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MASSIMO ARICO
INTRODUCTION
Daumanstrasse, Schirokaja-Strasse, Masyukovshchina, Drosdy, Puschkin-Kaserne, Maly
Trostenez……
As of July 1941 the names of these roads, villages and places, all located in the urban area of
Minsk or in its immediate vicinity, began to appear more and more frequently in the reports
issued by the units that had been tasked with securing their areas or managing their facilities:
usually, regular Wehrmacht units or, even, Wacht or Landesschutzen-Bataillone or detachments
of the Sichereitspolizei 1.
I. PREAMBLES
The decision to estabilish the Jewish ghetto of Minsk was taken autonomously at the initiative
of the local Feldkommandatur 812 (Oberstleutnant Karl Schlegelhofer), by order issued on 19
July 1941, that is, just a few weeks before the shifting of powers, in Western Belorussia
including Minsk, from the Wehrmacht Military Administration, to the civil rule of the
Generalkommissar Wilhelm Kube (31 August).
According Schlegelhofer, all the Jews still living in Minsk – about 85.000 peoples – had to move
to a slum area, North-West of the town close to the old Jewish cemetery, within five days from
the issuing of the order 3. At the same time, the Judenrat was established and tasked with the
registration of the expected residents or, at least, those who had survived the first decimation
2
of the alleged communists and “intellectuals” and of the so-called anti-German elements,
carried out in the internment camp of Drosdy, towards the beginning of July 4.
Consequently, whether since that moment the executions perpetrated in Minsk during the early
weeks of July had had a somewhat “improvised” and uncoordinated charachter, or determined
by specific conditions, well, after the establishment of the ghetto the result was obtained to
concentrate a whole category of potential victims (the Jews), within the circumscribed
boundaries of a real “free-fire zone”: in July 1941 the city of Minsk became the focal point
(Schwehrpunkt) of the persecutory activities, selection and annihilation policies, perpetrated in
Belorussia by the EGB 5, in close cooperation with the Ordnungspolizei units, kindly offered by
the HSSPF Erich von dem Bach; among these there was the Polizei-Bataillon 322, two
companies of which, had just entered the town.
3
Kraftfahrzeugstaffel: Hptm. Frömsdorf;
Nachrichtenzug;
1/322: Hptm. Reinhold Jörke;
2/322: Hptm. Sigfried Binz (since July 1941);
3/322: Oltn. Gerhard Riebel.
The events that happened in the subsequent hours, retraces a well-experimented plot, with
monotonous analogy.
On 31 July, while the personnel of the 3/322 was engaged in the cordoning of the ghetto, the
policemen of the 1/322, together with officers of the Sipo and a NSKK company, carried out a
door-to-door rounding up of the Jews between 15 and 60 years, which often with lashes and
sticks 9 were pushed up to a square, previously bombed – probably the inner courtyard of the
prison of Minsk – where most of the women with the childrens, were soon separated from their
men, and later ordered to back home: the exception was a group of 64 women that,
apparently, would have been caught, within their homes, without the yellow star. After which,
about 700 Jews remained under surveillance in the prison of Minsk, where they spent their last
night 10.
The following day, 1 September, after having slept in the open courtyard of the prison, many of
the Jews arrested the day before begun to be loaded onto the trucks of the Kraftfahrzeugstaffel,
that shuttled towards a semi marshland area, not far from the town, where previously, some
common graves had been dug. At the same time, the remaining victims, to which a further
group of about 200 Jews had been added 13 – probably arrested some days before, and
detained in the same jail – were aligned and forced to march towards their fate.
Apart from the firing squads, in waiting for them, there were also officers of the
Sichereitspolizei and some officers of the Battalion-Stab, among which Nagel and Uhl, the latter
expecially quite reluctant and distressed 14.
As the the trucks reached the common graves – three at least and large enough to contain
some hundreds of corpses – the victims were pushed in small groups, along a specially-
prepared slope of soil, up to the bottom of the trench, where the firing squad was in wait.
In order to speed up the operations, the truck approached the edge of the pits in reverse, so
that the victims could be unloaded directly onto the slope. The procedures were carried out
4
among shouting and confusion and especially one of the platoon leaders of the 3/322, the
Oberleutnant Rasche – who was well-known for his anti Semitism – would have regularly beaten
the victims with blows of the stick, in order to encourage them to enter the pits 15.
At that point, the victims were ordered to lie down, face to the ground, while behind them, the
firing squad pointed the rifles to neck. After which, the platoon leader gave the order of fire.
According to Soier:
“First of all, all around the ghetto a line of policemen was deployed, mainly formed with
personnel of the battalion. After which, details of the SD and police officers – includyng myself
– entered the ghetto and ordered the Jews to leave their homes. Those who not obedyed
voluntarily were obliged to leave by force.
The Jews were pushed up to a square, previouly targeted by bombing [probably the inner
courtyard of the prison of Minsk, A/N]. Among them there were not only men, but even women
and children.
I don’t remenber exactly who, was tasked with the surveillance of the Jews gathered in the
square. In any case, immediately after the rounding-up, our company was uploaded onto the
trucks and we were sent back to our quarters.
All night long the Jews remained in the square. Then the next morning, when we returned to
the square, most of the women and the children, had been already released. At that point,
about 1.000 Jews had remained in wait in the square, of both sexes, but especially men.
Our company had just 3 or 4 truck, so as, as much Jews as possible were loaded onto each of
it, together with a few policemen: our comrades had to guard at the prisoners, and then, they
were used to form the execution squads.
After which, we travelled out of Minsk just for some miles, and then we arrived to an open field
North of the highway. There was a slightly hilly terrain where, previously, three graves had
been dug, 10 or 15 meters in lenght, 2 m in width and about 2.5 m deep. Also high officers of
the SS were present at the killing field.
The graves I had above mentioned, had been planned or dug by men that, clearly, were
already experienced in the slaughter of large masses of victims. The trenches in fact, had a
5
side that sloped to the bottom, so that the Jews were not obliged to jump inside from the edge,
but they could run along the ramp, directly towards the bottom of the pit.
The trucks approached the graves in reverse, and once they were close enough to the edge,
the Jews were forced to get off. In each of the pits, there were 12 policemen of the firing squad.
The Jews had to run towards them in groups of 12, so that each policeman had a victim in front
of him.
The Jews were clothed, and then were ordered to lie down, face to the ground. In the trench in
which I were, the command of fire was given by the Oltn. Rasche, who ordered: 1 – 2, Fire!
Then, a unique round of bullets was shot.
At a certain point, I was ordered by the Oltn. Ri. – but I cannot exclude that he was the Oltn.
Rasche – to finish the wounded with a deathblow. I think this happened in three cases, when I
saw the Jews that, although mortally hurt by the squad, had not been killed on the blow.
Then, when Rasche was called out of the trench, I was ordered by the Oltn. Ri. to take
command of the firing squad in that pit, a thing which I did, by giving twice the order of fire.
Finally, Ltn. Busche arrived to replace me.
Wikimedia – Bundesarchiv – The prison of Minsk
That day, 350 Jews, of both
sexes, but mainly men, were
killed in the three common
graves in which the firing
squads of our company had
been committed.
I would to emphasize that,
during the executions, no
unnecessary acts of cruelty
were perpetrated.
After the first group, the
trucks came back to the
square for taking other
victims. How many time the
lorries travelled back and
forth, this I don’t remember,
but I do not think this
happened so many times.
Although they were present
on the killing field, none of the SS-men took part in the executions.
6
Born in Württemberg in 1892, volunteer of war in 1914, police service in 1920, member of the
NSDAP since 1 May 1933, SS-Sturmbannführer since 1 December 1940. Commander of the
Polizei-Ausbildungs-Bataillon "Wien-Kagran" since February 1941 and of the Polizei-Bataillon
322 until August 1942. Prisoner of war, he was subjected to de-nazification in 1948 and was
finally dismissed from service. After the war he lived in Stuttgart. Passed away in November
1978.
Oltn. Josef Uhl 22:
Born at Gaggenau, Baden, in 1909. Member of the NSDAP and enrolled in the SS. Police service
since 1930, police officer (Ltn.) since 1939, Adjutant of the Polizei-Ausbildungs-Bataillon "Wien-
Kagran"/Polizei-Bataillon 322 from 1940 to March 1942, after which he requested - and
obtained - of being transferred to a police school. Back in service after 1946 as
Personalreferent at the Ministry of Interiors of Baden, and later, chef of the Personalabteilung of
the Landespolizeidirektion Südbaden. After the war he lived in Friburg.
Hptm. Reinhold Jörke:
Member of the NSDAP. Polizeihauptmeister since 1 May 1933. Enrolled in the SS. Commander of
the 1/322. Having socialist tendencies, he had been described as "SPD-Bonzen", in a report
produced by the 35 SS-Allgemeine-Standarte (Kassel) 23. Passed away some years after the
war, before the beginning of the Friburg trial.
Hptm. Sigfried Binz:
Born in 1898. Member of the NSDAP. Against him, in Spring 1933 a proceeding was opened by
the NSDAP-Kreisgericht Berlin-Spandau, for having fraudulently self-declared his militancy in
the NSDAP, as "alter Kämpfer" predated to 1928. Enrolled in the SS since Autumn 1939. From
July 1941, commander of the 2/33, in replacement of Hermann Lippmann. Passed away some
years after the war, before the beginning of the Friburg trial.
Oltn. Gerhard Riebel 24:
Born in Darmstadt. Member of the Allgemeine-SS since 30 April 1933. Trasferred to the SS-VT in
April 1939. Volunteer in the ordinary military service. Graduated at the SS-Junker-Schule in
1938 with the rank of SS-Obersturmfüher. Trasferred in regular service to the Schutzpolizei in
1939 at the age of 24, with the rank of Oberleutnant. Commander of the 3/322. After the war
he liveed in Darmstadt and remained in police service as Steuerinspektor at Bensheim an der
Bergstrasse (Darmstadt, Hesse).
7
Polizeiobermeister at the Kreispolizeibehoerde Siegen 25. After which, even among may
difficulties and reticences, in May 1962 the request for indictment was formalized to the Court
of Stuttgart by the Public Prosecutor of Stuttgart, versus Nagel, Uhl, Riebel and Hülsemann.
At that point however, the defence attorney of Nagel requested the intervention of the First
Instance Chamber at the Court of Stuttgart (Schwurgericht), which removed the position of
Nagel, because of alleged health reasons. In this way, having missed the main defendant, the
whole proceeding was transferred, for competence, to the Public Prosecutor of Friburg, as this
was the city of residence of the second main defendat, that is Uhl.
Finally, after a new series of investigations by this prosecutor - due to retractations,
amendments and gaps in the memory of the witnesses - a new request of indictment was
issued in February 1963 against the three remaining defendants (LG Freiburg, 1 Ks (AK) 1/63),
even though extremely weakened compared to that of Stuttgart, and requesting inexplicably
mild penalities: 5 years for Rieble, 3 years for Hülsemann and acquittal for Uhl, with further
reductions related to the periods of preventive detentions.
Nevetheless, although scarcely significant, also these requests were rejected on 12 July 1963
by the Court of Friburg, that issued a ruling of complete acquittal, based on the questionable
legal principle of the Befehlsnotstand. Analogously, in Januar 1965 even the appeal, presented
by the Public Prosecutor of Friburg, was rejected with the same motivations by the
Bundesgerichtshof, with the sentence BHG - 1 StT 498/63 of 14.1.1964.
Wikimedia – Bundesarchiv – von dem Bach in Minsk, 1943
But the judicial path,
however, was not yet over.
The discovering in the
archives of Prague in
January 1965, of the War
Diary of the Polizei-
Bataillon 322, with all its
unquestionable contents,
gave the ZStL another
chance for the reopening
of the proceedings, by
mean of the folder ZStL
202 AR-Z 6/65, that
requested to the
prosecutor having
jurisdiction - in this case
that of Darmstadt, the city
of residence of Gerhard
Riebel, now risen to the
role of main defendant -
the opening of the preliminary investigations. In 1966, with the folder LG Darmstad 2 Js 376/65,
the request of Ludwigsburg was upheld by Darmstadt, that proceeded with the investigations
against Riebel and other 19 policemen - who, until that moment, had been considered ordinary
witnesses - and, one more time, versus Uhl, charged with three further indictment of murder.
In this case the investigations lasted for about six years. Then, the ultimate word was
sentenced by the Court of Darmstadt through the final verdicts dated 2 February 1972, 27 April
1972 and 2 October 1972, that based again on the Befehlsnotstand or the Putativenotstand,
finally aquitted all the defendants and buried for the second time the about 10-11.000 victims -
9.000 of which were Jews - assassinated by the Polizei-Bataillon 322 during its service on the
Eastern front.
IV. CONSIDERATIONS
Compared to many other slaughter that already were, or would be soon perpetrated in Soviet
Union, that of Minsk of 1 September 1941 was of a comparatively reduced magnitude: 914
victims, 93% of which males aged between 15 and 60 - that is, of a category potentially able to
produce a menace - in addition to a small group of women, arrested because supposedly found
without the Judensterne - and then guilty (of misdemeanor, btw), according to the rules of the
occupiers: all of this might suggest a kind of selective slaughter, somehow based on
8
expendable pretexts and, therefore, scarcely contaminated by ideological and/or racial
motivations.
Nevertheless, in spite of any appearance, what emerges beyond a glance just a bit less than
superficial, is a real genocidal context, that produced a comparatively limited number of
victims just because it had been plotted with times and tools rather reduced, and also probably
because, so it has been decided, but that, not for these reasons, should be considered less
than heinous or worse, in some way justified.
It is worthwhile to highlight some fundamental facets.
1) First of all, the context in which, the slaughter was perpetrated, was not inci-dental, but
directly connected with the presence in town of several leaders of the SS and Police (and not
only): in fact, in addition to Daluege and von dem Bach, also General von Schenckendorff, the
Generalkommissar Kube and the BdO "Ostland" Jedicke were present at the ceremony for the
shifting of powers from the military to the civil authorities 26. And it's a given that, in summer
1941, a contemporary presence of "prominenten" in a same area - even though charachterized
by different degrees of ideological approach - produced , more often than not, brutal slaughter
of the Jewish population. In a certain sense, this was a way for fixing the points of no return,
real "cornerstones of the genocide", around which to develop, in ways, times and with varying
degrees of virulence and in coherence with the local circumstances, the subsequent stages of
the annihilation. As far as the city of Minsk is concerned, it was the main Soviet town taken by
the German troops until that moment, and it numbered a large Jewish community, of which it
would not been so easy "to get rid" (nor, perhaps, even convenient - during that very first
stage, at least), also because the potential victims were immersed within a large non-Jewish
majority, partly hostile, partly doubtful and partly favourable to the new rulers. Time, as
consequence, was needed to arrive to the complete annihilation, as well as pondered choices.
But in any case, a signal was necessary, to anyone able to understand it. In short, time was
needed for oiling the mechanism of the destruction and, possibily, for phisically filling the room
of those who would have been exterminated.
2) The second point is directly connected with the first. Demonstrated as it has been
demonstrated, the relation "presence of authorities/implementation of genocidal events", it
remains to determine what, and to whom, the signals transmitted by the authorities were
addressed. Well, we can probably state that the main recipients of the message were not the
detachments that had formed the first genocidal wave - that is the Einsatzgruppen - since they
had already proven to get by on their own resources, without whatsoever outer
encouragement, and also, of having well-present the goals and the limits of their actions.
Conversely, it is plausible that instead, it had been necessary to call, to their own
responsibilities 27 all those units and structures choosen to form the second genocidal wave -
namely, the police troops and specific units of the Waffen-SS, as well as the local auxiliaries
and some Wehrmacht security units, if necessary: in short, a large group of units well able to
furnish that large mass of apprentices of the destruction, that physiologically were lacking to
the Einsatzgruppen, but that instead, were indispensable for transferring the idea of the
Genocide from theory to reality.
With the direct intervention of the leaders, the beginning of the strategy of annihilation was
therefore pointed to those would have been tasked to perpetrate it (at least until the
introductions of more rational methods of destructions). And in this sense, the above
mentioned relation end by becoming a real syllogism:
3) The alleged necessity to proceed with the destruction of the so-called intellectuals - often
speciously considered a potential source of danger - carried out on the basis of omnipresent (?)
black lists, is totally groundless in the case of the slaughter of Minsk of September 1, 1941: and
this because the whole Jewish intellighenzia of Minsk had been already exterminated, as
confirmed by the EM 32 of July 24, 1941 28. And even admitting a furtuitous survival of several
alleged intellectuals, or subjects compromised with the former Soviet regime, well, the German
auhorities could not be aware of this for sure, since they were persuaded of having done a
careful investigation of the suspects (EM 21 of July 13, 1941). All of this, of course, unless they
9
had wanted to take the place of God, paraphrasing the Genesis and destroying fifthy innocents,
just to find out a single culprit 29.
4) The Jewish population of Minsk could not reasonably represent, during that stage at least,
any immediate and concrete menace for the occupiers. The fact that the Jewish ghetto had
been already established, greatly facilitated the control over those that, rightly or wrong, could
be considered potentially hostile. And although a wall was never raised around the perimeter of
the ghetto, but "just" a fence and watchtowers with sentries, the fact of having all the eggs in
the same baske", and what is more, well identified by unequivocal marks, erased the
inconvenience of having wandering Jews scattered in the rears. Under this point of view, at
least, the security problem had been solved once and for all.
V. EPITAPHS
These are some significant statements of policemen, former members of the Polizei-Bataillon
322, released during the hearings before the investigators.
10
Todesstrafe zu rechnen habe.”
Although indicative of a rather common attitude, or maybe of mere judicial defensive strategy,
also the alleged obligation to obey is nothig but misleading. Infact, the inconsistency and
speciousness of these and other statements - and even of the same Befehlsnotstand - has been
demontrated by Adalbert Rückerl, the director of the ZStL, in his book "NS-Verbrechen vor der
Gericht", from which we learn that there is not a single documented case where a policeman
has been sentenced to jail or to death for having refused to kill a Jew 33.
Conversely, there are some cases of disobedience to the orders, that received nothing more an
immediate verbal reaction: one in particular the resolute refusal, opposed to Jeckeln by Maj.
Heinrich Hannibal, to put the Polizei-Bataillon 303 at his disposal for the slaughter of Vinnitsa,
of 19 September 1941 34.
At this point, everything that has been said so far, confirms to us that, regardless the
magnitude, the slaughter of Minsk was a genocide, ideological and racial.
Just a few hours were needed and a handful of policemen, to proceed with the murdering of
914 civilian Jews.
Much more time and much more resources would have been necessary to perpetrate the
genocide of the Jewish people.
But that day in Minsk, on September 1, 1941, a step had been moved. The path of destruction
had been traced.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aedtner, Alfred: An Ort und Stelle eschossen. Der Kriminalist Alfred Aedtner über die
Massenmorde des Polizeibataillons 322. In Der Spiegel, 44/1986.
Angrick, Andrej/Voigt, Martina/Ammerschubert, Silke/Klein, Peter: “Da hätte man
schon ein Tagebuch führen müssen”. Das Polizeibataillon 322 und die Judenmorde im Bereich
der Heeresgruppe Mitte während des Sommers und Herbst 1941. Berlin, 1994. Quoted AVAK.
Breitman, Richard: Official Secrets. What the Nazis planned, what the British and Americans
knew. New York, 1998.
Curilla, Wolfgang: Die Deutsche Ordnungspolizei und der Holocaust im Baltikum und in
Weissrussland, 1941-1944. Paderborn, 2006.
Gerlach, Christian: Kalkulierte Morde: die deutsche Wirtschafts- und Vernichtungspolitik in
Weissrussland 1941-1944. Hamburg, 1999.Kohl, Paul: Der Krieg der deutschen Wehrmacht und
der Polizei 1941-1944. Sowjetische Überlebende berichten. Frankfurt am Main, 1995.
Klee, Ernst/Dressen, Willi/Riess, Volker: “Schöne Zeiten”. Judenmord aus der Sicht der
Täter ung Gaffer. Frankfurt on Main, 1988.
Klemp, Stefan: “Nicht Ermittelt”. Polizeibataillone und die Nachkriegsjustiz. Ein Handbuch.
Essen, 2005.
Kwiet, Konrad: From the Diary of a Killing Unit. Providence, 1993
Langerbein, Helmuth: Hitler’s death squads. The Logic of Mass Murder. College Station,
2003.
Lichtenstein, Heiner: Himmlers grüne Helfer. Die Schutz- und Ordnungspolizei im “Dritten
Reich”. Cologne, 1990.
Longerich, Peter: Politik der Vernichtung. Eine Gesamtdarstellung der nationalsozialistischen
Judenverfolgung. Munich, 1998.
Mallmann, Klaus-Michael/Riess, Volker/Pyta, Wolfram: Deutscher Osten 1939 –1945. Der
Weltanschauungskrieg in Photo und Texten. Stuttgart, 2003.
Westermann, Edward B.: Hitler’s Police Bataillons. Einforcing Racial War in the East.
Lawrence, 2005.
Westberg, Lennart: Zwei Polizistenschicksale im Zweiten Weltkrieg – Befehlsverweigerung
und Widerstand. In Archiv für Polizeigeschichte 3/1991.
FOOTNOTES
1
Kohl, pages 78 and 91, Gerlach, pages 506-508.
11
2
A number of camps, for POW, transit and extermination (Maly Trostenez), were or would been
established in the area of Minsk: in addition to those already mentioned, there were the
detention centers of Kolasstrasse and Logoisker-Strasse, the Stalag 352, the Güterbanhof and
the aviation camp.
3
Gerlach, pages 523-524, Kohl, pages 246-247.
4
Towards the beginning of July, the whole male population of Minsk, aged between 15 (or 18)
and 45 (or 50) had been deported to the POW camp of Drodsy, about 5 km north of the town,
for being submitted to an ideological screening, during which among the Jews – both the
civilians and the POWs – about 3.000 people were selected: so-called “intellectuals”,
professionals and elements of alleged Communist faith, or members of the former Soviet
apparatus. Epstein, pages 80-81. Then, the selected prisoners were transferred to a quarry and
executed by a kommando of the EGB, of the GFP and probably, of the EG zbV (TK “Bonifer”).
Curilla, pages 463-464, Gerlach, pages 507-507. See the EM 21 of 13 July 1941, in which is
reported the establishing of the camp, and the clearing of 1.050 Jews, after careful
investigations. Then, according to the EM 32 of 24 July, the whole Jewish intellighenzia of
Minsk, had been cleared: this report was preceded (22 July), by a despatch by Nebe to the
Heeresgruppe “Mitte”, according to which, in Minsk gibt es keine jüdische Intelligenz mehr.
Gerlach, page 509. The camp of Drosdy was emptied within 19 July, after the transferring to
West of the prisoners of war, and the freeing of most of the Belorussian civilians and the Jews
that survived the selection. The remainder inmates – some thousands of civilian, including
many non-Jews – were transferred to the camp of Masyukovshchina (Stalag 352).
5
Gerlach, page 549.
6
The slaughter of Bialystok of 27 June 1941, exclusively perpetrated by a police battalions, was
one of these exceptions. See our previous article.
7
AVAK, page 342, Longerich, page 370. Gerlach, page 228, identifies Koch as a commander of
the SK 7c (formerly, VK “Moskau”) of the EGB. Actually, it is not clear what, the role of Koch
was, in July 1941: nevertheless, whether he was tasked to coordinate the action in the ghetto
of Minsk, it is plausible that he was the referent at the section IV.B 4 of the Stab/EGB, or maybe
an officer at the SK 7b. Manfred Ziedler, Der Minsker Kriegsverbrechen Prozess vom Januar
1946, page 228, identifies him as “an officer of a Sonderkommando of the EGB”.
8
This slaughter, that followed that of the Synagogue perpetrated on 27 June by the Polizei-
Bataillon 309, will be examined in a future article.
9
Curilla, page 556. LG Friburg I AK 1/63 of 12.7.1963.
10
Breitman, page 50, Curilla, page 555, Klee/Dressen/Riess, page 28, Klemp, page 291.
11
AVAK, page 342, Breitman, page 50.
12
Curilla, page 556, Langerbein, page 141.
13
Breitman, page 50.
14
Langerbein, page 141. Uhl would have urged Nagel to leave the scene of the massacre, but
he was allowed only after thirty minutes had passed. LG Friburg I AK 1/63 del 12.7.1963.
15
Curilla, page 556, Langerbein, page 141.
16
Klee/Dressen/Riess, pages 28-29. KTB 3/322, 1.9.41. Curilla, page 557.
17
EM 92 of 23 Septembe 1941, page 39, Curilla, page 557, Longerich, pages 370, 683. It is not
clear whether in this total of 2.278 victims, also the 914 of September 1 were enclosed: it is
plausible however, that being this action been perpetrated solely by the Ordnungspolizei, the
total reported in the EM 92 is the number of victims produced by the EK 8 during its own
specific action.
18
In ZStL: 202 AR-Z 6/65 Bd. II, Bl. 391ff of 19.19.1965. AVAK, page 379. As far as the
executions are concerned, Longerich, page 683, quotes also the testimony of another
policeman, Alois Fisher, releaset to the ZStL on 27.10.1965.
19
Klee/Dressen/Riess, pages 28-29.
20
Alfred Aedtner “An Ort und Stelle erschossen”. Der Spiegel 44/1986, pages 76-99.
21
AVAK, pagg. 362-366. See also Klemp, pages 292-294, who resume the judicial aspects of
Aedtner’s article.
22
About Uhl see Lichtenstein, pages 60-61.
23
AVAK, pages 353, 382. Report by 35 SS-Standarte to SS-Abschnitt XI-XVIII of 24 March 1933.
24
About Riebel see Lichtenstein, page 61.
25
After having served 4 years in Soviet captivity, after his release Hülsemann continued his
police duty at the Ministry of the Interiors of Nordrhein-Westfalen. Lichtenstein, page 61.
26
Gerlach, page 568.
27
See, for example the speech of Gen.Maj. Retzlaff, IdO “Wien”, on the eve of the departure
from Vienna of the Polizei-Bataillon 322 (6 June 1941): " ... daß sich jeder vom Bataillon bewußt
12
sein soll, den slawischen Völkern gegenüber als Herrenmensch aufzutreten und zu zeigen, daß
er Deutscher sei". Aedtner, page 89. See also Westermann, page 2, Curilla, page 546, Kwiet,
pages 78-79, Breitman, page 45.
28
See note nr. 4.
29
Genesis 18, 22-32.
30
AVAK, pag. 353.
31
AVAK, pag. 354.
32
AVAK, pag. 356.
33
Aedtner, page 85, Westermann, page 236, Kwiet, page 87.
34
Klemp, pages 54-57, Westberg, page 81, Curilla, page 935. Maj. Hannibal reached the apex
of his military career with the rank of SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei, as
commander of a police kampfgruppe in Eastern Prussia, in 1945. He passed away in Hamburg
in 1971, at the age of 82.
13