The Einsatzgruppen (task forces or special action groups) were units of the Security Police and SD. They are sometimes referred to as "mobile killing squads." The Einsatzgruppen were a consistently brutal perpetrator of Nazi occupation policies. They are best known for their role in the massacres of Jews following the German attack on the Soviet Union.
![Einsatzgruppen massacres in eastern Europe [LCID: eur73960]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/e71749ea-5732-47f0-8439-edc291ee884a.gif "Einsatzgruppen massacres in eastern Europe [LCID: eur73960]")
![Einsatzgruppen massacres in eastern Europe (enlargement) [LCID: eeu73050]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/d7f43cf9-863e-42fd-98dd-f82350f1dd70.gif "Einsatzgruppen massacres in eastern Europe (enlargement) [LCID: eeu73050]")
Einsatzgruppen were German special duty units, composed primarily of SS and police personnel, assigned to kill Jews as part of the Nazi program to kill the Jews of Europe. During the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the mobile killing squads followed the German army as it advanced deep into Soviet territory, and carried out mass-murder operations. Wherever the Einsatzgruppen went they shot Jewish men, women, and children, without regard for age or gender. Einsatzgruppen killed more than a million Jews and tens of thousands of Soviet political officials, partisans, and Roma (Gypsies).
Item View![Einsatzgruppen activity in the Baltic area [LCID: ost73030]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/973d1ceb-dd17-4132-a73a-f8044ddbc16a.gif "Einsatzgruppen activity in the Baltic area [LCID: ost73030]")
![Einsatzgruppen activity in the Ukraine [LCID: ukr73030]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/f54010d9-46ec-46b5-832c-23149cd7407a.gif "Einsatzgruppen activity in the Ukraine [LCID: ukr73030]")
In the summer of 1941, following Germany's attack on the Soviet Union, the Germans began to perpetrate mass shootings of Jewish men, women, and children in territory seized from Soviet forces. These murders were part of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question,” the mass murder of Europe’s Jews. Many of these mass shootings were organized and committed by task forces or special action groups, called Einsatzgruppen in German. Units of Einsatzgruppen followed the German army as it invaded the Soviet Union and Soviet-controlled territory. In addition to the Einsatzgruppen, other German units also carried out mass shootings. These units included Order Police battalions, military units (Wehrmacht), and the Waffen SS, as well as Schutzmannschaften (collaborating auxiliary police units formed of native recruits). The Einsatzgruppen were a relatively small group. Without additional forces, the systematic mass murder of Jews in these regions would not have been possible.
This map shows some of the locations of mass killing sites in eastern Europe at the height of German expansion. The area on the map largely coincides with what today are Ukraine and parts of Belarus, Poland, and Russia. Of particular note is the Babyn Yar massacre site in the Ukrainian city of Kyiv (marked with a yellow dot). The massacre at Babyn Yar was one of the largest mass killings at a single location during World War II.
Item ViewDuring the Holocaust, members of mobile killing units known as “Einsatzgruppen” (literally “operational groups”) murdered well over one million civilians, primarily in mass shootings in the Soviet Union.
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