{"id":38719,"date":"2026-09-30T20:25:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T00:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/?p=38719"},"modified":"2026-09-30T20:25:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T00:25:54","slug":"babyn-yar-history-and-memory-chapter-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/babyn-yar-history-and-memory-chapter-4\/","title":{"rendered":"\"Babyn Yar: History and Memory\" \u2014 Chapter 4"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Ukrainian Jewish Encounter was founded in 2008 with the goal of building stronger relations between Ukrainians and Jews, two peoples who, for centuries, lived side by side on the territory of what is modern-day Ukraine. Since then, in keeping with its motto, \"Our stories are incomplete without each other,\" UJE has sponsored conferences, round-table discussions and research, as well as translations and publication of works the organization anticipates will promote a deeper understanding between the two peoples and an appreciation of their respective cultures.<\/p>\n

We offer for the first time the book Babyn Yar: History and Memory<\/em> in eBook format.<\/p>\n

A ravine on the outskirts of Kyiv on September 29-30, 1941, was witness to one of the great atrocities of the Holocaust. There, over a two-day period, nearly 34,000 Kyiv Jews were shot to death in one of the first major events that has become known as the \u201cHolocaust by Bullets\u201d.<\/p>\n

With deep compassion and understanding, a group of internationally-renowned scholars discuss the treatment of Babyn Yar in culture, music, and the arts from Stalinist times to our own. Beyond the detailed and harrowing accounts of what took place in Kyiv in late September 1941, the essays in this volume realize the importance of preserving Babyn Yar as a symbol of the Holocaust and other tragedies of the twentieth century.<\/p>\n

Babyn Yar: History and Memory<\/em> was edited by Paul Robert Magocsi, Professor Emeritus of history and political science at the University of Toronto, where from 1980 to 2025 he held the professorial Chair of Ukrainian Studies and Vladislav Hrynevych, Leading Scholar at the Kuras Institute for Political and Ethnic Studies, Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The book (Ukrainian version) was published in conjunction with a series of events sponsored by UJE to commemorate the 75th<\/sup> anniversary of Babyn Yar<\/a>. Published in 2016 by Dukh i Litra<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Publication of the English version (2023) was made possible by the generous support of the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, Toronto, Canada. Distributed by the University of Toronto Press for the Chair of Ukrainian Studies, University of Toronto,<\/p>\n

(The editors appreciate the support of the sponsor and acknowledge that the views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter.)<\/p>\n

Chapter 4<\/h1>\n

Click here for a pdf <\/a>of the entire book.<\/p>\n

Babyn Yar: the Holocaust and other tragedies<\/h2>\n

Vitaliy Nakhmanovych<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On 28 September 1941 announcements in three languages \u2014 Russian, Ukrainian, and German \u2014 appeared on various buildings in German-occupied Kyiv. \"All Jews in the city of Kyiv and vicinities are ordered to assemble on Monday, 29 September 1941, by 8:00 a.m. on Melnikova and Dokterivska [Dehtiarivska] streets (near the cemeteries). Everyone must take documents, money, underclothing, and other items with them. Those who do not comply with this directive will be shot. Those who occupy a Jewish residence or loot items from those residences will be shot.\" [1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

On 29 September 1941\u00a0columns of Jews from every district of the city, mainly women, children, and elderly people carrying suitcases and bundles, streamed into Lukianivka Square and headed toward Babyn Yar. The majority of the victims did not suspect what was happening until it was too late. Moreover, the occupiers had circulated rumors that plans were afoot to transport the Jews from Kyiv. After passing through a barbed-wire enclosure before the intersection of Melnikova and Lagerna (today Dorohozhytska) streets, there was no turning back. Near the Orthodox Brotherhood (Bratske) Cemetery, arriving people were divested of their belongings, documents, and valuables, and led in columns to the ravine. On a small square right next to the ravine the people were forced to undress completely, descend into the ravine, and lie face-down; then they were shot in the back of the head. That day 22,000 people were executed. Those whom the Germans did not manage to shoot were locked overnight in the garages of a tank repair plant located on the corner of Melnikova and Lagerna streets. The shootings resumed the next day. According to a report of Einsatzgruppe C<\/em>, 33,771 people were killed in the space of two days, 29\u201330 September 1941.<\/p>\n

It is these two very days, 29\u201330 September, which eventually turned Babyn Yar into an international symbol of the Holocaust, even though in the fall of 1941 no one in Kyiv was aware of the Holocaust or the Genocide, as those two words were not in use yet. For many years after the war \u2014 until the very end of Soviet rule \u2014 people visited this place to pay their respects to the tens of thousands of Kyivan Jews who were shot there, because, as the writer and dissident Viktor Nekrasov once remarked, \"only Jews were shot here because they were Jews.\" [2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

All this is true. But it is not the whole truth because executions took place in Babyn Yar during the subsequent two years of the Nazi occupation of Kyiv. Not only Jews were shot there (or were buried after being killed elsewhere), but anyone whom the Nazis regarded as their enemies: Ukrainian nationalists and Roma (Gypsies), Soviet commissars and mentally ill people, underground members and hostages. Close to a hundred thousand bodies lay here until the summer of 1943, when the Germans began exhuming corpses from this sinister mass grave and burning them. That is precisely why we will never be able to arrive at an exact number of victims.<\/p>\n

Chronology of the tragedy
\n<\/strong>In order to create an honest record of the past, on the one hand, and to preserve
\na sense of the symbolic relationship among various tragedies, on the other, we should identify the key event and the historical background of Babyn Yar during the Nazi occupation. That event was the execution of Kyiv's Jews, or specifically 29 September 1941, the first day of the mass shootings. Clearly, this particular day is a certain culmination that was preceded and followed by a number of events:<\/p>\n

Before 29 September 1941<\/p>\n

\u2013 the Wehrmacht<\/em> captures Kyiv on 19 September;<\/p>\n

\u2013 Soviet saboteurs blow up the Kyiv Citadel and the Khreshchatyk thoroughfare; the deaths of a significant number of German officers; fires that continue to burn in downtown Kyiv;<\/p>\n

\u2013 the decision to carry out a demonstrative \"reprisal operation\";<\/p>\n

\u2013 the arrest and shooting of 1,600 Jewish hostages;<\/p>\n

\u2013 the appearance of announcements on the streets of Kyiv on 28 September: \"All Jews in the city of Kyiv and vicinities are ordered to assemble on Monday, 29 September 1941, by 8:00 a.m.\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Nazi Germany attacks the Soviet Union. A German sentry on the Great Bell-Tower, panorama of the Caves Monastery against the background of the burning Navodnytskyi Bridge spanning the Dnieper River (Kyiv, 23 September 1941).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
A little boy and his mother observe a German motorcyclist on a city street (Kyiv, 3 November 1941).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
A fire in the city center (Kyiv, September 1941).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The reverse side of this photograph is inscribed in German: \u201cThe Soviets have been expelled from the blooming and beautiful Ukrainian capital. All the important residential quarters have been blown up by the Soviets or the Jews\u201d
(Kyiv, 24 September 1941).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
German order directing all the Jews of Kyiv to assemble at 8:00 a.m., on 29 September, and to bring their documents, money, valuables, and warm clothing (Kyiv, 28 September 1941).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It should be noted that by this time the fate of Kyiv's Jews, like that of all the Jews in Ukraine and the rest of the Soviet Union as well as Europe, was already sealed. At the same time, the Germans used the sabotage actions targeting the Khreshchatyk as a handy pretext for organizing a Gross-Aktion<\/em> (large operation) in Kyiv in close collaboration with the military occupation authorities, with full support from the Wehrmacht, and with some sympathy on the part of the non-Jewish population.<\/p>\n

29 September 1941<\/p>\n

\u2013 columns of Jews, mostly women, children, and elderly people from various districts of Kyiv assemble at Lukianivka Square. The announcements ordering the Jews to assemble are written by people unfamiliar with the topography of the Ukrainian capital. Owing to this, two assembly points are indicated in the announcements: the place where Melnikova and Dehtiarivska (the Ukrainian- and Russian-language announcements mistakenly state \"Dokterivska\") streets merge at Lukianivka Square; and \"near the cemeteries\" just beyond the Melnikova-Lagerna corner. The distance between these two points is approximately two kilometers;<\/p>\n

\u2013 the movement of densely packed columns of Jews who at 8:00 a.m. move continuously along Melnikova Street in the direction of Babyn Yar; the people are convinced that they are going to be transported somewhere because of the proximity of the Lukianivka freight station (the Nazis had purposefully spread such rumors);<\/p>\n

\u2013 the patrolling of streets by German policemen and Military Police (Feldgendarmerie) who check to see if any Jews have remained in their homes;<\/p>\n

\u2013 the first wire enclosure (near the intersection of Melnikova and Lagerna streets) through which groups of 500 to 600 people are sent, this area being the point of no return;<\/p>\n

\u2013 a convoluted street with three turnings, along which the Jews are being led so that the people walking in the back cannot see what is happening to the ones in front;<\/p>\n

\u2013 a dense police cordon along the Jews' entire route and around Babyn Yar;<\/p>\n

\u2013 crowds of Kyivites who are silently observing this procession of thousands of condemned people;<\/p>\n

\u2013 a \"registration\" table near the Brotherhood (Bratske) Cemetery, where the Jews are stripped of their money, valuables, and documents, and they are ordered to leave their belongings and outer clothing. It is sorted right then and there by members of the Ukrainian auxiliary police;<\/p>\n

\u2013 the further route between the Lukianivka and Brotherhood cemeteries to the top of Babyn Yar. Here, of course, one can hear shots being fired and people screaming;<\/p>\n

\u2013 a double row of SS men with dogs are clubbing people, depriving them of any will to resist;<\/p>\n

\u2013 the small square at the edge of the ravine, on which the beaten, confused people are forced to strip naked and descend into the ravine;<\/p>\n

\u2013 finally, the ravine itself, where people are laid face-down, layer on top of layer; between the rows walk German policemen methodically shooting them in the back of the head. This lasts until 6:00 p.m., when the remaining people are locked inside the garages of a tank repair plant. That day 22,000 people are killed.<\/p>\n

After 29 September 1941<\/p>\n

The mass shootings of Jews did not end that day, and neither did their mournful procession to Babyn Yar. The only difference was that over the next few days they were taken out of the garages and transported to the place of execution by truck. The composition of the executioners also changed. On 30 September approximately 12,000 more people were shot by the members of the same Sonderkommando 4a <\/em>team. Later, German police battalions of Regiment South carried out executions until 15 October. By early October they were joined by Einsatzkommando<\/em>\u00a05<\/em>, which had remained in Kyiv and formed the nucleus of the local Security Police and the SD. By mid-November, up to 65,000 Jews from Kyiv and surrounding towns and villages were shot. The pace of these operations slowed gradually, and their impact on the non-Jewish population lessened.<\/p>\n

Naturally, the concentration of these dramatic events, whose apogee was the mass shooting that took place on 29 September, brings them into the foreground of the history of Babyn Yar during the German occupation. But this should not cause us to overlook the tragedy that befell other Nazi victims, such as Soviet war prisoners (above all, commissars, communists, and Jews), Roma, ordinary communists and Ukrainian nationalists, members of the Soviet and Ukrainian underground movements, mentally ill patients from the Ivan Pavlov Psychiatric Hospital (former St. Cyril's Hospital), and ordinary Kyivites who were seized as hostages. These victims comprised approximately one-third (between 90,000 and 100,000) of the victims of who lost their lives in Babyn Yar. Short of providing a detailed description of those events here, I will divide them into three blocs: (1) systematic executions beginning the day after the Wehrmacht<\/em> captures Kyiv and ending on the eve of the city's liberation by the Red Army on 6 November 1943; (2) the liquidation of prisoners in the Syrets concentration camp located next to Babyn Yar, starting in the spring of 1942; and (3) the burning of corpses in Babyn Yar by prisoners of the Syrets concentration camp in August\u2013September 1943.<\/p>\n

In order to create a more complete picture of the history of Babyn Yar during the Nazi occupation of Kyiv, the following three questions must be addressed: Who did the shooting? Who was shot there? How many people were shot? Some other questions related to topography need to be considered. Where specifically was Babyn Yar, the Syrets concentration camp, and the adjacent cemeteries located (during the Soviet period all these areas were almost completely destroyed). In which specific places did the executions and burials take place?<\/p>\n

Myths about Babyn Yar
\n<\/strong>Because these questions are objects of both scholarly interest and public discussions, they have become the topics of considerable speculation and falsification. At the same time, scholarly studies have no impact on people who, for extra-scholarly or pseudo-scholarly reasons, prefer to cling to a certain myth. Historians are also hostages to their convictions, which influence the choice of research topic, selection of historical facts, treatment of historical events, and, as a result, formation of ideologemes.<\/p>\n

For example, the classical Soviet myth that is advanced in the volume on Kyiv in the Russian-language History of Towns and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR (1982)<\/em>, states:<\/p>\n

After the occupation of Ukraine the authorities of fascist Germany assigned all Nazi troops the task of mercilessly destroying its population in order to liberate the territory of Ukraine for the future resettlement of Germans here. To this end, the mass destruction of the Soviet people was carried out\u2026. The direct participants in the crimes of the German-fascist invaders, their henchmen, were Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists.\u2026 The nationalists took part in punitive actions against partisans and underground members, carried out bloody reprisals against party, Soviet, [and] Komsomol workers, civilians\u2026. The fascist occupiers were given all kinds of assistance from anti-Soviet elements that were crawling out of every cranny. [3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

A somewhat modified version of this myth appears in a three-volume history of Kyiv published in the mid-1980s:<\/p>\n

On 19 September 1941\u00a0a horde of Nazi killers and looters broke into Kyiv\u2026. Terrorist activity was unleashed by the fascist punitive organs: the Secret State Police (Gestapo), secret military police (GFP), operational formations created for the mass extermination of the Soviet population (Einsatzgruppen<\/em>, Sonderkommando<\/em>), subunits of SS troops.... To assist the occupation apparatus and the Gestapo, they [the fascists \u2014 V.N.] created the so-called 'Ukrainian Protective Police' [Schutzpolizei] made up of criminal elements and a few traitors of the Fatherland. [4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

A contemporary Jewish myth, also formulated thirty years ago by the publicist and amateur historian Aleksandr Shlaen, is in fact merely another version of the Soviet myth.<\/p>\n

There were many executioners of Babyn Yar\u2026. At the very least, 1,200 people took part in the first mass execution alone. First and foremost, the main perpetrator was Einsatzkommando 4a<\/em> [sic<\/em>; read: Sonderkommando 4a<\/em> \u2014 V.N.]. Approximately 150 people. The 45th<\/sup> and 303rd<\/sup> Police Battalions were assigned to provide assistance. In addition, cutthroats from the 'Bukovynian Battalion' [and] 'volunteers' from among the nationalist bastards who were selected in advance by the Nazis, were rampaging. They included both locals and imported ones. [5]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Shlaen continues: \"Babyn Yar was the unique prerogative of the SD. Only those who had previously experienced 'purgatory' in the Security Police, in the SD, were sent there for liquidation.\" [6]<\/sup><\/a> But this myth is focused mainly on the Nazis' henchmen: \"The 'Bukovynian Battalion'\u2026 even later, for 725 days, dragged off to Babyn Yar all those who were not to the Nazi regime's liking. Such glory also accrued to their 'morally unblemished' brothers in arms\u2026from the 23rd<\/sup> Battalion of the SD security police [sic<\/em>; read: 23rd<\/sup> SD Police Battalion \u2014 V.N.], from the 114th<\/sup>, 115th<\/sup>, 117th<\/sup> police battalions, from a heavy weapons company\u2026from the police school\u2026\" [7]<\/sup><\/a> The composition of these subunits is described in the following terms: \"People with an 'unblemished past' joined the Ukrainian police: former criminals and deserters, former Petliurites and Makhnovists, current robbers and killers, all of whom from the first days sensed all the attractions of pogromist outlaw life and extortion. Henceforth they were legally permitted to engage in robberies, murders, [and] violence.\" [8]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Ukrainian mythology surrounding the topic under discussion is, first and foremost, a reaction to Soviet or Jewish mythologies. Its main goal, as noted by one of the authors of a collected volume published in the diaspora, V borotbi za ukrainsku derzhavnist<\/em> (In the Struggle for Ukrainian Statehood), is to refute the \"incorrect Jewish treatment of Ukrainians who were supposedly German collaborators.\" [9]<\/sup><\/a> In its most radical version, formulated by a Ukrainian-American activist hiding under the pseudonym \"Tetiana Tur,\" this myth utterly denies the mass shootings of Jews during the occupation of Kyiv, claiming that they had been shipped out of Ukraine and liquidated outside its borders.<\/p>\n

According to another version of the Ukrainian myth, which was advanced by a pair of otherwise disreputable journalists, Valerii and Natalia Lapikura, 100,000 Kyiv residents were killed, including 40,000 Jews (both figures are controversial). The Lapikuras declare that \"a former NKVD major, the ethnic Jew Vadym Maikovsky, has at least 7,000 of these 40,000 on his conscience. In the first hours of the occupation of Kyiv he offered his services to the Germans and was appointed chief of the 'native [tubilna<\/em>] police'.\" [10]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Here is how a more traditional version of the Ukrainian myth \u2014 again, originating in the diaspora \u2014 treats these historical events:<\/p>\n

In the first days of the military occupation the Gestapo carried out mass shootings and burials of Ukrainian hostages, together with the Jewish segment of the population there [in Babyn Yar \u2014 V.N.], and for nearly three years of the occupation it exterminated leading Ukrainian activists in Kyiv en masse\u2026. Bolshevik agents sneaked into the Gestapo and with the Germans' hands massacred Ukrainians\u2026. This work of 'Cain' was spurred by the 'Volksdeutscher<\/em>' and the 'Black Hundreds,' Russians who until recently had been disguising themselves as friends of the Ukrainians. [11]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

As we can see, the principal difference between Soviet and Jewish myths lies in the question of victims. Whereas Soviet mythology describes them as Soviet people<\/em>, essentially omitting even the very word Jews<\/em>, Jewish mythology insists conversely that Jews were the main target of Nazi terror both by the nature of the persecutions and numbers.<\/p>\n

In turn, the Jewish and Ukrainian myths share one feature. Both focus the utmost attention on the punishers who came from ranks of local residents. In Jewish mythology they are Ukrainians, while in Ukrainian mythology they are Russians, Volksdeutscher<\/em>, or even Jews. In this way these two sets of myths are distinguished from Soviet mythology, which above all seeks political enemies: German Nazis and Ukrainian nationalists.<\/p>\n

It must be emphasized that defining a mythology either as \"Jewish\" or \"Ukrainian\" does not mean that its promoters are exclusively people of a certain ethnic background; it means only that this mythology exists mostly within a corresponding ethnic or ethnocentric milieu. In similar fashion, Soviet mythology did not disappear along with the USSR, but has remained prominent in the contemporary neo-Soviet Russian reality, as well as among significant strata of the population in post-Soviet countries and in the emigration, where a corresponding system of values is cultivated.<\/p>\n

The German Reich's punitive system
\n<\/strong>In order to answer the question, \"Who did the shooting?,\" which is of primary concern in public discussions surrounding responsibility for the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes, it is necessary to understand the composition of the punitive system of the Nazi Reich, especially in occupied Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The formation of Nazi Germany's Jewish policy on the whole, that is, the development of the general methods and directions of the \"final solution of the Jewish question,\" was the responsibility of Hermann G\u00f6ring. As head of the Reichstag and minister-president of Prussia who was responsible for carrying out the four-year plan, G\u00f6ring was the second most important person in the Third Reich. As Hitler's deputy, he was responsible for dealing with this issue from 1938 until the very end of the Nazi regime. But as the commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, G\u00f6ring did not have any practical instruments for exterminating millions of people. Hence, the leading institutions that were tasked with the practical implementation of the \"historic mission\" involving the total extermination of European Jewry and other \"enemies of the Reich\" were the SS and the Ministry of the Interior. Not unexpectedly, disputes over jurisdiction would soon emerge between the SS, the paramilitary units of the Nazi party, and the Ministry of the Interior, a government institution. In order to prevent this, a bureaucratic device, known in medieval times as \"personal union,\" was introduced. In keeping with this mechanism, in 1936 Reichsf\u00fchrer-SS<\/em> Heinrich Himmler was appointed chief of the German police with the status of state secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, and in August 1943\u00a0he became the head of this ministry.<\/p>\n

But this was just the first step. Personal union was followed by institutional union, that is, the unification of the leadership of party and police structures into one department: the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt<\/em> \u2014 RSHA). Although formally it was one of the main SS administrations, the RSHA was established in September 1939\u00a0through the amalgamation under one roof of the Main Administration of the Security Police (Hauptamt der Sicherheitspolizei <\/em>\u2014 Sipo<\/em>), to which were subordinated the Secret State Police (Geheime Staatspolizei<\/em> \u2014 Gestapo), the Criminal Police (Kriminalpolizei<\/em> \u2014 \"Kripo\"), and the Reichsfuhrer SS Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsf\u00fchrers \u2014 <\/em>SS\/SD), which was the intelligence agency of the Nazi party. The dual character of the RSHA was also reflected in the position of its head, who was officially called the chief of the Security Police and the SD (and not the chief of the main administration of the SS). This position was held by three figures: Reinhard Heydrich (from the inception of the RSHA until he was wounded in an assassination attempt in May 1942); Himmler (until the end of 1942); and Ernst Kaltenbrunner (from late January 1943\u00a0until the end of the war).<\/p>\n

Within the RSHA \u2014 specifically the IV office, or Gestapo [12]<\/sup><\/a>, headed by Heinrich M\u00fcller, and Department B, which oversaw confessional questions [13]<\/sup><\/a> \u2014 there existed a small \"Jewish\" sub-department called Referat<\/em> IV\u00a0B\u00a04<\/em>, [14]<\/sup><\/a> headed by Adolf Eichmann. The subsequent kidnapping of Eichmann by Israeli intelligence agents in Argentina in 1961\u00a0and his well-publicized trial made it seem to the general public that he was the chief architect of the \"Final Solution.\" Although Eichmann was indeed responsible for an important link in this process, especially for organizing the deportations of Jews to the death camps, he was in fact only one of a number of individuals who carried out criminal orders. One may say that Eichmann occupied one of the key places in the Nazi machinery for destroying the Jews en masse, but his was more like a driver who chooses the most convenient route, not a chief who decides where to go. While the foregoing in no way absolves Eichmann of responsibility, it is nonetheless useful to state this more realistic assessment of his role in the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

One should keep in mind that the \"technologies\" used to liquidate the Jews of Europe varied from territory to territory. In the occupied European countries, with the exception of Poland and part of Yugoslavia (that is, from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, and Greece; from Italy, starting in 1943; and from Hungary, starting in 1944), Jews were deported to death camps located in Polish lands or to ghettos situated on former Soviet territory, where extermination, together with local Jews, awaited them. In the Generalgouvernement and the Warthegau Jews were sent immediately to ghettos and later transported to death camps located in those territories. In former Soviet-ruled lands (within the 1941 borders) and in the German occupation zone of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Banat), Jews were shot from the very beginning by Einsatzkommando <\/em>squads. Afterwards, survivors were sent to ghettos or camps. When the ghettos and camps were liquidated, in Distrikt Galizien and Bezirk Bialystok[15]<\/sup><\/a> they were transported to the death camps, while in other territories they were summarily y executed.<\/p>\n

Available documents do not offer researchers the possibility to give an unambiguous answer to the question of why the Nazis used various technologies in different lands. It is possible, however, to consider the Nazis' general racial views of one nationality or another and, accordingly, the plans for their future in keeping with Germany's \"New Order.\"<\/p>\n

Thus, we see two fundamentally different methods of extermination, which were carried out through two different systems of punitive institutions and structures. First there were the Vernichtungslager<\/em> (death camps) that were subordinated to the following structures: Kulmhof (in the village of Che\u0142mno on the Ner) \u2014 to the RSHA through the Security Police and SD Warthegau [16]<\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em>; Auschwitz-Birkenau (just outside the city of O\u015bwi\u0119cim) and Lublin (located on the outskirts of Majdanek) \u2014 to the SS-Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt <\/em>(SS Main Economic and Administrative Office) headed by Oswald Pohl through the Inspektion der Konzentrationslager<\/em> (Inspection of Concentration Camps, Richard Glucks); and the camps of Aktion Reinhardt<\/em> (Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka under the direct control of Adolf Hitler's personal chancellery), which they were managed by Himmler himself through Odilo Globocnik, commander of the SS and the police in Distrikt Lublin.<\/p>\n

The camps were protected by subunits of the SS-Division Totenkopf <\/em>(Skull and Crossbones SS Division). Like the SS troops, they were subordinated to the SS-F\u00fchrungshauptamt<\/em>, the operational headquarters of the SS. It was under Himmler's direct control until it was taken over by Hans J\u00fcttner, former chief of the headquarters of SS troops.<\/p>\n

The RSHA played a significant role in carrying out mass shootings and other forms of exterminating Jews in their areas of residence. It was responsible for the creation and activities of the Einsatzgruppen<\/em>, mobile squads formed mostly out of former policemen and members of the SD. The Einsatzgruppen<\/em> were temporary formations whose initial task was to seize archives as well as to uncover and isolate all those whom the Nazi regime considered its political enemies. In 1938\u20131939,\u00a0Einsatzgruppe<\/em>n<\/em> operated in Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. Later, these formations were used in the anti-partisan struggle in Yugoslavia and Slovakia and in punitive actions in Norway, Tunisia, France, Luxembourg, and Belgium.<\/p>\n

The most notorious Einsatzgruppen<\/em> were the four that operated on the occupied territories of the USSR. Their composition ranged from 600 (Einsatzgruppe<\/em> D<\/em>) to 900 (Einsatzgruppe<\/em> \u0410<\/em>) members who were divided into several Sonderkommando<\/em> (Special Forces) and Einsatzkommando<\/em> (task forces). Each Einsatzgruppe<\/em> operated in the frontline zone of an army group: Einsatzgruppe<\/em> \u0410<\/em> \u2014 Army Group North; Einsatzgruppe B<\/em> \u2014 Army Group Center. The territory of Ukraine was the base of operations of Einsatzgruppe C<\/em> (part of Sonderkommando 4a <\/em>and 4b<\/em>, Einsatzkommando<\/em> 5<\/em> and 6<\/em>) \u2014 in the zone of Army Group South, and Einsatzgruppe D<\/em> (part of Sonderkommando<\/em> 10a<\/em>, 10b<\/em> and Einsatzkommando<\/em> 11a<\/em>, 11b<\/em>, and 12<\/em>) \u2014 in the zone of the 11th<\/sup> Army. Einsatzgruppe C<\/em> was commanded by Otto Rasch (until late September 1941) and Max Thomas; Einsatzgruppe D<\/em> \u2014 by Otto Ohlendorf (until July 1941\u00a0) and Walther Bierkamp.<\/p>\n

As the front moved eastward, these formations were turned into stationary structures of the Security Police and the SD. Thus, the Territorial Command of the Security Police and the SD (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, BdS<\/em>) was created on the basis of Einsatzgruppe C<\/em> within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, while Einsatzkommando 5<\/em> formed the nucleus of the Regional Command of the Security Police and the SD (Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, KdS<\/em>) for the Kyiv general district. It is worthwhile mentioning that, like the Einsatzgruppen<\/em>, whose operational activities were independent of military leaders, the Security Police and SD structures were independent of civil administration agencies in the occupied territories.<\/p>\n

The Einsatzgruppen<\/em> played a leading role in the mass shootings of Jews in the occupied territories. But they were not the only subunits that carried out punitive functions, including those targeting Jews. Others that operated together with the Einsatzgruppen<\/em> included:<\/p>\n

(1) In the military administration zone: security divisions (Sicherungs-Division<\/em>), military police (Feldgendarmerie<\/em>), and Secret military police (Geheime Feldpolizei<\/em> \u2014 GFP), who were subordinated to the Territorial Command of Army Group Rear Area (Befehlshaber r\u00fcckw\u00e4rtiges Heeresgebiet<\/em>). In the Ukrainian lands this position was held at various times by Karl von Roques, Erich Friderici, and Joachim Witth\u00f6ft. They were also responsible for prisoner-of-war camps, where Jewish combatants were singled out for summary execution. Therefore, these structures were subordinated to the Wehrmacht<\/em>, which required additional coordination in the event that it was necessary to carry out joint operations.<\/p>\n

(2) In the civilian administration zone: units of the Protective Police (Schutzpolizei<\/em> \u2014 Schupo<\/em>) in cities, and the Gendar<\/em>merie<\/em> in rural areas, which came under the purview of the Order Police (Ordnungspolizei<\/em> \u2014 Orpo<\/em>). The latter was subordinated to Himmler as the chief of the German police through the Main Administration of the Order Police (Hauptamt Ordnungspolizei<\/em>), headed by Kurt Daluege (until late August 1943) and Alfred W\u00fcnnenberg. The regional structure of the Orpo<\/em> was identical to that of the Security Police and the SD. In the Reichskommissariat Ukraine it was headed by the Territorial Command of the Order Police (Befehlshaber der Ordnungspolizei, BdO<\/em>), to which regional Orpo<\/em> commanders (Kommandeur der Ordnungspolizei, KdO<\/em>) in separate general districts were subordinated. In various years the position of territorial commander was held by Otto von \u00d6lhafen, Adolf von Bomhard, Werner Lorge, and Karl Brenner.<\/p>\n

(3) Police and SS units were subordinated to the heads of the SS and the police (SS- und Polizeif\u00fchrer<\/em>), who were personally appointed by Himmler. In the Ukrainian lands, in particular, these were the senior heads of the SS and the Police in the South of Russia (H\u00f6here SS- und Polizeif\u00fchrer Ru\u00dfland-S\u00fcd<\/em>): Friedrich Jeckeln (until October 1941) and his successor, Hans-Adolf Pr\u00fctzmann, who\u00a0was appointed supreme commander of the SS and the police in Ukraine (H\u00f6chste SS- und Polizeif\u00fchrer Ukraine<\/em>) in October 1943. [17]<\/sup><\/a> The Police Regiment South (consisting of three battalions), two separate police battalions, and SS infantry and cavalry formations were subordinated to them.<\/p>\n

Functioning on a lower rung were commanders of the SS and the police in general districts and the District Galizien. The latter was subordinated to the Senior Head of the SS and the Police in the East (H\u00f6here SS- und Polizeif\u00fchrer Ost<\/em>), that is, in the Generalgouvernement. In addition, at the end of October 1943 the Senior Head of the SS and Police in the Black Sea Region (H\u00f6here SS- und Polizeif\u00fchrer Schwarzes Meer<\/em>), who was operating in the rear of Army Group A, was appointed. It must be noted that the commanders of the SS and the police were simultaneously senior commanders for heads of corresponding territorial subunits of the Security Police and SD as well as the Order Police, which enabled Himmler to maintain direct control over their activities and, if necessary, to intervene in them.<\/p>\n

In addition to German formations, the punitive system included subunits composed of local residents and prisoners of war. These included: subunits protecting the death camps and concentration camps, particularly the so-called Trawniki<\/em>[18]<\/sup><\/a>; stationary structures of the auxiliary police (Hilfspolizei<\/em>); mobile subunits of Auxiliary Police (Schutzmannschaft<\/em>); and Jewish police (Judischer Ordnungsdienst<\/em>) based in ghettos, which were composed of ghetto residents.<\/p>\n

All these formations were under overall German control; therefore, participation in punitive measures of any kind took place only on German orders. As regards the local \"Ukrainian\" police, very precise directives were issued in the fall of 1941\u00a0by the head of the rear area of Group Army South, Infantry General Erich Friderici: \"Auxiliary subunits that are being created out of the local population can in no way have the hallmarks of any future Ukrainian formation; they serve German<\/u> [emphasis in the original document \u2014 V.N.] goals exclusively\u2026. It is necessary to prevent the penetration of Banderite propaganda or other political aspirations into such auxiliary commands.\" [19]<\/sup><\/a> The degree of responsibility was spelled out clearly: \"Local residents who have been accepted into German service must be vetted most thoroughly by the secret military police or the SD and always be under control. For treason, only the death penalty by hanging is to be handed down.\" [20]<\/sup><\/a> The organizational assurance of upholding these directives was based on the clear-cut requirement that \"the command must always remain in German hands.\" [21]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

The executioners
\n<\/strong>It is in this context that the events in occupied Kyiv can be examined. There were two main, chronologically overlapping, periods of executions that took place in the vicinity of Babyn Yar. The first period lasted from September to mid-November 1941, during which executions were carried out mostly by German mobile subunits. The following operated in Kyiv.<\/p>\n

(1) Units of Einsatzgruppe C<\/em> (commander: SS-Brigadef\u00fchrer<\/em> and Major-General of the Police Dr. Otto Rasch): group headquarters; Sonderkommando <\/em>4\u0430<\/em> (commander: SS-<\/em>Standartenf\u00fchrer<\/em> Paul Blobel); Einsatzkommando <\/em>5<\/em> (commander: SS-<\/em>Sturmbannf\u00fchrer<\/em> August Meier); 3rd<\/sup> Company of the 9th<\/sup> Reserve Police Battalion (commander: Police Captain Walter Krumme); and 3rd<\/sup> Company of a special battalion of SS troops (commander: SS<\/em>-Obersturmf\u00fchrer<\/em> Bernhard Grafhorst).<\/p>\n

(2) Units subordinated to the commander in chief of the SS and the Police in the South of Russia (SS-Obergruppenf\u00fchrer<\/em> Friedrich Jeckeln): Police Regiment South (commander: Police Colonel Rene Rosenbauer); regimental headquarters; \"headquarters company\" (volunteer firing squad); 45th<\/sup> Reserve Battalion (commander: Major of Police and SS <\/em>Sturmbannf\u00fchrer<\/em>\u00a0Martin Besser); and the 303rd<\/sup> Battalion (commander: Major of Police and SS <\/em>Sturmbannf\u00fchrer<\/em> Heinrich <\/em>Hannibal).<\/p>\n

(3) Various units recruited as firing squads: uniformed military police; and the Wehrmacht<\/em>, specifically the 454th<\/sup> Security Division, 75th<\/sup> and 299th<\/sup> infantry divisions.<\/p>\n

From mid-October 1941\u00a0to late September 1943\u00a0Babyn Yar was the site of regular executions carried out by the Security Police and the SD in close cooperation with the military and civil authorities of Kyiv. This period can be divided into three main stages. The first lasted from mid-October 1941\u00a0until the spring of 1942. It began against the background of continuous mass operations, at which time local military authorities actively enlisted the services of subunits of the Einsatzkommando 5<\/em> stationed in Kyiv to carry out the executions.<\/p>\n

Photographs taken by the German army photographer Johannes H\u00e4hle, Kyiv, early October 1941.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Soviet POWs next to the sorted belongings of executed Jews.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
SS men rummaging through the belongings of murdered Jews<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some belongings of the murdered victims: photographs, clothing, women\u2019s and children\u2019s footwear, a prosthesis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t