SS and police leader: Difference between revisions

The title of '''SS and Police Leader''' ('''{{lang|de|SS- und Polizeiführer}}''') designated a senior [[Nazi Party]] official who commanded various components of the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] and the German uniformed police (''[[Ordnungspolizei]]''), prior tobefore and during [[World War II]] in the [[Third Reich|German Reich]] proper and in the [[German-occupied Europe|occupied territories]].

However, inIn all other occupied territories, there were no ''Wehrkreise'' or ''Oberabschnitte''were established, so the HSSPF existed aswere independent entities. However, they had something the Reich HSSPFs did notcommands –with several subordinate ''SS- und Polizeiführer'' (SS and Police Leader, SSPF) commands reporting to them. These positions were created beginning in November 1939 to assist the HSSPF in administering the large areas under their jurisdiction.{{sfn|Yerger|1997|pp=22, 52}}

The SS and Police Leaders directly commanded a headquarters staff with representatives from almost every branch of the SS and the police. This typically included the ''[[Ordnungspolizei]]'' (Orpo; regular [[police]]), [[Sicherheitspolizei|SiPo]] (security police) including the [[Gestapo]] ([[secret police]]), ''[[Totenkopfverbände]]'' (SS-TV; [[Nazi concentration camps]]), [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]] ([[intelligence service]]), and certain units of the [[Waffen-SS]] ([[combat]] units). Most of thesethe SS and Police LeadersHSSPF normally held the rank of SS-''[[Gruppenführer]]'' or above, and answered directly to Himmler in all matters pertaining to the SS within their area of responsibility. TheirMost SSPF normally held the rank of SS-''[[Oberführer]]'' or SS-''[[Brigadeführer]]'' and reported to their HSSPF. The role of all SS and Police Leaders was to be part of the SS control mechanism within thetheir regionjurisdiction, policing the population and overseeing the activities of the SS men within each respective district.{{sfn|Koehl|2004|pp=144, 148, 169, 176–177}} The HSSPF could bypass the [[command hierarchy|chain of command]] of the administrative offices for the SS, SD, SiPo, SS-TV and Orpo in their district under the "guise of an emergency situation,", thereby gaining direct operational control of these groups.{{sfn|McNab|2009|p=165}}

Himmler authorized SS and Police Bases (''SS- und Polizeistützpunkte'') to be established in occupied Poland and occupied areas of the [[Soviet Union]]. They were to be "armed industrialized agricultural complexes." They would alsoto maintain order in the areas where they were established. However, theyThis did not getgo beyond the planning stage.<ref>Ingrao, Charles W.; Szabo, Franz A. J. (2008). ''The Germans and the East.'' [[Purdue University Press]], p. 288. [https://books.google.com/books?id=IHAcEB8jh1AC&pg=PA288]</ref>

The SS and Police Leaders were key figures in many of the [[war crime]]s committed by SS personnel. The HSSPF served as commanding SS generals for any ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'' ([[death squad]]s) operating in their area. This entailed ordering the deaths of tens of thousands of persons. In addition, they launched ruthless anti-[[Partisan (military)|partisan]] operations and directed police units to acquire [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labor]] for war-related projects.{{sfn|McNab|2009|p=166}}

The SS and Police Leaders were the overseeing authority of the [[Jews|Jewish]] [[Nazi ghettos|ghettos]] in Poland and directly coordinated deportations to Nazi [[extermination camps]]. They had direct command over [[Order Police battalions]] and SD regiments that were assigned to guard the ghettos. The HSSPF regularly provided SS and police guards and other support personnel for the transports to the death camps, and also negotiated with the agencies and ministries of the Reich for rolling stock, supplies and provisions, rail schedules, and an array of other requirements necessary to keep the roundups and the death trains moving efficiently. And, in the satellite and client states, the HSSPF negotiated directly with the [[puppet state|puppet]] or [[Collaboration with theNazi AxisGermany powersand Fascist Italy|collaborationist]] governments to hand over their Jews for deportation to the East. Finally, the HSSPF were also directly involved in the construction and operation of the extermination camps.<ref>[https://www.museumoftolerance.com/education/archives-and-reference-library/online-resources/simon-wiesenthal-center-annual-volume-6/annual-6-chapter-10.html On the Historiography of the SS] in [https://www.museumoftolerance.com/ Museum of Tolerance] Retrieved 14 February 2022.</ref> Following the end of the war, many SS and Police Leaders, particularly those who had served in Poland and the Soviet Union, either committed [[suicide]] or were charged with [[war crime]]s and [[crimes against humanity]].{{sfn|Yerger|1997|p=23}}

InThere addition to thewere two HöSSPF notedcommands previously,and there were some thirty-eight38 HSSPF commands, nineteen19 in the Reich and another nineteen19 in the occupied lands. Most of these had several different commanders over the lifetime of the post.{{sfn|Yerger|1997|pp=25-51}} Similarly, there were some forty-nine49 SSPF commands subordinated to those HSSPF leaders in the occupied territories, also with multiple commanders over the years. Some of these areas were renamed, merged, or dissolved during the duration of their existence, particularly as German military control over the eastern territories was relentlessly eroded later in the war.{{sfn|Yerger|1997|pp=52-81}}

|+ Table of Supreme SS and Police Leader (HöSSPF) Commands{{sfn|Yerger|1997|pages=23-25}}

|+ Table of Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) Commands<br/> in the German Reich<br /><small>(By [[Wehrkreis]])</small>{{sfn|Yerger|1997|pages=25-40}}

| ''NordöstNordost'' ||I || [[East Prussia]] || [[Königsberg]] || [[Wilhelm Rediess]]<br/>[[Jakob Sporrenberg]]<br/>[[Hans-Adolf Prützmann]] || June 1938 – June 1940<br/>June 1940 – May 1941<br/>May 1941 – May 1945

| ''Südost'' || VIII || [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]] || [[Breslau]] || [[Ernst-Heinrich Schmauser]]<br/>[[Walter Bierkamp]]<br/>[[Richard Hildebrandt]] || May 1941 – February 1945<br/>February 1945 – March 1945<br/>March 1945 – May 1945

| ''NördseeNordsee''<br/><small>(''Nordwest'' prior to April 1940)</small> || X || [[Province of Schleswig-Holstein|Schleswig-Holstein]]<br/>Northern [[Province of Hanover|Hanover]]<br/>[[Hamburg]]<br/>[[Free State of Oldenburg|Oldenburg]]<br/>[[Bremen]] || Hamburg || [[Hans-Adolf Prützmann]]<br/>[[Rudolf Querner]]<br/>[[Georg-Henning Graf von Bassewitz-Behr]] || June 1938 – April 1941<br/>May 1941 – January 1943<br/>February 1943 – May 1945

| ''Weichsel'' || XX || [[Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia]] || [[Danzig]] || [[Richard Hildebrandt]]<br/>[[Fritz Katzmann]] ||OctoberSeptember 1939 – April 1943<br/>April 1943 – May 1945

|+ Table of Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) Commands<br/> in the Occupied Territories<ref group=notes>

A further HSSPF command, to be known as ''Kaukasien'' was planned for the [[Caucasus]] in 1942 to be commanded by [[Gerret Korsemann]] but was never activated. The six SSPF commands that were to be subordinated to it were instead assigned to HSSPF ''Russland-Süd''. (Yerger, 1997, p.44)</ref><br /><small>(By date of establishment)</small>{{sfn|Yerger|1997|pages=39; 43-51}}

| ''BöhemeBöhmen und Mähren'' || [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] || [[Prague]] || [[Karl Hermann Frank]]<br />[[Richard Hildebrandt]] || April 1939 – April 1945<br />April 1945 – May 1945

| ''GreichenlandGriechenland'' || [[Occupied Greece|Greece]] || [[Athens]] || [[Jürgen Stroop]]<br/>[[Walter Schimana]]<br/>[[Hermann Franz]] || September 1943 – October 1943<br/>October 1943 – September 1944<br/>September 1944 – November 1944

| ''Schwarzes SeeMeer''<br /><small>(Subordinated to HöSSPF ''Ukraine'' from October 1943)</small><br />|| [[Black Sea]] coast || [[Mykolaiv|Nikolajew]] || [[Ludolf-Hermann von Alvensleben]]<br/>[[Richard Hildebrandt]] || October 1943 – December 1943<br/>December 1943 – September 1944

| ''DanmarkDänemark'' || [[Denmark in World War II|Denmark]] || [[Copenhagen]] || [[Günther Pancke]] || October 1943 – May 1945

| ''Ungarn'' || [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)]] || [[Budapest]] || [[Otto Winkelmann]] || March 1944 – February 1945

| ''Slowakei'' || [[SlovakiaSlovak Republic (1939–1945)]] || [[Pressburg]] || [[Gottlob Berger]]<br/>[[Hermann Höfle]] || August 1944 – September 1944<br/ >September 1944 – May 1945

| ''Siebenbürgen'' || [[Transylvania]] ||- – || [[Richard Hildebrandt]]<br /> [[Artur Phleps]] || August 1944 – September 1944<br/>September 1944

|+ Table of SS and Police Leader (SSPF) Commands{{sfn|Yerger|1997|pages=52-81}}

|BergvolkerBergvölker-OrdshonikidseoOrdshonikidse**||''Russland-Süd''||[[Wilhelm Günther]]||May 1942 – August 1942

|Dnjepropetrowsk-Krivoi-Rog||''Russland-Süd''<br />''Ukraine''*||[[Georg-Henning Graf von Bassewitz-Behr]]<br />[[Hermann Harm]]<br />[[Waldemar Wappenhans]]<br />[[Karl Schäfer (SS-Brigadeführer)|Karl Schäfer]]||November 1941 – August 1942<br />August 1942 – October 1942<br />October 1942 – October 1943<br />October 1943 – November 1943

|''Estland''||''Ostland und Russland-Nord'' ||[[Hinrich Möller]]<br />Walter[[Walther Schröder]]||August 1941 – April 1944<br />April 1944 – October 1944

|''Friaul''<br /><small>(Renamed ''Adriatische-West'', April 1945)</small>||''Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland ''||[[Ludolf Jakob von Alvensleben]]||October 1944 – May 1945

|''Istrien''||''Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland '' ||[[Johann-Erasmus Freiherr von Malsen-Ponickau]] ||October 1944 – May 1945

|Lemberg||''Ost'' (General Government)||[[Fritz Katzmann]]<br />[[Willi Ost]]<br />[[Theobald Thier]]<br />[[Christoph Diehm]]||AprilAugust 1941 – April 1943<br />April 1943 – July 1943<br />July 1943 – February 1944<br />February 1944 – September 1944

|''Lettland''||''Ostland und Russland-Nord'' ||Walter[[Walther Schröder]]||August 1941 – October 1944

|''MitteitalienMittelitalien''-Verona||''Italien''*||[[Karl-Heinz Bürger]]||December 1943 – May 1945

|Montenegro||''Serbien, Montenegro und Sandschak''||[[Richard Fiedler (SS-Brigadeführer)|Richard Fiedler]]||October 1943 – October 1944

|Nikolajew||''Russland-Süd''<br />''Ukraine''*||[[Fritz Tittmann]]<br />[[Waldemar WappenhausWappenhans]]<br />[[Paul Zimmermann (SS-Brigadeführer)|Paul Zimmermann]]<br />[[Ludolf-Hermann von Alvensleben]]||October 1941 – September 1942<br/>September 1942 – April 1943<br />April 1943 – October 1943<br />October 1943 – February 1944

|''Oberitalien-Mitte''||''Italien''*||[[Ernst-Albrecht Hildebrandt]]||April 1944 – October 1944

|Pripet||''Russland-Mitte und Weissruthenia'' ||[[Ernst Hartmann (SS-Brigadeführer)|Ernst Hartmann]]||December 1943 – September 1944

|Rostow-Awdejewka||''Russland-Süd''||[[Richard Wendler]]<br />[[GerrettGerret Korsemann]]<br />[[Paul Hennicke]]||January 1942 – May 1942<br />May 1942 – October 1942<br />October 1942 – May 1943

|Rowno<br /><small>(Renamed Wolhynien-Luzk, September 1942)</small>||''Russland-Süd''<br />''Ukraine''*||[[GerrettGerret Korsemann]]<br />[[Waldemar Wappenhans]]<br />[[Wilhelm Günther]]<br />[[Ernst Hartmann (SS-Brigadeführer)|Ernst Hartmann]]||August 1941 – January 1942<br />January 1942 – August 1942<br /> September 1942 – June 1944<br />June 1944 – September 1944

|Shitomir||''Russland-Süd''<br />''Ukraine''*||[[Otto Hellwig]]<br />[[Willy Schmelcher]]<br />Hans[[Ernst Traupe<brHartmann />(SS-Brigadeführer)|Ernst Hartmann]]<br />[[Christoph Diehm]]||October 1941 – May 1943<br />May 1943 – September 1943<br />September 1943 – October 1943<br />October 1943 – January 1944<br />January 1944 – February 1944

|Stalino-Donezgebiet||''Russland-Süd''||[[Hans Döring (SS-Brigadeführer)|Hans Döring]]<br />[[Willy Tensfeld]]||November 1941 – May 1943<br />May 1943 – September 1943

|Taurien-Krim-Simferopol||''Russland-Süd''<br />''Ukraine''*||[[Ludolf-Hermann von Alvensleben]]<br />[[Heinz Roch]]<br />[[Richard Hildebrandt]]||November 1941 – October 1943<br />October 1943 – December 1943<br />December 1943 – September 1944

|Triest||''Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland ''||[[WilhelmGeorg MichalsonMichalsen]]||October 1944 – May 1945

|Tschernigow||''Russland-Süd''||[[Ludolf-Hermann von Alvensleben]]<br />[[Willy Schmelcher]]<br />[[Ernst Hartmann (SS-Brigadeführer)|Ernst Hartmann]]||October 1941 – November 1941<br />November 1941 – July 1943<br />July 1943 – October 1943

|''Weissruthenien''<br /><small>(Also known as Minsk)</small>||''Ostland und Russland-Nord''<br /><small>(To April 1943)</small><br />''Russland-Mitte und Weissruthenia''||[[Jakob Sporrenberg]]<br />[[KarlCarl Zenner]]<br />[[Karl Schäfer (SS-Brigadeführer)|Karl Schäfer]]<br />[[KurtCurt von Gottberg]]<br />[[Erich Ehrlinger]]||July 1941 – August 1941<br />August 1941 – May 1942<br />May 1942 – July 1942<br />July 1942 – September 1943<br />September 1943 – April 1944