The Einsatzgruppen: Psychology of the Perpetrators

1. The Einsatzgrüppen : Psychology of the Perpetrator Mother and child victims at mass shooting near Ivangorod, Ukraine

2. Overview Einsatzgrüppen(German: “task forces”) were mobile killing squads, or death squads, under administration of the German SS Victims: racial and political enemies of the state Jews Roma Soviet State officials [see slide 6] Communist Party members The handicapped The Einsatzgrüppen’s systematic execution of Jews in Eastern Europe is believed to be the first step of the Final Solution The shooting of a young Jewish man in Slarow, Soviet Union, July 4, 1941. His family lies dead in front of him.

3. Areas of Operation The Einsatzgrüppen followed the German army as it advanced into Soviet satellite states (Baltic Area) and the Soviet Union.

4. Methods Einsatzgrüppen separated into four units Einsatzgruppe A: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, to St.Petersburg Einsatzgruppe B: from Warsaw to Smolensk and Minsk Einsatzgruppe C: western Ukraine Responsible for infamous September 1941 massacre: BabiYar Einsatzgruppe D: Southern Ukraine and Crimea Swept into towns, initiated flood of anti-Semitic propaganda that rallied local civilians, who often helped in the massacres [see Witness Testimony, slide 5] Rounded up their victims; vast majority were Jews, who were forced to undress [see Film Footage, slide 7], hand over valuables, and march to their deaths No man, woman, or child was spared in the mass shootings Extremely few survivors; those who survived the shot were almost always buried alive by bodies and dirt “The Last Jew in Vinnitsa” (Ukraine, 1942)

5. Witness Testimony Stanislav M. from Grimaïliv, Ukraine Testimony

6. German poster for 1937 anti-Bolshevism exhibition (note the irony)

7. Film Footage Rare footage of a mobile killing unit during a massacre in Liepaja, Latvia Footage

8. Behind the Masks of Killers Some of the Einsatzgrüppen were sadistic, many were ruthless and brutal, but they were ordinary Germans, “ordinary men” Milgram experiment demonstrates how far people will go to follow orders Milgram experiment was recreated in March 2010 on controversial French game show, Le Jeu de la Mort (The Game of Death) Participants told they are contestants on game show and must deliver near-fatal electric shocks to other contestants for answering questions incorrectly No actual shocks are given—an actor plays rival participant; screams and cries in pain Over 80% of contestants delivered “shocks” of up to 380 V (even though there was no prize for winning)

9. Le Jeu de la Mort Mostly in French; watch for the clip from the original Milgram experiments. Le Jeu de la Mort

10. Fundamental Responsibility: Obey Absolute obedience, hierarchical structure, but obsfucation of authority and responsibility All roads of responsibility lead to the Führer Höss, Auschwitz commandant: “We were all so trained to obey orders without thinking that the thought of disobeying an order would simply never have occurred to anybody and somebody else would have done just as well if I hadn’t… I never really gave much thought to whether it was wrong. It just seemed a necessity” (Rhodes 159). Note his feeling of being replaceable, dispensable Each perpetrator was one among thousands The killings were “mass shootings reduced to ordinary bureaucratic process within the framework of police activity” (Headland 75). Ja! Führer, we will follow you!

11. Tactics Coercive violent coaching: men who refused to shoot were jeered at as cowards and humiliated into murder (Rhodes 220) Extensive rationalization: justified killings on a “legal” basis Jews labeled as saboteurs, plunderers, terrorists, agitators, brutes, arsonists, spies, enemies of the state [see Propaganda poster, slide 12] Dehumanization: Kurt Möbius (police batallion member): “I believed the propaganda that all Jews were criminals and subhumans and that they were the cause of Germany’s decline after the First World War. The thought that one should disobey or evade the order to participate in the extermination of the Jews did not therefore enter my mind at all” (Rhodes 159). Euphemisms: camouflage words cloaked actions Included: action, special action, large-scale action, reprisal action, pacification action, radical action, cleansing action, cleared of Jews, special measures, handled appropriately, liquidated, rendered harmless, Jewish problem solved, handled according to orders, ruthless collective measures, executive tasks, severe measures, elimination, eradication, extermination (Headland 75).

12. Nazi propaganda poster “Get the Jewish-Bolshevist warmongers out of Europe!” [Russian]

13. Where Rationalizations Failed “But the repetition of massacre after massacre, the screams and pleadings, the faces and bodies glimpsed in their helpless final agonies that unavoidably recalled a sister, a brother, a wife, a child, an aging parent at home or the perpetrator himself, made such rationalizations difficult for some perpetrators to maintain at the edge of the killing pits” (Rhodes 223). Bach-Zelewski, SS general, confronted Himmler, military commander, about the mass shootings: “Look at the men, how deeply shaken they are! Such men are finished for the rest of their lives! What kind of followers are we creating? Either neurotics or brutes!” Einsatzgrüppen in Poland

14. Psychological Repercussions Many members of the Einsatzgrüppen underwent: Uncontrollable fits of weeping and trembling Nervous breakdowns; nervous exhaustion Mental derangement (shot wildly and randomly at surroundings) Desensitization/Denial Karl Kretschmer, Obersturmführer, in a letter to wife and children: “Rather it is a weakness not to be able to stand the sight of dead people; the best way of overcoming it is to do it more often. Then it becomes a habit” (Rhodes 220). Sadistic impulses Alcoholism Some committed suicide While these do not mitigate the crime in any way, they demonstrate how deeply the massacres affected the perpetrators Einsatzgrüppen were, overall, ordinary men who ignored their own morality and followed orders blindly As Milgram/Le Jeu de la Mort experiments show, any person can fall prey to the forces of authority It takes power of will and a strong moral compass to disobey superiors.

15. Bibliography "Einsatzgruppen (Mobile Killing Units)." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 6 Jan. 2011. Web. 04 Feb. 2011. <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005130>. Bytwerk, Randall. "Nazi Posters: 1933-1945.” German Propaganda Archive. 2001. Web. 04 Feb. 2011. <http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/posters2.htm>. "Grymayliv, Ukraine." Broad Daylight. Yahad in Unum, May 2009. Web. 04 Feb. 2011. <http://villagesbyyahad-inunum.weebly.com/grymayliv.html>. "Le Jeux De La Mort, Zone Xtreme, Le Pouvoir De La Téléevision, Soumissionà L'autorité." YouTube. 16 Mar. 2010. Web. 04 Feb. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1i8bZrXLqU&feature=related>. Rhodes, Richard. Masters of Death: the SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2002. Headland, Ronald. Messages of Murder: a Study of the Reports of the Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police and the Security Service, 1941-1943. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1992. Browning, Christopher R. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 2003