Skip to main content

Einsatzgruppen

Wikipedia has some very good information about the Nazi task forces assigned to liquidate undesirables in occupied territories; however, even though I am duplicating some information, I would like to organize it in a different way. No infringement on copyright is intended.

 

 

 

Einsatzgruppen A


Commanders:

  1. SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei Dr. Franz Walter Stahlecker (22 June 1941–23 March 1942)

image: www.holocaustresearchproject.org


Wikisource has his report on activities here.

  1. SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei Heinz Jost (29 March–2 September 1942)

image: sv.wikipedia.org
  1. SS-Oberführer und Oberst der Polizei Dr. Humbert Achamer-Pifrader (10 September 1942–4 September 1943)

  1. SS-Oberführer Friedrich Panzinger (5 September 1943–6 May 1944)

  1. SS-Oberführer und Oberst der Polizei Dr. Wilhelm Fuchs (6 May–10 October 1944)  (from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einsatzgruppe_A#Einsatzgruppe_A)

Einsatzgruppe B 

Army Group Centre - Soviet Union

Commanders:
  1. SS-Gruppenführer und Generalmajor der Polizei Arthur Nebe (June–November 1941)
  2. SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei Erich Naumann (November 1941–March 1943)
  3. SS-Standartenführer Horst-Alwin Böhme (12 March–28 August 1943)
  4. SS-Oberführer und Oberst der Polizei Erich Ehrlinger (28 August 1943–April 1944)
  5. SS-Oberführer und Oberst der Polizei Heinrich Seetzen (28 April–August 1944)
  6. SS-Standartenführer Horst-Alwin Böhme (12 August 1944)
 Einsatzgruppe C

The Einzatzgruppe was attached to the Army Group South and executed 118,341 people.
  1. SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei Dr. Dr. Otto Rasch (June–October 1941)
  2. SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei Max Thomas (October 1941–29 April 1943)
  3. SS-Standartenführer Horst-Alwin Böhme (6 September 1943–March 1944)

Sonderkommando 4A was commanded by Paul Blobel from it's inception in June 1941 to January 1942. His affidavit for the Nuremburg Einsatzgruppen trial can be found here. One of his men testified that Blobel ordered him to kill children. Blobel also participated in Sonderaktion 1005 which attempted to cover up the evidence of mass killings.

Testimony from the Einsatzgruppen Trial at Nuremburg by Otto Ohlendorf makes clear that the main worry was for the soldiers performing the murders rather than the victims. When asked, and pressed to answer, he admitted that if he had received an order from a superior officer to murder his own sister, he would have carried out the order. His defense was that orders given by superiors must be followed even if they commanded one to kill thus absolving him, the soldier, of any need for remorse or guilt feelings over the atrocious acts committed.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

German Field marshals

A work in progress detailing the German field marshals and their decorations, etc.   Newly promoted Generalfeldmarshalls 1940 20 April 1936 – Werner von Blomberg (1878–1946) 4 February 1938 – Hermann Göring (1893–1946) Göring was later promoted to the even-higher rank of Reichsmarshal and was the only German to have held this rank. He was further the only field marshal to have 2 batons, one for Field Marshal (blue) and the other for Reichsmarshal (Ivory). 19 July 1940 – Fedor von Bock (1880–1945) Snyder's treasures compares the original FM baton to a replica. 19 July 1940 – Walther von Brauchitsch (1881–1948) 19 July 1940 – Albert Kesselring (1885–1960) 19 July 1940 – Wilhelm Keitel (1882–1946) 19 July 1940 – Günther von Kluge (1882–1944) 19 July 1940 – Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb (1876–1956) 19 July 1940 – Wilhelm List (1880–1971) 19 July 1940 – Erhard Milch (1892–1972) 19 July 1940 – Wal

Gordon Williamson and S. P. Mackenzie

4 April 2017 Today, I was reading The Iron Cross, A History 1813-1945 by Gordon Williamson. As happens most of the time, I began a 'Wiki-chain': I looked up 'Iron Cross' on Wikipedia which led me to the Wikipedia page for Gordon Williamson . I was shocked to see some remarks by an "S. P. Mackenzie" which floored me. I almost threw my book across the room! A revisionist?? Gordon Williamson is a revisionist?!?! How can someone who wrote, "The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror" be a revisionist??? From Wikipedia :          Williamson has authored over 20 books on the Waffen-SS and the Wehrmacht . [4] The  military historian S.P. MacKenzie describes Williamson as a writer who attempts "to restore the tarnished reputation [of the Waffen-SS] and reiterate its superb fighting qualities" by relying on veterans' narratives, with "predictably positive results". [5] MacKenzie includes Williamson's books among the wor

Select resource list

http://thefifthfield.com/ http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/war_merit_cross/knights_cross.htm http://en.ww2awards.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders,_decorations,_and_medals_of_Nazi_Germany Parade Medal Bars of the Third Reich http://www.hessenantique.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/orders%20and%20decorations%20of%20the%20third%20reich-1.jpg https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Nazi+Ribbon+Chart&FORM=RESTAB https://www.militarytour.com/german-field-marshal-rommel-ribbon-bar.html http://www.kelsmilitary.com/mm5/graphics/Ribbon%20&%20Ribbon%20Bar%20Accessories.jpg http://gmic.co.uk/gallery/