Narrator: Marchand Steenkamp.
About the story: The Second World War began on 1 September 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, sparking a global conflict. By June 1941, after the launch of Operation Barbarossa, German forces entered Riga, the capital of Latvia, and quickly sought local collaborators to enforce their racial policies and suppress resistance. One of the first to step forward was Viktors Arājs, a Latvian nationalist tied to right-wing groups, who offered his services without hesitation. The SS, led in the region by Brigadeführer Franz Walter Stahlecker, commander of Einsatzgruppe A, needed locals who knew the terrain and could organize anti-Jewish actions swiftly.
Arājs was given authority to form the Arājs Kommando, a paramilitary unit that rapidly grew to several hundred men. Many of its recruits were students fueled by anti-communist and nationalist sentiment, inflamed by the prior Soviet occupation. Others were opportunists drawn by power, money, or the prestige of wearing a uniform. With German support, weapons, and armbands, the unit was established not as a conventional police force but as an auxiliary group designed to carry out the harshest policies of Nazi occupation in the Baltic states.
From the very beginning, the primary mission of the Arājs Kommando was not law enforcement but the persecution and mass murder of Jews in Latvia. Working alongside Einsatzgruppe A and the SS, they participated in roundups, executions, and the destruction of entire Jewish communities, particularly in Riga and surrounding areas. These atrocities marked Latvia as one of the first killing grounds of the Holocaust, where local collaborators played a decisive role in implementing Hitler’s racial war in Eastern Europe.
Join World History channel and get access to benefits:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKKy_pNKZBX4KcCct8505HA/join
Disclaimer: All opinions and comments below are from members of the public and do not reflect the views of World History channel.
We do not accept promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on attributes such as: race, nationality, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation. World History has right to review the comments and delete them if they are deemed inappropriate.
Credit to : World History