This invaluable work traces the role of the Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police and SD, the core group of Himmler's murder units involved in the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question," during and immediately after the German campaign in Poland in 1939. In addition to relevant Einsatzgruppen reports, the book includes key documents from other sources, especially eyewitness accounts from victims or onlookers. Such accounts provide an alternative, often much more realistic, perspective on the nature and consequences of the actions previously known only through documentation generated by the perpetrators. With carefully selected primary sources contextualized by the authors' clear narrative, this work fills an important gap in our understanding of a crucial period in the evolution of policies directed against Jews, Poles, and others deemed dangerous or inferior by the Third Reich. Supplemented by maps and photographs, this book will be an essential reference and research tool.

Autorentext
Jürgen Matthäus is director of the Applied Research Division at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Jochen Böhler is a research fellow at the Imre Kertész Kolleg at Jena University, Germany. Klaus-Michael Mallmann is director of the Forschungsstelle Ludwigsburg at the Universität Stuttgart, Germany.

Inhalt

Part I: Introduction
The Einsatzgruppen and the Sources Documenting Their Actions
Preparing for the War on Poland
Personnel and Tasks
Escalating Violence
Part II: Documents and Context
Directives and Initial Actions
Expanding the Scope of Violence
Persecuting Jews
Establishing Long-Term Rule
Afterword: Poland, 1939-Soviet Union, 1941. Einsatzgruppen Actions in Comparison