Immediately after the 1941 attack on the Soviet positions in Operation Barbarossa,[3] the mass persecution of Jews by the SS forward units of Einsatzgruppe B began under the command of SS-Gruppenführer Arthur Nebe.[4] Jews were massacred and ghettos were formed in dozens of towns with the participation of Belarusian collaborators who were given various prominent roles.[5] The Belarusian Auxiliary Police was established and deployed to murder operations particularly in February–March 1942.[6]