SS School for Scoundrels! Bad Rabka
Bad Rabka and Zakopane – SD School’s
“The Schools for Scoundrels”
Establishment of SD School at Zakopane
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During the first months after the occupation of Poland, the Commander –in – Chief of the Security Police (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienst) SS- Brigadefuhrer Bruno Streckenbach founded the Sipo- SD School close to the Slovak border in Zakopane.
Zakopane a winter resort at the bottom of the high Tatra mountains, the purpose of the school was to train selected candidates of the Sipo-SD, collaborating Ukrainians, Polish Police Officers and other Sipo-SD personnel including intelligence gathering sympathisers (V- Agents) under the leadership of the Commandant SS- Hauptsturmfuhrer Hans Kruger.
Zakopane was turned into an entertainment centre for senior officers of the SS and Werhmacht, all Jews were supposed to have been removed from the district by the end of November 1939, and in 1940 this was achieved.
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The Nazis had set them to work uncovering hidden Jewish “treasures” in the town. Some two-hundred documents relating to the three years of the activity of the Judenrat in Zakopane have survived the war. Immediately after the Nazi take-over, Zakopane’s largest hotel, the “Palace” was converted into the headquarters of the Gestapo. The main hall on the first floor of the hotel was reserved for dances and entertainment for the officers.
Part of the building served as the “labour bureau,” where Jews were sent to register for forced labour. The deep cellars served as an interrogation centre and prison for Jews accused of breaking Nazi rules. According to a number of Jewish witnesses who survived the war, as many as 300 Jews were murdered at the “Palace,” many of them women and children. The “Palace” was known locally as “Death’s Head Resort.”
The leading Nazi officials at the time were the Chief of Gestapo, Robert Weissmann, and his deputy Richard Samish. In late 1939, on the outskirts of Zakopane the Sipo- SD Academy was established in the Hotel “Stamary.” On 20 April 1940, SS- Untersturmfuhrer Wilhelm Rosenbaum was appointed as Police Secretary at the school and deputy to the Commandant SS- Hauptsturmfuhrer Hans Kruger.
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Rosenbaum’s duties were more of a pastoral care nature, arranging board and lodgings, salaries, welfare of conscripts and general administrative duties. Among the other permanent staff were the brothers Wilhelm and Johann Mauer, who had been seconded for duty at the school.
The brothers, once officers in the Polish army and who spoke Ukrainian, their sister, Lisa Schumacher, nee Kaufmann, performed office work. The kitchen and feeding arrangements were organised by local Polish personnel, the curriculum and training at the school, underwent changes as the war progressed of the war.
Selective recruitment of the SS security services, Ukrainian and Polish collaborators were trained in intelligence and counter-intelligence activities. In Zakopane, through the intermediary of the Jewish Council (Judenrat) Rosenbaum selected male and female workers from the Jewish population for maintenance and cleaning work, care of the gardens and other heavy manual tasks.
The Jew, Paul Beck, was appointed overseer of the Jewish workers to liaise with the SS. With his experience in practical things and a good portion of deceitfulness, Beck who spoke a number of languages knew how to conduct himself and mediate between the Jewish workers and the German authorities.
When in July 1940, the school and its permanent staff moved from Zakopane to Bad Rabka, a number of Jewish workers, among them Paul Beck, to move there. It was at this time the Jews residing in the surrounding areas began to feel and experience the Nazi onslaught on their communities.
The SD School Moves to Bad Rabka
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Bad Rabka was a small health resort located on both sides of the Raba River and halfway between Krakow and Zakopane. At the outbreak of war there were approximately 7,000 inhabitants in Rabka. The Jewish population was about 1,500, which increased during the early part of the war. Relatives and friends of the local Jews moved from the larger towns to the area less exposed to persecution elsewhere. This was an age-old custom of Jews who sought protection and comfort in numbers in times of stress.
Institutions and offices of the Reich and Wehrmacht as well as other organizations, established themselves in Bad Rabka. Apart from the local Governor’s office and government departments, there was a military convalescent home, children’s homes and a German guesthouse. Bad Rabka enjoyed all the trappings of a small town, well-served by both road and rail. The adjoining railway station of Chabowka was a central junction for the larger towns in Poland, which also served Bad Rabka.
The SD School initially occupied premises of a requisitioned Jewish religious institution for children, situated near the Chabowka railway station. In the late autumn the school moved to new and much larger premises to the “Theresianeum,” also called Thereska, a high school for girls.
The four-storey building was located in the northern part of the town called Slonna, on a tree –covered slope alongside the Slonna River, that flowed into the the Raba River. SS- Hauptsturmfuhrer Hans Kruger arrived with his entourage to the newly converted school and remained there for a short time, when he was recalled to Krakow to take up the duties of deputy to the BdS Dr Eberhardt Schongarth.
For a short period SS- Hauptsturmfuhrer Rudolf Voigtlander took over the command of the school, but within a few weeks Rosenbaum was appointed Commandant of the school, where he remained until April 1941, when he was also recalled to Dr Schongarth’s office for preparatory work for “Operation Barbarossa”, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
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The SD – Sipo school at Bad Rabka’s activities were suspended but retained a small staff to look after the premises. The school did not recommence activities until November 1941, when both Dr Schorngarth, and Rosenbaum returned from military duties in East Galicia.
In the late autumn of 1941, when Dr Schongarth’s Einsatzgruppen (zbV) had been disbanded and the personnel distributed throughout East Galicia, Schongarth and Rosenbaum returned to Krakow. Dr Schongarth resumed his duties as Commander –in Chief of the Security Police (BdS), whilst Rosenbaum returned to Bad Rabka as Economic Leader (Wirtscharfuhrer) of the SD- Sipo school to prepare and rebuild the school for new courses.
Within days of the Rabka School becoming operational, a large black flag and a swastika was prominently mounted on the roof, and in large black letters, the following was displayed across the top floor of the building.
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BEFEHLSHABER der SICHERHEITSPOLIZEI und des SD im GG SCHULE des SICHERHEITSPOLIZEI |
Rosenbaum had no authority or influence in the educational training at the school. As “Wirtschaftsbeamter” his duties were the same as in Zakopane, that is to arrange accommodation for students attending courses.
As a measure of Dr Schongarth’s opinion of him, Rosenbaum was titled “Headmaster” but despite this unflattering title, as Commandant of the School he wielded enormous power. Rosenbaum remained as administrator of the School until the spring of 1943, when the activities of the school were the subject to internal SS criminal and corruption investigations, when he was removed to other duties. During this period, the crimes for which he was indicted after the war were committed.
Candidates
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Selected candidates for the school were recruited from a number of sources, but mainly from the Security Services, Polish Police officers, Ukrainian Security collaborators, including Ukrainian Prisoners of War from internment camps, and the more established SS training camp at Trawniki, near Lublin. Ukrainian candidates were required to be healthy men between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five who were ranked and segregated according to their standard of education.
The Rabka School since its transfer from Zakopane had introduced specialist Ukrainian instructors, namely the Mauer brothers, and SS-Scharfuhrer’s Wosdolowicz, Jaworski and Vasilko, who were all previously at Zakopane, and transferred to Bad Rabka to supervise and train Ukrainian recruits.
In overall command of training was SS-Scharfuhrer’s Bohnert and Schuppler, who had been members of the permanent staff since November 1940. SS- Scharfuhrer Bandure was the school driver and SS-Scharfuhrer Dziuba was the clerical officer. SS-Oberscharfuhrer Hermann Oder joined the school in March 1942 and SS- Hauptscharfuhrer’s Walter Proch and Pohland joined the small team in July 1942, and acted as deputies to Rosenbaum.
Read more here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/nazioccupation/sdschool.html
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2009
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