Polizei Dienstpass - Einsatzgruppen Related

Latest item to join my collection - a Polizei Dienstpass to a member of Polizei Btl 303 which as a Battalion of Polizei Rgt Sud was attached to Sonderkommando 4a of Einsatzgruppen C, and amongst many Aktions in 1941 & 1942 participated in the massacre at Babi Yar where 33,771 Jews were murdered in just 2 days. Along with the Dienstpass there are a few official slips of paper listing the various Aktions that the unit participated in while Erich Karrasch was with them.

Taken from Masters Of Death: The SS Einsatzgruppen by Richard Rhodes (ISBN: 1-903985-56-0) (Pages 174-178):

Jeckeln had planned the Babi Yar Aktion along the same basic lines as the Kamenets-Podolsky massacre. When the first Jews approached the Jewish cemetery on the morning of 29th September 1941, Sonderkommando 4a, two commandos of Polizei Rgt Sud [Polizei Btl’s 45 & 303] and Ukrainian militia were waiting for them.

The first two signatures on the Unit Pages belong to the Kompaniefuhrer of 1 Kompanie Oswald Altendorf.

 

Testimony from a truck driver (name of Hoefer):
“Once undressed, the Jews were led into Babi Yar. Two or three narrow entrances led to this ravine through which the Jews were channelled. When they reached the bottom of the ravine they were seized by members of the Schutzpolizei [the Polizei Btl’s] and made to lie down on top of Jews who had already been shot. This all happened very quickly. The corpses were literally in layers. A police marksman came along and shot each Jew in the neck with a submachine gun at the spot where he was lying….There was a ‘packer’ at either entrance to the ravine. These ‘packers’ were Schutzpolizisten whose job it was to lay the victim on top of the other corpses so that all the marksman had to do as he passed was fire a shot.”

After Babi Yar, the unit continued to murder Jews in numerous towns and villages including Vinnitsa & Poltava. Between 10-14th October 1941 Pol.Rgt Sud shot 10,000 Jews in Dnepropetrovsk. By the end of January 1942 they were executing Jews in the region around Kharkov.
In August 1942 Karrasch finally left Polizei Btl 303 and in November was posted to the Wasserschutzpolizei training school at Stettin. After completing his training he was assigned to a variety of Wassershutzpolizei units, first in Russia and then at various locations around the Adriatic, including Trieste conducting anti-partisan operations. What happened to him after May 1944 is not known.

 

Two of the separate slips of paper show that Karrasch participated in 'Cleaning' operations in Kiev between 23/09/1941 & 15/10/1941 thereby proving that he was with Polizei Btl 303 during the Aktion at Babi Yar although it is impossible to know whether he was one of the 'Packers', shooters or whether he took part in some other related task. Karrasch's performance with Pol.Btl 303 was assessed as 'Very Good', and at the time of Babi Yar his children were aged 9, 7 & 2. He was awarded the Eastern Front Medal.

Feldpost Numbers in the Dienstpass & on the 'Einsatz In Russland' slips:
38101B - 1./Pol.Btl 303
36524 - Stab/Pol.Rgt Sud
41265 - Wasserschutzpolizei Asowsches Meer

POLIZEI BATAILLON 303

Place of origin: Bremen-Oberneuland
Formed in: Bremen, from the Polizei-Ausbildungs-Bataillon "Bremen"
Activation date: November 1940
Battalion Commander: Maj. Heinrich Hannibal
Disbanding/reorganization date: reorganized in July 1942 – it become II/Pol.-Rgt. 10

Involvement in Crimes:

1) Verified participations
Stara Kostantinova area (*)
Mop-ups, executions – 26-30 July 1941 – 814 victims – Jews, soviet soldiers
Chudniv
Slaughter – beginning of September 1941 – about 100 victims – Jews
Zhitomir
Slaughter – 18/19 September 1941 – about 3.145 victims – Jews
Babi Yar
Slaughter – 29/30 September 1941 – 33.771 victims – Jews
Miropol and Zolotonosha
Slaughters – October/November 1941 – about 1.000 victims – Jews
Unspecified places
28 executions at least – Summer/Autumn 1941 – 2.583 victims – Jews
Unspecified place
Slaughter – Autumn 1941 – about 1.000÷1.500 victims – Jews

2) Alleged participation
Baranovka, Dubrovka and Izyaslav
Slaughters – 25 August 1941 – 1.342 victims – Jews
Unspecified place, between Rovno and Zhitomir
Slaughter – 27 August 1941 – 549¸ 914 victims – Jews
Unspecified place, between Rovno and Zhitomir
Slaughter – 28 August 1941 – 369 victims – Jews
Unspecified place, between Rovno and Zhitomir
Slaughter – 1 September 1941 – 88 victims – Jews
Schepetowka
Slaughter – 2 September 1941 – 45 victims – Jews
Khazhin
Slaughter – 4 September 1941 – 4.144 victims – Jews
Unspecified place, between Rovno and Zhitomir
Slaughter – 6 September 1941 – 144 victims – Jews
Unspecified place, between Rovno and Zhitomir
Slaughter – 11 September 1941 – 1.548 victims – Jews
Unspecified place, between Rovno and Zhitomir
Slaughter – 12 September 1941 – 1.255 victims – Jews

(*) Not directly involved
(Taken from: http://www.ordnungspolizei.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=35&Itemid=55&lang=en )

 

very impressive hucks..and a pretty penny too, I would think..

 

For what it is it was actually quite reasonably priced, it cost less than what I paid 3 years ago for a similar one to a member of a Polizei Rgt who was involved in both Warsaw Uprisings. I've been waiting years for it to come back on the market again so when I saw it for sale I didn't waste any time in snapping it up.

 

vey nice docs, though..

 

I must admit that I have only had it a few days but already I would put it in my Top 5 items. The wait has been worth it to get such a historically significant piece.

 

Other signatures seen in the Dienstpass & on the 'Einsatz In Russland' slips in addition to those of Oswald Altendorf:

1 Kompanie Polizei Btl 303 - Hauptmann d. Schupo Walter LINDECK (Dienstpass & Einsatz In Russland slip)

Polizei Rgt Sud - Hauptmann d. Schupo Hermann BERENTSEN (Einsatz In Russland slip)

 

Hi Hucks, excellent buch ;-)) I was reading soemthing that mentioned this Police Battalion and read it fairly recently. Howeverm, the books Author put his own spin on things and its hard to tell what to believe. Anyway, with a Btn Kdt with the name of Hannibal???????????

 

Hello Carl,
Would be interested to know what that book is. I know of one book that is supposed to be a memoir of an Einsatzgruppen officer or something similar which has been widely discredited but for the life of me I can't remember what the title is.
Heinrich Hannibal certainly has a name that seems to suit his history doesn't he!