Mass Murder in the Baltic States

15th October 1941: The SS begin to submit reports on the scale of the mass executions that became known as the 'Holocaust by Bullets'

Franz Walter Stahlecker (1900-1942) was the wealthy middle-class son of a Pastor. He held a doctorate in law and had four children with his wife. By the end of 1941, he claimed responsibility for killing 250,000 men, women and children in the Baltic States and northern Russia.

There was an element of competition between the four different Einsatzgruppe operating on the Eastern Front. Their leaders wanted to demonstrate their enthusiasm for the task given to them by the Nazi leadership. There was special kudos if they could declare an area, or even a country, "JudenFrei" - ‘Free of Jews’.

SS-Brigadeführer Franz Stahlecker, commander of Einsatzgruppe A, reported to Security Service Headquarters in Berlin on 15th October¹. This was a detailed 130-page report on the 'success' of his operations in the Baltic countries.

He began by recalling how the Einsatzgruppe had started their work by inciting the local population to commit 'pogroms' against Jews. These included the Lietukis Garage massacre.