“Personal-Bericht” (Staff Report) from Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski

Authors

Object ID

2012.1.392

Object Name

Report, Administrative

Date

8-1-1940

Files

Description

Tan document titled "Personal=Bericht" (Staff Report). Includes printed and typewritten information with signature on back side.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

This document is Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski's assessment of a soldier. Bach-Zelewski was highly regarded by Hitler for his brutality and his improvisational skills. As SS general and general of the Waffen-SS assigned to the Russian front, Bach-Zelewski was a leader of the Einsatzgruppen, and was thus responsible for many atrocities on the eastern front in which he took a personal part. In October 1941, after 35,000 people had been executed in Riga, he proudly wrote "there is not a Jew left in Estonia." He actively participated in massacres of Jews in Minsk and Mogilev in Russia. Bach-Zelewski claimed to have lectured Himmler after the Minsk executions, telling him that the men of the firing squad were now ruined for life, that they were destined to become nervous wrecks or ruffians. Himmler asked Arthur Nebe to end the suffering of these murderers as soon as possible by considering other killing methods more humane than shooting. In July 1943, Bach-Zalewski received command of all anti-Partisan actions in Belgium, Belarus, France, the General Government, the Netherlands, Norway, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, and parts of Bialystok. In practice, his activities remained confined to Belarus and contiguous Russia.

Dimensions

11 1/2 x 8 1/4"

Keywords

Reich Seal, General, Waffen-SS Einsatzgruppen, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, Karl Burk, Christine Burk

Subcollection

Bullets

Recommended Citation

"“Personal-Bericht” (Staff Report) from Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski" (1940). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2012.1.392.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1080