Figure 1.--.

The German killing of Czech Jews is not well covered in the Holocaust literature. We have just begun to pice together some basic information. The Einsatzgruppen which murdered so ruthlessly in the Soviet Union were to my knowledge not employed in murder Aktionen in Czechoslovakia. We do not, however, have much information on just what the Einsatzgrupen did in Czechoslovakia. SS Einsatzgruppen teams as in Austria and the Sudetenland also went into the occupied Czech lands. Eisatzgruppe I Prag was commanded by ??????. It included four Einsatzkommando (Budweis, Prag, Kolin, and Pardubitz). We believe they hunted down and arrested vocal NAZI critics and Chech nationalists like army officers. Wealthy Jews may have been on their lists. This is a topic we need to investigate in durther detail. Czechoslovakia was the first non-German country occupied by the NAZIs and thus the country occupied for the longest period. We do not have much information on Germn killing operations in Czechoslovakia which during World War II meant the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. We do know that there were killing operations in which the SS killed substantial numbers of Czech Jews. We do not yet know, however, just where and when and how many were killed. This seems to have occurred in 1941, but were are not yet sure about that. We know there were shootings because of sureptitious recordings in British and American POW camps. In one recording SS Oberscharführer Fritz Swoboda described shooting Jews in Czechoslovakia to a Whermacht officer. Swoboda explained that it was done on more than one military base which must have meant either Wehrmacht or Luftwaffe bases or both. Swoboda descibes shooting men and women. We suspect that this meant children were also shot, but that he was ashamed to add that detail. We do not know how the Jews to be shot were selected. The killers earned double rations and a cash bonus. Most Czech Jews were killed in the death camps the NAZIs built in occupied Poland. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were sent from ghettos in Poland and Czechoslovakia to the extermination camps at Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek. Thereisenstadt served as holding point until the death camps were in operation. Most Czech Jews were murdered in gas chambers. [March-October 1942] Few Czech and Slovakian Jews survived. More than 70,000 Czech Jews were killed by the NAZIs. This had been largely accomplished by the end of 1942.

Einsatzgruppen

The Einsatzgruppen which murdered so ruthlessly in the Soviet Union were to my knowledge not employed in murder Aktionen in Czechoslovakia. We do not, however, have much information on just what the Einsatzgrupen did in Czechoslovakia. SS Einsatzgruppen teams as in Austria and the Sudetenland also went into the occupied Czech lands. Eisatzgruppe I Prag was commanded by ??????. It included four Einsatzkommando (Budweis, Prag, Kolin, and Pardubitz). We believe they hunted down and arrested vocal NAZI critics and Czech nationalists like army officers. Wealthy Jews may have been on their lists. This is a topic we need to investigate in durther detail.

Concentration Camps

The major German concentration camp in Czechoslovalia was Terezinstadt. This was not a death camp and in fact it was often touted as camp with reasonable conditions for Jews. In relatiove terms this was true. The Germans even brought in international observers for staged inspections. Even so conditiions at the camp were atrotious. Lrge numbers of internees died from malnutrition and disease. Most of the killing was, hoever, done when the intenees were transported to the death camps in occupied Poland. There were also labor camps in which many Jews died or were killed outright. We do not yet have any details on these camps.

Shootings

Czechoslovakia was the first non-German country occupied by the NAZIs and thus the country occupied for the longest period. We do not have much information on Germn killing operations in Czechoslovakia which during World War II meant the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. We do know that there were killing operations in which the SS killed substantial numbers of Czech Jews. We do not yet know, however, just where and when and how many were killed. This seems to have occurred in 1941, but were are not yet sure about that. We know there were shootings because of sureptitious recordings in British and American POW camps. In one recording SS Oberscharführer Fritz Swoboda described shooting Jews in Czechoslovakia to a Whermacht or Luftwaffe officer. Swoboda explained that it was done on more than one military base which must have meant either Wehrmacht or Luftwaffe bases or both. Swoboda descibes shooting men and women. The killers earned double rations and a cash bonus. Here is apart of the transcript from recordings made of conversations among the POWs at the Fort Hunt POW Camp:

SS Oberscharführer Fritz Swoboda: The executions were like an assembly line. You got a 12 marks bonus, 120 kroner per day for the shooting commandos. We didn’t do anything else. Groups of twelve men led in six men and then shot them. I didn’t do anything else for maybe 14 days. We got double rations because it puts a lot of strain on your nerves .... We shot women, too. Women were better than men. We saw a lot of men, Jews, too, who started crying in their final moment. If there were weaklings there, two Czech nationals came and held them up in the middle .... The man earned his double rations and 12 mark bonus, killing 50 women in half a day. In Roisen we aldo carried out executions,

First Lieutenant Werner Kahrad: There was a large airfield there.

Swoboda: At the barracks, it was a tredmill. They came from one side, , and there was a column of maybe 500 or 600 men. They came in through the gate and went to the firing range. There they were killed, picked up and brought away, and then the next six would come. At first you said, great, better than doing normal duty, but after a couple days you would have preferred normal duty. It took a toll on your nerves. Then you just gritted your teeth and at some point you didn’t care. There were some of us who got weak in the knees when shooting women, and we had selected experienced frontline soldiers. But orders were orders. [Swoboda-Kahrad room conversation]

Note: Notice that there is not an ounze of remorse in Swoboda's description. The only sumpathy he expresses is for the SS killers who were unerved by the duty. It is not altogether clear who the SS was shooting here. We suspect that they were mostly Jews, but there seem to have been non-Jewish Czechs as well. We do not know how the victims were selected. Note that many women were shot. We suspect that women would have been almost entirely Jews. We suspect that this meant children were also shot, but that he was ashamed to add that detail to an honorable soldier.

Transport to Death Camps

The Germans killed most Czech Jews in the death camps they they built in occupied Poland. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were sent from ghettos in Poland and Czechoslovakia to the extermination camps at Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek. Thereisenstadt served as holding point until the death camps were in operation. Most Czech Jews were murdered in gas chambers (March-October 1942). Few Czech and Slovakian Jews survived. More than 70,000 Czech Jews were killed by the NAZIs.

Sources

Swoboda-Kahrad room conversation (December 2, 1944). RG 165, Entry 179, Box 552. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA): Washingtion, D.C.

Created: 7:50 PM 10/4/2012
Last updated: 7:51 PM 10/4/2012