One of the more infamous crimes in the early stages of Barbarossa (and there’s already plenty of competition regarding infamous crimes at this stage) is the Kaunas (Kovno) pogrom of June 25-27 1941.
The main reason this is such a well known incident is that a German officer present (Colonel von Bischoffshausen) was present for the ‘main event’ and took photographs and wrote about it in his journal. It took place in front of the ‘Lietukis garage’ on June 27th, where a local nationalist (known as the ‘Death Dealer’) clubbed several dozen Jews to death, and proceeded to play the Lithuanian national anthem on his accordeon when he was done.
Bischoffshausen would later refer to this as a display of brutality that was unparalleled by anything I saw in combat during two world wars.
I arrived in Kovno on the afternoon of June 27 1941. Whilst patrolling the city I came across a crowd of people that had gathered alongside a gas station to watch was happening in the adjacent yard. There were women in the crowd and many of them clambered onto chairs and crates so that they and their children could get a better view of the “spectacle” taking place in the yard below. At first I thought this must be a victory celebration or some type of sporting event because of the cheering, clapping and laughter that kept breaking out.
However, when I asked what was happening I was told the “death dealer of Kovno” is at work and he would make sure that all “traitors and collaborators” received a fitting punishment for their “treachery.” When I drew closer I witnessed a display of brutality that was unparalleled by anything I saw in combat during two world wars.
Standing on the tarmac in the yard was a fair haired young man of around 25. He leaned on a long iron bar as thick as human arm and around his feet lay between fifteen to twenty people who were either dying or already dead. A few feet away from him stood another group of individuals who were guarded by armed men. Every few minutes he signaled with his hand and another person quietly stepped forward and had his skull shattered with one blow from the huge iron bar the killer held in his hand. Each blow he struck drew another round of clapping and cheering from the enthralled crowd.
There were more German soldiers and officers present, but none of them interfered. In fact, they were under strict orders to let the locals do whatever the locals felt they needed to do.
They had been instructed by their commanders, who in turn were instructed by General Brauchitsch that not only were they not to interfere with such actions, they were in fact to provide logistical support to Einsatzgruppen and local militia insofar possible.
Brauchitsch based his orders in turn on the Wagner-Heydrich agreement signed earlier this year, in which the Army (Heer) and the SS detailed exactly how the former should support the ‘work’ of the latter.