SS-Heimatschutz Slowakei (HS) was an auxiliary military formation within the

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Background

From 1943, the agents of the Deutsche Partei of the Slovakian Germans, sent news of

partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

activities in Slovakia to Germany. In the summer of 1944, these reports were becoming more common and more specific about the activities of partisans in Eastern and Central Slovakia. On July 25, 1944, a meeting of Slovak German leaders was held in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

. Here,

Franz Karmasin Franz Karmasin (2 September 1901 – 25 June 1970) was an ethnic German politician in Czechoslovakia, who helped found the Carpathian German Party. During World War II he was state secretary of German affairs in the Slovak Republic, and rose to the ...

called for the establishment of a paramilitary organization in the Slovak state. On August 19, 1944 Karmas sent a summary report to

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

in which he stated that the situation in Slovakia was becoming critical, not only because of frequent partisan activities but also because of the division and weakness of the Slovak forces. Karmasin also informed Himmler that the Germans in Slovakia had begun to set up the Heimatschutz (HS), an armed organization under the command of Ferdinand Klug, head of the

Freiwillige Schutzstaffel ''Freiwillige Schutzstaffel'' ('Voluntary Protection Corps', abbreviated FS) was a paramilitary organization in the World War II Slovak Republic. FS was founded in late 1938. Modelled on the German ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and the ''Allgemeine SS'', ...

(FS), with the agreement of the German Embassy.

Heimatschutz

The main task of Heimatschutz was to protect the German minority in Slovakia against possible partisan attacks, so they started arming their members. Karmasin's plan failed however because the Slovak national uprising exploded earlier than expected on August 29, 1944, and in some cases the weapons intended for arming the Heimatschutz members were seized by the partisans. At the beginning of September 1944, the training of members of the HS armed organization began, involving the 8,000 male Germans in Slovakia. At the time of the uprising, Heimatschutz units were under the command of SS-Obergruppenführer

Gottlob Berger Gottlob Christian Berger (16 July 1896 – 5 January 1975) was a German senior Nazi official who held the rank of '' SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS'' (lieutenant general) and was the chief of the SS Main Office responsibl ...

. Following the outbreak of the uprising, armed units of the HS were strengthened and in many cases committed crimes against the Slovak civilian population. There were campaigns against the partisans hiding in the mountains and in the forests. After the collapse of the Slovak national uprising, in November 1944, the Heimatschutz, together with SS units and the

Hlinka Guard The Hlinka Guard (; ; abbreviated as HG) was the militia maintained by the Slovak People's Party in the period from 1938 to 1945; it was named after Andrej Hlinka. The Hlinka Guard was preceded by the Rodobrana (Home Defense/Nation's Defen ...

, embarked on a campaign of terror.

Establishment and activities

In March 1945, the Heimatschutz armed forces were reorganized, and the SS-Heimatschutz "Slowakei" unit was set up under SS-Obersturmbannführer Hans Thumser. The commander of the SS-Heimatschutz "Slowakei" was Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek, formerly an officer of the Czechoslovak Army, who had later participated in the campaign against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

as an officer of the Slovakian army and joined the SS in 1944 as SS-Standartenführer. Pilfousek was directly responsible to SS-Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger. The operations of SS-Heimatschutz "Slowakei" were not long-lived, its combat activity was not significant, and its members had a low level of combat morale.

Sources

* Kováč, Dušan: Nemecko a nemecká menšina na Slovensku, 1871–1945, Bratislava, Veda, 1991 * Kováč, Dušan: History of Slovakia, Bratislava, Kalligram, 2011 * Steinweis, Alan E. - Rogers, Daniel E .: The Impact of Nazism: New Perspectives on the Third Reich and Its Legacy, 2003 Military units and formations of the Waffen-SS 1944 establishments in Slovakia 1945 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia The Holocaust in Slovakia {{Germany-mil-unit-stub