“..Germany ..reserve ..500,000 fighting men and ..a Replacement Army of 1,200,000 men. It cannot be stressed more accurately that when ..as a consequence of some 3,000,000 German soldiers ..having crossed ..Russian border ..2,000,000 Jews would be murdered as a consequence and to supplement ..goal of Hitler. ..catastrophe we know is The Holocaust was thus fully unleashed! But before these German Forces stood an opposing Army of 4,700,000 Russian troops. With an Axis undisclosed and unaccounted for reserve of a further 4,300,000 Russian troops ..Hitler’s war would not be a one-sided affair.” Patrick Dempsey.
Many of Hitler’s generals, particularly the Panzer ones, were mystified as to the placing of so many tactical Divisions in the West, even into Norway, as Barbarossa was undertaken. There is clear evidence that Hitler’s generals didn’t have faith in his maniacal impulses, but bowed to his more strategic power With that in mind, there is a very good reason why I chose the Wehrmacht’s Army Group Centre, as it directly led toward a place I have been heavily reliant upon to inspire me. Also, and I wish here to counter so many of the connivances of Hitler’s generals who contrived to deny history their fuller picture. It is evident of what was missing from the very evidence of the carnage left in the wake of the movement of Hitler’s forces, both East and North. For this Central Army Group though, it would direct its campaign East of Warsaw heading directly toward Bialystok, passing through Sokoly. Here, amongst many communities, home to so many Polish Jews, there lived a little Jewish Girl, Tovah ‘Tokele’ Olshak, just 1 year old at this time. Eventually, and in Sokoly, where Jewish Survivors emerged to be Murdered by local Poles, and where Tovah ‘Tokele’ Olshak was taken from us, she is at the genesis of this odyssey I have been on for 30 years. So we traverse the steady move toward German defeat in the War, knowing a competing war would be accomplished killing 6,000,000 Jews. What then, in possibly knowing what was perpetrated in their midst, what they did not know is a question remaining redacted, unanswered by well known. What should have been known, by those in command of their areas of operations is as certain as their intelligence was in knowing what enemy forces lay ahead. For those however, who knew of the Slaughter, then their indictment and prosecution should have been more maximised, and yet scored an abundance of complacency which was under-valued by the Allied powers suggested prosecution to the ends of the Earth.
“..gassings are by no means ..worst. ..people dug their own graves ..firing squad arrived ..shot them. Many of them weren’t dead ..a layer of earth was shovelled in between. They had packers there who packed ..bodies in ..because they fell in too soon. ..ss did that. ..I knew an SS leader pretty well ..we talked about this and that ..and one day he said ..if you ever want to film one of ..these shootings ..it doesn’t really matter. These people are always shot in ..morning. If you’re interested ..we still have a few left over ..and we could also shoot them in ..afternoon if you like.” General Edwin Graf von Rothkirch und Trach.
So here in these words is but one intrusion into more than 1,800 miles of territory where unspeakable horrors were heard, seen, observed, but swiftly forgotten. So let us be clear here and I do not say these all of these Generals say anything, witnessed anything or even heard the whispers that must have spread through the area of communications between front and rear lines. But with operations on such a Scale, the entire infrastructure of those Hitlerite forces heading East, should have known what was surrounding them. As these Armies continued their area of Warfare, they must have known what stood to the sides of them, and particularly what remained in the rear of them, for operational integrity. If they didn’t, this would be so negligent in the field of operations, they would be operating blind. So we must ensure with certainty, if they didn’t know, though they should have, and if they did know of the crimes being perpetrated, they should have been prosecuted for War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity.
“..when ..People got there they were told to undress ..put ..shoes in one pile ..clothing in another pile ..driven to ..edges of these mass graves ..and machine-gunned. It was going on all night and ..next day. 15,000 of our people were massacred on that particular day.” Steven Springfield.
I wish to place this before you, and the message from Steven Springfield is clear, and though it concerned elements only of Army Group North, it sparks an urgency as I continue to mark the progress of time, with a growing sense of concern, recognising the certainties which were murderously similar in every way. As we are fast approaching the passing of those essential for us in us knowing all we can of The Holocaust, they are fast receding from us. Many of them have deposited what we will learn from them, but too many, even if that is but a small handful, they will have left their entire human mark upon the World without it recognising what it was they fought to Survive. The Jewish Survivor is a remarkable being, a person of elevated strength who Survived against every conceivable danger that was thrown at them. Here we recognise, and just at this one site alone, that this was a formidable reckoning which exploded over the Jews at this, the Killing Site of Rumbula. As we follow up upon what Kittel brings out of the mirk and darkness, such descriptions as will escalate as Hitler’s forces speed East, North and South, the Jewish People unknowingly awaited a murderous fate.
“..things I’ve experienced. Latvia ..near Dvinsk ..mass executions of Jews carried out by ..SS. ..about 15 SS men ..perhaps 60 Latvians ..known to be ..most brutal people in ..world. ..one Sunday morning ..kept hearing ..salvos followed by small arms fire. ..Men ..Women Children ..counted off ..stripped naked. ..executioners first laid all ..clothes in one pile. Then 20 women had to take up their position ..naked ..on ..edge of ..trench. ..shot ..fell ..into it.” Lt. General Heinrich Kittel.
Here, where at least 25,000 Jews from Riga were Slaughtered, and this was on November 30th 1941 and then again between the period of December 8th 1941 till December 9th 1941, it is a measure of hours not ever wasted in slaying innocent Jewish People. Part of that very reasoning for the Surviving Jews then, who sought to bury the deep pain and hurt they had both endured and could never allow to resurface, is why we look deeper. We must now search longer, and hope to secure a more rounded knowledge of what we know all that the Jewish Survivor fought to endure. It is apparent, when we look to what the Jewish Survivor makes us aware of, what the German generals truly were either informed of, or knew first hand, as the fuller truth emerges to condemn the covering up undertaken. What emerged as an enormously monstrous crime has so affected the civilising direction of all of society, eternity has been indelibly marked.
“..I’m still very guarded about ..people of my generation whom I meet here. They were ..ones who cheered ..Nazis back then. And did nothing to put a stop to what was going on. Everybody knew about it ..and they looked away. Although I came back ..it’s still something that affects me very deeply.” Margot Friedlander.
There are many Jewish Survivors like Margot Friedlander, who guard their presence amongst us, and are guarded against those they viewed looking back at them. Those observing the catastrophe first hand, if not viewing with hate, or even with malice, it was with a combined indifference to the intolerable hatred which fell upon those like Margot, as a Jew. Much in keeping with what I wish to say, Margot states it with an eloquence gained from her immediate experience, and it is with a surety that is first hand and knowing. Though I know of the fuller atrocity I have been writing of, and am more fully aware of this truth, there is so much more I too need to know. It is evident also, that with such knowledge comes responsibility, and in ensuring that, we need to be accurate in every assessment and testimony we provide. In enabling all of history to set before us that accusation of perpetration, participation or simple indifference, it is essential that it is not levelled at every German who might have been inducted into Hitler’s warped orbit of hatred for the Jewish People without recognising its fuller intention.
“..principal task of ..Einsatzgruppe of ..SD was ..annihilation of ..Jews ..Kommissars.” SS Obergruppenfuhrer Erich von Dem Bach-Zalewski.
We know that not every German was a Nazi, nor even that every German knew or was aware of what The Final Solution meant to The Jewish Question. But, and while not every German of Margot’s era can claim that they didn’t know of the destructive capacity of that hatred to kill 6,000,000 Jews, all too many certainly did know, and they did indeed eventually inform upon this awareness. It is also true that not all of the German people were either Nazis or ever supported the regime, but this does not absolve them from every grain of knowledge which permeated the arena surrounding these events. I am mindful also that these Germans, both knowing and unknowing, were all either religious in some aspect of their daily lives. For many, who were morally grounded and ethically charged to uphold the very principles by which they were formerly raised and educated, their moral duty fell more steeply into decline. In this we can be certain, and that education had settled the criteria for many Germans, by which many others willingly followed the example set by Hitler. When we look to the ranks of der Einsatzgruppe, Doctorates were prevalent, University Education was largely presented, and it is apparent that such willing mass murderers had the fullness of credentials which should have allowed their very reason to uphold the moderating standards of humanity.
“..Germans were people ..too. They hid me ..shared their bed and food with me. These were people who did not look away ..who did something that could have cost them their heads.” Margot Friedlander.
It is also imperative in our understanding of this immense confrontation with humanity, that not all Germans, or others, acted against their Jewish Community, Neighbours, or Friends. It is worth reminding the World that the Jewish People, those who Survived everything that was thrown at them, they have Survived sampling somehow the humanity which many placed before their own lives. For these Jewish Survivors, who have entrusted us with their story, we must ensure their integrity is matched to our own in telling every inch of the gruesome detail they have delivered for us. Each individual moment of their ordeal, no matter how ineloquently it is phrased, or how troubled it is in its telling, it arrives at our doorstep to taunt us. It evokes such depths of broken humanity, we cannot ever come to terms with what society, even civilisation must mean in the face of such despicable crimes impossible to comprehend and come to terms with.
“..Jews have to vanish ..annihilated. ..carrying out of larger Jewish actions is not ..task of ..divisional units. They are carried out by civilian or police authorities ..ordered by ..commandant of White Ruthenia ..if he has special units at his disposal ..or for security reasons and in ..case of collective punishments. When smaller or larger groups of Jews are met ..they can be liquidated by divisional units or be massed in ..ghettos near bigger villages designated for that purpose ..where they can be handed over to ..civilian authority or ..SD.” Maj. General Anton von Bechtolsheim.
From the very moment we venture to depict any of the salient points linked to such an atrocity, we are to be haunted by the very necessity that is required to accept that moments of civilisation have died alongside 6,000,000 Slaughtered Jews. For all such similarities of the testimonial evidence’s we gather, they all add such depth so as to enrich the overall depiction of the horror we are so troubled by. With the Jewish Survivors will, and in that very traumatic attempt to come to terms with the sheer incomprehensibility of what we will never understand, they must persevere in face of a growing reluctance today, to learn from the past. We either accept there is a weariness from a desensitised World or accept there is a blatant disregard for knowing the very limits of human comprehension has been reached and this has consequences. It is in our role within history, as somewhat the guardians of the very truth to which we add our own integrity, that we move steadily toward that effort with which we are tasked with. Having to set ourselves upon our search, and so as to ensure all effort is engaged with in passing on the sheer immeasurable and monstrous message we are at liberty to learn from, it is for us to continually pass along the Jewish truths of grief and loss.
“..My loved ones ..overjoyed to receive your parcels. ..it’s like getting a little piece of you. ..I am very well ..my health and ..mood are wonderful. ..looking forward to ..be together again in good health.” Marie Ann ‘Mila’ Racine.
Remember too, that many of those who have left us with such an indelible mark in the overall atrocity, did not Survive, and indeed, some were not Jews. But then, as we settle into the rhythm of a telling of this terrible tragedy, we reflect more deeply and fully upon the interminable atrocity it is, and for all those 6,000,000 who were so ritually Slaughtered, and as Jews. We must come to terms with their loss to us, and it is worth restating this time and again, theirs is the importance we seek in naming those we can recall, and as I have no wish to bring discredited names into my study of The Holocaust, I know history demands the fuller aspects of all that the truth must always present. For those whose mere mention here insults the memory of 6,000,000 Jews, Slaughtered, those recalled as these Germans, citizens, people, communities, soldiers, officers, generals even, they all acted blindfolded to reason. All of these remained deaf to the pleas of Jewish Men, Women and their Children, some 2,000,000 of them on the field of battle, while the Jews were being continuously shot into oblivion. So as we look for the culprits, these perpetrators and participators, we search through an incandescent rage against those many of these who were attached to the Army formations. All of those who where entire Einsatzgruppe Commands, with their subordinate Sonderkommando and Einsatzgruppe units, all operated alongside of their logistical suppliers, and were in consort with all that Hitler demanded.
“..Einsatzgruppe ..established after an agreement between ..Chiefs of ..RSHA ..OKW ..and OKH ..in regard ..use of ..Sipo in ..area of operation. ..Einsatzgruppe ..first appeared during ..Polish campaign. ..agreement with ..OKH and OKW ..first arrived at before ..beginning ..Russian campaign. ..agreement specified ..official of ..Sipo and SD should be assigned to ..Army Groups ..or ..Armies ..and ..this official would have at his disposal mobile units of ..Sipo and ..SD ..in ..form of Einsatzgruppe ..subdivided into Einsatzkommandos. ..Einsatzkommandos should be assigned to ..Army Units as needed ..to ..particular Army Group or Army. ..agreement must have been reached about 1 or 2 weeks before ..beginning of ..Russian campaign. ..As far as ..actual instructions of ..Chiefs of ..Sipo and SD ..concerned ..guided by ..general practice that they could issue orders to ..Army if ..operational situation made it necessary.” SS Gruppenfuhrer Otto Ohlendorf.
For more of the accusation of this collaborative effort, see my own Book on der Einsatzgruppe and The Destruction of European Jewry. As the Author of said work, I always aim to furnish my research more profusely, and with the more exacting and horrifying details. All we will read here, and for this May Blog, it is far more of the inhumanity deployed by Hitler’s legions, civilians, and military that is to remain unbearable. What will not be missing is der Einsatzgruppe dealing most thoroughly with The Jewish Question, and where their motto would have been a resolve that was to become ever more murderous for any Jew, everywhere, the length and breadth of Europe has the evidence’s of their toll upon Jewish existence, under foot. What is clear too, and in Ohlendorf’s own statement, the directives of the Wehrmacht could clearly be overridden by the very explicit demands of der Einsatzgruppe in the field. This then is a most clear indication that Hitler had placed the annihilation of the Jewish People ahead of any other consideration. Far and above the logistical and military demands of Hitler’s invading forces, and more certainly above the mortality of the forces Hitler employed, the annihilation of the Jews was unwritten into the decrees Hitler set before History.
“..Try to make your life. These words shaped my life. I feel that I have accomplished something ..not just for my Mother ..not just for 6,000,000 Jews ..but for ..many millions people who were killed because they didn’t want to do what they were told to do.” Margot Friedlander.
Let us also be clear, and that The Holocaust is about the Slaughter of 6,000,000 Jews, even though we can be certain we are short of the mark in that assessment. But! And I caution a more broadly accepted understanding, and though the Jews were not the only ones targeted, All Jews Were Targeted. It is evident also, that in the midst of Hitler’s vision of a ‘Weltanschauung’, it has been garnered as such and that he, alongside those who fully adorned their levels of atrocity also envisioned that same world without a Jewish existence. Hitler’s patriarchal demands even evoked a Female obedience to that very command, while always excluding the Female from any reach of power. For me it is essential that in the language I use, nothing should deprive The Holocaust of its darkest elements, and if that is the simple use of the word Slaughter, it must convey its extravagant and completely recognised vulgarity.
“..Russian campaign ..to decimate ..Slav population by 30,000,000 ..troop of low characters would have to be formed.” SS Obergruppenfuhrer Erich von dem Bach-Zalewski.
I do not balk from the terms I use and with all research undertaken thus far, I still see Jewish Babies being thrown into a fiery pit as an abhorrent but necessary and descriptive element in all of my work upon the far reaches of The Holocaust term. Also, and the very fact that Jewish Females were Raped cannot be shied away from, and then these vilely treated Jewish Females, and Jewish Males were also subjected to such deviant attention, they were then Shot or Gassed. This final effort so attempted to circumvent the necessary evidences that could have been presented in order to convict them of brutality within Hitler’s demands for ‘Rassenschande’. For all of the convenience of these degenerates and monstrous enactors and enablers, a happy home life still awaited them. Truth was not to be confronted by such despicable deeds as the rape, torture and brutal slaughter of so many of these Jews, and as all in a days work.
“..hardly ..any more talk of a Jewish question. In several places ..provisioning of Jewish children and infants left without parents sometimes created difficulties ..however ..remedial action has since been taken by ..SD.” Lt. General Hellmuth Koch.
We list in the Slaughter of 1,500,000 Jewish Children, destroyed because they were Jews, registering this also as an insult to the very humanity which confronts us. Upon reading the very terms of the Slaughter of 6,000,000 Jewish People, wholly discarded, totally abandoned, and completely destroyed and eviscerated, and all because of their Jewishness. Then, we cannot simply stroll past and ignore the fact that Jewish Females and Jewish Children were a major constituent part of the very ritual of The Slaughter. I do Not sanitize any part of what Hitler intended would be The Final Solution, nor do I temper my disgust at The Jewish Question being resolved so callously, and brutally. The carnage is unrepentant, and my words will offer no solace toward those who acted with such disregard for the very values of a humanity meant to sustain us. So when I mention these coming German generals, I do not point them to as the monsters who acted so monstrously, though within them, we cannot exonerate all of them from the reaches of the evidences presented on their behalf.
“..It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals ..because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them ..because in spite of everything ..I still believe that people are really good at heart.” Anne Frank.
It cannot be reasonable to expect a Child, and Anne Frank was indeed a Child, a Jewish Child, for her ability to render words which educated mass murderers could not formulate. We remark here upon the humanity so glaringly absent, and from these I have no real interest to mention and so place a Jewish Child ahead of them in what inhumanity led to. But! There is this prevailing attitude by far too many toward Seeing No Evil, Hearing No Evil and Never EVER Speaking of the Very Evil they accomplished. Along the widest vista of a war campaign, from North to South, and from West into the East, all that was raged against the Jewish People ran concurrent and adjacent to Wehrmacht logistical concerns. All of this speaks volumes of the very depravity of these legions of willing and monstrous beings, who conducted themselves with such inhuman concerns. The delivery of sustenance and ammunition to such encampments of depravity connected more than logistics to the criminal activity being brutally undertaken.
“..We shot women as if they had been cattle. ..a large quarry where 10,000 men ..women ..children were shot. They were still lying in ..quarry. We drove out on purpose to see it. It was ..most bestial thing I ever saw.” Lt. General Fritz von Broich.
Now imagine these entire Jewish communities, who have not heard of Babi-Yar, Ponary, Belzec, Treblinka or even Auschwitz, what could they possibly know of a Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, who is heading their way. This Wehrmacht commander is accompanied by an Einsatzgruppe detailed to destroy, totally, as many as possible of the Jews they will encounter. The question then resides within history though, and did von Bock even know and in fact, did von Bock even care to ask who the hell was doing all the shooting in his back yard, and within his field of operations? For the Eastern view of what such a murderous steamroller would present to these legions, we look to: Baranovichi 12,000 Jews, Bialystok 50,000 Jews, Bobruisk 26,700 Jews,
October 25th. 1941
Operational Situation Report USSR No. 124
Einsatzgruppe B:
“..In Bobruisk ..during ..time under report ..a platoon of Einsatzgruppe 8 executed 418 persons ..Among them were rebellious Jews and persons who had shielded former Red Army soldiers or who had acted as spies for ..partisans. Some of those executed had committed anti-German agitation ..conducting whisper campaigns and distributing leaflets.” Einsatzkommando Report.
Borisov 10,000 Jews,
October 25th. 1941
Operational Situation Report USSR No. 124
Einsatzgruppe B:
“..In Borisov, another 83 persons were shot individually during the time of this report. They were seditious Jews ..former NKGB agents ..and Communist functionaries.” Einsatzkommando Report.
Brest-Litovsk 21,500 Jews, Bryansk 5,100 Jews, Cherven 1,750 Jews,
September 4th 1941
Operational Situation Report USSR No. 73
Einsatzgruppe B:
“..On ..occasion of a purge in Cherven 125,880 rubles were found on 139 liquidated Jews and were confiscated. This brings ..total of ..money confiscated to date to 1,510,399 rubles.” Einsatzkommando 8.
Deblin 5,800 Jews, Dubno 7,000 Jews, Gomel 21,000 Jews, Grodno 25,000 Jews,
It proved imperative, once I had heard of the mass Slaughter of Kiev’s Jews at Babi-Yar, and both Books I have written to encompass the horrendous detail of 33,771 destroyed over a 2 day period, add to the knowledge required to appreciate this crucial point in The Holocaust agenda. Throughout the entirety of The Holocaust, whether we recall any one of the Death Camps, or the other Killing Sites, the unprecedented level of brutality and murderous endeavour devoured more Jewish People on each of these 2 days at Bab-Yar than was achieved anywhere else in The Holocaust period. Today, as we look back to the prosecution of the annihilation, not even with Hoess at Birkenau could there be a comparison achieved in any 2 day period. Not even at the height of the Hungarian Jewry tragedy could the comparative equation of destroyed Jews be made. For me, it is an imperative to point those who seek from History the very truth to which the integrity of its telling must comply with. Our very needs to examine every aspect of all that was meted out to the Jewish People, and wherever Hitler’s legions encountered them, is a matter of adding one more truth to th fuller integrity already mentioned.
“..When we were in ..Kiev district ..my CO of signals ..came back quite horrified. ..an engineer Battalion commander ..and this engineer Battalion had ..task of blowing up site ..in which were those 32,000 Jews including women and Children.” Lt. General Otto Elfeldt.
Kiev 300,000 Jews,
“..A German Military conference was held on Wednesday September 10th. (1941) which would again set ..seal on ..fate of ..Jews of Kiev. Guderian and Kleist commenced their strangulation of ..Kiev Pocket and began closing ..screw so tightly that no manoeuvring was allowed to ..Russian forces defending their City ..nor its environs. With ..attack in full swing word came in to some of ..elder Jews of Kiev of ..continuing threat that was placed upon ..very body of ..Jewish People.” Patrick Dempsey.
Kowel 24,000 Jews, Lomza 16,000 Jews, Luck 15,879 Jews, Minsk 100,000 Jews, Mogilev 6,400 Jews,
October 25th. 1941
Operational Situation Report USSR No. 124
Einsatzgruppe B:
“..In Mogilev ..Jews also tried to sabotage their removal into ..Ghetto by fleeing en-masse. Einsatzkommando 8 ..with ..help of ..Order Police ..blocked ..roads leading out of town and liquidated 113 Jews.” Einsatzkmmando Report.
Nieswiecz 3,400 Jews, Novozybkov 4,825 Jews, Orel 3,597 Jews, Ostrog 9,240 Jews, Pinsk 30,000 Jews, Przemysl 20,000 Jews, Radzyn 3,000 Jews, Rowne 25,000 Jews, Roslavl 2,935 Jews, Slonim 25,000 Jews, Slutsk 12,000 Jews, Smolensk 14,800 Jews, Sokoly 1,000 Jews, and Tovah ‘Tokele’ Olshak, a 4 year old Jewish Child was Murdered, having Survived Hitler’s resolute intentions, Starodub 3,317 Jews, Stolpce 3,000 Jews, Vitebsk 40,000 Jews,
October 25th. 1941
Operational Situation Report USSR No. 124
Einsatzgruppe B:
“..On October 8th 1941 ..complete liquidation of ..Jews in ..Vitebsk Ghetto began owing to ..imminent danger of epidemics. ..number of Jews who came under ‘special treatment’ amounted to about 3,000.” Einsatzkommando Report.
Vyazma 650 Jews, and Wlodawa 5,650 Jews.
None of these Jews, in any of their communities ever envisaged anything other than a civilised order being imposed upon their already compact communities. Though still recovering from the ages old hatred which has troubled the Jewish People for over 2,000 years, antisemitism was still the preamble to pogroms of every description. For want of any better reason, it appears to me that sheer envy, as being The Chosen People, ensures that this has convinced the religious World of the Jewish People having a priority in some god’s eyes. When we look to educational qualification given over to Jewish pre-eminence, the ignorance of all too many others, non-Jews, then played its jealous and hate filled role in denying the Jews a presence amongst the citizens of the World. Once that presence was radically removed, it’s terminal progress was contained within given areas, and these Ghetto led Hitler directly to the demands for a final transportation. Here, given its illusionary terms, transport East for the Jewish People meant they were destructively removed and toward their annihilation which was to be further away from Western prying eyes.
“..In Poland there is a meaning to defeat that perhaps is unknown in countries differently situated. Along with a strong sense of unity as a people ..there is present an awareness that a defeat in war entails unique and drastic consequences. Other nations may be oppressed and dominated after losing a war ..they may have war reparations imposed on them ..or limits on their army ..sometimes even their boundaries are changed. But when a Polish soldier was beaten on ..battlefield ..spectre of total annihilation swooped down upon ..entire nation ..its neighbours would pillage and divide up its land ..and try to destroy its language and culture. That is why ..to us ..war took on ..character of total war.” Jan Karski.
Here I delve back into my former research period, as I had always assumed I would write about the Second World War period. Even when I looked in on a map which Stahlecker delivered to Hitler’s desk, I was not provoked enough to see a more significant direction. For those troops, some were murderers, many were killers assigned to Army Group Center, these will be recognised within Field Marshal Fedor von Bock’s overall Command. This murderous Gruppe, was to be the forces of Einsatzgruppe B, who were initially Kommanded by SS Brigadefuhrer Artur Nebe. This Einsatzgruppe would operate in the areas South of the Baltic States, within the Ukraine, in Byelorussia and was meant to drive toward Moscow with the major forces directed at it. These Einsatzgruppe joined up with Army Group Center, under von Bock, for their push toward infamy, and found it liberally stretched out before it in every conceivable community they encountered with Jews in them. The initial Kommand centre was first located in and around the district of Malo Yaroslovets, and here, where the entire command set about the local communities with impunity, death for the Jewish People proved relentless.
“..What do I care about Good Friday ..a filthy Jew was hanged umpteen years ago.” Maj. General Wilhelm Ullersperger.
The Einsatzgruppe B structure had some 665 men under its direct command and by Christmas alone, in those first six short few months of 1941, their combined efforts had murdered 46,000 Jews. These are just some of those Jewish losses we bring together to acknowledge such a dereliction of all that humanity must secure. Staff and Vorkommando Moscow 2,457 Jews Murdered, Sonderkommando 7a 1,517 Jews Murdered, Sonderkommando 7b 1,822 Jews Murdered, Einsatzkommando 8 28,290 Jews Murdered, and Einsatzkommando 9 11,452 Jews Murdered. Do not forget, these Slaughters were all under the control of von Bock’s Army Group Centre logistical supply lines and certainly must have posed many significant questions as to the drain placed upon the ammunition needs of this entire Army Group.
December 11th 1938. “..Shortly after ..First War I came to ..conclusion that we should have to be victorious in 3 battles if Germany were to become powerful again:
I ..battle against ..working class ..Hitler has won this
II Against ..Catholic Church ..perhaps better expressed against Ultramontanism and
III Against ..Jews.” Col. General von Fritzsche.
ARMY GRUPPE CENTER under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock.
“..drive on Moscow ..favoured by Guderian ..temporarily abandoned ..August in favour of ..conquest of Ukraine ..might ..yielded decisive results if ..ruthlessly pursued as .. ‘Schwerpunkt’ of ..invasion.” Maj. General Frederick von Mellenthin.
2nd Army General under Maximillian von Weichs, and under General Rudolf Schmidt from November 15th 1941.
4th Army under Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge, who would move to take control of the entire Army Gruppe Centre when von Bock was relieved December 18th 1941, for failures at the Gates of Moscow.
9th Army under General Adolf Strauss.
“..nearing ..final objective ..in this icy cold and ..troops suffering from ..appalling supply situation. ..difficulty of supplying us by railroad ..constantly increasing ..main cause of our shortages ..without fuel ..cannot move.” General Heinz Guderian.
Panzergruppe II under General Heinz Guderian, Panzergruppe III under General Hermann Hoth, and Panzergruppe IV under General Hoeppner. Hoeppner who was originally to spearhead Army Group North and targeting Leningrad was brought into the drive on Moscow, once Hitler dithered and felt enough gains had been made in the drive North.
“..Hitler issued an order to ..Armies operating against Russia that no Russian prisoners would be evacuated to ..German home area. ..reasons were obvious. Hitler wanted no contamination of German people.” General Franz Halder.
V Army Corps under General Karl Ruoff, VI Army Corps under General Wilhelm Forster, VII Army Korps under General Wilhelm Fahrmbacher, VIII Army Korps under Col. General Walter Heitz, IX Army Korps under General Hermann Geyer, XII Army Corps under General Walther Schroth, XIII Army Korps under General Hans Felber, XX Army Corps under General Friedrich Materna, XXIII Army Corps under General Albrecht Schubert, XXIV Panzer Korps under General Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg, XXVII Army Corps under General Alfred Waeger, XXXIV Army Corps under German Hermann Metz, XXXV Army Corps under General Werner Kempfe, XXXIX Panzer Korps under Col. General Rudolf Schmidt, XLII Army Corps under General Walter Kuntze,
“..more unequivocal and ..harder reprisal measures are applied from ..beginning ..less it will become necessary to apply them at a later date. No false sentimentalities! It is preferable that 50 suspects are liquidated than one German soldier lose his life. If it is not possible to produce ..people who have participated in any way in ..insurrection or to seize them ..reprisal measures of a general kind may be deemed advisable ..for instance ..shooting to death of all male inhabitants from ..nearest villages ..according to a definite ratio.” Walter Kuntze.
XL Army Corps under General Georg Stumme, XLIII Army Corps under General Gotthard Heinrici, XLVI Panzer Korps General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, XLVII Panzer Korps under General Joachim Lemelsen, XLVIII Army Corps under General Werner Kempff, LI Panzer Korps under General Hans Reinhard, LIII Korps under General Karl Weisenberger, LVI Panzer Korps under General Ferdinand Schaal, and LVII Panzer Korps under General Adolf Kuntzen.
“..Even if ..figures are not correct ..I mean ..those are things which can absolutely be characterised as criminal ..or even as completely crazy and mad.” Lt. General Ferdinand Heim.
1st Panzer Division under Lt. General Friedrich Kirchner, 1st Cavalry Division under General Kurt Feldt, 2nd Panzer Division under Lt. General Rudolf Veiel, 2nd SS Panzer Division ‘Das Reich’ under SS Obergruppenfuhrer Paul Hausser, SS Brigadefuhrer Willi Bittrich from October 14th 1941, 3rd Panzer Division under Lt. General Walter Model, 3rd Motorised Division under Lt. General Kurt Jahn, 4th Panzer Division under General Willi Erlencamp, 5th Panzer Division under General Gustav Fehn, 5th Infantry Division under General Karl Allmendinger, 6th Panzer Division under Lt. General Franz Landgraf, and Lt. General Erhard Raus, from November 1941, 6th Infantry Division under Lt. General Helg Auleb, 7th Panzer Division under Hans von Funck, 7th Infantry Division under General Paul Ott, 8th Infantry Division under Lt. General Siegmund von Schleinitz, 9th Panzer Division under Lt. General Alfred von Hubicki, 10th Panzer Division under Maj General Ferdinand School, and Lt. General Wolfgang Fischer, from August 2nd 1941, 10th Motorised Infantry Division under Lt. General Friedrich von Loeper,
“..We must uphold ..principle of only having carried out orders. We must stick to that principle if we are to create a more or less effective defence.” Lt. General Ferdinand Heim.
11th Panzer Division under General Ludwig Cruwell, and Lt. General Gunther Angern from August 15th 1941, 12th Panzer Division under Lt. General Josef Harpe, 14th Motorised Division under Lt. General Friedrich Furst, 15th Infantry Division under Lt. General Walter Behschnitt, 16th Motorised Division under Lt. General Sigfred Henrici, and Lt. General Johannes Stretch from August 15th 1941, 17th Panzer Division, General Hans von Arnim, General Karl von Weber, from June 24th 1941, General Wilhelm von Thoma, from July 17th 1941, Arnim returned to his post on September 15th 1941, and Lt. General Ludwig Licht, replacing von Arnim November 11th 1941, 17th Infantry Division under Lt. General Gustav von Zangen, 18th Panzer Division under General Walther Nehring, 18th Motorised Division under Maj. General Friedrich Herrlein, and Lt. General Werner von Erdmaunsdorf from December 15th 1941, 19th Panzer Division under Lt. General Otto von Knobelsdorff,
“..If you shoot people in ..wood or somewhere where no one can see ..that’s your own affair. But I absolutely forbid another day’s shooting here. We draw our drinking water from deep springs ..we’re getting nothing but corpse water there.” Lt. General Heinrich Kittel.
20th Panzer Division under Lt. General Horst Strumpff, 20th Motorised Infantry Division under Lt. General Hans Zorn, 23rd Infantry Division under General Horst von Mellenthin, 25th Motorised Division under Lt. General Erich Clobner, 26th Infantry Division under General Walter Weiss, 28th Jaeger Division under Lt. General Hans Sinnhuber, 29th Infantry Division under Maj. General Walter von Boltenstern, General Max Fremerey, from September 1941, 31st Infantry Division under Maj. General Kurt Kaemkpfe, Maj. General Gerhard Berthold from August 15th 1941, and Maj. General Friedrich Hossbach, 34th Infantry Division under General Hans Behlendorff, Lt. General Friedrich Furst, from October 18th 1941, 35th Infantry Division under Maj. General Ludwig Merker, 36th Motorised Division under Lt. General Otto Ottenbacher, and General Hans Gollnik from October 15th 1941, 45th Infantry Division under Lt. General Fritz Schlieper, 56th Infantry under Maj. General Karl von Oven, 78th Infantry Division under Lt. General Kurt Gallenkamp, 86th Infantry Division under General Joachim Witthoft, 87th Infantry Division under Lt. General Bogislay von Studnitz, 95th Infantry Division under Lt. General Hans Sixt von Arnim, 98th Infantry Division under Lt. General Erich Schroeck,
“..To glorify Hitler as an infallible genius ..whose gigantic designs were frustrated by treachery ..or to condemn him as ..greatest criminal of all time ..would be equally irresponsible and superficial.” Maj. General Frederick von Mellenthin.
102nd Infantry Division under Lt. General Johann Ansat, 106th Infantry Division under Lt. General Ernst Dehner, 110th Infantry Division under Lt. General Paul Seyffardt, 112th Infantry Division under Major General Friedrich Mieth, 129th Infantry Division under Maj. General Heribert von Larisch, 131st Infantry Division under Lt. General Meyer-Beurdorf, 134th Infantry Division under Lt. General Hans Schlemmer, 137th Infantry Division under Maj. General Karl von Krebs, 161th Reserve Infantry Division under Lt. General Hermann Wilck, and Lt. General Heinrich Recke from September 17th 1941, 162nd Infantry Division under General Oscar von Niedermayer, 167th Infantry Division under Lt. General Hans Schonharl, Maj. General Verner Schartow from August 11th August 1941, also Lt. General Wolf Trierenberg that same date August 11th 1941, 183rd Infantry Division under Lt. General Benighus Dippold, 197th Infantry Division under Lt. General Hermann Meyer-Kabingen.
“..Of course ..Hitler knows all about it. Secretly ..he’s delighted. Of course ..people can’t make a row ..they would simply be arrested and beaten if they did.” General Ritter von Thoma.
206th Infantry Division under Lt. General Hugo Hofl, 221st Infantry Division under Lt. General Johann Pflugbeil, 251st Infantry Division under General Hans Kratzert, and Lt. General Karl Burdach from August 6th 1941, 252nd Infantry Division under General Diether von Boehm-Bezing, 255th Infantry Division under Lt. General Wetzel, 256th Infantry Division under Lt. General Gerhard Koffmann, 258th Infantry Division under Lt. General Karl Pflaum, 260th Infantry Division under Lt. General Hans Schmidt, 262nd Infantry Division under Lt. General Edgar Theisen, 263rd Infantry Division under Lt. General Franz Karl, 267th Infantry Division under Maj. General Friedrich von Wachter, 268th Infantry Division under Lt. General Erich Staube, 292nd Infantry Division under Lt. General Martin Dehmel. 293rd Infantry Division under Lt. General Justin von Obernitz, 296th Infantry Division under Lt. General Wilhelm Stemmermann, 403rd Security Division under Lt. General Wolfgang von Ditforth.
“..I must assume ..after all I have read about ..Fuhrer ..that he knew all about it.” Maj.General Johannes Bruhn.
Though there was a three pronged attack constituting Operation Barbarossa, the cross over of effort was a diffusion of competing aims. Largely, Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad were the major targets and roles were allocated to which Army Groups competed to achieve their objectives. Within the scope of this, Hitler’s der Einsatzgruppe were unleashed, each competing toward the Slaughter of some 2,000,000 Jewish People. By July 9th 1941 the advance line had surpassed Minsk and by the end of October 1941 that line stretched to within 50 miles of the Russian Capitol, Moscow. As a unit of der Einsatzgruppe stood before the gates of Moscow, in its wake collapsed many Jewish Communities, butchered along the advancing line of Hitler’s world envisioned plan. As I emerge continuously and into my writing, to the very extraordinary testimony of someone like Hermann Friedrich Graebe, truth impresses its reality deeper than any speculation can do. This affidavit was delivered on November 10th 1945, at the Nuremberg Trials and I am reminded again of the closer proximity to the overall catastrophe which drove all the forces of Hitler’s Reich. Such is this evidence, as is corroborated by this testimony, it fully establishes the clearly defined awareness and the knowledge that wholly permeated the nearness of Army to, and for der Einsatzgruppe aktionen.
“.. I, the undersigned, Hermann Friedrich Graebe, make the following declaration under oath:
From September 1941 to January 1944 I was director and chief engineer of the Zdolbunow branch of the Josef Jung Construction Company of Solingen. In this capacity I had, among my other duties, to visit the firm’s projects. Under the terms of a contract with the army construction services, the company was to build grain warehouses on the old Dubno airfield in the Ukraine.
On October 5, 1942, at the time of my visit to the construction offices in Dubno, my foreman, Hubert Moennikes, living at 21 Aussenmühlenweg, Hamburg-Haarburg, told me that some Dubno Jews had been shot near the building in three huge ditches about 30 meters long and 3 meters deep. The number of people killed daily was about 1,500. The 5,000 Jews who had lived in Dubno before the Pogrom were all marked for liquidation. Since the executions took place in the presence of my employee, he was painfully impressed by them.
Accompanied by Moennikes, I then went to the work area. I saw great mounds of earth about 30 meters long and 2 high. Several trucks were parked nearby. Armed Ukrainian militia were making people get out, under the surveillance of SS soldiers. The same militiamen were responsible for guard duty and driving the trucks. The people in the trucks wore the regulation yellow pieces of cloth that identified them as Jews on the front and back of their clothing.
Moennikes and I went straight toward the ditches without being stopped. When we neared the mound, I heard a series of rifle shots close by. The people from the trucks – men, women and children – were forced to undress under the supervision of an SS soldier with a whip in his hand. They were obliged to put their effects in certain spots: shoes, clothing, and under wear separately. I saw a pile of shoes, about 800-1,000 pairs, great heaps of underwear and clothing. Without weeping or crying out, these people undressed and stood together in family groups, embracing each other and saying goodbye while waiting for a sign from the SS soldier, who stood on the edge of the ditch, a whip in his hand, too. During the fifteen minutes I stayed there, I did not hear a single complaint, or plea for mercy. I watched a family of about eight: a man and woman about fifty years old, surrounded by their children of about one, eight, and ten, and two big girls about twenty and twenty-four. An old lady, her hair completely white, held the baby in her arms, rocking it, and singing it a song. The infant was crying aloud with delight. The parents watched the groups with tears in their eyes. The father held the ten-year-old boy by the hand, speaking softly to him: the child struggled to hold back his tears. Then the father pointed a finger to the sky, and, stroking the child’s head, seemed to be explaining something. At this moment, the SS near the ditch called something to his comrade. The latter counted off some twenty people and ordered them behind the mound. The family of which I have just spoken was in the group.
I still remember the young girl, slender and dark, who, passing near me, pointed at herself, saying, “twenty-three.” I walked around the mound and faced a frightful common grave. Tightly packed corpses were heaped so close together that only the heads showed. Most were wounded in the head and the blood flowed over their shoulders. Some still moved. Others raised their hands and turned their heads to show that they were still alive. The ditch was two-thirds full. I estimate that it held a thousand bodies. I turned my eyes toward the man who had carried out the execution. He was an SS man; he was seated, legs swinging, on the narrow edge of the ditch; an automatic rifle rested on his knees and he was smoking a cigarette. The people, completely naked, climbed down a few steps cut in the clay wall and stopped at the spot indicated by the SS man. Facing the dead and wounded, they spoke softly to them. Then I heard a series of rifle shots. I looked in the ditch and saw their bodies contorting, their heads, already inert, sinking on the corpses beneath. The blood flowed from the nape of their necks. I was astonished not to be ordered away, but I noticed two or three uniformed postmen nearby. A new batch of victims approached the place. They climbed down into the ditch, lined up in front of the previous victims, and were shot.
On the way back, while rounding the mound, I saw another full truck, which had just arrived. This truck contained only the sick and crippled. Women already naked were undressing an old woman with an emaciated body; her legs frightfully thin. She was held up by two people and seemed paralyzed. The naked people led her behind the mound. I left the place with Moennikes and went back to Dubno in a car.
The next morning, returning to the construction, I saw some thirty naked bodies lying thirty to fifty yards from the ditch. Some were still alive; they stared into space with a set look, seeming not to feel the coolness of the morning air; nor to see the workers standing around. A young girl of about twenty spoke to me, asking me to bring her clothes and to help her escape. At that moment we heard the sound of a car approaching at top speed; I saw that it was an SS detachment. I went back to my work. Ten minutes later rifle shots sounded from the ditch The Jews who were still alive had been ordered to throw the bodies in the ditch; then they had to lie down themselves to receive a bullet in the back of the neck.” Hermann Graebe.
Here is what needs to be said when contrasting this evidence from a German who did not stand with Hitler, and whose humanity exemplifies the trust we must all have in humanity itself. With a clear regard to this mangled suppression of evidences, the truth, with what a mass murderer would bring to the History of the Catastrophe, is readily understood by the witness who knows the veracity of the truth that is required. We simply recognise so little from the following quote as to render it inconceivable that we are reading from the testimony of a human being, albeit a monstrous version of one but such is the evidence that some of these monstrous individuals could not contain themselves from releasing. History does not only judge these horrifying individuals, it admonishes those who allowed for the noose of judicious certainty to slip off their necks. Justice simply dissipated in face of the very truth which should have, and could have easily delivered ever more of these hate filled mass murderers to the gallows.
“..sight of ..dead ..women ..children ..not very cheering. ..I think ..you understand me. ..Jews are ..first to feel it. ..wherever ..German ..is ..no Jew remains.” Karl Kretchmer.
When we realize in a single letter, dated October 19th 1942, from Kretchmer who belonged to Einsatzgruppe D, and his unit had been Slaughtering Jews for nearly 16 months, it is a truth which still failed to find guilt in those who acted against the measure of humanity which preserves us. With the admission of a mass murderer, does not the recipient of such confession become complicit, and no longer ignorant to the facts of the Slaughter. But does this only apply to Wives, Mothers, Siblings, Children, Friends, Neighbours or the fuller glut of eager ears that surrounds them. Reckon to that also, that those like Kretchmer, who was a high-ranking officer in Sk4a, can be recognised as operational within the same formation, this exact same unit which delivered Babi-Yar to the meaning of terror, and gives the name of Paul Blobel to infamy.
“..I often ask myself if coming back here was the right thing to do.” Margot Friedlander.
Here, when I research for what to write, it is in my search that I find the compelling means to add to what we must learn from. Recently, I have been countering those who’d suggest the knowledge of the terms Hitler clearly expressed for The Final Solution was little known, amongst far too many who objected to informing us of what they clearly knew. When Elie Wiesel pointed to the fact that not all victims were Jews, but All Jews Were Victims, it is more essential to deliver all the truth too readily being discarded by too many seeking a more distorted view of what the reality was. Then we suspect of nations, and how could countries not know this, see this, or even witness this. My own contention with this has always been, while not all of Europe was guilty, Not All Of Europe Was totally Innocent of the fact. When we await a year when we can then hear from the man charged by Hitler to resolve The Jewish Question, we are left in no doubt his audience is, and has become well aware. This oration at Posen, delivered to over 90 of the highest ranking Gruppen, and distributed to a further 50 or so other Gruppenfuhrer, and this was on October 4th 1943, how much did these need to know of what they were fully immersed in.
“..I am now referring to ..evacuation of ..Jews ..extermination of ..Jewish People. ..easily said ..Jewish People are being exterminated ..this is very obvious ..it’s ..our program ..elimination of ..Jews ..extermination ..we’re doing it ..a small matter. ..then they turn up ..upstanding 80 million Germans ..each one has his decent Jew. ..Most of you ..know what it means when 100 corpses lie next to each other ..when there are 500 or ..1,000. ..a glorious chapter that has not and will not be spoken of.” Heinrich Himmler.
But Himmler was clearly speaking of the final resolve, the extermination of the Jews, and amongst the Higher echelons of his SS empire, they too were clearly speaking of it. The murderers in the First effort, in the Pits, and Ravines were speaking of it. Not only that, der Einsatzgruppe kommanders were certainly engaged in reminding the home front of their savage duty. Perhaps I should not reference my own works so readily, as the object lesson is for their relevance is to be reached for and searched through. There are all too many wishing to by-pass what should be clearly known in favour of what they’d prefer to accept in a sanitised way. For those who are also seeking what it is I have learned, they have simply to open the pages of my Books. However, and while my 2nd Book, der Einsatzgruppe and The Destruction of European Jewry, delivers the specific evidence’s and testimonies which close down pretentious renditions of the lack of knowledge. Evidence was fully known even to the German civilian population, and as I look to find such more of such accusation, which isn’t present in much else that we read of The Holocaust, it is permanently present in all I put into print.
“..I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion ..misery ..and death. I see ..World gradually being turned into a wilderness ..I hear ..ever-approaching thunder ..which will destroy us too ..I can feel ..sufferings of millions and yet ..if I look up into ..heavens ..I think that it will all come right ..that this cruelty too will end ..and that peace and tranquillity will return once more.” Anne Frank.
Finally, I would like to end on February 17th 1945 when history recognises these following Jews listed here, who had previously Survived Hitler’s intentions for them, but could not Survive the rabid intentions of an antisemitic Pole, in Sokoly, Poland.
(1) Tokele, aka Tolkele aka Tulkale, aka Tulka, Olshak,
(2) Shaine(Shaina) (Sheine) Olshak, (3) David Zholti (Zholty), (4) Yankele Litwak, (5) Shaikele (Sheike)(Yehoshua)(Shaikeleh) Litwak, (6) Chaim (Tuvia) Litwak, (7) Shammai Litwak, (8) Batya Weinstein, and (9) David Kostshevski (Koschevsky)(Koschavsky).
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