Punishment for Partisan Activity
The Nazi's viewed all 'Slavs' as 'sub human' and quite apart from their genocide against the Jews readily killed anyone connected with any form of 'partisan activity', real or imagined.
As the Soviet Army began to push back the German invaders in some areas in late 1941 and the beginning of 1942 they started to uncover numerous instances of atrocities committed against ordinary citizens. Controversially the Soviet state did not distinguish between crimes committed against people because they were Jewish and other crimes against Soviet citizens.
On the 6th January 1942 the Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov began to put these wide ranging incidents on the official record with a document promising ultimate retribution.