Special service
The special service was a paramilitary association that was set up on the territory of the Government General during the occupation of Poland in World War II . Many members of this association were actively involved in the Holocaust .
The special service was founded on May 6, 1940 by Gauleiter Hans Frank in Krakow . At first it resembled similar SS formations such as the Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz . Originally it consisted of ethnic Germans of German origin who lived in Poland before the German attack . After the start of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, there were also Soviet prisoners of war who made themselves available voluntarily; these were also referred to as Trawniki men after the place of training, the Trawniki camp . Many of these men didn't speak German and needed translators. The special service department was subordinate to the sabotage department of the Wehrmacht High Command under Colonel Erwin von Lahousen (September 1, 1939 to July 1943) and Colonel Wessel Freytag von Loringhoven (July 1943 to June 1944).
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Yad Vashem Studies in the Google book search
- ↑ Browning-Ordinary Men. Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland (PDF; 10.55 MB)