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The '''Blue Police''' ({{lang-pl|Granatowa policja}}, {{literally}} Navy-blue police) was the ] during the ] in German-occupied ] (the ]). The entity's official German name was ''Polnische Polizei im Generalgouvernement'' (Polish Police of the General Government; {{lang-pl|Policja Polska Generalnego Gubernatorstwa}}). |
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The '''Blue Police''' ({{lang-pl|Granatowa policja}}, {{literally}} Navy-blue police) was the ] during the ] in German-occupied ] (the ]). The entity's official German name was ''Polnische Polizei im Generalgouvernement'' (Polish Police of the General Government; {{lang-pl|Policja Polska Generalnego Gubernatorstwa}}). |
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The Blue Police officially came into being on 30 October 1939 when Germany drafted Poland's prewar state police officers (''Policja Państwowa''), organizing local units with German leadership.<ref name="Getter">{{cite web |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/150069634/Marek-Getter-1996-Policja-Polska-w-Generalnym-Gubernatorstwie-1939-1945-Przegl%C4%85d-Policyjny-nr-1-2-Wydawnictwo-Wy%C5%BCszej-Szko%C5%82y-Policji-w-Szczytni |title=Policja Polska w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie 1939-1945 |publisher=Przegląd Policyjny nr 1-2. Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Policji w Szczytnie |work=Polish Police in the General Government 1939-1945 |year=1996 |accessdate=2013-06-25 |author=Marek Getter |pages=1–22 |format=WebCite cache |quote=Reprint, with extensive statistical data, at ''Niemieckie władze policyjne nie dowierzały Policji Polskiej. Niezależnie od oficjalnych upomnień, nakazów i gróźb (por. aresztowania w maju 1940 roku) oraz rozciągnięcia nad Policją Polską sądownictwa ''SS'' i policji od wiosny 1943 rozpoczęło się poufne sprawdzanie jej przydatności (''Überprüfung der nichtdeutschen Polizei''), jak też opiniowanie jej poszczególnych funkcjonariuszy.'' |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005083245/http://www.scribd.com/doc/150069634/Marek-Getter-1996-Policja-Polska-w-Generalnym-Gubernatorstwie-1939-1945-Przegl%C4%85d-Policyjny-nr-1-2-Wydawnictwo-Wy%C5%BCszej-Szko%C5%82y-Policji-w-Szczytni |archivedate=October 5, 2013 }}</ref> It was an auxiliary institution tasked with protecting public safety and order in the ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://policjapanstwowa.pl/policja-polska-w-gg/|title=Policja Polska w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie 1939-1945 – Policja Panstwowa|website=policjapanstwowa.pl|language=pl-PL|access-date=2018-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329184358/http://policjapanstwowa.pl/policja-polska-w-gg/|archive-date=2018-03-29|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Blue Police, initially employed purely to deal with ordinary criminality, was later also used to counter ], which was an essential element of German-occupied Poland's ].<ref name="Getter" /> |
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The Blue Police officially came into being on 30 October 1939 when Germany drafted Poland's prewar state police officers (''Policja Państwowa''), organizing local units with German leadership.<ref name="Getter">{{cite web |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/150069634/Marek-Getter-1996-Policja-Polska-w-Generalnym-Gubernatorstwie-1939-1945-Przegl%C4%85d-Policyjny-nr-1-2-Wydawnictwo-Wy%C5%BCszej-Szko%C5%82y-Policji-w-Szczytni |title=Policja Polska w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie 1939-1945 |publisher=Przegląd Policyjny nr 1-2. Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Policji w Szczytnie |work=Polish Police in the General Government 1939-1945 |year=1996 |access-date=2013-06-25 |author=Marek Getter |pages=1–22 |format=WebCite cache |quote=Reprint, with extensive statistical data, at ''Niemieckie władze policyjne nie dowierzały Policji Polskiej. Niezależnie od oficjalnych upomnień, nakazów i gróźb (por. aresztowania w maju 1940 roku) oraz rozciągnięcia nad Policją Polską sądownictwa ''SS'' i policji od wiosny 1943 rozpoczęło się poufne sprawdzanie jej przydatności (''Überprüfung der nichtdeutschen Polizei''), jak też opiniowanie jej poszczególnych funkcjonariuszy.'' |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005083245/http://www.scribd.com/doc/150069634/Marek-Getter-1996-Policja-Polska-w-Generalnym-Gubernatorstwie-1939-1945-Przegl%C4%85d-Policyjny-nr-1-2-Wydawnictwo-Wy%C5%BCszej-Szko%C5%82y-Policji-w-Szczytni |archive-date=October 5, 2013 }}</ref> It was an auxiliary institution tasked with protecting public safety and order in the ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://policjapanstwowa.pl/policja-polska-w-gg/|title=Policja Polska w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie 1939-1945 – Policja Panstwowa|website=policjapanstwowa.pl|language=pl-PL|access-date=2018-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329184358/http://policjapanstwowa.pl/policja-polska-w-gg/|archive-date=2018-03-29|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Blue Police, initially employed purely to deal with ordinary criminality, was later also used to counter ], which was an essential element of German-occupied Poland's ].<ref name="Getter" /> |
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The organization was officially dissolved and declared disbanded by the ] on 27 August 1944.<ref name="Edelheit">{{cite book | author = Abraham J. Edelheit |author2= Hershel Edelheit | title = A World in Turmoil: An Integrated Chronology of the Holocaust and World War II | year = 1991 | publisher = Greenwood Press | isbn =0-313-28218-8 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=94NvHsiyn38C&pg=RA1-PA311 | page = 311}}</ref><ref name="Burda">{{cite book | first = Andrzej | last = Burda | title = Polskie prawo państwowe | year = 1976 | publisher = ] | location = Warsaw | id = | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EbYeAAAAMAAJ&q=granatowa+policja | page =127 |language=pl}}</ref> After a review process, a number of its former members joined the new national policing structure, the ] (Citizens' Militia). Others were prosecuted after 1949 under ].<ref name="TVP" /> |
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The organization was officially dissolved and declared disbanded by the ] on 27 August 1944.<ref name="Edelheit">{{cite book | author = Abraham J. Edelheit |author2= Hershel Edelheit | title = A World in Turmoil: An Integrated Chronology of the Holocaust and World War II | year = 1991 | publisher = Greenwood Press | isbn =0-313-28218-8 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=94NvHsiyn38C&pg=RA1-PA311 | page = 311}}</ref><ref name="Burda">{{cite book | first = Andrzej | last = Burda | title = Polskie prawo państwowe | year = 1976 | publisher = ] | location = Warsaw | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EbYeAAAAMAAJ&q=granatowa+policja | page =127 |language=pl}}</ref> After a review process, a number of its former members joined the new national policing structure, the ] (Citizens' Militia). Others were prosecuted after 1949 under ].<ref name="TVP" /> |
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==Organization== |
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==Organization== |
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In October 1939, ] ] ordered the ] of the pre-war ] into the service of the German authorities. The policemen were to report for duty or face the death penalty.<ref name="Hempel_2">{{cite book | first=Adam | last=Hempel | title=Policja granatowa w okupacyjnym systemie administracyjnym Generalnego Gubernatorstwa: 1939-1945 | year=1987 | publisher=Instytut Wydawniczy Związków Zawodowych | location=Warsaw | page=83 | language=Polish}}</ref> Formally, the ''Polnische Polizei'' (PP) was subordinate to the German ] (Uniformed Police, Orpo). The same prewar facilities were used across occupied Poland with exactly the same organizational structure, under Major Hans Köchlner (he was trained in Poland in 1937).<ref name="Getter" /> They wore the same uniforms, but without national insignia. In spring 1940, the Ukrainian Police was split off from the Polish Police. The department existed already before 1939. The German chief of the Order Police (''KdO'', as well as its entire leadership) assumed dual role, in charge of both.<ref name="Getter" /> After the attack on the USSR known as ], all newly acquired territories in the ] were put under the Ukrainian control with headquarters in ].<ref name="Getter" /> Notably, the District of Galicia created on August 1, 1941 (Document No. 1997-PS of July 17, 1941 by Adolf Hitler) – although considered by some to be part of the occupied Ukraine – was a separate administrative unit from the actual ] created on September 1 of the same year. They were not connected with each other politically.<ref name="Bewersdorf">{{cite web | url=http://www.beirat-fuer-geschichte.de/fileadmin/pdf/band_19/Demokratische_Geschichte_Band_19_Essay_5.pdf | title=Hans-Adolf Asbach. Eine Nachkriegskarriere |publisher=Demokratische Geschichte | work=Band 19 Essay 5 | accessdate=June 26, 2013 | author=Arne Bewersdorf | pages=1–42 | language=German}}</ref> |
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In October 1939, ] ] ordered the ] of the pre-war ] into the service of the German authorities. The policemen were to report for duty or face the death penalty.<ref name="Hempel_2">{{cite book | first=Adam | last=Hempel | title=Policja granatowa w okupacyjnym systemie administracyjnym Generalnego Gubernatorstwa: 1939-1945 | year=1987 | publisher=Instytut Wydawniczy Związków Zawodowych | location=Warsaw | page=83 | language=pl}}</ref> Formally, the ''Polnische Polizei'' (PP) was subordinate to the German ] (Uniformed Police, Orpo). The same prewar facilities were used across occupied Poland with exactly the same organizational structure, under Major Hans Köchlner (he was trained in Poland in 1937).<ref name="Getter" /> They wore the same uniforms, but without national insignia. In spring 1940, the Ukrainian Police was split off from the Polish Police. The department existed already before 1939. The German chief of the Order Police (''KdO'', as well as its entire leadership) assumed dual role, in charge of both.<ref name="Getter" /> After the attack on the USSR known as ], all newly acquired territories in the ] were put under the Ukrainian control with headquarters in ].<ref name="Getter" /> Notably, the District of Galicia created on August 1, 1941 (Document No. 1997-PS of July 17, 1941 by Adolf Hitler) – although considered by some to be part of the occupied Ukraine – was a separate administrative unit from the actual ] created on September 1 of the same year. They were not connected with each other politically.<ref name="Bewersdorf">{{cite web | url=http://www.beirat-fuer-geschichte.de/fileadmin/pdf/band_19/Demokratische_Geschichte_Band_19_Essay_5.pdf | title=Hans-Adolf Asbach. Eine Nachkriegskarriere |publisher=Demokratische Geschichte | work=Band 19 Essay 5 | access-date=June 26, 2013 | author=Arne Bewersdorf | pages=1–42 | language=de}}</ref> |
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According to historian Andrzej Paczkowski (''Spring Will Be Ours''), the police force consisted of approximately 11,000–12,000 officers,<ref name="Paczkowski" /> but the actual number of its cadre was much lower initially.<ref name="Paczkowski">{{cite book | author-link = Andrzej Paczkowski | last = Paczkowski | first = Andrzej | translator = Jane Cave | title = The Spring Will Be Ours: Poland and the Poles from Occupation to Freedom | year = 2003 | publisher = ] Press | isbn =0-271-02308-2 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WoKQWem2yl4C&pg=PA54 | page =54 }}</ref><ref name="Wroński">{{cite book | first = Tadeusz | last = Wroński | title = Kronika okupowanego Krakowa | year = 1974 | pages =235–240 | publisher = Wydawnictwo Literackie | location = Kraków | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JcYhAAAAMAAJ |language=pl}}</ref> ] put the number as high as 14,300 by the end of 1942 including Warsaw, Lublin, Kielce and Eastern Galicia.<ref name="Ringelblum">{{cite book | author-link = Emanuel Ringelblum | last = Ringelblum | first = Emanuel | title = Polish-Jewish Relations During the Second World War | year = 1992 | editor = Joseph Kermish | publisher = ] Press | location = Evanston, IL | isbn = 0-8101-0963-8 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=42sz6MifjMEC&pg=RA1-PA133 | page = 133 }}</ref> The '']'' reports its manpower as 8,700 in February 1940 and states that it reached its peak in 1943 with 16,000 members.<ref name="encholo">'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928003439/http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/text/x25/xr2513.html |date=2007-09-28 }}'' entry on the Blue Police, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York NY, 1990. {{ISBN|0-02-864527-8}}.</ref> The statistics are explained by historian Marek Getter.<ref name="Getter" /> The initial expansion of the force was the result of ] of all Polish professional policemen, from the territories annexed by the Third Reich (''Reichsgau Wartheland'', ''Westpreußen'', etc.). Another reason was a salary (250–350 zł) impossible to obtain elsewhere, augmented by bonuses (up to 500 zł each). Also, the Germans had intentionally eroded moral standards of the force by giving policemen the right to keep for themselves 10% of all confiscated goods.<ref name="Getter" /> The Blue Police consisted primarily of ] and Polish speaking ]s from the eastern parts of the General Government.<ref name="Hempel"/> However, from August 1, 1941 (date of incorporation) the district of Eastern Galicia – as mentioned by Ringelblum – was no longer controlled by the ethnically Polish division of PP. Instead, the Ukrainian division was put in charge across some 600 precincts, expanded from 242 officers initially, to 2,000 by 1942, and to 4,000 officers by 1943.<ref name="Getter" /> |
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According to historian Andrzej Paczkowski (''Spring Will Be Ours''), the police force consisted of approximately 11,000–12,000 officers,<ref name="Paczkowski" /> but the actual number of its cadre was much lower initially.<ref name="Paczkowski">{{cite book | author-link = Andrzej Paczkowski | last = Paczkowski | first = Andrzej | translator = Jane Cave | title = The Spring Will Be Ours: Poland and the Poles from Occupation to Freedom | year = 2003 | publisher = ] Press | isbn =0-271-02308-2 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WoKQWem2yl4C&pg=PA54 | page =54 }}</ref><ref name="Wroński">{{cite book | first = Tadeusz | last = Wroński | title = Kronika okupowanego Krakowa | year = 1974 | pages =235–240 | publisher = Wydawnictwo Literackie | location = Kraków | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JcYhAAAAMAAJ |language=pl}}</ref> ] put the number as high as 14,300 by the end of 1942 including Warsaw, Lublin, Kielce and Eastern Galicia.<ref name="Ringelblum">{{cite book | author-link = Emanuel Ringelblum | last = Ringelblum | first = Emanuel | title = Polish-Jewish Relations During the Second World War | year = 1992 | editor = Joseph Kermish | publisher = ] Press | location = Evanston, IL | isbn = 0-8101-0963-8 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=42sz6MifjMEC&pg=RA1-PA133 | page = 133 }}</ref> The '']'' reports its manpower as 8,700 in February 1940 and states that it reached its peak in 1943 with 16,000 members.<ref name="encholo">'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928003439/http://motlc.learningcenter.wiesenthal.org/text/x25/xr2513.html |date=2007-09-28 }}'' entry on the Blue Police, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York NY, 1990. {{ISBN|0-02-864527-8}}.</ref> The statistics are explained by historian Marek Getter.<ref name="Getter" /> The initial expansion of the force was the result of ] of all Polish professional policemen, from the territories annexed by the Third Reich (''Reichsgau Wartheland'', ''Westpreußen'', etc.). Another reason was a salary (250–350 zł) impossible to obtain elsewhere, augmented by bonuses (up to 500 zł each). Also, the Germans had intentionally eroded moral standards of the force by giving policemen the right to keep for themselves 10% of all confiscated goods.<ref name="Getter" /> The Blue Police consisted primarily of ] and Polish speaking ]s from the eastern parts of the General Government.<ref name="Hempel"/> However, from August 1, 1941 (date of incorporation) the district of Eastern Galicia – as mentioned by Ringelblum – was no longer controlled by the ethnically Polish division of PP. Instead, the Ukrainian division was put in charge across some 600 precincts, expanded from 242 officers initially, to 2,000 by 1942, and to 4,000 officers by 1943.<ref name="Getter" /> |
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The Blue Police had little autonomy, and all of its high-ranking officers came from the ranks of the German police ('']''). It served in the capacity of an auxiliary force, along with the police forces guarding seats of administration ('']''), Railway Police ('']''), Forest Police ('']'') and Border Police ('']'').<ref name="Daszkiewicz">{{cite book | first = Andrzej | last = Daszkiewicz | title = Ruch oporu w regionie Beskidu Niskiego: 1939-1944 | year = 1975 | pages = 9–10 | publisher = Wydawnictwa MON | location = Warsaw | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nGcNAAAAIAAJ | language=Polish}}</ref> The Blue Police was subordinate to the German Order Police with Polish prewar regulations.<ref name="wspol" /> New volunteers (''Anwärter'') were trained at a police school in ], with 3,000 graduates (receiving salary of 180 zł each), under the '']'' Major Vincenz Edler von Strohe (real name Wincenty Słoma, a '']'' formerly in the Austrian police).<sup></sup> There were additional though separate courses for Polish and Ukrainian ]s.<ref name="Getter" /> |
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The Blue Police had little autonomy, and all of its high-ranking officers came from the ranks of the German police ('']''). It served in the capacity of an auxiliary force, along with the police forces guarding seats of administration ('']''), Railway Police ('']''), Forest Police ('']'') and Border Police ('']'').<ref name="Daszkiewicz">{{cite book | first = Andrzej | last = Daszkiewicz | title = Ruch oporu w regionie Beskidu Niskiego: 1939-1944 | year = 1975 | pages = 9–10 | publisher = Wydawnictwa MON | location = Warsaw | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nGcNAAAAIAAJ | language=pl}}</ref> The Blue Police was subordinate to the German Order Police with Polish prewar regulations.<ref name="wspol" /> New volunteers (''Anwärter'') were trained at a police school in ], with 3,000 graduates (receiving salary of 180 zł each), under the '']'' Major Vincenz Edler von Strohe (real name Wincenty Słoma, a '']'' formerly in the Austrian police).<sup></sup> There were additional though separate courses for Polish and Ukrainian ]s.<ref name="Getter" /> |
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From the German perspective, the primary role of the Blue Police was to maintain law and order on the territories of ], as to free the German ] for other duties. As ] stated in his order from 5 May 1940: "providing general police service in the General Government is the role of the Polish police. German police will intervene only if it is required by the German interests and will monitor the Polish police."<ref name="wspol">Dr Piotr Majer, {{in lang|pl}} Wyższa Szkoła Policji w Szczecinie, May 14, 2007. {{nobreak|Retrieved June 27, 2013.}} </ref> |
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From the German perspective, the primary role of the Blue Police was to maintain law and order on the territories of ], as to free the German ] for other duties. As ] stated in his order from 5 May 1940: "providing general police service in the General Government is the role of the Polish police. German police will intervene only if it is required by the German interests and will monitor the Polish police."<ref name="wspol">Dr Piotr Majer, {{in lang|pl}} Wyższa Szkoła Policji w Szczecinie, May 14, 2007. {{nobreak|Retrieved June 27, 2013.}} </ref> |
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As the force was primarily a continuation of the prewar Polish police force, it also relied largely on prewar Polish criminal laws, a situation that was accepted as a provisional necessity by the Germans.<ref name="Hempel">{{cite book | first=Adam | last=Hempel | title=Pogrobowcy klęski: rzecz o policji "granatowej" w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie 1939-1945 | year=1990 | publisher=] | location=Warsaw | isbn=83-01-09291-2 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=sy0iAAAAMAAJ | accessdate= | page=435 | format=bibliographic information }}</ref> While the ] had its own police force and judiciary (see ] and ]), it was unable to provide basic police services for the entire population of the former ] in the conditions of German occupation. |
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As the force was primarily a continuation of the prewar Polish police force, it also relied largely on prewar Polish criminal laws, a situation that was accepted as a provisional necessity by the Germans.<ref name="Hempel">{{cite book | first=Adam | last=Hempel | title=Pogrobowcy klęski: rzecz o policji "granatowej" w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie 1939-1945 | year=1990 | publisher=] | location=Warsaw | isbn=83-01-09291-2 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=sy0iAAAAMAAJ | page=435 | format=bibliographic information }}</ref> While the ] had its own police force and judiciary (see ] and ]), it was unable to provide basic police services for the entire population of the former ] in the conditions of German occupation. |
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==Historical assessment== |
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==Historical assessment== |
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Gubernatorstwie – próba syntezy.Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość 8/1 (14), page 117, 2009</ref> |
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Gubernatorstwie – próba syntezy.Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość 8/1 (14), page 117, 2009</ref> |
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Scholars disagree about the degree of involvement of the Blue Police in the rounding up of Jews.<ref name=Cherry>Robert Cherry, Annamaria Orla-Bukowska, , Rowman & Littlefield 2007, {{ISBN|0-7425-4666-7}}</ref><ref>Raul Hilberg. . Yale University Press, 2003.</ref> Although policing inside the ] was a responsibility of the ], a Polish-Jewish historian ], chronicler of the ], mentioned Polish policemen carrying out extortions and beatings.<ref>Itamar Levin, Rachel Neiman . Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003.</ref> The police also took part in street roundups.<ref name="Ringelblum"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=voB4AAAAIAAJ&q=granatowa+policja+lapanka|title=Tryptyk wojenny|last=Nowotarska|first=Róża|date=1974|publisher=Oficyna Poetów i Malarzy|language=pl}}</ref> On June 3, 1942 during a prison execution of 110 Jews in Warsaw, members of the Blue Police stood and wept, while the Germans themselves executed the victims, after the Poles refused to obey the orders of their overseers to carry out the shooting.<ref name="Piotrowski"/> According to Szymon Datner, "The Polish police were employed in a very marginal way, in what I would call keeping order. I must state with all decisiveness that more than 90% of that terrifying, murderous work was carried out by the Germans, with no Polish participation whatsoever."<ref>Małgorzata Niezabitowska,''Remnants: The Last Jews of Poland'', Friendly Press, 1986, p. 247.</ref> According to Raul Hilberg, "Of all the native police forces in occupied Eastern Europe, those of Poland were least involved in anti-Jewish actions.... They could not join the Germans in major operations against Jews or Polish resistors, lest they be considered traitors by virtually every Polish onlooker. Their task in the destruction of the Jews was therefore limited."<ref name="Hilberg92">{{cite book|last=Hilberg|first=Raul|title=Perpetrators Victims Bystanders|year=1992|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-019035-3|pages=|url=https://archive.org/details/perpetratorsvict00hilb/page/92}}</ref> Holocaust historian ] agrees that the role of the Blue Police was minimal: "Keep this in mind – wrote Paulsson – the Jews in Poland were isolated in ghettos. They were rounded up by German police with the aid of Ukrainian and Baltic collaborators, and the enforced co-operation of the Jewish ghetto police, but very little participation by Polish police (mainly in the smaller centres). They were taken to killing centres staffed again by Germans, Ukrainians and Balts."<ref name="Paulsson-TJ">{{Citation |last=Paulsson |first=Gunnar S. |author-link=Gunnar S. Paulsson |title=Polish Complicity in the Shoah is a Myth |url=http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/special_reports/?content_id=5962 |publisher=Totally Jewish.com/ News |accessdate=June 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920014154/http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/special_reports/?content_id=5962 |archive-date=September 20, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>] has claimed that Blue Police played an important role in ], often operating independently of German orders and killing Jews for financial gain.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Leszczyński |first1=Adam |title=Jak Polacy z "granatowej" policji masowo mordowali Żydów |url=https://oko.press/jak-polacy-z-granatowej-policji-masowo-mordowali-zydow/ |access-date=2 October 2020 |work=oko.press |date=21 March 2020|quote=Najważniejsze wnioski prof. Grabowskiego Pierwszy: „granatowa” policja odegrała kluczową rolę w Zagładzie. „Z rosnącym zdumieniem odkrywałem coraz to nowe wypadki rabunków, gwałtów, tortur i mordów, których dopuszczali się polscy policjanci na ukrywających się Żydach. Skala tego »współsprawstwa« była niesłychana – swoją wydajnością mordercy w granatowych mundurach potrafili dorównać kolegom, niemieckim żandarmom (…)”. Drugi: polscy policjanci często mordowali Żydów, w tym swoich przedwojennych sąsiadów, w tajemnicy przed Niemcami. Po wojnie często tłumaczyli, że robili to w odruchu solidarności z lokalnymi Polakami – na których mogły spaść niemieckie represje za ukrywanie Żydów. Grabowski: „Niemcy, bezpośredni przełożeni granatowych policjantów, najczęściej nie mieli najmniejszego pojęcia o mordach dokonywanych przez polskich podwładnych”. W praktyce chodziło często o łupy.}} Citing the book: {{cite book |last1=Grabowski |first1=Jan |title=Na posterunku: udział polskiej policji granatowej i kryminalnej w zagładzie Żydów |date=2020 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Czarne |isbn=978-83-8049-986-7 |language=pl}}</ref> |
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Scholars disagree about the degree of involvement of the Blue Police in the rounding up of Jews.<ref name=Cherry>Robert Cherry, Annamaria Orla-Bukowska, , Rowman & Littlefield 2007, {{ISBN|0-7425-4666-7}}</ref><ref>Raul Hilberg. . Yale University Press, 2003.</ref> Although policing inside the ] was a responsibility of the ], a Polish-Jewish historian ], chronicler of the ], mentioned Polish policemen carrying out extortions and beatings.<ref>Itamar Levin, Rachel Neiman . Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003.</ref> The police also took part in street roundups.<ref name="Ringelblum"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=voB4AAAAIAAJ&q=granatowa+policja+lapanka|title=Tryptyk wojenny|last=Nowotarska|first=Róża|date=1974|publisher=Oficyna Poetów i Malarzy|language=pl}}</ref> On June 3, 1942 during a prison execution of 110 Jews in Warsaw, members of the Blue Police stood and wept, while the Germans themselves executed the victims, after the Poles refused to obey the orders of their overseers to carry out the shooting.<ref name="Piotrowski"/> According to Szymon Datner, "The Polish police were employed in a very marginal way, in what I would call keeping order. I must state with all decisiveness that more than 90% of that terrifying, murderous work was carried out by the Germans, with no Polish participation whatsoever."<ref>Małgorzata Niezabitowska,''Remnants: The Last Jews of Poland'', Friendly Press, 1986, p. 247.</ref> According to Raul Hilberg, "Of all the native police forces in occupied Eastern Europe, those of Poland were least involved in anti-Jewish actions.... They could not join the Germans in major operations against Jews or Polish resistors, lest they be considered traitors by virtually every Polish onlooker. Their task in the destruction of the Jews was therefore limited."<ref name="Hilberg92">{{cite book|last=Hilberg|first=Raul|title=Perpetrators Victims Bystanders|year=1992|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-019035-3|pages=|url=https://archive.org/details/perpetratorsvict00hilb/page/92}}</ref> Holocaust historian ] agrees that the role of the Blue Police was minimal: "Keep this in mind – wrote Paulsson – the Jews in Poland were isolated in ghettos. They were rounded up by German police with the aid of Ukrainian and Baltic collaborators, and the enforced co-operation of the Jewish ghetto police, but very little participation by Polish police (mainly in the smaller centres). They were taken to killing centres staffed again by Germans, Ukrainians and Balts."<ref name="Paulsson-TJ">{{Citation |last=Paulsson |first=Gunnar S. |author-link=Gunnar S. Paulsson |title=Polish Complicity in the Shoah is a Myth |url=http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/special_reports/?content_id=5962 |publisher=Totally Jewish.com/ News |access-date=June 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920014154/http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/special_reports/?content_id=5962 |archive-date=September 20, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>] has claimed that Blue Police played an important role in ], often operating independently of German orders and killing Jews for financial gain.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Leszczyński |first1=Adam |title=Jak Polacy z "granatowej" policji masowo mordowali Żydów |url=https://oko.press/jak-polacy-z-granatowej-policji-masowo-mordowali-zydow/ |access-date=2 October 2020 |work=oko.press |date=21 March 2020|quote=Najważniejsze wnioski prof. Grabowskiego Pierwszy: „granatowa” policja odegrała kluczową rolę w Zagładzie. „Z rosnącym zdumieniem odkrywałem coraz to nowe wypadki rabunków, gwałtów, tortur i mordów, których dopuszczali się polscy policjanci na ukrywających się Żydach. Skala tego »współsprawstwa« była niesłychana – swoją wydajnością mordercy w granatowych mundurach potrafili dorównać kolegom, niemieckim żandarmom (…)”. Drugi: polscy policjanci często mordowali Żydów, w tym swoich przedwojennych sąsiadów, w tajemnicy przed Niemcami. Po wojnie często tłumaczyli, że robili to w odruchu solidarności z lokalnymi Polakami – na których mogły spaść niemieckie represje za ukrywanie Żydów. Grabowski: „Niemcy, bezpośredni przełożeni granatowych policjantów, najczęściej nie mieli najmniejszego pojęcia o mordach dokonywanych przez polskich podwładnych”. W praktyce chodziło często o łupy.}} Citing the book: {{cite book |last1=Grabowski |first1=Jan |title=Na posterunku: udział polskiej policji granatowej i kryminalnej w zagładzie Żydów |date=2020 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Czarne |isbn=978-83-8049-986-7 |language=pl}}</ref> |
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According to ], who compared the role of the Polish police to the Jewish police, "The uniformed police has had a deplorable role in the “resettlement actions”. The blood of hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews, caught and driven to the “death vans” will be on their heads. The Germans’ tactics were usually as follows: in the first “resettlement action” they utilized the Jewish Order Service, which behaved no better from the ethical point of view than their Polish opposite numbers. In the subsequent “actions,” when the Jewish Order Service was liquidated as well, the Polish Police force was utilized."<ref>, ], edited by Joseph Kermish, Shmuel Krakowski, translated by Dafna Allon, Danuta Dabrowska & Dana Keren, 1974 translation of 1944 original, Northwestern University Press, page 135.</ref> |
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According to ], who compared the role of the Polish police to the Jewish police, "The uniformed police has had a deplorable role in the “resettlement actions”. The blood of hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews, caught and driven to the “death vans” will be on their heads. The Germans’ tactics were usually as follows: in the first “resettlement action” they utilized the Jewish Order Service, which behaved no better from the ethical point of view than their Polish opposite numbers. In the subsequent “actions,” when the Jewish Order Service was liquidated as well, the Polish Police force was utilized."<ref>, ], edited by Joseph Kermish, Shmuel Krakowski, translated by Dafna Allon, Danuta Dabrowska & Dana Keren, 1974 translation of 1944 original, Northwestern University Press, page 135.</ref> |
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According to ], a Jew falling into the hands of the Blue Police faced almost certain death. According to Grabowski the historical evidence from Polish, German, and Israeli archives "points to a pattern of murderous involvement throughout occupied Poland".<ref>, ], ], 2016.</ref> |
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According to ], a Jew falling into the hands of the Blue Police faced almost certain death. According to Grabowski the historical evidence from Polish, German, and Israeli archives "points to a pattern of murderous involvement throughout occupied Poland".<ref>, ], ], 2016.</ref> |
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A substantial part of the police belonged to the Polish ] ],<ref name="Paczkowski-2">Paczkowski (op.cit., ) cites 10% of policemen and 20% of officers</ref> mostly its ] and ].<ref name="PWN">{{cite encyclopedia | year = 2005 | title = Policja Polska Generalnego Gubernatorstwa | encyclopedia = Encyklopedia Internetowa PWN | url = http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo.php?id=3959423 | publisher = ] | location = Warsaw | language = pl | accessdate = 2007-01-25 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20130927215547/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo.php?id=3959423 | archivedate = 2013-09-27 | url-status = dead }}</ref> Some estimates are as high of 50%.<ref>John Connelly, Slavic Review, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Winter, 2005), pp. 771-781</ref> Piotrowski writes that, despite scathing criticism from ], the Blue Police are known to have refused German orders,<ref name="Piotrowski"/> often "shouting in the streets and breaking doors to give people time to escape or hide".<ref name="Piotrowski"/><ref name="Paulsson">{{cite book | author = Gunnar S. Paulsson | title = The Holocaust: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies | year = 2004 | chapter = The Demography of Jews in Hiding in Warsaw | publisher = Routledge | location =London | isbn = 0-415-27509-1 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7xC5wNo0edoC&pg=PA118 | page =118}}</ref> Officers who disobeyed German orders did so at the risk of death.<ref name="Hempel"/> A few Blue Police members who acted against orders<ref name="Piotrowski"/> were eventually recognized as ].<ref name="IAR">{{in lang|pl}} {{cite news | author = IAR (corporate author) | title = Sprawiedliwy Wśród Narodów Świata 2005 | url = http://www.forum-znak.org.pl/index.php?t=wydarzenia&id=3139 | work = Forum Żydzi - Chrześcijanie - Muzułmanie | publisher = Fundacja Kultury Chrześcijańskiej Znak | date = 2005-07-24 | accessdate = 2007-02-20 | language = Polish | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927230654/http://www.forum-znak.org.pl/index.php?t=wydarzenia&id=3139 | archive-date = 2007-09-27 | url-status = dead }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=October 2020}} |
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A substantial part of the police belonged to the Polish ] ],<ref name="Paczkowski-2">Paczkowski (op.cit., ) cites 10% of policemen and 20% of officers</ref> mostly its ] and ].<ref name="PWN">{{cite encyclopedia | year = 2005 | title = Policja Polska Generalnego Gubernatorstwa | encyclopedia = Encyklopedia Internetowa PWN | url = http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo.php?id=3959423 | publisher = ] | location = Warsaw | language = pl | access-date = 2007-01-25 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130927215547/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo.php?id=3959423 | archive-date = 2013-09-27 | url-status = dead }}</ref> Some estimates are as high of 50%.<ref>John Connelly, Slavic Review, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Winter, 2005), pp. 771-781</ref> Piotrowski writes that, despite scathing criticism from ], the Blue Police are known to have refused German orders,<ref name="Piotrowski"/> often "shouting in the streets and breaking doors to give people time to escape or hide".<ref name="Piotrowski"/><ref name="Paulsson">{{cite book | author = Gunnar S. Paulsson | title = The Holocaust: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies | year = 2004 | chapter = The Demography of Jews in Hiding in Warsaw | publisher = Routledge | location =London | isbn = 0-415-27509-1 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7xC5wNo0edoC&pg=PA118 | page =118}}</ref> Officers who disobeyed German orders did so at the risk of death.<ref name="Hempel"/> A few Blue Police members who acted against orders<ref name="Piotrowski"/> were eventually recognized as ].<ref name="IAR">{{in lang|pl}} {{cite news | author = IAR (corporate author) | title = Sprawiedliwy Wśród Narodów Świata 2005 | url = http://www.forum-znak.org.pl/index.php?t=wydarzenia&id=3139 | work = Forum Żydzi - Chrześcijanie - Muzułmanie | publisher = Fundacja Kultury Chrześcijańskiej Znak | date = 2005-07-24 | access-date = 2007-02-20 | language = pl | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927230654/http://www.forum-znak.org.pl/index.php?t=wydarzenia&id=3139 | archive-date = 2007-09-27 | url-status = dead }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=October 2020}} |
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Additionally, forcible draft among members of the Polish police was conducted to create the '']'' sent to the East, with 360 men most of whom deserted to the ] in defence of ethnic Polish population against ].<ref name="Solak">{{cite web |url=http://www.myslpolska.icenter.pl/index.php?menu=kresy&nr=2005071718269 |title=Zbrodnia w Malinie – prawda i mity (1) |publisher=Myśl Polska: Kresy |work=Nr 29-30 |date=17–24 May 2005 |accessdate=2013-06-23 |author=Andrzej Solak |format=Internet Archive |quote=Reprint: Głos Kresowian, nr 20. |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061005064715/http://www.myslpolska.icenter.pl/index.php?menu=kresy&nr=2005071718269 |archivedate=October 5, 2006 }}</ref> Similarly, the police were withdrawn from the perimeter of the Ghetto on the eve of its final destruction. |
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Additionally, forcible draft among members of the Polish police was conducted to create the '']'' sent to the East, with 360 men most of whom deserted to the ] in defence of ethnic Polish population against ].<ref name="Solak">{{cite web |url=http://www.myslpolska.icenter.pl/index.php?menu=kresy&nr=2005071718269 |title=Zbrodnia w Malinie – prawda i mity (1) |publisher=Myśl Polska: Kresy |work=Nr 29-30 |date=17–24 May 2005 |access-date=2013-06-23 |author=Andrzej Solak |format=Internet Archive |quote=Reprint: Głos Kresowian, nr 20. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061005064715/http://www.myslpolska.icenter.pl/index.php?menu=kresy&nr=2005071718269 |archive-date=October 5, 2006 }}</ref> Similarly, the police were withdrawn from the perimeter of the Ghetto on the eve of its final destruction. |
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==Notable members== |
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==Notable members== |
The Blue Police officially came into being on 30 October 1939 when Germany drafted Poland's prewar state police officers (Policja Państwowa), organizing local units with German leadership. It was an auxiliary institution tasked with protecting public safety and order in the General Government. The Blue Police, initially employed purely to deal with ordinary criminality, was later also used to counter smuggling, which was an essential element of German-occupied Poland's underground economy.
The Blue Police had little autonomy, and all of its high-ranking officers came from the ranks of the German police (Kriminalpolizei). It served in the capacity of an auxiliary force, along with the police forces guarding seats of administration (Schutzpolizei), Railway Police (Bahnschutz), Forest Police (Forstschutz) and Border Police (Grenzschutz). The Blue Police was subordinate to the German Order Police with Polish prewar regulations. New volunteers (Anwärter) were trained at a police school in Nowy Sącz, with 3,000 graduates (receiving salary of 180 zł each), under the Schutzpolizei Major Vincenz Edler von Strohe (real name Wincenty Słoma, a Reichdeutscher formerly in the Austrian police). There were additional though separate courses for Polish and Ukrainian enlisted ranks.
From the German perspective, the primary role of the Blue Police was to maintain law and order on the territories of occupied Poland, as to free the German Order Police for other duties. As Heinrich Himmler stated in his order from 5 May 1940: "providing general police service in the General Government is the role of the Polish police. German police will intervene only if it is required by the German interests and will monitor the Polish police."
As the force was primarily a continuation of the prewar Polish police force, it also relied largely on prewar Polish criminal laws, a situation that was accepted as a provisional necessity by the Germans. While the Polish Underground State had its own police force and judiciary (see National Security Corps and Directorate of Civil Resistance), it was unable to provide basic police services for the entire population of the former Second Polish Republic in the conditions of German occupation.
The role of the Blue Police in its collaboration and resistance towards the Germans is difficult to assess as a whole, and is often a matter of dispute. Historian Andrzej Krzysztof Kunert estimates that 10 to 20% of the policemen were murdered by the Germans for taking part in resistance – on top of those mass-murdered by the Soviets in Mednoye – explained Irena Wollen in her documentary film "Granatowi" for Telewizja Polska (1999). Historian Adam Hempel estimated based on data from resistance that circa 10% members of Blue Police and Criminal Police can be classified as collaborators.
Scholars disagree about the degree of involvement of the Blue Police in the rounding up of Jews. Although policing inside the Warsaw Ghetto was a responsibility of the Jewish Ghetto Police, a Polish-Jewish historian Emmanuel Ringelblum, chronicler of the Warsaw Ghetto, mentioned Polish policemen carrying out extortions and beatings. The police also took part in street roundups. On June 3, 1942 during a prison execution of 110 Jews in Warsaw, members of the Blue Police stood and wept, while the Germans themselves executed the victims, after the Poles refused to obey the orders of their overseers to carry out the shooting. According to Szymon Datner, "The Polish police were employed in a very marginal way, in what I would call keeping order. I must state with all decisiveness that more than 90% of that terrifying, murderous work was carried out by the Germans, with no Polish participation whatsoever." According to Raul Hilberg, "Of all the native police forces in occupied Eastern Europe, those of Poland were least involved in anti-Jewish actions.... They could not join the Germans in major operations against Jews or Polish resistors, lest they be considered traitors by virtually every Polish onlooker. Their task in the destruction of the Jews was therefore limited." Holocaust historian Gunnar S. Paulsson agrees that the role of the Blue Police was minimal: "Keep this in mind – wrote Paulsson – the Jews in Poland were isolated in ghettos. They were rounded up by German police with the aid of Ukrainian and Baltic collaborators, and the enforced co-operation of the Jewish ghetto police, but very little participation by Polish police (mainly in the smaller centres). They were taken to killing centres staffed again by Germans, Ukrainians and Balts."Ja Grabowski has claimed that Blue Police played an important role in the Holocaust in Poland, often operating independently of German orders and killing Jews for financial gain.
According to Emanuel Ringelblum, who compared the role of the Polish police to the Jewish police, "The uniformed police has had a deplorable role in the “resettlement actions”. The blood of hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews, caught and driven to the “death vans” will be on their heads. The Germans’ tactics were usually as follows: in the first “resettlement action” they utilized the Jewish Order Service, which behaved no better from the ethical point of view than their Polish opposite numbers. In the subsequent “actions,” when the Jewish Order Service was liquidated as well, the Polish Police force was utilized."
According to Jan Grabowski, a Jew falling into the hands of the Blue Police faced almost certain death. According to Grabowski the historical evidence from Polish, German, and Israeli archives "points to a pattern of murderous involvement throughout occupied Poland".
Additionally, forcible draft among members of the Polish police was conducted to create the Polnisches Schutzmannschaftsbataillon 202 sent to the East, with 360 men most of whom deserted to the 27th Home Army Infantry Division in defence of ethnic Polish population against the UPA massacres. Similarly, the police were withdrawn from the perimeter of the Ghetto on the eve of its final destruction.
Police street check in Kraków overseen by German Order Police
