Editing Death squad (section)

==== Germany ====

===== Weimar Republic =====
{{Main|Freikorps|Weimar paramilitary groups}}
Death squads first appeared in [[German Reich|Germany]] following the end of the [[World War I|First World War]] and [[German Revolution of 1918–19|the overthrow]] of the [[House of Hohenzollern]]. In order to prevent a [[coup d'etat]] by the Soviet-backed [[Communist Party of Germany]], the [[Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany|Majority Social Democratic]]-dominated government of the [[Weimar Republic]] declared a [[state of emergency]] and ordered the recruitment of [[World War I]] veterans into militias called the [[Freikorps]]. Although officially answering to Defense Minister [[Gustav Noske]], the Freikorps tended to be drunken, trigger happy, and loyal only to their own commanders. However, they were instrumental in the defeat of the 1919 [[Spartacist Uprising]] and the annexation of the short-lived [[Bavarian Soviet Republic]]. The most famous victims of the Freikorps were the Communist leaders [[Karl Liebknecht]] and [[Rosa Luxemburg]], who were captured after the suppression of the Spartacist Uprising and shot without trial. After the Freikorps units turned against the Republic in the [[monarchist]] [[Kapp Putsch]], many of the leaders were forced to flee abroad and the units were largely disbanded.

Some Freikorps veterans drifted into the [[Nationalism#Ultranationalism|ultra-nationalist]] [[Organisation Consul]], which regarded the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|1918 Armistice]] and the [[Versailles Treaty]] as treasonous and assassinated politicians who were associated with them. Among their victims were [[Matthias Erzberger]] and [[Walther Rathenau]], both of whom were cabinet ministers in the Weimar regime.

In addition, the city of [[Munich]] remained a headquarters of Russian [[White émigré]] hit teams, which targeted those who were believed to have betrayed [[Nicholas II of Russia|the Tsar]]. Their most infamous operation remains the 1922 attempt on the life of [[Russian Provisional Government]] statesman [[Pavel Miliukov]] in Berlin. When newspaper publisher [[Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov]] attempted to shield the intended victim, he was fatally shot by assassin [[Piotr Shabelsky-Bork]].

During the same era, the [[Communist Party of Germany]] also operated its own assassination squads. Titled, the [[Rotfrontkämpferbund]] they carried out assassinations of carefully selected individuals from the Weimar Republic as well as assassinations of members of rival political parties. The most infamous operations of Weimar-era Communist death squads remain the 1931 slayings of [[Berlin Police]] captains [[Paul Anlauf]] and [[Franz Lenck]]. Those involved in the ambush either fled to the [[Soviet Union]] or were arrested and prosecuted. Among those to receive the death penalty was [[Max Matern]], who was later glorified as a [[martyr]] by the [[East Germany|East German]] State. The last surviving conspirator, former [[Stasi|East German secret police]] head [[Erich Mielke]], was belatedly tried and convicted for the murders in 1993. The evidence needed to successfully prosecute him had been found in his personal safe after [[German reunification]].

===== Nazi Germany =====
{{Main|Einsatzgruppen|Order police battalions}}
[[File:Einsatzgruppen murder Jews in Ivanhorod, Ukraine, 1942.jpg|thumb|left|''Einsatzgruppen'' murder Jews in [[Ivanhorod]], Ukraine, 1942]]

Between 1933 and 1945, Germany was a [[one-party state]] ruled by the [[Fascism|fascist]] [[Nazi Party]] and its leader, [[Adolf Hitler]]. During this period, the Nazis made extensive use of death squads and targeted killings.

In 1934, Hitler ordered the extrajudicial killings of [[Ernst Röhm]] and all members of the [[Sturmabteilung]] who remained loyal to him. Simultaneously, Hitler also ordered a mass purge of the German [[Reichswehr]], targeting officers who, like General [[Kurt von Schleicher]], had opposed his drive for absolute power. These massacres have gone down in history as, "The [[Night of the Long Knives]]."

Following the [[Operation Barbarossa|invasion of the Soviet Union]] in 1941, the German [[Wehrmacht]] was followed by four travelling death squads called ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'' to hunt down and murder Jews, Communists and other so-called undesirables in the occupied areas. This was the first of the [[massacre]]s which comprised [[the Holocaust]]. Typically, the victims, who included women and children, were forcibly marched from their homes to open graves or ravines before being shot. Many others suffocated in specially designed poison trucks called [[Nazi gas van|gas van]]s. Between 1941 and 1944, the ''Einsatzgruppen'' murdered some 7,4 million Soviet civilians,<ref>{{cite web |language=ru |trans-title=Russia and the USSR in the wars of the 20th century |title=Россия и СССР в войнах XX века |url=http://www.soldat.ru/doc/casualties/book/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100722001916/http://www.soldat.ru/doc/casualties/book/ |access-date=10 July 2022 |archive-date=2010-07-22 }}</ref> 1.3&nbsp;million Jews, as well as tens of thousands of suspected political dissidents, most of the [[Intelligenzaktion|Polish upper class and intelligentsia]], [[POW]]s, and uncounted numbers of [[Romani people|Romany]].{{sfn|Rhodes|2002|p=257}} These tactics ended only with the [[End of World War II in Europe|defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945]].

===== East Germany =====
Between the end of World War II and 1989, Germany was divided into the democratic and capitalist [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]] and the Communist [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]], a one-party state under the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]] and its [[secret police]], the [[Stasi]]. During these years, kangaroo courts and cavalier use of the [[death penalty]] were routinely used against suspected enemies of the State.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} In order to prevent East German citizens from defecting to the West, orders were issued to border guards to [[Schießbefehl|shoot suspected defectors on sight]]. During the 1980s, the Stasi carried out a mission to hunt down and assassinate West Germans who were suspected of smuggling East Germans.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

On the orders of the Party leadership and Stasi chief [[Erich Mielke]], the East German Government financed, armed, and trained, "urban guerrillas," from numerous countries. According to ex-Stasi Colonel Rainer Wiegand, ties to terrorist organizations were overseen by [[Markus Wolf]] and Department Three of the Stasi's foreign intelligence wing.<ref>Koehler (1999), pages 362-363.</ref> Members of the West German ''[[Rote Armee Fraktion]]'',<ref>Koehler (1999), pages 387-401.</ref> the [[Chile]]an ''[[Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front]]'',<ref>Koehler (1999), pages 311-315.</ref> and the [[South Africa under Apartheid|South Africa]]n ''[[Umkhonto we Sizwe]]''<ref>Koehler (1999), pages 316-318.</ref> were brought to East Germany for training in the use of military hardware and, "the leadership role of the Party."<ref>Koehler (1999), page 313.</ref> Similar treatment was meted out to Palestinian terrorists from the ''[[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]]'', ''[[Abu Nidal]]'', and ''[[Black September (group)|Black September]]''.<ref>Koehler (1999), pages 359-386.</ref>

Other Stasi agents worked as [[military adviser]]s to African Marxist guerrillas and the governments they later formed. They included the [[Namibia]]n ''[[SWAPO]]'' and the [[Angola]]n ''[[MPLA]]'' during the [[South African Border War]], the ''[[FRELIMO]]'' during the [[Mozambican War of Independence]] and [[Mozambican Civil War|civil war]], and [[Robert Mugabe]]'s ''[[ZANLA]]'' during the [[Rhodesian Bush War]].<ref>Koehler (1999), page 317.</ref>

Colonel Wiegand revealed that Mielke and Wolf provided bodyguards from the Stasi's counter-terrorism division for Senior PLO terrorist [[Carlos the Jackal]]<ref>Koehler (1999), pages 368-371.</ref> and ''Black September'' leader [[Abu Daoud]]<ref>Koehler (1999), pages 363-367.</ref> during their visits to the GDR. Col. Wiegand had been sickened by the 1972 [[Munich massacre]] and was horrified that the GDR would treat the man who ordered it as an honored guest. When he protested, Wiegand was told that Abu Daoud was, "a friend of our country, a high-ranking political functionary," and that there was no proof that he was a terrorist.<ref>Koehler (1999), pages 365-366.</ref>

During the 1980s, Wiegand secretly recruited a Libyan diplomat into spying on his colleagues. Wiegand's informant told him that the [[La Belle bombing]] and other terrorist attacks against western citizens were being planned at the Libyan Embassy in East Berlin. When Wiegand showed him a detailed report, Mielke informed the SED's Politburo, which ordered the Colonel to continue surveillance but not interfere with the plans of the Libyans.<ref>Koehler (1999), pages 325-357.</ref>

Shortly before [[German Reunification]], West Germany's [[Federal Constitutional Court of Germany|Federal Constitutional Court]] indicted former Stasi chief Erich Mielke for collusion with two [[Red Army Faction]] terrorist attacks against U.S. military personnel. The first was the [[car bomb]] attack at [[Ramstein Air Base]] on 31 August 1981. The second was the [[attempted murder]] of [[United States Army]] General [[Frederick Kroesen]] at [[Heidelberg]] on 15 September 1981.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-28-mn-1594-story.html Ex-E. German Official Charged With Fraud and Embezzlement], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', 28 April 1991.</ref><ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-27-mn-961-story.html "World IN BRIEF : GERMANY : Ex-Security Chief Accused in Attack"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', 27 March 1991.</ref> The latter attack, which was carried out by RAF members [[Brigitte Mohnhaupt]] and [[Christian Klar]], involved firing an [[RPG-7]] [[anti-tank rocket]] into the General's armored Mercedes.<ref>[http://www.stripes.com/news/baader-meinhof-gang-attacked-u-s-troops-bases-in-1970s-1980s-1.36617 Stars and Stripes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221033521/http://www.stripes.com/news/baader-meinhof-gang-attacked-u-s-troops-bases-in-1970s-1980s-1.36617 |date=21 December 2014 }} Published: 5 August 2005</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=John E.|last=Jessup|title=An encyclopedic dictionary of conflict and conflict resolution, 1945-1996|page=409|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hP7jJAkTd9MC&pg=PA409|format=Google books|access-date=6 December 2010|isbn=978-0-313-28112-9|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=1998}}</ref> Due to reasons of [[senile dementia]], Mielke was never placed on trial for either attack.

===== Federal Republic of Germany =====
Following [[German reunification]], death squads linked to foreign intelligence services have continued to operate in Germany. The most infamous example of this remains the 1992 [[Mykonos restaurant assassinations]], in which a group of anti-Islamist Iranians were fatally machine-gunned in a Greek restaurant in Berlin. A German court ultimately convicted the assassins and exposed the involvement of intelligence services of the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]]. The murder and subsequent trial has been publicized in the nonfiction bestseller ''The Assassins of the Turquois Palace'' by [[Roya Hakakian]].