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52-611: The Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz was an ethnic-German self-protection militia , 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 and were responsible for, and took part in, massacres of Poles, along with SS Einsatzgruppen . The Selbstschutz numbered some 100,000 members, who formed

104-763: A member of the provincial diet and of the Prussian Landtag ; from 12 November 1933, he also was a member of the Reichstag . On 5 April 1934, he joined the SS and became commander of the 46th Regiment in Dresden in the rank of Obersturmbannführer . On 22 August 1934, Alvensleben received a reprimand by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler for having insulted a woman in Leipzig in April. From 1 October 1935, he assumed

156-451: Is not German and could hinder us in the work of construction. The Selbstschutz took part in the first action of elimination of Polish intelligentsia, the mass murders in Piaśnica , during which 12,000 to 16,000 civilians were murdered. An Intelligenzaktion was a plan to eliminate all Polish intelligentsia and Poland's leadership class in the country. These operations took place soon after

208-511: The Molotschna and Chortitza Mennonite colonies with training and armaments provided by the German imperial army . Before the end of the occupation, German soldiers supervised the creation of several Selbstschutz units, leaving weapons, ammunition, and a few officers to command the groups. Together with a neighboring Lutheran German colony, the young men from Molotschna formed twenty companies totaling 2,700 infantry and 300 cavalry. During

260-762: The NSDAP (Nazi Party), Auslandsorganisation (Foreign Affairs Organization), Gestapo (Secret Police), SD (Security Service) and Abwehr (Defense). By October 1938, SD agents were organizing the Selbstschutz in Poland. Ethnic Germans with Polish citizenship were trained in the Third Reich in various sabotage methods and guerilla tactics. Even before the war, Selbstschutz activists from Poland helped to organize lists of Poles who later were to be arrested or executed in Operation Tannenberg . With

312-434: The NSDAP (Nazi Party), Auslandsorganisation (Foreign Affairs Organization), Gestapo (Secret Police), SD (Security Service) and Abwehr (Defense). Ethnic Germans with Polish citizenship had been trained in the Third Reich in various sabotage methods and guerilla tactics. Before the war began, Selbstschutz activists from Poland compiled lists of Poles who were to be removed or executed in Operation Tannenberg . The list

364-599: The Russian Civil War , these forces were initially successful in holding back the forces of anarchist Nestor Makhno until March 1919. However, the self-defense groups were ultimately overwhelmed and forced to retreat and disband when Makhno's partisans allied with and were reinforced by, the Red Army . As the Russian Civil War progressed, some Mennonites were integrated within ethnic battalions of

416-549: The Vistula , Piastoszyn , Płutowo , Sępólno Krajeńskie , Solec Kujawski (Schulitz), Tuchola (Tuchel), Wąbrzeźno (Briesen), Wolental near Skórcz , and Wyrzysk (Wirsitz). The majority of the arrested Poles – men, women and youth – were murdered on the spot by Selbstschutz executioners. People shot were finished off by blows delivered by shovels and the butts of assault rifles; they were buried in mass graves when still alive. Mothers were forced to place their children in

468-464: The Wehrmacht and Ordnungspolizei already established concentration camps. There were 19 such locations recorded in the following Polish cities: Bydgoszcz (see Bromberg-Ost ), Brodnica (renamed Strasburg ), Chełmno (see Chełmno extermination camp ), Dorposz Szlachecki , Kamień Krajeński , Karolewo, Lipno (renamed Lippe), Łobżenica , Nakło (Nakel), Nowy Wiec near Skarszew , Nowe on

520-659: The Czech population in the Sudetenland. In the interwar period, the German minority organizations in Poland included Jungdeutsche Partei (Young German party), Deutsche Vereinigung (German Union), Deutscher Volksbund (German peoples Union) and Deutscher Volksverband (German peoples United). All of them actively cooperated with Nazi Germany in anti-Polish espionage, sabotage, provocations, and political indoctrination. They maintained close contact with and were directed by

572-414: The German attack on Poland later served as one of the reasons for the expulsion of Germans after the war . According to German researcher Dieter Schenk, some 1,701 former members of Selbstschutz who committed mass atrocities were identified in postwar Germany. However, there were only 258 cases of judicial investigations, and 233 of them were cancelled. Only ten Selbstschutz members were ever sentenced by

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624-632: The German courts. This situation was described by Schenk as a "disgrace for the German court system". Selbstschutz Selbstschutz (German for "self-protection") is the name given to different iterations of ethnic-German self-protection units formed both after the First World War and in the lead-up to the Second World War. The first incarnation of the Selbstschutz was a German paramilitary organisation formed after World War I for ethnic Germans who lived outside Germany in

676-629: The German side of the Polish/German conflicts in the area. In 1921, its organized units resisted the Polish rebellion in the Third Silesian Uprising ; which was aimed at seceding Upper Silesia from Germany. The Selbstschutz were reintroduced during the late 1930s in Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Selbstschutz Sudetendeutsches Freikorps activists worked to indoctrinate ethnic Germans locally and commit acts of terrorism against

728-781: The Jewish-owned manors of Rucewo and Rucewko in Reichsgau Wartheland . In December 1939, Alvensleben was appointed member-of-staff at the command of Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger , the SS and Police Leader in Kraków , General Government . On 23 May 1940, he was promoted to the rank of Hauptsturmführer in the Waffen-SS. From February 1941 he was in service of the Reich Security Main Office , assumed

780-783: The Poles imprisoned in those camps (consisting of men, women and youth) were brutally murdered. After the German invasion of Poland , the Selbstschutz worked together with the Einsatzgruppen to massacre Poles. Commander of the Selbstschutz Ludolf von Alvensleben told the men on 16 October 1939: You are now the master race here. Nothing was yet built up through softness and weakness... That’s why I expect, just as our Führer Adolf Hitler expects from you, that you are disciplined, but stand together hard as Krupp steel. Don’t be soft, be merciless, and clear out everything that

832-577: The Poles. They were founded in places where the Wehrmacht and 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

884-599: The Prussian cadet corps in 1911, and in 1918 joined the 10th (Magdeburg) Hussars Regiment, but did not fight in World War I . He was briefly a member in a paramilitary Freikorps unit in 1920. Between 1923 and July 1929, he was a member of the nationalist Der Stahlhelm organization. Upon the death of his father in December 1912, he inherited the family's manor at Schochwitz. He wed Melitta von Guaita on 3 May 1924;

936-630: The Russian Volunteer Army . The attempt to defend the villages departed from the traditional Mennonite teaching of nonresistance and was disapproved of by many colonists. Others regarded the collapse of effective governmental authority as sufficient justification for the creation of self-defense units. This sentiment was reinforced by horrific atrocities committed by anarchist bands against Mennonite communities. While Selbstschutz units had some success in protecting Mennonite communities from further atrocities and in providing time for

988-642: The SS and Police Leader command in Chernigov on 22 October 1941 and of Simferopol in Crimea on 19 November. In 1942, Alvensleben was SS inspector of the Durchgangsstrasse IV , a large forced labor project to build a road from Lemberg to Stalino (now Donetsk ). From 6 October 1943, he held this position in Nikolaev in the rank of Major General, officially assigned to Army Group A ; his tenure

1040-475: The beginning of the Invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, Selbstschutz units engaged in hostilities towards the Polish population and military, and performed sabotage operations helping the German attack on the Polish state. In mid-September, the chaotic and autonomous activities of this organization were coordinated by SS officers. Himmler placed Gustav Berger, a police official from Offenbach , in charge of

1092-739: The character of the Nazi-era in which it was formulated and organized. In 1938, a campaign was started by local Selbstschutz Sudetendeutsches Freikorps in the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland in order to subjugate the local Czechs prior to the Munich Conference . During the Invasion of Poland of 1939, a number of similar units conducted sabotage actions directed by the emissaries trained in Nazi Germany . These groups were officially merged into one organization,

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1144-491: The civil population to flee to areas held by White Russian forces , the abandonment of nonresistance proved to be highly divisive. Some believed that the self-defense actions may have inflamed anarchist atrocities committed against Mennonite civilians. As a result, later church conferences and delegations officially condemned the self-defense measures as a "grave mistake". Selbstschutz militia were also active in Silesia on

1196-641: The command of Alvensleben was 17,667 men strong, and had already executed 4,247 Poles, while Alvensleben complained to Selbstschutz officers that too few Poles had been shot. (German officers had reported that only a fraction of Poles had been "destroyed" in the region with the total number of those executed in West Prussia during this action being about 20,000. One Selbstschutz commander, Wilhelm Richardt, said in Karolewo (Karlhof) camp that he did not want to build big camps for Poles and feed them, and that it

1248-589: The course of the German war against Poland was one of the reasons for the expulsion of Germans after the war . A description of the Selbstschutz ' s involvement, made available by the Polish State Museum in Sztutowo , contains material compiled three years before the war broke out, for the Nazi authorities to use in extermination of the Poles thereafter. Ludolf von Alvensleben Alvensleben

1300-612: The ethnic German Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz (Self-Defense Force) of more than 100,000 men. They took part in fighting the Poles as the Fifth Column , but also served as auxiliary forces of the Gestapo , SS and SD during the early stages of the occupation of Poland, and helped the Nazi administration in the newly formed Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia and Reichsgau Wartheland . They served as local controllers, informers, and members of execution squads particularly active in

1352-485: The fall of Poland, lasting from the fall of 1939 until the spring of 1940; 60,000 landowners, teachers, entrepreneurs, social workers, army veterans, members of national organizations, priests, judges and political activists were murdered in 10 regional actions. The Intelligenzaktions were continued by the German AB-Aktion operation in Poland . By 5 October 1939, in West Prussia alone, the Selbstschutz under

1404-555: The following year. After the occupation of Ukraine by German and Austro-Hungarian forces in 1918, the German occupying authorities assisted in establishing Selbstschutz units drawn from the numerous ethnic-German communities in southern Ukraine. The Selbstschutz assisted in serving German security interests in Ukraine following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russian Mennonite men were included in this program and members were drawn from

1456-483: The government of Juan Perón granted Alvensleben citizenship under the name of Carlos Lücke on 27 November 1952. He lived in Buenos Aires until July 1956 and then moved to Santa Rosa de Calamuchita . From November 1952, he served as inspector of fish farming. A Polish court sentenced Alvensleben to death in absentia . In January 1964, the district court of Munich issued an arrest warrant for Alvensleben for

1508-539: The greater part of the German minority "fit for action". In the interwar period, the German minority organizations in Poland included Jungdeutsche Partei (Young German Party), Deutsche Vereinigung (German Union), Deutscher Volksbund (German Peoples Union) and Deutscher Volksverband (German Peoples Association). All of them formed a fifth column actively cooperating with Nazi Germany in anti-Polish espionage, sabotage, provocations, and political indoctrination. They maintained close contact with and were directed by

1560-458: The head of the civil administration in the new Gau . It is difficult to estimate the extent and impact of VS activities, as Polish authorities were not able to properly gather evidence once the invasion started, and much of the German documentation related to those activities did not survive the war. The existence of a large paramilitary organization of ethnic Germans with Polish citizenship that engaged in widespread massacres of Poles and helped in

1612-577: The late days of the war, he left Dresden and fled to the West. In April 1945, Alvensleben was apprehended by British forces. At the end of 1945, he escaped from the internment camp at Neuengamme in Hamburg . After a short stay in Schochwitz , he fled with his family to Argentina in early 1946. Although there is no precise data on when they arrived in the country, according to a 2000 documentary film,

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1664-597: The leadership of the 26th SS-Regiment in his hometown Halle. His advancement continued: he became commander of SS-District X in Stuttgart on 20 September 1936 and commander of SS-District XXXIII in Schwerin on 1 July 1937. Alvensleben's career continued after the 1939 Invasion of Poland as commander of the Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz ('German Self-Defense') organization in what was to become

1716-617: The marriage produced four children. He also later fathered a natural son raised as a Lebensborn child. Alvensleben joined the NSDAP and SA in 1929. He soon became head of the local branch in Eisleben and chief district official in Mansfeld Land . From July 1931, he chaired the motorized corps of the SA in the Gau of Halle-Merseburg . Alvensleben left the SA in 1932; at that time he

1768-416: The mass murder of ethnic Poles. For example, they took part in the massacres in Piaśnica , the first elimination "aktion" of Polish intelligentsia. Between 12,000 and 16,000 civilians were murdered there. The Intelligenzaktion was aimed at eliminating Poland's leadership in the country. The murder operations began soon after the attack on Poland and lasted from the fall of 1939 until the spring of 1940. As

1820-417: The newly established Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia . He told his men on 16 October 1939: You are now the master race here. Nothing was yet built up through softness and weakness... That’s why I expect, just as our Führer Adolf Hitler expects from you, that you are disciplined, but stand together hard as Krupp steel. Don’t be soft, be merciless, and clear out everything that is not German and could hinder us in

1872-462: The organization and district commanders in occupied zones made by the German army were put in place — West Prussia , Upper Silesia and Warthegau . While the SS leadership was limited to overseeing the operations, local units remained under the control of ethnic Germans who had proven their commitment at the beginning of the war. The Selbstschutz set up locations for massacres of interned Poles. At times, they were organized in places where

1924-461: The pits where they were shot together. Before executions women and girls were raped.(...) [The atrocities] evoked horror even in the Germans, including some soldiers. Terrified at what they saw in the town of Świecie two of them felt compelled to submit a report (now in German federal archives). After the German invasion of Poland , the Selbstschutz worked together with the Einsatzgruppen in

1976-657: The rebirth of Poland. In 1921, the units of Selbstschutz took part in the fights against the Polish Third Silesian Uprising . The third incarnation operated in territories of Central and Eastern Europe before and after the beginning of World War II notably in Poland , the Free City of Danzig , Czechoslovakia , Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union . This Selbstschutz organization took on

2028-422: The result of Nazi genocidal policy, in 10 regional actions 60,000 Polish teachers, entrepreneurs, landowners, social workers, military veterans, members of national organisations, priests, judges, and political activists were killed. The Intelligenzaktion was continued by the German AB-Aktion operation in Poland . In West Prussia, the Selbstschutz organization led by SS-Gruppenführer Ludolf von Alvensleben

2080-521: The territories occupied by Germany and Austria-Hungary following the conclusion of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk . The purpose of these units was to protect local ethnic-German communities and, indirectly, to serve German security interests in southern Ukraine. Another iteration of the Selbstschutz concept was established in Silesia and aimed at returning Polish-inhabited territories back to Germany following

2132-469: The wave of mass murders of Polish intelligentsia during Operation Tannenberg and other more local and vengeful atrocities. The killings of Poles and Jews ascribed specifically to members of Volksdeutsche Selbstschutz is estimated at the minimum of 10,000 men, women and children. The force was disbanded in winter 1939/40 and the majority of its members joined the German SS or Gestapo by the spring of

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2184-579: The work of construction. The Selbstschutz paramilitary forces, formed by members of the German minority in Poland and led by SS officials, performed mass executions during the Intelligenzaktion Pommern in the " Fordon Valley of Death ", the Massacres in Piaśnica , and other atrocities. In a letter to Himmler, Alvensleben complained about scrupulous Wehrmacht officers too weak to take drastic measures. In 1939 he confiscated

2236-581: Was 17,667 men strong, and by 5 October 1939 had already executed 4,247 Poles. Notably, Alvensleben complained to the Selbstschutz officers that too few Poles had been shot. German officers had reported to him that only a fraction of Poles had been "destroyed" in the region, with the total number of those executed in West Prussia during this action being about 20,000. One Selbstschutz commander, Wilhelm Richardt, said in Karolewo (Karlhof) that he did not want to build big camps for Poles and feed them, and that it

2288-459: Was accompanied by irregularities and further mass executions. On 19 February 1944, he succeeded Udo von Woyrsch as Higher SS and Police Leader in Dresden . He took the occasion to take action against his creditors, such as Carl Wentzel who was denounced after the 20 July plot , arrested and executed, whereafter Alvensleben was able to release his heavily indebted manor in Schochwitz . In

2340-416: Was an honour for Poles to fertilize the German soil with their corpses. There was visible enthusiasm for activities of the Selbstschutz among those involved in the action. Only in one case a Selbstschutz commander was relieved of duty after failing to finish his job with "only" 300 Poles executed. The total number of Selbstschutz members in Poland is estimated by historians at 82,000. The organization

2392-406: Was an honour for Poles to fertilize the German soil with their corpses. There was little opposition to or lack of enthusiasm for the activities of the Selbstschutz among those involved in the action. There was even a case where a Selbstschutz commander was relieved after he failed to account for all the Poles that were required, and it was found that he executed "only" 300 Poles. The organization

2444-554: Was born in Halle in the Prussian Province of Saxony into the noble family von Alvensleben . His father was Prussian Major General Ludolf von Alvensleben (1844–1912). Ludolf's father had already retired from active service to administer the family's manor around Schochwitz Castle , which had been inherited from Alvensleben's grandfather, the Prussian general Hermann von Alvensleben (1809–1887). Alvensleben enlisted in

2496-602: Was distributed among Nazi death squads as the Special Prosecution Book-Poland (Germ. Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen). Immediately after the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz engaged in attacks against the Polish population and the army, and performed sabotage operations helping the German advance across the Polish state. In mid-September, the chaotic and largely spontaneous activities of this organization were coordinated by SS officers. Himmler 's protégé Gottlob Berger

2548-555: Was heavily indebted and had a considerable criminal record on charges which included libel and road traffic offence. After the Machtergreifung , he and Gauleiter Rudolf Jordan on 12 February 1933, organized a violent attack of SA and SS paramilitaries on Communist officials in Eisleben, whereby three men were killed and many others injured, an event later known as Eisleben Bloody Sunday. In March 1933, Alvensleben became

2600-467: Was ordered to be dissolved on 26 November 1939, but the changeover continued until the spring of 1940. Among the reasons were instances of extreme corruption, disorderly behavior and conflicts with other organizations. Members were instructed to join Schutzstaffel and Gestapo instead. In the summer of 1940, the new Sonderdienst battalions were formed in place of Selbstschutz and assigned to

2652-469: Was ordered to be dissolved on 26 November 1939 in favour of service with the SS , yet the work continued until the spring of 1940. Among the reasons for dissolution were the Selbstschutz ' s extreme corruption, disorderly behaviour and conflicts with other organizations, as well as excessive use of force. The existence of a large paramilitary organization of ethnic Germans with Polish citizenship who engaged in widespread massacres of ethnic Poles in

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2704-399: Was placed in charge of the organization. District commanders from the army in occupied zones were put in charge at West Prussia , Upper Silesia and Warthegau . While the SS leadership was limited to overseeing the operations, local units remained under the control of ethnic Germans who had proven their commitment at the beginning of the war. Selbstschutz organized concentration camps for

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