Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland

состав - около 500 человек “They were middle-aged family men of working- and lower-middle-class background from the city of Hamburg. Considered too old to be of use to the German army, they had been drafted instead into the Order Police.”

“The battalion had to perform a frightfully unpleasant task. This assignment was not to his liking but the orders came from the highest authorities.
If it would make their task any easier, the men should remember that in Germany the bombs were falling on women and children.
The Jews had instigated the American boycott that had damaged Germany.
There were Jews in the village of Józefów who were involved with the partisans. The battalion had now been ordered to round up these Jews.

The male Jews of working age were to be separated and taken to a work camp.

The remaining Jews—the women, children, and elderly—were to be shot on the spot by the battalion.

Having explained what awaited his men, Trapp then made an extraordinary offer: if any of the older men among them did not feel up to the task that lay before him, he could step out.”

Только 12 человек из 500 отказались.

кратко Reserve Police Battalion 101