Vadoņa pavēle. (Latvian)
In: History of Latvia (Early Modern & Modern Times), Jg. 1/2 (2012), Heft 85/86, S. 75-82
academicJournal
Zugriff:
In this article the author discusses the history of the "forgotten" Führer Befehl, which in June 1941, before the attack on the Soviet Union was read to the leaders of the Einsatzgruppen. Although the evidence for the existence of this order are manifold, contemporary German historians have gotten in the habit to deny or question its existence. The order as testified, during and after the war, by many of its recipients directed the EG within the USSR to murder all Jews: men, women, and children. There were no exceptions to be made and the order was to be implemented without delay. There were two parts to the order: the fundamental order charging the Einsatzgruppen to murder Jews; and there was also a public relations part--a plan of deception--in which the Eiensatzgruppen were ordered to carry out the actions so that the world would believe that the killings were not carried out by the Germans, but rather in mass attacks by the local populations. The order was delivered orally, but as the order was implemented some of its elements were committed to the paper. The first to do so was Reinhardt Heydrich himself, who, after the war had begun, the EG had spread out in the Soviet territory, on July 7, found it necessary to send a letter to confirm the order. It need to be noted that Heydrich found it necessary to touch only upon the public relations part of the order. He reminded his troops that it is necessary to induce the local populations to organize "pogroms" and that for that purpose especially the "Self-Defense" teams that were organized by the Wehrmacht, were to be used. The next important authority was Franz Walter Stahlecker, the commandant of EG A, who in his reports from the field, several times referred to the contents of the order. As opposed to Heydrich reference, Stahlecker's reports, having been informed by experience in Lithuania and Latvia, also contained a critique of the order from Berlin that Heydrich has purveyed. He recommended a basic change in the public relations features of the order. After the fiasco of the pogrom in Kaunas, he concluded that the pogroms were counter productive. About the Self-Defense, since he had to share them with the Wehrmacht he was half-hearted. He also thought them to be too unreliable for mass killings. Stahlecker's experience lead him to recommend the creation of special SD units of mercenary volunteers, who got paid for their work and was all his to command. That was the birth of the Aråjs commando. After the war, the trials of the Nazis in Nuremberg and elsewhere brought out numerous other references of the existence and contents of the Führer Befehl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Titel: |
Vadoņa pavēle. (Latvian)
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Ezergailis, Andrievs |
Zeitschrift: | History of Latvia (Early Modern & Modern Times), Jg. 1/2 (2012), Heft 85/86, S. 75-82 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2012 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 1407-0022 (print) |
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