The German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 raised the killing of Jews to a new level. Now Hitler called for the total destruction of all Europe's Jews. What he proposed- the killing of an entire people- is called genocide. at first, the bloody work was carried out by mobile killing units- Einsatzgruppen
They were called Einsatgruppen (or SD-Einsatgruppen). In English they are often referred to as mobile killing units.
The Einsatzgruppen were active over German held territory. An example would be Babi Yar in Riga latvia. 30 000 were shot one at a time and unceremoniously buried in a ravine known today as Babi Yar. This group was lead by maj lange,rudolph who was killed in action some time later. Major Lange was present at the Wannsee Conference in January 1942.
They were called Einsatgruppen (or SD-Einsatgruppen). In English they are often referred to as mobile killing units.
Nothing, the Einsatzgruppen were not slow, they did more than was expected.
The Einsatzgruppen were active over German held territory. An example would be Babi Yar in Riga latvia. 30 000 were shot one at a time and unceremoniously buried in a ravine known today as Babi Yar. This group was lead by maj lange,rudolph who was killed in action some time later. Major Lange was present at the Wannsee Conference in January 1942.
Nazi persecution of the Jewsa. In Germany Jews were persecuted with growing intensity from April 1933 onwards.b. 1933: Most Jews were banned from working in the public sector, from higher education and from working in the media.c. 1935: The Nuremberg Laws in effect deprived German Jews of citizenship.d. 1938: Jews banned from the professions; organized, large scale violence against Jews on 9-10 November (and longer in many parts of Germany) - the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht). 30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps and 2,000 of these were dead within six weeks.e. 1939: Jews forbidden to own businesses. Jews forced to live in designated apartment blocks marked with a huge J over all entrances. When World War 2 broke out in September, further restrictions were imposed on Jews. For example, they were not allowed to own pets or radios and had to stay at home from 9pm till 6am.---f. September 1939 onwards: Invasion of Poland and later other European countries greatly increased the number of Jews under German control. Ghettos (sealed off Jewish districts) established in Poland.g. 1941: Following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union (June), mobile killing units (SD-Einsatgruppen) went into action behind German lines, slaughtering the Jews. September - Jews forbidden to leave Germany and German controlled territory and ordered to wear a yellow Star of David. October - first deportations from Berlin and other German cities to 'the East'. In practice, this meant that they were taken to 'killing fields' in Latvia and Belarus. Some were dumped in ghettos in Poland.h. 1941: 8 December - routine mass gassings start at Chelmno. Start of the 'Final Solution'i. 1942: Wannsee Conference (20 January) establishes full co-ordination between the various branches of the German state.Further extermination camps come into operation: Auschwitz II (Birkenau), Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, with Majdanek as a kind of 'back-up' for use when killing facilities at the other camps had insufficient capacity! Holocaust lasts till 1945.In April 1933, Hitler proclaimed a one-day boycott against Jewish shops; a few days later most Jews were dismissed from employment in the public sector; three weeks later most Jewish students were expelled from universities and colleges, and Jewish children began experiencing restrictions in public schools. Then Jews were banned from the media. It was the beginning of a hailstorm of anti-Jewish decrees (about 430 (!) in ten years).By 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of citizenship. By 1936, Jews were prohibited from participation in parliamentary elections and signs reading "Jews Not Welcome" appeared in many German cities. (Incidentally, these signs were taken down in the late summer in preparation for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin), then in 1938 there was a night of rampage where Nazi thugs called brownshirts smashed Jewish businesses and burned synagogues. That terrible night was called "Kristallnacht" or "Night of the Broken Glass". It was the beginning of the end for the Jews.Jews were banned from most occupations and forbidden to own businesses. They had to sell any businesses that they owned (at laughably low prices). They were denied the means of earning a living ...After that came deportations and the infamous ghettos. Jewish houses were given to German families and their original Jewish owners were herded into these places caged in by armed guards and slowly starved to death.Obviously a more effective and less noticeable way had to be found to get rid of the Jews so the many work camps that had sprung up during the 1930s were converted to death camps, Jews were then transported to these places and the more able bodied used as slave labour, but the real use of the concentration camps was extermination, Jews were shot and gassed in their thousands and then burned in massive crematoriums, horrific experiments were also carried out like the breaking and resetting of bones, altitude experiments and testing the effects of freezing a person and then immersing them into hot water, this mass extermination of the Jews was not confined to Germany, all over nazi occupied Europe - but especially in the main death camps in occupied Poland - this practice was taking place the numbers of these death camps rose and by the end of the War an estimated 6 million Jews had been killed.Mass murder and genocideThe Nazis deemed the Jewish people sub-human (among many others, such as the Poles, homosexuals, etc) They wanted to get rid of them, they sent them off to extermination (death) camps. They were killed by being sent into gas chambers for the most part, others were worked to death or shot. A few were used for medical 'experiments'.