Headdress of a Jewish policeman in the Warsaw ghetto with a Star of David in the center. Around it appears the inscription characterizing the two main roles of the Jewish police in the Polish ghettos - "Ordnungsdienst sdienst" - 'security services', "zluzba porzadkowa" - cleaning service. Warsaw ghetto, 1940s.
The Jewish Order Service (called the "Jewish police", or the "ghetto police") were auxiliary police units in the ghettos and in certain settlements in the German occupation areas during World War II. They were established under the direct orders of the Nazis and were subordinate to the Judenrat. The chiefs of police were chosen according to their degree of obedience to the Nazis. The Jewish police had two main roles characterized by the short words that were enacted on the hat badge: the first was "positive" - to meet the needs of the Jewish population - distributing equipment and assistance to those in need, maintaining cleanliness, directing traffic, curbing epidemics and arbitrating disputes between the ghetto residents, however, over time these actions were done less and less. The second is "negative" - fulfilling the demands of the Judenrats intended to enforce the German orders. Including collecting fines and collecting various valuables, implementing the necessary quotas for forced labor, accompanying the forced laborers to their work, guarding the walls and gates of the ghetto against escape, and preparing and carrying out the deportation to the extermination camps. Emanuel Rangeblum wrote about the Jewish police in the Warsaw ghetto: "The brutality of the Jewish police many times exceeded that of the Germans, the Ukrainians and the Latvians." Many Jewish policemen were captured and killed after the war by the survivors of the camps and also by partisans.
5x6 cm. Signs of rust and time stains.
