The one thing I find the most difficult in doing these blogs, is to remain as objective as possible and to try to keep emotions like anger out of it. It is nearly impossible, especially when you come across a story like the story of Reserve Police Battalion 101.
As the name implies these men were reserves, not professional soldiers or policemen.In a similar fashion as the National Guard in the United States, these German battalions were organized regionally. The 101 consisted mostly of often ordinary middle aged men from working- and lower-middle-class neighborhoods in Hamburg, many with families.
Their commander was Major Wilhelm Trapp, he was a career police man, a WWI veteran who had joined the Nazis in December 1932.
In June 1942 the battalion was sent to Poland to partake in the rounding up of Jews.
On July 13,1942, just three weeks after their arrival, the men were sent to…
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