Shortly after the German Wehrmacht marched into Lithuania in sommer 1941 they started progroms and battered to death thousands of Jews on the streets. Very soon the "SD-Einsatzkommandos 3" started mass executions. In Kaunas these mass executions took place in Fort IX.
On 11/25/1941 and 11/29/1941 fife deportation trains arrived in Kaunas from Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt (Main), Vienna and Breslau. The detainees, thereof Paula Schwarz and Berta Brauer, were disembarked and shot immediately.
excerpt November 1941 of Jäger report, 12/1/1941
It was the first time that people were shot immediately after their arrival. Therefore this is considered to be the turning point of the holocaust, 2 month ahead of the so called Wannsee conferene which took place on 01/20/1942 and where the extermination of the Jews was organized.
These mass executions were not ordered by Berlin but by the overeager SS-Standartenführer Karl Jäger who wrote the following in his report from 12/1/1941, which became very famous as Jäger report:
"Today I can confirm that our objective, to solve the Jewish issue for Lithuania, has been achieved by EK 3. In Lithuania there are no more Jews, apart from Jewish workers and their families. In Lithuania there are no Jews left beside the Jews allocated for work. [...] These Jews including their families I also wanted to knock off, which was challenged fiercly by the civil administration (Reichskommissar) and the Wehrmacht and triggered the prohibition: These Jews and their families are not allowed to kill!""
own translation of Jäger report
