1941-08-27 / Radio Message on the Massacre at Kamenets-Podolsky: “Special Action Staff with Police Battalion 320 shot 4,200 Jews”
On 27 August 1941, a radio message from the Higher SS and Police Leader South recorded the on-set of one of the largest mass shootings of Jews during the early phase of the Holocaust in the occupied Soviet territories. Under “activities,” the notes that Police Battalion 320, together with a detachment of the staff company, was in Kamenets-Podolsky carrying out…
1942-02-17 / “Fencing of the Sites of Jewish liquidation”: Letter from the District Commissioner of Vilnius County
Letter dated 17 February 1942 by the District Commissioner of Vilnius county reminded the Local Administrative Head in Nemenčinė “to submit to me without delay the report of completion regarding my order of 12 December 1941 concerning the fencing of the sites of Jewish liquidation”.
1942-04-05 / German Army in Mariampol (Lithuania): Reinforce “Jewish Graves With an Additional Covering of Earth”
Medical Services Report issued by the Ortskommandantur in Mariampol (Lithuania) on 5 April 1942. the report notes the need to reinforce “the Jewish graves at the edge of the barracks grounds with an additional covering of earth, because runoff from precipitation and flooding (the graves are located directly on the bank of the Sesupe River and are covered only by…
1944-01-13 / Security Police Kovno Situation Report: “64 Laborers Deployed At Fort IX As Part Of Operation 1005 B Broke Out”
Situation report dated 13 January 1944 from the Commander of the Security Police and SD in Kovno. According to the report, on 25 December 1943, “64 laborers deployed at Fort IX as part of Operation 1005 B broke out”. Subsequent search operations resulted in the recapture of “37 of the escapees” of whom “5 were shot while fleeing”. The escape…
Willi Lenz (1894–1945): The “Doctor” of Kulmhof
Willi Lenz, a Schutzpolizei officer born in 1894, was one of the most brutal perpetrators at the Kulmhof (Chełmno) extermination camp. Known as the “Doctor,” he supervised forced laborers in the forest camp, personally shot those who were exhausted or survived the gas vans, and later used his experience in operations to exhume and burn the bodies of Nazi victims….
1943-11-11 / The Security Police in Vilna: “8,019 Jews, Jewesses, and Jewish Children Have Been Executed”
On 9 November 1943, the Commander of the Security Police and SD in Lithuania sent a telex to the Vilna office and ordered the preparation of a report on the “executive/security situation in all of Lithuania for the year 1943 up to the present”. The Security Police office in Vilna submitted its report two days later, on 11 November 1943….