. NMT04-T0533
Volume IV · Page 533
| Despite the defendant's protestations from the witness stand, it is evident from the documentary evidence and his own testimony, that he went along willingly with the execution of the Fuehrer Order. Hardly had his Kommando reached its first stopping place, before it began its criminal work. Operational Report No. 15 reads — |
"Group leader entered Riga with Einsatzkommando la and 2." |
| It then describes the destruction of
synagogues, the liquidation of 400 Jews, and the setting up of groups for the
purpose of fomenting pogroms. Sandberger seeks to deny responsibility for the
executions, although it has been demonstrated that not only he was in Riga at
the time they occurred, but he actually had a conversation about them with the
Einsatzgruppe Chief Stahlecker before he left Riga. This same report shows that a Teilkommando of Sandberger's unit, Einsatzkommando la, was assigned to an operation in Tartu, and it is interesting to note that a subsequent report (No. 88. dated 19 September 1941) tells of an execution in Tartu of 405 persons of whom 50 were Jews. This report closes with the significant statement — |
"There are no more Jews in prison." |
| A report dated 15 October 1941 on executions in Ostland included one item under Esthonia of 474 Jews and 684 Communists. The defendant also denies responsibility for these killings, placing the credit or blame for them on the German field police and Esthonian home guard. It is a fact, however, that the Esthonian home guard was under Sandberger's jurisdiction and control for specific operations, as evidenced by the same report. |
"The arrest of all male Jews of over 16 years of age has been nearly finished. With the exception of the doctors and the elders of the Jews who were appointed by the special Kommandos, they were executed by the self-protection units under the control of the special detachment la. Jewesses in Parnu and Tallin of the age groups from 16 to 60 who are fit for work were arrested and put to peat-cutting or other labor. |
| Report No. 17, dated 9 July 1941 carried the item — |
"With the exception of one, all leading communist officials in Esthonia have now been seized and rendered harmless. The sum total of communists seized runs to about 14,500. Of these about 1,000 were shot and 5,377 put into concentration camps. 3,785 less guilty supporters were released." |
