On 5 April 1934 , he joined the SS and became commander of the 46th Regiment in Dresden in the rank of '' Obersturmbannführer '' . On 22 August 1934 Alvensleben received a reprimand by '' Reichsführer-SS '' Heinrich Himmler in order for having insulted a woman in Leipzig in April . From 1 October 1935 , he assumed the leadership of the 26th SS-Regiment in his hometown Halle . His advancement continued , when he became commander of SS-District X in Stuttgart on 20 September 1936 , and commander of SS-District XXXIII in Schwerin on 1 July 1937 . Alvensleben 's career continued after the 1939 Invasion of Poland as commander of the '' Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz '' ( “ German Self-Defense ” ) organization in what was to become the newly established Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia . The '' Selbstschutz '' paramilitary forces , formed by members of the German minority in Poland and led by SS officials , performed mass executions during the '' Intelligenzaktion Pommern '' in the " Fordon Valley of Death " , the Massacres in Piaśnica , and other atrocities . In a letter to Himmler , Alvensleben complained about scrupulous Wehrmacht officers too weak to take drastic measures . In 1939 he confiscated the Jewish-owned manors of Rucewo and Rucewko in Reichsgau Wartheland
Intelligenzaktion Pommern
Intelligenzaktion Pommern
Ludolf von Alvensleben