The time, 1941, the place, the then Soviet Union, the Red Army is in retreat from the German forces, following closely behind the German frontline is an unspeakable force coming over the conquered lands like a deadly plague. The Einsatzgruppen were considered as mobile death dealers by their victims. The major occupation of the Einsatzgruppen was the humiliation, extermination, and complete of annihilation of Jews, Romany or gypsies, members of the communist party, and intellectsia or major thinkers. They were organized to be the most efficient at occupying and murdering the undesirables. The leaders of these hounds of war were hand selected by Heydrich Himmler from the brightest, bravest, and most loyal of the Nazi members. The Einsatzgruppen were broken down to cover more area and to cause more chaos. Their techniques for killing were horrific, and in some cases could even tax the mind of the executioner. They were responsible for most of the murders of Jews during World War 2. Almost every huge massacre site they were at it killing undesirables.
The Einsatzgruppen were called into service in1941 to rid the conquered lands of the Soviet Union of Jews, Romany, and anyone who the Nazis thought would be a problem. The Einsatzgruppen were used to humiliate and kill the undesirables of Eastern Europe. (Edeiken) The Einsatzgruppen were also used as criminal police of the ghettos where the Jews were alienated. The Einsatzgruppen also held random shootings in the middle of the street in the ghettos. The Einsatzgruppen also were tasked with the protection of certain Jews that had skills
that were useful to the Nazis such as dentist, doctors, and mechanics. (The Einsatzgruppen) The Einsatzgruppen also profited from the executions of t...
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...and other undesirables including women and children. They mainly killed by shooting, but their leader thought it was too much for the men to handle so they started using gas vans.
Works Cited
Berenbaum, Micheal. Witness To The Holocaust p.112-113. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc., 1997. Edeiken, Yale F. "An Introduction To The Einsatzgruppen." 2012. www.holocaust-history.org. 13 March 2014 . "Einsatzgruppen (Mobile Killing Units)." 10 June 2013. www.ushmm.org. 13 March 2014 . "The Einsatzgruppen." 2010. www.holocaustresearchproject.org. 14 March 2014 . "The Einsatzgruppen: Babi Yar." 2014. www.jewishvirtuallibrary.com. 14 March 2014 .
Jewish citizens and families are being sent to these camps, held there forced to do work. They are put in chambers where multiple people, large groups and families are gassed with Zyklon B, and are left for dead. Nazis are sent to kidnap Jewish people right out of their houses to send them to these camps. Others were also just shot and killed on the spot. The jewish people tried to resist, but it is difficult with lack of weapons and resources. Hitler was trying to gain power and land from this genocide. He thought that if he took over the world he could be the most powerful person. He also wanted revenge, he was angry about the outcome of WWI and this sparked his interest to get back at his
They would take many jews and have them get on their knees besides each other and then they would vigorously beat them and shoot them until all of the Jews in that gathering were dead. Some of the men who were trying to kill the Jews couldn’t and sometimes they would miss the shot and they would have to do it again until the did kill their Jew for the day which is extremely sad. They would miss the shot because they would no longer aim accurately because they couldn’t bear killing another person. A lot of the ordinary men who had to kill the Jews couldn’t handle killing anymore people and they couldn’t get back into their normal old lives because they have had to kill so many people. Some of the men got out of killing people by staying near the arriving trucks. A man said that some of his fellow comrades who had to shoot the Jews would call him names and call him a weakling to show how disgusted they were of him. But that man wasn 't the only one trying to get out of the job of killing the
Killing Squads would enter towns and gather the people, usually in vast open areas. Open areas are easier to dig the mass graves where the dead would be put. After victims gave their valuables to the killing squad and were undressed, they were gassed in vans, shot in trenches, or shot in prepared pits (USHMM). People gassed in vans were killed by the carbon monoxide produced by the van because the exhaust pipes were blocked. These research findings reveal the harsh tactics of killing squads.
Another method of dehumanizing the Jews was to make sure they turned on one another. Once the Jews began turning on each other, it kept them in their place and allowed them to mistrust one another even though the Germans were the real culprits. Since goods were scarce, it did not take long for the ghettos to descend into chaos. Stealing became a common practice amongst those who could not afford to buy illegally on the black market. Another way to make sure Jews constantly mistrusted one another was to make sure Jews were the ones who kept the ghettos running. Within the ghettos, a Jewish police force called Jüdischer Ordnungsdienst was created to keep Jews from escaping the ghettos. They wore armbands with an identifying marker and a badge. They were not permitted to use guns but were allowed to carry batons. The Jewish police reported any mishaps to the German police who were assigned to check perimeters outside the ghettos. They were recruited from two groups: lawyers and criminals. The criminal group was larger and soon became the dominating force behind the police and life inside the ghettos. In the Warsaw ghetto, a special group called Group 13 was created for the purpose of combatting the black market that thrived during this time. The group was also known as the Jewish Gestapo and had orders to report back to the German Gestapo. While officially the group’s job was to fight off the black market, unofficially the group extorted and blackmailed Polish sympathizers. They also were very skilled in tracking down Jews who had managed to not be sent to the ghettos. The Jewish Police were also in charge of a prison that allowed them to continue their illegal operations
As the Ghettos (in Poland) were quickly filling in occupants, the Nazi Party started ‘Mobile Killing Squads’, which traveled from one neighborhood to another ripping Jews from their home and killing (using gas vans or guns) them in the street. But, this method proved inefficient with the number of Jewish People who ran, and the number of killers that were being affected by the gases. This then caused the anti-Semitic party to start sending Jews to the six extermination camps throughout Poland. Which according to Paul B. Kern was all a part of the Final Solution.
Rosenbaum, Alan S. Is The Holocaust Unique?. 3rd ed. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2008. 387. Print.
There were a number of groups in germany that were attempting to take down the Nazis.
Tent, James F. In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Nazi Persecution of Jewish-Christian Germans. Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2003.
The overall purpose of Einsatzgruppen was to kill off the Jewish population. The reasoning for this was because Germany was becoming
Levi, Neil, and Michael Rothberg. The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2003. Print.
Dwork, Deborah, and R. J. Van Pelt. Holocaust: a History. New York: Norton, 2002. Print.
Each one of the Einsatzgruppen gruppen had 2,700 men each of those man roles was to arrest, confiscation weapons of the Jewish people. ‘’From September 1 to the 25of october over 500 homes and towns were burned and 16,000 people were executed by the Einsatzgruppen. In the spring of 1941 Adolf Hitler order the Einsatzgruppen to go on the front lines in the campaign against Russia. The Germans formed four Einsatzgruppe. The first group was Einsatzgruppe A Attached to army group north has 990 men. The second group was Einsatzgruppe B attached to army group centre has 665 men. The third group Einsatzgruppe C attached to army group south has 700 men. The final group Einsatzgruppe D attached to German 11th Army has 600 men. The Einsatzgruppen general method of execution was shooting, Although some gas vans were used, The victims were ordered to report to a central location, often using local militia. If tank holes or ditchs weren't available than the Einsatzgruppen would make them dig their own grave. Records of the Einsatzgruppen actions were maintained, The commanders in the field were sent regular operation reports to Heydrich in Berlin.(
According to Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, “The Schutzstaffel, better known as the infamous SS, were established by Hitler, to act as protection force at Hitler’s mass meetings in public. Many of these meetings were violent and ugly, during the Nazis early quest for power” (“The SS”). Hitler, the control of the Holocaust Hired SS Officers as his protection force to help him eliminate Jews since he couldn’t do the job all by himself. The SS Officers were ordered to eliminate the jews through multiple trials and torture them. According to Night it said, “Don’t walk slowly, run! Run as if you had the devil at your heels! Don’t look at the SS. Run, Straight in front of you!” (71) The SS made them run until they died and tortured them brutally. They had no choice unless they wanted to be killed. The jews were tortured and were eliminated to see which ones could handle
Bard, Mitchell G., ed. "Introduction." Introduction. The Holocaust. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2001.
Kaplan, Marian A., Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany, Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1999