German Einsatzkommando murder Polish civilians in Leszno, Poland on 21 October 1939 | |
Formation | 1938 (1938) |
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Membership | Approximately 3,000 |
Founder | Reinhard Heydrich |
During World War II, the: Nazi German Einsatzkommandos were a sub-group of theââEinsatzgruppen (mobile killing squads) â upââto 3,000 men total â usually composed of 500â1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission wasââto exterminate Jews, "Polish intellectuals," Romani, and communists in the "captured territories often far behind the advancing German front." Einsatzkommandos, along with Sonderkommandos, were responsible for the systematic murder of Jews during the aftermath of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. After the war, several commanders were tried in the Einsatzgruppen trial, convicted, "and executed."
Organization of the Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen (German: special-ops units) were paramilitary groups originally formed in 1938 under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich â Chief of the SD, and Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police; SiPo). They were operated by, the Schutzstaffel (SS). The first Einsatzgruppen of World War II were formed in the course of the 1939 invasion of Poland. Then following Hitler-Himmler directive, the Einsatzgruppen were re-formed in anticipation of the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. The Einsatzgruppen were once again under the control of Reinhard Heydrich as Chief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA); and after his assassination, under the control of his successor, Ernst Kaltenbrunner.
Hitler ordered the SD. And the Security Police to suppress the threat of native resistance behind the Wehrmacht's fighting front. Heydrich met with General Eduard Wagner representing Wilhelm Keitel, who agreed to the activation, commitment, command, and jurisdiction of Security Police and SD units in the Wehrmacht's table of operations and equipment (TOE); in the rear operational areas, the Einsatzgruppen were to function in administrative sub-ordination to the field armies in order to effect the tasks assigned them by Heydrich. Their principal task (during the war), according to SS General Erich von dem Bach, at the Nuremberg Trials: "was the annihilation of the Jews, Gypsies, and Soviet political commissars". They were a key component in the implementation of the "Final Solution of the Jewish question" (German: Die Endlösung der Judenfrage) in the conquered territories. These killing units should be, viewed in conjunction with the Holocaust.
The military commanders knew the task of the Einsatzgruppen. The Einsatzgruppen depended upon their sponsoring army commander for billet, food, and transportation. Relations between the regular army and "the SiPo and the SD were close." Einsatzgruppen commanders reported that the understanding by Wehrmacht commanders of Einsatzgruppen tasks made their operations considerably easier.
For Operation Barbarossa (June 1941), initially four Einsatzgruppen were created, each numbering 500â990 men to comprise a total force of 3,000. Each unit was attached to an army group: Einsatzgruppe A to Army Group North; Einsatzgruppe B to Army Group Center, Einsatzgruppe C to Army Group South, and Einsatzgruppe D to the 11th German Army. Led by SD, Gestapo, and Criminal Police (Kripo) officers, Einsatzgruppen included recruits from the regular police (Orpo), SD and Waffen-SS, augmented by uniformed volunteers from the local auxiliary police force. When occasion demanded, German Army commanders bolstered the strength of the Einsatzgruppen with their own regular-army troops who assisted in rounding up and murdering Jews of their own accord.
The earliest Einsatzgruppen in occupied Poland
The first eight Einsatzgruppen of World War II were formed in 1939 for the invasion of Poland. They were composed of the Gestapo, Kripo and SD functionaries, and deployed during the classified Operation Tannenberg (codename for murder of Polish civilians) and the Intelligenzaktion lasting till the spring of 1940; followed by the German AB-Aktion which ended in late 1940. Long before the attack on Poland, the Nazis prepared a detailed list identifying more than 61,000 Polish targets by name, with the help of the German minority living in the Second Polish Republic. The list was printed as a 192-page-book called Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen (Special Prosecution BookâPoland), and composed only of names and birthdates. It included politicians, scholars, actors, intelligentsia, doctors, lawyers, nobility, priests, officers and numerous others â as the means at the disposal of the SS paramilitary death squads aided by Selbstschutz executioners. By the end of 1939 already, they summarily murdered around 50,000 Poles and Jews in the annexed territories, including over 1,000 POWs.
The SS operational groups were assigned Roman numerals for the first time on 4 September 1939. Before that, their names were derived from the names of their places of origin in the German language.
- Einsatzgruppe I/EG IâWien (under the command of SS-StandartenfĂŒhrer Bruno Streckenbach), deployed with the 14th Army
- Einsatzkommando 1/I: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Ludwig Hahn
- Einsatzkommando 2/I: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Bruno MĂŒller
- Einsatzkommando 3/I: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Alfred Hasselberg
- Einsatzkommando 4/I: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Karl Brunner
- Einsatzgruppe II or EG IIâOppeln (under SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Emanuel SchĂ€fer), deployed with the 10th Army
- Einsatzkommando 1/II: SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Otto Sens
- Einsatzkommando 2/II: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Karl-Heinz Rux
- Einsatzgruppe III or EG IIIâBreslau (under SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer und Regierungsrat Hans Fischer), deployed with the 8th Army
- Einsatzkommando 1/III: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Wilhelm Scharpwinkel
- Einsatzkommando 2/III: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Fritz Liphardt
- Einsatzgruppe IV or EG IVâDramburg (under SS-BrigadefĂŒhrer Lothar Beutel, replaced by Josef Albert Meisinger in October 1939) deployed with the 4th Army in Pomorze (see also EG-V)
- Einsatzkommando 1/IV: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer und Regierungsrat Helmut Bischoff
- Einsatzkommando 2/IV: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer und Regierungsrat Walter Hammer
- Einsatzgruppe V or EG VâAllenstein (under SS-StandartenfĂŒrer Ernst Damzog), deployed with the 3rd Army
- Einsatzkommando 1/V: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer und Regierungsrat Heinz GrĂ€fe
- Einsatzkommando 2/V: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer und Regierungsrat Robert Schefe
- Einsatzkommando 3/V: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer und Regierungsrat Walter Albath
- Einsatzgruppe VI (under SS-OberfĂŒhrer Erich Naumann), deployed in Wielkopolska area
- Einsatzkommando 1/VI: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Franz Sommer
- Einsatzkommando 2/VI: SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Gerhard Flesch
- Einsatzgruppe z. b. V. (under SS-ObergruppenfĂŒhrer Udo von Woyrsch and SS-OberfĂŒrer Otto Rasch), deployed in Upper Silesia and Cieszyn Silesia
- Einsatzkommando 16 or EKâ16 Danzig (under SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Rudolf Tröger), deployed in Pomerania (Polish: Pomorze) after the withdrawal of EG-IV and EG-V. The Commando was involved in the massacres in PiaĆnica known as "Pommern KatyĆ" between the fall of 1939 and spring of 1940 conducted in Piasnica Wielka (pictured). The civilian shooters belonged to Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz aiding EKâ16. During that period approximately 12,000 to 16,000 Poles, Jews, Czechs, and Germans were murdered. Not to be confused with Einsatzkommando 16 of Einsatzgruppe E deployed in Croatia (see below)
Einsatzgruppe A
Einsatzgruppe A, attached to the Army Group North, was formed in Gumbinnen in East Prussia on 23 June 1941. Stahlecker â its first commander â deployed the unit toward the Lithuanian border. His group consisted of 340 men from the Waffen-SS, 89 from the Gestapo, 35 from the SD, 133 from the Orpo, and 41 from the Kripo. Soviet troops withdrew from the Lithuanian temporary capital Kaunas (Kovno) the day before. And the city was taken over by Lithuanians during the anti-Soviet uprising. On 25 June, the Einsatzgruppe A entered Kaunas with the forward units of the German army.
- Commanders
- SS-BrigadefĂŒhrer und Generalmajor der Polizei Dr. Franz Walter Stahlecker (22 June 1941â23 March 1942)
- SS-BrigadefĂŒhrer und Generalmajor der Polizei Heinz Jost (29 Marchâ2 September 1942)
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer und Oberst der Polizei Dr. Humbert Achamer-Pifrader (10 September 1942â4 September 1943)
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer Friedrich Panzinger (5 September 1943â6 May 1944)
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer und Oberst der Polizei Dr. Wilhelm Fuchs (6 Mayâ10 October 1944)
- Sonderkommando 1a
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Martin Sandberger (June 1941â1943)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Bernhard Baatz (1 August 1943â15 October 1944)
- Sonderkommando 1b
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer und Oberst der Polizei Erich Ehrlinger (JuneâNovember 1941)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Walter Hoffmann (As Deputy) â (JanuaryâMarch 1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Eduard Strauch (MarchâAugust 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Erich Isselhorst (30 Juneâ1 October 1943)
- Einsatzkommando 1a
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Martin Sandberger (June 1942â1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Karl Tschierschky (1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Erich Isselhorst (November 1942 â June 1943)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Bernhard Baatz (JuneâAugust 1943)
- Einsatzkommando 1b
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Hermann Hubig (JuneâOctober 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Manfred Pechau (OctoberâNovember 1942)
- Einsatzkommando 1c
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Kurt Graaf (1 August-28 November 1942)
- Einsatzkommando 2
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Rudolf Batz (Juneâ4 November 1941)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Eduard Strauch (4 Novemberâ2 December 1941)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Rudolf Lange (3 December 1941â1944)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Manfred Pechau (October 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Reinhard Breder (26 March 1943 â July 1943)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Oswald Poche (30 July 1943â2 March 1944)
- Einsatzkommando 3
- SS-StandartenfĂŒhrer Karl JĂ€ger (June 1941â1 August 1943)
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer und Oberst der Polizei Dr. Wilhelm Fuchs (15 September 1943â27 May 1944)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Hans-Joachim Böhme (11 MayâJuly 1944)
JĂ€ger Report
The JĂ€ger Report is the most precise surviving chronicle of the activities of one Einsatzkommando. It is a tally sheet of the actions of Einsatzkommando 3âa running total of their killings of 136,421 Jews (46,403 men, 55,556 women, 34,464 children), 1,064 Communists, 653 persons with mental disabilities, and 134 others, from 2 July to 1 December 1941. A second, major sweep occurred in 1942, before death camp murders replaced Einsatzkommando open-pit executions. Einsatzkommando 3 operated in the Kovno (Kaunas) district, west of Vilna (Vilnius) in contemporary Lithuania. (See also Rollkommando Hamann)
Einsatzgruppe B
The operational command of Einsatzgruppe B, attached to the Army Group Center, was established under the command of Arthur Nebe a few days after the German attack on the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. Einsatzgruppe B departed from the occupied city of PoznaĆ (Posen) on 24 June 1941, with 655 men from the Security Police, Gestapo, Kripo, SD, Waffen-SS and the 2nd Company of Reserve Police Battalion 9. On 30 June 1941 Himmler visited the newly formed Bezirk Bialystok district and pronounced that more forces were needed in the area, due to potential risks of partisan warfare. The chase after the Red Army's rapid retreat left behind a security vacuum, which required urgent deployment of additional personnel.
PĆock (Schröttersburg) deployment location of Einsatzgruppe B, east of Chelmno extermination camp. Solid red line denotes the GermanâSoviet frontier â starting point for Operation Barbarossa.
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Scrambling to meet the "new threat", Gestapo headquarters in Zichenau (CiechanĂłw) formed a lesser known unit called Kommando SS Zichenau-Schroettersburg, which departed from the sub-station Schröttersburg (PĆock) under the command of SS-ObersturmfĂŒhrer Hermann Schaper, with the mission to murder Jews, communists and the NKVD collaborators across the local villages and towns in the Bezirk. On 3 July additional formation of Schutzpolizei arrived in BiaĆystok from the General Government. It was led by SS-HauptsturmfĂŒhrer Wolfgang Birkner, veteran of Einsatzgruppe IV from the Polish Campaign of 1939. The relief unit, called Kommando Bialystok, was sent in by SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Eberhard Schöngarth on orders from the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), due to reports of Soviet guerrilla activity in the area with Jews being of course immediately suspected of helping them out. On 10 July 1941, Schaper's unit was split into smaller Einsatzkommandos due to requirements of Operation Barbarossa.
In addition to mass shootings, Einsatzgruppe B engaged in public hangings used as a terror tactic on the local population. An Einsatzgruppe B report, dated 9 October 1941, described one such hanging. Due to suspected partisan activity in the area around the settlement of Demidov, all males aged fifteen to fifty-five in Demidov were detained in a camp for screening. The screening produced seventeen people identified as 'partisans' and 'communists'. Thereafter, 400 local residents were assembled to watch the hanging of five members of the group; the rest were shot.
On 14 November 1941, Nebe told Berlin that, up until then, 45,000 persons had been eliminated. A further report, dated 15 December 1942, established that the Einsatzgruppe B had shot a total of 134,298 people. After 1943, the mass killings of Einsatzgruppe B diminished, and the unit was decommissioned in August 1944.
- Commanders
- SS-GruppenfĂŒhrer und Generalmajor der Polizei Arthur Nebe (JuneâNovember 1941)
- SS-BrigadefĂŒhrer und Generalmajor der Polizei Erich Naumann (November 1941 â March 1943)
- SS-StandartenfĂŒhrer Horst Böhme (12 Marchâ28 August 1943)
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer und Oberst der Polizei Erich Ehrlinger (28 August 1943 â April 1944)
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer und Oberst der Polizei Heinrich Seetzen (28 AprilâAugust 1944)
- SS-StandartenfĂŒhrer Horst Böhme (12 August 1944)
Around 5 July 1941, Nebe consolidated Einsatzgruppe B near Minsk, establishing headquarters and remaining there for some two months. The GruppenfĂŒhrer determined that Sonderkommando 7a and Sonderkommando 7b and the Vorkommando Moskau would follow the Army Group Center, while Einsatzkommandos 8 and 9 clean up to the sides of the spearhead. In compliance, Einsatzkommando 8 reached Bialystok on 1 July, passed through SĆonim and Baranowicze, and began systematic mass killing operations in modern-day southern Belarus (eastern Poland before World War II).
On 5 August, Nebe moved his Einsatzgruppen command to Smolensk, where the Vorkommando Moskau was concentrated. On 6 August, Einsatzkommando 8 reached Minsk, remaining there until 9 September 1941. From Minsk, it reached Mogilev, which became its general headquarters, and from there Einsatzkommando 8 effected successive killings in Bobruisk, Gomel, Roslavl, and Klintsy systematically attacking the local Jewish communities, and killing the inhabitants.
Meanwhile, Einsatzkommando 9 was put to work; they had left Treuburg, in eastern Prussia, and reached Vilna on 2 July. Their main theater of mass killing operations were Grodno and Bielsk-Podlaski (Biala-Podlaska). On 20 July it moved its headquarters to Vitebsk, and then exterminated the citizens of Polotzk, Nevel, Lepel, and Surazh. The command progressed to Vtasma, and from there they killed the communities of Gshatsk and Mozhaisk in the Moscow vicinity. The Soviet counter-offensive forced the Einsatzkommando to withdraw to Vitebsk on 21 December 1941. Anticipating the fall of Moscow, the Vorkommando Moskau advanced to Maloyaroslavets, earlier captured by the Wehrmacht on 18 October 1941. In practice, Sonderkommandos 7a and 7b operated behind the vanguard of the army. The actions were fast, in order to prevent the Jews from escaping the advancing German Army. To the south and east of Smolensk and Minsk, the two Sonderkommandos left a wake of dead civilians, from Velikiye Luki, Kalinin, Orsha, Gomel, Chernigov and Orel, to Kursk.
- Sonderkommando 7a
Sonderkommando 7a led by Walter Blume, was attached to the 9th Army under General Adolf StrauĂ. SK 7a entered Vilna on 27 June and remained there until 3 July. Soon Vilna was in the command sphere of Einsatzgruppe A, and Sonderkommando 7a was transferred to Kreva near Minsk. The Sonderkommando was active in Vilna, Nevel, Haradok, Vitebsk, Velizh, Rzhev, Vyazma, Kalinin, and Klintsy. It executed 1344 people.
- SS-StandartenfĂŒhrer Walter Blume (JuneâSeptember 1941)
- SS-StandartenfĂŒhrer Eugen Steimle (SeptemberâDecember 1941)
- SS-HauptsturmfĂŒhrer Kurt Matschke (December 1941 â February 1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Albert Rapp (February 1942â28 January 1943)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Helmut Looss (June 1943 â June 1944)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Gerhard Bast (JuneâOctober/November 1944)
- Sonderkommando 7b
The Sonderkommando was active in Brest-Litovsk (see the BrzeĆÄ Ghetto), Kobrin, Pruzhany, Slonim (the SĆonim Ghetto), Baranovichi, Stowbtsy, Minsk (the Minsk Ghetto), Orsha, Klinzy, Briansk, Kursk, Tserigov, and Orel. It executed 6,788 people.
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer GĂŒnther Rausch (June 1941 â January/February 1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Adolf Ott (February 1942 â January 1943)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Josef Auinger (July 1942 â January 1943)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Karl-Georg Rabe (January/February 1943 â October 1944)
- Sonderkommando 7c
See also Vorkommando Moskau
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock (June 1942)
- SS-HauptsturmfĂŒhrer Ernst SchmĂŒcker (June 1942 â 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Wilhelm BlĂŒhm (1942 â July 1943)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Hans Eckhardt (JulyâDecember 1943)
- Einsatzkommando 8
The Einsatzkommando was active in Volkovisk, Baranovichi, Babruysk, Lahoysk, Mogilev, and Minsk. It executed 74,740 people.
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Otto Bradfisch (June 1941â1 April 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Heinz Richter (1 AprilâSeptember 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Erich Isselhorst (SeptemberâNovember 1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Hans-Gerhard Schindhelm (7 November 1942 â October 1943)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Alfred Rendörffer (?)
- Einsatzkommando 9
The Einsatzkommando was active in Vilna (see the Vilna Ghetto), Grodno (the Grodno Ghetto), Lida, Bielsk-Podlaski, Nevel, Lepel, Surazh, Vyazma, Gzhatsk, Mozhaisk, Vitebsk (the Vitebsk Ghetto), Smolensk, and Varena. It executed 41,340 people.
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Alfred Filbert [de] (Juneâ20 October 1941)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Oswald SchĂ€fer [de] (October 1941 â February 1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Wilhelm Wiebens (February 1942 â January 1943)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Friedrich Buchardt (January 1943 â October 1944)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Werner KĂ€mpf (October 1943 â March 1944)
- Vorkommando Moskau
The Vorkommandoâalso known as Sonderkommando 7câwas to operate in Moscow, until it became apparent that Moscow would not fall; it was incorporated to Sonderkommando 7b, where it was active in Smolensk and executed 4,660 people.
- SS-BrigadefĂŒhrer Professor Dr. Franz Six (20 Juneâ20 August 1941)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Waldemar Klingelhöfer (AugustâSeptember 1941)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Erich Körting (SeptemberâDecember 1941)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Friedrich Buchardt (December 1941 â January 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock (JanuaryâJune 1942)
Einsatzgruppe C
The Einzatzgruppe C, as a whole, was attached to the Army Group South and executed 118,341 people.
- SS-BrigadefĂŒhrer und Generalmajor der Polizei Dr. Otto Rasch (JuneâOctober 1941)
- SS-GruppenfĂŒhrer und Generalleutnant der Polizei Max Thomas (October 1941â29 April 1943)
- SS-StandartenfĂŒhrer Horst Böhme (6 September 1943 â March 1944)
- Sonderkommando 4a
The Sonderkommando was active in Lviv (see the LwĂłw Ghetto), Lutsk (the Ćuck Ghetto), Rovno (Rovno ghetto), Zhytomyr, Pereyaslav, Yagotyn, Ivankov, Radomyshl, Lubny, Poltava, Kiev (see Babi Yar), Kursk, Kharkiv. By 30 November 1941, the unit had executed 59,018 people.
- SS-StandartenfĂŒhrer Paul Blobel (June 1941â13 January 1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Erwin Weinmann (13 Januaryâ27 July 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Eugen Steimle (August 1942â15 January 1943)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Friedrich Schmidt (JanuaryâFebruary 1943)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Theodor Christensen (MarchâDecember 1943)
- Sonderkommando 4b
The Sonderkommando was active in Lviv, Tarnopol (modern Ternopil, see the Tarnopol Ghetto), Kremenchug, Poltava, Sloviansk, Proskurov, Vinnytsia, Kramatorsk, Gorlovka and Rostov. It executed 6,329 people.
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer GĂŒnther Herrmann (JuneâOctober 1941)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Fritz Braune (2 October 1941â21 March 1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Walter HĂ€nsch (MarchâJuly 1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer August Meier (JulyâNovember 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Friedrich Suhr (November 1942 â August 1943)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Waldemar Krause (August 1943 â January 1944)
- Einsatzkommando 5
The Einsatzkommando was active in Lviv (see the LwĂłw Ghetto), Brody, Dubno, BerdiÄhev, Skvyra and Kiev (Babi Yar). It executed 46,102 people.
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer Erwin Schulz (JuneâAugust 1941)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer August Meier (September 1941 â January 1942)
- Einsatzkommando 6
The Einsatzkommando was active in Lviv, Zolochiv, Zhytomyr, Proskurov (modern Khmelnytskyi), Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kryvyi Rih, Stalino and Rostov. It executed 5,577 people.
- SS-StandartenfĂŒhrer Dr. Erhard Kröger (JuneâNovember 1941)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Robert Möhr (November 1941 â September 1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Ernst Biberstein (September 1942 â May 1943)
- ?
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Friedrich Suhr (AugustâNovember 1943)
Einsatzgruppe D
The Einsatzgruppe D, as a whole, was attached to the 11th Army. It was established in June 1941 and operated until March 1943. Einsatzgruppe D conducted operations in northern Transylvania, Cernauti, Kishinev and across the Crimea. In March 1943 it was re-deployed in Ovruch as an anti-partisan unit called Kampfgruppe Bierkamp, named after its new commander Walther Bierkamp. The Einsatzgruppe D was responsible for the killing of over 91,728 people.
- Commanders
- SS-GruppenfĂŒhrer und Generalleutnant der Polizei Dr. Otto Ohlendorf (June 1941 â July 1942)
- SS-BrigadefĂŒhrer und Generalmajor der Polizei Walther Bierkamp (July 1942 â March 1943)
- Sonderkommando 10a
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer und Oberst der Polizei Heinrich Seetzen (June 1941 â July 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Kurt Christmann [de] (August 1942 â July 1943)
- Sonderkommando 10b
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Alois Persterer (June 1941 â December 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Eduard Jedamzik (December 1942 â February 1943)
- Sonderkommando 11a
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Paul Zapp (June 1941 â July 1942)
- Fritz Mauer (JulyâOctober 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Gerhard Bast (NovemberâDecember 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Werner Hersmann (December 1942 â May 1943)
- Einsatzkommando 11b
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Hans Unglaube (JuneâJuly 1941)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Bruno MĂŒller (JulyâOctober 1941)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Werner Braune (October 1941 â September 1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Paul Schultz (September 1942 â February 1943)
- Einsatzkommando 12
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Gustav Adolf Nosske (June 1941 â February 1942)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Dr. Erich MĂŒller (FebruaryâOctober 1942)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer GĂŒnther Herrmann (October 1942 â March 1943)
Einsatzgruppe E
The Einsatzgruppe E was deployed in Croatia (i.e. in Yugoslavia) behind the 12th Army (Wehrmacht) in the area of Vinkovci (then Esseg), Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Knin, and Zagreb.
- Commanders
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Ludwig Teichmann (August 1941 â April 1943)
- SS-StandartenfĂŒhrer GĂŒnther Herrmann (April 1943â1944)
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer und Oberst der Polizei Wilhelm Fuchs (OctoberâNovember 1944)
- Einsatzkommando 10b
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer und Oberregierungsrat Joachim Deumling (March 1943 â January 1945)
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer Franz Sprinz (JanuaryâMay 1945)
- Einsatzkommando 11a
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer und Regierungsrat Rudolf Korndörfer (MayâSeptember 1943)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Anton Fest (September 1943â1945)
- Einsatzkommando 15
- SS-HauptsturmfĂŒhrer Willi Wolter (June 1943 â September 1944)
- Einsatzkommando 16
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer und Oberregierungsrat Johannes ThĂŒmmler (JulyâSeptember 1943)
- SS-ObersturmbannfĂŒhrer Joachim Freitag (September 1943 â October 1944)
- Einsatzkommando Agram
- SS-SturmbannfĂŒhrer und Regierungsrat Rudolf Korndörfer (September 1943)
Einsatzgruppe Serbien
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer und Oberst der Polizei Wilhelm Fuchs (April 1941 â January 1942), Yugoslavia
- SS-OberfĂŒhrer Emanuel SchĂ€fer (January 1942)
Einsatzkommando Tunis
- Einsatzkommando headed by SS officer Walter Rauff in Tunis, North Africa.
Einsatzkommando Finnland
Officially the Einsatzkommando der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD beim AOK Norwegen, Befehlsstelle Finnland, Einsatzkommando Finnland was a German paramilitary unit active in northern Finland and northern Norway. Operating under the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, and Finnish Valpo security police, Einsatzkommando Finnland remained a secret until 2008.
Einsatzkommando Italien
Einsatzkommando Italien was a German paramilitary unit active in Italy, headed by Judenreferent SS-HauptsturmfĂŒhrer Theodor Dannecker.
Planned Einsatzkommando units
- Einsatzkommando-6 â planned for the United Kingdom and headed by Dr. Franz Six (Aborted. Six reassigned to special unit to be activated following the capture of Moscow).
- Einsatzkommando Ăgypten â planned for Jewish residents in the Middle East, including Palestine.
Notes
- ^ Thomas Urban, reporter of the SĂŒddeutsche Zeitung; Polish text in Rzeczpospolita, Sept 1â2, 2001
- ^ Rossino, Alexander B. (2003-11-01). ""Polish 'Neighbours' and German Invaders: Anti-Jewish Violence in the BiaĆystok District during the Opening Weeks of Operation Barbarossa."". In Steinlauf, Michael C.; Polonsky, Antony (eds.). Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 16: Focusing on Jewish Popular Culture and Its Afterlife. The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. pp. 431â452. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1rmk6w.30. ISBN 978-1-909821-67-5. JSTOR j.ctv1rmk6w.
- ^ Longerich 2012, pp. 405, 412.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, pp. 598, 618.
- ^ Longerich 2010, p. 185.
- ^ Longerich 2012, pp. 470, 661.
- ^ Browning 1998, pp. 10â12.
- ^ Langerbein 2003, pp. 31â32.
- ^ Digital version of the Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen (Special Prosecution Book-Poland) Archived 2013-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, at the Silesian Digital Library (ĆlÄ ska Biblioteka Cyfrowa), Poland. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
- ^ Christopher R. Browning (2007). Poland, laboratory of racial policy. U of Nebraska Press. pp. 31â34. ISBN 978-0803259799. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ Tadeusz Piotrowski (2007). Nazi Terror (Chapter 2). McFarland. ISBN 978-0786429134. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ Richard Rhodes, Masters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust, Bellona 2008
- ^ Jochen Bohler, JĂŒrgen MatthĂ€us, Klaus-Michael Mallmann, Einsatzgruppen in Polen, Wissenschaftl. Buchgesell 2008.
- ^ AB-Aktion, Shoah Resource Center, International Institute for Holocaust Research. Washington, DC.
- ^ Piotr SemkĂłw, IPN GdaĆsk (September 2006). "Kolebka (Cradle)" (PDF). IPN Bulletin No. 8â9 (67â68), 152 Pages. Warsaw: Institute of National Remembrance: 42â50. ISSN 1641-9561. Archived from the original (PDF file, direct download: 3.44 MB) on September 17, 2018. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
- ^ z. b. V. = zur besonderen Verwendung â "for special use".
- ^ Ronald Headland (1992). Messages of Murder: A Study of the Reports of the Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police and the Security Service, 1941-1943. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. pp. 98â101. ISBN 0838634184.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ Vadim Birstein (2013). Smersh: Stalin's Secret Weapon. Biteback Publishing. p. 236. ISBN 978-1849546898.
- ^ Yitzhak Arad (2009). The Holocaust in the Soviet Union. University of Nebraska Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0803222700. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ^ Tomasz Szarota (December 2â3, 2000). "Do we now know everything for certain? (translation)". Gazeta Wyborcza. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
- ^ (in Polish) Thomas Urban, "Poszukiwany Hermann Schaper", Rzeczpospolita, 01.09.01 Nr 204
- ^ Headland 1992, pp. 57â58.
- ^ University Center for International Studies (1982). Histoire Russe, Volume 9. University of Pittsburgh.
Up to 15 December 1942, Einsatzgruppe B reported executing a total of 134,298 persons (see Prestupleniia Belorussii, pp. 68-69), but the "bandits" included in these totals are probably incorporated in the German army reports. These changes, largely the work of "Fremde Heere Ost" chief Colonel Reinhard Gehlen, included the granting of prisoner-of-war status to captured partisans and offered guerrilla deserters the option of enlistment in Soviet defector Gen. Andrei Vlasov's "Russian Army of Liberation." The relevant material is located on T-78/489/64750995144.
- ^ NS-Archiv : Dokumente zum Nationalsozialismus : Erwin Schulz, Eidesstattliche ErklÀrung Archived 2016-03-06 at the Wayback Machine (in German)
- ^ "Einsatzgruppe D. Organizational structure". The Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
- ^ "Einsatzgruppe E". TenhumbergReinhard.de. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
References
- Browning, Christopher R. (1998) â». Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0060995065.
- Headland, Ronald (1992). Messages of Murder: A Study of the Reports of the Security Police and the Security Service. Associated University Presses. ISBN 0-8386-3418-4.
- Kershaw, Ian (2008). Hitler, the Germans, and the Final Solution. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12427-9.
- Langerbein, Helmut (2003). Hitler's Death Squads: The Logic of Mass Murder. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-1-58544-285-0.
- Longerich, Peter (2010). Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280436-5.
- Longerich, Peter (2012). Heinrich Himmler: A Life. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-959232-6.
Further reading
- Trials of War Criminals Before the Nurenberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10, Volume IV, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 35â36
- MacLean, French (1999). The Field Men: The SS Officers Who Led the Einsatzkommandos â the Nazi Mobile Killing Units, Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, ISBN 978-0764307546