LemmyCaution
Master Poster
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2011
- Messages
- 2,857
@ MaxMurx:
Partisans/bandits: According to Peter Longerich, the SS standardization on the term bandits did not occur until summer 1942. According to Longerich, Himmler made this usage mandatory in Instruction No. 46 at that time. Before that time, usage was not settled, as, for example, Himmler himself wrote on 28 July 1942 about his agreement with the OKW to make the RFSS and Chief of German Police "the supreme agency for combating so-called partisans. . . . I am personally assuming [command of this] struggle against bandits, francs-tireurs, and criminals." The Jaeger Report, being written 8 months prior to this time, and before the emergence of the partisan war in the east, reflected previous usage. In fact, of course, many uses of the term partisan in the report referred to the Lithuanian rifle units attached to the SS and assisting in the killing of Jews and other tasks of EK3. In any event, the point is clear that actions targeting armed opponents of the Germans were the anomalies in Jaeger's report. Longerich, Heinrich Himmler, pp. 626-627, 923.
Female German national: Jaeger's unit went beyond orders in a number of cases, by the way, and these are well known. In November 1941 the EK's had not yet been approved to murder German and Austrian Jews. Yet Jaeger's killers did so at Kovno on 25 November and 29 November, as the report notes and notwithstanding the lack of approval for such executions. In fact, famously, there is an entry on 30 November in Himmler's office diary which reads, "Jewish transport from Berlin: do not liquidate." As can be seen from Jaeger's entry, this correction came too late. Himmler followed this up with a wireless message to HSSPF Jeckeln: according to Longerich, again, "Himmler then threatened Jeckeln . . . that he would 'punish' 'independent actions and contraventions' of 'the guidelines that I have issued or the Reich Main Security Office has given out in my name' concerning how 'the Jews resettled to the Ostland area' are to 'be treated.'" Longerich, Heinrich Himmler, p. 550. What is going on here is that Himmler gave to his key people in the east - the HSSPFs and the EG commanders - latitude to achieve the agreed goals, but, in this case, the murder of Reich Jews, the people "on the ground" had misinterpreted the boundary line, which in fall 1941 was still short of murdering Reich Jews. So Himmler restated the groundrules, which changed only later. In other words, Jaeger was almost completely in bounds - but his attitude toward the "Work Jews" and his executions of Reich Jews fell outside policy at the time.
Which is relevant but probably beside the point. That is because there are no details given by Jaeger for the execution of the German national, nor for a murder of an Armenian, except that the latter was killed in a prison operation. The identity of the German national is stated in shorthand - but not the reason for her execution. For all we know, the German national married to a Jew resisted the Germans taking her husband or committed some other offense. We just don't know why she was put to death from the report. Jaeger simply doesn't explain, nor does he explain the murder of a Russian female at the same time. We have no way of knowing if this execution was a case of Jaeger again interpreting orders in a creatively maximalist way or simply executing a felon or a resister.
By the way, if you have an argument about the Jaeger Report to make, it would help readers of your posts for you to spell it out.
Partisans/bandits: According to Peter Longerich, the SS standardization on the term bandits did not occur until summer 1942. According to Longerich, Himmler made this usage mandatory in Instruction No. 46 at that time. Before that time, usage was not settled, as, for example, Himmler himself wrote on 28 July 1942 about his agreement with the OKW to make the RFSS and Chief of German Police "the supreme agency for combating so-called partisans. . . . I am personally assuming [command of this] struggle against bandits, francs-tireurs, and criminals." The Jaeger Report, being written 8 months prior to this time, and before the emergence of the partisan war in the east, reflected previous usage. In fact, of course, many uses of the term partisan in the report referred to the Lithuanian rifle units attached to the SS and assisting in the killing of Jews and other tasks of EK3. In any event, the point is clear that actions targeting armed opponents of the Germans were the anomalies in Jaeger's report. Longerich, Heinrich Himmler, pp. 626-627, 923.
Female German national: Jaeger's unit went beyond orders in a number of cases, by the way, and these are well known. In November 1941 the EK's had not yet been approved to murder German and Austrian Jews. Yet Jaeger's killers did so at Kovno on 25 November and 29 November, as the report notes and notwithstanding the lack of approval for such executions. In fact, famously, there is an entry on 30 November in Himmler's office diary which reads, "Jewish transport from Berlin: do not liquidate." As can be seen from Jaeger's entry, this correction came too late. Himmler followed this up with a wireless message to HSSPF Jeckeln: according to Longerich, again, "Himmler then threatened Jeckeln . . . that he would 'punish' 'independent actions and contraventions' of 'the guidelines that I have issued or the Reich Main Security Office has given out in my name' concerning how 'the Jews resettled to the Ostland area' are to 'be treated.'" Longerich, Heinrich Himmler, p. 550. What is going on here is that Himmler gave to his key people in the east - the HSSPFs and the EG commanders - latitude to achieve the agreed goals, but, in this case, the murder of Reich Jews, the people "on the ground" had misinterpreted the boundary line, which in fall 1941 was still short of murdering Reich Jews. So Himmler restated the groundrules, which changed only later. In other words, Jaeger was almost completely in bounds - but his attitude toward the "Work Jews" and his executions of Reich Jews fell outside policy at the time.
Which is relevant but probably beside the point. That is because there are no details given by Jaeger for the execution of the German national, nor for a murder of an Armenian, except that the latter was killed in a prison operation. The identity of the German national is stated in shorthand - but not the reason for her execution. For all we know, the German national married to a Jew resisted the Germans taking her husband or committed some other offense. We just don't know why she was put to death from the report. Jaeger simply doesn't explain, nor does he explain the murder of a Russian female at the same time. We have no way of knowing if this execution was a case of Jaeger again interpreting orders in a creatively maximalist way or simply executing a felon or a resister.
By the way, if you have an argument about the Jaeger Report to make, it would help readers of your posts for you to spell it out.
Last edited: