Hitler's Bandit Hunters (64 page)

Source:
Found in
chapter 7
: NARA, RG242, BDC, A3343-SSO-364A, Rudolf Pannier, Tätigkeitsbericht für den Monat August, 6 September 1943. Military History Archive Prague (MHAP)/USHMM RS-48.004/roll 6, Ic Mitteilungen Nr.4, 5 March 1943. MHAP/USHMM RS-48.004/roll 6, Tätigkeitsbericht, 8 August 1943.

IV. From Thule Society to Bandenkampfabzeichen

Symbol of the Thule Society

The Thule-Gesellschaft (Thule Society) was founded in 1918 by Rudolf von Sebottendorff. He was an occultist, but his membership included Epp and other Nazis. Thule became the symbol for a German empire beyond Germany’s existing borders.

Bandenkampfabzeichen

The lineage of the Bandenkampfabzeichen is reveald. This illustrates how Himmler and Bach-Zelewski had sealed Epp’s past and Germanic mythology into a medal for Lebensraum.

V. Bach-Zelewski’s Chain of Command, Warsaw (1944)

Source:
Bach-Zelewski’s evidence presented at the Polish war crimes trial in 1947, in Warsaw. This model was intended to explain why he had virtually no responsibility for the destruction and killing. His personal war diary tells a different story.

Allgemeine-SS:
the General SS and central part of the SS, composed mainly of part-time volunteers.

Arbeitererfassungsaktion:
Bandenbekämpfung action to round up labor under the pretext of security.

Bagration:
Soviet name for the 1944 summer offensive.

Banden:
bands.

Bandenaufklärung:
bandit reconnaissance.

Bandenbekämpfung:
bandit fighting or combating bands.

Bandenfrauen:
women working with the band.

Bandenhäuptling:
chieftain or leader of a locally raised and inspired band.

Bandenkampfverbände (BKV):
combating band formations.

Bandenkampfvorschrift:
instructions to combat the bands.

Bandenkinder:
children from destroyed villages.

Bandenlage:
bandit situation report.

Bandentätigkeit:
band activity.

Bandenunwesen:
band (criminal) activities.

Bandenverdächtige:
bandit suspects.

Bandenverseucht:
bandit diseased area.

Banditen:
bandits.

Barbarossa:
codename for the German invasion of Russia, June 22, 1941.

Befehlshaber der Ordnungspolizei (BdO):
field or regional commander of the uniformed police.

Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei (BdS):
field or regional commander of the security police.

Chef der Bandenkampfverbände (Ch.BKV):
commander of the formations for the combating of bands.

Chef der Ordnungspolizei (CdO):
chief of the Order Police.

Cottbus:
Bandenbekämpfung operation in Byelorussia in May–June 1943.

Einsatzgruppen:
Task force, action group, SS/SD killing teams.

Erfassungs:
registration of people, farm animals, and produce during Bandenbekämpfung.

Ergänzungstelle:
recruiting center.

Erledigt:
finished off; used to denote the killing or finishing off of persons.

Ernteerfassungsaktion:
registration of harvests for plunder.

Feldkommandantur:
Regional military government office.

FHO:
Fremde Heere Ost; Foreign Armies East. The organisation for intelligence gathering in the east.

FHQ:
Führerhauptquartier; Hitler’s headquarters.

Franc-tireur or frank-tireur:
French guerrillas during the Franco–Prussian War of 1870.

Freikorps:
Free Corps or state-sponsored irregulars.

Freischärler:
the freedom fighters (guerrillas).

Frülingsfest:
Spring Festival; Bandenbekämpfung operation Byelorussia (April 1944).

Führer:
Adolf Hitler or a leader in the SS; sometimes the commanding officer of an action or operation.

Führerbefehl:
Hitler order.

Führererlass:
Hitler decree or edict.

Führer-Weisung:
Hitler directive.

Gauleiter:
district leader of the Nazi Party responsible for administering a region or district (Gau).

Gebirgsjäger:
mountain soldier.

Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo):
Secret State Police.

Geheimen Feldgendarmerie (GFP):
Secret Military Police.

Generalgouvernment:
General Government of Poland, which was occupied rather than annexed by Germany.

Generalstab:
chief of staff.

Guerillakrieg:
guerrilla warfare.

Hilfswillige (Hiwi):
Russian auxiliaries serving with German units on the Eastern Front.

Höchste SS- und Polizeiführer (HstSSPF):
Supreme SS- and Police Leader Italy.

Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer (HSSPF):
Higher SS and Police Leader.

Ia:
first general staff officer operations officer.

Ib:
second general staff officer (Supply).

Ic:
third general staff officer (Intelligence).

IN:
general staff officer (Signals).

IO:
general staff (Ordnance).

Kampfgruppe:
battle group.

Kommandantur:
garrison headquarters.

Kommandostab RFSS (KSRFSS):
Command Staff RFSS Headquarters staff of the Reichsführer-SS.

Konzentrationslager (KZ):
concentration camp.

Kriminalpolizei (Kripo):
criminal police division.

Kugelblitz:
Bandenbekämpfung operation in Surazh Rayon, Belorussia (February 1943).

Landespolizei:
state police.

Landesschützen (Ldsch):
local defence force or a unit of Landwehr.

Landsturm:
German reservists aged over thirty-nine.

Landwehr:
German reservists up to age thirty-nine.

Lebensraum (living space):
the concept of migrationist colonialism.

Luftwaffe:
German air force.

National Sozialistisches Kraftfahr-Korps (NSKK):
Nazi motor corps.

Oberfeldkommandantur (OFK):
administrative headquarters in occupied territory.

Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW):
German High Command of the Armed Forces.

Ordnungspolizei (Orpo):
Order Police, the Nazi regular uniformed beat police.

Organisation Todt (OT):
a construction agency founded under Reich Minister for Armaments.

OSS:
Office of Strategic Services, U.S. covert operations organization.

Partisanen:
partisan

Partisanenkrieg:
partisan warfare.

Partisanentätigkeit:
partisan activity.

Partisanenüberfall:
partisan operations.

Polizei:
Police.

Polizeigebietsführer (PGF):
police area commander, a title employed in Croatia by the SS-Police.

Polizeiverwaltung (PV):
police administration, usually applied to precinct, district, or region.

Quartiermeister (Qu):
quartermaster.

Rasse- und Siedlungs-Hauptamt (RuSHA):
SS Main Office for Race and Settlements.

Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD):
Reich Labor Service.

Reichskommissar:
the chief administrative officers of German occupied territories.

Reichskommissariat Ostland:
administering Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Byelorussia.

Reichskommissariat Ukraine:
administering the Ukraine and occupied southern Russia.

Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA):
Main Office of State Security.

Rückwärtigen Heeresgebiet (RHG):
Rear Area Command.

Schutzmannschaften (Schuma):
collaboration units raised in Eastern Europe, Russia and the Ukraine.

Schutzstaffel (SS):
guard squad of the Nazi Party.