The Einsatzgruppen Case - Military Tribunal II Case 9

The defendant Naumann commanded Einsatzgruppe B. In Minsk this Einsatzgruppe had rounded up all male inhabitants and put them in a civilian prison camp. By careful screening, with the help of the Secret Field Police, it was able to liquidate over 1,000 Jews. In Lithuania, a local Kommando of this Gruppe reported that 500 Jews were being liquidated daily. The report also stated that nearly half a million roubles in cash "which belonged to Jews who were subject to special treatment were appropriated as belonging to the enemies of the Reich and confiscated." By the middle of November 1941, Einsatzgruppe B could report a total of 45,467 [sic] executions. These executions were broken down as follows:

Staff and Vorkommando Moscow.............................2,457
Sonderkommando 7a .......................................1,517
Sonderkommando 7b........................................1,822
Einsatzkommando 8.......................................28,290
Einsatzkommando 9.......................................11,452

In reporting further executions in the civilian prisoners camps in Minsk, Einsatzgruppe B stated that another 733 civilian prisoners were liquidated. The comment made concerning these executions is-

"All the persons executed were absolutely inferior elements with a predominant mixture of Asiatic blood. No responsibility could be assumed if they were left in the occupied zone."

The defendant Blume was chief of Sonderkommando 7a in Einsatzgruppe B. In one of his affidavits he says -

"I carried out one execution in the course of my duty. I

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remember one occasion on which between 70 and 80 people were executed in Vitebsk and on another occasion on which a similar number were executed in Minsk * * * on both occasions a kind of trench was dug, the persons destined to die were placed in front of it and shot with carbines. About 10 people were shot simultaneously by an execution force of 30 to 40 men. There was no doctor present at the execution, but the leader of the execution force who was responsible made sure that the people were dead. Coups de grace were not necessary." (NO-4145, Pros. Ex. 10.)
Eugen Steimle, the defendant, commanded Sonderkommando 7a. In one of his affidavits he tells us that he had been reprimanded for not shooting women and children in his mass executions. His reports will indicate that the reprimand was not without effect.
The defendant Adolf Ott commanded another unit in Einsatzgruppe B and he tells us--

"During the time I was Kommando Leader of the Kommando 7b, about 80 to 100 executions were carried out by this Kommando. I remember one execution which took place in the vicinity of Bryansk. The people to be executed were handed over to my unit by the local commandant. The corpses were temporarily buried in the snow and later buried by the Army. The valuables which were collected from these people were sent to Einsatzgruppe B." (NO-2998, Pros. Ex. 67.)
Other units of Einsatzgruppe B headed by the defendants Klingelhoefer and Six did not vary from this standard pattern.

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Trials of War Criminals Before the Nurenberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10, Volume IV, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 42 - 43

**"The Einsatzgruppen Case"**

MILITARY TRIBUNAL II

Case No. 9

Einsatzgruppe B