Podcasts about Einsatzgruppen

Send us a textIn December 1941,  an SS man took a series of 12 photographs of an Einsatzgruppen killing in Latvia.  The negatives were stolen by a survivor who had copies made and retrieved them after the war.In today's episode, we explore what we can learn about the Holocaust from these photographs and, indeed, from photographs in general.  I talk with Hillary Earl and Valerie Hébert who have written in depth about these images.Hilary Earl is a professor of history at Nipissing University.Valerie Hébert is a professor of history and interdisciplinary studies at Lakehead University.Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at holocausthistorypod@gmail.comThe Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Den 22 juni 1941 inledde Nazityskland en av de mest omfattande militära operationerna i historien: Operation Barbarossa. Med över tre miljoner soldater, tusentals stridsvagnar och flygplan korsade tyska trupper den sovjetiska gränsen, vilket öppnade östfronten under andra världskriget. Målet var att snabbt besegra Sovjetunionen och säkra "Lebensraum" – livsrum – för det tyska folket.Adolf Hitler drevs av en kombination av ideologiska och strategiska motiv. Han betraktade kommunismen som ett existentiellt hot och ansåg att det tyska folket behövde expandera österut för att få tillgång till livsviktiga resurser såsom olja, stål och spannmål. Dessutom såg han slaverna som underlägsna och ämnade förslava eller eliminera dem för att ge plats åt tyskarna.Detta är det sjätte avsnittet i en serie av sju om andra världskriget från podden Historia Nu. Programledaren Urban Lindstedt samtalar med Martin Hårdstedt, professor i historia, om Operation Barbarossa.Sovjetunionen var inte helt oförberedd på ett tyskt anfall, men graden av beredskap var otillräcklig. Trots underrättelserapporter om en förestående invasion valde Josef Stalin att ignorera många av varningarna, delvis på grund av misstro mot västerländska källor och en önskan att undvika provokation. Den sovjetiska armén var dessutom försvagad av tidigare utrensningar av officerare och led av bristande modernisering.Inledningsvis hade tyskarna stora framgångar genom sin "blitzkrieg"-taktik, vilket ledde till snabba framryckningar och inringningar av stora sovjetiska styrkor. Städer som Kiev och Smolensk föll, och tyska trupper närmade sig Moskva. Men den hårda sovjetiska vintern, långa försörjningslinjer och envist sovjetisk motstånd försvårade ytterligare framryckningar.Under invasionen begick de tyska styrkorna omfattande krigsbrott. Einsatzgruppen, mobila insatsstyrkor, följde efter de framryckande trupperna och genomförde massavrättningar av judar, romer, kommunister och andra grupper. Civila utsattes för brutala övergrepp, och många städer och byar förstördes systematiskt.Vändpunkten kom med slaget vid Stalingrad vintern 1942–1943. Efter månader av intensiva strider omringades och kapitulerade den tyska 6:e armén, vilket markerade början på en stadig sovjetisk offensiv västerut. Sovjetunionens förmåga att mobilisera sina resurser, den hårda vintern och Tysklands överskattning av sin egen kapacitet bidrog till denna vändning.Bild: Även om delar av den tyska armén var mekaniserad var man 1941 fortfarande i hög grad beroende av hästar och en stor del av soldaterna avancerade till fots. Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-136-0882-13 / Albert Cusian / CC-BY-SA 3.0 Wikipedia. Public Domain.Musik: If the war breaks out tomorrow av The Red Army Chorus of the U.S.S.R. Dm. & Dan. Pokrass; K. Listov; A. V. Alexandrov; V. Lebedev; Kumach; Red Army Choir of the U.S.S.R.; Internet Archive, Public Domain.Lyssna också på Hitlers och Stalins koloniala projekt krävde planerade massmord.Klippare: Emanuel Lehtonen Vill du stödja podden och samtidigt höra ännu mer av Historia Nu? Gå med i vårt gille genom att klicka här: https://plus.acast.com/s/historianu-med-urban-lindstedt. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ElevenLabs (prova gratuita): clicca quiAmazon (vetrina): clicca quiIl ministero della paranoia: clicca quiGli uomini di Himmler: clicca quiDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: clicca qui.➨ Iscrivetevi al nostro canale Telegram: clicca quiContatti: redazione@Spazio70.comPuntata 4 (18/4/2025)Tra i principali argomenti trattati all'interno dell'episodio:Dopo la Seconda guerra mondiale, i Servizi segreti delle due Germanie si riorganizzano sulle ceneri del Terzo Reich, sotto influenze opposte: americana e sovietica.Il BND tedesco-occidentale nasce dall'Organizzazione Gehlen, diretta dal generale Reinhard Gehlen, che offrì agli USA documenti e competenze sul fronte orientale.La narrazione mitica di Gehlen come fondatore dell'intelligence democratica viene smontata dai documenti d'archivio: incompetenza, inefficienza e retaggi autoritari.Gehlen recluta numerosi ex funzionari di Gestapo, SD ed Einsatzgruppen, responsabili diretti di crimini di guerra e della Shoah.Negli anni Sessanta, scandali e infiltrazioni sovietiche rivelano la fragilità del BND, che arriva a contare fino al 20 per cento di personale proveniente dagli apparati nazisti.La Stasi nasce sotto stretto controllo sovietico e viene modellata sul modello del KGB, con una struttura altamente politicizzata e centralizzata.Il personale della Stasi proviene da comunisti «russificati», ex deportati politici, prigionieri rieducati in URSS e giovani formati all'interno del regime.La cultura del «cekismo» staliniano, improntata al fanatismo ideologico e al culto della sorveglianza, permea la mentalità della Stasi fino agli anni Ottanta.Mentre il BND diventa una roccaforte del conservatorismo e dell'anticomunismo, la Stasi si radicalizza nella lotta di classe e nel controllo totalitario.Entrambi i Servizi operano ben oltre i confini nazionali, collaborando con regimi autoritari e partecipando a operazioni controverse durante la Guerra fredda.Sigla: Loopster (Kevin MacLeod);Brano all'interno dell'episodio:destiny (Synthwave Music)-HelkimerEffetti: ElevenLabs

Send us a textAt least 2 million Jews were murdered by mass shooting in the Soviet Union.  The perpetrators responsible for most of these killings were the men of the Einsatzgruppen.  In this week's episode, I talk with Jürgen Mathäus about the history of these units, their evolution from 1938 on, and the role they played in the Holocaust. Jürgen Mathäus is the director of the Applied Research Program at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The views expressed in this segment are those of the speaker; they do not necessarily represent the opinions of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.Matthäus, Jürgen, Jochen Böhler, and Klaus-Michael Mallmann. War, Pacification, and Mass Murder, 1939: The Einsatzgruppen in Poland (2014)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at holocausthistorypod@gmail.comThe Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Send us a textWhen the Einsatzgruppen began reporting that they were murdering Jews, the British code-breakers at Bletchley Park intercepted and decoded the messages.  Throughout the Holocaust, these men and women deciphered the reports of the SS and documented the crimes of the Nazi state.On this episode, I talk with journalist and researcher Christian Jennings about the Holocaust Code and what we can learn about the Holocaust from decoded Nazi transmissions. Christian Jennings is a British author and foreign correspondent, and the author of ten non-fiction books of modern history and current affairs. THis latest book is The Holocaust Codes: Decrypting the Final Solution. He has lectured for Bletchley Park on German codebreaking, and from 1994-2012 he spent fifteen years reporting for newspapers and TV on international current affairs and complex war crimes investigations, including genocide and its aftermath, across twenty-three countries in the Western Balkans and Africa. Jennings, Christian. The Holocaust Codes: The Untold Story of Decrypting the Final Solution (2024)Follow on Twitter @holocaustpod.Email the podcast at holocausthistorypod@gmail.comThe Holocaust History Podcast homepage is hereYou can find a complete reading list with books by our guests and also their suggestions here.

Listen to the premiere episode of the second season of The Forgotten Exodus, the multi-award-winning, chart-topping, and first-ever narrative podcast series to focus exclusively on Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews. This week's episode focuses on Jews from Tunisia. If you like what you hear, subscribe before the next episode drops on September 3. “In the Israeli DNA and the Jewish DNA, we have to fight to be who we are. In every generation, empires and big forces tried to erase us . . . I know what it is to be rejected for several parts of my identity... I'm fighting for my ancestors, but I'm also fighting for our future generation.”  Hen Mazzig, a writer, digital creator, and founder of the Tel Aviv Institute, shares his powerful journey as a proud Israeli, LGBTQ+, and Mizrahi Jew, in the premiere episode of the second season of the award-winning podcast, The Forgotten Exodus. Hen delves into his family's deep roots in Tunisia, their harrowing experiences during the Nazi occupation, and their eventual escape to Israel. Discover the rich history of Tunisia's ancient Amazigh Jewish community, the impact of French colonial and Arab nationalist movements on Jews in North Africa, and the cultural identity that Hen passionately preserves today. Joining the conversation is historian Lucette Valensi, an expert on Tunisian Jewish culture, who provides scholarly insights into the longstanding presence of Jews in Tunisia, from antiquity to their exodus in the mid-20th century. ___ Show notes: Sign up to receive podcast updates here. Learn more about the series here. Song credits:  "Penceresi Yola Karsi" -- by Turku, Nomads of the Silk Road Pond5:  “Desert Caravans”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837 “Sentimental Oud Middle Eastern”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Sotirios Bakas (BMI), IPI#797324989. “Meditative Middle Eastern Flute”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Danielyan Ashot Makichevich (BMI), IPI Name #00855552512, United States BMI “Tunisia Eastern”: Publisher: Edi Surya Nurrohim, Composer: Edi Surya Nurrohim, Item ID#155836469. “At The Rabbi's Table”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Fazio Giulio (IPI/CAE# 00198377019). “Fields Of Elysium”; Publisher: Mysterylab Music; Composer: Mott Jordan; ID#79549862  “Frontiers”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Pete Checkley (BMI), IPI#380407375 “Hatikvah (National Anthem Of Israel)”; Composer: Eli Sibony; ID#122561081 “Tunisian Pot Dance (Short)”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: kesokid, ID #97451515 “Middle East Ident”; Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Alpha (ASCAP); Composer: Alon Marcus (ACUM), IPI#776550702 “Adventures in the East”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI) Composer: Petar Milinkovic (BMI), IPI#00738313833. ___ Episode Transcript: HEN MAZZIG: They took whatever they had left and they got on a boat. And my grandmother told me this story before she passed away on how they were on this boat coming to Israel.  And they were so happy, and they were crying because they felt that finally after generations upon generations of oppression they are going to come to a place where they are going to be protected, and that she was coming home. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: The world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-20th century. Welcome to the second season of The Forgotten Exodus, brought to you by American Jewish Committee. This series explores that pivotal moment in history and the little-known Jewish heritage of Iran and Arab nations. As Jews around the world confront violent antisemitism and Israelis face daily attacks by terrorists on multiple fronts, our second season explores how Jews have lived throughout the region for generations–despite hardship, hostility, and hatred–then sought safety and new possibilities in their ancestral homeland. I'm your host, Manya Brachear Pashman. Join us as we explore untold family histories and personal stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience from this transformative and tumultuous period of history for the Jewish people and the Middle East.  The world has ignored these voices. We will not. This is The Forgotten Exodus.  Today's episode: leaving Tunisia. __ [Tel Aviv Pride video] MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Every June, Hen Mazzig, who splits his time between London and Tel Aviv, heads to Israel to show his Pride. His Israeli pride. His LGBTQ+ pride. And his Mizrahi Jewish pride. For that one week, all of those identities coalesce.  And while other cities around the world have transformed Pride into a June version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Israel is home to one of the few vibrant LGBTQ communities in the Middle East. Tel Aviv keeps it real. HEN: For me, Pride in Israel, in Tel Aviv, it still has this element of fighting for something. And that it's important for all of us to show up and to come out to the Pride Parade because if we're not going to be there, there's some people with agendas to erase us and we can't let them do it. MANYA: This year, the Tel Aviv Pride rally was a more somber affair as participants demanded freedom for the more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza since October 7th.  On that day, Hamas terrorists bent on erasing Jews from the Middle East went on a murderous rampage, killing more than 1,200, kidnapping 250 others, and unleashing what has become a 7-front war on Israel. HEN: In the Israeli DNA and the Jewish DNA we have to fight to be who we are. In every generation, empires and big forces tried to erase us, and we had to fight. And the LGBTQ+ community also knows very well how hard it is. I know what it is to be rejected for several parts of my identity. And I don't want anyone to go through that. I don't want my children to go through that. I'm fighting for my ancestors, but I'm also fighting for our future generation. MANYA: Hen Mazzig is an international speaker, writer, and digital influencer. In 2022, he founded the Tel Aviv Institute, a social media laboratory that tackles antisemitism online. He's also a second-generation Israeli, whose maternal grandparents fled Iraq, while his father's parents fled Tunisia – roots that echo in the family name: Mazzig. HEN: The last name Mazzig never made sense, because in Israel a lot of the last names have meaning in Hebrew.  So I remember one of my teachers in school was saying that Mazzig sounds like mozeg, which means pouring in Hebrew. Maybe your ancestors were running a bar or something? Clearly, this teacher did not have knowledge of the Amazigh people. Which, later on I learned, several of those tribes, those Amazigh tribes, were Jewish or practiced Judaism, and that there was 5,000 Jews that came from Tunisia that were holding both identities of being Jewish and Amazigh.  And today, they have last names like Mazzig, and Amzaleg, Mizzoug. There's several of those last names in Israel today. And they are the descendants of those Jewish communities that have lived in the Atlas Mountains. MANYA: The Atlas Mountains. A 1,500-mile chain of magnificent peaks and treacherous terrain that stretch across Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, separating the Sahara from the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastline.  It's where the nomadic Amazigh have called home for thousands of years. The Amazigh trace their origins to at least 2,000 BCE  in western North Africa. They speak the language of Tamazight and rely on cattle and agriculture as their main sources of income.  But textiles too. In fact, you've probably heard of the Amazigh or own a rug woven by them. A Berber rug. HEN: Amazigh, which are also called Berbers. But they're rejecting this term because of the association with barbarians, which was the title that European colonialists when they came to North Africa gave them. There's beautiful folklore about Jewish leaders within the Amazigh people. One story that I really connected to was the story of Queen Dihya that was also known as El-Kahina, which in Arabic means the Kohen, the priest, and she was known as this leader of the Amazigh tribes, and she was Jewish.  Her derrogaters were calling her a Jewish witch, because they said that she had the power to foresee the future. And her roots were apparently connected to Queen Sheba and her arrival from Israel back to Africa. And she was the descendant of Queen Sheba. And that's how she led the Amazigh people.  And the stories that I read about her, I just felt so connected. How she had this long, black, curly hair that went all the way down to her knees, and she was fierce, and she was very committed to her identity, and she was fighting against the Islamic expansion to North Africa.  And when she failed, after years of holding them off, she realized that she can't do it anymore and she's going to lose. And she was not willing to give up her Jewish identity and convert to Islam and instead she jumped into a well and died. This well is known today in Tunisia. It's the [Bir] Al-Kahina or Dihya's Well that is still in existence. Her descendants, her kids, were Jewish members of the Amazigh people.  Of course, I would like to believe that I am the descendant of royalty. MANYA: Scholars debate whether the Amazigh converted to Judaism or descended from Queen Dihya and stayed.  Lucette Valensi is a French scholar of Tunisian history who served as a director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, one of the most prestigious institutions of graduate education in France. She has written extensively about Tunisian Jewish culture.   Generations of her family lived in Tunisia. She says archaeological evidence proves Jews were living in that land since Antiquity. LUCETTE VALENSI: I myself am a Chemla, born Chemla. And this is an Arabic name, which means a kind of belt. And my mother's name was Tartour, which is a turban [laugh]. So the names were Arabic. So my ancestors spoke Arabic. I don't know if any of them spoke Berber before, or Latin. I have no idea. But there were Jews in antiquity and of course, through Saint Augustin. MANYA: So when did Jews arrive in Tunisia? LUCETTE: [laugh] That's a strange question because they were there since Antiquity. We have evidence of their presence in mosaics of synagogues, from the times of Byzantium. I think we think in terms of a short chronology, and they would tend to associate the Jews to colonization, which does not make sense, they were there much before French colonization. They were there for millennia. MANYA: Valensi says Jews lived in Tunisia dating to the time of Carthage, an ancient city-state in what is now Tunisia, that reached its peak in the fourth century BCE. Later, under Roman and then Byzantine rule, Carthage continued to play a vital role as a center of commerce and trade during antiquity.  Besides the role of tax collectors, Jews were forbidden to serve in almost all public offices. Between the 5th and 8th centuries CE, conditions fluctuated between relief and forced conversions while under Christian rule.  After the Islamic conquest of Tunisia in the seventh and early eighth centuries CE, the treatment of Jews largely depended on which Muslim ruler was in charge at the time.  Some Jews converted to Islam while others lived as dhimmis, or second-class citizens, protected by the state in exchange for a special tax known as the jizya. In 1146, the first caliph of the Almohad dynasty, declared that the Prophet Muhammad had granted Jews religious freedom for only 500 years, by which time if the messiah had not come, they had to convert.  Those who did not convert and even those who did were forced to wear yellow turbans or other special garb called shikra, to distinguish them from Muslims. An influx of Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal arrived in the 14th Century. In the 16th Century, Tunisia became part of the Ottoman Empire, and the situation of Jews improved significantly. Another group who had settled in the coastal Tuscan city of Livorno crossed the Mediterranean in the 17th and 18th centuries to make Tunisia their home. LUCETTE: There were other groups that came, Jews from Italy, Jews from Spain, of course, Spain and Portugal, different periods. 14th century already from Spain and then from Spain and Portugal. From Italy, from Livorno, that's later, but the Jews from Livorno themselves came from Spain.  So I myself am named Valensi. From Valencia. It was the family name of my first husband. So from Valencia in Spain they went to Livorno, and from Livorno–Leghorn in English–to Tunisia. MANYA: At its peak, Tunisia's Jewish population exceeded 100,000 – a combination of Sephardi and Mizrahi. HEN: When we speak about Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, specifically in the West, or mainly in the West, we're referring to them as Sephardi. But in Tunisia, it's very interesting to see that there was the Grana community which are Livorno Jews that moved to Tunisia in the 1800s, and they brought the Sephardi way of praying.  And that's why I always use the term Mizrahi to describe myself, because I feel like it encapsulates more of my identity. And for me, the Sephardi title that we often use on those communities doesn't feel accurate to me, and it also has the connection to Ladino, which my grandparents never spoke.  They spoke Tamazight, Judeo-Tamazight, which was the language of those tribes in North Africa. And my family from my mother's side, from Iraq, they were speaking Judeo-Iraqi-Arabic.  So for me, the term Sephardi just doesn't cut it. I go with Mizrahi to describe myself. MANYA: The terms Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi all refer to the places Jews once called home.  Ashkenazi Jews hail from Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Germany, Poland, and Russia. They traditionally speak Yiddish, and their customs and practices reflect the influences of Central and Eastern European cultures.  Pogroms in Eastern Europe and the Holocaust led many Ashkenazi Jews to flee their longtime homes to countries like the United States and their ancestral homeland, Israel.  Mizrahi, which means “Eastern” in Hebrew, refers to the diaspora of descendants of Jewish communities from Middle Eastern countries such as: Iraq, Iran, and Yemen, and North African countries such as: Tunisia, Libya, and Morocco. Ancient Jewish communities that have lived in the region for millennia long before the advent of Islam and Christianity. They often speak dialects of Arabic. Sephardi Jews originate from Spain and Portugal, speaking Ladino and incorporating Spanish and Portuguese cultural influences. Following their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, they settled in regions like North Africa and the Balkans. In Tunisia, the Mizrahi and Sephardi communities lived side by side, but separately. HEN: As time passed, those communities became closer together, still quite separated, but they became closer and closer. And perhaps the reason they were becoming closer was because of the hardship that they faced as Jews.  For the leaders of Muslim armies that came to Tunisia, it didn't matter if you were a Sephardi Jew, or if you were an Amazigh Jew. You were a Jew for them. MANYA: Algeria's invasion of Tunisia in the 18th century had a disproportionate effect on Tunisia's Jewish community. The Algerian army killed thousands of the citizens of Tunis, many of whom were Jewish. Algerians raped Jewish women, looted Jewish homes. LUCETTE: There were moments of trouble when you had an invasion of the Algerian army to impose a prince. The Jews were molested in Tunis. MANYA: After a military invasion, a French protectorate was established in 1881 and lasted until Tunisia gained independence in 1956. The Jews of Tunisia felt much safer under the French protectorate.  They put a lot of stock in the French revolutionary promise of Liberté, égalité, fraternité. Soon, the French language replaced Judeo-Arabic. LUCETTE: Well, under colonization, the Jews were in a better position. First, the school system. They went to modern schools, especially the Alliance [Israélite Universelle] schools, and with that started a form of Westernization.  You had also schools in Italian, created by Italian Jews, and some Tunisian Jews went to these schools and already in the 19th century, there was a form of acculturation and Westernization.  Access to newspapers, creation of newspapers. In the 1880s Jews had already their own newspapers in Hebrew characters, but Arabic language.  And my grandfather was one of the early journalists and they started having their own press and published books, folklore, sort of short stories. MANYA: In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded France and quickly overran the French Third Republic, forcing the French to sign an armistice agreement in June. The armistice significantly reduced the territory governed by France and created a new government known as the Vichy regime, after the central French city where it was based.  The Vichy regime collaborated with the Nazis, establishing a special administration to introduce anti-Jewish legislation and enforce a compulsory Jewish census in all of its territories including Tunisia. Hen grew up learning about the Holocaust, the Nazis' attempt to erase the Jewish people. As part of his schooling, he learned the names of concentration and death camps and he heard the stories from his friends' grandparents.  But because he was not Ashkenazi, because his grandparents didn't suffer through the same catastrophe that befell Europe, Hen never felt fully accepted.  It was a trauma that belonged to his Ashkenazi friends of German and Polish descent, not to him. Or so they thought and so he thought, until he was a teenager and asked his grandmother Kamisa to finally share their family's journey from Tunisia. That's when he learned that the Mazzig family had not been exempt from Hitler's hatred. In November 1942, Tunisia became the only North African country to come under Nazi Germany's occupation and the Nazis wasted no time. Jewish property was confiscated, and heavy fines were levied on large Jewish communities. With the presence of the Einsatzkommando, a subgroup of the Einsatzgruppen, or mobile killing units, the Nazis were prepared to implement the systematic murder of the Jews of Tunisia. The tide of the war turned just in time to prevent that. LUCETTE: At the time the Germans came, they did not control the Mediterranean, and so they could not export us to the camps. We were saved by that. Lanor camps for men in dangerous places where there were bombs by the Allies. But not for us, it was, I mean, they took our radios. They took the silverware or they took money, this kind of oppression, but they did not murder us.  They took the men away, a few families were directly impacted and died in the camps. A few men. So we were afraid. We were occupied. But compared to what Jews in Europe were subjected to, we didn't suffer.  MANYA: Almost 5,000 Jews, most of them from Tunis and from certain northern communities, were taken captive and incarcerated in 32 labor camps scattered throughout Tunisia. Jews were not only required to wear yellow stars, but those in the camps were also required to wear them on their backs so they could be identified from a distance and shot in the event they tried to escape. HEN: My grandmother never told me until before she died, when she was more open about the stories of oppression, on how she was serving food for the French Nazi officers that were occupying Tunisia, or how my grandfather was in a labor camp, and he was supposed to be sent to a death camp in Europe as well. They never felt like they should share these stories. MANYA: The capture of Tunisia by the Allied forces in May 1943 led the Axis forces in North Africa to surrender. But the country remained under French colonial rule and the antisemitic legislation of the Vichy regime continued until 1944. Many of the Vichy camps, including forced labor camps in the Sahara, continued to operate.  Even after the decline and fall of the Vichy regime and the pursuit of independence from French rule began, conditions for the Mazzig family and many others in the Tunisian Jewish community did not improve.  But the source of much of the hostility and strife was actually a beacon of hope for Tunisia's Jews. On May 14, 1948, the world had witnessed the creation of the state of Israel, sparking outrage throughout the Arab world. Seven Arab nations declared war on Israel the day after it declared independence.  Amid the rise of Tunisian nationalism and its push for independence from France, Jewish communities who had lived in Tunisia for centuries became targets. Guilty by association. No longer welcome. Rabbinical councils were dismantled. Jewish sports associations banned. Jews practiced their religion in hiding. Hen's grandfather recounted violence in the Jewish quarter of Tunis.  HEN: When World War Two was over, the Jewish community in Tunisia was hoping that now that Tunisia would have emancipation, and it would become a country, that their neighbors and the country itself would protect them. Because when it was Nazis, they knew that it was a foreign power that came from France and oppressed them. They knew that there was some hatred in the past, from their Muslim neighbors towards them.  But they also were hoping that, if anything, they would go back to the same status of a dhimmi, of being a protected minority. Even if they were not going to be fully accepted and celebrated in this society, at least they would be protected, for paying tax. And this really did not happen. MANYA: By the early 1950s, life for the Mazzig family became untenable. By then, American Jewish organizations based in Tunis started working to take Jews to Israel right away.  HEN: [My family decided to leave.] They took whatever they had left. And they got on a boat. And my grandmother told me this story before she passed away on how they were on this boat coming to Israel.  And they were so happy, and they were crying because they felt that finally after generations upon generations of oppression of living as a minority that knows that anytime the ruler might turn on them and take everything they have and pull the ground underneath their feet, they are going to come to a place where they are going to be protected. And maybe they will face hate, but no one will hate them because they're Jewish.  And I often dream about my grandmother being a young girl on this boat and how she must have felt to know that the nightmare and the hell that she went through is behind her and that she was coming home. MANYA: The boat they sailed to Israel took days. When Hen's uncle, just a young child at the time, got sick, the captain threatened to throw him overboard. Hen's grandmother hid the child inside her clothes until they docked in Israel. When they arrived, they were sprayed with DDT to kill any lice or disease, then placed in ma'abarot, which in Hebrew means transit camps. In this case, it was a tent with one bed. HEN: They were really mistreated back then. And it's not criticism. I mean, yes, it is also criticism, but it's not without understanding the context. That it was a young country that just started, and those Jewish communities, Jewish refugees came from Tunisia, they didn't speak Hebrew. They didn't look like the other Jewish communities there. And while they all had this in common, that they were all Jews, they had a very different experience. MANYA: No, the family's arrival in the Holy Land was nothing like what they had imagined. But even still, it was a dream fulfilled and there was hope, which they had lost in Tunisia. HEN: I think that it was somewhere in between having both this deep connection to Israel and going there because they wanted to, and also knowing that there's no future in Tunisia. And the truth is that even–and I'm sure people that are listening to us, that are strong Zionists and love Israel, if you tell them ‘OK, so move tomorrow,' no matter how much you love Israel, it's a very difficult decision to make.  Unless it's not really a decision. And I think for them, it wasn't really a decision. And they went through so much, they knew, OK, we have to leave and I think for the first time having a country, having Israel was the hope that they had for centuries to go back home, finally realized. MANYA: Valensi's family did stay a while longer. When Tunisia declared independence in 1956, her father, a ceramicist, designed tiles for the residence of President Habib Bourguiba. Those good relations did not last.  Valensi studied history in France, married an engineer, and returned to Tunisia. But after being there for five years, it became clear that Jews were not treated equally and they returned to France in 1965. LUCETTE: I did not plan to emigrate. And then it became more and more obvious that some people were more equal than others [laugh]. And so there was this nationalist mood where responsibilities were given to Muslims rather than Jews and I felt more and more segregated.  And so, my husband was an engineer from a good engineering school. Again, I mean, he worked for another engineer, who was a Muslim. We knew he would never reach the same position. His father was a lawyer. And in the tribunal, he had to use Arabic. And so all these things accumulated, and we were displaced. MANYA: Valensi said Jewish emigration from Tunisia accelerated at two more mileposts. Even after Tunisia declared independence, France maintained a presence and a naval base in the port city of Bizerte, a strategic port on the Mediterranean for the French who were fighting with Algeria.  In 1961, Tunisian forces blockaded the naval base and warned France to stay out of its airspace. What became known as the Bizerte Crisis lasted for three days. LUCETTE: There were critical times, like what we call “La Crise de Bizerte.” Bizerte is a port to the west of Tunis that used to be a military port and when independence was negotiated with France, the French kept this port, where they could keep an army, and Bourguiba decided that he wanted this port back. And there was a war, a conflict, between Tunisia and France in ‘61.  And that crisis was one moment when Jews thought: if there is no French presence to protect us, then anything could happen. You had the movement of emigration.  Of course, much later, ‘67, the unrest in the Middle East, and what happened there provoked a kind of panic, and there were movements against the Jews in Tunis – violence and destruction of shops, etc. So they emigrated again. Now you have only a few hundred Jews left. MANYA: Valensi's first husband died at an early age. Her second husband, Abraham Udovitch, is the former chair of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Together, they researched and published a book about the Jewish communities in the Tunisian island of Djerba. The couple now splits their time between Paris and Princeton. But Valensi returns to Tunisia every year. It's still home. LUCETTE: When I go, strange thing, I feel at home. I mean, I feel I belong. My Arabic comes back. The words that I thought I had forgotten come back. They welcome you. I mean, if you go, you say you come from America, they're going to ask you questions. Are you Jewish? Did you go to Israel? I mean, these kind of very brutal questions, right away. They're going there. The taxi driver won't hesitate to ask you: Are you Jewish? But at the same time, they're very welcoming. So, I have no trouble. MANYA: Hen, on the other hand, has never been to the land of his ancestors. He holds on to his grandparents' trauma. And fear.  HEN: Tunisia just still feels a bit unsafe to me. Just as recent as a couple of months ago, there was a terror attack. So it's something that's still occurring.  MANYA: Just last year, a member of the Tunisian National Guard opened fire on worshippers outside El Ghriba Synagogue where a large gathering of Jewish pilgrims were celebrating the festival of Lag BaOmer. The synagogue is located on the Tunisian island of Djerba where Valensi and her husband did research for their book. Earlier this year, a mob attacked an abandoned synagogue in the southern city of Sfax, setting fire to the building's courtyard. Numbering over 100,000 Jews on the eve of Israel's Independence in 1948, the Tunisian Jewish community is now estimated to be less than 1,000.  There has been limited contact over the years between Tunisia and Israel. Some Israeli tourists, mostly of Tunisian origin, annually visit the El Ghriba synagogue in Djerba. But the government has largely been hostile to the Jewish state.  In the wake of the October 7 attack, the Tunisian parliament began debate on a law that would criminalize any normalization of ties with Israel. Still, Hen would like to go just once to see where his grandparents lived. Walked. Cooked. Prayed.  But to him it's just geography, an arbitrary place on a map. The memories, the music, the recipes, the traditions. It's no longer in Tunisia. It's elsewhere now – in the only country that preserved it. HEN: The Jewish Tunisian culture, the only place that it's been maintained is in Israel. That's why it's still alive. Like in Tunisia, it's not really celebrated. It's not something that they keep as much as they keep here.  Like if you want to go to a proper Mimouna, you would probably need to go to Israel, not to North Africa, although that's where it started. And the same with the Middle Eastern Jewish cuisine. The only place in the world, where be it Tunisian Jews and Iraqi Jews, or Yemenite Jews, still develop their recipes, is in Israel.  Israel is home, and this is where we still celebrate our culture and our cuisine and our identity is still something that I can engage with here.  I always feel like I am living the dreams of my grandparents, and I know that my grandmother is looking from above and I know how proud she is that we have a country, that we have a place to be safe at.  And that everything I do today is to protect my people, to protect the Jewish people, and making sure that next time when a country, when an empire, when a power would turn on Jews we'll have a place to go to and be safe. MANYA: Tunisian Jews are just one of the many Jewish communities who, in the last century, left Arab countries to forge new lives for themselves and future generations.  Join us next week as we share another untold story of The Forgotten Exodus. Many thanks to Hen for sharing his story. You can read more in his memoir The Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrahi Manifesto. Too many times during my reporting, I encountered children and grandchildren who didn't have the answers to my questions because they'd never asked. That's why one of the goals of this project is to encourage you to ask those questions. Find your stories. Atara Lakritz is our producer. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jon Schweitzer, Nicole Mazur, Sean Savage, and Madeleine Stern, and so many of our colleagues, too many to name really, for making this series possible.  You can subscribe to The Forgotten Exodus on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can learn more at AJC.org/theforgottenexodus.  The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC.  You can reach us at theforgottenexodus@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts or Spotify to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us.

“In the Israeli DNA and the Jewish DNA, we have to fight to be who we are. In every generation, empires and big forces tried to erase us . . . I know what it is to be rejected for several parts of my identity... I'm fighting for my ancestors, but I'm also fighting for our future generation.”  Hen Mazzig, a writer, digital creator, and founder of the Tel Aviv Institute, shares his powerful journey as a proud Israeli, LGBTQ+, and Mizrahi Jew, in the premiere episode of the second season of the award-winning podcast, The Forgotten Exodus. Hen delves into his family's deep roots in Tunisia, their harrowing experiences during the Nazi occupation, and their eventual escape to Israel. Discover the rich history of Tunisia's ancient Amazigh Jewish community, the impact of French colonial and Arab nationalist movements on Jews in North Africa, and the cultural identity that Hen passionately preserves today. Joining the conversation is historian Lucette Valensi, an expert on Tunisian Jewish culture, who provides scholarly insights into the longstanding presence of Jews in Tunisia, from antiquity to their exodus in the mid-20th century. ___ Show notes: Sign up to receive podcast updates here. Learn more about the series here. Song credits:  "Penceresi Yola Karsi" -- by Turku, Nomads of the Silk Road Pond5:  “Desert Caravans”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837 “Sentimental Oud Middle Eastern”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Sotirios Bakas (BMI), IPI#797324989. “Meditative Middle Eastern Flute”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Danielyan Ashot Makichevich (BMI), IPI Name #00855552512, United States BMI “Tunisia Eastern”: Publisher: Edi Surya Nurrohim, Composer: Edi Surya Nurrohim, Item ID#155836469. “At The Rabbi's Table”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Fazio Giulio (IPI/CAE# 00198377019). “Fields Of Elysium”; Publisher: Mysterylab Music; Composer: Mott Jordan; ID#79549862  “Frontiers”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: Pete Checkley (BMI), IPI#380407375 “Hatikvah (National Anthem Of Israel)”; Composer: Eli Sibony; ID#122561081 “Tunisian Pot Dance (Short)”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI); Composer: kesokid, ID #97451515 “Middle East Ident”; Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Alpha (ASCAP); Composer: Alon Marcus (ACUM), IPI#776550702 “Adventures in the East”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI) Composer: Petar Milinkovic (BMI), IPI#00738313833. ___ Episode Transcript: HEN MAZZIG: They took whatever they had left and they got on a boat. And my grandmother told me this story before she passed away on how they were on this boat coming to Israel.  And they were so happy, and they were crying because they felt that finally after generations upon generations of oppression they are going to come to a place where they are going to be protected, and that she was coming home. MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: The world has overlooked an important episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-20th century. Welcome to the second season of The Forgotten Exodus, brought to you by American Jewish Committee. This series explores that pivotal moment in history and the little-known Jewish heritage of Iran and Arab nations. As Jews around the world confront violent antisemitism and Israelis face daily attacks by terrorists on multiple fronts, our second season explores how Jews have lived throughout the region for generations–despite hardship, hostility, and hatred–then sought safety and new possibilities in their ancestral homeland. I'm your host, Manya Brachear Pashman. Join us as we explore untold family histories and personal stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience from this transformative and tumultuous period of history for the Jewish people and the Middle East.  The world has ignored these voices. We will not. This is The Forgotten Exodus.  Today's episode: leaving Tunisia. __ [Tel Aviv Pride video] MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Every June, Hen Mazzig, who splits his time between London and Tel Aviv, heads to Israel to show his Pride. His Israeli pride. His LGBTQ+ pride. And his Mizrahi Jewish pride. For that one week, all of those identities coalesce.  And while other cities around the world have transformed Pride into a June version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Israel is home to one of the few vibrant LGBTQ communities in the Middle East. Tel Aviv keeps it real. HEN: For me, Pride in Israel, in Tel Aviv, it still has this element of fighting for something. And that it's important for all of us to show up and to come out to the Pride Parade because if we're not going to be there, there's some people with agendas to erase us and we can't let them do it. MANYA: This year, the Tel Aviv Pride rally was a more somber affair as participants demanded freedom for the more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza since October 7th.  On that day, Hamas terrorists bent on erasing Jews from the Middle East went on a murderous rampage, killing more than 1,200, kidnapping 250 others, and unleashing what has become a 7-front war on Israel. HEN: In the Israeli DNA and the Jewish DNA we have to fight to be who we are. In every generation, empires and big forces tried to erase us, and we had to fight. And the LGBTQ+ community also knows very well how hard it is. I know what it is to be rejected for several parts of my identity. And I don't want anyone to go through that. I don't want my children to go through that. I'm fighting for my ancestors, but I'm also fighting for our future generation. MANYA: Hen Mazzig is an international speaker, writer, and digital influencer. In 2022, he founded the Tel Aviv Institute, a social media laboratory that tackles antisemitism online. He's also a second-generation Israeli, whose maternal grandparents fled Iraq, while his father's parents fled Tunisia – roots that echo in the family name: Mazzig. HEN: The last name Mazzig never made sense, because in Israel a lot of the last names have meaning in Hebrew.  So I remember one of my teachers in school was saying that Mazzig sounds like mozeg, which means pouring in Hebrew. Maybe your ancestors were running a bar or something? Clearly, this teacher did not have knowledge of the Amazigh people. Which, later on I learned, several of those tribes, those Amazigh tribes, were Jewish or practiced Judaism, and that there was 5,000 Jews that came from Tunisia that were holding both identities of being Jewish and Amazigh.  And today, they have last names like Mazzig, and Amzaleg, Mizzoug. There's several of those last names in Israel today. And they are the descendants of those Jewish communities that have lived in the Atlas Mountains. MANYA: The Atlas Mountains. A 1,500-mile chain of magnificent peaks and treacherous terrain that stretch across Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, separating the Sahara from the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastline.  It's where the nomadic Amazigh have called home for thousands of years. The Amazigh trace their origins to at least 2,000 BCE  in western North Africa. They speak the language of Tamazight and rely on cattle and agriculture as their main sources of income.  But textiles too. In fact, you've probably heard of the Amazigh or own a rug woven by them. A Berber rug. HEN: Amazigh, which are also called Berbers. But they're rejecting this term because of the association with barbarians, which was the title that European colonialists when they came to North Africa gave them. There's beautiful folklore about Jewish leaders within the Amazigh people. One story that I really connected to was the story of Queen Dihya that was also known as El-Kahina, which in Arabic means the Kohen, the priest, and she was known as this leader of the Amazigh tribes, and she was Jewish.  Her derrogaters were calling her a Jewish witch, because they said that she had the power to foresee the future. And her roots were apparently connected to Queen Sheba and her arrival from Israel back to Africa. And she was the descendant of Queen Sheba. And that's how she led the Amazigh people.  And the stories that I read about her, I just felt so connected. How she had this long, black, curly hair that went all the way down to her knees, and she was fierce, and she was very committed to her identity, and she was fighting against the Islamic expansion to North Africa.  And when she failed, after years of holding them off, she realized that she can't do it anymore and she's going to lose. And she was not willing to give up her Jewish identity and convert to Islam and instead she jumped into a well and died. This well is known today in Tunisia. It's the [Bir] Al-Kahina or Dihya's Well that is still in existence. Her descendants, her kids, were Jewish members of the Amazigh people.  Of course, I would like to believe that I am the descendant of royalty. MANYA: Scholars debate whether the Amazigh converted to Judaism or descended from Queen Dihya and stayed.  Lucette Valensi is a French scholar of Tunisian history who served as a director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, one of the most prestigious institutions of graduate education in France. She has written extensively about Tunisian Jewish culture.   Generations of her family lived in Tunisia. She says archaeological evidence proves Jews were living in that land since Antiquity. LUCETTE VALENSI: I myself am a Chemla, born Chemla. And this is an Arabic name, which means a kind of belt. And my mother's name was Tartour, which is a turban [laugh]. So the names were Arabic. So my ancestors spoke Arabic. I don't know if any of them spoke Berber before, or Latin. I have no idea. But there were Jews in antiquity and of course, through Saint Augustin. MANYA: So when did Jews arrive in Tunisia? LUCETTE: [laugh] That's a strange question because they were there since Antiquity. We have evidence of their presence in mosaics of synagogues, from the times of Byzantium. I think we think in terms of a short chronology, and they would tend to associate the Jews to colonization, which does not make sense, they were there much before French colonization. They were there for millennia. MANYA: Valensi says Jews lived in Tunisia dating to the time of Carthage, an ancient city-state in what is now Tunisia, that reached its peak in the fourth century BCE. Later, under Roman and then Byzantine rule, Carthage continued to play a vital role as a center of commerce and trade during antiquity.  Besides the role of tax collectors, Jews were forbidden to serve in almost all public offices. Between the 5th and 8th centuries CE, conditions fluctuated between relief and forced conversions while under Christian rule.  After the Islamic conquest of Tunisia in the seventh and early eighth centuries CE, the treatment of Jews largely depended on which Muslim ruler was in charge at the time.  Some Jews converted to Islam while others lived as dhimmis, or second-class citizens, protected by the state in exchange for a special tax known as the jizya. In 1146, the first caliph of the Almohad dynasty, declared that the Prophet Muhammad had granted Jews religious freedom for only 500 years, by which time if the messiah had not come, they had to convert.  Those who did not convert and even those who did were forced to wear yellow turbans or other special garb called shikra, to distinguish them from Muslims. An influx of Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal arrived in the 14th Century. In the 16th Century, Tunisia became part of the Ottoman Empire, and the situation of Jews improved significantly. Another group who had settled in the coastal Tuscan city of Livorno crossed the Mediterranean in the 17th and 18th centuries to make Tunisia their home. LUCETTE: There were other groups that came, Jews from Italy, Jews from Spain, of course, Spain and Portugal, different periods. 14th century already from Spain and then from Spain and Portugal. From Italy, from Livorno, that's later, but the Jews from Livorno themselves came from Spain.  So I myself am named Valensi. From Valencia. It was the family name of my first husband. So from Valencia in Spain they went to Livorno, and from Livorno–Leghorn in English–to Tunisia. MANYA: At its peak, Tunisia's Jewish population exceeded 100,000 – a combination of Sephardi and Mizrahi. HEN: When we speak about Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, specifically in the West, or mainly in the West, we're referring to them as Sephardi. But in Tunisia, it's very interesting to see that there was the Grana community which are Livorno Jews that moved to Tunisia in the 1800s, and they brought the Sephardi way of praying.  And that's why I always use the term Mizrahi to describe myself, because I feel like it encapsulates more of my identity. And for me, the Sephardi title that we often use on those communities doesn't feel accurate to me, and it also has the connection to Ladino, which my grandparents never spoke.  They spoke Tamazight, Judeo-Tamazight, which was the language of those tribes in North Africa. And my family from my mother's side, from Iraq, they were speaking Judeo-Iraqi-Arabic.  So for me, the term Sephardi just doesn't cut it. I go with Mizrahi to describe myself. MANYA: The terms Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi all refer to the places Jews once called home.  Ashkenazi Jews hail from Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Germany, Poland, and Russia. They traditionally speak Yiddish, and their customs and practices reflect the influences of Central and Eastern European cultures.  Pogroms in Eastern Europe and the Holocaust led many Ashkenazi Jews to flee their longtime homes to countries like the United States and their ancestral homeland, Israel.  Mizrahi, which means “Eastern” in Hebrew, refers to the diaspora of descendants of Jewish communities from Middle Eastern countries such as: Iraq, Iran, and Yemen, and North African countries such as: Tunisia, Libya, and Morocco. Ancient Jewish communities that have lived in the region for millennia long before the advent of Islam and Christianity. They often speak dialects of Arabic. Sephardi Jews originate from Spain and Portugal, speaking Ladino and incorporating Spanish and Portuguese cultural influences. Following their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, they settled in regions like North Africa and the Balkans. In Tunisia, the Mizrahi and Sephardi communities lived side by side, but separately. HEN: As time passed, those communities became closer together, still quite separated, but they became closer and closer. And perhaps the reason they were becoming closer was because of the hardship that they faced as Jews.  For the leaders of Muslim armies that came to Tunisia, it didn't matter if you were a Sephardi Jew, or if you were an Amazigh Jew. You were a Jew for them. MANYA: Algeria's invasion of Tunisia in the 18th century had a disproportionate effect on Tunisia's Jewish community. The Algerian army killed thousands of the citizens of Tunis, many of whom were Jewish. Algerians raped Jewish women, looted Jewish homes. LUCETTE: There were moments of trouble when you had an invasion of the Algerian army to impose a prince. The Jews were molested in Tunis. MANYA: After a military invasion, a French protectorate was established in 1881 and lasted until Tunisia gained independence in 1956. The Jews of Tunisia felt much safer under the French protectorate.  They put a lot of stock in the French revolutionary promise of Liberté, égalité, fraternité. Soon, the French language replaced Judeo-Arabic. LUCETTE: Well, under colonization, the Jews were in a better position. First, the school system. They went to modern schools, especially the Alliance [Israélite Universelle] schools, and with that started a form of Westernization.  You had also schools in Italian, created by Italian Jews, and some Tunisian Jews went to these schools and already in the 19th century, there was a form of acculturation and Westernization.  Access to newspapers, creation of newspapers. In the 1880s Jews had already their own newspapers in Hebrew characters, but Arabic language.  And my grandfather was one of the early journalists and they started having their own press and published books, folklore, sort of short stories. MANYA: In May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded France and quickly overran the French Third Republic, forcing the French to sign an armistice agreement in June. The armistice significantly reduced the territory governed by France and created a new government known as the Vichy regime, after the central French city where it was based.  The Vichy regime collaborated with the Nazis, establishing a special administration to introduce anti-Jewish legislation and enforce a compulsory Jewish census in all of its territories including Tunisia. Hen grew up learning about the Holocaust, the Nazis' attempt to erase the Jewish people. As part of his schooling, he learned the names of concentration and death camps and he heard the stories from his friends' grandparents.  But because he was not Ashkenazi, because his grandparents didn't suffer through the same catastrophe that befell Europe, Hen never felt fully accepted.  It was a trauma that belonged to his Ashkenazi friends of German and Polish descent, not to him. Or so they thought and so he thought, until he was a teenager and asked his grandmother Kamisa to finally share their family's journey from Tunisia. That's when he learned that the Mazzig family had not been exempt from Hitler's hatred. In November 1942, Tunisia became the only North African country to come under Nazi Germany's occupation and the Nazis wasted no time. Jewish property was confiscated, and heavy fines were levied on large Jewish communities. With the presence of the Einsatzkommando, a subgroup of the Einsatzgruppen, or mobile killing units, the Nazis were prepared to implement the systematic murder of the Jews of Tunisia. The tide of the war turned just in time to prevent that. LUCETTE: At the time the Germans came, they did not control the Mediterranean, and so they could not export us to the camps. We were saved by that. Lanor camps for men in dangerous places where there were bombs by the Allies. But not for us, it was, I mean, they took our radios. They took the silverware or they took money, this kind of oppression, but they did not murder us.  They took the men away, a few families were directly impacted and died in the camps. A few men. So we were afraid. We were occupied. But compared to what Jews in Europe were subjected to, we didn't suffer.  MANYA: Almost 5,000 Jews, most of them from Tunis and from certain northern communities, were taken captive and incarcerated in 32 labor camps scattered throughout Tunisia. Jews were not only required to wear yellow stars, but those in the camps were also required to wear them on their backs so they could be identified from a distance and shot in the event they tried to escape. HEN: My grandmother never told me until before she died, when she was more open about the stories of oppression, on how she was serving food for the French Nazi officers that were occupying Tunisia, or how my grandfather was in a labor camp, and he was supposed to be sent to a death camp in Europe as well. They never felt like they should share these stories. MANYA: The capture of Tunisia by the Allied forces in May 1943 led the Axis forces in North Africa to surrender. But the country remained under French colonial rule and the antisemitic legislation of the Vichy regime continued until 1944. Many of the Vichy camps, including forced labor camps in the Sahara, continued to operate.  Even after the decline and fall of the Vichy regime and the pursuit of independence from French rule began, conditions for the Mazzig family and many others in the Tunisian Jewish community did not improve.  But the source of much of the hostility and strife was actually a beacon of hope for Tunisia's Jews. On May 14, 1948, the world had witnessed the creation of the state of Israel, sparking outrage throughout the Arab world. Seven Arab nations declared war on Israel the day after it declared independence.  Amid the rise of Tunisian nationalism and its push for independence from France, Jewish communities who had lived in Tunisia for centuries became targets. Guilty by association. No longer welcome. Rabbinical councils were dismantled. Jewish sports associations banned. Jews practiced their religion in hiding. Hen's grandfather recounted violence in the Jewish quarter of Tunis.  HEN: When World War Two was over, the Jewish community in Tunisia was hoping that now that Tunisia would have emancipation, and it would become a country, that their neighbors and the country itself would protect them. Because when it was Nazis, they knew that it was a foreign power that came from France and oppressed them. They knew that there was some hatred in the past, from their Muslim neighbors towards them.  But they also were hoping that, if anything, they would go back to the same status of a dhimmi, of being a protected minority. Even if they were not going to be fully accepted and celebrated in this society, at least they would be protected, for paying tax. And this really did not happen. MANYA: By the early 1950s, life for the Mazzig family became untenable. By then, American Jewish organizations based in Tunis started working to take Jews to Israel right away.  HEN: [My family decided to leave.] They took whatever they had left. And they got on a boat. And my grandmother told me this story before she passed away on how they were on this boat coming to Israel.  And they were so happy, and they were crying because they felt that finally after generations upon generations of oppression of living as a minority that knows that anytime the ruler might turn on them and take everything they have and pull the ground underneath their feet, they are going to come to a place where they are going to be protected. And maybe they will face hate, but no one will hate them because they're Jewish.  And I often dream about my grandmother being a young girl on this boat and how she must have felt to know that the nightmare and the hell that she went through is behind her and that she was coming home. MANYA: The boat they sailed to Israel took days. When Hen's uncle, just a young child at the time, got sick, the captain threatened to throw him overboard. Hen's grandmother hid the child inside her clothes until they docked in Israel. When they arrived, they were sprayed with DDT to kill any lice or disease, then placed in ma'abarot, which in Hebrew means transit camps. In this case, it was a tent with one bed. HEN: They were really mistreated back then. And it's not criticism. I mean, yes, it is also criticism, but it's not without understanding the context. That it was a young country that just started, and those Jewish communities, Jewish refugees came from Tunisia, they didn't speak Hebrew. They didn't look like the other Jewish communities there. And while they all had this in common, that they were all Jews, they had a very different experience. MANYA: No, the family's arrival in the Holy Land was nothing like what they had imagined. But even still, it was a dream fulfilled and there was hope, which they had lost in Tunisia. HEN: I think that it was somewhere in between having both this deep connection to Israel and going there because they wanted to, and also knowing that there's no future in Tunisia. And the truth is that even–and I'm sure people that are listening to us, that are strong Zionists and love Israel, if you tell them ‘OK, so move tomorrow,' no matter how much you love Israel, it's a very difficult decision to make.  Unless it's not really a decision. And I think for them, it wasn't really a decision. And they went through so much, they knew, OK, we have to leave and I think for the first time having a country, having Israel was the hope that they had for centuries to go back home, finally realized. MANYA: Valensi's family did stay a while longer. When Tunisia declared independence in 1956, her father, a ceramicist, designed tiles for the residence of President Habib Bourguiba. Those good relations did not last.  Valensi studied history in France, married an engineer, and returned to Tunisia. But after being there for five years, it became clear that Jews were not treated equally and they returned to France in 1965. LUCETTE: I did not plan to emigrate. And then it became more and more obvious that some people were more equal than others [laugh]. And so there was this nationalist mood where responsibilities were given to Muslims rather than Jews and I felt more and more segregated.  And so, my husband was an engineer from a good engineering school. Again, I mean, he worked for another engineer, who was a Muslim. We knew he would never reach the same position. His father was a lawyer. And in the tribunal, he had to use Arabic. And so all these things accumulated, and we were displaced. MANYA: Valensi said Jewish emigration from Tunisia accelerated at two more mileposts. Even after Tunisia declared independence, France maintained a presence and a naval base in the port city of Bizerte, a strategic port on the Mediterranean for the French who were fighting with Algeria.  In 1961, Tunisian forces blockaded the naval base and warned France to stay out of its airspace. What became known as the Bizerte Crisis lasted for three days. LUCETTE: There were critical times, like what we call “La Crise de Bizerte.” Bizerte is a port to the west of Tunis that used to be a military port and when independence was negotiated with France, the French kept this port, where they could keep an army, and Bourguiba decided that he wanted this port back. And there was a war, a conflict, between Tunisia and France in ‘61.  And that crisis was one moment when Jews thought: if there is no French presence to protect us, then anything could happen. You had the movement of emigration.  Of course, much later, ‘67, the unrest in the Middle East, and what happened there provoked a kind of panic, and there were movements against the Jews in Tunis – violence and destruction of shops, etc. So they emigrated again. Now you have only a few hundred Jews left. MANYA: Valensi's first husband died at an early age. Her second husband, Abraham Udovitch, is the former chair of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Together, they researched and published a book about the Jewish communities in the Tunisian island of Djerba. The couple now splits their time between Paris and Princeton. But Valensi returns to Tunisia every year. It's still home. LUCETTE: When I go, strange thing, I feel at home. I mean, I feel I belong. My Arabic comes back. The words that I thought I had forgotten come back. They welcome you. I mean, if you go, you say you come from America, they're going to ask you questions. Are you Jewish? Did you go to Israel? I mean, these kind of very brutal questions, right away. They're going there. The taxi driver won't hesitate to ask you: Are you Jewish? But at the same time, they're very welcoming. So, I have no trouble. MANYA: Hen, on the other hand, has never been to the land of his ancestors. He holds on to his grandparents' trauma. And fear.  HEN: Tunisia just still feels a bit unsafe to me. Just as recent as a couple of months ago, there was a terror attack. So it's something that's still occurring.  MANYA: Just last year, a member of the Tunisian National Guard opened fire on worshippers outside El Ghriba Synagogue where a large gathering of Jewish pilgrims were celebrating the festival of Lag BaOmer. The synagogue is located on the Tunisian island of Djerba where Valensi and her husband did research for their book. Earlier this year, a mob attacked an abandoned synagogue in the southern city of Sfax, setting fire to the building's courtyard. Numbering over 100,000 Jews on the eve of Israel's Independence in 1948, the Tunisian Jewish community is now estimated to be less than 1,000.  There has been limited contact over the years between Tunisia and Israel. Some Israeli tourists, mostly of Tunisian origin, annually visit the El Ghriba synagogue in Djerba. But the government has largely been hostile to the Jewish state.  In the wake of the October 7 attack, the Tunisian parliament began debate on a law that would criminalize any normalization of ties with Israel. Still, Hen would like to go just once to see where his grandparents lived. Walked. Cooked. Prayed.  But to him it's just geography, an arbitrary place on a map. The memories, the music, the recipes, the traditions. It's no longer in Tunisia. It's elsewhere now – in the only country that preserved it. HEN: The Jewish Tunisian culture, the only place that it's been maintained is in Israel. That's why it's still alive. Like in Tunisia, it's not really celebrated. It's not something that they keep as much as they keep here.  Like if you want to go to a proper Mimouna, you would probably need to go to Israel, not to North Africa, although that's where it started. And the same with the Middle Eastern Jewish cuisine. The only place in the world, where be it Tunisian Jews and Iraqi Jews, or Yemenite Jews, still develop their recipes, is in Israel.  Israel is home, and this is where we still celebrate our culture and our cuisine and our identity is still something that I can engage with here.  I always feel like I am living the dreams of my grandparents, and I know that my grandmother is looking from above and I know how proud she is that we have a country, that we have a place to be safe at.  And that everything I do today is to protect my people, to protect the Jewish people, and making sure that next time when a country, when an empire, when a power would turn on Jews we'll have a place to go to and be safe. MANYA: Tunisian Jews are just one of the many Jewish communities who, in the last century, left Arab countries to forge new lives for themselves and future generations.  Join us next week as we share another untold story of The Forgotten Exodus. Many thanks to Hen for sharing his story. You can read more in his memoir The Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrahi Manifesto. Too many times during my reporting, I encountered children and grandchildren who didn't have the answers to my questions because they'd never asked. That's why one of the goals of this project is to encourage you to ask those questions. Find your stories. Atara Lakritz is our producer. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jon Schweitzer, Nicole Mazur, Sean Savage, and Madeleine Stern, and so many of our colleagues, too many to name really, for making this series possible.  You can subscribe to The Forgotten Exodus on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can learn more at AJC.org/theforgottenexodus.  The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC.  You can reach us at theforgottenexodus@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts or Spotify to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us.

Ein Kommentar von Hermann Ploppa.Mit großem Elan werden ehrgeizige Rüstungsprojekte angepackt. Doch wenn man genau hinschaut, sind die anvisierten Vorhaben nichts weiter als heranwachsende Investitionsruinen. But:don't worry: der Steuerzahler wird's schon bezahlenEigentlich nehmen wir die Europäische Union als eine zivile Organisation wahr, die sich um die Wirtschaft und die Infrastruktur der angeschlossenen 27 EU-Nationen kümmert. Für Kriegsführung ist doch eher die NATO zuständig? Der Eindruck täuscht. Schon lange sind nämlich militärische Einsatzgruppen unter dem Kommando der EU überall auf der Welt aktiv. Das taucht bisweilen am Rande in den Nachrichten auf. Richtig ist natürlich, dass die so genannte Verteidigung, also der Betrieb von Streitkräften, immer noch Sache der Nationalstaaten ist.Doch schrittweise will auch die Europäische Kommission immer mehr militärische Kompetenzen an sich reißen. So tönte im März dieses Jahres der stellvertretende EU-Kommissionspräsident und de facto-Außenminister Josep Borrell: „Russlands brutaler Angriff auf die Ukraine hat den Krieg zurück nach Europa gebracht. Nach Jahrzehnten der Unterfinanzierung müssen wir mehr in die Verteidigung investieren – aber wir müssen es besser und gemeinsam tun.“ Da wollte der EU-Kommissar für Binnenmarkt und Dienstleistungen, Thiery Breton, gleich noch einen drauf setzen. Der Franzose verlangte, nach deutschem Vorbild einen EU-geführten Kriegskredit von 100 Milliarden Euro aufzulegen. Eine moderne Variante der Kriegsanleihen, jetzt „Eurobonds“ genannt, soll das Geld Steuerzahler-schonend zusammenkratzen.... hier weiterlesen: https://apolut.net/die-europaeische-union-will-militaermacht-werden-von-hermann-ploppa+++Ihnen gefällt unser Programm? Machen wir uns gemeinsam im Rahmen einer „digitalen finanziellen Selbstverteidigung“ unabhängig vom Bankensystem und unterstützen Sie uns bitte mit Bitcoin: https://apolut.net/unterstuetzen#bitcoinzahlungInformationen zu weiteren Unterstützungsmöglichkeiten finden Sie hier: https://apolut.net/unterstuetzen/+++Bitte empfehlen Sie uns weiter und teilen Sie gerne unsere Inhalte. Sie haben hiermit unser Einverständnis, unsere Beiträge in Ihren eigenen Kanälen auf Social-Media- und Video-Plattformen zu teilen bzw. hochzuladen und zu veröffentlichen.+++Apolut ist auch als kostenlose App für Android- und iOS-Geräte verfügbar! Über unsere Homepage kommen Sie zu den Stores von Apple und Huawei. Hier der Link: https://apolut.net/app/Die apolut-App steht auch zum Download (als sogenannte Standalone- oder APK-App) auf unserer Homepage zur Verfügung. Mit diesem Link können Sie die App auf Ihr Smartphone herunterladen: https://apolut.net/apolut_app.apk+++Abonnieren Sie jetzt den apolut-Newsletter: https://apolut.net/newsletter/+++Unterstützung für apolut kann auch als Kleidung getragen werden! Hier der Link zu unserem Fan-Shop: https://harlekinshop.com/pages/apolut+++Website und Social Media:Website: https://apolut.netOdysee: https://odysee.com/@apolut:aRumble: https://rumble.com/ApolutX/Twitter‪:‬ https‪://‬twitter‪.‬com‪/‬apolut‪_‬netInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/apolut_net/Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/apolut_netTelegram: https://t.me/s/apolut Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Offerta di ESCLUSIVA NORDVPN: Vai su https://nordvpn.com/dentrolastoria per acquistare 2 anni + 4 mesi extra di NordVPN con uno sconto esclusivo + fino a 50€ di Carta Regalo per i tuoi viaggi e non solo! Il nostro canale Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1vziHBEp0gc9gAhR740fCw Sostieni DENTRO LA STORIA su Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/dentrolastoria Abbonati al canale: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1vziHBEp0gc9gAhR740fCw/join Il nostro store in Amazon: https://www.amazon.it/shop/dentrolastoria Sostienici su PayPal: https://paypal.me/infinitybeat Dentro La Storia lo trovi anche qui: https://linktr.ee/dentrolastoria Immortalato dall'attore Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List", Amon Göth fu molto di più di un semplice ufficiale inferiore delle SS. Prima membro dei famigerati Einsatzgruppen, poi comandante del campo di lavoro di Płaszów, Göth seppe personificare il terrore assoluto per i prigionieri. Sadico e antisemita, conduceva esecuzioni pubbliche a seconda dell'umore della giornata, terrorizzando i reclusi con uno sguardo o un sorriso. E lasciando dietro di sé una nomea orribile tanto da causare crisi convulsive ai sopravvissuti che, visitando il set del film di Spielberg, lo vedevano rivivere nell'uniforme indossata da Fiennes.

The Holocaust, a dark chapter in human history, was a systematic and state-sponsored campaign by Nazi Germany and its collaborators to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe during the Second World War. From 1933 to 1945, six million Jews were murdered in a genocide that also targeted Roma, disabled individuals, Soviet prisoners of war, Polish civilians, homosexuals, and political dissidents. This period of terror unfolded through ghettos, death squads known as Einsatzgruppen, and extermination camps, primarily in Eastern Europe.   In this episode, I am joined by Janet Singer Applefield, a child survivor of the Holocaust, author, and notable speaker, to share her experience during the Holocaust as a young Jew. She explains her trauma of being separated from her parents at a young age, her survival experience during the Holocaust, how she reunited with her father after several years, and how they got into the USA. She shares the story behind writing her book, Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust. Tune in to learn more about this and other exciting topics.   Timestamps [01:51] Janet Singer Applefield's background information [03:29] Janet's childhood trauma caused by the Holocaust [06:19] How Janet was found by her father after separating for years [08:37] The time that Janet decided to find her true self despite all the trauma [10:06] The experience of growing up in the USA [13:37] How Janet shared her story with her kids [14:34] The book, Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust [16:48] A critical story in the book [22:20] The process of healing from the trauma [24:49] The lessons that Janet learned from her experience in the Holocaust [27:52] What the book means to Janet Notable quotes: “Don't generalize people. Judge people based on their character and actions.” “Kindness is important because even the smallest act of kindness has a ripple effect.” Connect with us: Janet Singer Applefield Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janetapplefield/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janetapplefieldauthor/ Website: https://www.janetapplefield.com/ Gabi Garland Website: http://www.gabigarland.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabi.garland/

Découvrez l'abonnement "Au Coeur de l'Histoire +" et accédez à des heures de programmes, des archives inédites, des épisodes en avant-première et une sélection d'épisodes sur des grandes thématiques. Profitez de cette offre sur Apple Podcasts dès aujourd'hui ! Près d'un million et demi de Juifs d'Ukraine ont été assassinés lors de l'invasion de l'Union soviétique par l'Allemagne nazie. L'immense majorité est tombée sous les balles des Einsatzgruppen, des unités de tueries mobiles. Pour revenir sur l'histoire de ce massacre de masse, auquel renvoie l'expression de "Shoah par balles", Virginie Girod s'entretient avec Marie Moutier-Bitan, docteure en histoire contemporaine à l'EHESS et spécialiste de la Shoah en Union soviétique occupée.En 1939, l'URSS et l'Allemagne nazie ont signé un pacte de non-agression. Hitler, débarrassé de la crainte d'avoir à se battre sur deux fronts, fait basculer l'Europe dans la guerre. Il s'agit cependant d'une manœuvre temporaire. "Hitler souhaite détruire le communisme au pouvoir en Union Soviétique et lutter contre ce qu'il appelle le 'judéo-bolchevisme'. D'après lui, les populations juives sont les principaux soutiens des Bolchéviques. C'est une construction idéologique nazie", décrypte Marie Moutier-Bitan.Le 22 juin 1941, le IIIe Reich rompt le pacte de non-agression et envahit l'URSS. Cette invasion est à l'origine d'immenses massacres. Avec l'avancée des troupes allemandes, les pogroms se multiplient. "Ces pogroms n'ont rien de spontané", précise Marie Moutier-Bitan "ils sont organisés en amont avec les nationalistes locaux. Les Juifs sont pris pour cible par les soldats de la Wehrmacht et par la population locale, qui quand elle ne participe pas directement au massacre, pille les habitations des Juifs".Les Nazis vont cependant rationaliser l'extermination des Juifs. "Le pogrom est un événement très spectaculaire mais qui fait relativement peu de victimes pour les Nazis. Ils vont donc mettre en place des fusillades organisées et systématiques", retrace la spécialiste. "Les Nazis sont convaincus qu'ils mènent une guerre juste". Lors du massacre de Babi Yar, en septembre 1941, plus de 30.000 Juifs de Kiev sont assassinés pendant deux jours entiers.L'histoire de ces fusillades, largement documentées dans les archives soviétiques, ne sera connue du grand public qu'après l'ouverture de ces dernières à la chute de l'URSS. L'expression "Shoah par balles" est cependant peu utilisée par les universitaires "parce qu'elle exclut d'autres dispositifs de tuerie qui ont lieu sur ces territoires soviétiques occupés comme les pendaisons, les camions à gaz ou encore la famine dans les ghettos", rappelle Marie Moutier-Bitan.Thèmes abordés : Shoah, Juifs, Allemagne nazie, URSS, Seconde Guerre mondiale "Au cœur de l'histoire" est un podcast Europe 1 Studio- Présentation : Virginie Girod - Production : Nathan Laporte avec Camille Bichler et Caroline Garnier- Réalisation : Julien Tharaud- Composition de la musique originale : Julien Tharaud - Rédaction et Diffusion : Nathan Laporte- Communication : Kelly Decroix- Visuel : Sidonie Mangin

Mit dem Beginn des zweiten Weltkriegs wurden Juden und andere nicht akzeptierte Minderheiten in den besetzten Gebieten verfolgt und meist ermordet, wobei besonders die Ostgebiete betroffen waren. Viele der verfolgten Menschen wurden nicht in Konzentrations- oder Vernichtungslager deportiert, sondern vor Ort von mobilen geschulten Erschießungskommandos getötet, den sogenannten Einsatzgruppen. Als Leiter des berüchtigten Einsatzkommandos 4A war Paul Blobel für die Ermordung von mehr als 60000 Juden verantwortlich. Blobel und seine Mannschaft verübten brutale Massaker, bei denen nicht akzeptierte Ethnien in Massen erschossen wurden, selbst Kinder wurden nicht verschont. Er leitete das schreckliche Massaker von Babyn Jar, bei dem seine Truppe innerhalb von nur 2 Tagen 33000 Juden ermordete. In diesem Video geht es um die grausamen Verbrechen von Paul Blobel und der nach dem Krieg stattgefundenen Anklage sowie Bestrafung dieses Verbrechers.

Die geheime Staatspolizei, kurz Gestapo genannt, war Hitlers wichtigstes Terrorinstrument, um die Macht der Nationalsozialisten zu festigen, und sorgte für die Verfolgung und Beseitigung von politischen Gegnern sowie auch von nicht akzeptierten Ethnien. Die Gestapo war integraler Bestandteil des Holocausts, wobei durch diese Behörde die Durchführung der Deportationen der Juden in Konzentrations- und Vernichtungslager sowie auch die Massenmorde der Einsatzgruppen in den Ostgebieten geleitet wurden. Heinrich Müller, auch Gestapo Müller genannt, war während des zweiten Weltkriegs durchgehend der Leiter der geheimen Staatspolizei und in dieser Funktion einer der Hauptorganisatoren des Holocausts sowie zahlreicher anderer Verbrechen, damit war Müller stellvertretend für die Ermordung von mehreren Millionen Menschen verantwortlich. Der Gestapo Chef war einer der wichtigsten und einflussreichsten Verbrecher der NS-Zeit, unter seiner Verantwortung wurden die grausamsten Mordaktionen der Nazis durchgeführt, welche in diesem Video umfangreich dargestellt werden.

On October 7, Hamas terrorists streamed across the border in pickup trucks, on foot, by motorcycle, and even on paragliders. Once inside Israel, they abducted and murdered Israelis. They shot people in cars and at bus stops, they rounded up women and children into rooms like Einsatzgruppen—yes, the comparison is appropriate—and machine-gunned them. They went house to house to find and murder civilians hiding in their closets, and they dragged the bloody, dead bodies of Israelis back into Gaza where they are now being paraded, beaten, and mutilated in front of exultant crowds.  The official numbers as of this writing: 300 Israelis killed and 1,590 wounded. And dozens—maybe many more—taken hostage into Gaza. They include women, elders, and children.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyuahu called it a “black day.” He said that “what happened today has never been seen before in Israel.” Think about 9/11 and the kind of shock and terror we felt. That is the level of devastation Israel is now experiencing.  We are left with so many questions: How did this happen? Who is to blame for this catastrophic security failure? How will Israel respond? How will Israel save the hostages in Gaza? What was the extent of Iran's involvement in this sophisticated operation? Will this change the Biden administration's policy toward the Islamic Republic? And so many more. Some of those questions will be answered in the coming days and weeks. For today, historian and former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren helps us make sense of the unfolding crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kamianets-Podilskyj – L'esistenza stessa della città da cui scriviamo sbugiarda gran parte della retorica russa secondo cui l'Ucraina non sarebbe altro che un'invenzione bolscevica. . Qui ebbero luogo le rivolte di contadini e operai ucraini represse dalle autorità sovietiche nel sangue (quasi 4mila morti) e i tentativi di resistenza all'occupazione tedesca durante l'operazione “Barbarossa” (in soli due giorni, fra il 27 e 28 agosto 1941, le Einsatzgruppen naziste massacrarono qui 23.600 ebrei).

Während Himmler, Heydrich und Co. allen Geschichtsinteressierten ein Begriff sind, kennt Werner Best kaum jemand. Dabei baute er nicht nur das Reichssicherheitsamt auf, koordinierte 1939 die Morde der Einsatzgruppen im besetzten Polen und stellte die Weichen für die Deportation der französischen Juden, sondern war auch noch einer der Ideengeber für die "Endlösung". Er war verantwortlich für eine SS-Funktionselite, die weit über das Dritte Reich hinaus Einfluss auf die Bundesrepublik hatte. Die spannende Geschichte dieses "Dritten Mannes" erzählen wir in der heutigen Podcast-Folge.

El genocidio sistemático y planificado de seis millones de judíos durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, fue un proceso gradual que involucró diferentes etapas y políticas implementadas por el régimen nazi. Aquí tienes un resumen de los eventos clave: Antisemitismo y propaganda: El régimen nazi promovió el odio y el antisemitismo como parte de su ideología. Adolf Hitler y otros líderes nazis difundieron propaganda antisemita, culpando a los judíos de los problemas económicos y sociales de Alemania y retratándolos como una amenaza para la nación alemana. Leyes de Núremberg (1935): Las Leyes de Núremberg privaron a los judíos de su ciudadanía alemana y los excluyeron de la vida pública. Estas leyes definieron quién era considerado judío según criterios raciales y prohibieron los matrimonios y relaciones sexuales entre judíos y no judíos. Boicot económico (1933): Se instó a los ciudadanos alemanes a boicotear los negocios judíos, lo que tuvo un impacto significativo en la economía judía. Programas de eutanasia (1939-1941): Si bien no estuvo directamente relacionado con el Holocausto judío, el régimen nazi implementó programas de eutanasia para asesinar a personas con discapacidades físicas y mentales. Estos programas sentaron un precedente para el uso de la maquinaria estatal para el asesinato en masa. Invasión de Polonia (1939): La Alemania nazi invadió Polonia en septiembre de 1939, marcando el comienzo de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Durante la ocupación de Polonia, los nazis establecieron guetos para confinar a la población judía en condiciones inhumanas. Solución final (1941-1945): A medida que la guerra progresaba, los nazis desarrollaron la "Solución final", un plan para exterminar sistemáticamente a todos los judíos europeos. Esto implicó el establecimiento de campos de exterminio, como Auschwitz, Treblinka y Sobibor, equipados con cámaras de gas y crematorios, donde se llevaron a cabo asesinatos en masa. Einsatzgruppen y campos de concentración (1941-1945): Además de los campos de exterminio, los nazis utilizaron unidades móviles llamadas Einsatzgruppen para llevar a cabo ejecuciones en masa de judíos en el este de Europa. También se establecieron campos de concentración donde se sometía a los prisioneros judíos a trabajos forzados, maltrato y condiciones inhumanas. Liberación y testimonios: A medida que las fuerzas aliadas avanzaban en Europa, los campos de concentración y exterminio fueron liberados, y el mundo se enteró de la magnitud del genocidio. Los testimonios de los sobrevivientes y las pruebas documentales recopiladas durante los juicios de Núremberg y otros procesos posteriores proporcionaron evidencia irrefutable del Holocausto. El Holocausto fue un crimen sin precedentes en la historia y tuvo un impacto duradero en la comunidad judía y en todo. Antena Historia te regala 30 días PREMIUM, para que lo disfrutes https://www.ivoox.com/premium?affiliate-code=b4688a50868967db9ca413741a54cea5 Produce Antonio Cruz Edita ANTENA HISTORIA Antena Historia (podcast) forma parte del sello iVoox Originals web……….https://antenahistoria.com/ correo.....info@antenahistoria.com Facebook…..Antena Historia Podcast | Facebook Twitter…...https://twitter.com/AntenaHistoria Telegram…...https://t.me/foroantenahistoria DONACIONES PAYPAL...... https://paypal.me/ancrume ¿QUIERES ANUNCIARTE en ANTENA HISTORIA?, menciones, cuñas publicitarias, programas personalizados, etc. Dirígete a Antena Historia - AdVoices Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

El genocidio sistemático y planificado de seis millones de judíos durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, fue un proceso gradual que involucró diferentes etapas y políticas implementadas por el régimen nazi. Aquí tienes un resumen de los eventos clave: Antisemitismo y propaganda: El régimen nazi promovió el odio y el antisemitismo como parte de su ideología. Adolf Hitler y otros líderes nazis difundieron propaganda antisemita, culpando a los judíos de los problemas económicos y sociales de Alemania y retratándolos como una amenaza para la nación alemana. Leyes de Núremberg (1935): Las Leyes de Núremberg privaron a los judíos de su ciudadanía alemana y los excluyeron de la vida pública. Estas leyes definieron quién era considerado judío según criterios raciales y prohibieron los matrimonios y relaciones sexuales entre judíos y no judíos. Boicot económico (1933): Se instó a los ciudadanos alemanes a boicotear los negocios judíos, lo que tuvo un impacto significativo en la economía judía. Programas de eutanasia (1939-1941): Si bien no estuvo directamente relacionado con el Holocausto judío, el régimen nazi implementó programas de eutanasia para asesinar a personas con discapacidades físicas y mentales. Estos programas sentaron un precedente para el uso de la maquinaria estatal para el asesinato en masa. Invasión de Polonia (1939): La Alemania nazi invadió Polonia en septiembre de 1939, marcando el comienzo de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Durante la ocupación de Polonia, los nazis establecieron guetos para confinar a la población judía en condiciones inhumanas. Solución final (1941-1945): A medida que la guerra progresaba, los nazis desarrollaron la "Solución final", un plan para exterminar sistemáticamente a todos los judíos europeos. Esto implicó el establecimiento de campos de exterminio, como Auschwitz, Treblinka y Sobibor, equipados con cámaras de gas y crematorios, donde se llevaron a cabo asesinatos en masa. Einsatzgruppen y campos de concentración (1941-1945): Además de los campos de exterminio, los nazis utilizaron unidades móviles llamadas Einsatzgruppen para llevar a cabo ejecuciones en masa de judíos en el este de Europa. También se establecieron campos de concentración donde se sometía a los prisioneros judíos a trabajos forzados, maltrato y condiciones inhumanas. Liberación y testimonios: A medida que las fuerzas aliadas avanzaban en Europa, los campos de concentración y exterminio fueron liberados, y el mundo se enteró de la magnitud del genocidio. Los testimonios de los sobrevivientes y las pruebas documentales recopiladas durante los juicios de Núremberg y otros procesos posteriores proporcionaron evidencia irrefutable del Holocausto. El Holocausto fue un crimen sin precedentes en la historia y tuvo un impacto duradero en la comunidad judía y en todo. Antena Historia te regala 30 días PREMIUM, para que lo disfrutes https://www.ivoox.com/premium?affiliate-code=b4688a50868967db9ca413741a54cea5 Produce Antonio Cruz Edita ANTENA HISTORIA Antena Historia (podcast) forma parte del sello iVoox Originals web……….https://antenahistoria.com/ correo.....info@antenahistoria.com Facebook…..Antena Historia Podcast | Facebook Twitter…...https://twitter.com/AntenaHistoria Telegram…...https://t.me/foroantenahistoria DONACIONES PAYPAL...... https://paypal.me/ancrume ¿QUIERES ANUNCIARTE en ANTENA HISTORIA?, menciones, cuñas publicitarias, programas personalizados, etc. Dirígete a Antena Historia - AdVoices Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

This week the international justice community has been brought together in mourning by the passing of Benjamin Ferencz. Ferencz served as the chief prosecutor for the United States Army during the Einsatzgruppen trial, one of twelve trials for war crimes and crimes against humanity part of the Nuremberg Trials. Later in his career Ferencz became a champion for the establishment […]

Mit dem Beginn des zweiten Weltkriegs wurden Juden und andere nicht akzeptierte Minderheiten in den besetzten Gebieten verfolgt und meist ermordet, wobei besonders die Ostgebiete betroffen waren. Viele der verfolgten Menschen wurden nicht in Konzentrations- oder Vernichtungslager deportiert, sondern vor Ort von mobilen geschulten Erschießungskommandos getötet, den sogenannten Einsatzgruppen. Otto Ohlendorf war Leiter der Einsatzgruppe D, und damit für die Ermordung von 90000 Menschen aus der Ukraine und dem Kaukasus verantwortlich. Ohlendorf und seine Mannschaft verübten brutale Massaker, bei denen nicht akzeptierte Ethnien in Massen erschossen wurden, selbst Kinder wurden nicht verschont. Zeitzeugen berichteten, dass Ohlendorf so kaltherzig war, dass es einem das Blut in den Adern gefrieren ließ, und diese Person keinerlei Respekt vor dem Leben hatte. In diesem Video geht es um die grausamen Verbrechen von Otto Ohlendorf und der nach dem Krieg stattgefundenen Anklage sowie Bestrafung dieses Verbrechers.

102 year old Ben Ferencz is the last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials and a direct witness to the horrors of the Nazi death camps. Born in Transylvania he emigrated to the United States with his family as a child to escape antisemitic persecution. He trained at Harvard Law School, graduated in 1943 and served in the US army in the campaign to liberate western Europe. In 1945 at the end of the war, he was assigned to a team charged with collecting evidence of war crimes during which he visited the death camps and saw first-hand the appalling conditions there. He then became a prosecutor during the Nuremberg war crimes trials where his work focussed on the prosecution of the Einsatzgruppen death squads. His experiences during the war have led him to be a passionate, lifelong campaigner advocating for the international rule of law and he helped found the international criminal courts in The Hague. In this episode, he shares his life experiences and how we all need to find ways to resolve our differences peacefully if we want to continue to see humanity flourish.This interview was first released in 2021. If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!Download the History Hit app from the Google Play store.Download the History Hit app from the Apple Store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As early as 1933, Hitler and the Nazis - the National Socialist German Worker's Party - began passing a series of discriminatory laws against Jews— inch by inch, chipping away at their freedoms. They took away their property. Their ability to practice certain jobs or exist in public places. They took away their ability to own pets or walk around without a badge identifying them as Jews.And they did all this while the world watched. While everyone hoped that maybe they'd finally just stop with all their mindless hate. But instead, they just kept pushing it further, and further, and further. Soon, the Nazi's began deporting Jews. Sending them out of Germany and to various labor camps. Then, the plan changed from one of deportation to genocide, and concentration camps were constructed to efficiently kill massive amounts of people. The majority of people deported to these new death camps were transported in cattle wagons. These wagons - traveling along train tracks - didn't have water, food, a toilet, or ventilation. Sometimes there weren't enough cars for a major transport, so victims waited at a switching yard, often with standing room only, for several days.  Stewing in their own filth, fear, confusion and hunger. Sometimes, when the train made it to the concentration camp, and the transport doors were opened, everyone inside was already dead. Today we explore and explain the holocaust. How it happened and why, in a very dark, genocidal edition of Timesuck. Bad Magic Productions Monthly Patreon Donation:  The Bad Magic Charity for May is the HALO Dental Network. Founded by Dr. Brady Smith, HALO Dental Network is a coalition of dental professionals who donate their services to the dental underserved. Services include dental implants, veneers, fillings and crowns. If you want to learn more, please visit halodentalnetwork.orgNot only can you donate, you can also nominate someone you know who is in need. Thanks to those who helped us donate $14,300 this month! TICKETS FOR HOT WET BAD MAGIC SUMMER CAMP!  Go to www.badmagicmerch.comWatch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8QeveQXLd3QMerch: https://www.badmagicmerch.comDiscord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard?  Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcastSign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits.

Invité de la rédaction : Rudy Saada reçoit Michaël Prazan, écrivain et réalisateur, pour son documentaire Hitler Staline le choc des Tyrans Diffusion lundi 9 mai sur France 3 à 21h00 À propos du documentaire: «Hitler Staline le choc des Tyrans» Leur confrontation a produit un cataclysme sans précédent : une guerre dévastatrice qui a ravagé l'Europe et défiguré le monde. Et pourtant, derrière la façade de leur antagonisme radical, Staline et Hitler avaient plus en commun qu'on ne le croit. Bien qu'ils ne se soient jamais rencontrés, leurs échanges et leur complicité demeurent le trou noir d'une histoire qui ne sera écrite qu'au lendemain de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Michaël Prazan, docteur des lettres, est journaliste, réalisateur de films documentaires et écrivain. Il a en outre écrit et réalisé Einsatzgruppen, les commandos de la mort, un documentaire sur le génocide des Juifs de l'Est par les commandos mobiles de tueries et leurs supplétifs en juin 1941; un film de trois heures, diffusé en deux parties sur France 2 au mois d'avril 2009 et qui a reçu le prix du meilleur documentaire du Jewish Motifs International Film festival de Varsovie en 2010. Suivront les films  'Le Procès d'Adolf Eichmann' (2011), la série documentaire 'Une histoire du terrorisme' (2012), 'La Confrérie, enquête sur les frères musulmans' (2013), 'La passeuse des Aubrais' (2016) ou encore Goulags (2019).

The historical symbolism of the Zelyonka industrial dye attack—by which members of the Nazi Azov Battalion in Ukraine claim to be marking their victims, whether they be Roma or other central Asian peoples or just supposed Russophiles, as “orcs” tainted by Asiatic racial contagion—lies in the orcos of Spanish chivalric fantasy, the true inspiration for Tolkien's hordes of Mordor besieging the holy city, surely much more than Beowulf as is often claimed. A kind of dialectical demonology of demonization comes into view, the hammer strokes with which whiteness was forged, as well as clues to how it can be cast into the fires again.Featuring music performed by Kingless Generation member Laihallll. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hace 80 años, el 20 de enero de 1942, tuvo lugar una reunión en una villa a las orillas del lago Wannsee en las afueras de Berlín con un único punto de orden de día: la llamada "la solución final del problema judío". En realidad se trataba de reglamentar y coordinar la deportación y el asesinato sistemático de los judíos en los países ocupados. Aunque de facto, estas deportaciones ya se estaban llevando a cabo y las ejecuciones masivas por las "Einsatzgruppen" también venían dándose desde junio de 1941, con el avance las tropas alemanas hacia el Este. La reunión en la que participaron unos pocos altos cargos de la SS, del partido NSDAP y de distintos ministerios del Reich, duró 90 minutos. En esta actividad analizamos en qué medida esa hora y media resultó trascendental para el destino del pueblo judío. La conferencia corre a cargo de la especialista Paula Santana.

Dimitri and Khalid dissect the influential 1974 Stanford Research Institute white paper “Changing Images of Man” and discuss its shoddy historical ontologies, the Kettering Foundation's “high leverage” intellectual moonshot, Joseph Campbell's monomyth and prediction of Star Wars/MCU culture, lazily conflating Sufism, Rosicrucianism, and Freemasonry, favorably comparing the Human Potential Movement to Nazism, favorably citing L. Ron Hubbard and other new age MK cultists, weaponizing environmental crises and the “overpopulation” scare, Robert Maxwell's World Order Models Project, harnessing parapsychological forces, talking about dialectics but never mentioning the M-word, Robert EL Masters' obsessions with LSD & Crowleyan sex magick, corporate meditation retreats to condition the C-suite Einsatzgruppen, and the many parallels with Klaus Schwab's “Great Reset” of global capitalism. For access to full-length premium episodes and the SJ Grotto of Truth Discord, subscribe to the Al-Wara' Frequency at patreon.com/subliminaljihad.

Autor: Florin, Christiane Sendung: Tag für Tag Hören bis: 19.01.2038 04:14 Aus Religion und Gesellschaft Reform und Zorn: Wie geht es weiter auf dem Synodalen Weg? Das Plenum des Gesprächsformats Synodaler Weg hat getagt, diskutiert und gestritten. Ein Gespräch über die Zwischenergebnisse mit der Freiburger Theologin Claudia Danzer von der Initiative „MeinGottdiskriminiertnicht“ Würde nach dem Tod: Wie in Ostpolen aus Massengräbern Friedhöfe werden Viele Menschen, die in Polen während des Zweiten Weltkriegs von deutschen Einsatzgruppen ermordet wurden, sind in Massengräbern beerdigt. Tausende gibt es davon auf polnischem Boden. Die Stiftung „Zapomniane“, auf Deutsch „Vergessen“, kümmert sich um die vernachlässigten und vergessenen Gräber. Eines der Hauptanliegen der Stiftung ist, die Opfer gemäß der religiösen Regeln zu bestatten und ihnen, wenn möglich, einen Grabstein mit Namen zu geben Am Mikrofon: Christiane Florin

Gérard Unger évoquera le massacre de Babi Yar, plus grand massacre de la Shoah ukrainienne par balles, 33771 juifs assassinés, massacre mené par les Einsatzgruppen en URSS les 29 et 30 septembre 1941

In this episode, Jack Thurlow talks to Jaya about his article, 'The Shoah in the East' which details the shooting squads, the Einsatzgruppen, employed by the Nazis in eastern Europe. Article extract: The Holocaust is known by most for the murder of Jewish people in death camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka and Chelmo. Familiarity is also found in the name of Bergen Belsen and the Warsaw Ghetto, and the names of Anne Frank, Oskar Schindler and Wladyslaw Szpilman ring synonymous in conversations about the Shoah. However, something that isn't usually found in conversation is the unique topic of Eastern Europe and the horrific events that took place there in the early years of the 1940s. Edited by Rachel Kinnear

This week we are staying east and taking a brief look at what happened in the Ukraine during the Holocaust. Sublime. If you go to the USHMM encyclopedia you can find a map of the Einsatzgruppen activity within the Ukraine for a perspective on how widespread the killing was. Einsatzgruppen Animated Map Contact: info@withoutthefootnotes.org Music: Feryl

[Diese Podcast-Folge ist ursprünglich in unserem Format Graz – Laut gedacht erschienen]Es waren wohl die 20 längsten Stunden im Leben der Geiseln und ihrer Angehörigen – so lange dauerte die Geiselnahme durch Josef Kis-Lukac, der frustriert und bewaffnet am Montag, dem 16. Juni 1980, kurz vor Mittag in eine Arztpraxis in der Grazer Annenstraße eindringt.Der Arzt und ein Sanitäter können fliehen, die restlichen Geiseln bangen um ihr Leben. Der Täter zwingt eine junge Ordinationsgehilfin mit vorgehaltener Waffe seine Forderungen nach außen zu kommunizieren. Sie tritt in telefonischen Kontakt mit einer damaligen Redakteurin der Kleinen Zeitung, Helena Wallner. Stundenlang vermittelt Wallner mit der Ordinationsgehilfin zwischen Geiselnehmer, Zeitung und Polizei. Ergänzung:In Reaktion auf diese Folge hat sich Gerhard Ofner bei uns gemeldet. Er war damals als einer der Beamten der Einsatzgruppe zur Bekämpfung besonders gefährlicher Rechtsbrecher derjenige, der als erster in die Ordination des Arztes gelangt ist und zusammen mit einem Kollegen den Arzt und den Rettungsfahrer geborgen und in Sicherheit gebracht hat.Das sind seine Ergänzungen zu dem Podcast (zusammengefasst):Nicht nur bei der Gendarmerie wurde das „GEK“ aufgebaut, sondern auch in den Bundespolizeidirektionen wurden „Einsatzgruppen zur Bekämpfung besonders gefährlicher Rechtsbrecher“ gebildet und Kriminalbeamte entsprechend ausgebildet und ausgerüstet. Das geschah ohne besondere Information der Öffentlichkeit. Damals waren Beamte dieser Einsatzgruppe der BPD-Graz im Einsatz. Der Auftrag: „unblutige Beendigung der Geisellage, Befreiung der Geiseln und Festnahme des Täters“. Waffengebrauch im Sinne der gesetzlichen Bestimmungen. Bei unmittelbar drohender Gefahr für das Leben der Geiseln war sofortiges Einschreiten (Konfrontation mit dem Täter) angeordnet. Die körperliche Unversehrtheit und das Lebens der Geiseln war unter allen Umständen zu schützen. Nach der Bergung des Arztes und des Rettungsfahrers über die Feuerwehrleiter, wurde die Lage – die zuvor weitgehend unklar war – erkundet. Der Täter konnte immer wieder durch das Türschloss beobachtet werden. Die an dieser Türe stehenden Geiseln wurde erklärt (Gespräche im Flüsterton waren möglich), wie sie sich im Falle eines möglichen Sturms des Warteraumes verhalten sollten. Diese Informationen wurde auch unter den Geiseln weitergegeben. Schon damals gab es Erkenntnisse über die Bewältigung von Geisellagen und die Führung von Verhandlungen, die einerseits den Täter ermüden, fehleranfällig und unaufmerksam machen und andererseits den Einsatzkräften Raum zur Entwicklung entsprechender Strategien schaffen sollten. Diese Taktik der Sicherheitsbehörden bei Geisellagen war und ist bis heute absolut lege artis. In diesem Sinne erfolgte auch die Einsatzplanung und die Auftragserteilung an das Zugriffsteam der BPD-Graz.

Dimitri and Khalid dissect the influential 1974 Stanford Research Institute white paper “Changing Images of Man” and discuss its shoddy historical ontologies, the Kettering Foundation's “high leverage” intellectual moonshot, Joseph Campbell's monomyth and prediction of Star Wars/MCU culture, lazily conflating Sufism, Rosicrucianism, and Freemasonry, favorably comparing the Human Potential Movement to Nazism, favorably citing L. Ron Hubbard and other new age MK cultists, weaponizing environmental crises and the “overpopulation” scare, Robert Maxwell's World Order Models Project, harnessing parapsychological forces, talking about dialectics but never mentioning the M-word, Robert EL Masters' obsessions with LSD & Crowleyan sex magick, corporate meditation retreats to condition the C-suite Einsatzgruppen, and the many parallels with Klaus Schwab's “Great Reset” of global capitalism. For access to full-length premium episodes and the SJ Grotto of Truth Discord, subscribe to the Al-Wara' Frequency at patreon.com/subliminaljihad.

Ben Ferencz at 102 years old is the last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials and a direct witness to the horrors of the Nazi death camps. Ben was born in Transylvania before emigrating to the United States with his family as a child to escape antisemitic persecution. He trained at Harvard Law School graduating in 1943 and served in the US army in the campaign to liberate western Europe. In 1945 at the end of the war he was assigned to a team charged with collecting evidence of war crimes during which he visited the death camps and saw first hand the appalling conditions there. He then became a prosecutor during the Nuremberg war crimes trials where his work focussed on the prosecution of the Einsatzgruppen death squads. His experiences during the war have led him to be a passionate, lifelong campaigner advocating for the international rule of law and helped found the international criminal courts in The Hague. In this episode, he shares his life experiences and how we all need to find ways to resolve our differences peacefully if we want to continue to see humanity flourish. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ben Ferencz at 102 years old is the last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials and a direct witness to the horrors of the Nazi death camps. Ben was born in Transylvania before emigrating to the United States with his family as a child to escape antisemitic persecution. He trained at Harvard Law School graduating in 1943 and served in the US army in the campaign to liberate western Europe. In 1945 at the end of the war he was assigned to a team charged with collecting evidence of war crimes during which he visited the death camps and saw first hand the appalling conditions there. He then became a prosecutor during the Nuremberg war crimes trials where his work focussed on the prosecution of the Einsatzgruppen death squads. His experiences during the war have led him to be a passionate, lifelong campaigner advocating for the international rule of law and helped found the international criminal courts in The Hague. In this episode, he shares his life experiences and how we all need to find ways to resolve our differences peacefully if we want to continue to see humanity flourish. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Etat, guerre, société et mémoire Conversation avec Nathalie Moine, historienne chargée de recherche au CNRS et spécialiste de l’époque de l’occupation nazie en Union soviétique. On s’entretient de son article "Les vivants et les morts - Genèse, histoire et héritages de la documentation soviétique des crimes commis en territoires occupés pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, fin XIXe-début XXIe siècle" (EHESS, 2015) et on évoque la question des archives de l’Union soviétique. Photo: exécution de juifs à Ivanhorod (Ukraine) par des Einsatzgruppen en 1942.

Wykład dr. Maciej Kozłowskiego [11 maja 2020] Dr Maciej Kozłowski podczas piątego z cyklu wykładów, w których opisuje korzenie Holokaustu, wskazuje kiedy zaczęła się Zagłada. Historyk opowiada o okresie od opanowania Europy przez Hitlera w 1940 roku do konferencji w Wansee (20 stycznia 1942). Prelegent zwraca uwagę, że kiedy pojawiło się słynne sformułowanie „ostateczne rozwiązanie kwestii żydowskiej”, Holokaust już trwał. Einsatzgruppen wymordowały wcześniej na wschodzie 900 tys. Żydów. Działał też wtedy pierwszy obóz śmierci w Chełmnie nad Nerem (Kulmhof), gdzie Niemcy mordowali ludzi przy użyciu gazów spalinowych. Dr Maciej Kozłowski podczas wykładu wskazuje, od kiedy zaczęła się Zagłada. Historyk rozpoczyna prelekcję od opisania niemieckich planów przesiedlenia Żydów, które powstały po opanowaniu Europy przez Hitlera w 1940 roku. Jeden z nich mówił o wysiedleniu europejskiej ludności żydowskiej na Madagaskar. Niemcy rozważali nawet, żeby zawrzeć stosowne zapisy w porozumieniu pokojowym z Francją. Ze względów logistycznych pomysł ten odrzucono. Wcześniej, w 1939 roku, Niemcy podjęli się natomiast próby realizacji Planu „Nisko”. Do podkarpackiej miejscowości przesiedlono ok. 95 tys. Żydów, głównie z terenów Austrii i Czechosłowacji. Próba założenia żydowskiej kolonii zakończyła się fiaskiem. Ci Żydzi, którym udało się przetrwać zimę, otrzymali pozwolenie na powrót do domu. Dr Kozłowski zwraca uwagę, że miało to bardzo ważne znaczenie dla nadchodzącego Holokaustu. Ofiary, które później jechały do obozów Zagłady, myślały, że wysiedla się je na wschód. Jako ważną datę w kalendarium Holokaustu historyk wskazuje 1 czerwca 1940 roku. Podczas spotkania z dowódcami Einsatzgruppen, które poprzedziło atak Niemiec na ZSRR, szef SS i policji Reindard Heydrich stwierdził, że Żydzi ze wschodu są rezerwuarem komunizmu, w związku z czym zdaniem Hitlera należy ich zlikwidować. Po rozpoczęciu wojny z ZSRR na terenach zajmowanych przez Niemców doszło do inspirowanych przez nich pogromów, których dokonała ludność miejscowa. Dr Kozłowski szerzej skupia się w tym fragmencie prelekcji na wydarzeniach w Jedwabnem oraz innych antyżydowskich wystąpieniach na Podlasiu. Kiedy zaczęła się Zagłada? Dr Kozłowski: Symboliczne znaczenie ma wymordowanie żydowskich dzieci w Białej Cerkwi Jako symboliczną datę, kiedy zaczęła się Zagłada, historyk wskazuje wymordowanie na rozkaz Niemców żydowskich sierot w miejscowości Biała Cerkiew (22 sierpnia 1941 roku). Zadanie wykonał oddział ukraińskich kolaborantów. „Był to pierwszy oficjalny rozkaz, każący mordować dzieci, tylko dlatego, że były dziećmi żydowskimi” – zaznacza dr Kozłowski. Prelegent wskazuje, że wówczas została przekroczona granica, po której zaczęły się masowe mordy dokonywane przez Einsatzgruppen. Do największego doszło w Babim Jarze pod Kijowem, gdzie w ciągu trzech dni zgładzono 33 tys. Żydów. Do końca 1941 roku w masowych egzekucjach śmierć poniosło łącznie 900 tys. osób. Ostatnią część wykładu dr Kozłowski poświęca powstaniu obozów śmierci. Historyk wskazuje, że ich budowę poprzedziła konkluzja, że dotychczasowe sposoby zabijania Żydów są nieefektywne i demoralizujące dla Niemców, którzy dokonują egzekucji. Pierwszy obóz śmierci został zbudowany przez nazistów w Chełmnie nad Nerem (Kulmhof). Eksperymenty z mordowaniem Żydów przy użyciu spalin samochodowych prowadzone były tam już w grudniu 1941 roku. Historyk zwraca więc uwagę, że kiedy trwała konferencja w Wansee (20 stycznia 1942), gdzie pojawiło się sformułowanie Endlösung der Judenfrage (ostateczne rozwiązanie kwestii żydowskiej), Holokaust już trwał.

Originally recorded on March 5, 2021. The title says it all - a hard and heavy-hitting subject, but with a thread of hope and restoration worked throughout. Soli Deo Gloria. NOTES: The video clips mentioned here (shown in class but not included on the recording due to Copyright and other issues), are taken from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: https://www.ushmm.org Specifically, the videos "Einsatzgruppen" and "The Liberation" were shown to the class. I highly recommend that you thoroughly explore this website to know more about this momentous event that impacted the entire human race on so many levels.

Rozmowa z dr. Maciejem Kozłowskim [29 stycznia 2020] Holokaust mógł zdarzyć się tylko w państwie absolutnie dyktatorskim, gdzie nie istniało prawo w tym sensie, że wola przywódcy była prawem – mówi w rozmowie z Piotrem Szczepańskim dr Maciej Kozłowski, historyk i były ambasador RP w Izraelu. Gość Wszechnicy na wstępie odpowiada na pytanie o czynniki, bez których ludobójstwo by nie zaistniało. Jeśli chodzi o kwestie ideologiczne, wymienia antysemityzm i rasizm. – Na początku XX w. oświeceniowe idee zmieniły antysemityzm o charakterze religijnym, który istniał przez cały okres od średniowiecza do rewolucji francuskiej, w antysemityzm rasistowski, czyli antysemityzm oparty na przynależności do rasy – wyjaśnia dr Kozłowski. Historyk wskazuje również, że do Zagłady przyczyniła się eugenika. – Ponieważ teoria eugeniki pozwalała na różnicowanie ludzi, że jedni są bardziej warci, a inni mniej warci [życia], w połączeniu z antysemityzmem dała to, co dała – stwierdza historyk. Dr Maciej Kozłowski: Holokaust by się nie wydarzył, gdyby nie wojna Gość Wszechnicy wymienia również dwa czynniki polityczne, bez których eksterminacja Żydów nie byłaby możliwa do przeprowadzenie. Pierwszy to dyktatura Adolfa Hitlera w Niemczech. – Taka rzecz mogła zdarzyć się tylko w państwie absolutnie dyktatorskim, gdzie nie istniało prawo w tym sensie, ze wola przywódcy była prawem – wyjaśnia. Drugi z faktorów to wywołana przez Niemców wojna. – Wojna sprawia, że życie ludzkie jest tanie. (…) Kiedy giną miliony, nikt nie patrzy na śmierć setek, tysięcy czy nielicznych milionów – mówi dr Kozłowski. Gość Wszechnicy przywołuje liczby: w trakcie drugiej wojny światowej śmierć poniosło 60 mln ludzi, z czego Żydzi stanowili 6 mln. W kolejnej części wywiadu dr Kozłowski odpowiada na pytanie, od kiedy można mówić o początku Zagłady. Historyk przytacza pogląd części badaczy, którzy odwołują się do „Mein Kampf” Hitlera. Uważają oni, że ludobójstwo Żydów naziści planowali u zarania swojego ruchu. W kontekście prześladowań Żydów w Niemczech historyk szerzej opisuje tzw. Polenaktion i odnosi się do oskarżeń, jakie pod adresem ówczesnego ambasadora RP w Berlinie wysunął Władimir Putin. Gość Wszechnicy przypomniał, że rozmowa amb. Józefa Lipskiego z Hitlerem, do której doszło 20 września 1938 roku w Berchtesgaden, podczas której tematem była m.in. emigracja Żydów z Europy, odbyła się już pod konferencji z udziałem mocarstw w Évian. W jej trakcie – konferencja trwała 6-15 lipca 1938 – przywódcy odmówili przyjęcia na swoje terytorium Żydów prześladowanych w Niemczech. Kalendarium Zagłady – kiedy rozpoczęła się eksterminacja Żydów? Gość Wszechnicy nie zgadza się z poglądem, że Zagłada rozpoczęła się wraz dojściem do władzy w Niemczech przez nazistów. Jego zdaniem o początku Holokaustu można mówić nawet nie od wybuchu wojny we wrześniu 1939 roku, ale dopiero od rozpoczęcia wojny niemiecko-radzieckiej w czerwcu 1941 roku. Pierwszym etapem zdaniem historyka były pogromy ludności żydowskiej, do jakich doszło na terenach zajmowanych przez wojska niemieckie. – Jedwabne i wszystkie pogromy, które miały miejsce na niewielkim terenie etnicznie polskim, który był okupowany przez Sowietów w 1939 roku, miały źródło. One były dokonane przez Polaków, ale na wyraźną zachętę czy nawet instytucjonalną próbę zorganizowania tego przez Niemców. Tam nie było Niemców fizycznie, ale ci Polacy wiedzieli, że Niemcy tego oczekują – podkreśla historyk. Powołuje się instrukcję Reinharda Heydricha, która zalecała podjęcie tego typu działań. Oprócz tego dr Kozłowski wymienia działalność Einsatzgruppen, które na zapleczu frontu dokonywały mordów na Żydach utożsamianych z komunistami.

In questa puntata si parla degli Einsatzgruppen che operarono in Unione Sovietica a partire dal 1941 fino alla conclusione della guerra --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/giorgio-ajo/message

Today we are talking about the Einsatzgruppen, a paramilitary Nazi death squad responsible for 2 of the worst massacres during WW2. One claiming over 33,000 lives. The Einsatzgruppen followed in the wake of the German Army serving as more of a clean up crew for them. Answering directly to Heinrich Himler the Eisatzgruppen were ruthless, merciless, and extremely relentless in their mission to exterminate anyone who was not in line with their policies. Be sure to leave us a 5 star review on iTunes and enjoy the show! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/chillingtruth/support

In this episode we look at the reasons for Hitler's decision to invade the Soviet Union in June 1941. Why was it called Operation Barbarossa? The Germans put together a large army (of up to almost 4 million soldiers) and they employed a three-pronged invasion strategy. We look at the role of the Einsatzgruppen in executing part of the Nazi's Final Solution. Why did Operation Barbarossa come to a halt in July 1941? We discuss the Russian winter, but also consider the willpower of the Russian soldiers. Was this invasion Hitler's biggest mistake? Find us on twitter @WilliamHPalk or @C_duPlessis. Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=Q8KGSAT37YCPA&source=url)

Two years ago, I decided to compile a list of good books for your summer reading pleasure.In 2018, the list consisted of 14 great books, presented in two parts.We have reviewed eight more outstanding books since then, so I decided to do it again.In Part 2 this year:The Holocaust by Bullets—A Priest’s Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews is the first of two books Father Patrick Desbois about how Nazi mobile killing units, called the Einsatzgruppen, murdered more than a million people in Eastern Europe during World War II. This is how many Jews perished during the Holocaust, yet little has been written about it.In Broad Daylight – The Secret Procedures behind the Holocaust by Bullets by Father Patrick Desbois delves deeper into the story of the mass murder of Jews during the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. The focus of this book is the mechanics and methodology behind the collaboration of the populace in the killings.Hitler’s Basement by Ron Vossler examines the role of the Volksdeutche (ethnic Germans living outside Germany) in the Holocaust after he discovered a family connection to the Nazis. This very personal memoir is an important addition to the historical record about the open-air Holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis in Ukraine.The Sea is Only Knee Deep is a two-volume true-lie story of deception, betrayal and a famous defection to Canada. In the late 1960s, Paulina Zelitsky is working with the engineering team designing a top secret submarine base for Soviet nuclear submarines in Cuba and suddenly finds herself in a dangerous predicament. In 1971, she dashes across the tarmac to freedom and safety—her two small children in tow—from an Aeroflot flight on a refueling stop in Gander, Newfoundland. These two volumes reveal a fascinating world of secrecy and treachery, and an indomitable spirit that triumphs over it.For the full transcript visit the Nash Holos website. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I've been watching Netflix documentary, Einsatzgruppen – The Nazi Death Squads. It investigates the units created by Hitler to exterminate Jews, Romanians, and Soviet prisoners in Eastern Europe. It is a stark reminder to never be afraid to ask questions of the elite and those who lead us. When we wait, it's often too late and we are complicit. It also shows the power of the mob. Righteous anger can be turned into unrighteous killing in a blink of the eye.

In Part 2 of our Holocaust Series we investigate how life changed for the Jews in Germany after the pogroms in November 1938 (also known as Kristallnacht). We look at policy changes in Germany regarding the Jewish people: from immigration to expulsion. How did the situation worsen when the Second World War broke out in September 1939. We talk about the different types of concentration camps and what conditions were like in the ghettos. The Jewish people reacted (and resisted) in many different ways, and showed tremendous resilience. What "solutions" did the Nazis consider for the "Jewish Question"? We discuss the Einsatzgruppen (or mobile killing units), and the killing centres set up in Poland. Why is Auschwitz so infamous? How were the camps liberated? Why did the Nazis take Jewish survivors on a "death march"? We ask what type of justice was implemented against the Nazi perpetrators. We end our discussion by looking at the lessons we can learn from this tragic chapter in human history.Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=Q8KGSAT37YCPA&source=url)

In dieser Folge beschäftigen wir uns mit den Kriegsverbrechen, die insbesondere an Partisanen begangen wurden. Die dafür verantwortlichen Einsatzgruppen bestanden größtenteils aus Polizisten, die auch nach dem Krieg ihren Dienst weiter verrichtet haben. Doch trotz all der Grausamkeiten hatten auch viele der Täter im Nachhinein mit psychischen Schäden zu kämpfen.

Nous sommes le 5 octobre 1941, le secrétaire de police originaire de Vienne, Walter Mattner rédige une lettre destinée à son épouse. Dans cette missive, il décrit des événements qui ont eu lieu l’avant-veille, à l’Est de la Biélorussie, dans la ville de Moguilev : « A l’arrivée des premiers véhicules, dit-il, ma main a tremblé quand j’ai tiré, mais on s’y habitue. Au dixième convoi, je visais calmement et tirais de manière assurée sur de nombreux nourrissons, enfants et femmes. » Walter Mattener était, lui-même, père de deux enfants. Il continue sa lettre en expliquant que la mort donnée aux juifs est une « belle mort (…) en comparaison avec les infernales tortures » de la police politique soviétique. Plus loin, il ajoute : « Ici aussi, je comprends pour la première fois les mots du poète Theodor Mörner : « Aucun enfant dans le ventre de sa mère ne sera épargné. Diable ! Tant de sang, de boue, de corne et de chair n’ai-je pas encore vu. Maintenant, je peux comprendre l’expression l’ivresse de sang. » A l'heure que nous commémorons le 75e anniversaire de la découverte des camps d’Auschwitz, Storiavoce vous propose un voyage dans l’horreur : celui du front de l’Est pendant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. Avec Jean Lopez, nous vous en avons donné les clés et les ressorts politiques et militaires dans deux émissions consacrées à l’opération Barbarossa. Aujourd’hui, nous allons aborder une question peut être trop méconnue. On croyait avoir tout dit sur le génocide, or le mouvement historiographique qui montre l’importance du front de l’Est pendant le conflit mondial nous révèle aussi les « massacres de masse qui touchèrent la population juive. » Alors que l'on connaissait bien le travail macabre des Einsatzgruppen, Marie Moutier-Bitan, elle, est partie à la recherche des victimes. Elle est interrogée par Christophe Dickès. L"invitée: Doctorante en histoire contemporaine, Marie Moutier-Bitan travaille sous la direction d'Edouard Husson, sur "L'organisation locale des fusillades des Juifs sur les territoires soviétiques occupés par les nazis. 1941-1944". Chercheuse et responsable des archives au sein de l'association Yahad-in Unum depuis 2009, elle a effectué de nombreux séjours de recherche en Allemagne et en Europe de l'Est, ainsi qu'a l'United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Elle est déjà l'auteur des Lettres de la Wehrmacht (Perrin). Elle vient de publier chez Passés / Composés Les champs de la Shoah (480 pages, 24€)

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (/ˈhaɪdrɪk/; German: [ˈʁaɪnhaʁt ˈtʁɪstan ˈɔʏɡn̩ ˈhaɪdʁɪç] (About this soundlisten); 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a main architect of the Holocaust. He was chief of the Reich Main Security Office (including the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD). He was also Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor (Deputy/Acting Reich-Protector) of Bohemia and Moravia. He served as president of the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC, later known as Interpol) and chaired the January 1942 Wannsee Conference which formalised plans for the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question"—the deportation and genocide of all Jews in German-occupied Europe. Many historians regard Heydrich as the darkest figure within the Nazi regime;[5][6][7] Adolf Hitler described him as "the man with the iron heart".[4] He was the founding head of the Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service, SD), an intelligence organisation charged with seeking out and neutralising resistance to the Nazi Party via arrests, deportations, and murders. He helped organise Kristallnacht, a series of coordinated attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938. The attacks were carried out by SA stormtroopers and civilians and presaged the Holocaust. Upon his arrival in Prague, Heydrich sought to eliminate opposition to the Nazi occupation by suppressing Czech culture and deporting and executing members of the Czech resistance. He was directly responsible for the Einsatzgruppen, the special task forces that travelled in the wake of the German armies and murdered more than two million people by mass shooting and gassing, including 1.3 million Jews. Heydrich was critically wounded in Prague on 27 May 1942 as a result of Operation Anthropoid. He was ambushed by a team of Czech and Slovak soldiers who had been sent by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile to kill the Reich-Protector; the team was trained by the British Special Operations Executive. Heydrich died from his injuries a week later. Nazi intelligence falsely linked the Czech/Slovak soldiers and resistance partisans to the villages of Lidice and Ležáky. Both villages were razed; all men and boys over the age of 16 were shot, and all but a handful of the women and children were deported and killed in Nazi concentration camps. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thehistoryexpress/support

PRAGUE 1942 / L’opération AnthropoidL’opération Anthropoid est l'opération secrète montée en vue d'assassiner le dignitaire nazi Reinhard Heydrich. L'attentat se déroule à Prague le 27 mai 1942. Planifiée par le Special Operations Executive, le service secret britannique qui soutenait les Résistances européennes lors de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, cette opération est exécutée par deux soldats tchécoslovaques, entraînés en Grande-Bretagne et parachutés en Bohême-Moravie. Reinhard Heydrich est à la fois le chef de l'Office central de la sécurité du Reich, le « vice-gouverneur de Bohême-Moravie » et le commandant opérationnel des Einsatzgruppen, les unités mobiles de tuerie de masse en Europe de l’Est. Il a également reçu pour mission d’organiser le programme d'extermination des Juifs d'Europe. À la suite de cet assassinat, les nazis mènent des représailles violentes contre les populations civiles de la région. Voici le récit de cette opération visant à assassiner l'un des pires dirigeants nazis. Pour plus d'informations sur la confidentialité de vos données, visitez Acast.com/privacy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 2008, Father Patrick Desbois published The Holocaust by Bullets - A Priest’s Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews. It described how Nazi mobile killing units, called the Einsatzgruppen, murdered more than a million people in Eastern Europe during World War II. His new book In Broad Daylight continues this gruesome narrative based on over 4000 interviews, as well as recently released Soviet archival materials. This new book explains how Jews were killed in broad daylight with the co-operation of their non-Jewish neighbors. In Broad Daylight is a very difficult book to read, but at the same time, it is an important addition to the history of the Holocaust. Desbois writes with brutal realism, yet he manages to capture the imagination of readers while describing unbelievable atrocities committed in the name of the Nazis.For the full transcipt, click here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Much has been written about Nazi concentration camps, but little has been written about the Nazi massacres of Jews on Ukrainian soil and the peasants who witnessed these horrific events.Father Patrick Desbois has devoted his life to researching the Holocaust, fighting anti-Semitism, and furthering relations between Catholics and Jews. The Holocaust by Bullets documents his very first efforts to uncover the truth about events in Ukraine during the years 1941-1944.In 2004, Father .Desbois began to research the story of the people murdered in Eastern Europe during World War II by Nazi mobile killing units called the Einsatzgruppen. His findings are documented in this very insightful book.After discovering that his grandfather witnessed mass murders of Jews, Desbois decided he needed to seek justice for these people.With a dedicated team of volunteers, Desbois travelled to Ukraine where he found mass graves throughout the country and interviewed aging witnesses who described the horrific massacre of the Jews..Desbois and his team also found that those individuals who had been “requisitioned” and forced to help the Nazi killing teams were traumatized for life.Go here for the full transcript of this review of The Holocaust by Bullets–A Priest’s Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews by Father Patrick Desbois. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ellen looks at anti-Semitic policy during the early years of WW2 for your A Level Democracy and Nazism in Germany exam. In this episode, she will look at the role of the Einsatzgruppen, the use of deportations, and the historical debate over the Holocaust. Ideal for preparing you for your A Level History exam. For more info visit https://www.senecalearning.com/blog/a-level-history-revision-everything-you-need/

On March 11, 2019, Ben Ferencz will turn 100. He is going to celebrate by working on the same problem he has since he prosecuted the Einsatzgruppen case at the Nuremberg trials in 1948 and that is to push the world to make law not war. 

DEATH CULTS The first part of a series of episodes with a special focus. Tonight we discuss the war crimes of the Einsatzgruppen, the Nazi death squads of the early 1940's This one isn't for the easily upset.

The Reich Security Main Office orchestrated the worst crimes of Nazi Germany. The RSHA was in charge of the Gestapo, the concentration camp system, security in occupied Europe, the murderous Einsatzgruppen, and the Holocaust. But who was in charge of the RSHA? Who was Reinhard Heydrich? How did he come to power? What did the man who oversaw the Holocaust believe? This week Chris and Ryan present the first installment of a new series of political biographies about leading Nazis. Join us for episode one in two-part discussion about the life and crimes of the Chief of the Security Police and Security Service, Leader of the RSHA, Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and architect of the Final Solution, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich.

À propos du Film : «  Le manuscrit sauvé du KGB Vie et destin de Vassili Grossman » Film Documentaire La bouleversante histoire d’un écrivain, le Russe Vassili Grossman, et de son roman "Vie et destin", l’une des charges les plus violentes jamais portées contre le régime stalinien. C’est l’histoire d’un manuscrit qui a fait trembler le Kremlin. Un livre "arrêté" en octobre 1961, au petit matin, et enfermé dans les sous-sols de la Loubianka, le siège du KGB. "Pourquoi ajouterions-nous votre livre aux bombes que nos ennemis préparent contre nous ?", avait écrit Mikhaïl Souslov, l’éminence grise de Staline, à Vassili Grossman qui plaidait la cause de son livre. Sauvé de la disparition grâce au courage d’un réseau de dissidents, parmi lesquels le physicien Andreï Sakharov et l’écrivain Vladimir Voïnovitch, "Vie et destin" ne paraît en France qu’en 1983. "J’ai été stupéfait comme peu de livres m’ont stupéfait, raconte l’écrivain Olivier Rolin. Pour moi, c’est l’un des monuments du XXe siècle." Construit sur le modèle de "Guerre et paix" de Tolstoï, "Vie et destin" retrace le destin d’une famille pendant la guerre. De Moscou aux ruines de Stalingrad, des ghettos ukrainiens au goulag, c’est une grande épopée russe écrite à hauteur d’hommes, peuplée de héros ordinaires et de tyrans, de personnages historiques et d’anonymes. Grossman, qui fut longtemps un écrivain zélé au service de la construction de l’homme soviétique, témoigne dans son grand œuvre des heures les plus sombres du stalinisme, marquées par la dékoulakisation ou les grandes purges de 1937. Il expose les rouages de l’implacable machine totalitaire et dénonce la perversion de l’idéal de 1917. En établissant un parallèle entre nazisme et stalinisme, Grossman va plus loin qu’aucun autre écrivain soviétique avant lui. C’est également le roman d’un homme qui a redécouvert sa judéité après l’assassinat de sa mère par les Einsatzgruppen, et qui livre quelques-unes des pages les plus bouleversantes jamais écrites sur l'Holocauste.

Nos encontramos en Junio de 1941. Unidades blindadas y mecanizadas han sido traídas de toda la Europa ocupada para iniciar una fulgurante ofensiva que destruirá al ejército rojo en el propio campo de batalla. El comienzo es bueno. Los rusos, al no retirarse, pueden ser fácilmente atrapados en enormes bolsas creadas por los Panzer, secundadas por la infantería mecanizada, y aniquiladas por la infantería regular y los Einsatzgruppen. Pero ahora estamos a menos de 100 kilómetros de Moscú, y los Rusos han decido no rendirse más, y dar la vida por La madre Rusia. Tendrán un gran respiro, cuando las lluvias de otoño inunden toda la llanura y conviertan los caminos en auténticos barrancales.

Nos encontramos en Junio de 1941. Unidades blindadas y mecanizadas han sido traídas de toda la Europa ocupada para iniciar una fulgurante ofensiva que destruirá al ejército rojo en el propio campo de batalla. El comienzo es bueno. Los rusos, al no retirarse, pueden ser fácilmente atrapados en enormes bolsas creadas por los Panzer, secundadas por la infantería mecanizada, y aniquiladas por la infantería regular y los Einsatzgruppen. Pero ahora estamos a menos de 100 kilómetros de Moscú, y los Rusos han decido no rendirse más, y dar la vida por La madre Rusia. Tendrán un gran respiro, cuando las lluvias de otoño inunden toda la llanura y conviertan los caminos en auténticos barrancales.

Hass und extreme Gewalt lassen uns oft ratlos zurück. Wir können sie nicht erklären. Einer der wenigen, die es dennoch versucht haben, ist der kürzlich verstorbene französische Philosoph Andre Glucksmann in seinem bereits 2004 erschienen Essay "Hass". Für ihn ist Hass eine menschliche Grundkonstante, ein Zerstörungstrieb, dessen Reiz auch in einer totalen Befreiung von (sozialen) Regeln, in einer vollkommenen Autonomie bestehe. Mit der Frage, wie ganz normale, durchschnittliche Familienväter sich als Mitglieder der berüchtigten "Einsatzgruppen" im 2. Weltkrieg zu Massenmorden und Gewaltexzessen an unschuldigen Menschen hinreißen lassen können, hat sich hingegen der Sozialpsychologe Harald Welzer in seiner Untersuchung "Täter" gemacht. Interessante Erkenntnis: Oft sei es nicht so sehr der Befehl, als die Erlaubnis gewesen, die Menschen zu bestialischsten Taten gebracht hat. Die Sendung wurde vor den Anschlägen in Paris aufgezeichnet und bereits am 1.11.2015 auf http://www.radiox.de gesendet. [...] Shownotes auf der Kulturnetz-Frankfurt-Website

In June 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Following the army were special mobile killing units known as Einsatzgruppen. They rounded up Jews and murdered them. More than one million Jews and millions of Soviet citizens were killed. In January 1942 Nazi leaders decided to kill all Jews living in the areas occupied by the German army. This project, which became a national priority for Germans, was known as the “Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.” Within a few months, the Germans began to empty the ghettos and force Jews into crowded boxcars. They were transported, without food or water, to death camps. Many died during the trip. When the trains arrived a selection occurred: camp guards killed women, children and the aged with poison gas. Only the able-bodied young remained alive to work as slave laborers. The Germans forced them to carry the victims’ bodies and sort out their belongings. When they were no longer needed, these men and women were killed. In addition to Jews, the Nazis sent other people to concentration camps and slave labor camps. Among these were political prisoners, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, persons with various disabilities, and ethnic minorities like Gypsies and persons of color. Many people were killed because they did not work hard enough. Others were tortured and killed for no reason other than racial hatred. Some Jews fought back. They joined partisan units that lived in the forests and attacked Germans. Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rebelled and fought until the Germans finally burned the ghetto down. In the Treblinka death camp, the Jews rioted and several hundred escaped. At Auschwitz, a Jewish group attacked the guards and destroyed some crematory ovens.

Heinrich Himmler era un luchador callejero que tomó el control de una de las máquinas del terror más temidas de Hitler, la "Einsatzgruppen". Su tarea consistía en despoblar Europa del Este y Rusia para que los alemanes "puros" pudieran ocupar su lugar. Después de arrasar Polonia, la Einsatzgruppen se desplegó en la Unión Soviética, en donde su misión principal radicaba en encontrar altos funcionarios comunistas para matarlos. Hicieron tan bien su trabajo que se les concedió la tarea adicional de propagar el sentimiento antisemita en territorios como Ucrania y los países bálticos ocupados, como una forma adicional de matar a los judíos. Sin embargo, el grupo Einsatzgruppe A decidió asumir esta tarea en sí misma, aniquilando sistemáticamente a cerca de un millón y medio de personas por su cuenta, mientras otro medio millón desapareció a manos de los pobladores locales. Posteriormente Himmler llegó a ser Ministro de Interior y fue responsable directo de la Gestapo, de los campos de concentración y del exterminio de los judíos. Los cazadores de nazis tenían su objetivo puesto en Himmler desde el principio de la guerra a causa de su persecución sistemática de los judíos y de los no arios. Su eficiencia y el control total de este proceso fue destacado por los descifradores de códigos del Reino Unido. Esto atrajo la atención de Churchill, existiendo actas de su gabinete en las que se propiciaba su asesinato. Las fuerzas aliadas recibieron la solicitud de su captura y esto desencadenó su cacería incluso antes del final de la guerra. Sin embargo, se cree que los comandantes aliados acataron la instrucción de asesinarlo, por lo que su suicidio por envenenamiento con cianuro ha sido visto con escepticismo por algunos revisionistas. Se sospecha que una unidad especial, encargada de asesinarlo, lo alcanzó en Luneberg. El 6 de mayo de 1945 en Plön, Heinrich Himmler, el SS Reichsführer, Ministro de Interior del Reich y Jefe de la Policía, fue destituido de sus cargos por el Gran almirante Doenitz, el nuevo jefe del estado alemán, después del suicidio de Hitler. El almirante Doenitz odiaba y desconfiaba de Himmler y no quería tener relación con él, por lo que el líder de las SS decidió desplazarse al Sur, a su casa de Baviera, llevando consigo a algunos acompañantes y asesores médicos. Un grupo de12 personas disfrazadas y con documentación falsa salió de Flensburg el 10 de mayo. Himmler tenía documentos en su poder que supuestamente demostraban que era el "ex sargento Heinrich Hitzinger, perteneciente a una compañía armada especial, adscrito a la Policía Secreta de Campo, desarticulada el 3 de mayo de 1945". Esta identidad falsa y curiosamente inadecuada, indicaba que aún se encontraba en categoría de detenido. Vestía una chaqueta de civil, se afeitó el bigote, se quitó las gafas y se puso un parche en el ojo izquierdo. Cruzaron el estuario del Elba en barco y posteriormente se mezclaron con una gran masa de las tropas alemanas de diferentes servicios, que fueron acorralados en la península formada por los ríos Elba y Ems y la costa del Mar del Norte. Se trasladaron al sur por los caminos más accesibles de Bremervörde, un pequeño pueblo en el margen del pequeño río Oste, a donde llegaron el 18 de mayo. Aunque podrían haber cruzado el río por otro lugar, decidieron utilizar el puente custodiado por las tropas británicas de la 51 ª División de las Tierras Altas. De acuerdo con los informes del ejército británico, allí se había establecido un puesto de control de la Sección de Seguridad de campo 45 (adjunta a la sede del Cuerpo 30) con base en Zeven, a pocos kilómetros hacia el sur. Himmler y dos de sus acompañantes, un teniente coronel de la SS Waffen y un mayor, cruzaron Bremervörde el 22 de mayo, hacia el puesto de control, lo cual debe haber constituido una imagen muy extraña. Los dos escoltas del frente eran claramente militares y llevaban largos abrigos verdes, mientras que el asesino parecía insignificante en sí mismo, luciendo una extraña selección de prendas civiles cubiertas con un impermeable azul. Para empeorar las cosas, los dos oficiales miraban hacia atrás de vez en cuando para asegurarse de que su carga todavía se encontraba con ellos. El extraño trío fue detenido por una patrulla de la infantería británica sin saber quiénes eran y fueron trasladados hasta el puesto de control. Allí, los sargentos Arthur Britton y Ken Baisbrown, de la Sección de Seguridad del Campo número 45, y el sargento John Hogg, del Destacamento de Reserva de Seguridad del Campo número 1003, revisaron los documentos de detención después de haber leído brevemente los papeles de identidad falsos. En ese mismo momento supieron que los tres personajes se encontraban bajo la categoría de arresto automático. La verdadera identidad del segundo criminal de guerra alemán más peligroso no se dio a conocer hasta un par de días más tarde. Esa noche se les permitió refrescarse y dormir en el puesto de control. A la mañana siguiente, el 23 de mayo, los enviaron al Campo de Detención número 031 en Barnstedt. El sargento Britton condujo el camión que transportaba a los tres prisioneros y, en el camino, se reportó en la sede 45 FSS de Zeven, en donde el capitán Excell los envió directamente al campo de detención para un procesamiento completo. Esa noche, alrededor de las siete de la tarde, fue solicitada una entrevista con el comandante de campo, el capitán Thomas Selvester. Después del interrogatorio, Himmler reveló su verdadera identidad. Inmediatamente después se envió un oficial de inteligencia a la segunda sede del ejército con una muestra de la firma de Himmler, que luego de ser cotejada confirmó la identidad del prisionero.

Heinrich Himmler era un luchador callejero que tomó el control de una de las máquinas del terror más temidas de Hitler, la "Einsatzgruppen". Su tarea consistía en despoblar Europa del Este y Rusia para que los alemanes "puros" pudieran ocupar su lugar. Después de arrasar Polonia, la Einsatzgruppen se desplegó en la Unión Soviética, en donde su misión principal radicaba en encontrar altos funcionarios comunistas para matarlos. Hicieron tan bien su trabajo que se les concedió la tarea adicional de propagar el sentimiento antisemita en territorios como Ucrania y los países bálticos ocupados, como una forma adicional de matar a los judíos. Sin embargo, el grupo Einsatzgruppe A decidió asumir esta tarea en sí misma, aniquilando sistemáticamente a cerca de un millón y medio de personas por su cuenta, mientras otro medio millón desapareció a manos de los pobladores locales. Posteriormente Himmler llegó a ser Ministro de Interior y fue responsable directo de la Gestapo, de los campos de concentración y del exterminio de los judíos. Los cazadores de nazis tenían su objetivo puesto en Himmler desde el principio de la guerra a causa de su persecución sistemática de los judíos y de los no arios. Su eficiencia y el control total de este proceso fue destacado por los descifradores de códigos del Reino Unido. Esto atrajo la atención de Churchill, existiendo actas de su gabinete en las que se propiciaba su asesinato. Las fuerzas aliadas recibieron la solicitud de su captura y esto desencadenó su cacería incluso antes del final de la guerra. Sin embargo, se cree que los comandantes aliados acataron la instrucción de asesinarlo, por lo que su suicidio por envenenamiento con cianuro ha sido visto con escepticismo por algunos revisionistas. Se sospecha que una unidad especial, encargada de asesinarlo, lo alcanzó en Luneberg. El 6 de mayo de 1945 en Plön, Heinrich Himmler, el SS Reichsführer, Ministro de Interior del Reich y Jefe de la Policía, fue destituido de sus cargos por el Gran almirante Doenitz, el nuevo jefe del estado alemán, después del suicidio de Hitler. El almirante Doenitz odiaba y desconfiaba de Himmler y no quería tener relación con él, por lo que el líder de las SS decidió desplazarse al Sur, a su casa de Baviera, llevando consigo a algunos acompañantes y asesores médicos. Un grupo de12 personas disfrazadas y con documentación falsa salió de Flensburg el 10 de mayo. Himmler tenía documentos en su poder que supuestamente demostraban que era el "ex sargento Heinrich Hitzinger, perteneciente a una compañía armada especial, adscrito a la Policía Secreta de Campo, desarticulada el 3 de mayo de 1945". Esta identidad falsa y curiosamente inadecuada, indicaba que aún se encontraba en categoría de detenido. Vestía una chaqueta de civil, se afeitó el bigote, se quitó las gafas y se puso un parche en el ojo izquierdo. Cruzaron el estuario del Elba en barco y posteriormente se mezclaron con una gran masa de las tropas alemanas de diferentes servicios, que fueron acorralados en la península formada por los ríos Elba y Ems y la costa del Mar del Norte. Se trasladaron al sur por los caminos más accesibles de Bremervörde, un pequeño pueblo en el margen del pequeño río Oste, a donde llegaron el 18 de mayo. Aunque podrían haber cruzado el río por otro lugar, decidieron utilizar el puente custodiado por las tropas británicas de la 51 ª División de las Tierras Altas. De acuerdo con los informes del ejército británico, allí se había establecido un puesto de control de la Sección de Seguridad de campo 45 (adjunta a la sede del Cuerpo 30) con base en Zeven, a pocos kilómetros hacia el sur. Himmler y dos de sus acompañantes, un teniente coronel de la SS Waffen y un mayor, cruzaron Bremervörde el 22 de mayo, hacia el puesto de control, lo cual debe haber constituido una imagen muy extraña. Los dos escoltas del frente eran claramente militares y llevaban largos abrigos verdes, mientras que el asesino parecía insignificante en sí mismo, luciendo una extraña selección de prendas civiles cubiertas con un impermeable azul. Para empeorar las cosas, los dos oficiales miraban hacia atrás de vez en cuando para asegurarse de que su carga todavía se encontraba con ellos. El extraño trío fue detenido por una patrulla de la infantería británica sin saber quiénes eran y fueron trasladados hasta el puesto de control. Allí, los sargentos Arthur Britton y Ken Baisbrown, de la Sección de Seguridad del Campo número 45, y el sargento John Hogg, del Destacamento de Reserva de Seguridad del Campo número 1003, revisaron los documentos de detención después de haber leído brevemente los papeles de identidad falsos. En ese mismo momento supieron que los tres personajes se encontraban bajo la categoría de arresto automático. La verdadera identidad del segundo criminal de guerra alemán más peligroso no se dio a conocer hasta un par de días más tarde. Esa noche se les permitió refrescarse y dormir en el puesto de control. A la mañana siguiente, el 23 de mayo, los enviaron al Campo de Detención número 031 en Barnstedt. El sargento Britton condujo el camión que transportaba a los tres prisioneros y, en el camino, se reportó en la sede 45 FSS de Zeven, en donde el capitán Excell los envió directamente al campo de detención para un procesamiento completo. Esa noche, alrededor de las siete de la tarde, fue solicitada una entrevista con el comandante de campo, el capitán Thomas Selvester. Después del interrogatorio, Himmler reveló su verdadera identidad. Inmediatamente después se envió un oficial de inteligencia a la segunda sede del ejército con una muestra de la firma de Himmler, que luego de ser cotejada confirmó la identidad del prisionero.

Historians have spent the last two decades detailing and explaining the actions of the Einsatzgruppen in the Soviet Union. We now know much more than we used to about the escalation of violence in 1941 and the so-called “Holocaust by Bullets.” The actions of the Einsatzgruppen in Poland, in contrast, are less well known.But they are crucial to understanding the evolution of violence against Jews and others.JuergenMatthaus, Jochen Boehler, and Klaus-Michael Mallmann set out to fill this gap.Their work War, Pacification and Mass Murder, 1939:The Einsatzgruppen in Poland (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)–part of theUnited StatesHolocaust Memorial Museum's excellent Documenting Life and Destruction series–sets carefully chosen documents into a richly described military and institutional context. By doing so, they illustratenot just what the Einsatzgruppen did, but how theiractions evolved over time, how they interacted withWehrmacht and political leaders and how this violence impacted people on the ground. In the interview, I talked with Juergen Matthaus about the origin of the volume, the nature of violence in Poland and the way in which this violence set the stage for the escalation of persecution and destruction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historians have spent the last two decades detailing and explaining the actions of the Einsatzgruppen in the Soviet Union.  We now know much more than we used to about the escalation of violence in 1941 and the so-called “Holocaust by Bullets.” The actions of the Einsatzgruppen in Poland, in contrast, are less well known.But they are crucial to understanding the evolution of violence against Jews and others.JuergenMatthaus, Jochen Boehler, and Klaus-Michael Mallmann set out to fill this gap.Their work War, Pacification and Mass Murder, 1939:The Einsatzgruppen in Poland (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)–part of theUnited StatesHolocaust Memorial Museum’s excellent Documenting Life and Destruction series–sets carefully chosen documents into a richly described military and institutional context. By doing so, they illustratenot just what the Einsatzgruppen did, but how theiractions evolved over time, how they interacted withWehrmacht and political leaders and how this violence impacted people on the ground. In the interview, I talked with Juergen Matthaus about the origin of the volume, the nature of violence in Poland and the way in which this violence set the stage for the escalation of persecution and destruction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historians have spent the last two decades detailing and explaining the actions of the Einsatzgruppen in the Soviet Union.  We now know much more than we used to about the escalation of violence in 1941 and the so-called “Holocaust by Bullets.” The actions of the Einsatzgruppen in Poland, in contrast, are less well known.But they are crucial to understanding the evolution of violence against Jews and others.JuergenMatthaus, Jochen Boehler, and Klaus-Michael Mallmann set out to fill this gap.Their work War, Pacification and Mass Murder, 1939:The Einsatzgruppen in Poland (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)–part of theUnited StatesHolocaust Memorial Museum’s excellent Documenting Life and Destruction series–sets carefully chosen documents into a richly described military and institutional context. By doing so, they illustratenot just what the Einsatzgruppen did, but how theiractions evolved over time, how they interacted withWehrmacht and political leaders and how this violence impacted people on the ground. In the interview, I talked with Juergen Matthaus about the origin of the volume, the nature of violence in Poland and the way in which this violence set the stage for the escalation of persecution and destruction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historians have spent the last two decades detailing and explaining the actions of the Einsatzgruppen in the Soviet Union.  We now know much more than we used to about the escalation of violence in 1941 and the so-called “Holocaust by Bullets.” The actions of the Einsatzgruppen in Poland, in contrast, are less well known.But they are crucial to understanding the evolution of violence against Jews and others.JuergenMatthaus, Jochen Boehler, and Klaus-Michael Mallmann set out to fill this gap.Their work War, Pacification and Mass Murder, 1939:The Einsatzgruppen in Poland (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)–part of theUnited StatesHolocaust Memorial Museum’s excellent Documenting Life and Destruction series–sets carefully chosen documents into a richly described military and institutional context. By doing so, they illustratenot just what the Einsatzgruppen did, but how theiractions evolved over time, how they interacted withWehrmacht and political leaders and how this violence impacted people on the ground. In the interview, I talked with Juergen Matthaus about the origin of the volume, the nature of violence in Poland and the way in which this violence set the stage for the escalation of persecution and destruction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historians have spent the last two decades detailing and explaining the actions of the Einsatzgruppen in the Soviet Union.  We now know much more than we used to about the escalation of violence in 1941 and the so-called “Holocaust by Bullets.” The actions of the Einsatzgruppen in Poland, in contrast, are less well known.But they are crucial to understanding the evolution of violence against Jews and others.JuergenMatthaus, Jochen Boehler, and Klaus-Michael Mallmann set out to fill this gap.Their work War, Pacification and Mass Murder, 1939:The Einsatzgruppen in Poland (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)–part of theUnited StatesHolocaust Memorial Museum’s excellent Documenting Life and Destruction series–sets carefully chosen documents into a richly described military and institutional context. By doing so, they illustratenot just what the Einsatzgruppen did, but how theiractions evolved over time, how they interacted withWehrmacht and political leaders and how this violence impacted people on the ground. In the interview, I talked with Juergen Matthaus about the origin of the volume, the nature of violence in Poland and the way in which this violence set the stage for the escalation of persecution and destruction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historians have spent the last two decades detailing and explaining the actions of the Einsatzgruppen in the Soviet Union.  We now know much more than we used to about the escalation of violence in 1941 and the so-called “Holocaust by Bullets.” The actions of the Einsatzgruppen in Poland, in contrast, are less well known.But they are crucial to understanding the evolution of violence against Jews and others.JuergenMatthaus, Jochen Boehler, and Klaus-Michael Mallmann set out to fill this gap.Their work War, Pacification and Mass Murder, 1939:The Einsatzgruppen in Poland (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)–part of theUnited StatesHolocaust Memorial Museum’s excellent Documenting Life and Destruction series–sets carefully chosen documents into a richly described military and institutional context. By doing so, they illustratenot just what the Einsatzgruppen did, but how theiractions evolved over time, how they interacted withWehrmacht and political leaders and how this violence impacted people on the ground. In the interview, I talked with Juergen Matthaus about the origin of the volume, the nature of violence in Poland and the way in which this violence set the stage for the escalation of persecution and destruction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historians have spent the last two decades detailing and explaining the actions of the Einsatzgruppen in the Soviet Union.  We now know much more than we used to about the escalation of violence in 1941 and the so-called “Holocaust by Bullets.” The actions of the Einsatzgruppen in Poland, in contrast, are less well known.But they are crucial to understanding the evolution of violence against Jews and others.JuergenMatthaus, Jochen Boehler, and Klaus-Michael Mallmann set out to fill this gap.Their work War, Pacification and Mass Murder, 1939:The Einsatzgruppen in Poland (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)–part of theUnited StatesHolocaust Memorial Museum’s excellent Documenting Life and Destruction series–sets carefully chosen documents into a richly described military and institutional context. By doing so, they illustratenot just what the Einsatzgruppen did, but how theiractions evolved over time, how they interacted withWehrmacht and political leaders and how this violence impacted people on the ground. In the interview, I talked with Juergen Matthaus about the origin of the volume, the nature of violence in Poland and the way in which this violence set the stage for the escalation of persecution and destruction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In November 1945 the first major war crimes trials in history opened in the German city of Nuremberg. Witness talks to the only surviving American prosecutor at the trials, Benjamin Ferencz, who helped unearth evidence of mass murder by the Nazi mobile death squads and prosecuted them. (Photo: Chief prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz presents evidence during the Einsatzgruppen (death squads) trial. Ferencz is flanked by German lawyers for two of the defendants. Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Benjamin Ferencz)

This week: RiddickAlmost HumanEinsatzgruppenQuicksilver Music for the show provided by Reed Love.

The question of Wehrmacht complicity in the Holocaust is an old one. What might be called the “received view” until recently was that while a small number of German army units took part in anti-Jewish atrocities, the great bulk of the army neither knew about nor participated in the Nazi genocidal program. In other words, the identified cases were isolated exceptions. Who was at fault? Why, the SS of course. This view was spread by German generals in post-war memoirs, by the German government and courts, and by the German press and the public that read it. The “Good Wehrmacht” image was influential: many people–including scholars of the war–in countries that had fought Germany could be found rehearsing it. In his eye-opening book Marching into Darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus (Harvard UP, 2013), Waitman Beorn challenges the “Good Wehrmacht” image. By focusing on a few units that participated in the invasion and occupation of Belarus in the late summer and fall of 1941, he is able to show without any doubt whatsoever that regular Wehrmacht forces not only participated in executions of Jews and others, but initiated them. The leaders of these units ordered them to aid the Einsatzgruppen in organizing mass murder and to actively hunt down “partisans” who were nothing but innocent Jews. Waitman does an excellent job of not only documenting Wehrmacht complicity, but also of trying to explain it. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The question of Wehrmacht complicity in the Holocaust is an old one. What might be called the “received view” until recently was that while a small number of German army units took part in anti-Jewish atrocities, the great bulk of the army neither knew about nor participated in the Nazi genocidal program. In other words, the identified cases were isolated exceptions. Who was at fault? Why, the SS of course. This view was spread by German generals in post-war memoirs, by the German government and courts, and by the German press and the public that read it. The “Good Wehrmacht” image was influential: many people–including scholars of the war–in countries that had fought Germany could be found rehearsing it. In his eye-opening book Marching into Darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus (Harvard UP, 2013), Waitman Beorn challenges the “Good Wehrmacht” image. By focusing on a few units that participated in the invasion and occupation of Belarus in the late summer and fall of 1941, he is able to show without any doubt whatsoever that regular Wehrmacht forces not only participated in executions of Jews and others, but initiated them. The leaders of these units ordered them to aid the Einsatzgruppen in organizing mass murder and to actively hunt down “partisans” who were nothing but innocent Jews. Waitman does an excellent job of not only documenting Wehrmacht complicity, but also of trying to explain it. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The question of Wehrmacht complicity in the Holocaust is an old one. What might be called the “received view” until recently was that while a small number of German army units took part in anti-Jewish atrocities, the great bulk of the army neither knew about nor participated in the Nazi genocidal program. In other words, the identified cases were isolated exceptions. Who was at fault? Why, the SS of course. This view was spread by German generals in post-war memoirs, by the German government and courts, and by the German press and the public that read it. The “Good Wehrmacht” image was influential: many people–including scholars of the war–in countries that had fought Germany could be found rehearsing it. In his eye-opening book Marching into Darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus (Harvard UP, 2013), Waitman Beorn challenges the “Good Wehrmacht” image. By focusing on a few units that participated in the invasion and occupation of Belarus in the late summer and fall of 1941, he is able to show without any doubt whatsoever that regular Wehrmacht forces not only participated in executions of Jews and others, but initiated them. The leaders of these units ordered them to aid the Einsatzgruppen in organizing mass murder and to actively hunt down “partisans” who were nothing but innocent Jews. Waitman does an excellent job of not only documenting Wehrmacht complicity, but also of trying to explain it. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The question of Wehrmacht complicity in the Holocaust is an old one. What might be called the “received view” until recently was that while a small number of German army units took part in anti-Jewish atrocities, the great bulk of the army neither knew about nor participated in the Nazi genocidal program. In other words, the identified cases were isolated exceptions. Who was at fault? Why, the SS of course. This view was spread by German generals in post-war memoirs, by the German government and courts, and by the German press and the public that read it. The “Good Wehrmacht” image was influential: many people–including scholars of the war–in countries that had fought Germany could be found rehearsing it. In his eye-opening book Marching into Darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus (Harvard UP, 2013), Waitman Beorn challenges the “Good Wehrmacht” image. By focusing on a few units that participated in the invasion and occupation of Belarus in the late summer and fall of 1941, he is able to show without any doubt whatsoever that regular Wehrmacht forces not only participated in executions of Jews and others, but initiated them. The leaders of these units ordered them to aid the Einsatzgruppen in organizing mass murder and to actively hunt down “partisans” who were nothing but innocent Jews. Waitman does an excellent job of not only documenting Wehrmacht complicity, but also of trying to explain it. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The question of Wehrmacht complicity in the Holocaust is an old one. What might be called the “received view” until recently was that while a small number of German army units took part in anti-Jewish atrocities, the great bulk of the army neither knew about nor participated in the Nazi genocidal program. In other words, the identified cases were isolated exceptions. Who was at fault? Why, the SS of course. This view was spread by German generals in post-war memoirs, by the German government and courts, and by the German press and the public that read it. The “Good Wehrmacht” image was influential: many people–including scholars of the war–in countries that had fought Germany could be found rehearsing it. In his eye-opening book Marching into Darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus (Harvard UP, 2013), Waitman Beorn challenges the “Good Wehrmacht” image. By focusing on a few units that participated in the invasion and occupation of Belarus in the late summer and fall of 1941, he is able to show without any doubt whatsoever that regular Wehrmacht forces not only participated in executions of Jews and others, but initiated them. The leaders of these units ordered them to aid the Einsatzgruppen in organizing mass murder and to actively hunt down “partisans” who were nothing but innocent Jews. Waitman does an excellent job of not only documenting Wehrmacht complicity, but also of trying to explain it. Listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Keynote by Vice President Hans-Peter Kaul, Judge of the ICC, introduced by Benjamin Ferencz, Chief Prosecutor at the Einsatzgruppen case at the Nuremberg Trials. Part of the Beyond Kampala conference held in St Anne's College on 13th May 2011.

Hitler caused the Holocaust, that much we know (no Hitler, no Holocaust). But did he directly order it and, if so, how and when? This is one of the many interesting questions posed by Hilary Earl in her outstanding new book The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial, 1945-1958: Atrocity, Law, and History (Cambridge UP, 2009). The book is about the trial of the leaders of the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing units that, in 1941 and 1942, spearheaded the Nazi effort to eradicate the Jewish people. The Einsatzgruppen murdered something on the order of a million people using almost nothing but firearms. In 1947, their commanders were brought to justice in what might be called the “other” (forgotten) Nuremberg Trials. The trial left an enormous body of reasonably fresh-after-the-fact testimony for historians to work with in trying to understand this episode in the Holocaust. Hilary does a masterful job of mining this material. She also points out that the roots of our own understanding of the Holocaust can in large measure be traced to these disturbing trials. The defendants were the first Nazi genocidaires to publicly describe what they had done and why they had done it. To be sure, their testimony was self-serving and is therefore suspect. But–and this is perhaps the most remarkable part–in many instances it was remarkably accurate. They (and Otto Ohlendorf in particular) “told it like it was” because they believed they had not really done anything wrong. Hitler had said that the Jews were the mortal enemies of the Reich; they believed him. Thus when Hitler ordered them to kill the Jews man, woman, and child they were not particularly conflicted–they were simply following orders, orders they believed to be in the objective interest of Germany. Just how they came to hold this completely irrational view is another, and very interesting, question. For those interested in it, I refer you to Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience (Harvard UP, 2003). Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven't already.

Hitler caused the Holocaust, that much we know (no Hitler, no Holocaust). But did he directly order it and, if so, how and when? This is one of the many interesting questions posed by Hilary Earl in her outstanding new book The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial, 1945-1958: Atrocity, Law, and History (Cambridge UP, 2009). The book is about the trial of the leaders of the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing units that, in 1941 and 1942, spearheaded the Nazi effort to eradicate the Jewish people. The Einsatzgruppen murdered something on the order of a million people using almost nothing but firearms. In 1947, their commanders were brought to justice in what might be called the “other” (forgotten) Nuremberg Trials. The trial left an enormous body of reasonably fresh-after-the-fact testimony for historians to work with in trying to understand this episode in the Holocaust. Hilary does a masterful job of mining this material. She also points out that the roots of our own understanding of the Holocaust can in large measure be traced to these disturbing trials. The defendants were the first Nazi genocidaires to publicly describe what they had done and why they had done it. To be sure, their testimony was self-serving and is therefore suspect. But–and this is perhaps the most remarkable part–in many instances it was remarkably accurate. They (and Otto Ohlendorf in particular) “told it like it was” because they believed they had not really done anything wrong. Hitler had said that the Jews were the mortal enemies of the Reich; they believed him. Thus when Hitler ordered them to kill the Jews man, woman, and child they were not particularly conflicted–they were simply following orders, orders they believed to be in the objective interest of Germany. Just how they came to hold this completely irrational view is another, and very interesting, question. For those interested in it, I refer you to Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience (Harvard UP, 2003). Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hitler caused the Holocaust, that much we know (no Hitler, no Holocaust). But did he directly order it and, if so, how and when? This is one of the many interesting questions posed by Hilary Earl in her outstanding new book The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial, 1945-1958: Atrocity, Law, and History (Cambridge UP, 2009). The book is about the trial of the leaders of the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing units that, in 1941 and 1942, spearheaded the Nazi effort to eradicate the Jewish people. The Einsatzgruppen murdered something on the order of a million people using almost nothing but firearms. In 1947, their commanders were brought to justice in what might be called the “other” (forgotten) Nuremberg Trials. The trial left an enormous body of reasonably fresh-after-the-fact testimony for historians to work with in trying to understand this episode in the Holocaust. Hilary does a masterful job of mining this material. She also points out that the roots of our own understanding of the Holocaust can in large measure be traced to these disturbing trials. The defendants were the first Nazi genocidaires to publicly describe what they had done and why they had done it. To be sure, their testimony was self-serving and is therefore suspect. But–and this is perhaps the most remarkable part–in many instances it was remarkably accurate. They (and Otto Ohlendorf in particular) “told it like it was” because they believed they had not really done anything wrong. Hitler had said that the Jews were the mortal enemies of the Reich; they believed him. Thus when Hitler ordered them to kill the Jews man, woman, and child they were not particularly conflicted–they were simply following orders, orders they believed to be in the objective interest of Germany. Just how they came to hold this completely irrational view is another, and very interesting, question. For those interested in it, I refer you to Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience (Harvard UP, 2003). Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hitler caused the Holocaust, that much we know (no Hitler, no Holocaust). But did he directly order it and, if so, how and when? This is one of the many interesting questions posed by Hilary Earl in her outstanding new book The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial, 1945-1958: Atrocity, Law, and History (Cambridge UP, 2009). The book is about the trial of the leaders of the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing units that, in 1941 and 1942, spearheaded the Nazi effort to eradicate the Jewish people. The Einsatzgruppen murdered something on the order of a million people using almost nothing but firearms. In 1947, their commanders were brought to justice in what might be called the “other” (forgotten) Nuremberg Trials. The trial left an enormous body of reasonably fresh-after-the-fact testimony for historians to work with in trying to understand this episode in the Holocaust. Hilary does a masterful job of mining this material. She also points out that the roots of our own understanding of the Holocaust can in large measure be traced to these disturbing trials. The defendants were the first Nazi genocidaires to publicly describe what they had done and why they had done it. To be sure, their testimony was self-serving and is therefore suspect. But–and this is perhaps the most remarkable part–in many instances it was remarkably accurate. They (and Otto Ohlendorf in particular) “told it like it was” because they believed they had not really done anything wrong. Hitler had said that the Jews were the mortal enemies of the Reich; they believed him. Thus when Hitler ordered them to kill the Jews man, woman, and child they were not particularly conflicted–they were simply following orders, orders they believed to be in the objective interest of Germany. Just how they came to hold this completely irrational view is another, and very interesting, question. For those interested in it, I refer you to Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience (Harvard UP, 2003). Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hitler caused the Holocaust, that much we know (no Hitler, no Holocaust). But did he directly order it and, if so, how and when? This is one of the many interesting questions posed by Hilary Earl in her outstanding new book The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial, 1945-1958: Atrocity, Law, and History (Cambridge UP, 2009). The book is about the trial of the leaders of the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing units that, in 1941 and 1942, spearheaded the Nazi effort to eradicate the Jewish people. The Einsatzgruppen murdered something on the order of a million people using almost nothing but firearms. In 1947, their commanders were brought to justice in what might be called the “other” (forgotten) Nuremberg Trials. The trial left an enormous body of reasonably fresh-after-the-fact testimony for historians to work with in trying to understand this episode in the Holocaust. Hilary does a masterful job of mining this material. She also points out that the roots of our own understanding of the Holocaust can in large measure be traced to these disturbing trials. The defendants were the first Nazi genocidaires to publicly describe what they had done and why they had done it. To be sure, their testimony was self-serving and is therefore suspect. But–and this is perhaps the most remarkable part–in many instances it was remarkably accurate. They (and Otto Ohlendorf in particular) “told it like it was” because they believed they had not really done anything wrong. Hitler had said that the Jews were the mortal enemies of the Reich; they believed him. Thus when Hitler ordered them to kill the Jews man, woman, and child they were not particularly conflicted–they were simply following orders, orders they believed to be in the objective interest of Germany. Just how they came to hold this completely irrational view is another, and very interesting, question. For those interested in it, I refer you to Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience (Harvard UP, 2003). Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hitler caused the Holocaust, that much we know (no Hitler, no Holocaust). But did he directly order it and, if so, how and when? This is one of the many interesting questions posed by Hilary Earl in her outstanding new book The Nuremberg SS-Einsatzgruppen Trial, 1945-1958: Atrocity, Law, and History (Cambridge UP, 2009). The book is about the trial of the leaders of the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing units that, in 1941 and 1942, spearheaded the Nazi effort to eradicate the Jewish people. The Einsatzgruppen murdered something on the order of a million people using almost nothing but firearms. In 1947, their commanders were brought to justice in what might be called the “other” (forgotten) Nuremberg Trials. The trial left an enormous body of reasonably fresh-after-the-fact testimony for historians to work with in trying to understand this episode in the Holocaust. Hilary does a masterful job of mining this material. She also points out that the roots of our own understanding of the Holocaust can in large measure be traced to these disturbing trials. The defendants were the first Nazi genocidaires to publicly describe what they had done and why they had done it. To be sure, their testimony was self-serving and is therefore suspect. But–and this is perhaps the most remarkable part–in many instances it was remarkably accurate. They (and Otto Ohlendorf in particular) “told it like it was” because they believed they had not really done anything wrong. Hitler had said that the Jews were the mortal enemies of the Reich; they believed him. Thus when Hitler ordered them to kill the Jews man, woman, and child they were not particularly conflicted–they were simply following orders, orders they believed to be in the objective interest of Germany. Just how they came to hold this completely irrational view is another, and very interesting, question. For those interested in it, I refer you to Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience (Harvard UP, 2003). Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues the Holocaust was the result of centuries of anti-Semitism, which led to the horrific industrial-scale, state-sponsored murder of eleven million human beings. From Ancient Assyria to the Pale of Settlement and Dreyfus Affair, Hebrews and Jews suffered persecuted throughout history. This was increased with the rise of nation-states, which were based on linguistic, ethnic, racial, and religious standards. The result was increased Pogroms and repression of Jews from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. With the end of the First World War, many Germans suffered economic privations and social disorder. This led many to embrace the "Stabbed in the Back Theory" and align with the Nazi Party, who promised to avenge Germany and make it racially pure. The Nazis began with propaganda, then informal boycotts, before outright intimidation and violence was used. Dissenters were sent to concentration camps, and sterilization programs stopped tens of thousands from procreating. The Nazis finally enacted the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question," outright extermination. The Einsatzgruppen and foreign auxiliaries conducted numerous open air executions, were over a million Jews were shot. Locals were key to identifying and aiding the Nazi extermination of "undesirables." Open air shootings was too inefficient, as was Gas Vans. The Nazis also employed the "Hunger Plan" to systematically starve occupied countries in order to feed Germany. The result was millions of peoples from the Soviet Union to Greece and the Netherlands, who starved to death as a result. But still, this was too inefficient, so the Nazis implemented the Death Camp. Where millions of "undesirables" were gassed and cremated. Jews and other peoples were not all passive victims, many fought back. Assassinations of Nazi officials were carried out, Jews rebelled in death camps, and many joined partisan units to fight against Nazi oppression. In total, six million Jewish and five million other peoples were systemically murdered by the Nazi regime. Some Jews who survived the camps, faced renewed repression by a paranoid Stalin, while others were attacked by Christians who had occupied Jewish homes and businesses in Eastern Europe. After the war, the Allies were appalled by what they found. It was obvious that many German civilians lied about their knowledge of the genocide, as all the evidence suggested their complicity. Numerous Nazis were tried as war criminals at the Nuremburg and subsequent trials, but many Nazis escaped prosecution. Many Nazi hunters found such individuals and brought them to justice, but countless others escaped. In our era, historians debate if we could have stopped the Holocaust, though many at the time were unwilling to accept it was real and frankly lacked the capacity to directly stop it.The point, is hate and ethnic nationalism are dangerous things. We must never allow such tragedies to happen again. We must fight against intolerance and ignorance with love and acceptance. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-of-the-american-people-since-1877/donations