R & A No. 3113.7 / Principal Nazi Organizations Involved in the ...

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SECHES* ,
The integration of SD end Slpo in 1939 appears to have
blurred somewhat the original borderlines between the SD as a
mere fact-finding Intelligence service anc. the Sipo as the
police branch charged with the actual execution of decisions
deemed expedie.it on the basis of 3uch findings,, According to
certain report 3^ the SD in Italy partook In punitive campaigns
against partis ins and con troll acl Lndigenous forces organized
1
to combat partisans. The amaLga* nation of Sipo anc 3D at the
Reich level, In the person of ;he Chief of Sipo and 3D, and on
the r egional level in the of f i je of HBhere SS uni ro.b.zei Fuhre;»
(HSSPf - Hlghar SS and Police Leader) and in that of iefehls"»
haber der 31po und des SD (EdS - Coranander of Security Police •
and security Service) subordinuta to tha H.äSPf made the distinc­
tion between S5.po and SD even acre complicated« 'In occupied
territories S.tjo and SD are known to ha-re operated through one
office only.) Finally, the convenient arrangement which per­
mitted the temporary recruitment of SS men for SD services
rendered it e^en more difficult to establish the ausj ices under
which SS men were operating in any given situation*
Thus seen functionally, 3D and Sipo are complementary
services; for all practical purposes they generally workec, as a
team0 References to the SD as an operating outfit ^i.L ;y of the
commission of atrocities may yet warrant examination as tc whether
or not It may stem from a loose application of the term. At
1. Cf. Interrogation of Gui3eppe (Don Comelio) Blcndi, SD Verona
agent, on file with OSS.
SECRET