SS Heimwehr Danzig war crime? Or not…

[CHRISCHA]

Hello

I’m researching the SS Heimwehr Danzig for personal interest and have drawn a blank regarding a referenced war crime.

The SS Heimwehr Danzig has been cited as committing a massacre of thirty three people in the village of Ksiazki also known as Hohenkirch. It’s mentioned in several places on the internet and a couple of books. It’s mentioned on this site as well.

https://www.axishistory.com/list-all-ca ... ehr-danzig

But, I can’t find any notes or investigation into this crime.

Considering the Heimwehr Danzig has repeatedly and wrongly been named as the main unit attacking the Danzig post office, could this also be a case of mistaken identity?
Other SS units were operating in Danzig such as SS Wachsturmbann Eiman and the German police ADGZ armoured cars had SS runes and a Totenkopf on them as an example.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[GregSingh]

According to IPN's research paper from 2018, 43 civilians were executed in Książki on the 8th of Semptember 1939. The paper does not name any perpetrators or their units.
The same document lists close to 400 villages/towns in so called "Polish Corridor", where up to 11.000 civilians were executed in 1939.
Only several cases were ever investigated with mixed results.

Just by looking at the map, Książki is so far down south and on the other side of the Vistula river. Aren't they made only as far as Tczew, and later were moved north to Zoppot? What primary documents do you have to confirm their whereabouts on the 8th ?

[Hans1906]

Recommended *pdf file, 2019, download size is 39 Megabyte:
(Translated from polish to german language, prob. av. in english language also..?)

"Das Verbrechen von Pommern" Link: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... rSTdNz_lWK

German language, document does not open online, downloads directly to the download folder on your harddisk.


Hans

[CHRISCHA]

Hello both.

Thanks for the replies.

I have no primary sources of their exact whereabouts on the 8th September only secondary which states the regiment was in the Danzig area after the battle at Dirschau, and from the 6th to the 20th September they were at the Oxhöfter Kämpe.

Some elements were deployed away from the parent unit through the first half of September but this was the gun sections (minor artillery) and I can find no information if they were detached on the 8th.

There are various villages around Danzig with the suffix Ksiazki such as Gmina Ksiazki, Dom Ksiazki, etc which I had presumed was where the massacre occurred but as Gregsingh says Hohenkirch/ Ksiazki is quite far to the South East, outside of the area of operations of the Heimwehr Danzig.

I doubt they were involved in this crime at Ksiazki but not to say they were not involved in other events leading to the death of 11,000 people.

[GregSingh]

Książki means Books in Polish, that confuses internet searches...

Here is the village in question: Książki / Hohenkirch.

One of the earliest mentioning of civilians killed in Książki (and SS-HD involvement) comes from:
Szymon Datner, Crimes Committed By the Wehrmacht During the September Campaign and the Period of Military Government (1.Sep.39 - 25.Oct.39), Polish Western Affairs, Volume 3, 1962.

page 305.jpg (15.43 KiB) Viewed 1949 times

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Guys,

SS-Heimwehr Danzig was probably a very frustrated unit, as it failed in almost all its missions in September 1939.

However, as pointed out above, Książki appears to be well to the south of SS-Heimwehr Danzig's failure to seize the western end of the bridge at Dirschau/Tczew by surprise attack before dawn on the first day of the war. From Dirschau it was deployed northwards, being repulsed in a later attempt to enter Gdansk from the north. So, it seems probable that it was not involved

Yet in 1944 Himmler gave a mock heroic speech on its supposed achievements and it even has a short English language book dedicated to it! SS-Heimwehr Danzig was very deliberately built up by Nazi propaganda as a founding member of the myth that the armed SS was a combat elite from the start.

Cheers,

Sid

[CHRISCHA]

Książki means Books in Polish, that confuses internet searches...

Here is the village in question: Książki / Hohenkirch.

One of the earliest mentioning of civilians killed in Książki (and SS-HD involvement) comes from:
Szymon Datner, Crimes Committed By the Wehrmacht During the September Campaign and the Period of Military Government (1.Sep.39 - 25.Oct.39), Polish Western Affairs, Volume 3, 1962.

page 305.jpg

Thank you very much, I appreciate you taking the time to reply with this information. 1962, twenty three years after the event, things can become confusing.

[CHRISCHA]

Hi Guys,

SS-Heimwehr Danzig was probably a very frustrated unit, as it failed in almost all its missions in September 1939.

However, as pointed out above, Książki appears to be well to the south of SS-Heimwehr Danzig's failure to seize the western end of the bridge at Dirschau/Tczew by surprise attack before dawn on the first day of the war. From Dirschau it was deployed northwards, being repulsed in a later attempt to enter Gdansk from the north. So, it seems probable that it was not involved

Yet in 1944 Himmler gave a mock heroic speech on its supposed achievements and it even has a short English language book dedicated to it! SS-Heimwehr Danzig was very deliberately built up by Nazi propaganda as a founding member of the myth that the armed SS was a combat elite from the start.

Cheers,

Sid

Hello Sid, I don’t disagree the regiment was fairly low impact but high profile.

Regarding the bridge at Dirschau, it had already collapsed by the time they fought through the town which was the objective of the Heimwehr Danzig. Westerplatte and the post office had a half a heavy gun section attacking each, contrary to popular belief that it was the whole HD.

At Oxhöfter Kämpe they performed as well a the army units.

An interesting unit though and the onward career of many is also interesting.
As an example, I’m sure everyone knows, the commander of the Heimwehr Danzig, Hans Friedman Goetze, who’s death at Le Paradis as part of the Totenkopf regiment lead to the massacre of 97 British troops.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi CHRISCHA,

I have it that SS-Heimwehr Danzig took until 5 September to clear Dirschau, by which time it had lost 23 dead. An Oavz30 armoured car was also lost.

You post, "At Oxhöfter Kämpe they performed as well a the army units." This doesn't say much. The army units around Gdynia (I wrote Gdansk mistakenly in my last post) were either frontier guards (207th Infantry Division), or ex-Danzig police or SA.

Finally, after its commander was wounded, SS-Heimwehr Danzig was given a temporary army commander, not a replacement from within. This is not a vote of confidence in the unit.

In haste,

Sid

[CHRISCHA]

Hello Sid

Yes of the deaths at Dirschau (I have 22) three were killed through a mortar misfiring.

Can you point me in the direction of the temporary commander of the HD after Goetze car crash please? Can’t find that anywhere.

Cheers
Chris

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi CHRISCHA,

Sorry, I know no more on his replacement. I only gathered the information on SS-Heimwehr Danzig some 20 years ago as a secondary part of an enquiry into events at Danzig and Gdynia in 1939.

I remain sceptical that SS-Heimwehr Danzig was involved at Ksiazki, as it would involve a major and inexplicable detour if it went from Dirschau/Tczew to north of Gdynia.

Cheers,

Sid.

[CHRISCHA]

Thanks Sid.

[michael mills]

From Dirschau it was deployed northwards, being repulsed in a later attempt to enter Gdansk from the north.

Repulsed by whom?

I know next to nothing about about the Heimwehr Danzig, but I would presume that it was formed from residents of Danzig. If that was the case, then I would also presume that on 1 September 1939 it was already situated inside Danzig.

If it was already inside Danzig, why would it be trying to enter that city from the north a few days after 1 September, ie coming from outside the city? Had it been expelled from Danzig by Polish forces after 1 September? Does that mean that Polish forces had invaded and retaken Danzig after 1 September?

i would be grateful for further information.

PS: I know that Polish military personnel were illegally stationed in the Polish Post Office in Danzig, disguised as postal workers.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Michael,

I meant Gdynia. I wrote "Gdansk" in my original post, but corrected it to "Gdynia" in the next one. SS-Heimweher Danzig's main goal on 1 September was not the Danzig post office, but to seize the western end of the Dirschau/Tczew railway bridge. However, it (and a coup attempt from the eastern end of the bridge by other German forces from East Prussia) failed, as the Poles blew it up and it took five days to clear the town.

SS-Heimwehr Danzig was then moved north to try to enter Gdynia from the north, which also failed (though I do recall that its anti-tank platoon may have knocked out a Polish armoured train on the approach march).

If I remember correctly, the core of what became the reinforced battalion named SS-Heimwehr Danzig was brought in from outside. Almost all of Danzig's manpower went into the far larger Brigade Eberhardt. This later became 60th Motorized Division, which was wiped out at Stalingrad and rebuilt as the Feldherrnhalle Division.)

I think it unlikely that SS-Heimwehr Danzig was involved in a massacre of civilians at Ksiazki because this lies well to the south of any practical route between Dirschau and the northern approaches to Gdynia. I do not know if it had any role in the threat to let Danzig fire brigade pump gas into the cellar of the Danzig Post Office, which finally caused the Polish defenders to surrender. If carried out, this would have been in breach of the laws of war, but it wasn't, so no guilt attaches.

Cheers,

Sid.

[CHRISCHA]

Hello

Just on a couple of points.

Sid is correct that most of the SS Heimwehr Danzig was existing SS personnel from Oberbayern, Thüringen, etc. Only 500 from the 1550 strength of the regiment were Danzig inhabitants.

The SS Heimwehr Danzig was disbanded in October 1939 and became part of the third Totenkopf infantry regiment. The soldiers didn’t join the heer but I’ve heard this before, I think there is some confusion about brigade eberhardt.