AU/ACSC/39-5390/2006

AIR COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE

AIR UNIVERSITY

NAZI IDEOLOGY AND THE USE OF SPECIAL SSFORMATIONS IN COUNTER RESISTANCE OPERATIONS

by

Sean M. Hoyer, Maj, USAF

A Research Report Submitted to the Faculty

In Partial Fulfillment of the Graduation Requirements

Advisor: Dr. Matthew Schwonek, PhD

Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama

April 2006

1

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this academic research paper are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the US Government or the Department of

Defense. In accordance with the Air Force Instruction 51-303, it is not copyrighted, but is the property of the United States Government.

2

Contents

Page

PREFACE………………………………………………………………………………5

INTODUCTION………………………………………………………………………..7

REVIEW OF LITERATURE…………………………………………………………..9

CHAPTER 1 – NAZI SEIZURE OF THE GERMAN NATION……………………...10

CHAPTER 2 – IDEOLOGY INCARNATE: THE ORDER OF THE BLACK KNIGHTS……………………………………………………………..23

CHAPTER 3 – IDEOLOGY IN ACTION – INITIAL COUNTER RESISTANCE OPERATIONS IN OCCUPIED POLAND…………………………...32

CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………………………39

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………….......41

3

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?

Jeremiah 17:2

4

Preface

History is replete with examples of tyranny and its resultant brutality, however, the quintessence of tyranny - brutality perfected - is exemplified in Nazi Germany, whose infamy garners particular distinction. For the first time in history, a sophisticated modern industrialized nation energized its full resources for the express purpose of the destruction of human beings. This goal was paramount, even to the point of neglecting the effective prosecution of the World War II German war effort in order to prevent or exact retribution for civilian resistance, a mandate achieved through brutal counter-resistance and reprisal operations. The Nazi regime hijacked a modern industrialized nation and callously bled its entire national resource in order to accomplish this overall aim of killing. Particularly in the East was wanton destruction visited upon innocents, where the quest for “lebensraum” (expanded living space for the German populace) and the belief that Germany’s future security depended upon the extermination of its “enemies” justified its actions. It was, in essence, murder for freedom.

The key to the prosecution of a war of extermination lay in the control of the minds of men. Nazi ideology in Germany had to become universally believed, and this belief had to then be transformed into action - emotionally driven action grounded upon a bedrock of absolute faith in its necessity, all the while simultaneously deriding and suppressing reasoned, critical thought. Therein lay the seeds of the holocaust as well as the self-destruction of the Third Reich. The logical extension of this ideological system resulted in the brutalization of Nazi “enemies” and ultimately lead to the destruction of the Nazi state itself.

Should the world again head down a similar path, the implications thereof are nothing short of staggering, especially in light of the absolute prevalence of ultra-sophisticated modern technology and its potential use in the creation, administration, and executive action of a modern police state(s). While many would consider this an alarmist view, the development of such an entity is certainly possible, and, in light of current globalization trends, some would argue probable. That said, with the past being a window to a possible future, and human nature remaining constant, the concern is real, and reason is not defied in its expression. It is with this in mind that this paper was written. It is an attempt to explore the ideological foundation and the resultant brutality of the most infamous totalitarian state in history, being fully cognizant of Aldous Huxley’s wizened axiom: “that men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.”

5

“But liberty, as we all know, cannot flourish in a country that is permanently on a war footing, or even a near war footing. Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everything and everybody by the agencies of the central government.”

- Aldous Huxley

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."

- Reichsmarschall Herman Goering

6

INTRODUCTION

On 11 Apr 1945, elements of the US 3rd Armored Division liberated the Nazi

Concentration Camp in Nordhausen, Germany. Part of this force consisted of elements

of the 9th Infantry Division, a member of which was SFC Charles E. Neal, native of

Smyrna, Tennessee and my wife’s grandfather. He was a motor pool NCO in a 9th

Infantry Division reconnaissance element attached to 3rd Armored. Having arrived in the

camp around 4 AM, this US force was confronted with a scene of unimaginable human

destruction. Prior to departing the camp and in the face of the US advance, (according to

surviving prisoners, about 2 hours prior to the US arrival), approximately 200 Nazi SS

camp guards had machine gunned roughly 20,000 prisoners. Those prisoners who

survived, presumably because the SS had run out of time, were disease ridden and

severely emaciated - essentially living skeletons. These brutalized, disfigured, starving

and nearly dead living prisoners covered the ground, intermixed with the deceased.

Some of the dead hung from the electrified fence surrounding the camp, apparently

having hurled themselves upon it in an attempt to escape the SS guns. Disgusted by the

scene, the US Division Commander ordered the civilians of Nordhausen to view the

handiwork of their military, and to bury the resultant dead. SFC Neal vividly recalls, “It

was a mess, something you don’t want to see. You can’t believe anything like that unless

you see it. It’s hard to believe, what things really happened like that.”1

Far from being singularly infamous among Nazi Concentration and Death camps, the

misery of Nordhausen still fully illustrates the final destination on the path of the Nazi

mindset. It is the purpose of this paper, utilizing the historical record, to briefly detail the

7

advent of this mindset, its specialized “elite” forces executors, and the voracious

brutality they visited upon any who offered resistance to its implementation. Ultimately,

this paper seeks to explore one point; that this mindset, this process of thought instilled

upon the Nation of Germany, when carried to it’s conclusion in the form of counter-

resistance brutality, resulted in the dehumanization of its victims, and in the depravity

and eventual destruction of its adherents. While nothing new is presented in this paper -

no profound insight, no brilliant discovery, no erudite analysis - it is all the while

imperative that we ponder the sage tutelage of history, fully recognizing the significance

of the past, in order to better secure the future.

8

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

As with any research project, a short review of the key literary sources is of benefit to

the reader. I refer as key to those sources which I feel added particular value to the

research effort. Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power, led to the notion that deception

and manipulation have been raised to the level of art forms, having been historically used

in the seizure and wielding of power. Greene’s book conveniently puts this into print. A

source adding invaluable insight to the ideology of the Third Reich is Omar Bartov’s

Hitler’s Army, which provides in depth discussion and analysis of the ideological

foundations and their resultant manifestations during Wehrmacht operations in the Soviet

Union, to include, in a most telling fashion, the brutalization of the Wehrmacht itself.

Richard Rhodes’ Masters of Death provided great detail and insight into the inner

workings of the Nazi SS, particularly the organization and counter-resistance operations

of the Einsatzgruppen in Eastern Europe. In Hitler Strikes Poland, Alexander Rossino

describes in vivid detail Einsatzgruppen counter-resistance and extermination operations

in the opening days of WW II in Poland, and it is this source that is quoted frequently in

the final section of the paper. Christopher Browning’s Ordinary Men details the exploits

of Reserve Police Battalion 101 in operations in Poland, deriving extensive analysis from

the individual experiences of the members of the unit. Browning’s book, in conjunction

with Edward Westermann’s Hitler's Police Battalions: Enforcing Racial War in the East,

Ben Shepherd’s War in the Wild East: the German Army and Soviet Partisans, and

George Browder’s Foundations of the Nazi Police State, all provided extremely relevant

information describing the absolute danger of and cautioning against the adoption of any

9

type of militarized civil police force, a point which I attempt to make in the paper.

Numerous other amplifying and supporting sources were used and are detailed in the

bibliography.

10

CHAPTER 1 - NAZI SEIZURE OF THE GERMAN NATION

The system of National Socialism is the example of tyranny perfected. From its

inception, Nazi ideology had at its core its highest goal – the violent, cruel, and

unjustified eradication of human beings. This was the paramount objective; war

providing the means to this end, as attested to that by the later stages of the war

“murdering the Jews had become more important than winning the war. Murdering the

Jews, in Hitler’s eyes, was equivalent to winning the war, even if it brought down ruin on

Germany.”2 With this goal in mind, an entire modern industrialized society was hijacked

and re-engineered to finance, resource, equip, and orchestrate an institution of wholesale

killing, initially in Germany, and eventually throughout Europe. Brutality within and

beyond German borders, however, was unattainable until fully supported by the German

population, whose submissive acquiescence was a prerequisite. Through both persuasion

and coercion, German liberty was erased, German citizens were brutalized without cause,

and the German nation collapsed morally. The exportation of brutality was but a mere

small, inevitable step. Fuelled by the German conquest, Nazi ideology, in its practical

application, was initially successful in lands occupied, but over time encountered

increasing levels of resistance. The purpose of this paper is to briefly explore the Nazi

response to that resistance, preceded by a synopsis of the consolidation of Nazi power

and its executors, in the German Homeland.

Before Nazi Blitzkrieg could strike Europe, the support of the German people had to

be solidified. It was through, by, and with the German population that Hitler would

create the “New Order”. This New Order would be “based on the worst that human

11

beings are capable of, on base fears and prejudices, ambition and ruthlessness. The most

self-destructive goals would be given the illusion of reasonableness, not through inherent

rationality but through brute force.”3 The elites in the Nazi Party knew that the key to

the control of the German people resided in the control of their minds. What was needed

was a cause for them to believe in, a hero for them to worship, and an enemy for them to

destroy.

In his book “The 48 Laws of Power”, Robert Greene details a key to “untold

power”. This key, per Greene, is in the fact that people have “an overwhelming desire to

believe in something”.4 Overtly Machiavellian, the following series of his quotes are

quite luminary, and provide a degree of insight into Nazi thought. Greene asserts that in

order to secure great power, “emphasize the visual and sensual over the intellectual,”5

play on emotions and keep “words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over

rationality and clear thinking.”6 “Borrow the forms of organized religion to structure the

group...organized religions have long held unquestioned authority.”7 “Set up an ‘us­

versus-them’ dynamic.”8 Condition followers to “believe they are part of an exclusive

group, unified by a bond of common goals.”9 “Manufacture the notion of a devious

enemy out to ruin you…. a force of nonbelievers that will do anything to stop you.”10

Any outside attempt to expose the falsity of the “truth” can now be attributed to this

outside, deceptive force.11 “If you have no enemies, invent one. Given a straw man to

react to, your followers will tighten and cohere. They have your cause to believe in and

infidels to destroy.”12 Instill in those who follow the notion that you control their future

wellbeing. It is in these ways, per Greene, that untold, absolute power can be

consolidated, solidified, and ultimately possessed.

12

Adolph Hitler put these ideas into practice. Following an amazingly similar recipe for

power, Hitler went after the prize – the heart and soul of the German people. In so doing,

the Nazi Police State he created was not only welcomed but demanded, thanks to a

deviously scripted orchestration highlighting a highly subtle and camouflaged “enemy”,

requiring an extensive, sophisticated and elaborate security system to detect, expose, and

defeat.13 Accordingly, continued popular safety and security would require the sacrifice

of personal liberties in order to effectively combat this enemy.14 Ostensibly, this enemy

was bent on causing internal national conflict to deplete the strength of the nation from

within. Association of this enemy with other established foreign enemies conveniently

warranted German military intervention in foreign nations in order to “protect” the

homeland. As an additional benefit, this enemy would quite naturally bring about a

“natural distrust of the internal nonconformist, who could then also be eliminated.”15

Blinded by a carefully shaped and nurtured hate, the German populace was conditioned

to accept the “fact” that this enemy had to be completely destroyed, or the German nation

would be. The German population became, through the sacrifice of their sons, the basic

mechanism used in combating this enemy, and in so doing, unwittingly accomplishing

the ends of the regime.16

Fundamental to the furtherance of Nazi ideology, likewise in the consolidation of its

power, was the perceived necessity of this enemy’s destruction. Central to this goal was

a shifting of attitude with respect to generally accepted norms of traditional morality.

This is exemplified in Hitler’s euthanasia program, put into practice on 14 Jul 1933 with

the passage of the “Law for the Protection of Hereditary Health”17. Through this

program the German populace was desensitized to the killing of those “unworthy” of life.

13

Hitler, as early as 1929, advocated the “annual removal of 700,000 to 800,000 of the

“weakest” Germans as a means of improving the overall health and capabilities of the

German race.”18 This initiated a self imposed system of discrimination in which

“healthy, non-disabled Germans distinguished themselves from members of the

population who were mentally ill or disabled,” creating an atmosphere of elitist

exclusivity.19 Clemens Graf von Galen, Catholic Bishop of Muenster and euthanasia

opponent, presciently stated that “someone only has to order a secret decree that the

measures tried out on the mentally ill be extended to other “nonproductive” people, that it

can be used on those incurably ill with lung disease, on those weakened by aging, on

those disabled at work, on severely wounded soldiers. Then not one of us is sure

anymore of his life…”20 Von Galen proved quite prophetic, as individuals involved in

the prosecution of the euthanasia program where later sought out for their “experience.”

SS and Police Leader Odilo Globocnik, for example, utilized such individuals “for

expertise and assistance in building and operating the extermination center at Belzec.

Globocnik was able to draw on personnel from the “euthanasia program” in

Germany…”21 Notably, hand selected individuals possessing needed “expertise” were

“transferred from the euthanasia program in Germany to the death camps in Poland.”22

Conditioned by the euthanasia program, the population more readily embraced the

destruction of other non-productive, undesirable, and “subhuman” persons and races.

Jews and other enemies of the state, targeted for destruction, were invariably portrayed as

subhuman.23 Thus, the “unified German nation, socially united and culturally superior,”

embraced a contemptuous rejection of entire groups of people, as “they were deemed

14

inferior, subversive, or both, and seen as a threat to the health of the “national organism”:

Jews, Bolsheviks, and the races of the lands to Germany’s east.” 24

Simultaneously with the creation of the notion of an enemy and the desensitization of

the population to this enemy’s destruction, came an attack on the German population.

Aimed at the seizure of legal authority, and preceded by an emotionally charged

catastrophic event of national significance, this attack was designed to set conditions for a

Nazi takeover with coincident popular support. Adolph Hitler was appointed Chancellor

of Weimar Germany on 30 Jan 1933.25 On 27 Feb 1933, the German Parliamentary

building (Reichstag) was burned. Political enemies of the Nazis were blamed, however,

evidence indicates that the Nazis themselves were the arsonists, conveniently creating the

“emergency” required for power seizure.26 Nazi insider and politician Hermann

Rauschning relates the following conversation in reference to the Reichstag Fire in his

book The Voice of Destruction:

“I myself had unhesitatingly ascribed it to arson on the part of persons under communist, or at any rate, Comintern, influence. It was not until I heard this conversation that I discovered that the National Socialist leadership was solely responsible, and that Hitler knew of the plan and approved it. The complacency with which this close circle of the initiated discussed the deed was shattering. Gratified laughter, cynical jokes, boasting – these were the sentiments expressed by the “conspirators”. Goering described how “his boys” had entered the Reichstag building by a subterranean passage from the President’s Palace, and how they had only a few minutes at their disposal and were nearly discovered…they had been so hurried that they could not “make a proper job of it.” Goering, who had taken the leading part in the conversation, closed with the significant words: I have no conscience. My conscience is Adolf Hitler.”27

The next day, Hitler activated the Reich Emergency Powers Act, the “Law to Remove the

Distress of People and State”, as a defensive measure against future acts of terror, giving

himself “temporary” sweeping emergency powers and allowing the circumvention of

legislative authorities vested in the Reichstag28. On 24 Mar 1933, the Reichstag passed

15

the “Enabling Act”, altering the Weimar Constitution by giving the powers of legislation,

control of the budget, initiation of constitutional amendments, and approval of foreign

treaties to the Reich Cabinet for a “sunset” period of 4 years. The “sunset” period never

ended.29

In addition to legal restructuring, the Enabling Act reduced administrative limitations

on the police and amplified their powers, giving them the responsibility of regulating the

newly implemented reductions in civil liberties brought about by its passage. “Protective

custody” arrests in an effort to combat “subversive activities” became common.30 The 9­

10 Nov 1938 Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass) pogrom, as a later example of this

type of abuse, included the placing of Jews into “protective custody” in concentration

camps “in order to protect them from the wrath of the German people.”31 Along with

increased arrest authority, the police were also charged with the enforcement of

restrictions in freedom of the press, rights of assembly and privacy, and the monitoring of

private communications.32 Additionally, the “auxiliary police”, made up of Sturm

Abteilung (SA) (Storm Troops), and Schutzstaffel (SS) (Defense Squadron) military

forces, worked in a role “supportive” to civil authorities, effectively blending traditional

civil policing and military functions.33 Thus, the potential for abuse increased with the

corresponding increase in the power vested in the “police”, giving credence to James

Waller’s assertion in Becoming Evil, that the “greatest catastrophes occur when

distinctions between war and crime fade.”34 In this case, the civil authority and functions

of the police were diluted and mixed with military functions, effectively blurring the line

between law enforcement and warfare. In response to the recently declared “emergency”,

military support to civilian authority grew exponentially. Both SA and SS units assumed

16

their own powers of arrest. Entire units went into action, while the police officers

supposedly commanding them had to stand back and watch, as uniformed SA and SS

personnel rounded up thousands of German citizens and herded them into “abandoned

factories, warehouses and basements, where they initiated the most sensational horrors of

the concentration camps”.35 Accordingly, the overt goal of these militarily supported

and police led anti-subversive operations was “to defend the society and preserve the

order”, however, this “order” was favored only by those who “did not treasure the

individual rights of liberalism”.36 Additionally, billed as part of the campaign against

“subversives”, was the assault on any means of individual self defense, and as “an

essential component of preventing any armed resistance, the Nazis searched homes and

seized firearms from private citizens on a large scale.”37 Stated by Reichsfuehrer - SS

(Empire Leader) Heinrich Himmler, “Germans who wish to use firearms should join the

SS or the SA - ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the

State.”38 This militarization of police enabled rapid rights erosion, which, coupled with

legal vagaries, led inevitability to the German descent into tyranny. Those who did not

agree with the party were easily culled, having been rendered defenseless and labeled

“enemies of the state.” Furthermore, the devaluation of the rights of the individual

brought about by the Enabling Act “was of immense propaganda value…it maintained

the façade of a legal revolution and removed any doubts the civil service or the Judiciary

had as to the legality of the Nazi takeover…it was this pseudo-legality that inhibited and

confused all but the most clear-sighted opponents to the Nazi regime”.39

Hand in hand with the Enabling Act, the process of Gleichschaltung

(synchronization) fully solidified Nazi control over Germany. Virtually every citizen was

17

incrementally affected through a series of laws increasingly regulating German society,

revamping it to serve the purposes of the Nazis40. New civil structures were created

parallel to existing structures, which, over time, the Nazis were able to gradually

overtake, absorb, and recreate.41 There was a police department, but also the Gestapo, a

court system, but also a “special court” system for crimes against the state. Those

German citizens deemed worthy were issued “Aryan” identity cards.42 With increased

police/military power, increased “legal” authority, and oppressive influence over civil

service organizations, the Nazis held complete control over the population – with the

concentration camps masked and standing ready in the background.43

With an enemy and a legal mandate to identify, isolate, disarm, label, and destroy

him, Hitler needed the completely loyal body of the nation. With elaborate pageantry and

spectacle, the Nazis aimed to mesmerize, therefore control, the masses. The enormous 1

May 1933 Nazi rally at Templehof Field in Berlin, celebrating the Inauguration of the

Third Reich, created great enthusiasm for the cause, triggering essentially one of two

emotional responses from those present;

“One was jubilant hysteria, which Hitler’s personal charisma triggered in those who believed in him. In rigid contrast were the rows upon rows of brown- and black- shirted SA and SS members standing in the broad center of the field. Their emotions were betrayed only by the hundreds of right arms that simultaneously jutted into the air and the hundreds of voices that bellowed “Sieg Heil” as one voice. Both responses represented Hitler’s power: the spontaneous emotions of the masses and the controlled obeisance of his disciplined party; the locked step, the uniforms, the unquestioning loyalty to his dictates.”44

Speaking of Hitler’s mesmerizing oratory ability, Albert Speer, Hitler’s Minister of

Armaments, stated that “they were all under his spell, blindly obedient to him and with

no will of their own. Capacity for independent thought was paralyzed.”45 Thus,

18

individual intellectual capacity was greatly degraded, resulting in masses of Germans

clamoring to please their Fuehrer.46

Not only was the enemy attacked through mesmerizing rhetoric, but the soul of the

German people was also assailed. The Nazis sought to completely own the minds of their

minions. To this end, Hitler created the “religion” of National Socialism, striving to be

seen as a messiah prosecuting the divine mission of ridding Germany of the Jews.47

(Subversives, Slavic peoples, and Jews, all considered parasites feeding off of the

German nation, were essentially synonymous.) The messiah demanded not only

obedience, but a semblance of faith.48 He drove the transformation of religious hope into

political hope, replacing religious faith with political faith, with the goal of substituting

National Socialism for religion.49 Hermann Rauschning, again quoting Hitler, who,

speaking of Christianity said: “They will betray their God to us. They will betray

anything for the sake of their miserable little jobs and incomes... they will replace the

cross with our swastika.”50 In Hitler’s eyes, subversion of religion would be simple.

When combined with anti-Semitic prejudice and German nationalistic sentiment, he

conveniently found, in Jews, subversives, and other socially unacceptable elements,

enemies necessary to eliminate in order for the “faith” to survive. In the words of one

true believer in language intended to associate Hitler with the divine, Reichsfuehrer - SS

Heinrich Himmler asserted that those present in the German Nation had “had good

fortune of living in a time when an Adolph Hitler had been born, something that happens

only once every 2000 years.” 51

This religious aspect of National Socialism parlayed neatly into its ideology,

reinforcing the notion of divinely mandated future military action, dictated by the

19

“messiah”. Insofar as the selling of a “religious” militarism was concerned, the “Nazi

emphasis on action and belief, and the characteristic reluctance to engage in rational

discussion" were key in establishing the required popular following. 52 Supercharging

this action ensuing belief were a “few essential and unchangeable beliefs and dogmas

which no amount of empirical evidence could disprove, particularly as they were not

based on rational examination or logical construction, but on faith.”53 As such, the SS

Journal Das Schwarze Korps in a 1938 article declared “True and vigorous faith cannot

exist in the abstract, it reaches its fulfillment only in the deed. The deed is the only true

witness to faith…faith-movement-action…these are the three terms that determine for us

the natural path of human piety.”54 Believers were to put their belief into action in a

crusade against all enemies of the Reich.

Working in tandem with the “new” religion, an extremely damaging subversion of the

German nation came in the form of a targeted attack on the minds of its youth. Nazi

youth programs, most notably the Hitler Youth, sowed within the young a mindset

designed to create a fanatical belief in and complete subservience to the Third Reich.

“The Hitler Youth gained much of its appeal by openly opposing the traditional foci of authority, the family and the school, and by presenting itself both as a rebel youth movement set upon destroying a staid and anachronistic present so as to create a bright future full of adventure and promise, and as a highly disciplined and devoted body of followers united by a single cause and led by a quasi-divine leader. This combination of rebellion against the old forms and institutions, and an exhilarating, fanatic devotion, this commitment to destroying the present and building the future, this desire to disobey the old rules and rulers and yet “blindly” to follow the new, to act rather than think, this celebration of youthful vitality accompanied by a fascination with death, was at the very heart of the Nazi takeover of Germany’s youth and future soldiers.”55

Showing the extent to which this mindset was imbued, “it was not uncommon for young

20

people in Germany to reject their families’ convictions and follow the Nazis, and many

fathers and mothers, themselves strongly opposed to the Hitler regime, were denounced

by their children as enemies of the state or even turned over to the Gestapo.”56

The most emphatic adherents to this new found faith in National Socialism, the youth

of the 1930s, later the soldiers of the 1940s, were enthusiastic participants in the

“crusade” against Eastern Europe, one of the ultimate goals of the regime, dictated by its

“god”. The subjugation of the unworthy races of the East was central to the ideological

instillation and power seizure effort, sold to participants and supporters alike as

“necessary”. Two notable aspects of this ideology are:

“first, the dehumanization and demonization of the enemy on political and racial grounds, with a particular reference to the Jews as the lowest expression of human depravity; and, second, the deification of the Fuhrer as the only hope for Germany’s salvation. Intermixed with these central themes were notions regarding battle as a supreme test of character and manhood, as well as of racial and cultural superiority, and a view of the war as a holy crusade for a better future against an infernal host of enemies sanctioned by God…” 57

An example of the result of this ideology occurred on the Eastern Front, where true

believers in true pursuit of the true cause executed 13,000 – 15,000 of their less zealous

own.58 This alone shows the pervasiveness of Nazi thought and its ultimate effect. As

such, “the extent to which the officers and soldiers of the Wehrmacht were willing to

carry out such orders and collaborate in the killing of their comrades without any legal

proceedings was merely one more measure of their brutalization, a process begun with

Hitler’s “seizure of power” and reaching its climax on the eastern front.”59

As shown, insidious deception was spread throughout the whole of German society.

A state run terror apparatus gained complete control by creating crises then providing

“security”, hijacking legal and civil systems, devaluing the worth of human life by

21

conditioning “acceptable” murder in order to preserve the “national organism”,

conditioning the population through emotion driven spectacle, perverting the minds of

German youth, perpetuating belief in the need for a war of extermination, and elevating

the leader of the movement to a god-like stature. The Nazis had their enemy, their cause,

and their followers – now they needed the muscle to obtain the goals of the regime.

22

CHAPTER 2 – IDEOLOGY INCARNATE: THE ORDER OF THE BLACK KNIGHTS

“The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us. But, we don't ask for their love; only for their fear.”

-- Heinrich Himmler

The Nazi SS, or Schutzstaffel (Defense Squadron), was the “elite” force within the

Third Reich. Originally created as a protective organization for Hitler and other high

party officials, it later transitioned into the ideology implementation and dissent

repression force of the Nazi Party. As such, it was “to be in a position to bring to reality

the idea of National Socialism among all phases of life and to be strong enough to break

all resisting opposition.”60 As the enforcers of the regime, the SS and its affiliates,

sufficiently terrorized the populace as to “prevent doubt and opposition” from the

beginning.61 This was an absolutely necessary requirement, as stated by Joseph Goebbels,

German Minister of Propaganda:

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."

The price of continued “liberty” within the Nazi state was unconditional, criticism-free

submission to the government. Anything less was unpatriotic, and anyone unpatriotic

was a threat. Those who held views critical to the regime were to be removed from

public life, and it was for this express purpose, that the SS and its affiliates (concentration

camps, Gestapo, and ‘subverted’ police organizations) were created.62

23

Reichsfuehrer - SS Heinrich Himmler, completely loyal to Hitler and arguably his

greatest disciple, was the head of this malevolent organization. His vision for the future

of the Nazi New Order is luminary, as in it is revealed the true nature of the regime –

known only to a few initially, and finally to all as part of the historical record, after

coming to its abhorrent fruition. The Order of Black Knights – the Nazi SS – stands in a

place of singularly significant notoriety among man’s most despotic creations. Modeled

on the Order of the Jesuits, Himmler deliberately built this “New Order of the Teutonic

Knights” on the Society of Jesus, as the organization and mystique of both was to be

similar.63 Hitler even referred to Himmler as “My Ignatius”, as both organizations were

laws unto themselves, with no loyalty or obligation to anyone but the pope or the

fuehrer.64 As such, and with Hitler’s blessing, Himmler wielded enormous power, a fact

attested to by Rudolph Hoess, Kommandant of the infamous Auschwitz Death camp in

Poland. Prior to his 1947 execution for crimes against humanity, SS-

Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) Hoess wrote, “as leader of the SS, Himmler’s

position was sacred. His fundamental orders in the name of the Fuehrer were holy. No

reflection, no interpretation, no explanation – just ruthlessly carried out, regardless of the

consequences.”65 Himmler’s power was absolute. His will reigned supreme; to it his

organization was completely reflective.

Himmler possessed an even darker side, a side which directly relates to the inner

workings of the SS and sheds light on its abhorrence. Himmler was fascinated by the

occult and held this fascination as a religion; he incorporated occultic mysticism within

the SS. The Wewelsberg Castle, in Bavaria, was purchased in 1934 by the Nazis and

later modified and expanded as a “ceremonial place”, were “top SS leaders would

24

celebrate pseudoreligious rituals.”66 Annually, Himmler, along with 12 of his highest

order SS General Officer (Gruppenführer) initiates, would gather at the castle, where they

would engage in the conjuring of the spirits of deceased leaders for guidance, per

Himmler’s belief.67 Himmler thought of the castle as a “magical omphalos, marking the

center of the Germanic World, and planned to develop the whole site as an SS Vatican of

Aryan spirituality.”68 He also believed the castle to be the “centerpoint of a new Aryan

world order.”69 Additionally, he believed that “because of their shared first name…that

he was the reincarnation of Henry of Saxony, the medieval German King who forcibly

pushed the Slavic peoples eastward across the Elbe River in the Drang nach Osten”

(Drive to the East)70 With regard to his beliefs in experience in past lives, Himmler

created the Ahnenerbe or “Ancestral Research” branch of the SS, whose function was to

conduct research into occultist theories for the ancestral origins of Aryanism.71 Also,

and of note, Karl Wiligut, a mystical rune theorist known as the “Rasputin of Himmler”,

was consulted by Himmler on a variety of issues, and his influence was observed in the

design of the death’s head ring worn by SS members, the concept of Wewelsberg as the

“order castle” of the SS, and the adoption of “other ceremonial designed to bestow a

traditional aura upon the SS ideology of elitism, racial purity, and territorial conquest.”72

According to Dusty Sklar’s book Gods and Beasts: The Nazis and the Occult, the SS was

a secret occult society which, years after its demise, still found admirers such as

renowned Satanist, Anton Lavey.”73 Perhaps this extreme interest in dark, supernatural

pseudoreligion sheds light on how hundreds of thousands of SS men could become mass

murderers in a scant few years, and provides insight on “how much Nazism had in

common with religious cults where conversion to belief, transforming the personal

25

identities of the followers, requires incorporating the interpretive framework of the

leader, however objectively bizarre. The difference with Nazism was that it parasitically

commandeered the full resources of a modern nation-state…Parasitic infestations of

ideological fanaticism, it seems, caused most of the man-made deaths of the twentieth

century.”74

In addition to the “religious” aspects of the SS, the ideological element was also

carefully groomed and nurtured. Himmler had the goal of creating the “political soldier”,

essentially the “fighter who would summon all of his strength to give his all to the very

last for Nazi philosophy.”75 Additionally, as declared by Hitler, “We don’t want people

who keep one eye on the life in the hereafter. We need free men who feel and know that

God is in themselves.”76 To this end, the ideology of Aryan racial superiority was made

to be viewed as if it were absolute truth, delivered from heaven. Himmler, in describing

the virtue of the Aryan race, stated: “I believe it exactly as I believe in God. I believe

that our blood, Nordic blood, is actually the best blood on this earth… in hundreds of

thousands of years this Nordic blood will always be the best. Over all others, we are

superior.”77 As such, Himmler endeavored to cast the struggle of the Aryan against all

others in apocalyptic terms, “either the enemy would be destroyed or the German People

would be.”78 This notion of a vastly destructive enemy, coupled with quasi-religious

overture and mysticism invoked the notion of “Kadavergehorsam” or “cadaver

obedience”; the complete dedication to the death, for the cause, as achieved through fear

and religious fanaticism.79 Additionally, party ideologists determined the “primary task

of the police (blended with the SS) was to have the ability to ‘execute the ideology of the

state leadership and help create and maintain the order willed by it’ as well as the

26

safeguarding of ‘the German people, as an organic, corporate entity,’ its livelihood and

institutions, against destruction.” 80 As such, and as a prerequisite to later violence, those

in the SS had to be turned into single-minded robots, if SS were to rid the world of

supposed evil. 81

Himmler’s method in the creation of a robotic force was through the subversion of the

minds of his members. He “set a premium on the ideological indoctrination of members

of the SS and police. They were to be not just efficient soldiers and policemen, but

ideologically motivated warriors, crusaders against the political and racial enemies of the

Third Reich.82 Early SS recruits were Freikorps men – World War I veterans who were

unemployed, rootless, and looking for an ideal and a leader to restore their self-respect.83

As such, these men provided a ready pool of prejudiced individuals, especially veterans

of the Eastern Front, who possessed an extremely hardened view of non-Aryans.

Germans had rendered The Great War in the East as “a clash between kultur and its

negation - sheer unkultur.”84 The cultured versus the uncultured, humans versus

subhumans; a theme that played neatly and conveniently into Himmler’s indoctrination

program. Among these early SS recruits, Himmler instituted the foundational

cornerstone of the SS man - loyalty and obedience, which constituted the bedrock on

which the foundation of the entire SS stood.85 Evidence of this mindset, ostensibly

positive, is the SS motto - “Loyalty is my Honor”.86 Additionally, Himmler declared that

the members of the black corps will remain “honest, decent, loyal, and comradely,” but

he warned that these traits applied only to “members of our own blood” and “otherwise to

no other.”87 As an outward and public sign of the loyalty and obedience required, all

27

were administered the SS oath, which, as part of the mystique, “bound the recruit in

unwavering loyalty to the person of Adolf Hitler.”88

Ideological aspects notwithstanding, the SS did have standards of entrance, at least in

the earlier years. Billed as an elite force, the SS was compared to Roman Praetorian

Guard or Napoleon’s Imperial Guard.89 Racial purity, physical fitness, height, and a lack

of a criminal record were the some of the requirements for admittance.90 Training put

emphasis on a high degree of mobility and centered on individual responsibility and

military teamwork.91 Officers and NCOs were encouraged to talk and mix with the men

to get to know them as individuals. Additionally, they were to train together in order to

maintain high standards of physical fitness and combat capability.92 Additionally, SS

recruits were made to go through “hardness training”, utilizing dogs, cats, and grenades –

SS candidates had to show complete indifference to pain and sorrow.93 The SS was to be

an organization of professional murderers, totally dedicated to their mission. However,

the nature of the business required further conditioning in order to instill in the individual

the willingness, and in some cases, the jocularity in committing atrocity.

In order for the effects produced by this mindset to be utilized, it also had to be

activated. This required belief in its absolute correctness coupled with the suspension of

the conscience of the individual. If this were to come about, members of the SS would be

required to reflexively and unquestioningly obey orders from the top, as evidenced by the

administration of the SS oath, which bound members in unwavering loyalty to the person

of Adolf Hitler.94 As a public show of belief in the SS cause, the oath was an initial act

of low harm used to make further destructive acts possible.95 The depth of individual

ideological immersion is reflected in the words of SS General Theodore Eicke; “An SS

28

Soldier had to be able to destroy even his own relatives if they went against the state or

the ideas of Adolph Hitler”…Eicke’s motto – “There is only one thing that is valid –

orders!”96 In this way, the ranks of the SS, comprised of Germans of all walks of life,

and in later years from nationalities of virtually all of the occupied territories, were

effectively mind controlled into carrying out the high dictates of the Nazi Party.

As previously discussed, a hallmark of tyrannical government is in the merging of its

police with its military. Himmler, along with being the head of the SS, was also given

oversight of numerous other agencies, including the Police and the Gestapo (secret state

police).97 SS - Obergruppenfuehrer (Lieutenant General) Kurt Daluege, Chief of the

German Uniformed Police, in conjunction with Himmler, sought to create an

organization of police who were “not civil service bureaucrats, but rather soldiers

wearing the uniform of a civil servant.”98 To this end, the police were militarized and

given quite extensive training, including both light and heavy machine gun employment

and battalion level tactical combat training in field and urban environments.99 The

police were training to be belligerents, not “apolitical servants of the state, but rather

“political soldiers” of the National Socialist regime and executors of racial policy.”100 As

such, the militarization and martial attitude of the police, combined with Nazi racial

ideology resulted in a “police apparatus more suitable for the conduct of war and atrocity

than public service.”101 This apparatus was one that party ideologists described as having

the primary responsibility to “execute the ideology of the state leadership and help create

and maintain the order willed by it” as well as the safeguarding of “the German people,

as an organic, corporate entity,” its livelihood and institutions, against destruction.102 The

formulation of these militarized police units was undertaken in order to stifle internal

29

anti-Nazi dissent. Stated by Himmler and repeated by Hoess, the “annihilation of the

enemy within the state is just as important as annihilation of the enemy on the front lines,

and, therefore, can never be called dishonorable.”103 Born and used in Germany, these

militarized police units were later deployed and used extensively in the occupied lands in

a war of extermination. Additionally in occupied territories, “private armies, worked

alongside Order police, recruited from POW camps containing Ukrainian, Latvian, and

Lithuanian volunteers who were screened for anti-communist (thus invariably anti-

Semitic) sentiments. Offered an escape from probable starvation and promised that they

would not be used in combat against the Soviet Army, these ‘volunteers’ were taken to

the SS camp at Trawniki for training.”104

In order for this militarization of the police, and for that matter, any other dictates of

the party to move forward, any dissent within the German military had to be quelled.

This quelling effort started in the early days by when “Hitler helped ensure conservative

officers’ widespread approval of his passage to power by directing at them a “flood of lip

service to nationalism, tradition, the Prussian spirit, Western values, or the spirit of the

front line soldier, ostentatious displays of respect for the person of the Reich President,

and stress upon decency, morality, order, Christianity, and all those concepts which went

with the conservative idea of state.”105 That not being enough to ensure compliance with

Nazi policy, to include police militarization, Hitler also went about divesting would be

“trouble makers” from the ranks of the German military. He purged conservatives. “He

fired doubters from key positions, replaced them with fawning yes-men, and set up his

own personal military office, the Armed Forces High Command, as a rival and officially

superior organization to the exiting Army High Command. Disquiet remained, but it

30

remained muted. Indeed, this new command set-up ensured near-silence.”106 Some

voices, however, were heard, but only after being too late to prevent the Nazis from

moving ahead with their plans. Rudolph Hoess stated that he sublimated his conscience

to carry out orders, and that “secret doubts tormented all of us - is what we have to do

here necessary? Is it necessary that hundreds and thousands of women and children have

to be annihilated?”107 According to his own written testimony, he was the perfect robot,

whatever Himmler commanded - Hoess obeyed.108 He also stated that his biggest

mistake was that he believed faithfully everything that came down from the top – he

didn’t dare to doubt the truth.109 Another individual who expressed reticence over the

policies and direction of the regime was General Johannes Blaskowitz. During the

Invasion of Poland, he stated “when high officials of the SS and the police call for

atrocities and brutalities and publicly praise them…then within the shortest spell of time

only the brutal will rule. With astonishing speed men of the same sick leanings and

character will come together, in order to give full vent to their beastly and pathological

instincts.”110 The General’s words were quite prescient, as the SS became wholly

engrossed in the venting of pathological instincts during operations in Poland.

31

CHAPTER 3 – IDEOLOGY IN ACTION – INITIAL COUNTER RESISTANCE OPERATIONS IN OCCUPIED POLAND

With the start of the Second World War, the practical application of National

Socialism commenced with the German invasion of Poland. Based on a pretext, the

German Wehrmacht smashed through the Polish border on 1 Sep 1939, beginning a 5

year ordeal for the Nation of Poland. It was during this 5 year period that the world bore

witness to the wanton, indiscriminate slaughter upon the “enemies” of the German New

Order, as it was over Poland that the Nazis exercised occupation for the longest duration.

The coming to fruition of Nazi ideology provides the world with a front row view of the

darkest aspects of human nature, scorchingly illuminating the depths to which humanity

sinks when this nature is so malevolently energized. As the war now recedes into the

almost distant past, we cannot afford to lose sight of the lessons of its history. Failure to

do so invites its recurrence.

In the wake of the conquering Wehrmacht, the Nazis instituted the plan for which they

had dreamed. They now had the opportunity to exercise total Police State control over

the entire population of a belligerent nation, and, as later history shows, operations in

Poland were but a dress rehearsal for what followed in the Soviet Union. The treatment

that the Poles received was nothing short of horrific as they and their Jewish-Pole

brethren were systematically dissected in a frenzy wrought upon them by “genetic

superiors.” While the infamous death camps of Poland, names such as Auschwitz,

Treblinka, and Sobibor, most vehemently testify to the brutality of the Nazi visitation in

the early 1940s, there exists another aspect of the war in Poland bearing similar

malevolent characteristic – the Nazi Counter-Resistance effort.

32

Following closely behind the invading German Armies were the SS and Police

personnel of the Einsatzgruppen (special task forces). Five Einsatzgruppen, subdivided

into four Einsatzkommandos (special task commandos) of 100-150 men each where

augmented by Order Police Battalions (uniformed urban, rural and municipal police),

Totenkopf concentration camp guard regiments and Waffen-SS - an SS force of about

20,000 men.111 The role of these Einsatzgruppen was to operate in rear areas behind the

advancing Wehrmacht, in order to secure occupied territories prior to the arrival of

permanent civilian administrators. As Hitler had directed in a 22 Aug 39 speech, his aim

was not to dominate but to destroy Poland.112 He wanted it completely devastated –

leaving it unable to be accounted as “a political factor for the next few decades.”113

“Have no pity,” Hitler demanded; the campaign was to be carried out with “the greatest

brutality and without mercy.”114 Hitler went on, extolling his commanders to concentrate

on “elimination of living forces, not at arrival at a certain line”, with the ultimate goal of

subjecting Poland to “thoroughgoing German exploitation” 115 SS units were charged

with the “cleansing” of “dangerous elements”, to be accomplished through weapons

confiscation, the exploitation of public documents, the arresting of people which the SS

considered politically unreliable, and the systematic murder of the political, educational,

religious, and intellectual leadership of the country. 116

Operation Tannenberg, initiated concurrently with the invasion, was the effort to

neutralize areas of resistance and centers of potential resistance in Poland. It was so

named in honor of the German victory over the Russians – the veritable “subhumans” of

the East - at the battle of Tannenberg in Aug, 1914.117 According to SS Chief of Security

Police, Reinhard Heydrich, the catalyst for the operation was Hitler’s “extraordinary

33

radical…order for the liquidation of various circles of the Polish leadership.”118 It was

determined that the motive force of the Polish resistance movement would be the Polish

intelligentsia, providing rationale as to why this group was so heavily targeted by the

resistance prevention effort. The responsibility for this effort belonged to the

Einsatzgruppen (operational groups) and ran parallel with the rear area security effort in

conquered areas of Poland.119 Intelligence supporting this effort, and central to its

effective accomplishment, was provided by the Gestapo, who had previously generated

Sonderfahndungslisten (wanted persons lists). Containing 61,000 Christian and Jewish

names of “anti-German” Poles, the lists were compiled from Gestapo lists of “A-Kartei”

(Catalogue of State Enemies), prior to the invasion. Einsatzgruppen leaders were

provided these lists.120 Additionally, Heydrich’s Gestapo collected, again prior to the

invasion, intelligence of “an ideological-political, cultural, propagandistic, or economic

nature” concerning ethnic Germans in Poland. Included in this intelligence collection

effort was the enlisting of pro - Nazi ethnic German political organizations in Poland,

who were asked to compile data on Polish enemies of the Reich.121

Coupled with directed intelligence collection, the Einsatzgruppen were purpose

equipped. Being fully mobile, having been completely outfitted with motor vehicles, they

were able to move rapidly thus increasing the expedience of their mission of

extermination, overtly and euphemistically referred to as resistance suppression. This

bears some significance, because the regular Wehrmacht was only partially motorized,

indicating that Himmler went to exceptional lengths and fully intended the mission of the

Einsatzgruppen to succeed.122 Additionally, the Einsatzgruppen were only lightly armed,

the preponderance of their weaponry being small arms, as their mission “was execution,

34

not combat.”123 Of course, this mission of execution would require “clean up”, therefore,

the Einsatzgruppen were also issued shovels for the digging of mass graves.124 These

operational groups were trained, equipped, and ready for action by 1 Sep 1939.

Preceded by a staged “Polish” attack on Germany, including the disguise and murder

of German civilians to provide “bodies of Poles killed” during the attack, Operation

Tannenberg commenced.125 As the Wehrmacht moved against Poland in order to

“protect” Germany, the Einsatzgruppen moved in closely behind. Gestapo Officer and

Deputy Commander of Einsatzgruppe IV, Joesf Meisinger, in a 1 Sep 39 speech in front

of the assembled operational group, announced the start of war against Poland. He

declared that over the next days, uncomfortable events would take place, but since

Germany was now at war, they, as members of the Einsatzgruppe, were all under military

law. All SS men were expected to show “unconditional obedience” in carrying out

orders. Disobedience would not be tolerated and discipline would be strictly enforced.126

As an example of Einsatzgruppen activities in Poland, the experience of the

Pomeranian town of Bydgoszcz (Bromberg) stands out. Elements of SS – Brigadefueher

(Brigadier General) Lothar Beutel’s Einsatzgruppe IV, entered the town on 5 Sep,

accompanying elements of the Wehrmacht’s 50th Infantry Division.127 Under Beutel was

SS-Sturmbahnfuehrer (Major) Helmut Bischoff, who commanded Einsatzkommando

1/IV. In an effort to increase mobility, Bischoff split his unit into two Teilkommando

(sections), one larger in size than the other. 128 The larger Teilkommando was

commanded by SS-Untersturmfuehrer (2nd Lieutenant) Edumd Schoene, who was

instructed to “free rear army areas from saboteurs, enemy agents, and partisans.”

35

Additionally, he was also instructed to look for individuals identified in the Gestapo

provided Sonderfahndungsbuch (wanted persons list).129

The last of the Polish troops keeping the city had departed the night prior, leaving

defense of the city to the citizen’s militia. Consisting of about 2200 fighters, assisted by

roughly 200 fighters from the Polish National Defense paramilitary group (Obrana

Narodowa), armed with weaponry distributed from two nearby Polish Army arsenals, the

citizen’s militia attempted to defend the city.130 While the Poles put up stiff resistance,

they were defeated, with major combat operations terminating later in the day.131 Armed

resistance, however, continued and Polish civilian attacks on the Germans prompted a

large scale “pacification” order. Houses were searched, all weapons were confiscated

and their owners executed on the spot, whether they had engaged in combat against the

Germans or not. The definition of ‘weapon’ included flintlock rifles and antique

bayonets.132 During these sweeps, “several thousand” Poles were incarcerated, with

ethnic German Poles (Volksdeutche) working with the Nazis, who identifyed names of

“suspicious” Poles. Walther Nethe, member of Schoene Teilkommando, recalls, “the city

of Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) and the surrounding area were also combed for members of

Polish intelligentsia” - hundreds of teachers, civil servants, lawyers, and other prominent

persons were arrested and later executed.133 Ethnic Germans identified previously

arrested Poles who had “allegedly” murdered Volksdeutsche. These persons were later

executed by “men with machine pistols”, SS- Teilkommando perhaps (as machine

pistols were weapons unique to them), and buried by local Jews.134 Irrespective of

German counter-resistance operations, Polish civilian snipers still inflicted casualties

over the next few days on German military and civilians (Volksdeutsche).135

36

Of note, the German justification for slaughter in Bydgoszcz follows; “Many Germans had been murdered by Polish population on 3 Sep 39. In reality, the Germans of Bydgoszcz, belonging to illegal Nazi organizations, brought out their rifles, hand grenades, and machine guns, and attacked their Polish fellow citizens and the last retreating Polish detachments. However, the German troops were still too far away; and Polish detachments retiring from the front came to the aid of the unarmed Polish population. A street skirmish ensued, in which the Poles gained the upper hand. About 150-160 Germans were killed on that Sunday. It transpired that the majority of them were not members of the local Polish population, but were diversionists and saboteurs, who had been sent across the frontier in the days immediately preceding.”136

On 7 Sep the Army ordered all military and Police units to take and summarily

execute hostages in response. Beutel arrived on 8 Sep to participate in pacification

operations, and with his arrival, the entire Einsatzgruppe IV was reunified. That day,

Beutel reported to Berlin that the Volksdeutsche were “very intimidated” by Polish

“terrorist measures”. Upon hearing this, Hitler flew into rage, and ordered a large scale

reprisal operation to take place on 9 Sep.137 Buetel subsequently directed Einsatzgruppe

IV, in conjunction with the 6th Motorized Police Battalion, to conduct this ‘pacification’

operation, and 500 Poles were rounded up and executed.138 Then on 10 Sep -

Einsatzgruppe IV, again with the 6th Motorized Police Battalion, conducted a raid on

district of Schwederhode, were local Polish militia resistance had made its last stand on 5

Sep. Bischoff told the men to be “rough and harsh” with the “Polish bandits,” and that

the time had come “to prove that they were men.”139 All weapons were to be seized, and

all Polish men were to be arrested whether they were armed or not. Additionally, Bishoff

said it was “fine with him” if any unarmed “suspicious looking” Poles were shot.140

Motorized Police ringed the neighborhood of Schwerdehode, squads entered houses and

entire families were forced into the streets. Polish men were summarily executed.141 As

a result, 900 prisoners were taken, 120-150 of which were identified by ethnic German

37

informants or by the Sonderfahndungsbuch. Buetel ordered all so identified to be

executed, and over the next 2 days small groups were led to a nearby forest and shot into

antitank ditches.142 Additionally, in one particularly brutal engagement, Schone’s

Teilkommando killed 50 Gymnasium students following a shot being fired from the

school that hit a Wehrmacht Officer, even after shooter had given himself up.143 By 13

Sep, Beutel’s Einsatzgruppe was out of Bydgoszcz, however Security Police and ethnic

German shooting squads carried out additional executions throughout October and

November, resulting in 5000 killed, including 1200 of the intelligentsia of the city. It was

through this policy of extermination that resistance to the Nazis was crushed, at least in

the short term.

Unfortunately, the experience of Bydgoszcz is not unique. The German policy of

brutalization was carried out with fervent repetition throughout the whole of Poland, most

famously in the later part of the war in the repression of the Warsaw Uprising in August –

October 1944. Perhaps one of the most murderous crimes in the war, the SS

systematically exterminated an entire city in response to the resistance posed by its

citizens to the brutality of the Nazis. They essentially perfected the use of terror against

civilian populations in order to quell resistance. Just for the purpose of illumination with

regard to the crushing of Warsaw, Hitler ordered any captured insurgents to be killed

regardless of whether they are fighting in accordance with the Geneva conventions or not,

women and children to be killed, and the whole town to be leveled.144 Upwards of

50,000 civilians were killed in the operation. It was through systematic destruction such

as this and the example of Bydgoszcz that the Nazis dealt with resistance, and this

horrific abuse was returned in kind to the Nation of Germany.

38

CONCLUSION

With the right impetus and conditions, nations can be led into doing the unthinkable.

Most Germans were undoubtedly good and decent people who found themselves mired in

the economic turmoil and self depreciation following defeat in the First World War. The

resultant situation caused exploitable conditions which a political party so inclined could

manipulate in order to seize total power. Adolph Hitler bedazzled the German nation into

allowing him to lead it to destruction, and, along the way, lay his plans for the complete

annihilation of people who had committed no harm and were guilty of no crime. In so

doing, the German people had to consciously give up their right to exercise critical

thought, relying instead on Hitler and the Nazi party to think for them, dictating to them

the “truth” from which there was no deviation, no discussion, and no discourse. Finding

it easier and more expedient to go along with instead of speaking out against the Nazi

party prior to it seizing complete control, there was essentially no voice against it after it

did. The people were dragged along in the pursuit of the goals of the regime, either

willingly, in the case of most, or coercively, in the case of some. Internal dissention was

crushed both in the streets and in the concentration camps as “enemies of the state” - any

who dared to voice an opinion counter to the Nazi worldview - were removed from

society. Those who saw through the charlatan mist of the Nazi “gospel”, had the stark

choice of fearfully submitting or meeting a similar fate. As the Nazis well knew, the sole

way to gain compliance after the exhaustion of logic is through the use of force.

The executors of this force were the Nazi SS whose mandate from the Fuehrer was to

quell any and all resistance to the regime, both internally in Germany, and externally in

39

the countries occupied. It was with this force, born of the acquiescence of the German

population and manned with its sons, that the dark ideology of the Third Reich went from

theory into practice, resulting in the deaths of untold millions. From its inception, the SS

was diabolical in nature, founded upon the basest aspects of human nature, dedicated to

human destruction. Resident in its ideology was loathing incarnate, a result of absolute,

deep seated, multi-dimensional, carefully nurtured and blinding hate. It was this

emotionally raging, mind closing hatred of all supposed enemies that energized and drove

the SS killing machine, resulting in the carnage and human desecration indelibly written

in the historical record.

It was the purpose of this paper to briefly detail the rise to power of the Nazi party in a

way illustrative of the deceptive means by which this rise was effected, and, following

this rise, the creation of the “muscle” to not only keep the party in power, but to destroy

its enemies, both real and imagined, through the use of specialized formations in counter-

resistance operations. Ultimately, the purpose is to show the linkage between the initial

insipient trappings of subtle deception and the resultant eventual wanton orgy of murder

and destruction. It was my goal to learn from this endeavor and to become mentally

armed against similar voices in the future.

40

Bibliography

Barnett, V. (1992). "For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest against Hitler," Oxford University Press, New York.

Bartov, O. (1991). "Hitler's Army : Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich," Oxford University Press, New York.

Browder, G. C., and (1990). "Foundations of the Nazi Police State." Browning, C. R. (1992). "Ordinary men : Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final

Solution in Poland," 1st/Ed. HarperCollins, New York. Goodrick-Clarke, N., and NetLibrary, I. (2002). "Black Sun Aryan Cults, Esoteric

Nazism, and the Politics of Identity," New York University Press, New York. Greene, R., and Elffers, J. (2000). "The 48 Laws of Power," Penguin Books, New York. Halbrook, S. (2003). "Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II,"

First/Ed. De Capo Press, Cambridge, MA. Hanson, J., K.M ( 1982). "The Civilian Population and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944,"

Cambridge University Press, New York, NY,. Höss, R., and Paskuly, S. (1992). "Death Dealer : The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at

Auschwitz " Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y. Liulevicius, V. G. (2000). "War Land on the Eastern Front : Culture, National Identity

and German Occupation in World War I," Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK ; New York.

Lucas, J. (1985). "Kommando - German Special Forces of World War II," St. Martin's Press, New York.

Neal, C., E (2005). Interview, Experience on Liberation of Nordhausen Concentration Camp, 11 Apr 1945.

Poland. Ministerstwo, I. (1942). "The German New Order in Poland," Published for the Polish ministry of information by Hutchinson, London.

Quarrie, B. (1983). "Hitler's Samurai : The Waffen-SS in Action," Arco Pub., New York. Rauschning, H. (1940). "The Voice of Destruction," Putnam, New York. Rhodes, R. (2002). "Masters of Death : The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the

Holocaust," 1st/Ed. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. Rossino, A. B. (2003). "Hitler Strikes Poland : Blitzkrieg, Ideology, and Atrocity,"

University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan. Shepherd, B. (2004). "War in the Wild East : the German Army and Soviet Partisans,"

Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. Shirer, W. L. (1960). "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; a History of Nazi Germany,"

Simon and Schuster, New York. Sklar, D. (1977). "Gods and Beasts : The Nazis and the Occult," T. Y. Crowell, New

York. Snyder, L. L. (1976). "Encyclopedia of the Third Reich," McGraw-Hill, New York. Turner, H. A. (1996). "Hitler's Thirty Days to Power : January 1933," Addison-Wesley,

Reading, Mass. Waite, R. G. L. (1977). "The Psychopathic God : Adolf Hitler," Basic Books, New York. Waller, J. (2002). "Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass

Killing," Oxford University Press, New York.

41

Westermann, E. B. (2005). "Hitler's Police Battalions : Enforcing Racial War in the East," University Press of Kansas, Lawrence.

www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/heinrichhi201255.html.

1 Neal, C., E (2005). Interview, Experience on Liberation of Nordhausen Concentration Camp, 11 Apr 1945. 2 Rhodes, R. (2002). "Masters of Death : The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust," 1st/Ed. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. p. 2653 Barnett, V. (1992). "For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest against Hitler," Oxford University Press, New York. p. 284 Greene, R., and Elffers, J. (2000). "The 48 Laws of Power," Penguin Books, New York. p. 215 5 Ibid.p. 215 6 Ibid.p. 218 7 Ibid.p .218 8 Ibid. p. 218 9 Ibid. p. 218 10 Ibid. p. 217 11 Ibid. p. 219 12 Ibid. p. 219 13 Browder, G. C., and (1990). "Foundations of the Nazi Police State." p. 54 14 Shirer, William L. “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; A History of Nazi Germany” Simon and Schuster, New York, p. 19415 Browder, G. C., and (1990). "Foundations of the Nazi Police State." p. 164 16 Waller, J. (2002). "Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing," Oxford University Press, New York. p. 184 17 Snyder, L. L. (1976). "Encyclopedia of the Third Reich," McGraw-Hill, New York. p. 87 18 Barnett, V. (1992). "For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest against Hitler," Oxford University Press, New York. p. 106 19 Ibid.p. 105 20 Ibid.p. 117 21 Browning, C. R. (1992). "Ordinary men : Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland," 1st/Ed. HarperCollins, New York. p. 5022 Ibid. p. 164 23 Barnett, V. (1992). "For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest against Hitler," Oxford University Press, New York. p 104 24 Shepherd, B. (2004). "War in the Wild East : the German Army and Soviet Partisans," Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. p. 9 25 Shirer, W. L. (1960). "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; a History of Nazi Germany," Simon and Schuster, New York. p. 19026 Snyder, L. L. (1976). "Encyclopedia of the Third Reich," McGraw-Hill, New York. p. 155 27 Rauschning, H. (1940). "The Voice of Destruction," Putnam, New York.p. 77 28Turner, H. A. (1996). "Hitler's Thirty Days to Power : January 1933," Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass. p.

29 Snyder, L. L. (1976). "Encyclopedia of the Third Reich," McGraw-Hill, New York. p. 155 30 Browder, G. C., and (1990). "Foundations of the Nazi Police State." p. 54 31 Höss, R., and Paskuly, S. (1992). "Death Dealer : The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz " Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y. p. 14132 Browder, G. C., and (1990). "Foundations of the Nazi Police State."p. 54 33 Ibid. p.54 34 Waller, J. (2002). "Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing," Oxford University Press, New York. p. XI 35 Browder, G. C., and (1990). "Foundations of the Nazi Police State." p. 54 36 Ibid. p. 55

42

6

37 Halbrook, S. (2003). "Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II," First/Ed. De Capo Press, Cambridge, MA. p. 23 38 www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/heinrichhi201255.html. 39 Williamson, D.G. and (2002). “The Third Reich,” Pearson Education Limited, London, England, p. 24 40 Barnett, V. (1992). "For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest against Hitler," Oxford University Press, New York.p. 31 41 Ibid. p. 31 42 Ibid. p. 30 43 Höss, R., and Paskuly, S. (1992). "Death Dealer : The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz " Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y. p. 27244 Barnett, V. (1992). "For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest against Hitler," Oxford University Press, New York. p. 3045 Waite, R. G. L. (1977). "The Psychopathic God : Adolf Hitler," Basic Books, New York. p. 377 46 Waller, J. (2002). "Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing," Oxford University Press, New York. p. 3047 Waite, R. G. L. (1977). "The Psychopathic God : Adolf Hitler," Basic Books, New York. p. 27 48 Barnett, V. (1992). "For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest against Hitler," Oxford University Press, New York. p. 3249 Ibid. p. 32 50 Rauschning, H. (1940). "The Voice of Destruction," Putnam, New York. p. 50 51 Westermann, E. B. (2005). "Hitler's Police Battalions : Enforcing Racial War in the East," University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. p. 10052 Bartov, O. (1991). "Hitler's Army : Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich," Oxford University Press, New York. p. 126 53 Ibid. p. 107 54 Ibid. p. 120 55 Ibid. p. 109 56 Ibid. p. 112 57 Ibid. p .152 58 Ibid. p. 96 59 Ibid. p. 101 60 Höss, R., and Paskuly, S. (1992). "Death Dealer : The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz " Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y. p. 26961 Ibid. p. 182 62 Ibid. p. 183 63 Sklar, D. (1977). "Gods and Beasts : The Nazis and the Occult," T. Y. Crowell, New York. p .86 64 Quarrie, B. (1983). "Hitler's Samurai : The Waffen-SS in Action," Arco Pub., New York. p. 26 65Höss, R., and Paskuly, S. (1992). "Death Dealer : The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz " Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y. p. 15366 Goodrick-Clarke, N., and NetLibrary, I. (2002). "Black Sun Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity," New York University Press, New York. p. 14867 Sklar, D. (1977). "Gods and Beasts : The Nazis and the Occult," T. Y. Crowell, New York. p. 99 68 Goodrick-Clarke, N., and NetLibrary, I. (2002). "Black Sun Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity," New York University Press, New York. p. 14869 Ibid. p. 125 70 Liulevicius, V. G. (2000). "War Land on the Eastern Front : Culture, National Identity and German Occupation in World War I," Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK ; New York. p. 25971 Sklar, D. (1977). "Gods and Beasts : The Nazis and the Occult," T. Y. Crowell, New York. p.77 72 Goodrick-Clarke, N., and NetLibrary, I. (2002). "Black Sun Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity," New York University Press, New York. p. 13673 Sklar, D. (1977). "Gods and Beasts : The Nazis and the Occult," T. Y. Crowell, New York. p. 63 74 Rhodes, R. (2002). "Masters of Death : The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust," 1st/Ed. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. p. 23375 Höss, R., and Paskuly, S. (1992). "Death Dealer : The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz " Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y. p. 274

43

76 Rauschning, H. (1940). "The Voice of Destruction," Putnam, New York. p. 50 77 Rhodes, R. (2002). "Masters of Death : The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust," 1st/Ed. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. p. 9678Ibid. p. 97 79 Sklar, D. (1977). "Gods and Beasts : The Nazis and the Occult," T. Y. Crowell, New York. p. 98 80 Westermann, E. B. (2005). "Hitler's Police Battalions : Enforcing Racial War in the East," University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. p. 9581 Sklar, D. (1977). "Gods and Beasts : The Nazis and the Occult," T. Y. Crowell, New York. p. 103 82 Browning, C. R. (1992). "Ordinary men : Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland," 1st/Ed. HarperCollins, New York. p. 17783 Quarrie, B. (1983). "Hitler's Samurai : The Waffen-SS in Action," Arco Pub., New York. p. 10 84 Liulevicius, V. G. (2000). "War Land on the Eastern Front : Culture, National Identity and German Occupation in World War I," Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK ; New York. p. 2985 Westermann, E. B. (2005). "Hitler's Police Battalions : Enforcing Racial War in the East," University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. p. 9386 Quarrie, B. (1983). "Hitler's Samurai : The Waffen-SS in Action," Arco Pub., New York. p. 26 87 Westermann, E. B. (2005). "Hitler's Police Battalions : Enforcing Racial War in the East," University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. p. 9388 Quarrie, B. (1983). "Hitler's Samurai : The Waffen-SS in Action," Arco Pub., New York. p. 26 89 Ibid. p. 23 90 Ibid. p. 12 91 Ibid. p. 23 92Ibid. p. 25 93 Sklar, D. (1977). "Gods and Beasts : The Nazis and the Occult," T. Y. Crowell, New York. p. 100 94 Quarrie, B. (1983). "Hitler's Samurai : The Waffen-SS in Action," Arco Pub., New York. p. 26 95 Waller, J. (2002). "Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing," Oxford University Press, New York. p. 255 96 Höss, R., and Paskuly, S. (1992). "Death Dealer : The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz " Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y. p. 10197 Ibid. p.183 98 Westermann, E. B. (2005). "Hitler's Police Battalions : Enforcing Racial War in the East," University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. p. 7899 Ibid. p. 78100 Ibid. p. 90 101 Ibid. p. 7 102 Ibid. p. 9 103 Höss, R., and Paskuly, S. (1992). "Death Dealer : The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz " Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y. p. 101104 Browning, C. R. (1992). "Ordinary men : Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland," 1st/Ed. HarperCollins, New York. p. 52105Shepherd, B. (2004). "War in the Wild East : the German Army and Soviet Partisans," Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. p. 10 106Ibid. p. 17 107 Höss, R., and Paskuly, S. (1992). "Death Dealer : The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz " Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y. p. 161108 Ibid. p. 12 109 Ibid. p. 194 110 Shepherd, B. (2004). "War in the Wild East : the German Army and Soviet Partisans," Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. p. 19 111 Rhodes, R. (2002). "Masters of Death : The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust," 1st/Ed. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. p. 5 112 Rossino, A. B. (2003). "Hitler Strikes Poland : Blitzkrieg, Ideology, and Atrocity," University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan. p. 13113 Ibid. p. I 114 Ibid. p. 9

44

115 Ibid. p. 9116 Rhodes, R. (2002). "Masters of Death : The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust," 1st/Ed. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. p. 4 117 Rossino, A. B. (2003). "Hitler Strikes Poland : Blitzkrieg, Ideology, and Atrocity," University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan. 118 Ibid. p. 10119 Ibid. p. 14120 Ibid. p. 16121 Ibid. p. 11122 Ibid. p. 13123 Ibid. p. 14124 Ibid. p. 13125 Lucas, J. (1985). "Kommando - German Special Forces of World War II," St. Martin's Press, New York.

27

136 Poland. Ministerstwo, I. (1942). "The German New Order in Poland," Published for the Polish ministry

144 Hanson, J., K.M ( 1982). "The Civilian Population and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944," Cambridge

p.126 Rossino, A. B. (2003). "Hitler Strikes Poland : Blitzkrieg, Ideology, and Atrocity," University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan. p. 60127 Ibid. p. 12128 Ibid. p. 60129 Ibid. p. 60130 Ibid. p. 63131 Ibid. p. 64132 Ibid. p. 64133 Ibid. p. 66134 Ibid. p. 65135 Ibid. p. 67

of information by Hutchinson, London. p. 28137 Rossino, A. B. (2003). "Hitler Strikes Poland : Blitzkrieg, Ideology, and Atrocity," University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan. p. 68138 Ibid. p. 68139 Ibid. p. 70140 Ibid. p. 70141 Ibid. p. 71142 Ibid. p. 72143 Ibid. p. 72

University Press, New York, NY,.p. 85

45