The Einsatzgruppen and the Role of the German Army in the Genocide - Term Paper Example

The Einsatzgruppen and the Role of the German Army in the Genocide The Holocaust, like any historical event, evokescertain images such as piles of corpses in mass graves, emaciated victims in dirty uniforms, concentration camps, etc. (Langerbein 16). All these are accurate images representing the horrific events executed by the German Nazis in the Holocaust. However, these are merely the outcome of the genocide systematization conducted by the Third Reich. The reality of the genocide did not originate in the gas chambers or concentration camps but with four mobile killing units called the Einsatzgruppen (Langerbein 24). An Introduction to the Einsatzgruppen The Einsatzgruppen were formed by Heydrich and Himmler and were composed of special German SS mobile formations and police personnel. They were tasked with the execution of mass killings of Jews, communist functionaries, and racial or political enemies of the German Nazis. The Einsatzgruppen carried out their operations during the invasion of the Soviet Union under the command of Security Service officers and the German Security Police. They were responsible for the mass murder of men, women and children with the assistance of local militias and the German army units. The Einsatzgruppen were made up of four paramilitary units namely; Einsatzgruppen A, B, C and D. The first three were attached to army units conducting the Soviet invasion while Einsatzgruppen D was based in Ukraine where it operated independently. All four groups operated in territories on the Eastern front, which were captured and occupied by the Third Reich. The Einsatzgruppen mostly enacted its war crimes in Ukraine and the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. Heydrich negotiated with Eduard Wagner, the Quartermaster of the German army, and it was agreed that the army would control the Einsatzgruppen in the frontlines. However, the authority of the army would not extend to the rear areas and in the operation area unless it involved tactical matters. The outcome was the Einsatzgruppen enjoying operational independence only taking orders directly from Heydrich and Himmler. Plans to establish other similar units in other Nazi-occupied territories were never implemented. In 1939, the Third Reich used similar units also called Einsatzgruppen to accompany the Army units during the invasion of Poland. They accomplished the same tasks including the arrest or execution of the Polish intelligentsia such as priests. However, they were not responsible for mass murders such as those perpetrated during the Soviet invasion. The Einsatzgruppen that participated in the invasion of the Soviet Union were newly trained units formed just before the invasion. There were neither connected to the Einsatzgruppen nor participated in the invasion of Poland (Bergen 101). The Purpose of the Einsatzgruppen The trial of Adolph Eichmann by Dr. Musmanno provided the most compendious definition of the purpose of the Einsatzgruppen. He stated that the purpose of the Einsatzgruppen was to kill Jews and confiscate their property. During the Nuremberg Trial, SS General Erich Zelewski confirmed this when he testified that the primary task of the Einsatzgruppen was to annihilate the gypsies, Jews, and political commissars. On several occasions, the Einsatzgruppen received direct orders from Heydrich and Himmler. In June 1941, two meetings were held by the leaders of the Einsatzgruppen to brief the units as to their tasks. Heydrich held a third meeting in late June to inform the commanders on the plans for their operations. Otto Ohlendorf was the commander of Einsatzgruppen D, and he had a close association with Himmler. Otto was the last surviving commander, and he confirmed these orders in his testimony at the Nuremberg Trial. Otto indicated that Himmler assembled the leadership and men of the Einsatzgruppen, went over the liquidation order and specified that the Einsatzkommandos bore no responsibility for the execution of this liquidation order. It is difficult to trace the development process of the Einsatzgruppen orders to liquidate the Jews in the occupied territories. The process seems to have originated in March 1941, during the development of Operation Barbarossa that constituted Hitler’s orders to invade the Soviet Union in December. During the planning stage of the Soviet Union invasion, decisions were made to use the services of the SD units to accomplish various political actions. General Keitel, the OKW commander, provided an additional provision to Barbarossa detailing special tasks free from the military requirements of the Soviet invasion; Himmler would supervise this. Keitel indicated that the Reichsfuehrer-SS was assigned particular tasks by the Fuehrer to prepare for the political administration. He added that the Reichsfuehrer-SS had the authority to act independently when undertaking these special assignments (Langerbein, 25). There were instructions to close the Soviet Russian-German border to non-military personnel traffic, except for the police units that would be deployed by the Reichfuehrer-SS on the Fuehrer’s orders. The initial policy was directly communicated to the Einsatzgruppen officers, and it was later embodied in the Commissar Order issued by Himmler; it was never revoked. The Commissar Order was issued on July 1941, calling for further treatment and separation of all Jews. The men in each Einsatzgruppen were approximately 600 to 1000 with many of them comprising of the support staff. The active Einsatzgruppen members were selected from different non-military and military organizations belonging to the Third Reich. The SS military arm, the Waffen-SS, provided most of these active members. For instance, Einsatzgruppen A comprised of 340 active members from the Waffen-SS while the Order Police were having nearly half of this with 133 active members. All the Einsatzgruppen groups were subdivided into operational subunits called Sonderkommandos or Einsatzkommandos. The largest proportion of men, women, and children killed by the Einsatzgruppen were Jews. The rest included Romany gypsies, those suspected to be guerilla fighters or partisans against the invading German armies, those defying the occupation of the Third Reich, and functionaries of the Communist Party. However, in all these cases, the murders were against any form of accepted law. Although it is not an exact figure, it is estimated that 1.5 million people fell victim to the Einsatzgruppen massacres. The figures were drawn from detailed reports that the Einsatzgruppen submitted to their superiors. The reports were presented through written communication and by radio, and they contained accurate records of the actions of the Einsatzgruppen. Evidence of the Einsatzgruppen Crimes The detailed information in the reports that specified the acts of robbery and murder by the Einsatzgruppen provide the best evidence of the Einsatzgruppen crimes. The American army found piles of written reports from the Einsatzgruppen when they captured the Gestapo headquarters. The reports in the collection were divided into two categories namely, Activity/Situation and Operational Reports. They consisted of monthly compilations of activities of all the Einsatzgruppen units. The Operational Reports had information from various units providing specific accounts of the executed murders and stolen property. The reports were numbered in sequences, and they were all found in the Third Reich archives except for one of the Situation Reports. The German government is holding the original reports in the archives at Coblentz where scholars and historians can access them. The reports portray a complete image of the actions of the Einsatzgruppen. Since they had the highest approval of the Third Reich, they represent the best evidence of the crimes committed by the Einsatzgruppen. The scope of these reports is shocking, and the unsympathetic attitude towards mass killings is distressing (Langerbein 8). Direct evidence was presented in the trial of the only surviving commander, Otto Ohlendorf, and that of 22 SS members charged with the crimes of the Einsatzgruppen. Dr. Musmanno, the presiding judge at the trial, sentenced fourteen of these defendants to death. The reports were compared to check their accuracy at Heydrich’s headquarters, but their authenticity has not received any serious objections. The U.S. Army found the original copies of the reports when they searched the Gestapo archives. A complete set was initially introduced at the trial of 23 affiliates of the Einsatzgruppen. Various witnesses at the trial admitted their participation in creating or receiving these reports. They all confirmed the accuracy and authenticity of the reports in their testimonies. The original reports are available in the archives at Coblentz, Germany. A complete set of copies is available at the US National Archives, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and in Yad Vashem. During his trial, Otto Ohlendorf was questioned about a report written by the commander of Einsatzgruppen A, Stahlecker. Otto admitted having knowledge of the contents of the report including the part where Stahlecker writes how his group murdered 135,000 Communists and Jews. Otto deemed the contents of the report to be authentic since he knew Stahlecker in person. Kurt Lindow was an important witness at the Einsatzgruppen trials. Lindow testified that he was responsible for receiving arriving reports and for distributing them. Lindow indicated that he read many of the reports before he passed them to the Inspector of the Criminal Police, Dr. Knoblach. The reports were compiled and published before being distributed. The original reports went through the Reich Security Main Office for the Einsatzgruppen commander or his deputy to sign. Lindow verified the authenticity of the reports in evidence by confirming the initials on the reports that belonged to his superiors. The reports have been presented to other courts that have confirmed their accuracy. For instance, the Jaeger Report covered the killings in Lithuania by the Einsatzkommandos 3, a subunit of Einsatzgruppen A. It was used in the trial of Jonas Stelmokas who was an alleged officer in a militia unit in Lithuania that conspired with Einsatzgruppen A. The defense objections of the report were considered, and the courts established that the Jaeger Report was reliable and authentic. The evidence in the reports was strengthened by the direct testimony of those responsible for the crimes and the bystanders who witnessed these crimes. Various witnesses testified during the trials of the Einsatzgruppen crimes. In both trials, direct evidence was presented and heard by the courts, and the defendants were convicted. The arguments portraying these trials as show trials are not plausible due to the scrupulous nature of the attention given to conducting a fair trial. Witnesses were cross-examined, evidence was presented on everyone’s behalf, and documents were challenged without limitation. The courts were attentive to allow the defendants to present a complete defense. During the trial of the Einsatzgruppen leaders, Justice Musmanno overruled an objection from the prosecution that one defendant was forced into duty. The judge stated that the defense could present evidence describing the defendant’s lives, if they can prove that the habits of the defendants are relevant evidence to the court. After the trial, the defense attorneys showed their appreciation to Justice Musmanno for the fair and honest treatment of their clients. Other defense attorneys made requests for this ruled to be applied in subsequent trials. The defendants in both trials neither challenged the accuracy of the reports nor denied the occurrence of the massacres despite the wide latitude available to them. The Crimes of the Einsatzgruppen and other Participants Dr. Musmanno, the presiding judge at the trials, indicated that the Einsatzgruppen killed well over one million men, women, and children; they also stole their property. The only possible conclusion from the reports submitted by the Einsatzgruppen to their superiors is that most of the victims, who were mainly Jews, were robbed and killed. The defense did not present any other reason during the trials, and none was found in the reports. The Jaeger Report was notable for detailing the massacres by the Einsatzgruppen A subunits, Einsatzkommandos 3 and 8, in the Vilna-Kaunas area of Lithuania. The lengthy report described the killing of over 130,000 people in a short period of five months. Six sheets in the report listed the murders accomplished by Einsatzkommandos 3 and 8. The report concluded that the objective of eliminating the Jewish problem for Lithuania was achieved. In addition, the report contained information about the amount of property stolen from the victims. The Einsatzgruppen cooperated with other entities when undertaking its operational activities. The Einsatzgruppen used the assistance of the Wehrmacht, the German army, and local militia groups that were willing to participate in the massacres. During the killing of 33,771 Jews at Babi Yar, Sonderkommandos were assisted by two Ukrainian commandos. In a Lithuania Operational Report, it was indicated that around 205 Lithuanian partisans were retained, sustained and deployed for various executions. The Einsatzgruppen usually encouraged the participation of local militia in Ukraine as a way to induce the locals in their programs, and because they needed their help. Many more instances were established where the local militias cooperated with the Einsatzgruppen. In 1941, Lithuanian militia assisted the Einsatzgruppen in killing 9,200 Jews at Kaunas in Lithuania. The local militias that cooperated were mostly paid with the valuables stolen from the victims. The Massacre Victims were not Partisans The testimony of defendants in the trials and the reports demonstrated that the claims that the Einsatzgruppen dealt with partisans were inaccurate. SS General Erich Von Dem Bach-Zelewski was responsible for all the anti-partisan warfare and he testified that the Einsatzgruppen did not participate in any anti-partisan activity. He indicated that the sole purpose of the Einsatzgruppen was the annihilation of gypsies, Jews, and Communists (Bergen 147). The general added that anti-partisan activities were conducted by formations of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS, of the regular order police. The general’s testimony was consistent with the reports written by the Einsatzgruppen. Most reports categorized the victims based on age and sex. The entries in the reports established that most of the victims were women and children. During his trial, commander Otto did not claim that the victims were partisans. Instead, he explained to the court that the liquidation order did not only provide a temporary solution but a permanent one to the security of Germany. He justified the murder of children by indicating that they would eventually grow up and present an equal threat as that of their murdered parents. Ohlendorf was not only speaking as a dedicated national socialist; he was quoting the words of Himmler, his superior and close associate. The Methods of the Einsatzgruppen The Einsatzgruppen gathered their victims and transported them to a central location where they shot them. They rounded up their victims through organized manhunts with the help of local militias. The victims were taken to remote locations with existing ravines, quarries, or Soviet anti-tank ditches. When no such options were located, the victims are instructed to dig their own graves. Before they are executed, the victims were stripped of their valuables and undressed. They were ordered to stand before the open trench or lie face down in the hole where they were shot dead. The victims were mostly massacred in huge numbers proving to be exhausting to the soldiers. In addition, the mass killings inflicted psychological burdens on the soldiers. Therefore, methods that are more efficient were developed including gas vans that killed the victims in bulk. The mobile gas chambers drew carbon monoxide gas from the motor’s exhaust to kill the victim (Gitlin 104). Wehrmacht Complicity in the Genocide On September 1, 1939, Germany embarked on an indiscriminate and murderous campaign with the invasion of Poland. The unmitigated cruelty perpetrated by the Einsatzgruppen and other paramilitary forces is clearly documented in history books. For a while, there was no mention of the crimes committed by the Wehrmacht in any of the major documentation of the Holocaust. Various historiographies have emerged with exhibits portraying the violent persecutions conducted by the Wehrmacht. In addition, they demystified the myth that the Wehrmacht operated independently from all these other units involved in the Holocaust-related crimes. Throughout the war, the Wehrmacht had an active or passive participation in the killing of millions of victims. This murderous campaign saw regular Germans being compelled to comply or engage in genocidal acts. By 1933, Hitler had declared the Wehrmacht to be the second pillar of the state (Wette 2). The enormous emphasis placed on the Wehrmacht created its significant standing in Nazi Germany. Hitler designed the German soldier to be his personal executioner by politicizing the military. Indoctrinating the Wehrmacht The Wehrmacht placed their justifications on the indoctrination of ideology and the duty to serve the state. The Wehrmacht soldiers did not bear any responsibility because they considered themselves small men who are only following orders (Gitlin 81). The Wehrmacht soldiers used their call to duty for moral justifications demonstrating a vague understanding of duty. One soldier indicated that they did not understand the Soviet Russian campaign, but they received orders that they were expected to follow. The German government utilized propaganda to transform the ordinary German man into a submissive and sycophantic soldier (Wette 169). For the soldier to follow terroristic orders, it required more than the standard form of indoctrination. Therefore, Hitler established an all-encompassing method of indoctrination. Indoctrination started early in Germany, mainly in Hitler Youth where the regimentation of boys occurred. The indoctrination of radical Nazis is traced to the Hitler Youth program. The ongoing economic destitution in Nazi Germany hampered the spirits of many Germans. Hitler Youth opened avenues of opportunities for young dispirited German boys. The young members experienced various tactics of regimentation and indoctrination during the program; they experienced the same when they conscripted into the Wehrmacht. In the Wehrmacht, it was standard procedure for the training officers to physically and mentally break the young recruits (Wette 253). Politicizing the Military Hitler placed much importance in the creation of a military defined by a political ideologue. Hitler declared the Wehrmacht to be the second pillar of the state behind the Nazi party. German militarism included establishing a tyranny at home as to how they treat captured territories. No distinction existed between the military assignments and the tasks conducted by the party. Hitler was the supreme commander of the Wehrmacht, and this influenced the indoctrination of soldiers and affected the generals’ way of thinking (Wette 78). In 1938, the OKW was established to replace the Ministry of War, and Hitler assumed command of the Wehrmacht. The function of military guidance and war planning was awarded to Hitler and his OKW directors. By the end of 1941, Hitler replaced General Walther as the Commander in Chief of the Army. Hitler acquired complete control of the Wehrmacht. War Preparation The notion of a less-than-human enemy is critical to understanding the soldier’s motivation to wage a criminal war campaign. The Nazi party was successful in endorsing a moral exemplification of the enemy enabling this transformation to materialize. The soldiers grew tolerant to the apparent denial of dignity to the enemy due to this moral exemplification that emerged in their individual frameworks. The Wehrmacht faced difficult geographic conditions in the east while facing an enemy that they undermined. The Nazi high command did not seek to provide too much literal propaganda. They relied on a more efficient mode of indoctrination where the soldier was stacked against a savage enemy. Indoctrination met its physical form and together with the disdain for the uncivilized East, depicted Jews as the aggregate enemy. Therefore, the exposure of soldiers to foreign fronts enabled the radicalization of anti-Semitism that was previously passive. The uninhibited warfare that ensued was augmented with these radical campaigns to further harden the soldier. The leadership of the Third Reich used the mass murder of Jews and Slavs to radicalize and indoctrinate the army. The Wehrmacht soldier was thus prepared to wage a war campaign not against another army, but against civilians. The untraditional form of war that the Wehrmacht engaged in would bear a massive psychological impact on the soldiers. The Wehrmacht undertook the role of the Nazi arms bearer when the Eastern front war erupted; this would cost the enemy to unbelievable margins. Works Cited Bergen, Doris L. The Holocaust: A Concise History. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009. Print. Gitlin, Marty. The Holocaust. Edina, Minn: ABDO Pub. Co, 2011. Print. Langerbein, Helmut. Hitlers Death Squads: The Logic of Mass Murder. College Station, Tex: Texas A&M University Press, 2003. Print. Wette, Wolfram. The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Univ. Press, 2006. Print. Read More