Page "Einsatzgruppen" Paragraph 39

In the interval, several soldiers present at Byelaya Tserkov were disturbed by the crying of the children and infants at the school, and asked their chaplains for advice about what to do.

The two chaplains attached to the 295th Infantry Division, the Catholic Father Ernst Tewes and the Lutheran Pastor Gerhard Wilczek visited the school, and were appalled by the condition of the frightened, hungry children.

The chaplains then asked the local Army commander to free the children, but that effort failed when as Father Tewes later reported, when he " turned out to be a convinced anti-Semitic ".

Joined by two other chaplains from the 295th Division, a series of protest letters were sent to all in positions of authority asking that the children of Byelaya Tserkov be spared.

Using their powers of persuasion, the chaplains ' won over a staff officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Groscurth to their cause, who ordered a postponement of the planned massacre of the children.

In areas near the front, the Einsatzgruppen were under Army command, so when Colonel Groscurth ordered the planned massacre to be put on hold, the local Einsatzkommando leader had no choice, but to comply.

Ultimately, General von Reichenau himself intervened to order the executions to go ahead.

Reichenau was enraged after receiving a protest letter from two of the chaplains ' and wrote in response: The conclusion of the report in question contains the following sentence, " In the case in question, measures against women and children were undertaken which in no way differ from atrocities carried out by the enemy about which the troops are continually being informed ". I have to describe this assessment as incorrect, inappropriate and impertinent in the extreme.

Moreover this comment was written in an open communication which passes through many hands. It would have been far better if the report had not been written at all.

Father Tewes later recalled about his efforts at Byelaya Tserkov that: " All those we wanted to save were shot.

Because of our initiative it just happened a few days later than planned ".