Meldung 51 (NO-1128)
A single Nazi document—Meldung Nr. 51 (29 December 1942, Nuremberg NO-1128)[1]—is often cited as proof of the Holocaust: 363,211 "Jews executed" in four months across "Russland-Süd, Ukraine, Bialystok." Historians like Raul Hilberg and Yitzhak Arad link it to the near-total murder of ~300,000 Jews in Ukraine's Volhynia-Podolia region.[2] Yet a closer examination—demographics, military framing, and internal logic — reveals something far more mundane and brutal: an exaggerated report of Eastern Front counterinsurgency successes against Soviet partisans and their suspected Jewish collaborators. This was no racial extermination ledger but a wartime scorecard incentivizing high body counts amid hellish partisan warfare.[3]
Summary Table: Plausible Demographics
| Sub-Region | Pre-War Jews (1939/41 est.) | 1941 Losses (Evacuations/Einsatzgruppen) | Mid-1942 Remnant (German Reports/Pre-Aug Ops) | Fits 363k? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bialystok salient | ~150-200k | ~50k east; pogroms | ~100k (ghettos; e.g., Grodno/Volkovysk) | Yes—Nov sweeps/deports (~40k+ actions). |
| GK Volhynia-Podolia (Volyn/Rivne/Podolia/Polesie/Kremenez) | ~700-800k | ~300-400k (evacuations + 40k "resettled" EM 191) | 326k (MbO May 1942; 135 ghettos; Kruglov ~350k subtotal) | Yes—171k Volhynia +75k Podolia +86k Polesie; forests pad. |
| Ukraine-Süd/Russland-Süd extras (Zhitomir/Vinnitsa/east) | ~500k+ | Heavy (evacuations/early ops) | ~100-200k (stragglers/POWs; e.g., 1k+ Voroshilovgrad) | Yes—rail/swamp ops (Pinsk/Brest). |
| Total (Static) | ~1.5-2M | ~700k | ~500-700k | 363k = 40-60% cull (Jews as threats). |
| Plus Reinhard Transits (Höfle peaks) | N/A | N/A | +100-200k (suspects to labor?) | Dynamic pool: 600-900k → 363k = 30-40% cull of Jews as threats (feasible sans gas/totality). |
Military Context: Partisan War, Not Civilian Slaughter
Meldung 51 summarizes "Bandenbekämpfung" (anti-partisan efforts) under SS leader Odilo Globocnik-Prützmann:
- 447 combat engagements, 262 rail sabotages, 54 bridges/communication stations destroyed, 40 other attacks.
- 140 Soviet defections via German propaganda.
Categories are combat-focused:
- Bandits: 1,337 killed in fights; 737 prisoners executed immediately; 7,828 after interrogation (~9,902 total).
- Helpers/suspects: 16,553 arrested; 14,257 executed (86% rate).
- Jews executed: 363,211, nested under suspects (monthly: Aug. 31k; Sep. 165k; Oct. 96k; Nov. 71k).
Pripyat Marshes and Bialystok were NKVD hotspots. Himmler's Pinsk order (Oct. 1942) explicitly targets the ghetto as a "partisan center" threatening rail lines, sparing 1,000 laborers despite "economic objections." No gas chambers, extermination euphemisms, or Hitler orders — just shootings ("exekutiert") of threats.
Demographics: Feasible Pool Without "Totality"
No need for impossible civilian annihilation. Mid-1942 German reports (Meldungen aus den besetzten Ostgebieten No. 5) counted 326,000 Jews in GK Volhynia-Podolia—a patchwork of regions:
- Polish Volhynia (Volyn/Rivne): ~171,000 victims (Kruglov).
- Soviet Podolia: ~75,000.
- Belarusian Polesie (Brest/Pinsk): ~86,000 (Gerlach).
- Border extras (Kremenez): ~18,000.
- Bialystok salient: ~100,000 ghettos.
- Ukraine-Süd rear: ~100-200,000 stragglers/POWs (e.g., Voroshilovgrad remnants).
Static pool: 500-700,000
Add dynamic inflows: Höfle Telegram peaks (1.27M Reinhard "arrivals" Sep-Dec) suggest ~100-200,000 Generalgouvernement Jews transited via Bialystok for forced labor (e.g. OT roads/rails amid sabotages).
Result: 600-900,000 suspects → 363k = 30-60% targeted cull (threat networks), ~3,000/day with 10,000+ troops (Police Bns. 310/315/320 + Ukrainian aux).
Evidence Gaps and Hyperbole
The following suggest probable inflation by the SS:
- Battalion diaries (Police Bn. 310): ~700 verified kills vs. claimed 41,000.
- Bialystok Nov.: 25,000+ deportations to Auschwitz/Treblinka (Auschwitz Chronicle) — not "executions."
- No mass graves matching scale (Aktion 1005 partial, small sites like Brest).
- The reported figure of 363,211 is considered a "manifest exaggeration" by early Holocaust researcher Gerald Reitlinger[4]
Orthodox Claims Unravel
Bottom-up studies (USHMM Vol. II: 135 ghettos) reach ~350,000 via flawed sources:
- Yizkor books and Soviet ChGK reports (propaganda-prone).
- Dubious Polish transcripts (e.g., Lutsk "100% cleanup" order).[5]
Logistics strain: 91,000/month with minimal German losses? Gaps persist; double-counting rampant.
Conclusion: Total War Toll, Not Hitlerian Genocide
Meldung 51 captures desperate defense against Bolshevik subversion—Jews as prime suspects in reprisals. Toll is horrific (tens of thousands executed), but for military necessity, not racial doom. Forensic voids, hyperbole, and context demand reevaluation: no premeditated wipeout, just wartime brutality inflated by victors. The Holocaust narrative falters here — evidence favors scrutiny over myth.
Translated Document Images (from NMT Vol. XIII) [6]
- ↑ Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10, Nuernberg, October 1946-April 1949, pp. 269-272
- ↑ Hilberg 2003, Vol. III, p.1312; Arad 2009, p.263 (Mattogno, The Einsatzgruppen, pp.252-253)
- ↑ Mattogno, The Einsatzgruppen, pp.252-259
- ↑ Gerald Reitlinger, "The Final Solution: The Attempt to Exterminate the Jews of Europe 1939-45," Jason Aronson, 1987, p. 226, originally published 1953
- ↑ Carlo Mattogno, "The Einsatzgruppen in the Occupied Eastern Territories," Holocaust Handbooks, Volume 39, 2nd revised edition, 2024, pp. 250-259, https://holocausthandbooks.com/book/the-einsatzgruppen-in-the-occupied-eastern-territories/
- ↑ Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10, Nuernberg, October 1946-April 1949, pp. 269-272