Partners in Genocide

The German Police and the Wehrmacht in the Soviet Union

Bibliographic Data

ID11158142
AuthorsEdward B Westermann (United States Air Force Academy, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume31
Issue5
Pages771-796
Publication date2008-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Strategic Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0140-2390 • E-ISSN: 1743-937X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01402390802197977
OpenAlexW1995523644
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

In the Soviet Union, SS and police forces adopted the strategy of the direct approach as the keystone of German security policy in the occupied territories. Operating in conjunction with Wehrmacht units and indigenous auxiliaries, Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police Heinrich Himmler's Uniformed Police (Ordnungspolizei) battalions, became essential instruments in the subjugation, exploitation, and pacification of the German rear areas. This essay examines the cooperative relationship that developed between SS and police forces, the Wehrmacht, and indigenous auxiliaries during the German anti-partisan campaign in the East. On the one hand, the cooperation of the police with the German armed forces reflected a true ‘inter-agency’ approach to counter-insurgency warfare; an approach formalised in policy agreements between both organisations prior to the 1941 invasion of Russia and cemented in combined operations aimed at Soviet partisans and their supporters. On the other hand, this analysis of combined operations between German SS and police and Wehrmacht forces offers further evidence of the key role played by the German Army and Air Force in the anti-partisan campaign, and ultimately genocide

Genocide · German · Political science · Soviet union · European history and politics · German History and Society · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · Law

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