Hitler's Foreign Executioners (81 page)

  
1
   Now
, Huta Penyats’ka in Ukraine.

  
2
   
http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/19/188/

  
3
   Archiwum Akt Nowich, Warsaw, Signatur 203/XV/14. Source: Hendy papers.

  
4
   Antoni Szczesniak & Wieslaw Szota,
Droga na nikad
(Warsawin, 1973).

  
5
   Hendy papers, interview with Miecelslaw Bernacki, 2004, quoted with permission.

  
6
   The spelling ‘Reinhardt’ rather than ‘Reinhard’ suggests another possibility. The new plan may have referred to the German State Secretary of Finance Fritz Reinhardt.

  
7
   I am grateful to Julian Hendy for generously sharing his research materials referred to here as: Hendy, unpublished manuscript (2003). See also: Michael Hanusiak,
Lest We Forget
(New York, 2nd Edn, May 1975); and
Ukrainischer Nationalismus: Theorie und Prazis
(Globus Verlag, Wien, 1979), both cited by Hendy.

  
8
   Trawniki ID file 3191, photograph of SM Fostun in
AUFCGB, Almanac 2 1964–1980
(London, 1980), p. 14; cited in Hendy, unpublished manuscript (2003).

  
9
   Quoted in Black,
Die Trawniki Männer
.

10
   
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-1st-circuit/1531166.html

11
   United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, Case 77–2668-Civ NRC, 25 July 1978. USA Plaintiff
v
. Feordor Fedorenko, defendant.

12
   Arad (1987), p. 197.

13
   Wolfgang Scheffler, Helge Grabitz,
Der Ghettoaufstand Warschau 1943 – aus der Sicht der Taeter und Opfer in Aussagen vor deutschen Gerichten
(München, 1993), pp. 131, 396; fn. 23.

14
   See Trawniki personnel files cited in Hendy (2003) for men all entering on 13.02.43: Myron Samyliuk from Tlumacz district, Trawniki ID No 3198; Peter Samiliuk from Tlumacz district, Trawniki ID No 3200; Wasyl Hudyma from Tlumacz district, Trawniki ID No 3202; Iwan Merenda from Tlumacz district, Trawniki ID No 3227; Dmytro Drysliuk from Kolomea district, Trawniki ID No 3245; Jurko Budnyckyj from Kolomea district, Trawniki ID No 3263; Wasyl Bojczuk from Tlumacz district, Trawniki ID No 3293 – OSI documents. It would appear that more than 100 new recruits joined the Trawniki unit on this day. The Germans had a severe shortage of guards at the time.

15
   Wolfgang Scheffler, Helge Grabitz‚
Der Ghetto Aufstand Warschau 1943: aus der Sicht der Täter und Opfer in Aussagen vor deutschen Gerichten
(München, 1993), pp. 194ff.

16
   BA R58/1005: Meeting, 10.6.43. I am grateful to Ray Brandon for drawing my attention to this document.

17
   Quoted in Merridale (2005), p. 162.

18
   Beevor (1998), p. 398.

19
   See for example ‘Meldung 51a’, December 1942 NARA, T175, 81/260/1524.

20
   See Cooper (1979), pp. 78–9.

21
   See for example Logusz (1997), Chapter 5.

22
   BA NA A3343-SSO–213B, Wächter, Personalakt. For other career details, see Pohl (1996).

23
   ZStL, 208 AR 797/66.

24
   Malaparte, pp.98ff., 144ff.

25
   According to the researcher Robin O’Neil: ‘The leading decision-makers in the Nazi hierarchy who argued for total Jewish extermination by gassing were now coming to the fore, and among the leading advocates in the General Government who were in favor of gassing were Dr Wilhelm Dolpheid, SS-Obersturmbannführer, Dr Ludwig Losacker, SS-Obersturmbannführer Helmut Tanzmann, SS-Gruppenführer and Governor, Otto Wächter.’
http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/belzec1/bel050.html

26
   See Pohl (1997) for a detailed account of infighting between Hitler’s potentates.

27
   NARA, T175/70/2586239–60.

28
   Quoted in Melnyk, p. 12.

29
   Tgb. N. 104\43g,28/4.1943.

30
   Feldkommandostelle 28/03/1943, Tgb.Nr 47/82/43 Rf/Bn. HFD, H/10/6.

31
   Berger, 6/05/1943, cdSSHA/BE/Dr/VS-Tgb.Nr2239/43g. HFD, H/10/12.

32
   See Jurgen Thorwald,
The Illusion: Soviet Soldiers in Hitler’s Armies
(New York, 1975), pp. 135ff.

33
   The minutes are recorded in HFD, H/10/14.

34
   For details see Pohl (1996), pp. 182ff., 280ff.

35
   A caveat is in order here. In July 1942, the SS recruited two Ukrainian police auxiliary units, the 102nd and 110th.Once training had been completed the units were assigned to duties in Belarus. Two years later, the SS redesigned the two units as Schuma battalions, which were later absorbed by the 30th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division (Weissruthenische No 2). After the Allied landings in Normandy, the Germans decided to use this bodged together division to combat French Maquis units (now known as the Forces Frangaises de l’lnterieur, or FFI) in the ‘Belfort Gap’ in the Vosges. This completely unexpected turn of events dismayed the Ukrainians who had expected to fight the Soviet army. In August 1944, the Ukrainians shot their German officers and joined the FFI. After the war, some of the Ukrainians were deported to the USSR and ended up in Soviet camps. Others joined the French Foreign Legion and fought in Indochina and North Africa. See R. Sorebey,
Forum for the Study of the UPA
(2005).

36
   Tgb.N10\43g.28/4/1943.

37
   Quoted in Melnyk, p. 26.

38
   HFD, H/10/26, 10 May 1943.

39
   Berger to Himmler, 3 June 1943. HFD, H/10/34.

40
   Quoted in Melnyk (2005), p. 30.

41
   Cüppers (2006), p. 420.

42
   Brandon, personal communication.

43
   Quoted in Housden (2003), pp. 206ff.

44
   Zvi Weigler,
Yad Vashem Bulletin
, No 1 (1957).

45
   See for example Logusz (1997), a partisan account of the SS division’s formation and history, pp. 492ff.

46
   Minutes of the Meetings of the Military Board ‘Galicia’:
Brotherhood of Veterans
, (Toronto, 1993), pp. 90–5.

47
   See also in Polish S. Wronski & M. Zwolakowa,
Polacy Zydzi, 1939–1945
(Warsaw, 1971); and in English T. Piotrowski (1998), pp. 229ff.

48
   NARA, RG242, frames 0689–1843. Quoted in Blood, p. 76.

49
   See Förster,
Die Sicherung des ‘Lebensraumes’
, p. 1240.

50
   Melnyk includes Himmler’s complete speech in ‘To Battle’, Appendix VIII.

13  ‘We Shall Finish Them Off’

  
1
   Noakes & Pridham (1988), p. 996.

  
2
   Evans (2008), pp. 618ff.

  
3
   See
The Kersten Memoirs
(New York, 1957).

  
4
   Longerich (2008), p. 728.

  
5
   Pridham & Noakes (1998), p. 928.

  
6
   This account of the Polish uprising is based on Davies (2004), Ciechanowski (1974) and Hanson (1982). I am grateful to the Warsaw Rising Museum for their assistance in Warsaw.

  
7
   Frank, Diary, p. 310.

  
8
   Kershaw,
Nemesis
, p. 725.

  
9
   These details are provided in the ‘Bach Zelewski files’ held at the Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltung Ludwigsburg:

Wehrmachtkommandatur Warschau

Korpsgruppe von dem Bach

Kampfgruppe Reinefarth

Waffen-SS:

SS-Pz.Gren.Ausb.u.Ers.Btl (SS-Kampfgruppe)

SS-Kav.Ausb.u.Ers.Abt.8

SS-Flak-Abt.5

SS-Sonder-Rgt. Dirlewanger

Polizei (17)

Inc, Schutzmannschaftsbataillon Kos. Batl.209

Wesiruth.Btl. 13 (Sipo)

Kampfgruppe

Korpsgruppe BZ:

29. Waffen SS (RONA)

SS-Brigade Dirlewanger

Kampfgruppe Reinefarth

Inf.Btl. 1/111 Aserbeidschan

II Btl. Bergmann Aserbeidschan

Kosaken-Regt.3

IV.Kosaken-Sicherungs-Rgt. 57

Kosaken-Abt. 69

Kosaken-Abt. 572

10
   ZStL: BA 162/19784, Bach-Zelewski interrogation.

11
   NARA, RG 242, T175/R 109/2632683–85.

12
   NARA RG 153, interrogation of Dr Wilhelm Gustav Schüppe, April 1945, cited by Breitman (1991).

13
   Gerhard von Mende’s handwritten curriculum vitae can be accessed at Humboldt University, Berlin: UAHUB, M138 Bd.1, 16/11/1939. His daughter married Bjorn Østring, the Norwegian SS volunteer I interviewed in Oslo, and his son Erling still lives in Berlin.

14
   See Johnson (2010), pp. 19–21.

15
   Hauner (1981), Chapter Two.

16
   NARA RG 238, M–1019/R 33/222, interrogation of Prince Veli Kajum Khan, 27 February 1947.

17
   Littlejohn (1987).

18
   Heiber & Glatz (2005), p. 73.

19
   Bräutigam (1968).

20
   Johnson (2010), pp. 26–7.

21
   
The Wannsee Conference and the Genocide of the European Jews
(Berlin, 2002), p. 89.

22
   Gerhard von Mende and others claimed that the Germans spared the ‘Mountain Jews’ of the North Caucasus. But a new study by Kiril Feferman has shown that many ‘Mountain Jews’ were also killed. A few
Bergjuden
communities escaped because German race experts were divided about the ethnic identity of these mysterious peoples. Some believed they were ‘Tats’, descended from Iranians. HGS, V, No 1 (spring 2007).

23
   Trials of the War Criminals before the Nürnberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No 10 (Washington DC) Document No 1818: Leibbrandt and Berger: ‘Agreement between the Reich Leader SS and Chief of the German Police and the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories’, 15 March 1943.

24
   See P. Klein, ‘Curt von Gottberg’, in K. Mallmann & G. Paul,
Karrieren der Gewalt: NS Täterbiographien
(Darmstadt, 2004).

25
   Quoted in Maclean, pp. 182ff.

26
   See Schulte, pp. 172ff.

27
   Ibid., p. 175.

28
   Teske,
Die Silbernen Spiegel: Generalstabdients unter der Lupe
(Heidelberg, 1952).

29
   For more details see: Leonid Rein, ‘Untermenschen in SS Uniforms: 30th Waffen-Grenadier-Division of Waffen SS’, in
The Journal of Slavic Military Studies
, 1556–3006, Vol. 20, Issue 2 (2007), pp. 329–45.

30
   Erickson (1983), pp. 272–3.

31
   Ibid., p. 329.

32
   Noakes & Pridham, op. cit., VIII, p. 952.

33
   Reported by Davies, Blood & Hanson, op. cit.

34
   The pretext may have been an incident when RONA men raped and killed two German women of the Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) organisation.

14  Bonfire of the Collaborators

  
1
   Author interview, November 2007.

  
2
   H. Heiber (ed.),
Hitler and his Generals: Military Conferences 1942–1945
(London, 2002), pp. 711–4.

  
3
   Longerich (2007), pp. 754ff.

  
4
   De la Mazière (1922–2006) was interviewed in Marcel Ophuls’ documentary about occupied France,
Le Chagrin et la Pitié
(1969), and wrote the autobiographical
La Rêveur Casqué
(Paris, 1973) and
La Rêveur Blessé
(Paris, 2003). His notoriety has obscured his importance.

  
5
   See Susan Zucotti,
The Holocaust, the French and the Jews
(Basic Books, 1993), pp. 13ff.

  
6
   Quoted in E. Weber,
Action Francaise
(Stanford, 1962), p. 199.

  
7
   
Le Pays Réel
, 30 June 1943, quoted in Conway, p. 342.

  
8
   Müller (2008), p. 135.