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'''Einsatzgruppen''' (German for "task forces" or "intervention groups") were paramilitary groups operated by the SS before and during World War II. Their principal task, in the words of SS General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski at the Nuremberg Trial, "was the annihilation of the Jews, Gypsies, and political commissars."^[1] They were a key component in Hitler's plans to implement his racial policies in the conquered territories.
Formed from police forces of the ''Gestapo, Kripo,'' SD, and ''Waffen-SS'' officers, these death squads followed the ''Wehrmacht'' as it advanced eastwards into Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. On occupied territories, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' also utilized local populations to provide additional security and manpower when needed. The activities of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' were spread throughout a large pool of personnel from different branches of the SS and German State.
According to their own records, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' operatives were responsible for killing over one million Jewish people, almost exclusively civilians, without judicial review and later without semblance of legality (no reading of sentences of martial or administrative law), starting with the Polish intelligentsia and quickly progressing by 1941 to target primarily the Jews of Eastern Europe. The historian Raul Hilberg, however, estimates that between 1941 and 1945 the ''Einsatzgruppen'' murdered over 1.4 million Jews in open air shootings.

Contents

History

The Holocaust

Method of killing

The Jäger Report

After the war

Organization

See also

References

Sources

External links

History

''Einsatzgruppen'' can be traced back to the ad hoc ''Einsatzkommando'' formed by Reinhard Heydrich to secure government buildings and documents following the Anschluss in Austria in March 1938. The task of securing government buildings, the accompanying documentation and questioning senior civil servants in lands occupied by Germany was the Einsatzgruppen's original mission. In the summer of 1938, when Germany was preparing an invasion of Czechoslovakia scheduled for October 1, 1938, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' were founded. The intention was for ''Einsatzgruppen'' to travel in the wake of the German armies as they advanced into Czechoslovakia, securing government papers and offices. Unlike the ''Einsatzkommando'', the ''Einsatzgruppen'' were to be armed and authorized to freely use lethal force to accomplish their mission. The Munich Agreement of 1938 prevented the war for which the ''Einsatzgruppen'' were originally founded, but as the Germans occupied the Sudetenland in the fall of 1938, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' moved into the Sudetenland to occupy offices formally belonging to the Czechoslovak state. After the occupation of the rest of the Czech portion of Czechoslovakia after March 15, 1939, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' were re-formed and were again used to secure offices formerly belonging to the Czechoslovak government. The ''Einsatzgruppen'' were never a standing formation; rather they were ad hoc units recruited mostly from the ranks of the SS, the SD, and various German police forces such as the ''Ordnungspolizei'', the ''Gendarmerie'', the ''Kripo'' and the ''Gestapo''. Once the military campaign had ended, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' units were disbanded, though generally the same personnel were recruited again if the need arose for the ''Einsatzgruppen'' units to be re-activated.
In May 1939, Adolf Hitler decided upon an invasion of Poland planned for August 25 of that year (later moved back to September 1). In response, Heydrich again re-formed the ''Einsatzgruppen'' to travel in the wake of the German armies. Unlike the earlier operations, Heydrich gave the ''Einsatzgruppen'' commanders carte blanche to kill anyone belonging to groups that the Germans considered hostile.
After the occupation of Poland in 1939, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' killed Poles belonging to the ''intelligentsia'', such as priests and teachers. The Nazis considered all Slavic people as ''Untermenschen'' (subhuman), and wanted to use the Polish lower classes as servants and slaves. The mission of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' was therefore the forceful depoliticisation of the Polish people and the elimination of the groups most clearly identified with the Polish national identity. Following the German invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France in May 1940, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' once again travelled in the wake of the Wehrmacht, but unlike their operations in Poland, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' operations in Western Europe in 1940 were within the original mandate of securing government offices and papers. Had Operation Sealion, the German plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom been launched, six ''Einsatzgruppen'' were scheduled to follow the invasion force to Britain. The ''Einsatzgruppen'' intended for "Sealion" were provided with a list (known as The Black Book after the war) of 2,820 people to be arrested immediately.
After the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the ''Einsatzgruppen's main assignment was to kill Communist officers and Jews on a much larger scale than in Poland. These ''Einsatzgruppen'' were under control of the ''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' (RSHA) (Reich Security Main Office); i.e., under Reinhard Heydrich and his successor Ernst Kaltenbrunner. The original mandate set by Heydrich for the four ''Einsatzgruppen'' sent into the Soviet Union as part of Operation Barbarossa was to secure the offices and papers of the Soviet state and Communist Party; liquidate all of the higher cadres of the Soviet state; and to instigate and encourage pogroms against all local Jewish populations. As the ''Einsatzgruppen'' advanced into the Soviet Union, after July 1941, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' increasingly engaged in the mass murders of the local Jews themselves rather than encouraging pogroms. Initially, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' generally limited themselves to shooting Jewish men; but as the summer wore on, increasingly all Jews regardless of age or sex were shot. The most murderous of the four ''Einsatzgruppen'' was ''Einsatzgruppe A'', which operated in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formerly occupied by the Soviets. ''Einsatzgruppe A'' was the first ''Einsatzgruppen'' that attempted to systematically exterminate all Jews in its area. After December 1941, the other three ''Einsatzgruppen'' began what Raul Hilberg has called the "second sweep", which lasted into the summer of 1942, where they attempted to emulate ''Einsatzgruppe A'' by likewise systematically killing all Jews in their areas.
They murdered more than 1.5 million Jews, Communists, prisoners of war, and Roma (Gypsies) in total. They also assisted ''Wehrmacht'' units and local anti-Semites in killing half a million more. They were mobile forces in the beginning of the invasion, but settled down after the occupation. In addition, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' were often used in anti-partisan operations in the occupied Soviet Union.

The Holocaust

Hitler found that the killing method used by the ''Einsatzgruppen'' was inefficient: it was too costly, demoralizing for the troops, and sometimes did not kill the victims quickly enough. At the Wannsee Conference, the SS met to find a better solution to murder the Jews. This resulted in Hitler's "final solution", in which all Jews would be murdered in ''Vernichtungslagern'' or extermination camps. An estimated six million Jews would be killed in the genocide.^[2]

Method of killing

The ''Einsatzgruppen'' typically followed close behind ''Wehrmacht'' army formations, marching into cities and towns where large numbers of Jews were known to live. Once they entered a town, they issued orders to Jews and non-Jewish Communists to assemble for deportation out of town. Those who refused to comply were hunted down ruthlessly.
The process was as following: The Einsatzgruppens' Sonderkommando units (not to be confused with Jewish gravediggers in the camps) were sent with the advancing military units to coordinate the liquidation process, to concentrate the "hostile" population, to recruit local assistants (Mannschaft, either "Junaks" (Lithuanian former convicts) or Gendarmes (Ukrainian policemen), then came the Einsatzkommando to execute the poor Jews and communists, the liquidations followed several methods and patterns:

★ In conquered urban areas of eastern Europe, many Jews would be liquidated in nearby locations such as woods or inside buildings. The remaining Jews would be confined to ghettos. Death rates from disease and malnourishment were high; groups from the ghetto were periodically taken away and shot or deported to Extermination camps. An example of this is the Lithuanian city of Kovno; the Jews of Kovno were concentrated in a ghetto and sent, thousands at a time, to be slaughtered in the 7th and 9th forts (watch towers) of Kovno.

★ In small rural areas, or in battle-zones, the Jews were quickly led to their death in nearby woods and mass-graves, which were often dug by the victims. An example of such a case is the town of Dovno in the Ukraine.

★ In big cities, mainly in the battle-zones, the Nazis would create a small local committee of 8-12 important Jews, who would be required to summon the local Jews for "relocation". The Jews would then be marched to previously prepared trenches or natural pits and shot. Examples are Babi Yar and Ponary.

★ Alternatives to execution by firearms existed. The gas trucks used by Einsatzgruppe D and Einsatzkommando Kulmhof in the death camp Chelmno are an example. Another, occasionally used in smaller towns, was to lock the Jews in abandoned buildings, which were then set alight or blown-up; Poles imitated this meethod in the Jedwabne pogrom, but was rather rare.
Those who were gathered would then be sent to designated sites outside the cities and towns. Usually these massacre sites were graves dug in advance, shallow pits, or deep ravines (including one at Babi Yar, just outside Kiev), where executioners were already waiting with orders to kill them with machine guns or pistol shots to the head. The killers would also seize the clothing and other belongings of the victims, and some victims were forced to strip naked just before their execution. Once dead, the victims' would be buried with hand shovels or bulldozers. Some victims were only injured, not killed, and were buried alive. A few managed to climb out of the grave and recount this. (Martin Gilbert, The Holocaust)
The ''Einsatzgruppen'' were assisted by other Axis forces, including designated members of the ''Wehrmacht'' and the ''Waffen SS''. In the Baltics and Ukraine, they also recruited local collaborators - hiwis to help with the killing.

The Jäger Report

The ''Einsatzgruppen'' kept track of many of their massacres, and one of the most infamous of these official records is the Jäger Report, covering the operation of ''Einsatzkommando 3'' over five months in Lithuania. Written by the commander of ''Einsatzkommando 3'', Karl Jäger, it includes a detailed list summarizing each massacre, totalling 137,346 victims, and states "…I can confirm today that ''Einsatzkommando 3'' has achieved the goal of solving the Jewish problem in Lithuania. There are no more Jews in Lithuania, apart from working Jews and their families." After the war, despite these records, Jäger lived in West Germany under his own name until arrested for war crimes in 1959, when he committed suicide.

After the war

The ultimate authority for the ''Einsatzgruppen'', which answered directly to Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler, were the SS and Police Leaders who oversaw all ''Einsatzgruppen'' activities and reports in their given area. At the close of World War II a number of SS and Police Leaders, who had overseen activities in Eastern Europe and Soviet Union, simply disappeared, were executed for war crimes, or committed suicide before capture. As far as the lower ranks, a large number were killed in combat, were killed by inmates when/if they could get their hands on them, were captured in combat and executed (on the eastern front) or imprisoned and died in Russian camps. The rest of the lesser ranks who simply returned to Germany or other countries were not formally charged (due to the large numbers of them) and simply returned to civilian life.
At the conclusion of World War II, senior leaders of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' were put before United States occupation courts, variably charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, and membership in the SS (which had been declared a criminal organization), in what became known as the Einsatzgruppen Trial of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials. Fourteen death sentences and five life sentences were among the judgments, although only four executions were carried out, on June 7, 1951, and the rest of these sentences were commuted.

Organization

Main articles: Einsatzkommando

Einsatzgruppe	Leader	Subgroups
'''Einsatzgruppe A''' for the Baltic Republics	''SS-Brigadeführer'' Dr.Franz Walter Stahlecker (until 23 March 1942)	''Sonderkommandos'' 1 a and 1 b (German for special forces, not to be confused with the ''Sonderkommandos'' in the concentration camps)''Einsatzkommandos'' 2 and 3. Attached to Army Group North.
'''Einsatzgruppe B''' for Belarus	''SS-Brigadeführer'' Artur Nebe (until Oct. 1941)	''Sonderkommandos'' 7 a and 7 b, the ''Einsatzkommandos'' 8 and 9, and also a "special force" in case Moscow was captured. Attached to Army Group Center.
'''Einsatzgruppe C''' for the Northern and central Ukraine	''SS-Gruppenführer'' Dr. Otto Rasch (until Oct. 1941)	''Sonderkommandos'' 4 a and 4 b and (''Sonderkommando'' 4 A commanded by Paul Blobel)''Einsatzkommandos'' 5 and 6. Attached to Army Group South.
'''Einsatzgruppe D''' for Bessarabia, the Southern Ukraine, the Crimea and (eventually) the Caucasus	''SS-Gruppenführer'' Prof. Otto Ohlendorf (until June 1942)	''Sonderkommandos'' 10 a and 10 b and ''Einsatzkommandos'' 11 a, 11 b and 12. Both attached to Army Group South.

See also

★ Massacres by ''Einsatzgruppen'':

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★ Babi Yar

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★ Rumbula

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★ Paneriai

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★ Odessa Massacre

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★ Jäger Report

★ Systematic persecution, genocide and extermination:

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★ Holocaust

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★ Porajmos - extermination of Roma (Gypsy)

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★ World War II atrocities in Poland

★ Generalplan Ost - Nazi master plan for Eastern Europe:

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★ Operation Barbarossa

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★ Operation Tannenberg

★ Plans of ''Einsatzgruppen'':

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★ The Black Book - planned persecution in Great Britain-see also Dr Franz Six article.

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★ Einsatzkommando Egypt - planned extermination of Palestinian Jews.

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★ Wannsee Conference - planned extermination of Jewish residents of England; Finland; Ireland; Portugal; Sweden; Switzerland; Spain; Turkey.

★ Individuals:

★
★ Felix Landau, a Hauptscharführer SS who served in an Einsatzkommando, a "central figure in the Nazi program of the extermination of Galician Jews"^[3] known for his daily diary.

References

1. The Trial of German Major War Criminals. Sitting at Nuremberg, Germany. 7th January to 19th January, 1946. Twenty-Eighth Day (Part 6 of 10) (nizkor)
2. "How many Jews were murdered in the Holocaust?", FAQs about the Holocaust, Yad Vashem.
3. Bruno Schulz (everything2.com)

Sources

★ ''The Origins of the Final Solution,'' Christopher Browning, 2004

★ ''Masters of Death,'' Richard Rhodes, 2002

External links

★ United States Holocaust Memorial Museum article on Einsatzgruppen

★ Real Einsatzgruppen execution footage

★ The Einsatzgruppen (einsatzgruppenarchives.com)

★ The Einsatzgruppen (shoaheducation.com)

★ ''Einsatzgruppen'' at the Holocaust Encyclopedia.

★ Einsatzgruppen (rumbula.org)

★ The Motivation and Actions of the Einsatzgruppen (militaryhistoryonline.com)

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★ Essays and Stories About the Holocaust by Walter S. Zapotoczny

★ Copy of the Einsatzgruppen Operational Situation Report USSR No. 101. Sonderkommando 4a in collaboration with Einsatzgruppe HQ and two Kommandos of police regiment South, executed 33,771 Jews in Kiev on September 29 and 30, 1941. (nizkor.org)