Blue Police
Civilian law enforcement agency of Nazi-occupied Poland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Blue Police (Polish: Granatowa policja, lit. Navy-blue police), was the police during the Second World War in the General Government area of German-occupied Poland. Its official German name was Polnische Polizei im Generalgouvernement (Polish Police of the General Government; Polish: Policja Polska Generalnego Gubernatorstwa).
The Blue Police | |
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Polnische Polizei im Generalgouvernement [1] | |
Active | December 17, 1939 (1939-12-17)[2] – August 27, 1944 (1944-08-27) |
Country | Nazi Germany (General Government) |
Agency | Ordnungspolizei |
Type | Auxiliary police |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders |
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The Blue Police officially came into being on 30 October 1939 (1939-10-30) when Germany drafted Poland's prewar state police officers (Policja Państwowa), organizing local units with German leadership.[1] It was an auxiliary institution tasked with protecting public safety and order in the General Government.[3] The Blue Police, initially employed purely to deal with ordinary criminality, was later also used to counter smuggling, which was an essential element of German-occupied Poland's underground economy.[1]
The organization was officially dissolved and declared disbanded by the Polish Committee of National Liberation on 27 August 1944.[4][5] After a review process, a number of its former members joined the new national policing structure, the Milicja Obywatelska (Citizens' Militia). Others were prosecuted after 1949 under Stalinism.