Children…

The Einsatzgruppen
“Operation Barbarossa”, Nazi Germany’s invasion of the
Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, marked the start of the
systematic murder of Eastern European Jews.The German
Army was closely followed by four small, mobile
special units called the Einsatzgruppen. Initially, they
comprised some 3,000 men from the regular German
police, security personnel and SS soldiers. Their initial
orders were to execute Soviet political commissars and
Jewish “party members”, and they operated under the
protection of the Army.This task was soon extended to
shooting “Jews in general”. Many “Gypsies” were also
rounded up and shot.The units kept meticulous records
and reported back to Berlin.These documents allow us
still today to follow their daily murderous “progress”.
One seven-page report lists executions conducted
in Lithuania between 4 July and 1 December 1941, by
one commando in Einsatzgruppe A. There are a total
of 137,346 victims: Russian and Lithuanian Communists,
Russian prisoners of war, groups of “mentally sick”,
Lithuanians, Poles, Gypsies and partisans. But by far, the
largest group of victims is Jews: men, women and children.
In the diary excerpt on the previous page,Avraham
Tory describes how the Jews in the Kaunas ghetto walk
towards Demokratu Square, on 28 October at dawn, for
a selection. The Einsatzgruppe report from 29 October
1941, reads:“29.10.41 Kauen-F.IX .… 2,007 Jews, 2,920
Jewesses, 4,273 Jewish children (mopping up ghetto of
superfluous Jews): 9,200.” In Eastern Europe and the
former Soviet Union, almost 2 million people were shot
by Einsatzgruppen, police battalions and other units.
“The excavation of the pits takes up most of the
time, whereas the execution itself is very quick
(100 people takes 40 minutes)...At first my men
were not affected. On the second day, however, it
was already apparent that one or two did not have
the nerve to carry out executions over a sustained
period. My personal impression is that during the
execution one does not have any scruples. These
manifest themselves, however, days later when one
is quietly thinking about it in the evening.”
LIEUTENANT WALTHER’S REPORT OF AN EXECUTION
NEAR BELGRADE, 1 NOVEMBER 1941
“I consider the Jewish action more or less terminated
as far as Einsatzkommando 3 is concerned.
Those working Jews and Jewesses still available are
needed urgently and I can envisage that after the
winter this workforce will be required even more
urgently. I am of the view that the sterilization programme
of the male worker Jews should be started
immediately so that reproduction is prevented. If
despite sterilization a Jewess becomes pregnant she
will be liquidated.”
SS COLONEL KARL JÄGER IN A REPORT ON
EINSATZKOMMANDO 3 ACTIVITIES UP TO 1 DECEMBER 1941
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