There were a number of briefings about the aims
and activities of the Einsatzgruppen in the Nazi-occupied territories of the Soviet Union. The first took
place in Pretsch, and it was conducted by Bruno Streckenbach, Chief
of Department One of the RSHA. Streckenbach acted as spokesmen for Himmler and Heydrich in explaining
the Fuhrer's order concerning the murder
of the Jews.
The meeting is described in Ohlendorf's testimony at the Einsatzgruppen
Trial No. 9 at Nuremberg. (6) It is also mentioned in the affidavit by Dr. Walter Blume, who headed
SK 7a: "During June, Heydrich, Chief of the Security Police
and the SD, and Steckenbach, head of Office I of the Reich Security
Main Office [RSHA], lectured on the duties of the Einsatzgruppen
and Einsatzkommandos. At this time we were already being instructed
about the tasks of exterminating the Jews. It was stated that Eastern
Jewry was the intellectual reservoir of Bolshevism and, therefore,
in the Fuhrer's opinion, must be exterminated. This speech was given
before a small, select audience. Although I cannot remember the
individuals present, I assume that many of the Einsatzgruppe and
Sonderkommando chiefs were present." (7)
Another briefing was given by Heydrich at a meeting of the leaders
of the Einsatzgruppen and Einsatzkommandos which took place on June
17. There again the Fuhrer's orders concerning the murder of the
Jews was discussed, as stated by Standartenfuhrer Dr. Walter Blume:
"I heard another speech by Heydrich in the Prinz Albrecht Palace
in Berlin, in the course of which he again emphasized these points.' (8) Erwin Schulz, head of EK-5, testified at
the Nuremberg Trials that 'Some time during the first ten days of
June 1941, the chiefs were called to the RSHA in the Prinz Albrecht
Palace to hear a speech by Heydrich in which he outlined the policy
to be adopted, giving us some guidelines concerning the fulfillments
of the tasks imposed upon the Einsatzgruppen." (9)
At the third meeting, which probably took place shortly before
June 22, high-level SS and Police chiefs met in the office of the
Chief of Order Police, General Kurt Daluege. As Heydrich was unable
to attend, he sent them a memorandum dated July 2, 1941 (dated after
the invasion of the Soviet Union), specifying who was to be eliminated:
Executions
All the following are to be executed:
Officials of the Commintern (together with professional Communist
politicians in general);
Top- and medium-level officials and radical lower-level officials
of the Party. Central committee and district and sub-district committees;
Peoples commissars; Jews in Party and State employment, and other
radical elements (saboteurs, propagandists, snipers, assassins,
inciters, etc.) insofar as they are, of special importance for the
further economic reconstruction of the Occupied Territories ... (10)
More details are contained in Report No. 111 dated October 12,
1941: 'The principal targets of execution by the Einsatzkommandos
will be: political functionaries, ...Jews mistakenly released from
POW camps, ...Jewish sadists and avengers, ...Jews in general...'
According to the testimony of Otto Ohlendorf, head of Einsatzgruppe
D, dated April 24, 1947, the objective was the "murder of racially
and politically undesirable elements." Later on in the Einsatzgruppen
trial, he said (October 1948): "The goal was to liberate the
army's rear areas by killing Jews, Gypsies and Communist activists ..." (11)
(6) NMT (Case 9, Einsatzgruppen),
vol. iv, p. 244
(7) NMT, vol. IV, p. 140
(8) NMT, vol. IV, p. 140
(9) NMT, vol. IV, p.
136
(10) (11) NMT, vol. IV, p. 244