In the Soviet film "Come and See", Nazis lock Belarussian children inside a church and then light it on fire. Did such a practice ever actually happen?

The Germans portrayed in the movie "Idi i Smotri" or "Come and See" (one of the most disturbing, gloomy and brutal war movies I have ever watched) are supposedly (I've read this on numerous occasions, without any definitive proof) based on the infamous exploits of the SS-Sondereinheit Dirlewanger. In particular, the attack on the village seems modelled on the massacre of Chatyn/Khatyn (not to be confused with Katyn) in Belorussia in march 1943.

Some historical background:

One of the most important areas of operation for soviet partisans were the remote areas of Belorussia, the Pripet marches, the vast swamps and forest of eastern Belorussia, which in 1942 and 1943 were in the back of the German front, where they were so successful that they succeeded in controlling whole swaths of territory. In those remote areas, that couldn't be controlled effectively by central authorities, German occupational forces acted with extreme and utter brutality, not only against the partisans, but also against the civilian population suspected of helping them - effectively creating 'Tote Zonen', dead zones, where noone would be living anymore - and therefore no partisans as well, or at least where they wouldn't find support from the local civilian population (who was, between the Partisans and the Anti-Partisan forces, often caught between a rock and a hard place, for supporting the one side - often forced by weapons - they would face reprisals by the other). Burning villages was a regular tactic, so much that it was taken for granted in remarks about the operations. Another important aspect was the ruthless exploitation of people and agriculture, for forced labour and the fourage of the Armies in the East, which regularly had to be taken by force. Since the front demanded every half-way combat-ready formation, the units tasked with these anti-partisan actions were often 3rd or 4th rate units, police or security regiments. One of the units that carried out these executive tasks was the SS-Sonderbataillon (special battalion of the SS) Dirlewanger, named after its commander, Oskar Dirlewanger, a very interesting character.

Finishing the First World War as 1st Lieutenant, he completed his PhD in economics and took part in various fights against communists in Stuttgart and Dortmund. 1921, he fought against the communist leader Max Hölz and his Red Army in Sangerhausen, where he was wounded in the head and subsequently convicted of a misdemeanor against the disarmament law. 1923 he entered the NSDAP, becoming Sturmführer in the SA where he distinguished himself. In 1934, he was tried and convicted for raping a 14-year old girl and two accounts of DUI which led to accidents. After his two years were served (he had been kicked out of the NSDAP by then), he joined the Legion Condor in Spain, his service ending in June, 1939. Tellingly, though he was an officer of the reserves, he was not activated during the mobilization. His big chance, however, came a year later.

In March 1940, Hitler, apparently after a proposal by Himmler, ordered the creation of a special SS-Bataillon composed of convicted poachers, especially bavarian and austrian ones. Himmler had a thing for German history, and one of his personal favourites was King Heinrich I., who waived convictions of poachers and thieves, if they would come into his services and fight for him. Now you may wonder, where does a convicted rapist and drunken driver come into this? At first, they could only find 50 poachers, which obviously was not enough for a Bataillon, so they lowered their standards ever further until they reached the bottom of the barrel.

After the unit was created as SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger, their first task was guarding forced labour camps in occupied Poland (Generalgouvernement), where they already distinguished themselves by an amount of brutality that wasn't acceptable to the German occupation authorities (which is no mean feat):

Everywhere were they were employed, they made a name for themselves through plunder and murder. The SS- and Police Court VI Cracow initiated an investigation in autumn 1941, which would surely end with the incarceration of Dirlewanger and his men. To prevent this [...] they were transferred to Belorussia [Michaelis 1998, 8]

There, for two-and-a half years, at times enlarged by the inclusion of other criminals and inmates of concentration camps, they took part in anti-partisan operations in the rear of the front that were often nothing more than glorified slaughter of civilians. The unit was made up of criminals and inmates, discipline was often impossible to hold up even though draconian measures were employed by Dirlewanger

In February 1943, the Bataillon Dirlewanger, among other units of Wehrmacht, SS and Police took part in Operation 'Hornung' a large-scale 'anti-partisan' operation in the area west of Sluzk. 12.718 people were murdered during this operation, among them 3.300 Jews, the population in the area of operations was

completely eradicated, down to the Babies,

all houses were burnt, all the cattle was transported away. To make sure that partisans would never again "infest" this area, the order was to turn it into No-Mans Land.

On the 22nd of March, 1943, Bataillon Dirlewanger and Police-forces encircled the village of Chatyn at the first light of day. All villagers, men, women, children, were driven into the large village barn, which was then set on fire and fired at by the Germans with machine guns. Only three villagers survived. All references I found online are talking about this massacre as inspiration for the movie "Idi i Smotri", and the accounts are pretty close to what happened in the movie (are you sure it's a church? I have the movie at home and will take a look).

The actions of Dirlewanger and his men even led the German occupational administration to complain about their senseless violence, killing and terrorizing of otherwise productive people, for example when the Circuit Agrarian (Kreislandwirt) complained in a letter, dated 25. July 1943, about Dirlewangers actions:

According to current reports, such as are available to me, 11 villages have been depopulated and burnt to the ground [...] all employees and workers of the State Domain, the council , administration, the dairy, as well as all further workable population has been taken to the Reich for labour use (forced labour) [...] All attempts by me to leave me those people that I need for the continuation of my work, have been to no avail [...] The cattle, such as wasn't outside, was shot, burned or taken as prize by the unit Dirlewanger.

Others complained as well about the senseless brutality of Dirlewanger and his men, but since he was the long arm of Hitlers executive in the occupied territories, only answerable to Himmler and out of the command structure of the regular SS (which was often lamented by other SS-officials) the actions of his unit continued.

One former member of Dirlewangers unit testified after the war:

It is correct that Dirlewanger was frequently drunk, and, one can say, fallen to alcohol [...] It is also correct that he kept young female Jews around himself in Poland, with whom he obviously had intimate relations [...]

Speaking about a time when Dirlewanger refused to hand over three young jewish girls to the SD:

Dirlewanger had all reason not to let those girls fall into the hands of the SD, for they could have accused him grievously. Not only, that he had had sexual intercourse with them, but also, that he had used them to distribute and sell our victuals (cigarettes, alcohol et c.).

Mind you, Dirlewangers worst problem would not have been that he raped some young girls, but that he had had intercourse with jewish girls (Rassenschande). The following day, on his orders, the girls were taken into a forest and shot by members of his unit. He also talked about Dirlewangers habit of burning villages to the ground:

Later, Dirlewanger had unrestricted mandate. When he was shot at on his [observation] flights, he memorized the villages, and then there was an operation. During these operations, the villages were encircled and then set ablaze. Prisoners were not taken. Women and Children were shot, too, or killed in other manners. The names of the villages I cannot remember. In this, Dirlewanger was present and led the operations. He was no coward, and often found at the front.

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