when riga, the capital of latvia, fell to the wehrmacht on 1 july 1941, the germans began forming self-defence and police forces. veiss was appointed the commander of such a self defence organization. on july 20 the nazis disbanded this organization and ordered the formation of auxiliary police forces instead, with lt. col. veiss being appointed chief of the auxiliary police. at the end of 1941, he became first deputy director general of the director general of the interior when the latvian self-administration was reorganized.