Col Kuntamukkala Prabhakar Rao Viktors Arājs (13 January 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a Latvian collaborator and Nazi SS officer, who took part in the Holocaust during the German occupation of Latvia and Belarus (then called White Russia or White Ruthenia) as the leader of the Arajs Kommando. The Arajs Kommando murdered about half of Latvia's Jews. On 2 July Arājs learned from Stahlecker during a conference that his unit had to unleash a pogrom that was supposed to appear spontaneous.On 4 July 1941, the German leadership turned loose "Security Group Arājs", generally referred to as the Arājs Kommando or Special Commando (Sonderkommando) Arājs. On the same day, the Germans ran a recruiting advertisement in the occupation-controlled Latvian language newspaper Tēvija (Latvian:Fatherland): "To all patriotic Latvians, Pērkoņkrusts members, Students, Officers, Militiamen, and Citizens, who are ready to actively take part in the cleansing of our country of undesirable elements" should enroll themselves at the office of the Security Group at 19 Valdemara Street . On 4 July Arājs and his henchmen trapped about 20 Jews, who had not been able to take flight before the advancing Germans, in the Riga Synagogue on Gogoļa Street. There they were burnt alive while hand grenades were thrown through the windows. The Arājs commando consisted of 500–1500 volunteers. The unit murdered approximately 26,000 people, first in Latvia and then in Belarus. Arājs was promoted to police major in 1942, and in 1943 to SS-Sturmbannführer.Herberts Cukurs, the former Latvian pilot, was the adjutant to Arājs. Arajs Kommando were notorious for their ill treatment of women. Viktors Arājs raped a Jewish woman, Zelma Shepshelovitz, during the war. Her testimony served a crucial part in the trials of war criminals.After the war he was held prisoner at a British camp and later he worked as a driver in British occupant govt. He managed a false name with the help of Latvian govt in exile and worked in a private organisation. in 1979 Hamburg court found him guilty of war crimes if murdering about 13000 news in Riga ghetto on 8 Dec 1941. he was sentenced to life term. He died in prison Kassel in 1988.
I am a retired colonel from army and for the last 28 years pursuing career in Engineering education. I am a graduate in Mechanical Engineering and Post graduate in Machine design from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. I have obtained Ph D Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Dr Ram manohar Lohia Avadh University. I am also the recipient of Ph D degrees in Strategic studies, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Religious studies and political Science from other Universities. I have also written and published four books on political Science, education and English poetry. I have published 38 Technical papers in various journals and seminar proceedings. I have also published 950 research articles on line in faithcommons.org and Sanghparivar.org. There are 15 English short stories to my credit. I have published 82 articles on various subjects like strategic studies, history and political science in new Swatantra times published from Hyderavbad. As a professor I guided more than 95 projects at degree level and thirty at PG level. Some candidates are pursuing research under my guidance.I am recipient of Three national awards.
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Col Kuntamukkala Prabhakar Rao Viktors Arājs (13 January 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a Latvian collaborator and Nazi SS officer, who took part in the Holocaust during the German occupation of Latvia and Belarus (then called White Russia or White Ruthenia) as the leader of the Arajs Kommando. The Arajs Kommando murdered about half of Latvia's Jews.
On 2 July Arājs learned from Stahlecker during a conference that his unit had to unleash a pogrom that was supposed to appear spontaneous.On 4 July 1941, the German leadership turned loose "Security Group Arājs", generally referred to as the Arājs Kommando or Special Commando (Sonderkommando) Arājs. On the same day, the Germans ran a recruiting advertisement in the occupation-controlled Latvian language newspaper Tēvija (Latvian:Fatherland): "To all patriotic Latvians, Pērkoņkrusts members, Students, Officers, Militiamen, and Citizens, who are ready to actively take part in the cleansing of our country of undesirable elements" should enroll themselves at the office of the Security Group at 19 Valdemara Street . On 4 July Arājs and his henchmen trapped about 20 Jews, who had not been able to take flight before the advancing Germans, in the Riga Synagogue on Gogoļa Street. There they were burnt alive while hand grenades were thrown through the windows. The Arājs commando consisted of 500–1500 volunteers. The unit murdered approximately 26,000 people, first in Latvia and then in Belarus. Arājs was promoted to police major in 1942, and in 1943 to SS-Sturmbannführer.Herberts Cukurs, the former Latvian pilot, was the adjutant to Arājs. Arajs Kommando were notorious for their ill treatment of women. Viktors Arājs raped a Jewish woman, Zelma Shepshelovitz, during the war. Her testimony served a crucial part in the trials of war criminals.After the war he was held prisoner at a British camp and later he worked as a driver in British occupant govt. He managed a false name with the help of Latvian govt in exile and worked in a private organisation. in 1979 Hamburg court found him guilty of war crimes if murdering about 13000 news in Riga ghetto on 8 Dec 1941. he was sentenced to life term. He died in prison Kassel in 1988.
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