Einsatzgruppen Einsatzgruppen ( German for " task forces " , " " deployment groups " " ; singular " Einsatzgruppe " ; official full name Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD ) were " Schutzstaffel " ( SS ) paramilitary death squad s of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass killings , primarily by shooting , during World War II . The " Einsatzgruppen " had a leading role in the implementation of the Final Solution of the Jewish question ( " Die Endlösung der Judenfrage " ) in territories conquered by Nazi Germany . Almost all of the people they killed were civilians , beginning with the Polish intelligentsia and swiftly progressing to Soviet political commissar s , Jews , and Gypsies throughout Eastern Europe . Under the direction of " Reichsführer - SS " Heinrich Himmler and the supervision of SS - " Obergruppenführer " Reinhard Heydrich , the " Einsatzgruppen " operated in territories occupied by the German armed forces following the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and Operation Barbarossa ( the invasion of the Soviet Union ) in June 1941 . The " Einsatzgruppen " carried out operations ranging from the murder of a few people to operations which lasted over two or more days , such as the massacre at Babi Yar ( 33 , 771 killed in two days ) and the Rumbula massacre ( 25 , 000 killed in two days ) . As ordered by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler , the Wehrmacht cooperated with the " Einsatzgruppen " and provided logistical support for their operations . Historian Raul Hilberg estimates that between 1941 and 1945 the " Einsatzgruppen " and related auxiliary troops killed more than two million people , including 1 . 3 million Jews . The total number of Jews murdered during the Holocaust is estimated at 5 . 5 to six million people . After the close of the World War II , 24 senior leaders of the " Einsatzgruppen " were prosecuted in the Einsatzgruppen Trial in 1947 – 48 , charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes . Fourteen death sentences and two life sentences were handed out . Four additional " Einsatzgruppe " leaders were later tried and executed by other nations . Formation and Action T4 . The " Einsatzgruppen " were formed under the direction of SS - " Obergruppenführer " Reinhard Heydrich and operated by the " Schutzstaffel " ( SS ) before and during World War II . The " Einsatzgruppen " had its origins in the ad hoc " Einsatzkommando " formed by Heydrich to secure government buildings and documents following the " Anschluss " in Austria in March 1938 . Originally part of the " Sicherheitspolizei " ( Security Police ; SiPo ) , two units of " Einsatzgruppen " were stationed in the Sudetenland in October 1938 . When military action turned out not to be necessary because of the Munich Agreement , the " Einsatzgruppen " were assigned to confiscate government papers and police documents . They also secured government buildings , questioned senior civil servants , and arrested as many as 10 , 000 Czech communists and German citizens . From September 1939 , the " SS - Reichssicherheitshauptamt " ( Reich Main Security Office ; RSHA ) had overall command of the " Einsatzgruppen " . As part of the drive to remove undesirable elements from the German population , from September to December 1939 the " Einsatzgruppen " and others took part in Action T4 , a programme of systematic murder of the physically and mentally handicapped and psychiatric hospital patients undertaken by the Nazi regime . Action T4 mainly took place from 1939 to 1941 , but continued until the end of the war . Initially the victims were shot by the " Einsatzgruppen " and others , but gas chamber s were put into use by spring 1940 . Invasion of Poland . In response to " Führer und Reichskanzler " Adolf Hitler ' s plan to invade Poland , Heydrich re - formed the " Einsatzgruppen " to travel in the wake of the German armies . Membership at this point was drawn from the SS , the " Sicherheitsdienst " ( Security Service ; SD ) , and the police . Heydrich placed SS - " Obergruppenführer " Werner Best in command , who chose leaders for the task forces and their subgroups , called " Einsatzkommando s " , from among educated people with military experience . Some had previously been members of paramilitary groups such as the Freikorps . Numbering some 2 , 700 men at this point , the " Einsatzgruppen " s mission was the forceful de - politicisation of the Polish people and the elimination of groups most clearly identified with Polish national identity : the intelligentsia , members of the clergy , teachers , and members of the nobility . As stated by Hitler : " . . . there must be no Polish leaders ; where Polish leaders exist they must be killed , however harsh that sounds " . The " Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen " — lists of people to be killed — had been drawn up by the SS as early as May 1939 . The " Einsatzgruppen " performed these murders with the support of the " Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz " , a paramilitary group consisting of ethnic Germans living in Poland . Members of the SS , the Wehrmacht , and the " Ordnungspolizei " ( Order Police ; Orpo ) also shot civilians during the Polish campaign . Approximately 65 , 000 civilians were killed by the end of 1939 . In addition to leaders of Polish society , they killed Jews , prostitutes , Romani people , and the mentally ill . Psychiatric patients in Poland were initially killed by shooting , but by spring 1941 gas van s were widely used . Seven " Einsatzgruppen " of battalion strength operated in Poland . Each was subdivided into four " Einsatzkommandos " of company strength . Though they were formally under the command of the army , the " Einsatzgruppen " received their orders directly from Heydrich and for the most part acted independently of the army . Many senior army officers were only too glad to leave these genocidal actions to the task forces , as the killings violated the rules of warfare as set down in the Geneva Conventions . However , Hitler had decreed that the army would have to tolerate and even offer logistical support to the " Einsatzgruppen " when it was tactically possible to do so . Some army commanders complained about unauthorised shootings , looting , and rapes committed by members of the " Einsatzgruppen " and the " Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz " , to little effect . For example , when " Generaloberst " Johannes Blaskowitz sent a memorandum of complaint to Hitler about the atrocities , Hitler dismissed his concerns as " childish " , and Blaskowitz was relieved of his post in May 1940 . He continued to serve in the army but never received promotion to field marshal . The final task of the " Einsatzgruppen " in Poland was to round up the remaining Jews and concentrate them in ghettos within major cities with good railway connections . The intention was to eventually remove all the Jews from Poland , but at this point their final destination had not yet been determined . Together , the Wehrmacht and the " Einsatzgruppen " also drove tens of thousands of Jews eastward into Soviet - controlled territory . Preparations for Operation Barbarossa . On 13 March 1941 , in the lead - up to Operation Barbarossa , the planned invasion of the Soviet Union , Hitler dictated his " Guidelines in Special Spheres re : Directive No . 21 ( Operation Barbarossa ) " . Sub - paragraph B specified that " Reichsführer - SS " Heinrich Himmler would be given " special tasks " on direct orders from the Führer , which he would carry out independently . This directive was intended to prevent friction between the Wehrmacht and the SS in the upcoming offensive . Hitler also specified that criminal acts against civilians perpetrated by members of the Wehrmacht during the upcoming campaign would not be prosecuted in the military courts , and thus would go unpunished . In a speech to his leading generals on 30 March 1941 , Hitler described his envisioned war against the Soviet Union . General Franz Halder , the Army ' s Chief of Staff , described the speech : Though General Halder did not record any mention of Jews , German historian Andreas Hillgruber argued that because of Hitler ' s frequent contemporary statements about the coming war of annihilation against " Judeo - Bolshevism " , his generals would have understood Hitler ' s call for the destruction of the Soviet Union as also comprising a call for the destruction of its Jewish population . The genocide was often described using euphemisms such as " special tasks " and " executive measures " ; " Einsatzgruppe " victims were often described as having been shot while trying to escape . In May 1941 Heydrich verbally passed on the order to kill the Soviet Jews to the SiPo NCO School in Pretzsch , where the commanders of the reorganised " Einsatzgruppen " were being trained for Operation Barbarossa . In spring 1941 , Heydrich and the First Quartermaster of the German Army , General Eduard Wagner , successfully completed negotiations for co - operation between the " Einsatzgruppen " and the German Army to allow the implementation of the " special tasks " . Following the Heydrich - Wagner agreement on 28 April 1941 , Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch ordered that when Operation Barbarossa began , all German Army commanders were to immediately identify and register all Jews in occupied areas in the Soviet Union , and fully co - operate with the " Einsatzgruppen " . In further meetings held in June 1941 Himmler outlined to top SS leaders the regime ' s intention to reduce the population of the Soviet Union by 30 million people , not only through direct killing of those considered racially inferior , but by depriving the remainder of food and other necessities of life . Organisation starting in 1941 . For Operation Barbarossa , initially four " Einsatzgruppen " were created , each numbering 500 – 990 men to comprise a total force of 3 , 000 . " Einsatzgruppen " A , B , and C were to be attached to Army Groups North , Centre , and South ; " Einsatzgruppe " D was assigned to the 11th Army . The " Einsatzgruppe " for Special Purposes operated in eastern Poland starting in July 1941 . The " Einsatzgruppen " were under the control of the RSHA , headed by Heydrich and later by his successor , SS - " Obergruppenführer " Ernst Kaltenbrunner . Heydrich gave them a mandate to secure the offices and papers of the Soviet state and Communist Party ; to liquidate all the higher cadres of the Soviet state ; and to instigate and encourage pogroms against Jewish populations . The men of the " Einsatzgruppen " were recruited from the SD , Gestapo , Kriminalpolizei ( Kripo ) , Orpo , and " Waffen - SS " . Each " Einsatzgruppe " was under the operational control of the Higher SS Police Chiefs in its area of operations . In May 1941 General Wagner and SS - " Brigadeführer " Walter Schellenberg agreed that the " Einsatzgruppen " in front - line areas were to operate under army command , while the army provided the " Einsatzgruppen " with all necessary logistical support . Each " Einsatzgruppe " was led by SD , Gestapo , and Kripo officers , and its members included recruits from the Orpo , " Waffen - SS " , and local volunteers such as militia groups . Each death squad followed its assigned army as they advanced into the Soviet Union . Each " Einsatzgruppe " was assigned a reserve battalion of Orpos and " Waffen - SS " as well as support personnel such as drivers and radio operators . During the course of their operations , the " Einsatzgruppen " commanders received assistance from the Wehrmacht . Heydrich acted under orders from " Reichsführer - SS " Himmler , who supplied security forces on an " as needed " basis to the local SS and Police Leader s . Many " Einsatzgruppe " leaders were highly educated ; for example , nine of seventeen leaders of " Einsatzgruppe " A held doctorate degrees . Three " Einsatzgruppen " were commanded by holders of doctorates , one of whom ( SS - " Gruppenführer " Otto Rasch ) held a double doctorate . Additional " Einsatzgruppen " were created as additional territory was conquered . " Einsatzgruppe " E operated in Independent State of Croatia under three commanders , SS - " Obersturmbannführer " Ludwig Teichmann , SS - " Standartenführer " Günther Herrmann , and lastly SS - " Standartenführer " Wilhelm Fuchs . The unit was subdivided into five " Einsatzkommandos " located in Vinkovci , Sarajevo , Banja Luka , Knin , and Zagreb . " Einsatzgruppe " F worked with Army Group South . " Einsatzgruppe " G operated in Romania , Hungary , and Ukraine , commanded by SS - " Standartenführer " Dr . Josef Kreuzer . " Einsatzgruppe " H was assigned to Slovakia . " Einsatzgruppen " K and L , under SS - " Oberführer " Dr . Emanuel Schäfer and SS - " Standartenführer " Dr . Ludwig Hahn , worked alongside 5th and 6th Panzer Armies durning the Ardennes offensive . Hahn had previously been in command of " Einsatzgruppe Griechenland " in Greece . Other " Einsatzgruppen " and " Einsatzkommandos " included " Einsatzgruppe Iltis " ( operated in Carinthia , on the border between Slovenia and Austria ) under SS - " Standartenführer " Paul Blobel , " Einsatzgruppe Jugoslawien " ( Yugoslavia ) " Einsatzkommando Luxemburg " ( Luxembourg ) , " Einsatzgruppe Norwegen " ( Norway ) commanded by SS - " Oberführer " Dr . Franz Walter Stahlecker , " Einsatzgruppe Serbien " ( Yugoslavia ) under SS - " Standartenführer " Wilhelm Fuchs and SS - " Gruppenführer " August Meysner , " Einsatzkommando Tilsit " ( Lithuania , Poland ) , and " Einsatzgruppe Tunis " ( Tunis ) , commanded by SS - " Obersturmbannführer " Walter Rauff . Killings in the Soviet Union . After the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 , the " Einsatzgruppen " s main assignment was to kill civilians , as in Poland , but this time its targets specifically included Soviet Communist Party commissars and Jews . In a letter dated 2 July 1941 Heydrich communicated to his SS and Police Leaders that the " Einsatzgruppen " were to execute all senior and middle ranking Comintern officials ; all senior and middle ranking members of the central , provincial , and district committees of the Communist Party ; extremist and radical Communist Party members ; people ' s commissar s ; and Jews in party and government posts . Open - ended instructions were given to execute " other radical elements ( saboteurs , propagandists , snipers , assassins , agitators , etc . ) . " He instructed that any pogroms spontaneously initiated by the occupants of the conquered territories were to be quietly encouraged . On 8 July , he announced that all Jews were to be regarded as partisans , and gave the order for all male Jews between the ages of 15 and 45 to be shot . On 17 July Heydrich ordered that the " Einsatzgruppen " were to kill all Jewish Red Army prisoners of war , plus all Red Army prisoners of war from Georgia and Central Asia , as they too might be Jews . Unlike in Germany , where the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 defined as Jewish anyone with at least three Jewish grandparents , the " Einsatzgruppen " defined as Jewish anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent ; in either case , whether or not the person practised the religion was irrelevant . As the invasion began , pogroms did break out , particularly in Latvia , Lithuania , and Ukraine . Some of these were provoked by the Germans . Within the first few weeks of Operation Barbarossa , 40 pogroms led to the deaths of 10 , 000 Jews , and by the end of 1941 some 60 pogroms had taken place , claiming as many as 24 , 000 victims . Canadian historian Erich Haberer has written that incidents such as the Jedwabne pogrom were not incidental , but rather " integral " to the Holocaust in Eastern Europe , as without local help , the Nazis could not have murdered so many so quickly . However , SS - " Brigadeführer " Franz Walter Stahlecker , commander of " Einstazgruppe " A , reported to his superiors in mid - October that the residents of Lithuania were not spontaneously starting pogroms , and secret assistance by the Germans was undertaken . A similar reticence was noted by " Einsatzgruppe " B in Russia and Belarus and " Einsatzgruppe " C in Ukraine ; the further east the " Einsatzgruppen " travelled , the less likely the residents were to be prompted into killing their Jewish neighbours . All four main " Einsatzgruppen " took part in mass shootings from the early days of the war . Initially the targets were adult Jewish men , but by August the net had been widened to include women , children , and the elderly — the entire Jewish population . Initially there was a semblance of legality given to the shootings , with trumped - up charges being read out ( arson , sabotage , black marketeering , or refusal to work , for example ) and victims being killed by a firing squad . As this method proved too slow , the " einsatzkommandos " began to take their victims out in larger groups and shot them next to , or even inside , mass graves that had been prepared . Some " einsatzkommandos " started to use automatic weapons , with survivors being killed with a pistol shot . As word of the massacres got out , many Jews fled ; in Ukraine , 70 to 90 per cent of the Jews ran away . This was seen by the leader of " Einsatzkommando " VI as beneficial , as it would save the regime the costs of deporting the victims further east over the Urals . In other areas the invasion was so successful that the " Einsatzgruppen " had insufficient forces to immediately kill all the Jews in the conquered territories . A situation report from " Einsatzgruppe " C in September 1941 noted that not all Jews were members of the Bolshevist apparatus , and suggested that the total elimination of Jewry would have a negative impact on the economy and the food supply . The Nazis began to round their victims up into concentration camps and ghettos and rural districts were for the most part rendered " Judenfrei " ( free of Jews ) . Jewish councils were set up in major cities and forced labour gangs were established to make use of the Jews as slave labour until they were totally eliminated , a goal that was postponed until 1942 . Babi Yar . The largest mass shooting perpetrated by the " Einsatzgruppen " took place on 29 and 30 September 1941 at Babi Yar , a ravine northwest of Kiev , a city in Ukraine that had fallen to the Germans on 19 September . The perpetrators included a company of " Waffen - SS " attached to " Einsatzgruppe " C under Rasch , members of " Sonderkommando " 4a under SS - " Obergruppenführer " Friedrich Jeckeln , and some Ukrainian auxiliary police . The Jews of Kiev were told to report to a certain street corner on 29 September ; anyone who disobeyed would be shot . Since word of massacres in other areas had not yet reached Kiev and the assembly point was near the train station , they assumed they were being deported . People showed up at the rendezvous point in large numbers , laden with possessions and food for the journey . After being marched two miles north - west of the city centre , the victims encountered a barbed wire barrier and numerous Ukrainian police and German troops . Thirty or forty people at a time were told to leave their possessions and were escorted through a narrow passageway lined with soldiers brandishing clubs . Anyone who tried to escape was beaten . Soon the victims reached an open area , where they were forced to strip , and then were herded down into the ravine . People were forced to lie down in rows on top of the bodies of other victims , and they were shot in the back of the head or the neck by members of the execution squads . The murders continued for two days , claiming a total of 33 , 771 victims . Sand was shovelled and bulldozed over the bodies and the sides of the ravine were dynamited to bring down more material . Anton Heidborn , a member of " Sonderkommando " 4a , later testified that three days later that there were still people alive among the corpses . Heidborn spent the next few days helping smooth out the " millions " of banknotes taken from the victims ' possessions . The clothing was taken away , destined to be re - used by German citizens . Jeckeln ' s troops shot more than 100 , 000 Jews by the end of October . Killings in the Baltic states . " Einsatzgruppe " A operated in the formerly Soviet - occupied Baltic states of Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania . According to its own reports to Himmler , " Einsatzgruppe " A killed almost 140 , 000 people in the five months following the invasion : 136 , 421 Jews , 1 , 064 Communists , 653 people with mental illnesses , 56 partisans , 44 Poles , five Gypsies , and one Armenian were reported killed between 22 June and 25 November 1941 . Upon entering Kaunas , Lithuania , on 25 June 1941 , the " Einsatzgruppe " released the criminals from the local jail and encouraged them to join the pogrom which was underway . Between 23 – 27 June 1941 , 4 , 000 Jews were killed on the streets of Kaunas and in nearby open pits and ditches . Particularly active in the Kaunas pogrom was the so - called " Death Dealer of Kaunas " , a young man who murdered Jews with a crowbar at the Lietukis Garage before a large crowd that cheered each killing with much applause ; he occasionally paused to play the Lithuanian national anthem " Tautiška giesmė " on his accordion before resuming the killings . As " Einsatzgruppe " A advanced into Lithuania , it actively recruited local nationalists and antisemitic groups . In July 1941 , members of the " Baltaraisciai " movement joined the massacres . A pogrom in Riga in early July killed 400 Jews . Latvian nationalist Viktors Arājs and his supporters undertook a campaign of arson against synagogues . On 2 July , " Einsatzgruppe " A commander Stahlecker appointed Arājs to head the " Arajs Kommando " , a " Sonderkommando " of about 300 men , mostly university students . Together , " Einsatzgruppe " A and the " Arājs Kommando " killed 2 , 300 Jews in Riga on 6 – 7 July . Within six months , Arājs and his men would kill about half of Latvia ' s Jewish population . Local officials , the " Selbstschutz " , and the " Hilfspolizei " ( Auxiliary Police ) played a key role in rounding up and massacring Jewish Lithuanians , Latvians , and Estonians . These groups helped the " Einsatzgruppen " and other killing units to quickly identify Jews . The " Hilfspolizei " , consisting of auxiliary police organised by the Germans and recruited from former Latvian Army and police officers , ex - " Aizsargi " , members of the Pērkonkrusts , and university students , assisted in the murder of Latvia ' s Jewish citizens . Similar units were created elsewhere , and provided much of the manpower for the Holocaust in Eastern Europe . With the creation of units such as the " Arājs Kommando " , the " Rollkommando Hamann " in Lithuania , and the " Omakaitse " militia in Estonia , the attacks changed from the spontaneous mob violence of the pogroms to more systematic massacres . With extensive local help , " Einsatzgruppe " A was the first " Einsatzgruppe " to attempt to systematically exterminate all the Jews in its area . Latvian historian Modris Eksteins wrote : In late 1941 , the " Einsatzkommandos " settled into headquarters in Kovno , Riga , and Tallinn . " Einsatzgruppe " A grew less mobile and faced problems because of its small size . The Germans relied increasingly on the " Arājs Kommando " and similar groups to perform massacres of Jews . Such extensive and enthusiastic collaboration with the " Einsatzgruppen " has been attributed to several factors . Since the Russian Revolution of 1905 , the " Kresy Wschodnie " and other borderlands had experienced a political culture of violence . The period of Soviet rule had been profoundly traumatic for residents of the Baltic states and areas that had been part of Poland until 1939 ; the population was brutalised and terrorised by the imposed Soviet rule , and the existing familiar structures of society were destroyed . Historian Erich Haberer notes that many survived and made sense of the " totalitarian atomization " of society by seeking conformity with communism . As a result , by the time of the German invasion in 1941 , many had come to see conformity with a totalitarian regime as socially acceptable behaviour ; thus , people simply transferred their allegiance to the German regime when it arrived . Some who had collaborated with the Soviet regime sought to divert attention from themselves by naming Jews as collaborators and killing them . Rumbula . In November 1941 Himmler was dissatisfied with the pace of the exterminations in Latvia , as he intended to move Jews from Germany into the area . He assigned SS - " Obergruppenführer " Jeckeln , one of the perpetrators of the Babi Yar massacre , to liquidate the Riga ghetto . Jeckeln selected a site about southeast of Riga near the Rumbula railway station , and had 300 Russian prisoners of war prepare the site by digging pits in which to bury the victims . Jeckeln organised around 1 , 700 men , including 300 members of the " Arajs Kommando " , 50 German SD men , and 50 Latvian guards , most of whom had already participated in mass killings of civilians . These troops were supplemented by Latvians , including members of the Riga city police , battalion police , and ghetto guards . Around 1 , 500 able - bodied Jews would be spared execution so their slave labour could be exploited ; a thousand men were relocated to a fenced - off area within the ghetto and 500 women were temporarily housed in a prison and later moved to a separate nearby ghetto , where they were put to work mending uniforms . Although Rumbula was on the rail line , Jeckeln decided that the victims should travel on foot from Riga to the execution ground . Trucks and buses were arranged to carry children and the elderly . The victims were told that they were being relocated , and were advised to bring up to of possessions . The first day of executions , 30 November 1941 , began with the perpetrators rousing and assembling the victims at 4 : 00 am . The victims were moved in columns of a thousand people toward the execution ground . As they walked , some SS men went up and down the line , shooting people who could not keep up the pace or who tried to run away or rest . When the columns neared the prepared execution site , the victims were driven some from the road into the forest , where any possessions that had not yet been abandoned were seized . Here the victims were split into groups of fifty and taken deeper into the forest , near the pits , where they were ordered to strip . The victims were driven into the prepared trenches , made to lie down , and shot in the head or the back of the neck by members of Jeckeln ' s bodyguard . Around 13 , 000 Jews from Riga were killed at the pits that day , along with a thousand Jews from Berlin who had just arrived by train . On the second day of the operation , 8 December 1941 , the remaining 10 , 000 Jews of Riga were killed in the same way . About a thousand were killed on the streets of the city or on the way to the site , bringing the total deaths for the two - day extermination to 25 , 000 people . For his part in organising the massacre , Jeckeln was promoted to Leader of the SS Upper Section , Ostland . Second Sweep . " Einsatzgruppe B , C " , and " D " did not immediately follow " Einsatzgruppe " A ' s example in systematically killing all Jews in their areas . The " Einsatzgruppe " commanders , with the exception of " Einsatzgruppe " A ' s Stahlecker , were of the opinion by the fall of 1941 that it was impossible to kill the entire Jewish population of the Soviet Union in one sweep , and thought the killings should stop . An " Einsatzgruppe " report dated 17 September advised that the Germans would be better off using any skilled Jews as labourers rather than shooting them . Also , in some areas poor weather and a lack of transportation led to a slowdown in deportations of Jews from points further west . Thus , an interval passed between the first round of " Einsatzgruppen " massacres in summer and fall , and what American historian Raul Hilberg called the second sweep , which started in December 1941 and lasted into the summer of 1942 . During the interval , the surviving Jews were forced into ghettoes . " Einsatzgruppe " A had already murdered almost all Jews in its area , so it shifted its operations into Belarus to assist " Einsatzgruppe " B . In Dnepropetrovsk in February 1942 , " Einsatzgruppe " D reduced the city ' s Jewish population from 30 , 000 to 702 over the course of four days . The German Order Police and local collaborators provided the extra manpower needed to perform all the shootings . Haberer wrote that , as in the Baltic states , the Germans could not have killed so many Jews so quickly without local help . He points out that the ratio of Order Police to auxiliaries was 1 to 10 in both Ukraine and Belarus . In rural areas the proportion was 1 to 20 . This meant that most Ukrainian and Belarusian Jews were killed by fellow Ukrainians and Belarusians commanded by German officers , rather than by Germans . The second wave of exterminations in the Soviet Union met with armed resistance in some areas , though the chance of success was poor . Weapons were typically primitive or home - made . Communications were impossible between ghettos in various cities , so there was no way to create a unified strategy . Few in the ghetto leadership supported resistance for fear of reprisals on the ghetto residents . Mass break - outs were sometimes attempted , though survival in the forest was nearly impossible due to the lack of food and the fact that escapees were often tracked down and killed . Transition to gassing . After a time , Himmler found that the killing methods used by the " Einsatzgruppen " were inefficient : they were costly , demoralising for the troops , and sometimes did not kill the victims quickly enough . Many of the troops found the massacres to be difficult if not impossible to perform . Some of the perpetrators suffered physical and mental health problems , and many turned to drink . Historian Christopher Browning notes three categories of potential perpetrators : those who were eager to participate right from the start , those who participated in spite of moral qualms because they were ordered to do so , and a significant minority who refused to take part . A few men spontaneously became excessively brutal in their killing methods and their zeal for the task . Commander of " Einsatzgruppe " D , SS - " Gruppenführer " Otto Ohlendorf , particularly noted this propensity towards excess , and ordered that any man who was too eager to participate or too brutal should not perform any further executions . During a visit to Minsk in August 1941 , Himmler witnessed an " Einsatzgruppen " mass execution first - hand and concluded that shooting Jews was too stressful for his men . By November he made arrangements for any SS men suffering ill health from having participated in executions should be provided with rest and mental health care . He also decided a transition should be made to gassing the victims , especially the women and children , and ordered the recruitment of expendable native auxiliaries who could assist with the murders . Gas vans , which had been used previously to kill mental patients , began to see service by all four main " Einsatzgruppen " from 1942 . However , the gas vans were not popular with the " Einsatzkommandos " , because removing the dead bodies from the van and burying them was a horrible ordeal . Prisoners or auxiliaries were often assigned to do this task so as to spare the SS men the trauma . Some of the early mass killings at extermination camp s used carbon monoxide fumes produced by diesel engines , similar to the method used in gas vans , but by as early as September 1941 experiments were begun at Auschwitz using Zyklon B , a cyanide - based pesticide gas . Plans for the total eradication of the Jewish population of Europe — eleven million people — were formalised at the Wannsee Conference , held on 20 January 1942 . Some would be worked to death , and the rest would be killed in the implementation of the Final Solution of the Jewish question ( ) . Permanent killing centres at Auschwitz , Sobibor , Treblinka , and other Nazi extermination camps replaced mobile death squads as the primary method of mass killing . The " Einsatzgruppen " remained active , however , and were put to work fighting partisans , particularly in Belarus . After the fall of Stalingrad in February 1943 , Himmler realised that Germany would likely lose the war , and ordered the formation of a special task force , " Sonderkommando " 1005 , under SS - " Standartenführer " Paul Blobel . The unit ' s assignment was to visit mass graves all along the Eastern Front to exhume bodies and burn them in an attempt to cover up the genocide . The task remained unfinished at the end of the war , and many mass graves remain unmarked and unexcavated . By 1944 the Red Army had begun to push the German forces out of Eastern Europe , and the " Einsatzgruppen " retreated alongside the Wehrmacht . By late 1944 , most " Einsatzgruppen " personnel had been folded into " Waffen - SS " combat units or transferred to permanent death camps . Hilberg estimates that between 1941 and 1945 the " Einsatzgruppen " and related agencies killed more than two million people , including 1 . 3 million Jews . The total number of Jews murdered during the war is estimated at 5 . 5 to six million people . Plans for the Middle East and Britain . According to research by German historians Klaus - Michael Mallmann and Martin Cüppers , an " Einsatzgruppe " was created in 1942 to kill the half - million Jews living in the British Mandate of Palestine and the 50 , 000 Jews of Egypt . " Einsatzgrupppe " Egypt , standing by in Athens , was prepared to go to Palestine once German forces arrived there . SS - " Obersturmbannführer " Walter Rauff was to lead the unit . Given its small staff of only 24 men , " Einsatzgrupppe " Egypt would have needed help from local residents and from the " Afrika Korps " to complete their assignment . Its members planned to enlist collaborators from the local population to perform the killings under German leadership . Former Iraqi prime minister Rashid Ali al - Gaylani and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al - Husseini played roles , engaging in antisemitic radio propaganda , preparing to recruit volunteers , and in raising an Arab - German Battalion that would also follow " Einsatzgrupppe " Egypt to the Middle East . Commander of the " Afrika Korps " Field Marshal Erwin Rommel promised the co - operation of his corps in these assignments . In an agreement signed in July 1942 between the two groups , Rommel promised logistical support for " Einsatzgrupppe " Egypt , which was to serve under command of the Wehrmacht . The group never left Greece , however ; the plans were set aside after the Allied victory at the Battle of El Alamein . Had Operation Sea Lion , the German plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom been launched , six " Einsatzgruppen " were scheduled to follow the invasion force into Britain . They were provided with a list called " die Sonderfahndungsliste , G . B . " ( " Special Search List , G . B " ) , known as The Black Book after the war , of 2 , 300 people to be immediately imprisoned by the Gestapo . The list included Churchill , members of the cabinet , prominent journalists and authors , and members of the Czechoslovak government - in - exile . Jäger Report . The " Einsatzgruppen " kept official records of many of their massacres and provided detailed reports to their superiors . The Jäger Report , filed by Commander " SS - Standartenführer " Karl Jäger on 1 December 1941 to his superior , Stahlecker ( head of " Einsatzgruppe " A ) , covers the activities of " Einsatzkommando " III in Lithuania over the five - month period from 2 July 1941 to 25 November 1941 . Jäger ' s report provides an almost daily running total of the liquidations of 137 , 346 people , the vast majority of them Jews . The report documents the exact date and place of massacres , the number of victims , and their breakdown into categories ( Jews , Communists , criminals , and so on ) . Women were shot from the very beginning , but initially in fewer numbers than men . Children were first included in the tally starting in mid - August , when 3 , 207 people were murdered in Rokiškis on 15 – 16 August 1941 . For the most part the report does not give any military justification for the killings ; people were killed solely because they were Jews . In total , the report lists over 100 executions in 71 different locations . Jäger wrote : " I can state today that the goal of solving the Jewish problem in Lithuania has been reached by " Einsatzkommando " 3 . There are no more Jews in Lithuania , apart from working Jews and their families . " In a February 1942 addendum to the report , Jäger increased the total number of victims to 138 , 272 , giving a breakdown of 48 , 252 men , 55 , 556 women , and 34 , 464 children . Only 1 , 851 of the victims were non - Jewish . Jäger escaped capture by the Allies when the war ended . He lived in Heidelberg under his own name until his report was discovered in March 1959 . Arrested and charged , Jäger committed suicide on 22 June 1959 in a Hohenasperg prison while awaiting trial for his crimes . Involvement of the Wehrmacht . The killings took place with the knowledge and support of the German Army in the east . On 10 October 1941 Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau drafted an order to be read to the German Sixth Army on the Eastern Front . Now known as the Severity Order , it read in part : Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt of Army Group South expressed his " complete agreement " with the order . He sent out a circular to the generals under his command urging them to release their own versions and to impress upon their troops the need to exterminate the Jews . General Erich von Manstein , in an order to his troops on 20 November , stated that " the Jewish - Bolshevist system must be exterminated once and for all . " Manstein sent a letter to " Einsatzgruppe " D commanding officer Ohlendorf complaining that it was unfair that the SS was keeping all of the murdered Jews ' wristwatches for themselves instead of sharing with the army . Beyond this trivial complaint , the Army and the " Einsatzgruppen " worked closely and effectively . On 6 July 1941 " Einsatzkommando " 4b of " Einsatzgruppe " C reported that " Armed forces surprisingly welcome hostility against the Jews " . On 8 September , " Einsatzgruppe " D reported that relations with the German Army were " excellent " . In the same month , Stahlecker of " Einsatzgruppe " A wrote that Army Group North had been exemplary in co - operating with the exterminations and that relations with the 4th Panzer Army , commanded by General Erich Hoepner , were " very close , almost cordial " . In the south , the Romanian Army worked closely with " Einsatzgruppe " D to massacre Ukrainian Jews , killing around 26 , 000 Jews in the Odessa massacre . Moreover , most people on the home front in Germany had some idea of the massacres being committed by the " Einsatzgruppen " . British historian Hugh Trevor - Roper noted that although Himmler had forbidden photographs of the killings , it was common for both the men of the " Einsatzgruppen " and for bystanders to take pictures to send to their loved ones , which he felt suggested widespread approval of the massacres . The Wehrmacht tried to justify their considerable involvement in the " Einsatzgruppen " massacres as being anti - partisan operations rather than racist attacks , but Hillgruber wrote that this was just an excuse . He states that those German generals who claimed that the " Einsatzgruppen " were a necessary anti - partisan response were lying , and maintained that the slaughter of about 2 . 2 million defenceless civilians for reasons of racist ideology cannot be justified . Einsatzgruppen Trial . After the close of the World War II , 24 senior leaders of the " Einsatzgruppen " were prosecuted in the Einsatzgruppen Trial in 1947 – 48 , part of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials held under United States military authority . The men were charged with crimes against humanity , war crimes , and membership in the SS ( which had been declared a criminal organization ) . Fourteen death sentences and two life sentences were among the judgments ; only four executions were carried out , on 7 June 1951 ; the rest were reduced to lesser sentences . Four additional " Einsatzgruppe " leaders were later tried and executed by other nations . Several " Einsatzgruppen " leaders , including Ohlendorf , claimed at the trial to have received an order before Operation Barbarossa requiring them to murder all Soviet Jews . To date no evidence has been found that such an order was ever issued . German prosecutor Alfred Streim noted that if such an order had been given , post - war courts would only have been able to convict the " Einsatzgruppen " leaders as " accomplices " to mass murder . However , if it could be established that the " Einsatzgruppen " had committed mass murder without orders , then they could have been convicted as " perpetrators " of mass murder , and hence could have received stiffer sentences , including capital punishment . Streim postulated that the existence of an early comprehensive order was a fabrication created for use in Ohlendorf ' s defence . This theory is now widely accepted by historians . German historian Peter Longerich notes that most orders received by the " Einsatzgruppen " leaders — especially when they were being ordered to carry out criminal activities — were vague , and couched in terminology that had a specific meaning for members of the regime . Leaders were given briefings about the need to be " severe " and " firm " ; all Jews were to be viewed as potential enemies that had to be dealt with ruthlessly . British historian Sir Ian Kershaw argues that Hitler ' s apocalyptic remarks before Barbarossa about the necessity for a war without mercy to " annihilate " the forces of " Judeo - Bolshevism " were interpreted by " Einsatzgruppen " commanders as permission and encouragement to engage in extreme antisemitic violence , with each " Einsatzgruppen " commander to use his own discretion about how far he was prepared to go . Most of the perpetrators of Nazi war crimes were never charged , and returned unremarked to civilian life . The West German Central Prosecution Office of Nazi War Criminals only charged about a hundred former " Einsatzgruppe " members with war crimes . And as time went on , it became more difficult to obtain prosecutions ; witnesses grew older and were less likely to be able to offer valuable testimony . Funding for trials was inadequate , and the governments of Austria and Germany became less interested in obtaining convictions for wartime events , preferring to forget the Nazi past .