Einzatsgruppen. Mobile Killing Squads
Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) were squads composed primarily of German SS and police personnel. These squads were under the command of the German Security Police and Security Service Officers. They were ordered to kill any Jewish people within the Soviet territory, it matter if it was a 90 year old man or even a 5 year old boy those perceived to be racial or political enemies found behind German lines in the Soviet Union. The victims were of different racial views including Jews, Gypsies (Roma) and officials of the Soviet Communist Party and Soviet State. disabled They also murdered thousands of residents of institutions for the mentally and physically. Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing squads) and Ordnungspolizei (order police) were the first step of the “Final Solution” which was to clear all Jews from Europe by going around and killing them as Hitler had said. Germany invaded the Soviet Union on the day of June 22, 1941. The Germans then decided to stop imprisoning the Jews and then took place in many mass killing all over Europe. The Mobile Killing Squads were very quick at what they did. By the time the Jews found out that they were there the squads would have already rounded them all up. Containing Jewish Men, Woman and children, they would also take any Communist party leaders or Gypsies. The Einsatzgruppen murdered more than 1 million people, almost all civilians. The Einsatzgruppen operated throughout the territory occupied by the German armed forces following the German invasions on Poland in September in 1939 of the Soviet Union in June 1941. They had operations ranging from the murder of a few people to operations that would last two or more days e.g. Babi Yar (33,771 killed in two days) and Rumbula (25,000 killed in two days). Raul Hilberg estimates that between 1941 and 1945 the Einsatzgruppen and the SS killed more than 1.3 million Jews, Gypsies and Soviet political commissars. In some cases the Einsatzgruppen would demand that the Jews were
Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kiev_Jew_Killings_in_Ivangorod_(1942).jpg
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