On 22 June 1941, the German army invaded the Soviet Union. In this territory there lived around 3.5 million Jews. Following behind the German army were special groups of SS personnel called the Einsatzgruppen. Their task was to go into the towns and villages, round up people and kill them. Their main victims were Jews - men, women and children. They also targeted other ‘enemies of the Reich’ including partisans, Communists and Gypsies.

Jewish families were taken from their homes and shot into mass graves in the forests or ravines. The Einsatzgruppen were responsible for the ruthless murder of over one million people, mainly Jews. Thousands of communities that had existed for centuries were systematically destroyed as these death squads swept through.