With the invasion of Poland , Theodor Eicke – who was the commandant of the Dachau concentration camp , inspector of the camps , and murderer of Ernst Röhm – joined the fray with one cavalry and four infantry regiments . Three of his regiments , '' Oberbayern '' , '' Brandenburg '' and '' Thuringen '' , formed the basis of the first '' Einsatzgruppen '' ; the '' Oberbayern '' and '' Thuringen '' ( EG II and EG z. B.V ) followed the Tenth Army in Upper Silesia ; the '' Brandenburg '' ( EG III ) followed the Eight Army across Warthegau . His '' Totenkopfverbände '' troops were called on to carry out " police and security measures " in the rear areas . What these measures involved is demonstrated by the record of '' SS Totenkopf Standarte " Brandenburg " '' . It arrived in Włocławek on 22 September 1939 and embarked on a four-day " Jewish action " that included the burning of synagogues and the execution en-masse of the leaders of the Jewish community . On 29 September the '' Standarte '' travelled to Bydgoszcz to conduct an " intelligentsia action " . The German '' Intelligenzaktion '' resulting in the mass murder of approximately 100,000 Poles , was a major step in the implementation of '' Sonderaktion Tannenberg '' ( Operation Tannenberg a.k.a. '' Unternehmen Tannenberg '' ) of installing Nazi officials from SiPo , Kripo , Gestapo and SD to head an administrative machine in occupied Poland , leading to the '' Generalplan Ost '' colonization programme . In October 1939 , these '' Totenkopfverbände '' troops formed the core of the 3 '' Totenkopf '' Division , of which Eicke became the commander . During the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising the training Battalion of the 3rd Panzer Division Totenkopf took part in the suppression of the uprising
intelligentsia action
Intelligenzaktion
3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf