Kaunas; Horst Wulff was in charge of the rural Subdistrict of Vilna, and Hans Hingst the urban Subdistrict. The latter had his office in the building of the Polish Bank on Giedymina Street . One of his first orders was to change (on 2 August) the special markings for the Jewish population: from then on, they had to wear yellow Star of David patches on the left side of the chestand on the back.
SS-Obersturmführer Paul Reinhard Krieg was appointed head of the SS and police in Vilna; SS-Obersturmführer Wilhelm Schafer was made head of the Gestapo and the SD.359 Franz Murer (head of the department of supply and prices) was in charge of Jewish affairs in the Office of the Commissioner,and SS-Hauptsturmführer Mayer in the SD. J. Ciuberkis, B. Šidlauskas, and later Petras Buragas dealt with Jewish affairs in the Lithuanian City Council and the Mayor’s Office. On 6 August, a contribution was levied on the Jewsof Vilna, to the sum of 5 million roubles, of which they managed to collect 1.5 million by 15 August.360
The murder of the Jews began immediately after the arrival of Germantroops. On 24 and 25 June 1941, a total of 80 hostages from the Vilna intelligentsia, 60 of whom were Jews, were arrested and placed in the Łukiszki prison. On 22 July, only 6 of them were released. Until the end of August,anti-Jewish actions were limited in scope. It is not known exactly how many victims were killed during the short stays of Sonderkommando 7a and Einsatzkommando 9 (commander – Sturmbannführer Karl Alfred Filbert) from EG B in the city. Unconfirmed Jewish sources report that about 5,000 Jewish men were killed (EG B report No. 10 of 2 July mentions the arrest of 8,000 communists and Jews; the liquidation is also mentioned in report No. 11 of 3 July). According to report No. 17 of 7 July, the Lithuanian police drew up a listof Jewish activists, intellectuals, and wealthy individuals. On 4 and 5 July, 54 and 93 Jews were shot, respectively; and according to report No. 21 of 8 July – a further 321. From that day on, a special Lithuanian police unit (150 men)participated in the murders, shooting 500 people a day. Nearly half a million
