JWST 240 Chapter Notes - Chapter reading: Ordnungspolizei, Trawniki Men
Document Summary
In the very early hours of july 13, 1942 the men of the reserve police battalion were woken up. They were middle aged family men of working class and lower middle class backgrounds from hamburg. They were considered to old to be of use in the german army, so they were drafted into the police instead. They told they were headed for their first major action but were not told what to expect. They arrived at a polish village with 1,800 jews. Major wilhelm trapp said that their assignment was to take men to a work camp and the remaining children women and elderly were to be shot by the battalion because they instigated the american boycott that damaged germany. Bitterness in the battalion was shared by everyone. In subsequent actions two vital changes were introduced and with some exceptions were adhered to. Most of the future operations of the reserve police.
