The Pripyat Marshes massacres () were a series of mass murders carried out by the military forces of Nazi Germany against Jewish civilians in Belarus and Ukraine, during July–August 1941. SS leader Heinrich Himmler ordered these operations, which were carried out by units of the Wehrmacht (the regular armed forces) and the Waffen-SS. These units were ordered to kill as many Jews as possible, in a region in and around the Pripyat Marshes, comprising nine raions of the Byelorussian SSR and three raions of the Ukrainian SSR.
These massacres are considered to be the first planned mass murders of civilians carried out by Nazi Germany. At least 13,788 people were killed in phase one and 3,500 Jewish men and boys were killed in phase two. The principal means of execution employed was mass shootings, after the local populace had been rounded up. Other methods were also tried, including driving people into the swamps and drowning them, though this was largely ineffective owing to their shallowness.
Among others, the villages of Dvarets, Khochan', Azyarany, Starazhowtsy and Kramno, were completely destroyed by burning and Turaw was partially destroyed.
History
The operation was ordered by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler to be conducted by the SS Cavalry Brigade, as well as the Wehrmacht's 162nd Infantry Division and 252nd Infantry Divisions, under the general command of HSSPF Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski. Beginning on 28 July 1941 and lasting until August, the operation was conducted in two stages, with the second stage beginning on 14 August. There is no data on the SS troops' losses in their reports.
Captured German documents about the operation reached the Soviet leadership in Moscow in January 1942, and were published in a note by the People's Commissariat (Ministry) for Foreign Relations, issued on 27 April. The note was addressed to all countries with which the USSR had maintained diplomatic relations. It is believed that the international publicity and shock caused by this data prompted Nazis to hide or destroy other materials concerned with this operation.
Beginning of the events
On 19 July 1941, the 1st and 2nd SS Cavalry Regiments were assigned to the general command of HSSPF von dem Bach-Zelewski for the action which took place in two stages. The beginning date of the operation is considered 28 July 1941. On that day the two SS cavalry regiments were transferred to Baranavichy for the "systematic combing of the Pripyat swamps".
Shortly thereafter, Himmler ordered the SS Cavalry Brigade to be formed under the command of Hermann Fegelein from the 1st and 2nd SS Cavalry Regiments. Also, Himmler ordered von dem Bach-Zelewski to present him with the plan of the extermination operation. The "Special order" of Himmler dated 28 July 1941 ordered von dem Bach-Zelewski to harshly exterminate the Pripyat swamps region's population "with disagreeable attitude to Germans" — to shoot men, deport women and children, confiscate livestock and food, burn habitations. On the other hand, population "showing agreeable attitude to Germans" was to be "spared" and even to be partially armed. Himmler's orders for the operation were passed to Fegelein via SS-Brigadefuhrer Kurt Knoblauch, who met with him and Bach-Zelewski on 28 July in their new quarters at Liakhovichi in Byelorussia. Fegelein interpreted these orders as follows: Enemy soldiers in uniform were to be taken prisoner, and those found out of uniform were to be shot. Jewish males, with the exception of a few skilled workers such as doctors and leather workers, would be shot. Fegelein split the territory to be covered into two sections divided by the Pripyat River, with the 1st Regiment taking the northern half and the 2nd Regiment the south. The regiments worked their way from east to west through their assigned territory, and filed daily reports on the number of people killed and taken prisoner.
Himmler notified Fegelein by telegram on 1 August that the numbers killed so far were too low. A few days later, Himmler issued regimental order no. 42, which called for all male Jews over the age of 14 to be killed. The women and children were to be driven into the swamps and drowned. Thus Fegelein's units were among the first in the Holocaust to wipe out entire Jewish communities. As the water in the swamps was too shallow and some areas had no swamps, it proved impractical to drown the women and children, so in the end they were shot as well.