13th Belarusian Police (SD) Battalion (Шаблон:Lang-de) was a Belarusian collaborationist formation in German service, established to combat partisan activity, primarily Soviet, and to guard concentration and POW camps.Шаблон:Sfn Unlike other units of the Belarusian Auxiliary Police, the 13th Battalion was directly subordinate to the Security Service (SD) of SS.Шаблон:Sfn
The formation of the unit began in January and February 1943 in Minsk, based on the already existing structures of the Belarusian SD.Шаблон:Sfn Primarily Belarusians joined the unit, and there were also Poles and Russians among them.Шаблон:Sfn Recruitment was essentially voluntary, although there were cases of forced mobilization.Шаблон:Sfn The officer and non-commissioned officer were both the Germans and the Belarusians. German Sturmbannführer Junskers was the commander of the battalion, but Belarusian officers were commanders of companies.Шаблон:Sfn Members of the Belarusian People's Self-Assistance, a nationalist organization created by the Germans, which activists intended to become the beginnings of Belarusian statehood, took part in the formation of the unit, trying to turn it into a Belarusian national unit.Шаблон:Sfn
