The Latvian police battalions under German command

At the end of 1941, Latvia is under German administration (Reichskommissariat Ostland). The Latvian army and police, disbanded during the Soviet annexation of 1940, have left thousands of former soldiers, gendarmes and members of the Aizsargi paramilitary organisation without employment. Many harbour a visceral hostility towards the USSR after the "terrible year" of 1940–1941 and its deportations. The occupier exploits this pool by organising auxiliary forces: the Schutzmannschaften ("Shuma"), subordinate to the Ordnungspolizei.

At Liepāja as at Riga, Latvian police battalions are raised from the end of 1941. Officially presented as units for maintaining order, for guard duty and for "anti-partisan" warfare, several are in reality involved from their very formation in the killing of Jews. The great massacre of Liepāja, on 15–17 December 1941, in which about 2,700 Jews are shot in the dunes of Šķēde, is carried out by the SD with the assistance of Latvian auxiliary policemen. Across the country, some thirty battalions would be formed.

For the former Latvian soldier in the winter of 1941, enlistment is not a foregone conclusion. The motives are manifold: anti-communism, the illusory hope of a restoration of independence, pay and rations in a time of scarcity, opportunism, sometimes antisemitism. But others refused, evaded service or later joined the resistance or went into exile.