Historical Background
In less than two years, from June 1941 until the spring of 1943, an estimated 1.25 million Jews were massacred in the Soviet Union by Nazi mobile killing units, or Einsatzgruppen. The Einsatzgruppen rounded up the Jewish populations of the villages and towns they passed through, led them to the country-side and summarily executed them. The victims were buried (many of them still alive) in mass graves. Very little is known about these atrocities because there were so few survivors.
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