SS officers in Poland, ca. late 1939, ethnic German Selbstschutz.

[meyle77]

The fifth column as it was called by the Poles was very active in the September campaign and in some cases attacked retreating Polish Army units.
Here is the most famous event Bloody Sunday (1939) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[wizardman]

and another
Kölzow, Dr. Hans geb. Warin (Meckl.) 21.06.1901.

00.03.1924 Mitbegründer der Ortsgruppe Rostock der NSDAP;
01.10.1928 Wiedereintritt in die NSDAP (Mitgliedsnr. 102.624),
10.12.1929 Eintritt in die SS (Mitgliedsnr. 1.961) als SS-Anwärter,
10.01.1930 SS-Mann;
00.00.1931 Sektionsführer der Sektion Mitte des Gaues Groß-Berlin der NSDAP,
Reichsredner der NSDAP (Nr. 242),
05.12.1931 - 23.07.1932 Adjutant des SS-Sturms 15 (Berlin),
23.07.1932 - 12.06.1933 Stabsführer des SS-Abschnitts III (Berlin),
15.12.1932 SS-Scharführer,
25.01.1933 SS-Truppführer,
01.06.1933 Stadtrat im Verwaltungsbezirk Berlin-Mitte,
12.06.1933 - 13.11.1934 beauftragt mit der Führung des SS-Sturmbanns I/6 (Berlin),
24.08.1933 SS-Sturmführer,
24.08.1933 SS-Führer beim Stab des SS-Abschnitts III,
22.11.1933 SS-Obersturmführer (mit Wirkung vom 09.11.1933),
20.03.1934 SS-Sturmhauptführer,
27.09.1934 Stadtbaurat, Beigeordneter und Leiter der Haupttiefbauverwaltung der Reichshauptstadt Berlin (bis vor 1938),
13.11.1934 - 01.04.1936 SS-Führer z.V. des SS-Abschnitts III,
Ratsherr der Reichshauptstadt Berlin,
01.04.1936 - 01.04.1943 SS-Führer beim Stab des SS-Abschnitts III,
25.04.1936 SS-Sturmbannführer (mit Wirkung vom 20.04.1936),
01.01.1938 Direktor des Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI), 30.01.1939 SS-Obersturmbannführer; 00.00.1939 Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938; 06.09.1939 - 15.12.1939 Sonderführer in Polen (Führer der Inspektion Hohensalza beim Selbstschutz Westpreußen);
01.09.1941 zur Waffen-SS einberufen,
23.09.1941 mit Wirkung vom 01.09.1941 zum Sonderführer der Waffen-SS beim SS- und Polizeiführer SS-Brigadeführer von Alvensleben ernannt,
23.09.1941 SS-Hauptsturmführer (S) der Waffen-SS;
28.08.1942 SS-Sturmbannführer (S) der Waffen-SS (mit Wirkung vom 01.09.1942),
19.10.1942 SS-Sturmbannführer (F) der Waffen-SS (mit Wirkung vom 01.09.1942),
01.04.1943 - 01.02.1944 SS-Führer beim Stab des SS-Oberabschnitts Ukraine;
01.02.1944 - 00.00.1945 SS-Führer beim Stab des SS-Abschnitts III;
22.04.1944 als SS-Schütze d. R. von der Stabskompanie der Waffen-SS im RSHA zum SS-Wachbataillon 1 (Berlin) versetzt und zugleich zur Parteikanzlei kommandiert; 10.06.1944 SS-Standartenführer (mit Wirkung vom 21.06.1944)
credit to Andreas Schulz Axis History Forum • Dr. Hans Kölzow & Erich Spaarmann

[wizardman]

last but not least,SS-Sturmbannführer Christian Schnug

Schnug Christian
Date of birth: 28 January 1891
SS-No.: 25 738
NSDAP-No.: 765 687
Awards and Decorations: SS Honor Ring, Iron Cross 1st Class (WWI), Cross of Honor 1914/18 for Combatants, Wound Badge in Black (WWI), War Merit Cross with Swords 2nd Class, SA Sports Badge.
Promotion Dates:
- SS-Untersturmführer - 3 Sept. 1933
- SS-Obersturmführer - 15 June 1934
- SS-Hauptsturmführer - 20 April 1935
- SS-Sturmbannführer - 30 January 1937
Occupation: Full-time officer in the Allgemeine SS (as per SS-DAL of 1 Oct. 42, 1 Oct. 43 and of 1 Oct. 44)
Known duty assignments:
- Commander of I. Sturmbann of SS-Standarte 27 (as per SS-DAL of 1 July 1935 and of 1 Dec. 1936)
- Attached to the Staff of Abschnitt XII (as per SS-DAL of 1 Dec. 38)
- Commander of II. Sturmbann of 118th SS-Standarte (as per SS-DAL of 1 Oct. 42)
- Commander of II. Sturmbann of 116th SS-Standarte (as per SS-DAL of 1 Oct. 43 and of 1 Oct. 44)
Officer rank held in Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS or Police: None
Other information: Member of Lebensborn e.V.
My grandfather Christian Schnug - Military Photos Images Pictures Discussion
(Note that the rank insignia for an Allgemeine-SS Sturmbannführer are clearly visible in this photograph, as are his WW1-era Iron Cross 1st Class and Wound Badge as well as his SA Sports Badge.)


By the way, the 118th Standarte was headquartered at Preußisch Stargard (the German name for Starogard Gdański) and the 116th at Bromberg (the German name for Bydgoszcz), both which are cities in Pommerania.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------SS-Stubaf Christian SCHNUG was Kreisführer Bromberg-Stadt from end october 1939 and Inspekteur Bromberg from december 1939 till the disband.
The Selbstschutz Bromberg-Stadt was composed of 4 hundertschaften and one Ehrensturm. It also had an internierungslager situated in an Artillery Barracks

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thanks for the interesting data and images. All of great value for our inquiries.

[StefanM]

Selbstschutz also organized concentration camps for Poles. Occasionally they were founded in places where Wehrmacht or German police units established camps. There were 19 such camps in the following places: Bydgoszcz (Bromberg), Brodnica (Strasburg), Chełmno (Kulm), Dorposz Szlachecki, Kamień Krajeński, Karolewo, Lipno (Lippe), Łobżenica, Nakło (Nakel), Nowy Wiec (near Skarszewy), Nowe (over Vistula), Piastoszyn, Płutowo, Sępólno Krajeńskie, Solec Kujawski (Schulitz), Tuchola (Tuchel), Wąbrzeźno (Briesen), Wolental (near Skórcz), Wyrzysk (Wirsitz). The majority of the Poles imprisoned in those camps (consisting of men, women and youth) were murdered in cruel ways.[5]

Very interesting thread.

Is there any other supporting references or evidence of these 19 concentration camps for Poles other than the wikipedia page? The source link [5] to the Avalon Project website does not as far as I can see list any such camps in these locations or even any mention of the places themselves.

[wizardman]

I'll have a look when I get home... But as I said I'm just posting the available information, then everyone can debate and cross reference... I do have the contact information for a couple of the SS men's relatives and I think they may well have some fantastic information... I will try and contact them, but if they wish to remain private I will honour that

[wizardman]

Operation Tannenberg (German: Unternehmen Tannenberg) was the codename for one of the extermination actions directed at the Polish people during World War II, part of the Generalplan Ost. Conscription lists (Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen), prepared by Germans before the war, identified more than 61,000 members of the Polish elite: activists, intelligentsia, scholars, actors, former officers, and others, who were to be interned or shot. Members of the German minority living in Poland assisted in preparing the lists.

The plan was created in May 1939. Following the orders of Adolf Hitler, a special unit dubbed Tannenberg was created within the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt). It commanded a number of Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD formed with Gestapo, Kripo and SD officers who were theoretically subordinate to local Wehrmacht commanders. Their task was to arrest all the people listed on the proscription lists prepared before the outbreak of World War II.

First, in August 1939 about 2,000 activists of Polish minority organisations in Germany were arrested and murdered. The second part of the action began on September 1, 1939, and ended in October, resulting in at least 20,000 deaths in 760 mass executions by Einsatzgruppen special task units with some help from regular Wehrmacht (armed forces) units. In addition, a special formation was created from the German minority living in Poland called Selbstschutz, whose members had trained in Germany before the war in diversion and guerilla fighting (see: Deutscher Volksverband, the German People's Union in Poland). The formation was responsible for many massacres and due to its bad reputation was dissolved by Nazi authorities after the September Campaign.

Selbstschutz*concentration*camp - Places*of*martyrology - Heritage Sites - Radzim - Virtual Shtetl
Feldgrau.net • View topic - Selbstschutz in Poland
Kampania Wrze¶niowa 1939 - Wojna obronna Polski 1939 - Wojna Polska 1939 (polish)
Operation Tannenberg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The German New Order in Poland: Part One
DER SPIEGEL*34/1979 - Unternehmen Tannenberg
Ludolf von Alvensleben - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
German AB-Aktion in Poland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[wizardman]

"People executed by shooting were finished by blows frоm shovels, оr by beating wіth rifles, sometimes they were even buried alive. Mothers were forced tо place theіr children іn mass graves where they were shot together afterwards. Before executions women аnd girls were raped. [Those atrocities] evoked horror even іn Germans, including sоme soldiers whо were terrified аt whаt they saw іn the camps."

А short description оf Selbstschutz operations frоm Polish State Museum оf Stutthof.

[wizardman]

Bloody Sunday (German: Bromberger Blutsonntag; Polish: Krwawa niedziela) was a series of killings against the German minority that took place at the beginning of World War II. On September 3, 1939, two days after the beginning of the German invasion of Poland, highly controversial killings occurred in and around Bydgoszcz (German: Bromberg), a Polish city with a sizable German minority. The number of casualties and other details of the incident are disputed among historians. The Nazis exploited the deaths as grounds for a massacre of Polish inhabitants after the Wehrmacht captured the town.
Bromberg was the site of Bromberg-Ost, a women's subcamp of Stutthof. A deportation camp was situated in Smukała village, now part of Bydgoszcz. According to Nowa encyklopedia powszechna PWN, 37,000 citizens of the city, Polish and Jewish, died during the war.
Bloody Sunday (1939) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Che

[wizardman]

Chełmno extermination camp
Che
Chelmno (concentration camp, Poland) -- Encyclopedia Britannica
History & Overview of Chelmno | Jewish Virtual Library
Chelmno Kulmhof concentration camp tour