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Mogilev Conference
The Mogilev Conference was a September 1941 Wehrmacht training event aimed at improving security in the rear of Army Group Centre during the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The event was organised by General Max von Schenckendorff, commander of Army Group Centre Rear Area, in cooperation with the officials of the security and intelligence services of Nazi Germany—SS and the Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service; SD)—operating in the same area. Ostensibly an "anti-partisan" training conference, the event marked an escalation of violence against Jews and other civilians in the areas under Schenckendorff's command.
In June 1941, the Axis Powers launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union and by 26 July 1941, Mogilev, Byelorussian SSR, had been occupied by the Wehrmacht. Army Group Centre Rear Area, commanded by General Max von Schenckendorff, established its headquarters there on 7 September, but members of Einsatzgruppe B had entered the city in August and already begun murdering Jews. A ghetto was later established in September; in October 1941, most of the inmates had been murdered as part of two operations.
The Wehrmacht's aggressive security doctrine—and the use of the "security threat" to disguise genocidal policies—resulted in close cooperation between the army and the security apparatus behind the front lines. Einsatzgruppe B was the key killing unit that operated in the territory of Army Group Centre Rear Area, killing thousands of Jews, Communists and Soviet POWs handed over by the army for execution as well as other "undesirables", such as Roma ("Gypsies"), "Asiatics", and the mentally disabled. In July, Einsatzgruppe B commander Arthur Nebe reported that a "solution to the Jewish problem" was "impractical" in his region of operation due to "the overwhelming number of the Jews", that is there were too many Jews to be killed by too few men. By August 1941, Nebe came to realize that his Einsatzgruppe's resources were insufficient to meet the expanded mandate of the killing operations, due to the inclusion of Jewish women and children since that month.
The SS Cavalry Brigade, made up of the 1st and 2nd SS Cavalry Regiments, also participated in mass murder activities targeting Jews in the Byelorussian SSR. In July and August 1941, the unit carried out the Pripyat Marshes massacres resulting in the murder of over 11,000 Jewish civilians. The operation has since been considered a turning point in the transition from "selective mass murder" to the wholesale extermination of the Jewish population in occupied areas. Units of Police Regiment Centre had, by that time, also conducted mass murder of Jews.
In that environment, Schenckendorff, in cooperation with Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, the Higher SS and Police Leader for Army Group Centre, organised a three-day conference for security troops. Held in Mogilev, the meeting aimed to create an "exchange of experiences" for the Wehrmacht rear unit commanders. Police Colonel Max Montua, commander of Police Regiment Centre, was in charge of planning and logistics.
The conference began on 24 September and focused on "combatting partisans" (Bekämpfung von Partisanen, later Bandenbekämpfung) and reflected Schenckendorff's views on the need for total eradication of the resistance to German forces as the only way to secure the occupied territories. The minutes of the conference, if they had been taken, did not survive. What is known of the conference is based on the agenda, the list of attendees, after-action reports, and the summary distributed by Schenckendorff after the event.
Invited officers were selected on the basis of their previous participation in security operations, and included representatives of the Army High Command and Army Group Centre. The audience also included battalion commanders and higher-level officers from both SS-Police and the Wehrmacht, including its security divisions, the 221st, the 286th, and the 403rd. In total, 61 officers participated, with 82 percent of attendees coming from Wehrmacht units. Of the attendees, 38 percent were battalion and company-level commanders.
Many had already participated in mass atrocities. For example, the attendees included the commander of the 3rd Battalion in the 354th Infantry Regiment, 286th Security Division. A week prior to the conference, the battalion assisted Einsatzkommando 8 and directly participated in the murder of 1,000 Jews in the town of Krupki.
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Mogilev Conference
The Mogilev Conference was a September 1941 Wehrmacht training event aimed at improving security in the rear of Army Group Centre during the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The event was organised by General Max von Schenckendorff, commander of Army Group Centre Rear Area, in cooperation with the officials of the security and intelligence services of Nazi Germany—SS and the Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service; SD)—operating in the same area. Ostensibly an "anti-partisan" training conference, the event marked an escalation of violence against Jews and other civilians in the areas under Schenckendorff's command.
In June 1941, the Axis Powers launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union and by 26 July 1941, Mogilev, Byelorussian SSR, had been occupied by the Wehrmacht. Army Group Centre Rear Area, commanded by General Max von Schenckendorff, established its headquarters there on 7 September, but members of Einsatzgruppe B had entered the city in August and already begun murdering Jews. A ghetto was later established in September; in October 1941, most of the inmates had been murdered as part of two operations.
The Wehrmacht's aggressive security doctrine—and the use of the "security threat" to disguise genocidal policies—resulted in close cooperation between the army and the security apparatus behind the front lines. Einsatzgruppe B was the key killing unit that operated in the territory of Army Group Centre Rear Area, killing thousands of Jews, Communists and Soviet POWs handed over by the army for execution as well as other "undesirables", such as Roma ("Gypsies"), "Asiatics", and the mentally disabled. In July, Einsatzgruppe B commander Arthur Nebe reported that a "solution to the Jewish problem" was "impractical" in his region of operation due to "the overwhelming number of the Jews", that is there were too many Jews to be killed by too few men. By August 1941, Nebe came to realize that his Einsatzgruppe's resources were insufficient to meet the expanded mandate of the killing operations, due to the inclusion of Jewish women and children since that month.
The SS Cavalry Brigade, made up of the 1st and 2nd SS Cavalry Regiments, also participated in mass murder activities targeting Jews in the Byelorussian SSR. In July and August 1941, the unit carried out the Pripyat Marshes massacres resulting in the murder of over 11,000 Jewish civilians. The operation has since been considered a turning point in the transition from "selective mass murder" to the wholesale extermination of the Jewish population in occupied areas. Units of Police Regiment Centre had, by that time, also conducted mass murder of Jews.
In that environment, Schenckendorff, in cooperation with Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, the Higher SS and Police Leader for Army Group Centre, organised a three-day conference for security troops. Held in Mogilev, the meeting aimed to create an "exchange of experiences" for the Wehrmacht rear unit commanders. Police Colonel Max Montua, commander of Police Regiment Centre, was in charge of planning and logistics.
The conference began on 24 September and focused on "combatting partisans" (Bekämpfung von Partisanen, later Bandenbekämpfung) and reflected Schenckendorff's views on the need for total eradication of the resistance to German forces as the only way to secure the occupied territories. The minutes of the conference, if they had been taken, did not survive. What is known of the conference is based on the agenda, the list of attendees, after-action reports, and the summary distributed by Schenckendorff after the event.
Invited officers were selected on the basis of their previous participation in security operations, and included representatives of the Army High Command and Army Group Centre. The audience also included battalion commanders and higher-level officers from both SS-Police and the Wehrmacht, including its security divisions, the 221st, the 286th, and the 403rd. In total, 61 officers participated, with 82 percent of attendees coming from Wehrmacht units. Of the attendees, 38 percent were battalion and company-level commanders.
Many had already participated in mass atrocities. For example, the attendees included the commander of the 3rd Battalion in the 354th Infantry Regiment, 286th Security Division. A week prior to the conference, the battalion assisted Einsatzkommando 8 and directly participated in the murder of 1,000 Jews in the town of Krupki.