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There is no better way to arrive to reality than to reconstruct the perspective of the perpetrators
Raul Hilberg
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USHMM - Public domain. Zawierce
Babi Yar, Rumbula and Stanislaviv. And then Charkov, Berdičev, Kamenec Podol'skij, Rovno...
These are some places where apocalyptic slaughters were perpetrated during the summer of 1941.
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Maybe it would be enough to remember these names, to give an idea of the involvement of the police battalions in the ideological war, broken out on the eastern front, from 27 June 1941, that erased, as a hurricane, most of the Jewish communities in the Baltic area, in Galicia, in Belorussia and in Ukraine, with hundred thousands of victims.
But round-ups in the ghettos and the persecution of Jews were not the only tasks in which the Ordnungspolizei was involved.
All along the eastern front, police units were steadily engaged in a fierce anti-partisan warfare, as well as in security activities behind the lines and in the surveillance of prisoners of war. In several occasions and in adverse conditions, police battalions were moved to the front line, where they ended up suffering heavy losses; moreover, many policemen were involved in activities that, using a current term, we could define as "civil defence", especially in the German cities targeted by air bombing.
All these so different activities, ended up involving dozens of thousands of policemen. But the most upsetting aspect is the way – efficient and scrupulous – in which these men acted, whether they were called to carry out a reprisal or to remove the debris after a bombing, perpetrate the round-up of a ghetto or accomplish guard services, burn down a village or perform ordinary garrison tasks.
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The Ordnungspolizei did not have all those characteristics needed to become a symbol of the Nazi regime; it was instead a versatile and ruthless instrument, mostly formed with reservists: "ordinary men" capable of unspeakable atrocities, very similar to the people that we meet in our everyday life.
Very similar to each of us.
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THE ORDNUNGSPOLIZEI AND THE GENOCIDE. THE CRIMES OF THE GERMAN POLICE BATTALIONS. JUNE 1941-SEPTEMBER 1942
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is now available: if you want to proceed with the shopping, please click here
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The book has 314 pages, divided into 14 chapters, each dealing with a specific slaughter perpetrated by a german police unit.
Text is in italian only.
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Introduction, the index and part of the prologue are free dowloadable:
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Click Here
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For more information, please email me at:
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E' attualmente disponibile!!!
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ORDNUNGSPOLIZEI
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE GERMAN POLICE BATTALIONS
September 1939 - July 1942
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Un'analisi completa di tutti i battaglioni di polizia, formati tra il 1939 ed il 1942: dati, crimini ed azioni
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purchese is now possible at:
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