Not to forget - Operation Winterzauber

translated from http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Winterzauber

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Operation - Winter Wonder

Reason for operation was to create neutral zone without civilian population and vilages 40 kilometers wide between Drissa on the South and Zilupe and Smolnatal on the North. Chief of this operation was obergruppenfurer SS Fridrikh Ekkeln, with 8 Latvian — 273rd, 276th, 277th, 278th, 279th, 280th, 281st и 282nd, also 2nd Lithuanian and 50th Ukrainina battalions - about 4000 headcount total.

Entering village policemen kill all men from 16 to 50 years old and also old people and disabled - all who can not walk for a long time. In many cases those were closed in some warehouse and burned alive. Women and children had long walk to so called "second shluse" place. All who can not walk got shot. Then they were sent to concentration camps where women were separated from children and sent to Germany to work as slaves. Children were sent to Latvian Salaspils camp where they became blood donors for German solders, until they die.

Modern days Latvian hero Voldemars Weiss participated this operation - he is in Latvian Panteon of Heroes now.

Several hundreds villages where burned to the ground including big ones with population over thousand.
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I saw some documentary here in US about brave SS solders - like fearless elite warriors or something, who kill so many Russians... Now you can understand where this count come from.

Funny thing is that when one Russian partisan fight and kill those Latvian policemen - he got prosecuted by modern Latvian state as a war criminal - they were not a solders but policemen, which makes them civilian!  They were members of Waffen SS Legion, but not solders.