Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz

Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz
Selbstschutz leaders in Bydgoszcz at the time of the Bydgoszcz massacres of both Jewish and non-Jewish Poles (from left to right):
SS-Standartenführer Ludolf Jakob von Alvensleben
SS-Obersturmbannführer Erich Spaarmann,
SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans Kölzow, and
SS-Sturmbannführer Christian Schnug
CountryPoland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Soviet Union
AllegianceNazi Germany, the SS
TypeParamilitary police reserve
Nazi Mayor of Bromberg Werner Kampe with Josef Meier and Ludolf von Alvensleben, leader of Selbstschutz in Pomerania, during inspection of Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz in 1939
Ludolf von Alvensleben as leader of Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz in West Prussia, 1939

The Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz was an ethnic-German self-protection militia,[1] a paramilitary organization comprising ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) mobilized from among the German minority in Poland.

The Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz operated before, and during the opening stages of, World War II in the western half of Poland[2] and were responsible for, and took part in, massacres of Poles, along with SS Einsatzgruppen.

The Selbstschutz numbered some 100,000 members, who formed the greater part of the German minority "fit for action".[3]

  1. ^ Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich at War: 1939–1945 (Penguin, 2009).
  2. ^ Christian Jansen, Arno Weckbecker: Der "Volksdeutsche Selbstschutz" in Polen 1939/40. München: R. Oldenbourg, 1992. ISBN 3-486-64564-1
  3. ^ Peter Longerich, Heinrich Himmler: A Life, Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 429.