Hitler's Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of EuropeIn August 1942, Hitler directed all German state institutions to assist Heinrich Himmler, the chief of the SS and the German police, in eradicating armed resistance in the newly occupied territories of Eastern Europe and Russia. The directive for “combating banditry” (Bandenbekämpfung), became the third component of the Nazi regime’s three-part strategy for German national security, with genocide (Endlösung der Judenfrage, or “the Final Solution of the Jewish Question”) and slave labor (Erfassung, or “Registration of Persons to Hard Labor”) being the better-known others.An original and thought-provoking work grounded in extensive research in German archives, Hitler’s Bandit Hunters focuses on this counterinsurgency campaign, the anvil of Hitler’s crusade for empire. Bandenbekämpfung portrayed insurgents as political and racial bandits, criminalized to a greater degree than enemies of the state; moreover, violence against them was not constrained by the prevailing laws of warfare. Philip Blood explains how German forces embraced the Bandenbekämpfung doctrine, demonstrating the equal culpability of both the SS police forces and the “heroic” Waffen-SS combat arm and shattering the contrived postwar distinctions between them. He challenges the traditional view of Himmler as an armchair general and bureaucrat, exposing him as the driving force behind one of the most successful security campaigns in history, and delves into the contentious issue of the complicity of ordinary German police, soldiers, and citizens, as well as the citizens of occupied territories, in these state-sponsored manhunts. This book provokes new debates on the Nazi terrorization of Europe, the blind acquiescence of many, and the courageous resistance of the few. |
Other editions - View all
Hitler's Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of Europe Philip W. Blood Limited preview - 2011 |
Hitler's Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of Europe Phillip W. Blood No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
action allied April Army Group Army Group Centre attack August Bach Bach-Zelewski Banden Bandenbekämpfung Bandenbekämpfung operations Bandenkampfverbände bandits bands became bekämpfung Berlin Bobruisk Brigade British camps captured Ch.BKV chief of staff civilians colonial combat command conduct corps Daluege diary Dirlewanger Division document encirclement enemy Etappen Europe executed extermination fighting forces formations Freikorps gendarmerie German army Germany’s Guderian Heinz Reinefarth Himmler Hitler HSSPF Ibid included infantry intelligence interrogation Jagdkommando January Jewish Jews July June Kampfgruppe killed Korsemann KSRFSS labor Lebensraum London Luftwaffe March military Minsk MSGP NARA Nazi November occupation October officers Order Police Ordnungspolizei Pannier partisans Poland Police Battalion Polish political Polizei prisoners railway Red Army Reich Reichsführer-SS Reinefarth resistance responsible Rösener RSHA Russian Schenckendorff Schuma Schutzpolizei security warfare senior September soldiers Soviet Soviet partisan SS-Obergruppenführer SS-Police Regiment SSPF tactical tion troops TVDB U.S. Army uprising villages Waffen-SS Warsaw Wehrmacht Zelewski