Besides Soldbucher I also collect documents and pictures of the holocaust and today I would like to share these two very graphic pictures that I just added to my private collection with all of you.
When Nazi Germany invaded Soviet Russia in the summer of 1941 the so called Einsatzgruppe started operating behind the frontline, their task: to exterminate the jewish population of the newly conquered territory.
The majority of the victims of the Einsatzgruppe in the summer of '41 were killed in mass executions.
These executions were not secret, they often attracted large crowds made up of local anti semites/anti communist militia's and regular WH troops that happened to be in the area.
Although these slaughter parties weren't kept secret, picture taking was absolutely forbidden by the nazi authorities.
- For example SS Untersturmführer Max Tauber took it upon himself to start mass executions of jews and to take pictures of his actions; in 1943 a SS court sentenced him to ten years in prison, not for the brutal executions but because he took pictures of it and had showed them to people when he was on vacation in Germany.
Nevertheless several people with pocket camera's ignored the ban on picture taking of the "Sonderaktionen" and thus we have photographic evidence of what took place in Soviet Russia in the summer of 1941.
The pictures have nothing written on the back, so we can't date or place them exactly, but there are some interesting details visible.
On the first picture we see a group of jewish males waiting to be executed, they are wearing sandals and light clothing which indicates it is a hot summer day.
The bystanders in the back ground are regular Wehrmacht soldiers in early war walking out uniforms, non of them wears a combat badge or EK medal ribbon, they are also unarmed. This would indicate that we are early in the invasion, their is no threat of partizan actions.
So this picture was most likely taken early in the summer of 1941.
The atmosphere with the bystanders is very relaxed, many are laughing and some are smoking a sigaret.
Next detail is the SS guard, he is a SS Scharführer (NCO), he has medal ribbon above hist left chest pocket; most SS members of the Einsatzgruppe belonged to the Sipo-SD but I can't see a SD diamont on his sleeve.
I can't see a pistol holster but in his right hand he has a bent piece of pipe or some other truncheon.
You can see and sense the fear of what is going to happen on the faces of the male victims sitting down with their hands in their neck, most likely the SS just seperated them from their wives, childern and the elder males.
This is the group of young males, the group that was always executed first.
On the next picture we can see the actual execution.
The males are shot in the back, six at a time.
On the originals you can also see the details of their (light summer) clothing, no doubt that these two pictures belong together.
The execution ditch has sharp edges, this would indicate that it was machine dug, all the dirt that came out of the pit is on oneside to act as a bullet stop all indications that it was a well planned execution.
When Nazi Germany invaded Soviet Russia in the summer of 1941 the so called Einsatzgruppe started operating behind the frontline, their task: to exterminate the jewish population of the newly conquered territory.
The majority of the victims of the Einsatzgruppe in the summer of '41 were killed in mass executions.
These executions were not secret, they often attracted large crowds made up of local anti semites/anti communist militia's and regular WH troops that happened to be in the area.
Although these slaughter parties weren't kept secret, picture taking was absolutely forbidden by the nazi authorities.
- For example SS Untersturmführer Max Tauber took it upon himself to start mass executions of jews and to take pictures of his actions; in 1943 a SS court sentenced him to ten years in prison, not for the brutal executions but because he took pictures of it and had showed them to people when he was on vacation in Germany.
Nevertheless several people with pocket camera's ignored the ban on picture taking of the "Sonderaktionen" and thus we have photographic evidence of what took place in Soviet Russia in the summer of 1941.
The pictures have nothing written on the back, so we can't date or place them exactly, but there are some interesting details visible.
On the first picture we see a group of jewish males waiting to be executed, they are wearing sandals and light clothing which indicates it is a hot summer day.
The bystanders in the back ground are regular Wehrmacht soldiers in early war walking out uniforms, non of them wears a combat badge or EK medal ribbon, they are also unarmed. This would indicate that we are early in the invasion, their is no threat of partizan actions.
So this picture was most likely taken early in the summer of 1941.
The atmosphere with the bystanders is very relaxed, many are laughing and some are smoking a sigaret.
Next detail is the SS guard, he is a SS Scharführer (NCO), he has medal ribbon above hist left chest pocket; most SS members of the Einsatzgruppe belonged to the Sipo-SD but I can't see a SD diamont on his sleeve.
I can't see a pistol holster but in his right hand he has a bent piece of pipe or some other truncheon.
You can see and sense the fear of what is going to happen on the faces of the male victims sitting down with their hands in their neck, most likely the SS just seperated them from their wives, childern and the elder males.
This is the group of young males, the group that was always executed first.
On the next picture we can see the actual execution.
The males are shot in the back, six at a time.
On the originals you can also see the details of their (light summer) clothing, no doubt that these two pictures belong together.
The execution ditch has sharp edges, this would indicate that it was machine dug, all the dirt that came out of the pit is on oneside to act as a bullet stop all indications that it was a well planned execution.
