Sonderdienst

Sonderdienst (German for "Special Services") were mostly non-German Nazi paramilitary formations created in the occupied General Government during the occupation of Poland in World War II. They were based on similar SS formations called Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz operating in the Warthegau district of German-annexed western Poland in 1939.

Sonderdienst were founded on 6 May 1940 by Gauleiter Hans Frank who was stationed in occupied Kraków. Initially, they were made up of ethnic German Volksdeutsche who lived in Poland before the attack and joined the invading force thereafter. After Operation Barbarossa began in 1941, they also included Soviet prisoners of war who volunteered for special training, such as the Trawniki men (German: Trawnikimänner) deployed at all major killing sites of the "Final Solution". Many of those men did not know German and required translation by their native commanders. The Abteilung Sonderdienst (Department of Special Services) was subordinate to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht sabotage division under Erwin von Lahousen (1 September 1939 – July 1943) and Wessel Freytag von Loringhoven (July 1943 – June 1944).