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.
Palmiry massacre The Palmiry massacre was a series of mass executions carried out by Nazi German forces, during the Second World War, near the village of Palmiry in the Kampinos Forest, located northwest of Warsaw.