(Ukrainische Hilfspolizei), Ukrainian military units that were set up in the Ukraine at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in mid-1941. The job of these collaborating Ukrainians was to aid German troops in various operations, such as fighting the Soviet Partisans.
During the first week of the German occupation of the Ukraine, members of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police took part in pogroms against the Jews. Later, they escorted Jews to their Forced Labor sites and guarded the Ghettos. In those capacities, the Ukrainians stole from the Jews, harassed them, and often shot Jews at random. When the Germans began liquidating the ghettos of the Ukraine, the notoriously brutal Ukrainian policemen participated in those aktionen. They besieged the ghettos in order to prevent any escapes, searched for Jews who had gone into hiding, and chased down those who had managed to get away. They also accompanied the Jews to their executions, killed thousands of Jews who did not walk to their deaths fast enough, and guarded the execution sites so no one could get in or out.
In mid-1943 many Ukrainians abandoned the police to join the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Others withdrew from the Ukraine with the German army.
