The activation of commandos will take place in accordance with the
agreement of the Chief of the Security Police and Security Service and
the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces as of 16 July 1941. The
commandos will work independently according to special authorization and
in consequence of the general regulations given to them in the limits of
the camp organizations. Naturally, the commandos will keep close contact
with the camp commander and the defense officers assigned to him.
The mission of the commandos is the political investigating of all camp
inmates, the elimination and further treatment—
_a._ of all political, criminal, or in some other way unbearable
elements among them.
_b._ of those persons who could be used for the reconstruction of the
occupied territories.
For the execution of their mission, no additional means can be put at
the disposal of the commandos. The Deutsche Fahndungsbuch [German Wanted
List] the Aufenthaltsermittlungsliste [Residence Locator List] and the
Sonderfahndungsbuch UdSSR [Special Wanted List, Union of the Soviet
Socialist Republic] will prove to be useful in only a small number of
cases; the Sonderfahndungsbuch UdSSR is not sufficient, because it
contains only a small part of Soviet Russians considered to be
dangerous.
Therefore, the commandos must use their special knowledge and ability
and rely on their own findings and self-acquired knowledge. Therefore,
they will be able to start carrying out their mission only when they
have gathered together appropriate material.
The commandos must use for their work as far as possible, at present and
even later, the experiences of the camp commanders which the latter have
collected meanwhile from observation of the prisoners and examinations
of camp inmates.
Further, the commandos must make efforts from the beginning to seek out
among the prisoners elements which appear reliable, regardless if there
are Communists concerned or not, in order to use them for intelligence
purposes inside of the camp and, if advisable, later in the occupied
territories also.
By use of such informers and by use of all other existing possibilities,
the discovery of all elements to be eliminated among the prisoners must
succeed step by step at once. The commandos must learn for themselves,
in every case, by means of short questioning of the informers and
eventual questioning of other prisoners.
The information of one informer is not sufficient to designate a camp
inmate to be a suspect without further proof; it must be confirmed in
some way if possible.
Above all, the following must be discovered; all important functionaries
of state and party, especially—
Professional revolutionaries.
Functionaries of the Comintern.
All policy forming party functionaries of the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union and its subsidiary organizations in the central
committees, in the regional and district committees.
All Peoples Commissars and their deputies.
All former Political Commissars in the Red Army.
Leading personalities of the Main and intermediate offices of
the state authorities.
Members of the Soviet Russian intelligentsia.
All Jews.
All persons who are found to be agitators or fanatical
Communists.
It is not less important, as mentioned already, to discover all those
persons who could be used for the reconstruction, administration, and
management of the conquered Russian territories.
Finally, all such persons must be secured who are still needed for the
completion of further investigation, regardless if they are police
investigations or other investigations, and for settling questions of
general interest. Among them are all those especially who, because of
their position and their knowledge, are able to give information about
measures and working methods of the Soviet-Russian State, of the
Communist Party, or of the Comintern.
In the final analysis, consideration must be given to origin in all
decisions to be made. The leader of the Einsatzkommando will give a
short report every week by telephone or an express letter to the Reich
Security Main Office, containing: