Who Is Einsatzgruppen?

Adolf Hitler, during his time of control, he had envisioned an area free of all German enemies, in which he called “The Garden of Eden” (Spangenburg, 28). In this perfect area, he sees an ideal society without Jews, Gypsies, and the Soviet Communist party. However, he mainly focused on eliminating the Jewish community (USHMM). In doing so, he established action groups called Einsatzgruppen. “Einsatzgruppen is a German term that was first used for Nazi police intelligence units working with the German army after the invasion of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. When Germany invaded Soviet Russia in June 1941, the term was applied to the mobile SS killing squads that traveled with German forces” (Wigoder, 117). Einsatzgruppen was the active action group put together by Hitler to take out all enemies of Germany, and therefore “purifying” the country. …show more content…
The active groups were the main reason the Jews were forced into the ghettos, a place where they were not immediately killed. While invading Soviet Russia, the active group split up into four different groups labeling themselves groups “A”, “B”, “C”, and “D”. “Out of these, group “A” was the largest, in which they were assigned to Army Group North, and operated in Baltic States. Group “B” was assigned to Army Group Central in Byelorussia and the territory to the east of Moscow. Group “C” was assigned to Army Group South in all but the southern part of Ukraine. Finally, Group “D”, being the smallest group was assigned to the 11th Army, which operated in the southern Ukraine and Crimea”. During these massacres, in between June 1941 and early 1942, Einsatzgruppen “D” alone killed over 165,000 victims in September 1941 and over 95,000 in October (Wigoder,