Schutzmannschaften
| Schutzmannschaft | |
|---|---|
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| Active | Founded in July 1941 by Heinrich Himmler |
| Country | German-occupied Eastern Europe |
| Allegiance | Ordnungspolizei |
| Type | Auxiliary police |
| Size | 300,000 |
The Schutzmannschaft or Auxiliary Police (literally: "protection team"; plural: Schutzmannschaften, abbreviated as Schuma) was the collaborationist auxiliary police of native policemen serving in those areas of Eastern Europe occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler established the Schutzmannschaft on July 25, 1941 and subordinated it to the Order Police (Ordnungspolizei; Orpo). By the end of 1941, some 45,000 men served in Schutzmannschaft units, about half of them in the battalions. During 1942, Schutzmannschaften expanded to an estimated 300,000 men, with battalions accounting for about a third of the force. Everywhere, local police far outnumbered the equivalent German personnel several times (in most places, the ratio of Germans to natives was about 1-to-10).
The Schutzmannschaften have a reputation for their Police Battalions (Schutzmannschaft-Bataillonen). Created to support German war efforts, in particular combating anti-Nazi partisans, many of these battalions participated in the Holocaust and caused thousands of Jewish deaths. Usually the battalions were voluntary units and were not directly involved in combat. In total, about 200 battalions were formed. Each battalion had an authorized strength of about 500, but the actual size varied greatly. They should not be confused with native German police battalions (SS-Polizei-Bataillone) which the Order Police formed between 1939 and 1945 and which also participated in the Holocaust (see Ordnungspolizei Police Battalions and Reserve Police Battalion 101).
The Order Police organized the Schutzmannschaften by nationality (see Lithuanian Auxiliary Police, Latvian Auxiliary Police, Estonian Auxiliary Police, Belarusian Auxiliary Police, and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police).
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