Police Battalion 303

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The Police Battalion 303 was a military unit of the Ordnungspolizei in National Socialist Germany . It was used in World War II . The battalion was actively involved in the Holocaust , particularly the massacre of 33,771 Jews in Babyn Yar near Kiev on September 29 and 30, 1941.

history

Police Battalion 303

With the circular issued by the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police , Heinrich Himmler , on October 11, 1939, 26,000 unserved conscripts and members of older age groups were to be recruited as police recruits to ensure the need for police forces in the areas occupied by the Wehrmacht . A total of 38 police training battalions were set up for training purposes, in which the recruits were admitted separately according to age group. The recruits of the later police battalions 301 to 325 came from the older age groups 1909 to 1912. They were referred to as so-called "Wachtmeister battalions". The leading positions in the battalions were mostly occupied by professional police officers who trained the recruits. The recruits were promised exemption from military service and rapid promotion opportunities.

Police battalion 303 was formed in November 1939 from the police training battalion "Bremen" at the location of the Bremen-Borgfeld Police School .

In the autumn of 1940 the battalion was transferred to Poland in the Krakow district of the General Government. The battalion staff with the motor vehicle squadron and the 4th company were stationed in Jasło , the 1st company in Nowy Sącz , the 2nd in Gorlice and the 3rd in Sanok .

Before the attack on the Soviet Union began , Police Battalion 303, together with Police Battalion 45 and Police Battalion 314, were subordinated to the South Russia Police Regiment . The battalion was deployed in the rear of Army Group South in Ukraine .

Police battalion 303 was involved in so-called purges and executions in the Starokonstantinov region from July 26 to 30, 1941 , in which 814 Jews and Soviet soldiers died. In early September 1941, the battalion took part in a massacre of 100 Jews near Tschudnow . On September 18 and 19, the unit raged in Zhitomir . 3,145 Jews died here. This was followed by the deployment in Kiev and participation in the mass executions in Babyn Yar on September 29 and 30, 1941. In October and November 1941, further executions of around 1,000 Jews followed in Myropil and Zolotonosha . In at least another 28 missions in the summer and autumn of 1941, 2,583 Jews died. Another 1,000 to 1,500 Jews are said to have fallen victim to the battalion in another massacre in autumn 1941.

In addition, the battalion could have been involved in executions in the area between Rovno and Zhytomyr on August 27 and 28 and on September 1, 6, 11 and 12, 1941, with a total of at least 3,953 Jewish victims. The battalion is also said to have participated in massacres in Baranowka , Dubrowka , Isjaslaw , Khazhin near Berdychev and Shepetovka on August 25, September 2 and 4, 1941, with a total of at least 5,531 people murdered.

On July 9, 1942, the 303 Police Battalion was renamed the 2nd Battalion of the 10th Police Regiment .

II./Polizei-Regiment 10

In the summer of 1942, the entire 10th Police Regiment was deployed at Nikolayev in Ukraine to secure the seizure of the harvest ("harvest protection operation"), and in the fall of 1942 in the Pripjet Marshes area to suppress the resistance movement ("fight against gangs"). The battalion suffered considerable losses in fighting both in the hinterland and at the front.

II./SS-Polizei-Regiment 10

On February 24, 1943 the battalion was renamed II./SS-Polizeiregiment 10. In Poland, the realignment took place after the losses. It was then moved to the Gorizia area (border area between Italy and Yugoslavia), where it remained until the end of the war.

Commanders

  • September 25, 1940 to November 17, 1941: Major Heinrich Hannibal
  • from November 18, 1941: Lieutenant Colonel Robert Franz

literature

  • Stefan Klemp: "Not determined". Police Battalions and the Post War Justice. A manual . 2nd edition, Klartext Verlag, Essen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8375-0663-1 , p. 258 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c http://www.ordnungspolizei.org [1]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.ordnungspolizei.org  
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Stefan Klemp “Not determined” Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2005, pp. 234–236.
  3. ↑ Torsten Schäfer: “In any case, I also took part in the shooting” . Münster 2007, p. 59 f.

Web links

  • Contribution to "butten und binnen" magazine from Radiobremen TV [2]
  • Contribution by Radiobremen 70 years of the Babi Yar massacre. A dark chapter of the Bremen police [3]
  • Article in the daily newspaper from October 9, 2010 [4]
  • Article by hr-online [5]
  • Representation of the Bremen police battalions (pdf) at Radiobremen [6]