ate as to exactly when the order was given (since no written order has been found), but most experts place it in mid- to late-1941. It most likely was an evolving process. In any event, concurrent with the invasion of the Soviet Union, Einsatzgruppen under the overall direction of Heinrich Himmler, Leader of the SS, followed the German Army into the Soviet Union and began to shoot Jews - men, women and children - where they were found. Starting in late 1941 and early 1942, stationary killing centers were set up in various locations, where Jews were gassed with hydrogen cyanide or carbon monoxide. By the end of the war, approximately 6 million Jews had been shot, gassed, or worked to death. The fortunes of war turned irrevocably against Germany at the end of 1942 and it was all downhill from then until the end of the war in 1945. Nonetheless, the killing of the Jews continued right up to the final days. With Soviet forces approaching the underground bunker in Berlin where he had been holed up since early 1945, Hitler committed suicide....
