Page 22 - Jewish News_June-July-2021

22A June/July 2021 JEWISH INTEREST

War of the Century: Operation Barbarossa K’zohar Ha-Ivrit

By Paul R. Bartrop, PhD Adam – A human
ighty years ago this month, on they had not, new campaigns had to Dear Readers,
June 22, 1941, the largest mil- be devised, while simultaneously con- After six months of retirement from Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU),
Eitary invasion in history took fronting Soviet counteroffensives. The I am pleased to report that I have been honored by the university by election to
place when Nazi Germany and its allies lengthened war between Germany and the position of Professor Emeritus of History. While I am no longer teaching,
invaded the Soviet Union. Code-named the Soviet Union would only end with this means that I am still involved in the life of the university and maintain
Operation Barbarossa, the assault took the capitulation and destruction of the my connection with Southwest Florida. I am grateful for all the messages of
place along a 2,900-kilometre front city of Berlin in April-May 1945. support I received from readers at the end of last year upon my retirement
from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Ger- Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet from FGCU. I have now returned permanently to my native Australia, where
man forces alone numbered 3,200,000 Union was accompanied by a procla- borders are closed in both directions owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. As soon
men in 151 divisions, with 3,350 tanks, mation in which he reinforced his of- as circumstances permit, however, I am looking forward to returning to my
7,184 guns and 1,945 aircraft. Accom- ten-stated role as the Savior of Europe adopted home in Southwest Florida for a visit!
panying them were against Bolshevism. Earlier, on June 6, – Paul Bartrop
40,000 Italian troops 1941, he issued his Kommissarbefehl
(ultimately to grow (“Commissar Order”). The order’s for- High Command – a clear indication Aryan Germans and where members of
to 235,000) together mal name was Guidelines for the Treat- that this was approved at the highest the local population were expendable,
with 18 Finnish, 14 ment of Political Commissars. levels. Jews especially so.
Romanian and two The Kommissarbefehl was a clear As an order that called for the mass The Commissar Order was one
Hungarian divisions. manifestation of the deeply ideolo- murder of non-combatants by German of two Führer commands at this time.
It began, as histo- gical nature of how the forthcoming combat troops, it was clear to the Ger- The other was entitled “Guidelines
Dr. Paul Bartrop rian Laurence Rees struggle with the Soviet Union was man commanders that the order con- for the Behavior of the Troops.” This
has termed it, the War of the Century. to be fought. Its core demand was travened international law. But having mandated that all legal protections for
Others have labeled it the War for the that German soldiers shoot any Sovi- been underwritten by Hitler, whose local civilian populations were to be
World. et political commissars taken prison- word in the Nazi state was above writ- rescinded, and soldiers were informed
Immediately before the start of er in the forthcoming conflict during ten law and overrode existing foreign that actions which would have been
World War II, on August 23, 1939, Ger- and after Barbarossa, as they carried obligations, the Commissar Order was considered crimes in the rest of Europe
many and the Soviet Union had signed “Judeo-Bolshevik” ideas that were accepted without question. were to be pursued in the Soviet Union
the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact antithetical to everything for which For Hitler, the war against the So- without punishment. Such guidance,
(also called the Ribbentrop-Molotov Nazism stood. By extension, those tar- viet Union was not to be a convention- issued directly to the troops, both con-
Pact) in Moscow, according to which geted included all Jews. al conflict following the usual customs doned and led to the abuse of civilian
both dictatorships defined their future Accordingly, special mobile kill- and laws of warfare. Instead, it was populations.
spheres of influence in Eastern Europe ing squads, known as Einsatzgruppen, to be a “War of Annihilation,” a clash Together, the two orders informed
and pledged to a period of peace be- were established to accompany the between the German and Slavic rac- soldiers of the racial component of the
tween the two countries. In June 1941, combat troops of the German Army es and between Nazi and Communist war, and that Bolshevism and its “car-
however, Hitler dramatically over- close behind in the weeks following ideology from which there would be riers” (that is, Jews) were the “mortal
turned the Pact which he and Stalin had the invasion of June 22, 1941. The Or- only one victor. The nature of the war enemy of the German people.” The
initiated a year and 10 months before. der was signed by General Walter War- in the East was to reflect the Nazi pol- orders authorized reprisal killings of
After several weeks of Operation limont and approved by Field Marshal icy of Lebensraum (“Living Space”), civilians and further encouraged sol-
Barbarossa, most of its major military Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the Oberkom- in which the region would become an diers to treat all civilian populations
objectives had been achieved. Where mando der Wehrmacht, the military area colonized by so-called “superior” continued on next page

NEVER FORGET

Holocaust, Genocide 1,912 Sarasota-Manatee
and Tolerance Education students learned about the
Holocaust from survivors Have you ever been asked
last year
questions about Israel
#NEVERFORGET or antisemitism that
Ensuring we

Your story of survival moved you can’t answer?
me and I will remember you
for the rest of my life.
CRConnect, a program of
– North Port High School Student CR C onnec t
the Heller CRC, addresses

these difficult questions
such as Palestinian vs. Israeli
Learn what “Never Forget” sovereignty, Israel as a

means, before it is too late. “superpower,” the “Apartheid”
Invite a Holocaust survivor to

your school, synagogue or library. claim, peace in the region
and much more.

To book a speaker, contact Anne Stein

HOLOCAUST SPEAKERS BUREAU COORDINATOR
Q
onnec
.or
C
g/CR
JFEDSR
t
luvhula@gmail.com Visit JFEDSRQ.org/CRConnect
to see the questions and learn the answers.
For more information, please visit
jfedsrq.org JFEDSRQ.ORG/hellercrc
941.371.4546