The Chief of the Security Police and Security Service

Berlin,
March 9, 1942

65 copies
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(51st copy)

OPERATIONAL SITUATION REPORT USSR No. 178

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Einsatzgruppe A

Location: Krasnogvardeisk

From Lithuania

A large number of partisans was reported in several villages west of Babtai in which the population is predominantly Russian and Polish. The police measures to combat this group of partisans were completely successful on the third of this month. Altogether, 102 people, including 11 women were brought in for investigation.Besides that, six Russian prisoners of war were found as well as 12 Russian and one Polish peasant. It was determined that they helped partisans and had connections with Soviet terrorists. They were shot. The prisoners of war were temporarily taken into custody for a thorough investigation.

On February 27, four more persons who had participated in acts of sabotage on railroad installations were arrested in Pabrado and Butiai and transferred to Vilnius. Among the people arrested is also the organizer of sabotage, Stanislaus Szklenik, from Pabrado. During the arrest of two criminals in the village of Guzili, five inhabitants of the village were found in possession of firearms and ammunition; two revolvers, one rifle, and one crate of rifle ammunition were found and seized. All five people were shot on the spot.

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From Latvia

Within the last few days, three Jews deported from the Reich to Riga were caught escaping from the ghetto or their work quarters. The Jews were shot or hanged in the presence of the ghetto or camp inmates.

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From Byelorussia

On March 2, three young fellows who worked for the partisans as informers in the environs of Minsk were arrested.

The Jew Bronstein who ran a partisan recruiting office was also arrested. Inquiries revealed that the partisans in the Minsk area are constantly receiving reinforcements of manpower and materials from Minsk. Thus, a transport of 13 partisans were sent from Minsk in the direction of Lagoisk.

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During an action against the Jews, carried out on March 2 and 3, 3,412 Jews were executed in Minsk, 302 in Vileyka and 2,007 in Baranovichi. In all, a total of 5,721 Jews were executed.

The partisan question is increasingly discussed in German circles. From the Byelorussian side it was stated that the partisan movement has grown stronger since the beginning of the winter and that the situation is indeed serious.

The execution of the Jews of Minsk on March 3 has raised the conjecture in the minds of the town population that further large-scale actions will take place in all Byelorussia within the next few weeks. The population welcomed the actions taken for they had grown angry that the Jews are relatively well-supplied with respect to food. This was determined again and again while searching through empty Jewish apartments. At the suggestion of the commander of the Security Police and the Security Service, a discussion took place at the General Kommissariat on questions concerning ethnic Germans.

Generous and extensive care for ethnic Germans [due to the harsh winter] is to be introduced immediately.

On the basis of a confidential report, it was possible to arrest the former manager of the accounts department on the civilian prison in Minsk. A Soviet Russian was also arrested on suspicion of Communist activity. There were frequent irregularities on the part of the Schutzmannschaft against civilians, such as pillaging, thefts, and physical ill-treatment during house searches.

In connection with the arrest of two Russian Jews in Minsk, it was determined that a widespread gold trade is still going on among them.

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Einsatzgruppe B

Location: Smolensk

The situation and the mood in the Vitebsk district have considerably deteriorated. This is due to two factors: the deputy mayor of Vitebsk was murdered on the night of January 29/30. This incident naturally elictited a feeling of unrest and insecurity among the population. On the one hand, the town's population views this murder as an act of revenge by the Jews, on the other, the act of partisans.

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Einsatzgruppe D

Location: Simferopol

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Activity of the Security Police

During the period under report, the areas north of Simferopol in the Crimea were searched again. The western part as far as the Yevpatoria Ak-sheih line, the eastern part as far as the railway line Simferopol-Dzankoy, as well as the rural area in the north as far as Dzankoy heights, have now been worked over. The Teilkommando that has been posted in the central region is greatly handicapped by the bad conditions of the roads. A one-time survey of the entire Crimea is almost complete. Thus the southern territories of Kommandos 10b, 11a, and 11b, particularly the larger localities, are frequently, some even constantly, under surveillance. Due to the sever cold and snowstorms, as well as the impassable roads, Kommando 12 was forced to limit its activity in the period under report to places closer to the territory in which the Teilkommando was deployed. For the time being, its location is being changed to the area south of Stalino. In the period under report, further success was achieved concerning the arrest and the disposal of unrelieable elements thanks to the extended network of secret informants. Besides, more than 1,000 Jews and Gypsies, many of them politically suspect persons, we caught.

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From February 16 to 28, 1942, 1,515 people were shot, 729 of them Jews, 271 Communists, 74 partisans, 421 Gypsies and asocial elements and saboteurs.