‘Re-settlers’ as interpreters

Remarks on Self-presentation and Violence among Members of the Baltic German Minority in the National Socialist Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei) and Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst – SD)

Abstract

‘Re-settlers’ as interpreters: remarks on self-presentation and violence among members of the Baltic German Minority in the National Socialist Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei) and Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst – SD). The article examines the biographies of eleven members of the German minority from the Baltic States who joined the Sicherheitspolizei and SD during the National Socialist regime. In a first analytical step, the author examines the protagonists’ curricula vitae as a form of self-presentation addressed to institutions of the ‘Third Reich’. He argues that, in order to gain recognition and participation, the members in this sample group had to ‘translate’ their past in a Russian, Latvian or Estonian environment, as well as their ‘achievements’ in the service of the Baltic National Socialist movements, into a different cultural and institutional context. Moreover, the author maintains that many of these men were not merely leading organizers in the resettlement of the Baltic Germans, but also interpreters and experts who were crucial for the process of ‘translating’ violence, particularly in the ranks of the Einsatzgruppen.