Horrors+of+Nazi+Occupation+(2)

EINSATZGRUPPEN

When most people think of the Holocaust, they think of concentration camps, with their death chambers where millions would be killed by poison gas. This certainly was the way that most of the victims of the Nazi crimes met their end. However, a lesser known part of the Holocaust was carried out by the //Einsatzgruppen.// //Einsatzgruppen// were groups of SS soldiers who roamed across Eastern Europe and Russia (following the regular army’s invasion) killing all the Jews that they found, on the spot, rather than collecting them and having them sent to concentration camps.

Basically, they brought the Holocaust wherever they went. The //Einsatzgruppen// killings are less known than the death camps because not many people survived who witnessed them. Some records do remain, though. For example, the following link will take you to an eye-witness account of a German who wasn’t in the SS, but just happened to see what horrible acts they committed. [] Read his account and jot down notes (on a separate piece of paper) on what the //Einsatzgruppen// did. Then go to [] and read about the actions of the SS in a predominantly Jewish area called Mogilev. Take notes which add info to how awful Nazi occupation of the USSR was.