Hitler's Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of Europe
Page 55
31. Sidor A. Kovpak, Our Partisan Course (London: Hutchinson, 1947). The German after action files have survived and can be found in NARA, RG242, T175/222/2759715-865, Abschlussbericht über die Bekämpfung der Kolpak-Bände, September 2, 1943. Krüger to the army commander in the General-Government Hereinafter referred to as Krüger’s report to the army. Also BA-MA RL20/284, SS report to Luftwaffe commander in Lemberg.
32. Armstrong (ed.), Soviet Partisans, 11; and O. A. Zarubinsky, “The ‘Red’ Partisan Movement in Ukraine During World War II: A Contemporary Assessment,” The Journal of Slavic Military Studies 9 (June 1996), 399–416.
33. Kovpak, Our Partisan Course, 115.
34. BA-MA RL20/284, the SS report as administered by the Luftwaffe commander in Lemberg.
35. Cajus Bekker, trans. Frank Ziegler, The Luftwaffe War Diaries (London: Stackpole Military History, 1972), 379–81.
36. The Germans recorded Kovpak’s name as Kolpak. There was an Oberst Kolpak who commanded a German Freikorps Battalion in the Baltic, in 1919, Oertzen, Freikorps, 28.
37. PRO, HW16/6, MSGP 49, September 9, 1942.
38. Kovpak, Our Partisan Course, 115.
39. Peter J. Potichnyj, “Pacification of Ukraine: Soviet Counterinsurgency, 1944–1956,” Conference paper, Russian Experience with counterinsurgency, University of New Brunswick, Center for Conflict Studies, October 1987.
40. BZ-IMT, testimony, October 24, 1945.
41. Birn, “Zaunkoenig”, 111.
42. Ibid.
43. NARA, RG242, T354, roll 648, Kampfgruppe Kutschera, operational order for Unternehmen Franz, January 4, 1943.
44. BA-MA, RL 20 302—Kriegstagebuch 3 Kdr. Fl. Bau 4/XIII—Commander Oberst Altermann 1943, documents, 63–4.
45. Ibid.
46. TVDB, 53. Walter Schellenberg confirmed this incident, explaining that Himmler’s long-serving Bavarian pilot had been warned not to go into a Russian village. He ignored the warnings and was, according to Schellenberg, killed by partisans in what was obviously a cruel manner.
47. PRO, HW16/6, MSGP 36, July 17, 1942.
48. PRO, HW35/42, German Police, July 24, 1942.
49. MacLean, The Cruel Hunters, 61–2. Their corpses were cut up, mixed with horse meat, and boiled into soap.
50. PRO, HS8-882, Vera Atkins. The women had been captured in Paris between June and November 1943 and sent to Natzweiler in May 1944.
51. NARA, RG242, T175, roll 81, Übersicht über bisherige Anordnungen und Anregungen betr. Banenkinderunterbringung, July 13, 1943.
52. NARA, RG242, T-354, roll 650, Bataillons-Befehl für das Unternehmen “Hornung,” February 7, 1943.
53. IMT, R-135, letter from Reich Commissar for the Eastland to Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territory, June 18, 1943.
54. Ibid.
55. NARA, RG242, BDC, A3345-DS-J007, Himmler to Chef der Bandenkampfverbände, HSSPF Ukraine and HSSPF Russland-Mitte, July 10, 1943.
56. NARA, RG242, T175, roll 21, Himmler to Kaltenbrunner, Chief of RSHA July 28, 1943.
57. Ibid.
58. Jürgen Förster, “The Relation between Barbarossa as an Ideological War of Extermination and the Final Solution,” in David Cesarani, The Final Solution, Origins and Implementation (London: Routledge, 1994), 97–8.
59. NARA, RG242, T354, roll 648, central document for the listing of casualties and results, 1943.
60. Ibid., Tactics against Bandits, unnamed company commander, Dirlewanger Brigade, September 5, 1943.
61. NARA, RG242, T175/70/2547404-750, Gefangenen-und Beutezahlen im Unternehmen Sternlauf, February 13, 1943.
62. NARA, RG242, T175/70/2547404-750, Korpstagesbefehl, January 3-February 12, 1943.
63. NARA, RG242, T354, roll 649, Unternehmen Draufänger II, reports, May 1943.
64. NARA, RG242, T354, roll 649, Gefechtsbericht der Einsatzgruppe Dirlewanger fuer die zeit vom May 20-June 2, 1943 (June 25, 1943).
65. NARA, RG242, T354, roll 648, Monatliche Zusammenstellung der Verluste (feindliche und eigene) und Beute, July 12, 1943, HSSPF Russland-Mitte, Operations Officer.
66. NARA, RG242, T354, roll 648, HSSPF Russland-Mitte, Monatliche Zusammenstellung der Verluste (feindliche und eigene) und Beute, July 12, 1943.
67. NARA, RG242, T354, roll 649, Unternehmen Hermann reports.
68. NARA, RG242, T175/81/2601501-2034, Letter from General Schmundt OKW to Himmler, March 15, 1943.
69. NARA, RG242, T175/3/2503430-2, Dienstbesprechung der Befehlshaber und Inspekteure der Ordnungspolizei im Januar 1943 in Berlin.
70. Absolon, Die Wehrmacht, VI, 489, and 789.
71. Eric Lefebre and Jean de Lagarde, “Das Bandenkampfabzeichen 1944–1945,” Internationales Militaria, January 1999, 36–41.
72. TVDB, 104.
73. NARA, RG242, BDC A3343-SSO-24A, Curt von Gottberg.
74. TVDB, 75.
75. NCA, document, R-135, Results of police operation Cottbus, June 22-July 3, and June 5, 1943, 206–7.
76. Ibid, letter from Hinrich Lohse to Alfred Rosenberg, June 18, 1943, 205.
77. Ibid, Diary no. 3628/43, letter from Reichs Commissar for the Eastland, to Personal-Staff RFSS, June 18, 1943.
78. IWM, USMT-11, Berger’s testimony, 6121.
79. Ibid, Berger’s defence evidence, 6133–412.
80. NARA, RG242, BDC, A3345-OSS-202A, Ernst Korn. NARA, RG242/18/2521387, Korn’s request was acknowledged by Himmler, June 1, 1943.
81. NARA, RG242, BDC, A3345-OSS-202A, Generalmajor Klinger, Kommandeur der Schutzpolizei, Hauptamt Ordnungspolizei, May 17, 1943.
82. NARA, RG238, M1019, roll 37. Korn remained in this position until September 14, 1943, when replaced by his assistant Leutnant Steudle.
83. PRO, HW16/6, MSGP 55, April 13, 1944. Korn sent a signal that was intercepted by the British on March 10, 1944, when he was chief of staff of the Bandenstab Croatia.
84. TVDB, 80.
85. NARA, RG242, BDC, A3345-OSS-202A Gerrett Korsemann. PRO, HW16/6, MSGP 40, October 1–31, 1942, one of the many personal messages from Korsemann to Himmler, this time wishing him a happy birthday, November 9, 1942.
86. NARA, RG238, M1270/26/798, Ernst Rode interrogation report, October 22, 1945, Annex II Rode’s relationship with Himmler.
87. PRO, HW16/100, Waffen SS decode reports, November 1, 1943. Also refer to TVDB, 91.
88. NARA, RG242, T354, roll 649, Unternehmen Zauberflöte, April 17–22, 1943.
89. NARA, RG242, T354, roll 649, Erfahrungsbericht “Unternehmen Günther,” July 14, 1943.
90. TVDB, 79–80; and BA-KA, the photographic collection, Koblenz.
91. PRO, HW16/6, MSGP 33, March 17, 1942.
92. Broszat and Krausnick, Anatomy of the SS State, 346–7: A copy of the original can be found on NARA, RG242, T175, roll 38, with the subsequent correspondence.
93. NARA, RG242, T175/38/2548284, Letter Herf to Herff, July 21, 1943. Herff continued, “The success now is that I can request everyone to report, no matter if Bach-Zelewski is about or not. This changes the position 380 degrees. I am free again from this business of fraud.”
94. NARA, RG242, T175/38/2548288, letter, Herf to Herff, July 29, 1943.
95. Herff left office, believing his honor remained intact.
96. TVDB, 81.
97. Ibid, 82.
98. Manfred Messerschmidt, “Der Minsker Process 1946,” in Heer and Naumann (eds.), Vernichtungskrieg, 551–68; Alexander Victor Prusin, “‘Fascist Criminals to the Gallows!’: The Holocaust and Soviet War Crimes Trials, December 1945–February 1946,” Holocaust and Genocide Studies 17 (2003), 1–30; and Eric Haberer, “The German Police and Genocide in Belorussia, 1941–1944,” Journal of Genocide Research 3 (2001), 23–24.
99. NARA, RG242, T354, roll 648, HSSPF Russland-Mitte, Monatliche Zusammenstellung der Verluste (feindliche und eigene) und Beute, July 12, 1943.
100. Gerald Reitlinger, The Final Solution: The Attempt to Exterminate the Jews of Europe (New York: Perpetua Edition, 1961), 287-90. See also PRO, WO208-4295, Re
port on German atrocities in Eastern Europe, M.I.9, July 6, 1944.
101. BA-MA RW41/4 letter from Kluge to Schenckendorff’s wife.
102. NARA, BDC, A3343-SS0-24A, Curt von Gottberg.
Chapter 8: Poland
1. Victor Klemperer, To the Bitter End: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer 1942–45, II, (London: Penguin, 1998), 405.
2. NCA document 1919-PS, Metz speech, May 1940.
3. NCA document 1919-PS, Bad Schachen, October 14, 1943.
4. NCA document 1919-PS, Sonthofen speech 1943.
5. NARA, RG242, T175/13/2515629-782, Gendarmerie arrest instructions for slave labourers in the area of Strasbourg border guard posts in 1943.
6. Herbert, Foreign Workers, 364–70; Eric A. Johnson, Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, Jews and Ordinary Germans (London: John Murray, 2002), 310.
7. NARA, RG242, T1270, roll 23, the interrogation of criminal commissar Bethke.
8. Interview with Frank Gierllen, May 10, 2000. Gierllen, a veteran Belgium resistance fighter, confirmed Soviet resistance factions operated across the German border near Aachen.
9. PRO, HW 16/98, History of the German Police W/T Network, July 1945, 20.
10. MacLean, The Cruel Hunters, 57–66. During his time in Kraków, Dirlewanger was known to have conducted security actions against insurgents rooted in the Polish forests.
11. BA R19/462, Gendarmerie-Hauptmannschaft Radom, Einsatzbericht über den Einsatz am 29 November 1942 im Walde ostwaerts Lubionia 12 km südlich von Ilza, 30 November 1942.
12. BA-MA, RL 21/243, office of Oberst Kollee, from January 1, 1944, Ic-situation report (Feldluftgaukommando XXV Gruppe Ic), January 9–15, 1944.
13. Yerger, Allgemeine-SS, 39.
14. NCA, document L-18, Final Report on the Solution of the Jewish Question in the District of Galicia, 756–70.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland (New York: First Harper Perennial, 1998), 104.
18. U.S. Army, Handbook, section, IV-VIII.
19. Jürgen Stroop, “Es gibt keinen jüdischen Wohnbezirk in Warschau mehr!” published as The Stroop Report, trans. Sybil Milton and introduction by Andrej Wirth, (London, 1980).
20. NCA, document 1061-PS, concluding repor May 24, 1943.
21. PRO, WO208-4295, Scotland Papers, Report on interrogation of PW KP 2084.34 SS-Gren. Willi Hansen, March 10, 1945.
22. PRO, WO208-4295, Report on interrogation of PW CS/689 SS-Oschaf. Anton Schaffrath, November 25, 1944.
23. PRO, WO208-3625, PWIS(H)/KP/525, PWIS Interrogations, Kempton Park, December 1944. Report written on December 4, and signed Major MacCloud.
24. PRO, WO208-3625, PWIS(H)/KP/239, PWIS Interrogations, Kempton Park, August 1944. Report written on August 11, and signed Major MacCloud.
25. Mark Mazower, Inside Hitler’s Greece: The Experience of Occupation 1941–1944. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995), 222–4.
26. NARA, RG242, T175/70/2586239-60 and T175/81/2601501-2034, Reichsführer-SS, 28 June 1943 and NS19/1433, “Bandenkampf-und Sicherheitslage.” Vortrag des Reichsführers-SS bei Hitler auf dem Obersalzberg am 19 June 1943.
27. Lucy Dawidowicz, The War against the Jews, 1939–45 (London: Penguin, 1975), 394–8.
28. NARA, RG242, T175/81260280, Order RFSS to Hans Frank and Bach-Zelewski, June 21, 1943.
29. Robin O’Neil, Belzec: Prototype for the Final Solution; Hitler’s Answer to the Jewish Question, at http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/belzec1/bel000.html
30. Reuben Ainsztein, Jewish Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Eastern Europe (London: Elek, 1974), 518–47.
31. TVDB, 81.
32. NCA, document 1517-PS of November 1941, and IMT-BZ, March 25, 1946, where Bach-Zelewski admitted to engineering Globocnik’s removed.
33. PRO, WO208-4300, Scotland Papers, Report on interrogation of PW LD 1136 SS-Gruppenführer Jakob Sporrenberg, February 25, 1946.
34. Schmauser was Bach-Zelewski’s replacement at HSSPF-Southeast.
35. DKHH, April 10, 1941, 148.
36. TVDB, 84.
37. PRO, WO208-4300, Scotland Papers, Sporrenberg.
38. Browning, Ordinary Men, 137–42.
39. Gerhard L. Weinberg, Germany, Hitler and World War II: Essays in Modern German and World History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 228–9.
40. Alexander Werth, Russia at War, 1941–1945 (London: Pan, 1965), 77 and 149.
41. JNSV, case 638. They both received life sentences from the court in Oldenburg in 1966.
42. TVDB, 92–3, the Kovel Order for rapid deployment, January 14, 1944.
43. Cüppers, “Lombard,” 149.
44. NARA, RG242, BDC, A3343-SSO-275A, Gustav Lombard.
45. Bellamy, Evolution of Land Warfare, 20.
46. TVDB, 99–103.
47. NARA, RG242, T175/81/2601886, Miscellaneous Bandenbekämpfung papers. The body count amounted to one dead, seven wounded, and one missing, from the Waffen-SS; the army, seven dead (one officer), forty-one wounded, and four missing; and the police, two officers killed, twenty-six wounded, eighty five missing (including an official and a doctor).
48. PRO, HW16/39, GPD2383, February 2, 1944, No 1 traffic.
49. PRO, HW16/6, MSGP54, March 14, 1944 and HW16/39, GPD2378, GG3, No 1 traffic.
50. TVDB, 98.
51. PRO, WO 311/10, Black List of German Police, SS and Miscellaneous Party and Paramilitary Personalities, Report, September 1945.
52. Soviet Embassy, Soviet Government Statements on Nazi Atrocities, 171. The town of Kolki today still stands on the River Styr, 50 kilometres east of Kovel.
53. Andrew Borowiec, Destroy Warsaw! Hitler’s Punishment, Stalin’s Revenge (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2001), 73–76.
54. NARA, RG242, A3343-SS0-023, Bach-Zelewski, letter from Dr. Rapport, 11 January 1944.
55. TVDB, 96, the letter was copied into Bach-Zelewski’s diary.
56. NARA, RG242, A3343-SS0-023, Bach-Zelewski, letter from Dr. Rapport, 22 March 1944. The letter stated, “The problem of SS-Obergruppenführer von dem Bach is the lack of concentration when on the toilet. He must concentrate or the sphincter cannot work.”
57. TVDB, 98–9.
58. TVDB, 99.
59. NARA, RG242, T175/222/279241, Kriegstagebuch der Abteilung Ia/Mess., 21 June-21 November 1943.
60. TVDB, 100.
61. BA R19/321 Schnellbrief on the activities of bandits, January 21, 1944.
62. TVDB, 74.
63. NCA, document L-37, Collective responsibility of members of families of assassins and saboteurs, July 19, 1944.
64. Richard C. Lukas, Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles under German Occupation 1939–1944 (New York: Hippocrene, 1997).
65. NARA, RG242, T78, roll 560, OKH, Generalstab des Heeres, Fremde Heere Ost, Die Widerstandsbewegung im Gebiet Des Ehem. Polen, 9 February 1944.
66. NARA, RG242, T78, roll 562, OKH, Generalstab des Heeres, Fremde Heere Ost 1 July 1944.
67. NARA, RG242, T77, roll 1421, Wehrkreiskommando Generalgouvernment, Generalmajor Haseloff, Lage im Generalgouvernement im Monat Dezember 1943, 6 January 1944.
68. NARA, RG242, T77, roll 1421, Wehrkreiskommando Generalgouvernement, Generalmajor Haseloff.
69. NARA, RG242, T77, roll 1421, April 1944.
70. NARA, RG242, T77, roll 1421, Reisebericht, Oberstleutnant Ziervogel und Hauptmann Cartellieri, 25–26 July 1944.
71. NARA, RG242, T78 roll 562, OKH, Generalstab des Heeres, Fremde Heere Ost, 1 July 1944.
72. BA-MA, RW 41/60, Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Weissruthenien, Anlagen 1-99 zum kriegstagebuch Nr. 6 (1 January 1944 to 30 June 1944). Grundlegender Befehl Nr.22 of 1 January 1944: Bandenlage.
73. Matthew Cooper, The German Army, 1933-1945, (Lanham: First Scarborough House, 1990), 476. Evan Cooper barely mentioned the battle.
74. Carlo D’Este, “Model” in Correlli Barnett (ed.), Hitler’s Generals (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
, 1989), 319–34.
75. Sydnor, Soldiers of Destruction, 306.
76. W. Victor Madeja, Russo-German War: Summer 1944, vol. 33 (Allentown: Valor, 1987), 50.