Police Regiment Centre
| Police Regiment Centre | |
|---|---|
| Polizei-Regiment Mitte | |
| Active | 1941–1942 |
| Country |
 Nazi Germany
|
| Role | Rear-area security; participation in the Holocaust |
| Size | Regiment |
| Part of | Orpo units under SS command, reporting directly to Higher SS and Police Leader, Central Russia |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Max Montua |
The Police Regiment Centre (Polizei-Regiment Mitte) was a police formation under the command of the SS of Nazi Germany. During Operation Barbarossa, it was deployed in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, in the Army Group Centre Rear Area.
Alongside the Einsatzgruppen detachments and the SS Cavalry Brigade, it perpetrated mass murder in the Holocaust and was responsible for large-scale crimes against humanity targeting the civilian population. The scope of the regiment's operations were known to the British intelligence since July 1941. However, for reasons of national security, these materials were not released until 1993.
The Police Regiment Centre was formed in June 1941 by combining Order Police (Orpo) Battalions 307, 316, and 322 under the command of Max Montua, a career policeman. The regiment was subordinated to Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSS-PF) for Army Group Centre. Himmler made a personal visit to the headquarters of the unit in Belostok on 8 July where he spoke to Montua, Bach-Zalewski and the regiment's officers. The same evening, a company of Police Battalion 322 participated in the shooting of about 1,000 Jews under the direction of Einsatzgruppe B. On 11 July, Montua passed a confidential order from Bach-Zalewski to the battalion commanders that Jews, who had been "convicted of looting", were to be shot; an execution took place the same day.
On 17 July, the regiment murdered over 1,100 Jews in Slonim, with Bach-Zalewski reporting to Himmler on 18 July: "Yesterday's cleansing action in Slonim by Police Regiment Centre. 1,153 Jewish plunderer were shot". By 20 July, the unit's reports referred to executions of Jewish women and children. By late August, Police Battalion 322 moved to Minsk, where, on September 1, it conducted a killing operation together with the units of Einsatzgruppe B. The victims included 290 Jewish men and 40 Jewish women.
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