Rollkommando Hamann

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title: "Rollkommando Hamann" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1941-in-lithuania", "the-holocaust-in-lithuania", "the-holocaust-in-latvia", "lithuanian-collaboration-with-nazi-germany", "einsatzgruppen", "generalbezirk-litauen", "local-participation-in-the-holocaust"] description: "1941 Nazi killing squad in Lithuania" topic_path: "geography/germany" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollkommando_Hamann" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1941 Nazi killing squad in Lithuania ::

Rollkommando Hamann () was a small mobile unit that committed mass murders of Lithuanian Jews in the countryside in July–October 1941, with an estimated death toll of at least 60,000 Jews. The unit was also responsible for many murders in Latvia from July through August 1941. At the end of 1941 the destruction of Lithuanian Jewry was effectively accomplished by Hamann's unit in the countryside, by the Ypatingasis būrys in the Ponary massacre, and by the Tautinio Darbo Apsaugos Batalionas (TDA) in the Ninth Fort in Kaunas. In about six months an estimated 80% of all Lithuanian Jews were killed. The remaining few were spared for use as a labor force and concentrated in urban ghettos, mainly the Vilna and Kaunas Ghettos.

Organization

The group consisted of 8–10 Germans from Einsatzkommando 3, commanded by SS-Obersturmführer Joachim Hamann, and several dozen Lithuanians from the 3rd company of the TDA, commanded by Bronius Norkus. The unit had no permanent structure and was called for ad hoc missions in various towns in Lithuania. While Bubnys indicates Hamann primarily handed out assignments while not participating himself, The Jäger Report documents mass executions carried out by the unit in 54 locations across Lithuania.

Operations

Usually the unit arrived after the local Jews were already rounded up and gathered in a more secluded area, usually a forest or a distant field, by local Nazi authorities and Lithuanian local collaborators. Jews selected for executions were marched to the location, usually about 4 - away from where they lived, and shot. Sometimes men were shot first, while women and children were executed towards the end of 1941. Such killings became known as "actions" (, ).

References

References

1. Melamed, Joseph A.. "The Mechanized Commando Unit of Haman". Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel.
2. Dean, Martin C.. (2004). "The Historiography of the Holocaust". Palgrave Macmillan.
3. Porat, Dina. (2002). "The Final Solution: Origins and Implementation". Routledge.
4. Latvytė-Gustaitienė, Neringa. (2003-05-08). "Holokaustas Trakų apskrityje". Voruta.
5. Bubnys, Arūnas. "Lithuanian Police Battalions and the Holocaust". The International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania.
6. post-war testimony indicates Hamann told others of his direct participation.Kraus, Hans, police interrogation, October 21, 1959
7. Ezergailis, Andrew. (1996). "The Holocaust in Latvia 1941-1944: The Missing Center". Historical Institute of Latvia.
8. (2005). "The Jager Report". Florida Center for Instructional Technology.
9. Levin, Don. (2000). "The Litvaks: A Short History of the Jews in Lithuania". [[Yad Vashem]].

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