What nationality were the killing squad who helped murder 100,000 people mainly from Vilnius?
Ypatingasis būrys Ypatingasis būrys ("Special Squad") or Special SD and German Security Police Squad (Lithuanian: "Vokiečių Saugumo policijos ir SD ypatingasis būrys" , Polish: "Specjalny Oddział SD i Niemieckiej Policji Bezpieczeństwa" , also colloquially "strzelcy ponarscy" ("Ponary riflemen" in Polish) (1941–1944) was a Lithuanian killing squad of approximately 50 men, also called the "Lithuanian equivalent of Sonderkommando", operating in the Vilnius Region. The unit, primarily composed of Lithuanian volunteers was formed by the German occupational government and was subordinate to Einsatzkommando 9 and later to Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo). There are different estimates regarding the size of the unit. Polish historian Czesław Michalski estimates that it grew from base of 50 while Tadeusz Piotrowski asserts about that there were 100 volunteers at its onset. According to Michalski, after its initial creation at various times hundreds of people were its members. Arūnas Bubnys states that it never exceeded a core of forty or fifty men. 118 names are known, 20 of the members have been punished. Together with German police the squad participated in the Ponary massacre, where some 70,000 Jews were murdered, along with estimated 20,000 Poles and 8,000 Russian POWs, many from nearby Vilnius.
Lwów pogrom (1918) The Lwów pogrom (Polish: "pogrom lwowski" , German: "Lemberg pogrom" ) was a pogrom of the Jewish population of the city of Lwów (since 1945 Lviv, Ukraine) that took place on November 21–23, 1918 during the Polish–Ukrainian War, in the aftermath of World War I. The Ukrainian National Council proclaimed the formation of the Ukrainian Republic on November 1, 1918 with Lviv as its capital. The Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland declared Poland's independence a week later and formed the government on 14 November 1918. The battle of Lwów lasted until 21 November 1918. In the course of the following three days of unrest in the city, an estimated 52–150 Jewish residents were killed and hundreds injured, with widespread looting carried out by Polish soldiers, and those only pretending to be so, as well as lawless civilians, and local criminals. According to Norman Davies, two hundred and seventy more Ukrainians were killed during this time as well; historian Christoph Mick stated that not a single Ukrainian was murdered. The Poles did not stop the pogrom until two days after it began. Over a thousand people, including some soldiers, were arrested by Polish authorities during and after the pogrom. Some early accounts of the pogrom, listing multiple thousands of casualties, were likely exaggerated.