Commissar Order

Commissar Order
Chef des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht · Public domain · source
Name	Commissar Order
Partof	Operation Barbarossa
Type	Wehrmacht directive
Location	Führer Headquarters
Date	6 June 1941
Target	Political Commissars of the Red Army
Perpetrators	Adolf Hitler, Wehrmacht High Command
Outcome	Systematic execution of captured political officers

Commissar Order. The Commissar Order was a criminal directive issued by the Wehrmacht High Command on 6 June 1941, prior to the launch of Operation Barbarossa. Authored under the authority of Adolf Hitler, it commanded German forces to identify and summarily execute captured political commissars of the Red Army, thereby stripping them of the protections of international law. This order was a foundational component of the war of annihilation waged on the Eastern Front, directly implicating the regular German military in the Holocaust and Nazi crimes against the Soviet POWs.

Background and context

The ideological underpinnings of the order stemmed from Nazi ideology, which framed the conflict with the Soviet Union as a existential struggle against Judeo-Bolshevism. Key figures like Adolf Hitler, Alfred Rosenberg, and senior OKW officers such as Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl propagated the view that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and its political officers were criminal elements. This rhetoric was formalized in discussions preceding Operation Barbarossa, including the March 1941 speech by Adolf Hitler to Wehrmacht commanders. The order was designed to dismantle the political leadership of the Red Army, which was seen as the backbone of resistance, and to encourage brutal tactics from the outset, linking it to other criminal orders like the Barbarossa Decree.

Content of the order

The text of the directive explicitly classified all political commissars as not being legitimate soldiers, denying them the status of prisoner of war. It instructed that upon capture, these individuals were to be "sorted out" and "finished immediately" through the use of firearms. The order mandated that the executions be carried out not by the SS or Einsatzgruppen, but by the regular Wehrmacht itself, typically by the unit that made the capture. It further stipulated that no commissar was to be sent to the rear areas or to prisoner of war camps, and it absolved perpetrators from facing court-martial for these acts, effectively sanctioning murder under military authority.

Implementation and consequences

The order was disseminated down to the divisional level within Army Group North, Army Group Centre, and Army Group South. Its implementation was widespread but uneven, with some units, like those of General Erich Hoepner's Panzer Group 4, applying it with zeal, while others showed initial reluctance. The Einsatzgruppen often cooperated with forward military units to carry out the killings. The consequence was the systematic murder of thousands of Red Army political officers, often immediately after capture during battles like the Battle of Białystok–Minsk and the Battle of Kiev (1941). This policy contributed massively to the catastrophic death rate among Soviet POWs and escalated the brutality of the conflict.

Legal and historical assessment

At the Nuremberg trials, specifically the High Command Trial, the order was classified as a clear violation of the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 and the Geneva Conventions. Defendants like Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl were convicted, in part, for their roles in its issuance and dissemination. Historians such as Jürgen Förster and Omer Bartov have demonstrated how the order served to integrate the Wehrmacht into the Holocaust by bullets and the racial-ideological war. It stands as a key document proving the criminality of the German war effort on the Eastern Front.

Aftermath and legacy

The order was officially rescinded by OKW in May 1942, largely due to concerns it hardened Red Army resistance, as seen in battles like the Battle of Stalingrad, and practical difficulties in identification. However, executions often continued informally. Its legacy is central to the historiography of Wehrmacht involvement in Nazi crimes, debunking the myth of a "clean Wehrmacht." The order is frequently cited in memorials and studies concerning Nazi war crimes, and it remains a stark example of the integration of conventional military operations with genocidal policy during World War II.

Category:World War II directives Category:Nazi war crimes Category:Eastern Front (World War II)