On September 22, 1939, the SD (Security Service) and Sipo (the Security Police) merged and became the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). Under the command of Heydrich, the RSHA evolved between 1939 and 1941 into a mammoth organization that eventually included seven departments: Personnel; Organization and Law; Internal Affairs; Gestapo; Criminal Police (Kripo); Intelligence; and, Ideological Affairs.
Germany and the Soviet Union signed a boundary and friendship treaty that formally divided Poland, giving the Germans control over the area generally west of the Bug River. The occupying governments said the partition was necessary “after the disintegration of the former Polish state” and that Moscow and Berlin “consider[ed] it their task to restore law and order in this region.” Germany obtained nearly 73,000 square miles of Polish territory, including nearly 2 million Jews who lived there, and Russia
“I was taken to Szucha Avenue, where I was ordered to add twenty-four people to the community council and to serve as its head,” wrote Adam Czerniakow on October 4, concerning the first decisive measure toward establishing the Warsaw Judenrat. Although Czerniakow was a member of the prewar executive council of the Jewish community, he was not well known among the Jews of Warsaw.
ZACHOR Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA [email protected] 800.575.9583
ZACHOR Holocaust Remembrance Foundation is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) charity.
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