Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski

Authors

Object ID

2012.1.393

Object Name

Print, Photographic

Files

Content Warning

The Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection consists of images, documents, and artifacts related to the Holocaust. The collection contains materials that depict a number of topics that may be difficult for viewers to engage with, including: antisemitic descriptions, caricatures, and representation of Jewish people; Nazi imagery and ideology; descriptions and images of German ghettos; graphic images of the violence of the Holocaust; and the creation of the State of Israel. For more information, see our policy page.

Description

Black and white photograph of a man in glasses in Nazi uniform.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski was highly regarded by Hitler for his brutality and 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 told Himmler that the firing squads were having a deleterious effect on the assassins, after which Himmler consulted about other methods to murder Jews, leading to the focus on gas as a more industrial solution to the Jewish problem.

Dimensions

5 x 7 1/4"

Keywords

Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, Einsatzgruppen, Waffen-SS, General

Subcollection

Bullets

Recommended Citation

"Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski" (2016). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2012.1.393.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1081