Einsatzgruppen Related Polizei Dienstpass

[hucks216]

I have had this for a month or so now and thought it was time I posted it here to share with fellow members.

It is a Polizei Dienstpass to a member of Polizei Btl 303 which as part of Polizei Rgt Sud participated in the Jewish massacre at Babi Yar, and as the dates & Einsatz slips show, this man was there at the time although in what capacity he participated is not known as far as I am aware.

Erich Karrasch was an NCO in Polizei Btl 303 which he had joined on 9th September 1940 at a time when it was stationed in the Generalgouvernement. Two days after the start of Operation Barbarossa Polizei Btl 303 was sent to Russia as part of Polizei Regiment Sud (the other two battalion's in this regiment were Pol.Btls. 45 & 314). Polizei Regiment Sud was assigned to Einsatzgruppen C and participated in the numerous Aktions against the Jewish populations of the newly conquered lands.
Reports show:
25 August: Pol.Rgt Sud shot 1,324 Jews
27 August: Pol.Rgt Sud shot 1,463 Jews
...and so on through the remainder of August & September including shooting 3,145 Jews at Zhitomir on 19th September. However it was on the dates of 29 & 30th September that Pol.Rgt Sud firmly placed its name in the history of the Holocaust with the massacre of over 33,000 Jews at Babi Yar.
As well as the Dientspass there are a few slips of paper that list the Aktions Erich Karrasch participated in as a member of Pol.Btl 303/Pol.Rgt Sud with the relevant unit stamp and signature.

[hucks216]

The following is 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.

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 al the marksman had to do as he passed was fire a shot.”

An Einsatzgruppen report on 2nd October 1941 summarized the Babi Yar Aktion brazenly, not even bothering to justify it as retaliation [for the recent explosions in Kiev after German forces had occupied the city]:
Sonderkommando 4a in collaboration with the group staff and two commandos of Police Regiment South on 29th & 30th September 1941 executed 33,771 Jews in Kiev.

[hucks216]

After Babi Yar, the unit continued to murder Jews in numerous towns and villages including Vinnitsa, Poltava & 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 revealed by the Dienstpass.

[hucks216]

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'. He was awarded the Eastern Front Medal.

Feldpost Numbers:
38101B - 1./Pol.Btl 303
36524 - Stab/Pol.Rgt Sud
41265 - Wasserschutzpolizei Asowsches Meer

I have been able to identify some of the signatures that relate to Polizei Btl 303 & Polizei Rgt Sud either on the Einsatz slips or in the Dienstpass:

1st Kompanie Pol.Btl 303 – Kompaniefuhrer:
Oberleutnant Oswald Altendorf
Hauptmann d. Schupo Walter Lindeck

Polizei Rgt Sud:
Hauptmann d.Sch Hermann Berentsen

[hucks216]

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

Source: http://www.ordnungspolizei.org/index...mid=55&lang=en

[SiPo]

Good to see an old friend again.

[PBR]

Very nice, he was in the Wasserschutzpolizei Ost-Adria in Istrien under Globocnik's HSSPF Triest.

[hucks216]

Good to see an old friend again.

Rest assured, it is being well looked after

[hucks216]

Very nice, he was in the Wasserschutzpolizei Ost-Adria in Istrien under Globocnik's HSSPF Triest.

Thank you for the additional information

[Eric JB]

Hucks,

Couple of years ago I did have that booklet and the paper slips in my hands..........and didn't buy it.

Till today it is the best Police booklet (- also due to that paper slips that provide so many information -) I have ever seen.

Thank you so much for showing it here on WAF, and for the research and information that is done and given by you.

yours friendly

Eric-Jan

[Lee Luke]

Simply incredible document of the darker history of WW2.

[hucks216]

Eric-Jan - I was thrilled when I saw this listed for sale again. I remember seeing it listed on a dealer site a few years ago with it listed as 'Sold' and cursed my luck that I had missed out on it. I have only ever seen one other Pol.Btl 303 Dienstpass, for a member of 3 Kompanie, and that had Einsatz slips that had more entries on them as that man was with the Btl for a lot longer than this one was.

Lee - It is amazing that someone involved in such Aktions would keep such an incriminating piece of ID after the war. It is a great compliment item to the Warsaw Ghetto & Warsaw Uprising KIA Dienstpass I also have.

[PBR]

Thank you for the additional information

You welcome.
It's very likely the man was employed in anti-partisan operations over there.
Globocnik brought over in Triest many of his former Lublin men, many thugs of "Aktion Reinhardt" and others SS\Polizei men "employed" in the East.
It may be the case of your man.

[JUNGCO]

Great book. Thanks for showing it!
Jeff

[Hundestaffel]

Fantastic.

You can clearly see ever-so-slight rust marks on the cover of this Dienstpass from another one of Karrasch's ID's, one that most likely had his photograph attached. I wonder where that ID is today....

A good friend of mine also has a Babi Yar related Dienstpass....as this specific Policeman was issued an MG 34, his Babi Yar 'assignment' clearly does not take much imagination.....


"Hundestaffel"