. NMT04-T0094
Volume IV · Page 94
| Einsatzgruppen were assigned partly to the
reconnaissance of guerrilla bands, fighting guerrilla bands, and to military
tasks and, after completion of their basic assignments, were partly converted
into combat units. All orders which pertained to the tactical and strategic
situation or sphere of interest of the army groups or armies came from the
commanding general, the chief of staff or counterintelligence officer of the
army or army group to which the Einsatzgruppe was assigned. Orders concerning
clearing out undesirable elements went directly to the Einsatzkommandos and
came from the Reich Leader SS himself or by transmission through Heydrich. The
commanders in chief were ordered by Hitler to support the execution of these
orders. Through the so-called Commissar Order, the army units had to sort out
political commissars and other similar undesirable elements themselves and hand
them over to the Einsatzkommandos to be killed. The order pertaining to the
sorting out of these elements from the prisoner-of-war camps was supplemented
accordingly by executive orders from the High Command of the Army to the army
units. The activity of the Einsatzgruppen and their Einsatzkommandos was
carried out entirely within the field of jurisdiction of the commanders in
chief of the army groups or armies under their responsibility. 7. The reports of the Einsatzgruppen went to the armies or army groups and to the Chief of the Security Police and SD. Normally weekly or biweekly reports were sent to the Chief of the Security Police and SD by radio and written reports were sent to Berlin approximately every month. The army groups or armies were kept currently informed about the security in their area and other current problems. The reports to Berlin went to the Chief of the Security Police and SD in the Reich Security Main Office. After the creation of the command [headquarters] staff of the Chief of the Security Police and SD in about May 1942, this [staff] prepared the subsequent reports. The command staff consisted basically of Gruppenfuehrer [SS Major General] Mueller, chief of office IV, and Obersturmbannfuehrer [SS Lieutenant Colonel] Nosske, group chief in office IV, to whom specialists of offices III, IV, and VI were available for coordinating the composition of the reports. Questions which had to do with the personnel of the group and with garrisons went to office I. Administrative questions and matters concerning equipment were taken care of by office II. Information concerning the spheres of life (SD) went to office III. The chief of office IV received reports on the general security situation, including Jews and Communists. Information about the unoccupied Russian areas went to office VI. I have read the above statement, consisting of six (6) pages |
