The latter counted off about 20 persons and instructed them to walk behind the earth mound. Among them was the family which I had mentioned. I remember very well a girl, blackhaired and slender, passing near me; she pointed at herself and said, '23 years. Several of the people shot still moved. Some lifted their arms and turned their heads to show that they were still alive. The excavation was already two-thirds full.
I estimated that it contained about 1, people. I looked for the man who did the shooting. I saw an SS-man who sat at the rim of the narrow end of the excavation, his feet dangling into the excavation. On his knees he had a machine pistol and he was smoking a cigarette. The completely naked people descended a stairway which was dug into the clay of the excavation and slipped over the heads of the people lying there already to the place to which the SS-man directed them.
They laid themselves in front of the dead or injured people, some touched tenderly those who were still alive and spoke to them in a low voice. Then I heard a number of shots. I looked into the excavation and saw how the bodies jerked or the heads rested already motionless on top of the bodies that lay before them. Blood was running from their necks. I was surprised that I was not chased away, but I saw there were two or three postal officers in uniform nearby.
Now already the next group approached, descended into the excavation, lined themselves up against the previous victims and was shot. When I walked back, around the mound, I noticed again a transport which had just arrived.
An old, very thin woman with terribly thin legs was undressed by others who were already naked, while two persons held her up. Apparently the woman was paralyzed.
The naked people carried the woman around the mound. I left with Moennikes and drove with my car back to Dubno. The first report, found in Himmler's personal files, states that during the first four months of the Russian campaign Einsatz Group A murdered , Communists and Jews, and carried out widespread destruction of homes and villages and other vast crimes. Enclosure 8 to this Stahlecker report is a careful survey of the number of persons murdered, classified as to country, and whether Jew or Communist, with totals given in each instance.
This report discloses that the Einsatz Groups frequently enlisted the aid of the local populations in the extermination program. It states:. In accordance with the basic orders received, however, the cleansing activities of the Security Police had to aim at a complete annihilation of the jews.
Special detachments reinforced by selected units-in Lithuania partisan detachments, in Latvia units of the Latvian auxiliary police-therefore performed extensive executions both in towns and in rural areas.
The actions of the execution detachments were performed smoothly. The second report from Einsatz Group A L reports the extermination of nearly , persons.
The remaining Jews who were still indispensable from the economic point of view were collected in Ghettos, which were established in Riga, Duenaburg and Libau.
Altogether , people were liquidated in a great number of single actions. As the complete liquidation of the Jews was not feasible, as they were needed for labor, Ghettos were formed which at the moment are occupied as follows: Kauem approximately 15, Jews; Wilna approximately 15, Jews; Schaulen approximately 4, Jews. These jews are used primarily for work of military importance. For example, up to 5, Jews are employed in 3 shifts on the aerodrome near Kauen on earthworks and work of that sort.
Nevertheless 41, Jews have been shot up to now. With respect to Jews from the Reich, the report states in part "Since December transports containing Jews have arrived at short intervals from the Reich. Of these, 20, Jews were directed to Riga and 7, Jews to Minsk.
Only a small section of the Jews from the Reich is capable of working. About percent are women and children or old people unfit for work. The death rate is rising continually also as a result of the extraordinarily bad winter. In isolated instances sick Jews with contagious disease were selected under the pretext of putting them into a home for the aged or a hospital, and executed.
Attached as an enclosure to this report is a map entitled "Jewish Executions Carried out by Einsatzgruppe A," on which, by the use of coffins as symbols, the number of Jews murdered in each area covered by Einsatz Group A is shown Chart Number 4. The map shows thousands of Jews in ghettos, and an estimated , Jews "still on hand" in the Minsk area.
Number of murdered, according to figures beside the coffins, during the period covered by this report, was , On 30 October the Commissioner of the territory of Sluzk wrote a report to the Commissioner General, Minsk, in which the severely criticized the actions of the Einsatzkommandos operating in his area for the murder of all the Jews of Sluzk:. The first lieutenant explained that the police battalion had received the assignment to effect the liquidation of all Jews here in the town of Sluzk, within two days.
The battalion commander with his battalion in strength of four companies, two of which were made up of Lithuanian partisans, was on the march here and the action would have to begin instantly. I replied to the first lieutenant that I had to discuss the action in any case first with the commander. About half an hour later the police battalion arrived in Sluzk. Immediately after the arrival the conference with the battalion commander took place according to my request. I first explained to the commander that it would not very well be possible to effect the action without previous preparation, because everybody had been sent to work and that it would lead to terrible confusion.
At least it would have been his duty to inform me a day ahead of time. Then I requested him to postpone the action one day. However, he rejected this with the remark that he had to carry out this action everywhere and in all towns and that only two days were allotted for Sluzk. Within these two days, the town of Sluzk had to be cleared of Jews by all means.
For the rest, as regards the execution of the action, I must point out to my deepest regret that the latter bordered already on sadism.
With indescribable brutality on the part of both the German police officers and particularly the Lithuanian partisans, the Jewish people, but also among them White Ruthenians, were taken out of their dwellings and herded together. Everywhere in the town shots were to be heard and in different streets the corpses of shot Jews accumulated. The White Ruthenians were in greatest distress to free themselves from the encirclement. Regardless of the fact that the Jewish people, among whom were also tradesmen, were mistreated in a terribly barbarous way in the face of the White Ruthenian people, the White Ruthenians themselves were also worked over with rubber clubs and rifle butts.
There was no question of an action against the Jews any more. It rather looked like a revolution. In conclusion I find myself obliged to point out that the police battalion has looted in an unheard of manner during the action, and that not only in Jewish houses but just the same in those of the White Ruthenians. Anything of use such as boots, leather, cloth, gold and other valuables, has been taken away. On the basis of statements of members of the armed forces, watches were torn off the arms of jews in public, on the streets, and rings were pulled off the fingers in the most brutal manner.
A major of the finance department reported that a Jewish girl was asked by the police to obtain immediately 5, rubles to have her father released. This girl is said to have actually gone everywhere in order to obtain the money. This report was submitted by the Commissioner General of White Ruthenia to the Reich Commissioner for the Eastern Territories on 1 November with the following comment:. Peace and order cannot be maintained in White Ruthenia with methods of the sort To bury seriously wounded people alive who worked their way out of their graves again is such a base and filthy act that the incidents as such should be reported to the Fuehrer and Reichs Marshal.
On the same date by separate letter the Commissioner General of White Ruthenia reported to the Reich Commissioner for the Eastern Territories that he had received money, valuables, and other objects taken by the police in the action at Sluzk and other regions, all of which had been deposited with the Reich Credit institute for the disposal of the Reich Commissioner. On 21 November a report on the Sluzk incident was sent to the personal reviewer of the permanent deputy of the Minister of the Reich with a copy to Heydrich, the Chief of the Security Police and SD.
On 6 November a secret report submitted to the Reich Commissar for the East concerning the struggle against partisans in the East discloses that destruction of villages continued, and reports the Execution of 1, partisan suspects and 8, Jews, and the deportation of 1, people.
The report from the prison administrator at Minsk as of 31 May to the General Commissioner for White Ruthenia states:. Since that date, the golden bridgework, crowns and fillings of the received German and Russian Jews were pulled out, respectively broken out by force.
This always happened hours before the actions in question. After careful investigation it was ascertained that gold objects were only taken away during 2 actions, namely on 14 April 43 front and on 27 April 43 from Jews. About 50 percent of the jews had gold teeth, bridges or fillings. Hauptscharfuehrer Rube of the SD was always present in person, and also took the gold objects with him. This report was forwarded to the Reich Minister for the occupied Eastern territories on 1 June Death vans were used by the Einsatz Groups to murder victims by gas.
These vans were built by the Saurer Works in Berlin and other firms. The method of using the vans is described by Ohlendorf in the following words:. Whenever a unit had collected a sufficient number of victims, a car was sent for their liquidation.
We also stationed these cars in the neighborhood of the transit camps to which the victims had been brought. They were told that they would be resettled and had to climb into the cars for that purpose. Then the doors were closed and as soon as the cars started moving the gas would enter. The victims died within ten to fifteen minutes. The cars were driven to the burial place where the corpses were taken out and buried.
While the vans of the first series can also be put into action if the weather is not too bad the vans of the second series Saurer stop completely in rainy weather. If it has rained for instance for only one-half hour, the van cannot be used because it simply skids away. It can only be used in absolutely dry weather. It is only a question now whether the van can only be used standing at the place of execution. First the van has to be brought to that place, which is possible only in good weather.
The place of execution is usually km away from the highways and is difficult of access because of its location; in damp or wet weather it is not accessible at all. If the persons to be executed are driven or led to that place, then they realize immediately what is going on and get restless, which is to be avoided as far as possible. There is only one way left; to load them at the collecting point and to drive them to the spot.
The vans became so well-known, that not only the authorities but also the civilian population called the van "death van", as soon as one of these vehicles appeared.
It is my opinion that the van cannot be kept secret for any length of time, not even camouflaged. I brought to the attention of the commanders of those SK concerned the immense psychological injuries and damages to their health which that work can have for those men, even if not immediately, at least later on.
The men complained to me about headaches which appeared after each unloading. In order to come to an end as fast as possible, the driver presses the accelerator to the fullest extent. By doing that the persons to be executed suffer death from suffocation and not death by dozing off as was planned. My directions now have proved that by correct adjustment of the levers death comes faster and the prisoners fall asleep peacefully.
Distorted faces and excretions, such as could be seen before, are no longer noticed. The death vans were not always satisfactory. I request assignment of another S-van 5-tons. At the same time I request the shipment of 20 gas-hoses for the three S-vans on hand 2 Diamond, 1 Saurer , since the ones on hand are leaky already.
This report describes in summary form the activities of the various Einsatz Groups during the month of October The report first discusses the stations and in that regard states:. The report next discusses the activities of each Einsatz Group.
There is included first a discussion of the Baltic area, next of White Ruthenia, and last of the Ukraine. Under each section the work of the Einsatz Groups in connection with the action taken against partisans, Jews, and communist officials is considered. With respect to the treatment of Jews in the Baltic area the report states in part:.
This action was under the direction of the task force of the Security Police and the SD. Arrest of all Jewesses from years, who lived in Reval and environs and were fit for work; these were employed in peat cutting.
Registration of all Jews according to age, sex, and capacity for work for the purpose of their detention in a camp that is being prepared. At the present time this action is still in progress. After completion of this action there will remain only Jewesses and children in the Eastern territory.
They were liquidated. A further large part of the activity of the Security Police was devoted to the combating of Communists and criminals. A special Commando in the period covered by this report executed 63 officials, NKVD agents and agitators. For this reason 28 Jewesses had to be shot in Krugoje and at Mogilew. All male Jews as well as 3 Jewesses were shot. Among them was a political Commissar. This involved approximately Jews. Only in one case a commando of the Security Police and the SD succeeded in a fight with partisans in shooting the Secretary of the Communist Party for the administration district of Nikolajew Cherson, who was at the time Commissar of a partisan group for the district Nikolajew-Cherson-Krim.
The embitterment of the Ukrainian population against the Jews is extremely great because they are thought responsible for the explosions in Kiew. They are also regarded as informers and agents of the NKVD who started the terror against the Ukrainian people. As a measure of retaliation for the arson at Kiew, all Jews were arrested and altogether 33, Jews were executed on the 29th and 30th September. Money, valuables and clothing were secured and put at the disposal of the National-Socialist League for Public Welfare NSV for the equipment of the National Germans [Volksdeutschen] and partly put at the disposal of the provisional city administration for distribution to the needy population.
Especially in the area east of the Dnjepr the solution of the Jewish question has been taken up energetically by the task forces of the Security Police and the SD. In the course of this action 4, Jews were liquidated. At other places the Jews were marked and registered. This rendered it possible to put at the disposal of the Wehrmacht for urgent labor, Jewish worker groups up to 1, persons.
These reports, circulated among the various offices of the RSHA, brought general knowledge to the entire organization of the program of mass murder conducted by these special task forces of the SIPO and SD. New groups were formed and sent into action in the West PS. Under adverse war conditions, however, the program of extermination was to a large extent changed to one of rounding up slave labor for Germany. A letter written on 19 March from the headquarters of a Sonderkommando section of Einsatz Group C states as follows:.
The Security Police carries out this task according to the general directives of the Fuehrer with all the required toughness. Energetic measures are especially necessary in territories endangered by the activity of hostile gangs. The competence of the Security Police within the zone of operations is based on the Barbarossa decrees. I deem the measures of the Security Police, carried out on a considerable scale during recent times, necessary for the two following reasons:.
The situation at the front in my sector had become so serious that the population, partly influenced by Hungarians and Italians, who streamed back in chaotic condition, took openly position against us. The strong expeditions of hostile gangs, who came especially from the forest of Bryansk, were another reason. Besides that, other revolutionary groups, formed by the population, appeared suddenly in all districts.
The providing of arms evidently provided no difficulties at all. It would have been irresponsible, if we had observed this whole activity with out acting against it. It is obvious that all such measures bring about some harshness. I want to take up the significant points of harsh measures. In the shortest possible time, the Ukraine has to put at the disposal of the armament industry 1 Million workers, of whom have to be sent from our territory daily. The following orders are given:.
The listing of communist functionaries, activists and so on, is to take place by roster only for the time being, without arresting anybody. It is, for instance, no longer feasible to arrest all the close relatives of a member of the communist party. Although, members of the Komsomolz are to be arrested only if they were active in a leading position.
The activity of the labor offices, respective of recruiting commissions, is to be supported to the greatest extent possible. It will not be possible always to refrain from using force. During a conference with the Chief of the Labor Commitment Staffs, an agreement was reached stating that wherever prisoners can be released, they should be pup at the disposal of the Commissioner of the Labor Office.
When searching [Uberholung] villages, resp. The reporting of hostile gangs as well as drives against them is not affected hereby. All drives against these hostile gangs can only take place after my approval has been obtained. The prisons have to be kept empty, as a rule. We have to be aware of the fact that the Slavs will interpret all soft treatment on our part as weakness and that they will act accordingly right away.
If we limit our harsh measures of security police through above orders for the time being, that is only done for the following reason. The most important thing is the recruiting of workers. No check of persons to be sent into the Reich will be made. No written certificates of political reliability check or similar things will be issued. The program of mass murder of political and racial undesirables carried on against civilians was also applied to prisoners of war captured on the Eastern front.
Hitler made an announcement to this group that special measures would have to be taken against political functionaries and commissars of the Soviet army. The Gestapo was staffed by plainclothes policemen, often called Gestapo agents. Most of these men were professionally trained. They often had worked as detectives or political policemen during the Weimar Republic. He went on to become the head of the Gestapo in But not all Gestapo agents were longtime policemen.
These SD men were Nazi ideologues with little or no police training. The Gestapo united the knowledge of professional policemen with the zeal of Nazi ideologues. These behaviors included everything from organized political opposition to individual critical remarks about the Nazis. The government even defined belonging to certain categories or groups of people as threatening.
To combat this wide array of potential threats, the Nazi dictatorship gave the Gestapo enormous power. One way in which the Gestapo carried out its mission was by enforcing new Nazi laws. Some of these laws broadly defined criticism of the regime as a security threat. For example, a December law made it illegal to criticize the Nazi Party or the Nazi regime. But the Gestapo went much further than monitoring individual behaviors. They implemented Nazi ideology, which defined entire groups of people as racial or political enemies.
Membership in the Communist Party or a Jewish background was enough to make someone a threat to the state and subject to Gestapo attention. During the s, the vast majority of Aryan Germans did not encounter or even expect to encounter the Gestapo.
The Nazi regime gave Gestapo agents a great deal of power to decide the fate of the people they arrested. Most notably, the Gestapo had the power to send people directly to a concentration camp. Protective custody allowed the Gestapo to bypass the court system. Those placed in protective custody could not consult a lawyer, appeal their sentence, or defend themselves in court.
The Gestapo even used protective custody to override court decisions in some cases. As an institution, the Gestapo was not subject to legal or administrative oversight. The Gestapo had the final word. The Gestapo fulfilled their mission in a radical way. In Nazi Germany, they used common police investigation methods.
However, they did so without legal limits. They pursued denunciations from the public. They carried out arbitrary searches. And they conducted brutal interrogations. In the end, Gestapo agents held the fate of the people they arrested in their hands. Sometimes, the Gestapo initiated investigations themselves. At other times, the Gestapo received tips from the public. A neighbor, acquaintance, colleague, friend, or family member could inform the Gestapo that a person was behaving illegally or suspiciously.
Other police forces and Nazi organizations could also inform the Gestapo of a potential crime or threat. In Nazi Germany, these types of tips were referred to as denunciations. They were often motivated by ideology, politics, or personal gain. The consequences for those people who were denounced could be severe. During the course of an investigation, Gestapo officers interviewed witnesses, searched homes and apartments, and conducted surveillance.
In Nazi Germany, there were no limits to these activities. Many people feared Gestapo surveillance. In reality, the Gestapo had limited personnel and only used these methods in specific cases. There was no widespread surveillance of the German population. This was why denunciations were so important. The Gestapo was infamous for the ruthless ways it carried out interrogations.
Gestapo officers regularly used intimidation, and psychological and physical torture. It was common for Gestapo officers to beat detainees in custody. However, some people did die during interrogations or in Gestapo custody. Individual agents could choose to be lenient. They could let people go, dismiss cases, or issue warnings and fines.
But Gestapo agents could also choose to be ruthless. They could detain someone in prison indefinitely or condemn someone to a concentration camp. The only monitoring of these decisions came from within the Gestapo itself. Accept all Accept only essential Save and Close.
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