The_Holokaust_-_origins,_implementation,_aftermath

CHRISTIAN GERLACH
accounts, purportedly by eyewitnesses but difficult to verify, all deportees on
several trains that arrived later in December 1941 were executed.
Einsatzkommando 2 is reported to have separated out the weak and infirm and
executed them. Attempts were made to conceal the murders, so that the reason
for the selections would not become known “to local Jews or to Jews in the
Reich.” 44
Let us quickly summarize these rather gruesome results. A general order to
execute German Jews had not yet been issued. In Lodz and Minsk, German officials
and police allowed German Jews arriving in 1941 to survive. In Kaunas, however,
all the arriving Jews were murdered. In Riga, finally, Jews on the first transport
were openly killed. Those arriving later were initially kept alive, only to be shot
later in “smaller” executions or to be killed by the horrendous living conditions,
particularly the cold. Direct executions were concealed as much as possible.
Objections were raised almost immediately by the civilian administrations.
They did not oppose the executions per se, but rather the deportations of non-
Jews or privileged Jews, which could lead to the killing of people who had not
been targeted and thus jeopardize political support for the “Final Solution” in
general. Both Wilhelm Kube, general commissar in Minsk, and Hinrich Lohse
sent to the Ministry for the East lists with the names of individuals who should
not have been transported to the east, at least according to the rules then
governing the deportations. The lists had been given to them by German Jews
in the Minsk and Riga ghettos. On November 29, Kube had visited the separate
“German ghetto” in Minsk. He subsequently issued a complaint that among the
deportees there were many so-called “part-Jews” (who were not considered Jews
under the Nuremberg laws), Jews married to “Aryans,” brothers of army
servicemen, and decorated veterans of World War I. He lodged an immediate
protest at the Ministry for the East. It appears to have been received there by
December 8, at the latest. 45 Lohse’s reaction a short time later was similar, though
less dramatic. Both objections, along with the lists of names, were forwarded to
Heydrich by the deputy minister for the East, Alfred Meyer. 46
This chronological sequence makes it clear, admittedly, that the objections
raised by these two officials could not have been a decisive factor in the halting
of the executions. 47 But these certainly could not have been the only protests. As
early as October 10, Heydrich had declared that “no special consideration should
be shown to Jews decorated during the war. On the contrary,” they should be
“transported in percentages corresponding to their actual numbers.” 48 On
November 20, Eichmann had circulated a memo outlining deportation directives.
Its effect was to reduce the number of victims affected. Apparently Eichmann’s
actions came because the RSHA had already received some complaints and was
expecting more to follow. 49 Heydrich’s comments to Goebbels also suggest that
this was the case. Heydrich planned to use the new camp at Theresienstadt in the
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