1941/10/04 – Serbien Franz Böhme Anordnung Geiselerschießungen

In response to the killing of 22 German soldiers near Topola, the Plenipotentiary Commanding General in Serbia, Franz Böhme, orders that 100 ‘Serbian prisoners’ (mainly Jews and Communists) be shot for every German killed and 50 prisoners for every German wounded. A few days later, on 10 October, he issues an order that provides the formal basis for the Wehrmacht’s subsequent massacres of Jews, Roma and Serbs.