| | Alongside the German Army were special mobile units whose job it was to locate and kill Jews, Gypsies, Soviets commissars, and others deemed unfit in the areas controlled by the army. These ''Einsatzgruppen'' (“special units”) were also aided by local populations in [[Ukraine]], [[Lithuania]], and [[Latvia]] who felt the Germans had relieved them of [[Soviet]] occupation as well as sharing a hatred for Jews and other minorities. Making no difference between young or old, male or female, the Einsatzgruppen killed 70,000 Jews at Ponary, near [[Vilnius]], Lithuania; 33,771 Jews were machine-gunned in a ravine known as '''Babi Yar''' near [[Kiev]], Ukraine, between [[September]] 28–29, 1941;<ref>[http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/yevtushenko.htm]</ref> 9,000 Jews were killed at the Ninth Fort at Kaunas, Lithuania, on October 28, of which half of the dead were children. On November 30 in the Rumbula Forest outside of [[Riga]], Latvia, between 25,000-28,000 were killed. | | Alongside the German Army were special mobile units whose job it was to locate and kill Jews, Gypsies, Soviets commissars, and others deemed unfit in the areas controlled by the army. These ''Einsatzgruppen'' (“special units”) were also aided by local populations in [[Ukraine]], [[Lithuania]], and [[Latvia]] who felt the Germans had relieved them of [[Soviet]] occupation as well as sharing a hatred for Jews and other minorities. Making no difference between young or old, male or female, the Einsatzgruppen killed 70,000 Jews at Ponary, near [[Vilnius]], Lithuania; 33,771 Jews were machine-gunned in a ravine known as '''Babi Yar''' near [[Kiev]], Ukraine, between [[September]] 28–29, 1941;<ref>[http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/yevtushenko.htm]</ref> 9,000 Jews were killed at the Ninth Fort at Kaunas, Lithuania, on October 28, of which half of the dead were children. On November 30 in the Rumbula Forest outside of [[Riga]], Latvia, between 25,000-28,000 were killed. |
| | Stage 5 began at The [[Wannsee Conference]] in January 1942 began stage five of Nazi power; it was then that top Nazis decided on a “Final Solution” —to round up and secretly execute all the Jews of Europe. Killing centers were opened in Poland, and thousands of trainloads of Jews were transported there. Jews were gassed immediately upon arrival. Over three million Jews (and numbers of gypsies and other hated groups) were murdered, mostly in 1942–1943. | | Stage 5 began at The [[Wannsee Conference]] in January 1942 began stage five of Nazi power; it was then that top Nazis decided on a “Final Solution” —to round up and secretly execute all the Jews of Europe. Killing centers were opened in Poland, and thousands of trainloads of Jews were transported there. Jews were gassed immediately upon arrival. Over three million Jews (and numbers of gypsies and other hated groups) were murdered, mostly in 1942–1943. |