"The photo above is showing members of an Einsatzkommando (mobile killing squad) before shooting a Jewish youth. The boy's murdered family lies in front of him; the men to the left are ethnic Germans aiding the squad."
When the Holocaust first started the Nazis needed to have a way to get rid of the Jews. The first thing that came to mind was shooting them. The Nazis had shot and killed many Jews but not without the help of the Einsatzgruppen. The Einsatzgruppen first started to shoot the Jewish men. The Einstazgruppen would go to the Jewish communities and shoot the Jews (Holocaust Encyclopedia). After shooting the men, the Einstazgruppen started to shoot the children and women in the late summer of 1941 (Holocaust Encyclopedia). The Einstazgruppen and the Nazis would sometimes have the Jews first dig there own grave. After completing the task of digging their own grave, the Einstazgrupen would shoot the Jew. Before being shot and after having to dig their own grave the Einstazgrupen would have the victim hand over any valuables that they had, and then they had to undress. Once having done that the victim would have been laying face down in the hole that they dug or hanging over the edge of the hole. After having to do all that the victim would have known there own fate, they then would have been shot (Holocaust Encyclopedia)
Another way the Einstazgruppen dealt with the Jews was that they would march their victims to open fields, forests, and ravines on the outskirts of conquered towns and cities. There they shot the victims in graves that had already been dug and that already had tones of dead corpse in the bottom (The Holocaust). Shooting proofed to be the most common form of killing used by the Einsatzgruppen during the Holocaust (Holocaust Encyclopedia). From June 1941 until the end of the war, the four Einsatzgruppen (A-D), together with their eager Eastern European auxiliaries killed around 1.5 million Jews in the occupied parts of the Soviet Union (Methods Of Mass Murder). During the holocaust shooting proved to be the least effective way to kill and get rid of Jews. The Einsatzgruppen soon learned a new horrible way to get rid of the Jews. This method would lead to the ultimate destruction of millions of more Jews and other ethnicities. The new method would proof to be a new and efficient way to kill. Gassing would be the ultimate devastation for the killing of many.
Another way the Einstazgruppen dealt with the Jews was that they would march their victims to open fields, forests, and ravines on the outskirts of conquered towns and cities. There they shot the victims in graves that had already been dug and that already had tones of dead corpse in the bottom (The Holocaust). Shooting proofed to be the most common form of killing used by the Einsatzgruppen during the Holocaust (Holocaust Encyclopedia). From June 1941 until the end of the war, the four Einsatzgruppen (A-D), together with their eager Eastern European auxiliaries killed around 1.5 million Jews in the occupied parts of the Soviet Union (Methods Of Mass Murder). During the holocaust shooting proved to be the least effective way to kill and get rid of Jews. The Einsatzgruppen soon learned a new horrible way to get rid of the Jews. This method would lead to the ultimate destruction of millions of more Jews and other ethnicities. The new method would proof to be a new and efficient way to kill. Gassing would be the ultimate devastation for the killing of many.
Jewish women about to be killed by an Einsatzgruppe