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Records of the Gendarmerie Kreis Hermansbad (Ciechocinek, Poland) (Sygn. 71)

Document | Not Digitized | Accession Number: 1993.A.0016 | RG Number: RG-15.013M

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    Overview

    Description
    Contains information about the persecution of Jews and Roma; resettlement of Polish and German nationals; homosexuals placed in preventive custody; deportations of Jews and non-Jews; Jewish communities; Jews transported to Chelmno killing center in April 1942; Jewish labor battalions; escaped prisoners of war; political prisoners; statistics on Jewish populations; expropriation of Jewish property; killing of Jews who tried to escape from Inowroclaw (a.k.a Hohensalza) Ghetto; transports; Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; and compulsory and slave labor, Reel 1 contains collections of newsletters or Meldbläter for police offices in Hohensalza, Litzmannstadt (Łódź), and Posen (Poznań).
    Date
    inclusive:  1939-1944
    Collection Creator
    Gendarmerie Kreis Hermannsbad
    Germany. Geheime Staatspolizei
    Biography
    The Geheime Staatspolizei (German for Secret State Police, abbreviated “Gestapo”) was the secret police of Nazi Germany, and its main tool of oppression and destruction, which persecuted Germans, opponents of the regime, and Jews. It later played a central role in helping carry out the Nazi's "Final Solution." The Gestapo was formally organized after the Nazis seized power in 1933. Hermann Göring, the Prussian minister of the interior, detached the espionage and political units of the Prussian police and proceeded to staff them with thousands of Nazis. On April 26, 1933, Göring became the commander of this new force that was given power to shadow, arrest, interrogate, and intern any "enemies" of the state. At the same time that Goring was organizing the Gestapo, Heinrich Himmler was directing the SS (Schutzstaffel, German for “Protective Echelon”), Hitler's elite paramilitary corps. In April 1936, he was given command of the Gestapo as well, integrating all of Germany's police units under Himmler. Later in 1936, the Gestapo was merged with the Kriminalpolizei (or “Kripo,” German for Criminal Police). The newly integrated unit was the called the Sicherheitspolizei(or “Sipo,” German for Secret Police). In 1939, during the reorganization of the German armies, the Sipo was joined with an intelligence branch of the military known as the Sicherheitsdienst (“SD,” meaning Security Service). After this merger, the Sipo became known as the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (“RSHA,” meaning Reich Security Central Office), and was headed by Reinhard Heydrich. Because of these frequent changes, the functions of the Gestapo became blurred, and often overlapped with those of the other branches of the German forces. During World War II, the Einsatzgruppen ("Task Force", mobile killing squads) was formed, and came to be an integral part of the Gestapo. It was the Einsatzgruppen's job to round up all the Jews and other “undesirables” living within Germany's newly conquered territories, and to either send them to concentration camps or put them to death. At the end of 1940, when the Jews in Eastern Europe were interned in ghettos, the Gestapo was charged with guarding and supervising the ghettos, imposing forced labor, and causing starvation and disease in an effort to decimate the ghetto inhabitants. After the invasion of Russia in 1941, the decision was made to kill all the Jews of Europe in gas chambers and the Gestapo was called upon to supervise the dispatch of the Jews to the camps specially adapted or constructed for the program of mass murder. The Gestapo units excelled in their unabated and premeditated cruelty, in their ability to delude its intended victims as to the fate that awaited them, and in the use of barbaric threats and torture to lead the victims to their death, all as part of the "Final Solution." The units were taught many torture techniques, and were also taught many of the practices that German doctors in Dachau tested on the inmates of concentration camps. During its tenure, the Gestapo operated without any restrictions from the civil authority, meaning that its members could not be tried for any of their police practices. This unconditional authority added an elitist element to the Gestapo; its members knew that whatever actions they took, no consequences would arise. After the war, very few of the important members of the Gestapo were caught and brought to trial. Sources: Gutman, Israel. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. “Gestapo.” Volume 1: A-K. NY: Simon and Schuster. 1990.; Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group.; Jewish Virtual Library]

    Physical Details

    Language
    German Polish
    Extent
    4 microfilm reels ; 35 mm.
    System of Arrangement
    Arrangement is thematic

    Records are arranged in the original order of their acquisition from the source archive. The museum has acquired only selected records from Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, or IPN). More information about this collection and other materials in the possession of the Institute of National Remembrance, including archival finding aids from the Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance, is available at the website: https://ipn.gov.pl

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    This material can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations. Researchers must complete and sign a User Declaration form before access is granted to materials from the Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej).
    Conditions on Use
    1. Each researcher using the materials obtained from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) or materials whose originals belong to the IPN must complete the registration procedure required by USHMM.
    2. Publication or reproduction of documents (in the original language, in facsimile form or in the form of a translation of an excerpt or of the entire document) or making them available to a third party in any form requires the written consent of the Institute of National Remembrance (archiwumipn@ipn.gov.pl). The use of an excerpt defined as the fair use right to quote does not require obtaining consent.
    3. Researchers assume all responsibility for the use of materials that belong to the Institute of National Remembrance.
    4. References to documents that belong to the Institute of National Remembrance must cite the Institute of National Remembrance as the owner of the original documents and include the full reference citation of the Institute of National Remembrance in the citations.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Source of acquisition is the Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu (Institute of National Remembrance-Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation).The records were created by the Headquarters of the Gendarmerie in the District of Hermansbad (Ciechocinek, Poland) ca. 1939 to 1943. After World War II the materials were later deposited in the archives of the the Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Sygn. 71, and microfilmed by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1992.
    Record last modified:
    2023-08-25 12:29:56
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn507367

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