Latvian auxiliary police (National Socialism)

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As Latvian auxiliary police were during the German occupation of Latvia in World War II, the locals referred to under the command of the occupying power under the order police to implement the National Socialist goals during the war of annihilation against the Soviet Union were made. Auxiliary police were involved in pogroms and shootings of Jews after the invasion of the Wehrmacht and tools of the Holocaust after the creation of administrative structures . Due to the war situation, closed military formations of battalion strength were soon formed in addition to the local police stations , which were originally intended outside Latvia to secure the rear army area and to fight partisans , and partly as the basis for the Latvian Legion established in 1943 (see Latvian SS units ) were used. The number of Latvian citizens in the police units or protection teams in 1944 was over 40,000.

Concept of auxiliary police

At the beginning of the occupation, everyone who placed himself in the service of the Germans was declared an auxiliary policeman. On the orders of the Wehrmacht, provisional armed local armed units called self-protection units had to wear a red-white-red armband with the inscription "auxiliary police". After just a few weeks, the designation protection teams and green armbands were introduced. In a document dated July 20, 1941, SS-General Stahlecker ordered the number of "Ordnungs-Auxiliary Police Riga" to be reduced under the now uniform order of the Police Prefect Stieglitz. Two existing "Sonderkommandos" should remain directly subordinate to the SD : the later "Latvian auxiliary police of the security police and the SD" (see: Arājs command ). On November 6, 1941, Himmler ordered the renaming of all auxiliary police units in the occupied eastern territories to Schutzmannschaft. Nevertheless, the term auxiliary police / police in the context of National Socialist tyranny was, and is used in historical research, applied to very different groups of people whose activities are not necessarily related to police work in the common sense.

Participation in the Holocaust in Latvia after the invasion of the Wehrmacht

In order to secure their own rule in the relatively quickly conquered areas of the Baltic states, both the rear departments of the Wehrmacht and those of Einsatzgruppe A, which was intended for the murder of Jews and Communists, were able to rely to a large extent on local residents after the start of the German-Soviet war . The Soviet policy after the occupation of Latvia one year earlier had also led to extensive support for the German war aims in this country. Units made up of former members of the army , protection forces and partisans fought the Red Army as it was retreating and made themselves available to the Germans. As a means to an end to portray the onset of the extermination of the Jews as "the self-purification of the peoples", such provisional associations as "auxiliary police" or "special commandos" were encouraged to pogroms on the now unlawful Jewish population. Since the national socialist policy did not allow the local population to participate in the fight against the Red Army, several of these units were disarmed and disbanded after civil administrative structures had emerged. The police stations in the general district of Latvia of the Reichskommissariat Ostland were often manned by the same people who were in them before 1940; however now as "Ordnungs-Auxiliary Police" and with German superiors. The intended role of the Latvian police forces in the Holocaust of the Jewish population from autumn 1941 in the small towns was the imprisonment of the victims, the preparation of death pits and the removal of traces after the executions by specially traveled firing squads. In the interests of the National Socialist rulers, this role was essentially carried out smoothly, resistance has only been handed down in individual cases. Ordinary police, which had now been expanded to include barracked military units, were also regularly called in for auxiliary services in larger shootings such as the massacres in Rumbula or Šķēde .

Expansion within the framework of "Latvian self-administration" in the Reichskommissariat Ostland

Due to the necessities of war, the police forces in the occupied area were very soon expanded to include so-called "closed", quasi-military units of battalion strength. From August 28, 1941, all former members of the Latvian Defense Forces were drafted as "auxiliary police officers of Group C" to guard important objects in the hinterland. Volunteers were also recruited for occupation services outside Latvia. These units, later mostly called police or protection team battalions, reached a strength of more than 40,000 men in the course of the war. They were used for rear security tasks and increasingly in direct front service. These units were also involved in the fight against partisans and the shooting of the Jewish residents in Belarus and northwestern Russia. With the advance of the Red Army on Latvian territory in 1944, all men fit for military service were forced into units of the Ordnungspolizei or the Waffen SS.

The Latvian order and auxiliary police as a subject of Holocaust perpetrator research

In her study, the historian Katrin Reichelt comes to the conclusion that the degree of fanaticism of the members of the Latvian auxiliary police units and their willingness to use violence against political and other opponents, especially against Jews, was rather limited compared to the appearance of the Arājs people . In terms of personnel, the police force was largely recruited from former members of the Latvian police and army with experience in the police service, with the discipline to be expected accordingly. The main task of the Latvian auxiliary police was to maintain the law, security and order - albeit in the interests of the National Socialist rulers. The unproblematic integration of the auxiliary police in the murder trial was noticeable.

Web links

literature

  • Kathrin Reichelt: Latvia under German occupation 1941–1944: The Latvian Part in the Holocaust ISBN 978-3-940938-84-8 .
  • Björn M. Felder: Latvia in World War II: Between Soviet and German occupiers 1940-1946. 2009 Schöningh ISBN 978-350-6765-444 .
  • Andrew Ezergailis, Historical Institute of Latvia (ed.): The Holocaust in Latvia 1941–1944: The Missing Center. Riga 1996, ISBN 9984-9054-3-8 .
  • Igors Vārpa: Latviešu Karavīrs zem Kāškrusta Karoga (Latvian soldier under the swastika flag), ISBN 9984-751-41-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Igors Vārpa: Latviešu Karavīrs zem Kāškrusta Karoga ISBN 9984-751-41-4 , p. 27.
  2. ↑ Igors Vārpa: Latviešu Karavīrs zem Kāškrusta Karoga ISBN 9984-751-41-4 , p. 62.
  3. ↑ Igors Vārpa: Latviešu Karavīrs zem Kāškrusta Karoga ISBN 9984-751-41-4 , p. 67.
  4. ↑ Igors Vārpa: Latviešu Karavīrs zem Kāškrusta Karoga ISBN 9984-751-41-4 , p. 65.
  5. ↑ Kathrin Reichelt: Latvia under German occupation 1941–1944: The Latvian Part of the Holocaust ISBN 978-3-940938-84-8 , pp. 344–351.