Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews (112 page)

(where there are also other witness statements concerning what happened there from

trials 207 AR-Z 14/58 and 201 AR-Z 21/58). See also Ereignis Meldung (EM) 8 and the

collection of documents by Avraham Tory, Surviving the Holocaust: The Kovno Ghetto

Diary (Cambridge, Mass., 1990), 7 ff.

10. EM 19.

11. On Riga see also EM 15 and ZSt, II 207 AR-Z 7/59, judgement of the District Court in

Hamburg.

12. EM 40. Details on events in Jelgava (Mitau) may be found in Andrew Ezergailis, The

Holocaust in Latvia (Washington, 1996), 156 ff.

13. EM 24; Pohl, Ostgalizien, 60 ff.; Hannes Heer, ‘Einübung in den Holocaust: Lemberg

Juni/Juli 1941’, ZfG 40 (2001), 389–408, sees in this pogrom an ‘enactment’ of something

carefully prepared by the Germans.

14. Pohl, Ostgalizien, 69.

15. Ibid. 64–5. The ‘reason’ for the pogrom was the 15th anniversary (delayed by two

months) of the murder of Ukraine’s former (anti-Semitic) prime minister, Simon

Petljura.

16. EM 24, and Bernd Boll, ‘Zloczow, Juli 1941: Die Wehrmacht und der Beginn des

Holocaust in Galizien’, ZfG 50 (2002), 901–16.

17. EM 14 and EM 19. On Sonderkommando 4b see Ogorreck, Einsatzgruppen, 135 ff.

18. EM 14 from 6 July 1941.

19. Ibid.

20. EM 47.

21. EM 10.

22. Andrzey Zbikowski, ‘Local Anti-Jewish Pogroms in the Occupied Territories of Eastern

Poland, June–July 1941’, in Lucjan Doboszycki and Jeffrey S. Gurock, eds, The Holocaust

in the Soviet Union: Studies and Sources on the Destruction of the Jews in the Nazi

Occupied Territories of the USSR, 1941–1945 (New York and London, 1993), 173–9—

where 35 places are named for eastern Galicia alone. Zbi Aharon Weiss, ‘The Holocaust

and the Ukrainian Victims’, in Michael Berenbaum, ed., A Mosaic of Victims: Non-Jews

Persecuted and Murdered by the Nazis (New York, 1990), 109–15 refers to 58 pogroms in

West Ukraine, including Volhynia. On the number of victims, see Pohl, Ostgalizien, 67.

Bogdan Musial, ‘Konterrevolutionäre Elemente sind zu erschiessen’. Die Brutalisierung

des deutsch-sowjetischen Krieges im Sommer 1941 (Berlin and Munich, 2000), 172, makes

reference to numerous other places in which pogroms occurred.

23. EM 47.

24. EM 81 and EM 112.

Notes to pages 195–197

503

25. Pohl, Ostgalizien, 54 ff.

26. Documented in (amongst others) Jacek Borkowicz et al., eds, Thou Shalt not Kill: Poles on Jedwabne (Warsaw, 2001); Antony Polonsky and Joanna B. Michlic, eds, The

Neighbors Respond: The Controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland (Princeton

and Oxford, 2004) and the contributions to YVS 30 (2002).

27. Jan T. Gross, Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland

(Princeton and Oxford, 2001).

28. See in particular the contribution by Edmunt Dimitrów in the volume edited by him

with Pawel Machcewicz and Tomasz Szarota, Der Beginn der Vernichtung. Zum Mord

an den Juden in Jedwabne und Umgebung im Sommer 1941. Neue Forschungsergeb-

nisse polnischer Historiker (Osnabrück, 2004); see also Dariusz Stola, ‘Jedwabne:

Revisting the Evidence and Nature of the Crime’, HGS 17 (2003), 139–52; and Radoslaw

J. Ignatiew, ‘Findings of Investigations 1/00/Zn into the Murder of Polish Citizens of

Jewish Origin in the Town of Jedwabne on 10 July 1941’, in Polonsky and Michlic, eds,

The Neighbors Respond, 133–6, and Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, The Massacre in Jed-

wabne July 10, 1941: Before, During, and After (New York, 2005).

29. BAB, R 70/32, published in Peter Klein, ed., Die Einsatzgruppen in der besetzten

Sowjetunion 1941/42. Die Tätigkeits- und Lageberichte des Chefs der Sicherheitspolizei

und des SD (Berlin, 1997), 320–1.

30. On the early executions by Einsatzgruppe A see Hans-Heinrich, Wilhelm, Einsatz-

gruppe A der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD 1941/42 (Frankfurt a. M., 1996) and the

overview by Wolfgang Scheffler in Klein, ed., Die Einsatzgruppen.

31. EM 24; Ezergailis, Holocaust, 272 ff.

32. EM 24.

33. Judgement of the Hamburg District Court of 21 Dec. 1979. ZSt, 207 AR-Z 7/59. On the

Arajas commando, see Ezergailis, Holocaust, 173 ff.; on the murders in the Bikernieki

Forest, ibid. 222 ff.

34. Klee, ed., ‘Schöne Zeiten’, 122 ff.; Max Kaufman, Churbn, Lettland: The Destruction of the Jews of Latvia (Munich, 1947), 305; Margers Vestermanis, ‘Ortskommandantur Libau.

Zwei Monate deutscher Besatzung im Sommer 1941’, in Hannes Heer und Klaus Nau-

mann, eds, Vernichtungskrieg. Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941–1945 (Hamburg, 1995),

219-26. On the shootings in Liepa

$ ja (Libau) see also the statements by Werner Schäfer,

naval officer, from 16 July 1959 (ZSt, 207 AR-Z 7/59, Red Files, 8, pp. 1557 ff.), Georg

Rosenstock, leader of the 2nd commando of Police Battalion 13, 2 Nov. 1959 (ibid.) and

Kawelmacher, marine commandant of Liepa

$ ja (207 AR-Z 18/58, pp. 22 ff.).

35. ZSt, II 207 AR 1779/66.

36. The so-called Jäger Report (OS, 500-1-25 and USSR Central Document Office 108).

37. Ibid.

38. OS, 500-1-758, telex from the Gestapo office in Tilsit of 1 July 1941 and EM 14. In the trial of former members of the Tilsit Einsatzkommando, which took place in 1958 in Ulm,

the historian Helmuth Krausnick, employed as an expert witness, took the view that the

commando leader, Böhme, had been told on 23 June by the leader of Einsategruppe A,

Franz Stahlecker, that in this border area all the Jews including women and children

were to be shot. This view formed part of the judgement of the court and this fact

was cited again and again by Krausnick as a confirmation of his thesis in favour of an

504

Notes to pages 197–198

early comprehensive order for the murder of the Jews in the occupied Eastern zones. A

closer analysis of the witness statements, however, and of newly discovered documents

shows that this thesis is not tenable (see Longerich, Politik, 326 ff.). The executions

perpetrated by the Tilsit Commando were not the first steps in carrying out a general

order for the murder of all Jews that had only recently been transmitted to the

commando, as Krausnick assumed, but part of a series of ‘reprisal operations’ originally

initiated by the Wehrmacht.

39. EM 19.

40. EM 26.

41. EM 19 and the judgement of the Ulm District Court of 29 Aug. 1958, (¼ Sagel-Grande,

Justiz und NS-Verbrechen, no. 465); Streim, SWCA 6 (1989), 333 ff.

42. See below, p. 31.

43. Also in EM 26. For Himmler’s journey see also the diary of his personal assistant,

Brandt, for 30 June 1941 (BAB, NS 19/3957).

44. OS, 500-1-25 (also ZSt, Dok. SU 401). See also EM 11.

45. On the first murders committed by Einsatzgruppe B in Belarus, see Gerlach, Kalkulierte Morde, 540 ff., and the overview of Einsatzgruppe B by Gerlach in Klein, ed., Einsatzgruppen, 52–70.

46. EM 50, 12 Aug. 1941. On Sonderkommando 7a see also the judgement of the Essen

District Court of 29 Mar. 1965 (¼ Sagel-Grande, Justiz und NS-Verbrechen, xx, no. 588),

and Ogorreck, Einsatzgruppen, 114 ff.

47. EM 50 and judgement of the Essen District Court of 29 Mar. 1965 (¼ Sagel-Grande,

Justiz und NS-Verbrechen, xx, no. 588).

48. Ibid.

49. Ogorreck, Einsatzgruppen, 116 ff., esp. p. 120.

50. Judgement of the Munich I District Court of 21 July 1961 (¼ Sagel-Grande, Justiz und

NS-Verbrechen, xvii, no. 519, pp. 672 ff.); judgement of the Kiel District Court of 8 Apr.

1964 (¼ Sagel-Grande, Justiz und NS-Verbrechen, xix, no. 567, pp. 790 ff.); ZSt, 202

AR-Z 81/59, vol. 1, charge of 19 Apr. 1960.

51. EM 32 (24 July 1941).

52. On the reconstruction of this event, see the judgement of the Cologne District

Court of 12 May 1964 (¼ Sagel-Grande, Justiz und NS-Verbrechen, xx, no. 573,

pp. 171 ff.).

53. ZSt, 208 AR-Z 203/59, C-vol. I, testimony of Bradfisch, 9 June 1958, pp. 2 ff.

54. Ibid.

55. For example in his interrogation on 20 Apr. 1966 (ZSt, 73/61, 6, pp. 1510 ff.). Bach-

Zelewski erroneously dated the meeting as 12 July 1941.

56. See KTB, chapter 3, 13.7 (YV, 053/88): ‘Appeal by Company Chief Lieutenant Colonel of the Protection Police Riebel (special jurisdiction, conduct towards Jews)’.

57. EM 21. See also the judgement of the Berlin District Court of 22 June 1962 (¼ Sagel-

Grande, Justiz und NS-Verbrechen, xviii, no. 540a) and the judgement of the Essen

District Court of 29 Mar. 1964 (¼ Sagel Grande, Justiz und NS-Verbrechen, xx, no. 588);

on the activities of Einsatzkommando 9 in Vilnius cf. Ogorreck, Einsatzgruppen, 125 ff.;

and Yitzhak Arad, Ghetto in Flames: The Destruction of the Jews in Vilna in the

Holocaust (Jerusalem, 1980), 66 ff.

Notes to pages 199–201

505

58. Judgement of the Berlin District Court of 22 June 1962 (¼ Sagel-Grande, Justiz und NSVerbrechen, xviii, no. 540a); ZSt, II 202 AR 72a/60, judgement of the Berlin District

Court of 6 May 1966.

59. 207 AR-Z 14/58, note on Einsatzkommando 3, 27 Sept. 1961, Correspondence File 6,

pp. 1151 ff.

60. EM 21 for 13 July 1941; ZSt, II 202 AR 72a/60, judgement of the Berlin District Court of 6

May 1966.

61. BAB, R 70 SU/32.

62. For the visits on 30 June and 9 July, see Brandt’s diary (BAB, NS 19/3957) and Bach-

Zelewski’s diary (BAB, R 20/45b).

63. On the early executions carried out by Einsatzgruppe C, see the contribution by Dieter Pohl in Klein, ed., Einsatzgruppen, 71–87 and his ‘Schauplatz Ukraine. Der Massenmord

an den Juden im Militärverwaltungsgebiet und im Reichskommissariat 1941–1943’, in

Norbert Frei, Sybille Steinbacher, and Bernd C. Wagner, eds, Ausbeutung, Vernichtung,

Öffentlichkeit. Neue Studien zur nationalsozialistischen Lagerpolitik (Munich, 2000),

135–73.

64. Testimony of Kroeger, 28 Aug. 1967 (ZSt, 76/59, 9, pp. 14 ff.). For further information on Dobromil: ZSt, 204 AR 1258/66, charge of 30 Jan. 1968, and judgement of the Tübingen

District Court of 31 July 1969. According to incident report 24 there were 132 victims.

65. Ogorreck, Einsatzgruppen, 142 ff. Cf. Pohl, Ostgalizien, 60 ff., and Thomas Held, ‘Vom Pogrom zum Massenmord. Die Vernichtung der jüdischen Bevölkerung Lembergs im

Zweiten Weltkrieg’, in Peter Fässler et al., Lemberg—Lwóv—Lviv (Cologne, 1993),

113–66. See also ZSt, 204 AR 1258/66, charge of 30 Jan. 1958.

66. EM 24 (16 July 1941).

67. EM 47 (9 Sept. 1941).

68. EM 86 (17 Sept. 1941).

69. EM 38, EM 47, and EM 86.

70. EM 24; ZSt, 114 AR-Z 269/60, final report, Sonderkommando 4a, 30 Dec. 1964, 150, and

the judgement of 29 Nov. 1968; see also the testimony of Ostermann, 3 Nov. 1965 (12,

2459) and Pfarrkicher, 4 Apr. 1962 (3, pp. 539 ff.). For this and the following operations by Sonderkommando 4a see especially Ogorreck, Einsatzgruppen, 130 ff.

71. EM 14.

72. ZSt, 114 AR-Z 269/60, final report, Sonderkommando 4a, 30 Dec. 1964; Georg Pfarr-

kircher, 4 Apr. 1962 (3, 539 ff.); Johannes Erich August Fischer, 30 Oct. 1963

(7, pp. 1374 ff.); judgement of 29 Nov. 1968.

73. Ibid., final report of 28 Aug. 1962; vol. 2, 387 ff., interrogation of Paul Walter, 24 Oct.

1961; vol. 21, pp. 140 ff., testimony of Heinrich Schlimme, 19 Nov. 1963.

74. EM 47 (9 Aug. 1941).

75. EM 17 (9 July 1941).

76. EM 58 (20 Aug. 1941).

77. EM 47 (8 Aug. 1941).

78. On further ‘reprisal operations’ in the area of Einsatzgruppe C see EM 20 (17 July 1941) and EM 24 (16 July 1941, Dobromil and Zloczow).

79. EM 17 (9 July 1941).

80. EM 43 (5 Aug. 1941).

506

Notes to pages 201–203

81. EM 47 (9 Sept. 1941).

82. EM 58 (20 Aug. 1941). It was not the commando that was responsible for this massacre, however, but the SS Cavalry Brigade. See below, p. 220.

83. Angrick, Besatzungspolitik, 140 ff.; Radu Florian, ‘The Jassy Massacre of June 29–30, 1941: An Early Act of Genocide against the Jews’, in Randolph L. Braham, ed., The Destruction

of Romanian and Ukrainian Jews during the Antonescu Era (New York, 1997), 63–86;

Radu Ioanid, The Holocaust in Romania: The Destruction of Jews and Gypsies under the

Antonescu Regime 1940–1944 (Chicago, 1999), 63 ff. The total number of victims is

disputed (ibid. 85–6).

84. Ioanid, Holocaust, 90 ff.; Jean Ancel, ‘The German-Romanian Relationship and the

Final Solution’, HGS 19/2 (2005), 256–7.

85. Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews (New York, 1985) 771.

86. Activity and Situation report no. 1, NO 2651, published in Peter Klein, ed., Die

Einsatzgruppen, 112 ff. and 121.

87. On the early executions carried out by Einsatzgruppe D, see Angrick, Besatzungspolitik, 131 ff., and the overview by the same author in Klein, Einsatzgruppen, 88–110. There is

an English version: ‘The Escalation of German-Romanian Anti-Jewish Policy after the

Attack on the Soviet Union’, YVS 26 (1998), 203–38.

88. EM 25; Angrick, Besatzungspolitik, 165 ff.

89. EM 37 and RH 20/11–488, report Ic/XXX AK of 2 Aug. 1941 (¼ NOKW 650) and further

documents in the same folder; cf. also the account in Angrick, Besatzungspolitik, 166–7,

Ogorreck, Einsatzgruppen, 153–4, and Krausnick, ‘Einsatzgruppen’, 238–9.

90. BAM, RH 20-11/488, report by Sonderkommando 10b to Army Group South, 9 July 1941

(¼ NOKW 587 and 3453); cf. Angrick, Besatzungspolitik, 148 ff.; Ogorreck, Einsatz-

gruppen, 154–5.

91. EM 40.

92. Ibid. Chotin, for example, was ‘gone through’, and ‘150 Jews and Communists were