Selected records of applications for distinctions for SS and police officers in the General Government Zbiór wniosków na odznaczenia dla funkcjonariuszy SS i Policji w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie (Sygn. GK 107),

This collection contains legal regulations concerning the granting of distinctions and applications of SS and police chief officers of various ranks submitted to superior authorities in order to decorate subordinating officers with: crosses and war medals, the Iron Cross, distinctions for “courage,” “gallantry," and “fighting bandits.” Also included is correspondence related to the confirmation or rejection of applications. The applications for distinctions contain the following data: last and first names of the officer to be distinguished; date and place of birth; service attachment (home and operational formation); brief description of the deed along with its date and place. The justification in the applications reflects the activity of police in the so-called September 1939 Campaign and introduction of “order and arrangement” on the conquered Polish lands immediately after the end of military operations, the contribution of SS and police squads in operations of various kinds, mainly against Polish and Soviet partisans and members of the resistance movement on the General Government (GG) territory, conducting deportations, liquidation of ghettos, and the like. The collection generally concerns the General Government however is not limited to it.

Selected records arranged in one series: 1. Correspondence, applications and justification relating to distinctions granted for SS and German police officers in GG. Records are arranged in the original order of their acquisition from the source archive. The museum has acquired only selected records from Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, or IPN). More information about this collection and other materials in the possession of the Institute of National Remembrance, including archival finding aids from the Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance, is available at the website: https://ipn.gov.pl