Operation reinhard and chelmno were run by hsspf

Surprisingly few are aware of the fact that Operation Reinhard death factories (Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka) and Chelmno killing center were run not by RSHA (or WVHA) but by local HSSPF.

In other words, not by Reinhard Heydrich (or Oswald Pohl) but by Higher SS and Police Leaders (H;herer SS- und Polizeif;hrer) of Lublin District and Reichsgau Wartheland Odilo Globocnik and Wilhelm Koppe respectively. Both reported directly to SS-Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler.

The title of SS and Police Leader (SS und Polizeif;hrer) designated a senior Nazi Party (and SS) official who commanded various components of the SS and the German uniformed police (Ordnungspolizei), before and during World War II in the German Reich proper and in the occupied territories.

Initially, this office had a purely military function. he office of H;herer SS- und Polizeif;hrer (Higher SS and Police Leader, HSSPF) was authorized by a decree of November 13, 1937, signed by Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick (the nominal boss of Himmler in latter’s capacity as Chief of German Police).

This decree authorized the creation of HSSPF in each of the thirteen German armed forces Wehrkreise (Military Districts) in the German Reich, but only in the event of mobilization (i.e., of war).

At that time, the HSSPF would serve as deputies under the jurisdiction of Heinrich Himmler, the Reichsf;hrer-SS and Chief of the German Police, for the purpose of leading, coordinating and integrating all local and regional SS and police formations into the defense organization of the Reich.

The first HSSPF activated were those appointed in the Wehrkreise bordering Austria during the Anschluss crisis in March 1938, and Czechoslovakia during the summer and fall of the same year.

The purpose of the Higher SS and Police Leader was to be a direct command authority for every SS and police unit in these given geographical regions, answering only to Himmler and, through him, to Adolf Hitler. They were to act as Himmler’s chief liaison to, and unifier of, all SS and police components in a region.

In all other occupied territories, no Wehrkreise were established, so the HSSPF were independent commands with several subordinate SS- und Polizeif;hrer (SS and Police Leader, SSPF) commands reporting to them. These positions were created beginning in November 1939 to assist the HSSPF in administering the large areas under their jurisdiction.

The SS and Police Leaders directly commanded a headquarters staff with representatives from almost every branch of the SS and the police. This typically included the Orpo, the SiPo (security police), including the Gestapo (secret police), Totenkopfverb;nde (SS-TV; SS concentration camps), SD (intelligence service), and certain units of Waffen-SS.

The HSSPF served as commanding SS generals for Einsatzgruppen operating in their area (in reality, the latter were under dual command – from HSSPF and RSHA). In addition, they launched anti-partisan operations and directed police units to acquire forced labor for war-related projects.

The SS and Police Leaders were the overseeing authority of the Jewish ghettos in Poland and directly coordinated deportations to killing centers. They had direct command over Order Police battalions and SD regiments that were assigned to guard the ghettos.

The HSSPF regularly provided SS and police guards and other support personnel for the transports to the death factories, and also negotiated with the agencies and ministries of the Reich for rolling stock, supplies and provisions, rail schedules, and an array of other requirements necessary to keep the roundups and the death trains moving efficiently.

And, in the satellite and client states, the HSSPF negotiated directly with the puppet or collaborationist governments to hand over their Jews for deportation to the East (although Foreign Office was involved as well).

Finally, the HSSPF (Koppe and Globocnik) were also directly involved in the construction and operation of killing centers in Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka (Auschwitz and Majdanek were run by WVHA via its Concentration Camps Inspectorate).