ‘having a wonderful time, wish you were here’ type from relatives and friends who had already been arrested and sent to be ‘resettled’ in the east. They did not know the postcards had been written under duress and that many of these people had been murdered before the postcards were even mailed.

  It is now known that a significant number of Berliners fought against the Nazis in various ways. Elisabeth Abegg an Alsatian and a well-known teacher in Berlin abhorred violence, yet she fought back by rescuing scores of Jews, enabling them to escape to Switzerland. When Donata Helmerich welcomed a dozen Ukrainian girls to Berlin at the train station, who had been sent here as forced labor by her husband army Major Eberhard Helmerich, she placed them with Nazi families as housemaids, fully aware they were in fact Jews with false papers. Th
e Catholic philosopher Gertrud Luckner traveled to Switzerland to organize the rescue of Jews. She was finally caught by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. Countess Maria von Maltzan hid many Jews in her mansion. Ironically Berlin, Hitler’s capital, was in fact the safest place for Jews in the whole Third Reich. Nicknamed ‘Red Berlin’, owing to the high number of Communists and Socialists among the population. Thousands of Jews were in hiding here, but some lived openly to survive the war, including a well-known cantor.

  There was also an anti-Nazi resistance movement among German university students. At first the Gestapo imprisoned many of the students for distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets, but when this did not seem to quell the activity, they beheaded some of the agitators.

  There was also a resistance movement among the intellectuals, which by its very nature meant it was slow and deliberate and rarely overtly active. However, they did on occasion try to assassinate Hitler. He survived several attempts, usually by altering his schedule at the last moment.

  One would have expected many revolts in the concentration camps, but in fact these places were the most docile. Camp life brutalized the inmates so that they ended up just going through the motions like robots. Here, a prisoner considered it to be a successful act of rebellion if he or she managed to steal a chunk of bread.

  On 22 October 1942 the guards of Sachsenhausen concentration camp attempted to round up their Jewish prisoners to put them on a train for Birkenau. The prisoners baulked, so the guards shot many of them. It was a feeble revolt, but even this act unnerved the guards.

  In October 1942 the 15th Police Regiment was ordered to search the villages surrounding Brest-Litovsk and kill any Jews they found. Protests by policemen and Nazi party officials that some of these Jews were valuable workers in war related businesses fell on deaf ears. Himmler explained that the war against the Allies was to take a back seat to the war against the Jews!