In May 1941, recruits for the newly formed Einsatzgruppen, intended for the coming invasion of the Soviet Union, assembled at the police school at Pretzsch on the River Elbe. No specific instructions as to who should be sent to the school had been issued but the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) looked to the Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo), Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) and Sicherheitsdienst (SD) for likely candidates. Others would be selected from the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo) and many of the enlisted men would be provided by the Waffen-SS. More still came from the Ordnungspolizei (Orpo.)
Those earmarked to command an Einsatzgruppe and their subordinate Einsatzkommandos and Sonderkomandos were chosen personally by Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich. Among these hand-picked Einsatzgruppen leaders were highly educated lawyers, physicians and educators, most of whom had earned doctoral degrees before the war. One, Otto Rasch, had earned two doctoral degrees and was referred to as ‘Dr Dr Rasch’.