United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Historical Film


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Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units)

Liepaja, Latvia
1941
[Silent, 1:42]

German mobile killing units (Einsatzgruppen) operated in German-occupied territories in eastern Europe during World War II. This rare footage shows a mobile killing unit during a massacre in Liepaja, Latvia. The film was taken, contrary to orders, by a German soldier. Before the war, the Jewish population of Liepaja stood at more than 7,000 residents. German mobile killing squads shot almost the entire Jewish population of the town. When the Soviet army liberated the city in 1945, just 20 to 30 Jews remained.

— Henny Wiener


Referenced in the following Holocaust Encyclopedia article(s):

Einsatzgruppen (Abridged Article) »
Einsatzgruppen (Mobile Killing Units) »
Holocaust (Abridged Article) »
Introduction to the Holocaust »
Latvia »