Einsatzkommando 3

During World War II, the Nazi German ' were a sub-group of the ' (mobile killing squads) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellectuals, Romani, and communists in the captured territories often far behind the advancing German front.Thomas Urban, reporter of the Süddeutsche Zeitung; Polish text in Rzeczpospolita, Sept 1–2, 2001 ''Einsatzkommandos'', along with ''Sonderkommandos'', were responsible for the systematic murder of Jews during the aftermath of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. After the war, several commanders were tried in the Einsatzgruppen trial, convicted, and executed.

Organization of the ''Einsatzgruppen''

''Einsatzgruppen'' (german: special-ops units) were paramilitary groups originally formed in 1938 under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich – Chief of the SD, and '' Sicherheitspolizei'' (Security Police; SiPo). They were operated by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The first ''Einsatzgruppen'' of World War II were formed in the course of the 1939 invasion of Poland. Then following a Hitler-Himmler directive, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' were re-formed in anticipation of the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. The ''Einsatzgruppen'' were once again under the control of Reinhard Heydrich as Chief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA); and after his assassination, under the control of his successor, Ernst Kaltenbrunner.

Hitler ordered the SD and the Security Police to suppress the threat of native resistance behind the Wehrmacht's fighting front. Heydrich met with General Eduard Wagner representing Wilhelm Keitel, who agreed to the activation, commitment, command, and jurisdiction of Security Police and SD units in the Wehrmachts table of operations and equipment (TOE); in the rear operational areas, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' were to function in administrative sub-ordination to the field armies in order to effect the tasks assigned them by Heydrich. Their principal task (during the war), according to SS General Erich von dem Bach, at the Nuremberg Trials: "was the annihilation of the Jews, Gypsies, and Soviet political commissars". They were a key component in the implementation of the "Final Solution of the Jewish question" (German: ''Die Endlösung der Judenfrage'') in the conquered territories. These killing units should be viewed in conjunction with the Holocaust.

The military commanders knew the task of the ''Einsatzgruppen''. The ''Einsatzgruppen'' depended upon their sponsoring army commander for billet, food, and transportation. Relations between the regular army and the SiPo and the SD were close. ''Einsatzgruppen'' commanders reported that the understanding by Wehrmacht commanders of ''Einsatzgruppen'' tasks made their operations considerably easier.

For Operation Barbarossa (June 1941), initially four ''Einsatzgruppen'' were created, each numbering 500–990 men to comprise a total force of 3,000. Each unit was attached to an army group: ''Einsatzgruppe'' A to Army Group North; ''Einsatzgruppe'' B to Army Group Center, ''Einsatzgruppe'' C to Army Group South, and ''Einsatzgruppe'' D to the 11th German Army. Led by SD, Gestapo, and Criminal Police (Kripo) officers, ''Einsatzgruppen'' included recruits from the regular police (Orpo), SD and Waffen-SS, augmented by uniformed volunteers from the local auxiliary police force. When occasion demanded, German Army commanders bolstered the strength of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' with their own regular-army troops who assisted in rounding up and murdering Jews of their own accord.

The earliest ''Einsatzgruppen'' in occupied Poland

The first eight ''Einsatzgruppen'' of World War II were formed in 1939 for the invasion of Poland. They were composed of the Gestapo, Kripo and SD functionaries, and deployed during the classified Operation Tannenberg (codename for murder of Polish civilians) and the Intelligenzaktion lasting till the spring of 1940; followed by the German AB-Aktion which ended in late 1940. Long before the attack on Poland, the Nazis prepared a detailed list identifying more than 61,000 Polish targets by name,Digital version of the ''Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen'' (Special Prosecution Book-Poland)
, at the Silesian Digital Library (Śląska Biblioteka Cyfrowa), Poland. Retrieved May 9, 2012. with the help of the German minority living in the Second Polish Republic. The list was printed as a called ''Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen'' ( Special Prosecution Book–Poland), and composed only of names and birthdates. It included politicians, scholars, actors, intelligentsia, doctors, lawyers, nobility, priests, officers and numerous others – as the means at the disposal of the SS paramilitary death squads aided by Selbstschutz executioners. By the end of 1939 already, they summarily murdered around 50,000 Poles and Jews in the annexed territories, including over 1,000 POWs.Richard Rhodes, ''Masters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust'', Bellona 2008Jochen Bohler, Jürgen Matthäus, Klaus-Michael Mallmann, ''Einsatzgruppen in Polen'', Wissenschaftl. Buchgesell 2008.AB-Aktion
Shoah Resource Center, International Institute for Holocaust Research. Washington, DC.

The SS operational groups were assigned Roman numerals for the first time on 4 September 1939. Before that, their names were derived from the names of their places of origin in the German language.

# ''Einsatzgruppe'' I or EG I–Wien (under the command of ''SS-Standartenführer'' Bruno Streckenbach), deployed with the 14th Army
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 1/I: ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Ludwig Hahn
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 2/I: ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Bruno Müller
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 3/I: ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Alfred Hasselberg
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 4/I: ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Karl Brunner
# ''Einsatzgruppe'' II or EG II–Oppeln (under ''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Emanuel Schäfer), deployed with the 10th Army
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 1/II: ''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Otto Sens
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 2/II: ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Karl-Heinz Rux
# ''Einsatzgruppe'' III or EG III–Breslau (under ''SS-Obersturmbannführer und Regierungsrat'' Hans Fischer), deployed with the 8th Army
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 1/III: ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Wilhelm Scharpwinkel
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 2/III: ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Fritz Liphardt

# ''Einsatzgruppe'' IV or EG IV–Dramburg (under ''SS-Brigadeführer'' Lothar Beutel, replaced by Josef Albert Meisinger in October 1939) deployed with the 4th Army in Pomorze ''(see also EG-''V'')''
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 1/IV: ''SS-Sturmbannführer und Regierungsrat'' Helmut Bischoff
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 2/IV: ''SS-Sturmbannführer und Regierungsrat'' Walter Hammer
# ''Einsatzgruppe'' V or EG V–Allenstein (under ''SS-Standartenfürer'' Ernst Damzog), deployed with the 3rd Army
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 1/V: ''SS-Sturmbannführer und Regierungsrat'' Heinz Gräfe
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 2/V: ''SS-Sturmbannführer und Regierungsrat'' Robert Schefe
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 3/V: ''SS-Sturmbannführer und Regierungsrat'' Walter Albath
# ''Einsatzgruppe'' VI (under ''SS-Oberführer'' Erich Naumann), deployed in Wielkopolska area
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 1/VI: ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Franz Sommer
## ''Einsatzkommando'' 2/VI: ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Gerhard Flesch
# ''Einsatzgruppe z. b. V.'' (under ''SS-Obergruppenführer'' Udo von Woyrsch and ''SS-Oberfürer'' Otto Rasch), deployed in Upper Silesia and Cieszyn Silesia
# ''Einsatzkommando'' 16 or EK–16 Danzig (under ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Rudolf Tröger), deployed in Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze) after the withdrawal of EG-IV and EG-V. The Commando was involved in the massacres in Piaśnica known as "Pommern Katyń" between the fall of 1939 and spring of 1940 conducted in Piasnica Wielka ''(pictured)''. The civilian shooters belonged to '' Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz'' aiding EK–16. During that period approximately 12,000 to 16,000 Poles, Jews, Czechs, and Germans were murdered. Not to be confused with ''Einsatzkommando'' 16 of ''Einsatzgruppe'' E deployed in Croatia ''(see below)''

''Einsatzgruppe'' A

''Einsatzgruppe'' A, attached to the Army Group North, was formed in Gumbinnen in East Prussia on 23 June 1941. Stahlecker – its first commander – deployed the unit toward the Lithuanian border. His group consisted of 340 men from the Waffen-SS, 89 from the Gestapo, 35 from the SD, 133 from the Orpo, and 41 from the Kripo. Soviet troops withdrew from the Lithuanian temporary capital Kaunas (Kovno) the day before, and the city was taken over by Lithuanians during the anti-Soviet uprising. On 25 June, the ''Einsatzgruppe'' A entered Kaunas with the forward units of the German army.

;Commanders:
#''SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei'' Dr. Franz Walter Stahlecker (22 June 1941–23 March 1942)
#''SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei'' Heinz Jost (29 March–2 September 1942)
#''SS-Oberführer und Oberst der Polizei'' Dr. Humbert Achamer-Pifrader (10 September 1942–4 September 1943)
#''SS-Oberführer'' Friedrich Panzinger (5 September 1943–6 May 1944)
#''SS-Oberführer und Oberst der Polizei'' Dr. Wilhelm Fuchs (6 May–10 October 1944)

;''Sonderkommando'' 1a
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Dr. Martin Sandberger (June 1941–1943)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Bernhard Baatz (1 August 1943–15 October 1944)

;''Sonderkommando'' 1b
#''SS-Oberführer und Oberst der Polizei'' Erich Ehrlinger (June–November 1941)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Walter Hoffmann (As Deputy) – (January–March 1942)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Dr. Eduard Strauch (March–August 1942)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Dr. Erich Isselhorst (30 June–1 October 1943)

;''Einsatzkommando'' 1a
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Dr. Martin Sandberger (June 1942–1942)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Karl Tschierschky (1942)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Dr. Erich Isselhorst (November 1942 – June 1943)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Bernhard Baatz (June–August 1943)

;''Einsatzkommando'' 1b
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Dr. Hermann Hubig (June–October 1942)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Dr. Manfred Pechau (October–November 1942)

;''Einsatzkommando'' 1c
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Kurt Graaf (1 August-28 November 1942)

;''Einsatzkommando'' 2
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Rudolf Batz (June–4 November 1941)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Dr. Eduard Strauch (4 November–2 December 1941)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Dr. Rudolf Lange (3 December 1941–1944)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Dr. Manfred Pechau (October 1942)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Reinhard Breder (26 March 1943 – July 1943)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Oswald Poche (30 July 1943–2 March 1944)

;''Einsatzkommando'' 3
#''SS-Standartenführer'' Karl Jäger (June 1941–1 August 1943)
#''SS-Oberführer und Oberst der Polizei'' Dr. Wilhelm Fuchs (15 September 1943–27 May 1944)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Hans-Joachim Böhme (11 May–July 1944)

''Jäger'' Report

The ''Jäger'' Report is the most precise surviving chronicle of the activities of one ''Einsatzkommando''. It is a tally sheet of the actions of ''Einsatzkommando'' 3 — a running total of their killings of 136,421 Jews (46,403 men 55,556 women, 34,464 children), 1,064 Communists, 653 persons with mental disabilities, and 134 others, from 2 July-1 December 1941. A second, major sweep occurred in 1942, before death camp murders replaced ''Einsatzkommando'' open-pit executions. ''Einsatzkommando'' 3 operated in the Kovno ( Kaunas) district, west of Vilna (Vilnius) in contemporary Lithuania.(See also Rollkommando Hamann)

''Einsatzgruppe'' B

The operational command of ''Einsatzgruppe'' B, attached to the Army Group Center, was established under the command of Arthur Nebe a few days after the German attack on the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. ''Einsatzgruppe'' B departed from the occupied city of Poznań (Posen) on 24 June 1941, with 655 men from the Security Police, Gestapo, Kripo, SD, Waffen-SS and the 2nd Company of Reserve Police Battalion 9. On 30 June 1941 Himmler visited the newly formed Bezirk Bialystok district and pronounced that more forces were needed in the area, due to potential risks of partisan warfare. The chase after the Red Army's rapid retreat left behind a security vacuum, which required urgent deployment of additional personnel.

Scrambling to meet the "new threat", Gestapo headquarters in Zichenau (Ciechanów) formed a lesser known unit called ''Kommando SS Zichenau-Schroettersburg'', which departed from the sub-station Schröttersburg (Płock) under the command of ''SS-Obersturmführer'' Hermann Schaper, with the mission to murder Jews, communists and the NKVD collaborators across the local villages and towns in the Bezirk. On 3 July additional formation of ''Schutzpolizei'' arrived in Białystok from the General Government. It was led by ''SS-Hauptsturmführer'' Wolfgang Birkner, veteran of ''Einsatzgruppe'' IV from the Polish Campaign of 1939. The relief unit, called ''Kommando Bialystok'', was sent in by ''SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer'' Eberhard Schöngarth on orders from the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), due to reports of Soviet guerrilla activity in the area with Jews being of course immediately suspected of helping them out. On 10 July 1941, Schaper's unit was split into smaller ''Einsatzkommandos'' due to requirements of Operation Barbarossa. Thomas Urban
"Poszukiwany Hermann Schaper"
Rzeczpospolita, 01.09.01 Nr 204

In addition to mass shootings, ''Einsatzgruppe B'' engaged in public hangings used as a terror tactic on the local population. An ''Einsatzgruppe B'' report, dated 9 October 1941, described one such hanging. Due to suspected partisan activity in the area around the settlement of Demidov, all males aged fifteen to fifty-five in Demidov were detained in a camp for screening. The screening produced seventeen people identified as 'partisans' and 'communists'. Thereafter, 400 local residents were assembled to watch the hanging of five members of the group; the rest were shot.

On 14 November 1941, Nebe told Berlin that, up until then, 45,000 persons had been eliminated. A further report, dated 15 December 1942, established that the ''Einsatzgruppe'' B had shot a total of 134,298 people. After 1943, the mass killings of ''Einsatzgruppe'' B diminished, and the unit was decommissioned in August 1944.

;Commanders:
#''SS-Gruppenführer und Generalmajor der Polizei'' Arthur Nebe (June–November 1941)
#''SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei'' Erich Naumann (November 1941 – March 1943)
#''SS-Standartenführer'' Horst Böhme (12 March–28 August 1943)
#''SS-Oberführer und Oberst der Polizei'' Erich Ehrlinger (28 August 1943 – April 1944)
#''SS-Oberführer und Oberst der Polizei'' Heinrich Seetzen (28 April–August 1944)
#''SS-Standartenführer'' Horst Böhme (12 August 1944)

Around 5 July 1941, Nebe consolidated ''Einsatzgruppe'' B near Minsk, establishing a headquarters and remaining there for some two months. The '' Gruppenführer'' determined that '' Sonderkommando'' 7a and ''Sonderkommando'' 7b and the ''Vorkommando'' Moskau would follow the Army Group Center, while ''Einsatzkommandos'' 8 and 9 clean up to the sides of the spearhead. In compliance, ''Einsatzkommando'' 8 reached Bialystok on 1 July, passed through Słonim and Baranowicze, and began systematic mass killing operations in modern-day southern Belarus ( eastern Poland before World War II).

On 5 August, Nebe moved his ''Einsatzgruppen'' command to Smolensk, where the ''Vorkommando'' Moskau was concentrated. On 6 August, ''Einsatzkommando'' 8 reached Minsk, remaining there until 9 September 1941. From Minsk, it reached Mogilev, which became its general headquarters, and from there ''Einsatzkommando'' 8 effected successive killings in Bobruisk, Gomel, Roslavl, and Klintsy systematically attacking the local Jewish communities, and killing the inhabitants.

Meanwhile, ''Einsatzkommando'' 9 was put to work; they had left Treuburg, in eastern Prussia, and reached Vilna on 2 July. Their main theater of mass killing operations were Grodno and Bielsk-Podlaski (Biala-Podlaska). On 20 July it moved its headquarters to Vitebsk, and then exterminated the citizens of Polotzk, Nevel, Lepel, and Surazh. The command progressed to Vtasma, and from there they killed the communities of Gshatsk and Mozhaisk in the Moscow vicinity. The Soviet counter-offensive forced the ''Einsatzkommando'' to withdraw to Vitebsk on 21 December 1941. Anticipating the fall of Moscow, the ''Vorkommando'' Moskau advanced to Maloyaroslavets, earlier captured by the Wehrmacht on 18 October 1941. In practice, ''Sonderkommandos'' 7a and 7b operated behind the vanguard of the army. The actions were fast, in order to prevent the Jews from escaping the advancing German Army. To the south and east of Smolensk and Minsk, the two ''Sonderkommandos'' left a wake of dead civilians, from Velikiye Luki, Kalinin, Orsha, Gomel, Chernigov and Orel, to Kursk.

;''Sonderkommando'' 7a
''Sonderkommando'' 7a led by Walter Blume, was attached to the 9th Army under General Adolf Strauß. SK 7a entered Vilna on 27 June and remained there until 3 July. Soon Vilna was in the command sphere of ''Einsatzgruppe'' A, and ''Sonderkommando'' 7a was transferred to Kreva near Minsk. The ''Sonderkommando'' was active in Vilna, Nevel, Haradok, Vitebsk, Velizh, Rzhev, Vyazma, Kalinin, and Klintsy. It executed 1344 people.

#''SS-Standartenführer'' Walter Blume (June–September 1941)
#''SS-Standartenführer'' Eugen Steimle (September–December 1941)
#''SS-Hauptsturmführer'' Kurt Matschke (December 1941 – February 1942)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Albert Rapp (February 1942–28 January 1943)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Helmut Looss (June 1943 – June 1944)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Gerhard Bast (June–October/November 1944)

;''Sonderkommando'' 7b
The ''Sonderkommando'' was active in Brest-Litovsk (see the Brześć Ghetto), Kobrin, Pruzhany, Slonim (the Słonim Ghetto), Baranovichi, Stowbtsy, Minsk (the Minsk Ghetto), Orsha, Klinzy, Briansk, Kursk, Tserigov, and Orel. It executed 6,788 people.

#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Günther Rausch (June 1941 – January/February 1942)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Adolf Ott (February 1942 – January 1943)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Josef Auinger (July 1942 – January 1943)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Karl-Georg Rabe (January/February 1943 – October 1944)

;''Sonderkommando'' 7c
See also ''Vorkommando'' Moskau

#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock (June 1942)
#''SS-Hauptsturmführer'' Ernst Schmücker (June 1942 – 1942)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Wilhelm Blühm (1942 – July 1943)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Hans Eckhardt (July–December 1943)

;''Einsatzkommando'' 8
The ''Einsatzkommando'' was active in Volkovisk, Baranovichi, Babruysk, Lahoysk, Mogilev, and Minsk. It executed 74,740 people.

#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Dr. Otto Bradfisch (June 1941–1 April 1942)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Heinz Richter (1 April–September 1942)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Dr. Erich Isselhorst (September–November 1942)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Hans-Gerhard Schindhelm (7 November 1942 – October 1943)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Alfred Rendörffer (?)

;''Einsatzkommando'' 9
The ''Einsatzkommando'' was active in Vilna (see the Vilna Ghetto), Grodno (the Grodno Ghetto), Lida, Bielsk-Podlaski, Nevel, Lepel, Surazh, Vyazma, Gzhatsk, Mozhaisk, Vitebsk (the Vitebsk Ghetto), Smolensk, and Varena. It executed 41,340 people.

#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' (June–20 October 1941)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' (October 1941 – February 1942)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Wilhelm Wiebens (February 1942 – January 1943)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Dr. Friedrich Buchardt (January 1943 – October 1944)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Werner Kämpf (October 1943 – March 1944)

;''Vorkommando'' Moskau
The ''Vorkommando''—also known as ''Sonderkommando'' 7c—was to operate in Moscow, until it became apparent that Moscow would not fall; it was incorporated to ''Sonderkommando'' 7b, where it was active in Smolensk and executed 4,660 people.

#''SS-Brigadeführer'' Professor Dr. Franz Six (20 June–20 August 1941)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Waldemar Klingelhöfer (August–September 1941)
#''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Dr. Erich Körting (September–December 1941)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Dr. Friedrich Buchardt (December 1941 – January 1942)
#''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock (January–June 1942)

''Einsatzgruppe'' C

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

;''Sonderkommando'' 4a
The ''Sonderkommando'' was active in Lviv (see the Lwów Ghetto), Lutsk (the Łuck Ghetto), Rovno (Rovno ghetto), Zhytomyr, Pereyaslav, Yagotyn, Ivankov, Radomyshl, Lubny, Poltava, Kiev (see Babi Yar), Kursk, Kharkiv

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