SMGO-0055 Schutzmannschaft Police patch

A nice salty original!

The insignia is that of the “Schutzmannschaft” (“protection team”), collaborationist auxiliary police forces sanctioned by the Reich to operate in conquered Eastern Europe. The insignia consists of a green oval with an green swastika at center, surrounded by the motto “Treu Tapfer Gehorsam” (“True, Brave, Obedient”), with a wreath of laurel leaves around the outer rim.
The Schutzmannschaft were instrumental in combating partisan activity in occupied territories, and were responsible for many war crimes and atrocities.

The Schutzmannschaft (Protective/Guard battalions or Schuma) Schuma battalions were composed of collaborationist native police officers (made up from ethnic Germans, trustworthy Soviet citizens, ex-Soviet prisoners of war and conscripts from occupied Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belorussia, Ukraine Transnistria and Kaukasien) serving in the areas of the Soviet Union and the Baltic States.  They assisted German military and police personnel by providing local security and combating anti-Nazi resistance in the occupied territories.  Many of these units participated in the Holocaust.  Schuma units directly assisted the Einsatzgruppen in the extermination of hundreds of thousands of Jews in eastern Europe.  By 1943, Schuma auxiliary police forces numbered over 300,000.