The Einsatzgruppen in the Occupied Eastern Territories, Part 1: Genesis, Missions and Actions, Part 1: The Einsatzgruppen (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781971021713)

On 22 June 1941, National-Socialist Germany set out to destroy what it saw as a menace to the world: Judeo-Bolshevism in its most threatening manifestation, the Soviet Union. As the German Army marched east, certain special units called Einsatzgruppen (task forces) were deployed behind the front. Mainstream historians maintain that their primary task was to exterminate as many Jews as possible. At war's end, the Einsatzgruppen's death toll and that of associated units is said to have amounted to some 1.5 to 3 million Jewish civilians, depending on which historian you happen to hear.

The present study takes a critical look at the Einsatzgruppen's activities and missions. While many authentic documents exist attesting to mass executions of Jews in the temporarily German-occupied Soviet territories, the accuracy of the data contained in them is questionable, as even mainstream scholars admit.

The present book tries to uncover what really happened to the Jews who lived in, or were deported into, the temporarily German-occupied territories of the Soviet Union. It first shows that the Einsatzgruppen were not simple killing units but had a broad variety of responsibilities. It then establishes that there is not a shred of evidence indicating that these units ever received orders to commit wholesale slaughter of Jews. In fact, there is abundant evidence refuting such a claim. The extant documentation instead points to the Jews having been targeted by the Germans as the fertile breeding ground of Bolshevism, hence as a convenient scapegoat for the atrocious way the Soviets waged this war.

Next, and unlike all other works published so far on this topic, the author analyzes with a critical mind and a common-sense approach the information we have about the Einsatzgruppen's killings as well as the claimed attempts of German units to erase the traces of these crimes in what has been dubbed "Aktion 1005" the exhumation and incineration of the murdered victims in 1943/1944. Almost everything known about "Aktion 1005" stems from Soviet investigations conducted after the Germans' retreat. Their witness testimonies and forensic expert reports, however, reek of atrocity propaganda marked by absurdly impossible and often contradictory claims.

The only way of determining any more about what really happened would be the forensic examination, by independent researchers, of the physical traces left behind. Unfortunately, such research has been prevented by the powers that be.

This is only Part 1 of this 2-part set. For Part 2 dealing with "Aktion 1005", search for ISBN 9781971021720