Einsatzgruppen Essay

The Einsatzgruppen were mobile killing units during World War II that were created to eliminate specific social races. The Einsatzgruppen were created during the Holocaust originally to exterminate people that were considered “untermenschen,” (a person considered socially or racially inferior.) By the spring of 1943, it was estimated that the Einsatzgruppen had killed around one million Jewish people, along with many other races. Many of the leaders of the Einsatzgruppen were actually highly educated people. Some even had doctorate degrees. The Einsatzgruppen were important during the Holocaust, because they started out the mass killings, and were a key role in them. Without them, the Holocaust may not have been as destructive.

Dr. Michael Mussmanno, a jury in the Nuremberg Trials, stated that the main purpose of constructing the Einsatzgruppen was, “to murder Jews and deprive them of their property.” Many German civilians began persuaded to believe that Jews were the reason for their problems. The Einsatzgruppen were four paramilitary units created for the purpose of murdering Jews and other races. They began by going on massacre missions in Jew communities, then to shoving Jews in gas vans. The gas vans were supposed to make it easier for the Nazis to exterminate the Jews, but it really just made it harder. They heard the victims suffer longer, and it was more painful. They followed Adolf Hitler, in belief that everything that he said was correct. People in the Einsatzgruppen were German civilians that thought what they were doing was helping Germany. It was a nationalistic thing. The Einsatzgruppen had a leading role in the implementation of the Final Solution in territories ruled by Nazi Germany.

The Einsatzgruppen were orde...

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...m, the Holocaust may not have been as destructive. Although the Einsatzgruppen (and members) were reflected upon the massive amount of deaths, many members, if not all, thought that they were protecting Germany. The massacres of innocent people weren’t the crimes of crazy people. The executioners were “normal” men who respected, and followed the orders of their officers. These men knew what they were doing, no doubt, but they thought they were helping Germany by doing this. Propaganda had taught many members of the Einsatzgruppen to view the victims as enemies of Germany. The Einsatzgruppen was formed in Germany, which was economically crippled by World War I reparations, and many other problems that they blamed the Jews for. Therefore, the Einsatzgruppen (and the Holocaust) started mostly for Germany’s struggles in the economy.