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Arājs Kommando: Latvian Nazi Unit Behind Massacres During the Holocaust
The Arājs Kommando was a Latvian collaborationist unit that helped carry out mass murder during the Holocaust in occupied Latvia and Belarus. The rise of the Arājs Kommando marks one of the darkest chapters of the Holocaust in the Baltic region during the Second World War. In July 1941, as Nazi Germany advanced into Latvia following Operation Barbarossa, the collapse of Soviet authority created a deadly power vacuum. Into this chaos stepped Viktors Arājs, a young Latvian nationalist and former police officer who eagerly offered his services to the German occupiers. With the approval of SS…
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