ABSTRACT

Crude prejudice, naked fanaticism and bloodlust were often satisfied in those who formed part of the killing squads. What follows is an extract from a letter written by a German police-sergeant serving in an EinsatzKommando unit in the southern Ukraine:

We men of the new Germany must be strict with ourselves even if it means a long period of separation from our family. For we must finish matters once and for all and finally settle accounts with the war criminals, in order to create a better and eternal Germany for our heirs. We are not sleeping here. There are three or four operations a week. Sometimes Gypsies, another time Jews, partisans and all sorts of trash… We are not carrying on a lawless regime here, but when an action requires immediate atonement we contact the SD and justice takes its course. If the official judicial system were operating, it would be impossible to exterminate a whole family when only the father is guilty.