German Order Police examine the papers of an old man in the course of an operation in the Krakow Jewish Ghetto, Poland, 1941.  The Bundesarchiv's long caption describes the operation as a "razzia", a description normally used in relation to hostile raids.

The light colour of the policemen's cuff facings suggest that these men are members of a Special Police Battalion drawn from the Gendarmerie, Germany's rural police force.  Best regards, JR.

Enemy of the Reich ?

Two German officers pose with a captured British pilot Sergeant Herbert Ruza. In the background is a Junkers W34 German transport plane.
   On December 19, 1939 German fighters intercepted a flight of 22 British Vickers Wellington bombers on the way to bomb Wilhelmshaven, Germany.  As a result, 14 British aircraft were shot down, the remaining 8 were seriously damaged. One of the planes that was shot down, fell into the water near the port of Wilhelmshaven. The crew was rescued and - Sergeant Ruza among them - was captured.

Captured British pilot

Obergruppenfuhrer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski arrives for a review of Ordnungspolizei Special Police Batallions, Minsk, 1941.  Von dem Bach-Zelewski was, perhaps, the most "impressive" individual killers of the SS murder machine as Higher SS and Police Leader, Einsatzgruppe commander and chief of anti-partisan operations, depending on how one counts the hundreds of thousands of corpses.  Since the Nazi police apparatus was not supplied with a large dedicated force of mass executioners to effect murder outside the camp system, the Einsatzgruppen and other "Special Action" operations were heavily dependent on the use of ORPO Special Police Battalions and Special Reserve Police Battalions for manpower in the conduct of their operations.

Von dem Bach-Zelewski was a member of the Prussian-Kashubian community of East Prussia.  While Kashubians were, arguably Slavic in origin, they were one of those nations substantially assimilated to the German as far back as the Middle Ages, and were effectively regarded as "German" or "German-orientated" by the Nazis, unless proved otherwise.  Von dem Bach himself served with the Prussian/German Imperial Army through WW1, earning the Iron Cross, First Class in the process.

One curious point - I have seen a reference suggesting that one of Erich's fellow Kashubians is no less than Angela Merkel ... JR.