The Estonian Security Police and SD (german: Sicherheitspolizei und SD Estland, et, Eesti Julgeolekupolitsei ja SD), or Sipo, was a security police force created by the Germans in 1942 that integrated both Germans and Estonians within a unique structure mirroring the German
Sicherheitspolizei
The ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ( en, Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the ...
.
Following the German occupation in 1941, the German Army created police ''Prefekts'' based upon the old Estonian police model. In 1942 a new Sicherheitspolizei structure was installed. The new Sipo force was designed by
Martin Sandberger
Martin Sandberger (17 August 1911 – 30 March 2010) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era and a convicted Holocaust perpetrator. He commanded Sonderkommando 1a of Einsatzgruppe A, as well as the Sicherheitspolizei and SD in E ...
, leader of
Einsatzkommando 1a. It was a unique joint structure that consisted of a German component called "Group A" with departments A-I to A-V and an Estonian component called "Group B" with corresponding departments. The Estonian Sipo wore the same uniforms as their German counterparts, and attended Sipo schools in the Reich.
See also
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Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany
During World War II, in the course of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany invaded Estonia in July–December 1941, and occupied the country until 1944. Estonia had gained independence in 1918 from the then warring German and Russian Empires. How ...
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Estonia in World War II
Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, concerning the partition and disposition of sovereign states, including Estonia, and in particular its Secret Additional Pro ...
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Occupation of the Baltic states
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin and auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet ...
References
Occupation of the Baltic states
The Holocaust in Estonia
Estonian collaborators with Nazi Germany
Generalbezirk Estland
Collaboration with the Axis Powers
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