<sod>Before the war, Hitler issued the notorious [[Commissar Order]], which called for all Soviet [[political commissar]]s taken prisoner at the front to be shot immediately without trial.{{sfn|Kershaw|2001|pp=357–359}}{{sfn|''General Wilhelm Keitel: The Lackey'', 1998}} German soldiers participated in these mass killings along with members of the ''SS-Einsatzgruppen'', sometimes reluctantly but nevertheless under the auspices of "military necessity.".{{sfn|Wette|2007|pp=198–199}}{{sfn|''General Wilhelm Keitel: The Lackey'', 1998}} On the eve of the invasion, German soldiers were informed that their battle "demands ruthless and vigorous measures against Bolshevik inciters, guerrillas, saboteurs, Jews and the complete elimination of all active and passive resistance." Collective punishment was authorized against partisan attacks; if a perpetrator could not be quickly identified, then burning villages and mass executions were considered acceptable reprisals.{{sfn|Förster|1988|p=26}} An estimated two million Soviet [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] died of starvation during Barbarossa alone; nothing was done for their survival.{{sfn|Hartmann|2013|pp=89–94}}{{sfn|''General Wilhelm Keitel: The Lackey'', 1998}} The famished prisoners of war were hardly able to walk by themselves.{{sfn|Beevor|2012|p=213}} By the end of the war, 58 percent of all Soviet prisoners of war died in German captivity.{{sfn|Glantz|2012|p=48}}{{sfn|"Nazi Persecution of Soviet Prisoners of War"}}<eod>
<sod>Before the war, Hitler issued the notorious [[Commissar Order]], which called for all Soviet [[political commissar]]s taken prisoner at the front to be shot immediately without trial.{{sfn|Kershaw|2001|pp=357–359}}{{sfn|''General Wilhelm Keitel: The Lackey'', 1998}} German soldiers participated in these mass killings along with members of the ''SS-Einsatzgruppen'', sometimes reluctantly but nevertheless under the auspices of "military necessity.".{{sfn|Wette|2007|pp=198–199}}{{sfn|Förster|1998|pp=507–513}}{{sfn|''General Wilhelm Keitel: The Lackey'', 1998}} On the eve of the invasion, German soldiers were informed that their battle "demands ruthless and vigorous measures against Bolshevik inciters, guerrillas, saboteurs, Jews and the complete elimination of all active and passive resistance." Collective punishment was authorized against partisan attacks; if a perpetrator could not be quickly identified, then burning villages and mass executions were considered acceptable reprisals.{{sfn|Förster|1988|p=26}} An estimated two million Soviet [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] died of starvation during Barbarossa alone; nothing was done for their survival.{{sfn|Hartmann|2013|pp=89–94}}{{sfn|''General Wilhelm Keitel: The Lackey'', 1998}} The famished prisoners of war were hardly able to walk by themselves.{{sfn|Beevor|2012|p=213}} By the end of the war, 58 percent of all Soviet prisoners of war died in German captivity.{{sfn|Glantz|2012|p=48}}{{sfn|"Nazi Persecution of Soviet Prisoners of War"}}<eod>