The Einsatzgruppen

Nazi Paramilitary Death Squads

Definition and Purpose

The Einsatzgruppen were paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany, composed of members of the SS and police forces. They were primarily responsible for systematic mass murder, especially through shootings, in territories conquered by the German army during World War II. They played a central role in the early implementation of the "Final Solution," the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jewish people.

Organization and Deployment

The following table outlines the four main Einsatzgruppen units deployed during the invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) and their areas of operation:

Einsatzgruppe	Commander	Area of Operation	Attached to Army Group
A	Franz Walter Stahlecker	Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)	North
B	Arthur Nebe	Belarus (and central Russia)	Center
C	Otto Rasch	Northern and Central Ukraine	South
D	Otto Ohlendorf	Southern Ukraine, Crimea, Bessarabia	South (11th Army)

Methods and Operations

Origins and Initial Mission

First formed in 1938-1939, the Einsatzgruppen's initial task was to secure government documents and arrest political enemies following annexations like that of Austria. During the invasion of Poland in 1939, their mission escalated to the systematic murder of Poland's intelligentsia, nobility, and clergy to destroy Polish national identity. By the end of 1939, they had murdered tens of thousands of Poles, including Jews.

Mass Murder in the Soviet Union

Their role became genocidal with the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Their stated task was "political security," which was a euphemism for eliminating so-called racial and ideological enemies, primarily Jews, Roma people, and Communist officials. Victims were rounded up, marched to remote locations like ravines or forests, and shot into mass graves. One of the most notorious massacres occurred at Babi Yar near Kiev, where over 33,000 Jews were murdered in just two days.

From Shootings to Gas Vans

The constant, face-to-face killings took a psychological toll on the perpetrators. To increase efficiency and reduce stress, the Nazis introduced gas vans—specially modified trucks where victims were asphyxiated by exhaust fumes. This method was later perfected in the stationary gas chambers of extermination camps.

Scale and Aftermath

Victim Count

Historian Raul Hilberg estimates that the Einsatzgruppen and their auxiliary units murdered more than two million people, including 1.3 million Jews, between 1941 and 1945. By the end of 1941 alone, they had murdered approximately 300,000 Jews, a number that rose to half a million within the next six months.

Post-War Accountability

After the war, 24 senior leaders of the Einsatzgruppen were prosecuted in the Einsatzgruppen Trial (1947-48) as part of the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings. Fourteen death sentences and two life sentences were handed down, though only four of the death sentences were ultimately carried out.

Historical information about the Einsatzgruppen | Educational Resource