Editing Heinz Jost (section)

== Einsatzgruppe command ==
Jost's career suffered by being linked with Werner Best, who was a rival of Reinhard Heydrich. Best lost a power struggle with Heydrich who went on to become one of the most powerful men in the Nazi state. In March 1942, Jost was fired from his position as Chief of ''Ausland-SD''.<sup>[6][10]</sup> Jost's place was taken by ''Brigadeführer'' [[Walter Schellenberg]], a deputy of Heydrich. Schellenberg had been tasked by Heydrich with building up a case for Jost's removal.<sup>[10]</sup> According to Schellenberg, Jost was lacking in bureaucratic skill and drive.

Jost was sent to command ''Einsatzgruppe'' A, whose previous commander Franz Walter Stahlecker, had recently been killed in a battle with partisans. ''Einsatzgruppe'' A was then operating in the Baltic States and in Belarus, then known as White Russia or White Ruthenia. Jost became ''Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD'' (Commander of the Security Police and the SD) or BdS in Reichskommissariat Ostland, with his headquarters at Riga. Jost retained this position until September 1942. According to Jost, this position carried substantial responsibility:

During the time the territory under his jurisdiction was subject to army control, Jost as Chief of ''Einsatzgruppe'' A cooperated with the army command. When the territory came under civilian administration, he, as Commander in Chief of Security Police and SD received his orders from the Higher SS and Police Leader [[Friedrich Jeckeln]]. In both cases Jost was responsible for all operations conducted in his territory.<sup>[4]</sup>

After his ''Einsatzgruppen'' command, Jost was able to secure a position with the occupation administration for the eastern territories that was run by [[Alfred Rosenberg]], where he acted as a liaison officer between Rosenberg and the Wehrmacht commander in southern Russia, [[Ewald von Kleist]]. At his later trial, Jost claimed that he held this position until May 1944, when as a result of enmity from [[Heinrich Himmler]], he was forced to enlist with the Waffen-SS as a second lieutenant.<sup>[4][6]</sup> Himmler decided in January 1945, that Jost should be retired from the SS with a pension.