How did Operation Barbarossa lead to the mass murder of Jews in Soviet territories?

Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union launched in June 1941, served as the primary catalyst for the systematic mass murder of Jews in Soviet territories. This invasion was driven by the Nazi policy of Lebensraum, which sought to expand German territory while eliminating those deemed "subhuman," specifically Jews and Slavic populations.123

To execute this genocidal objective, the Nazis deployed four specialized mobile killing units known as Einsatzgruppen. These units, totaling approximately 3,000 to 4,000 men, followed the advancing German army into occupied Soviet lands. Their explicit "special tasks" included the execution of Jewish men, women, and children, as well as Soviet officials and Roma people.124

Operating in coordination with local police, native anti-Semitic groups, and other German forces, the Einsatzgruppen rounded up victims and carried out mass shootings in pits and ravines, such as the massacre at Babi Yar. By the end of the war, these units had murdered an estimated 1.4 to 1.5 million people, the vast majority of whom were Jewish, marking a critical, horrific phase in the implementation of the Final Solution.142