Schutzmannschaft



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.

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.

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"), 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.

The Schutzmannschaft battalions were organized by nationality at each location: Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Tatars, and Poles (failed attempt; with two volunteers, and forcible draft of 360 men in Kraków, most of whom deserted to join the AK against the massacres of Poles in Volhynia). 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.

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, the SS began the process of recruiting collaborationist auxiliary police from among Soviet nationals in regions conquered by the Wehrmacht. 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, 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).

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, 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. 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”.

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.

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
 * 2) Danish Hilfspolizei
 * 3) Estonian Schutzmannschaft
 * 4) Latvian Schutzmannschaft (including Arajs Kommando)
 * 5) Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft
 * 6) Polish Schutzmannschaft
 * 7) Russian Schutzmannschaft (later 30th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Russian))
 * 8) Ukrainian Schutzmannschaft

Schuma uniforms had a Escutcheon of nationality on the right sleeve. 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).

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

Generalbezirk Weißruthenien

 * Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 57
 * Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 61 Bogun
 * Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 62 Taras Schewtschenko

General Government (occupied Poland)

 * Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 107
 * Schutzmannschaft Wacht Bataillon nr. 201 (Ukrainische) under Roman Shukhevych
 * 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