During the Second World War, the Nazis committed one of the greatest genocides in human history: the burnt offering. He mainly promoted the persecution of Jews in Europe. However, it is important to note that other minorities were persecuted by the Nazis during the 1930s and 1940s, such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Gypsies.
This action against Jews was part of the rhetoric and ideology promoted by hitler since the 1920s and resulted in a gigantic persecution across many parts of Europe. The German leader's plans for these people was total extermination after the end of World War II.
However, Hitler was convinced by Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich to impose the Final Solution with the ongoing war. THE Final Solution it was the term used by the Nazis to define the plan to exterminate Europe's Jews. Himmler and Heydrich's policy was to execute those who could not work and enslave to death those who were able to work.
One of the stages of the holocaust promoted by the Nazis was the action of death squads called
Einsatzgruppen, which means “task force” in German. This grouping had been created by Nazi Germany in 1938 during the annexation of Austria (called the Anschluss).From 1939 onwards, the Einsatzgruppen was placed under the leadership of Reinhard Heydrich. With the beginning of the war, this grouping had the mission of promoting the pacification of the rear as the German army advanced territorially. O Einsatzgruppen it was made up of members of the Gestapo, the army and the SS.
Acting in Eastern Europe
With the invasion of poland, O Einsatzgruppen was responsible for eliminating the intelligentsia Polish – action similar to that of the Soviet Union in the Katyn massacre. The intention of this was, from the elimination of the Polish educated class, to make the local society incapable of resisting the enslavement process imposed by the Nazis. Historian Timothy Snyder claims that in this mission against intelligentsia Polish, the Einsatzgruppen killed about 50,000 people|1|.
Subsequently, the Einsatzgruppen was responsible for carrying out the order defined by Hitler against the Jews: extermination. Thus, in Poland, in the Baltic countries and in the territories conquered by Germany in the Soviet Union, this grouping contributed to the death of thousands of Jews.
The performance of the Einsatzgruppen it consisted of invading villages and places inhabited by Jews. First, they were stripped of all their possessions and then executed in different ways, however, the main form of execution used was shooting.
The order to execute the Jews was given by Heinrich Himmler as per the order transmitted by Adolf Hitler. Below is Timothy Snyder's account of the performance of Einsatzgruppen from 1941:
In July 1941, Himmler made a private tour across the western part of the Soviet Union in order to convey the latest information: Jewish women and children should be eliminated along with men Jews. Ground forces reacted quickly. The Einsatzgruppe C, which accompanied Army Group South in the Ukraine, had been slower than the Einsatzgruppe A (Baltic countries) and Einsatzgruppe B (Vilnius and Belarus) to carry out the shootings Jewish collectives. But then, with Himmler's encouragement, Einsatzgruppe C wiped out some 60,000 Jews in August and September. It was organized shootings, not pogroms|2|.
The function of the Einsatzgruppen in the extermination of Jews it was fulminating. An example of this is the Babi Yar Massacre, in which the Einsatzgruppen C executed about 33,000 Jews in approximately 36 hours. The performance of this group ended up being progressively replaced by the use of concentration camps from 1942. Historians estimate that the Nazi actions against the Jews (including the action of the Einsatzgruppen) caused the death of 1 million people by December 1941|3|.
|1| SNYDER, Timothy. Lands of Blood: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2012, p. 166.
|2| Idem, p. 247.
|3| Idem, p. 270.
*Image credits: Everett Historical and Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/einsatzgruppen-os-grupos-exterminio-nazistas.htm