Nazis at ZAMOSC

Nazi S.S. at Zamosc (not a complete list) included: Adolf Bohlmann and his commander Gotthard Schubert (born 8.1.1913 in Hönigern), Bruno Meiert (aka Ulrich Schlichting, born 4.3.1917 in Königsberg), Richard Ryszard Barda, Erwin Beier, Artur Bernat (or Bernard) from Silesia, Adalbert Berninger, Julian Betcher, Hans Block, Karl Buck, Hermann Dolp, Einsleben or Emersleben (possibly Ludolf von Alvensleben), Kurt Engels, unknown Essel from Austria, Robert Fekle, Josef Fritz (S.S. Sturmbannführer) from Wroclaw, Herbert Genz, Paul Gustav Giebe, Robert Golke, Julius Gloe, Werner Hagemann, unknown Heimann, Franz Herold, unknown Himmlerstadt, unknown Huebner, Walter Jenner (born 10.30.1912 at Stutthoff, died Mar. 2, 1943), Max Junker, unknown Kielbaum, unknown Kettman from Berlin, Otto Kimmersreit, unknown Kirsch, Ludwig Klem, Robert Kolb (or Kalb), Kurt Korda, Karl Kothe, Walter Kott, Alexis Kruger, Hermann Krumey, Heinrich Kuhlman (Kullmann), Heinrich Langenkampfner, unknown Liper or Lipper, Peter Lucht, Hellmut Milling, unknown Neuberger, Walther Olsen, Hans Pienkowski, unknown Reibenshein, Oskar Reichwein, Walter Reupert, Herman Rogin, unknown Rohlmann (probably Adolph Bohlmann, who was also sometimes listed as Pohlmann), unknown Schmidt, Alois Schwerhoff (Schuerhaf), Ernst Heinrich Schulz, Hans Jürgen Schulz, Anton Stach, Max Vogl, Willy Voigt, Helmut Weihenmaier, Karl Weissenborn/Weisenborn, Erich Wendland, unknown Wiegand, unknown Winkel and Maksymilian Zillenbiller. Let us know if you have additional information on these individuals.

Polish collaborators cooperating with the Nazis in the deportations and mass murders included the former priest Dobranicki, the former school music teacher Mazurek, unknown Klukecki, unknown Morginski, Kazimierz Olecht (or Olek Kazimierz), Josef Pyska, Jan Siering, Feliks Shyper (Shipper), Romuald Słodki, Elsa Betke, and Adela Tymińska.

Overall, Judenrats [Jewish Councils] in the Lublin district -- unlike in other areas of Europe -- were not complicit in following each and every Nazi order or demand. Because of Memek Garfinkel, an outsider, and his henchmen, this was not the case in Zamosc. Garfinkel was the Judenrat head in Zamosc. Jews complicit in cooperating with the Nazis in Zamosc included: Memek Garfinkel, Baruch Wilder, Herman Goldhamer from Łódź, Mesinger from Włocławek, Szlomo Blumsztajn, and a Jew in charge of the local Jewish police named Alvin Lippmann (from Dortmund). Other Jewish police members inside of the ghetto, who helped the Nazis round up Jews, included Abraham Micholes, Abram Arct, Szmul Feldsztajn, Stach Flajszman, Lejzor Szulc, Ber Szwarcbir, David Cibeles, Dudek Garfinkiel, Bolesław Epsztejn, Boruch Fiszelson and Mosze Hofman. See also: Jewish Collaborators in Lublin District

Learn more about the Holocaust in Zamosc.

There was a series of sub-camps in the Zamosc area that also employed Jewish slave labor. Learn more: Labor Camps in the Lublin District.

Of all the police units deployed to the Polish city of Zamosc, the Zamość Cavalry Platoon served there the longest. It consisted of approximately 40 police officers born between 1918 and 1920. They received their training in 1940 at the Rathenow Riding and Driving School. The cavalry platoon arrived in Zamość in October or November 1940. In 1941, a horse-drawn transport section was attached to the platoon. The cavalry platoon was subordinate to Police Regiment 25, stationed in Lublin; the regimental commander was, at any given time, the incumbent commander of the Order Police.

Additionally, members of Police Mounted Division III — specifically the 2nd Squadron — are alleged to have been involved in the ‘resettlement’ of the Jewish population of Zamosc. The investigative files of the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor's Office note the following: “Two additional operations took place on May 27 and August 11, 1942 carried out, during which another 3,000 Jews were rounded up. Here, too, a significant number of people were shot during the very process of their deportation. During further expulsion operations in the autumn of 1942, the remaining Jewish population of Zamosc was transported to the Jewish settlement in Izbica in November 1942.” A member of the 1st Platoon stated: “Our squadron was frequently called upon to set up cordons whenever the S.S. conducted sweeps for Jews in Zamosc or Lublin. I do not know where these Jews were taken afterward.” A member of the 3rd Platoon of the 2nd Squadron had learned that his squadron had been involved in an operation against Jews in 1942: “At that time, Jews were reportedly shot in Zamosc by the 2nd Squadron. However, I can no longer recall any details.” Since Police Cavalry Detachment III was deployed in Zamosc in May 1942, its 2nd Squadron belongs to the group of units that may have been involved in the deportation and murder of the Jews from Dortmund. The commanders of the 2nd Squadron were: Captain Ruczewski, First Lieutenant Rudolf Rettberg, Captain Friedrich Weiß and Captain Hermann Kamphausen.

Learn more: Order Police and the Extermination of the Jews in the Zamosc Region.
See also: The German Military in Zamosc, 1939–1944