SS Heimwehr Danzig SS Heimwehr " Danzig " was an SS unit established in the Free City of Danzig ( today Gdańsk and environs , Poland ) before the Second World War . It fought with the German army against the Polish Army during the invasion of Poland . After this it became part of the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf and ceased to exist as an independent unit . Also known as Heimwehr Danzig ( Danzig Home Defense ) , it was officially established on 20 June 1939 , when the Danzig senate under Albert Forster decided to set up its own powerful - armed force ; a cadre of this new unit primarily formed the Danzig SS Wachsturmbann " Eimann " . History . Reichsführer - SS Heinrich Himmler supported this project and sent SS Obersturmbannführer Hans Friedemann Götze to Danzig . Goetze was the commander of the III . Sturmbann ( Battalion ) of the 4th SS - Totenkopfstandarte " Ostmark , " established in October 1938 in Berlin - Adlersheim . The III . Sturmbann was strengthened with the help of anti - tank defense forces ( the Panzerabwehr - Lehrsturm of the SS Totenkopfstandarten ) as well as about 500 additional volunteers from Danzig who named their new unit SS Sturmbann " Goetze " . The Danzig SS - men had been members a special SS troop established in July 1939 - the Wachsturmbann " Eimann " - and at the beginning of August this self - named Sturmbann " Goetze " reached the peninsula at the mouth of the Vistula called the Danzig Westerplatte . There it kept itself hidden on German ships , including the naval training ship " Schleswig - Holstein . " The Volksdeutsche ( ethnic Germans ) in Danzig " completely spontaneously " founded the 1 , 550 - man strong Heimwehr Danzig ( Danzig Militia ) . On 1 September 1939 , German troops attacked Poland . The Heimwehr Danzig fought on the German side , in the process capturing the Polish post office , an event which Günter Grass dedicated a chapter of his novel " The Tin Drum " to . During the attacks , the German forces used ADGZ armoured cars , 75mm and 105mm artillery and flamethrowers against Poles armed with pistols , rifles , light machine guns and grenades . The SS - Heimwehr Danzig participated in the attack on the Danzig Westerplatte , and already was considered a part of the SS - Totenkopf Division then forming under Theodor Eicke . Later , it provided coast guard services in Danzig . On 30 September 1939 , the Heimwehr was dissolved . After Poland was overrun , such militias were involved in war crimes perpetrated on Polish civilians in West Prussia . The SS Wachsturmbann " Eimann " . The SS Wachsturmbann " Eimann " was set up in early June 1939 in Danzig by then SS Sturmbannführer Kurt Eimann and was considered as an armed reserve of the Danzig SS - Standarte 36 . It was used also in the Volksdeutsche ( ethnic German ) areas of the Polish Corridor , in order to induce ethnic Germans to join the SS , particularly the Totenkopfverbände . This Wachsturmbann was the first regiment of the later SS - Totenkopf - Division to have a purely military battle formation . Battle formation . After the " reunification of Danzig with the German Reich , " the Wachsturmbann " Eimann " provided the staff for the newly established concentration camp Stutthof near Danzig . The Nazi government also employed it for " special police tasks " in the new Reichsgau Danzig - Westpreussen , which means it was used to persecute and imprison Polish Jews .