Nazi Mass Murder

On December 18, 1941, Heinrich Himmler recorded a meeting with Adolf Hitler at the Führerhauptquartier (Wolfsschanze) in his Diensttagebuch (service diary). The brief entry reads: “Jewish Question. | To be exterminated as partisans.” The date marks a critical moment in the evolution of Nazi policy toward European Jews. Just days earlier, Hitler had announced the decision to physically exterminate the Jewish population within the Nazi sphere of influence. The phrase “To be exterminated as partisans” noted by Himmler reflects an attempt to frame the genocide as a necessary wartime measure against alleged enemies and subversive elements. The general accusation was intended to justify collective destruction.

Proposal for the Award of the War Merit Cross II Class with Swords by the Gestapo Headquarters in Posen, dated June 16, 1943. This document lists four members of Sonderkommando Kulmhof operating Chełmno extermination camp – Herbert Hiecke-Richter, Walter Burmeister, and gas van drivers Oskar Hering and Gustav Laabs – who were involved in the “direct combat and extermination of state enemies.” Their actions are described as requiring “a particularly manly and strong mental attitude” in service of “solving one of the most critical racial issues”.

On August 1, 1941, Reich Minister Alfred Rosenberg led a high-level meeting to discuss the governance of Nazi-occupied territories in Eastern Europe. Hinrich Lohse, the Reichskommissar for Ostland and Gauleiter of Schleswig-Holstein, reported that “approximately 10,000 Jews had been liquidated by the Lithuanian population”. Lohse emphasized that, following Hitler’s directive, “the Jews should be completely removed from this area”.

Interrogation report dated September 30, 1942, documenting the questioning of SS-Oberscharführer Heinrich Feiertag by an SS court officer regarding allegations against Oskar Dirlewanger, infamous leader of the “Sonderkommando Dirlewanger”, known for its brutality on the Eastern Front. In his testimony, Feiertag acknowledged “hearing rumors about the poisoning of Jews with strychnine”. When confronted with accusations that he was involved in producing soap from human fat, he dismissed them as “slander spoken against me” and stated, “I only shot one Jew, so I would have been lacking material of this origin”.

In May 1943, Walter Schellenberg, head of RSHA Office VI (Ausland – SD-Ausland), informed the German Foreign Office of Britain’s plan to publish a “White Paper on the alleged German atrocities against Jews and Catholics in Poland.” The Nazis feared that the Vatican might supply the British with supporting evidence that leaked “during a visit by an Italian group to Russia, material relating to this matter could have made its way to Italy”.

The Feldscher Aktion, named after Swiss diplomat Peter Anton Feldscher, represented a significant diplomatic effort by the British government during World War II to secure the emigration of 5,000 Jewish individuals, primarily children, from Nazi-controlled territories. In a memo dated May 5, 1944, Eberhard von Thadden, the Jewish Affairs Referent of the German Foreign Office, noted that “the Reich Security Main Office confidentially communicated that the 5,000 Jewish children eligible for emigration were now only available in the Litzmannstadt ghetto. However, this ghetto would soon be dissolved by order of the Reichsführer-SS.”

Between 20 and 29 September 1942, an Italian delegation led by Fascist Party secretary Aldo Vidussoni traveled from Milan through Litzmannstadt, Brest-Litowsk, Minsk, and Kharkov, reaching Millerovo near Rostov. Vidussoni’s account, recorded in Mussolini’s Secretariat documents, notes that “in Minsk, at the Opera Theater, we saw the belongings of thousands and thousands of murdered Jews piled up” and that “what struck the Italians the most was the method of killing”. In mid-May 1943, the German Foreign Office learnt about the incident from a report that Wilhelm Kube, the Generalkommissar for Belarus, had shown the Italian fascist delegation in Minsk “a gas chamber where the killing of Jews was supposedly carried out.” At the time, in September 1942, homicidal gas vans were actively operating near Minsk.

On 8 July 1942, Albert Plate from the Sonderkommando Kulmhof discussed with the Ghetto Lodz Administration regarding the supply of cement, iron girders, and railroad tracks necessary for constructing open-air cremation furnaces in the forest camp of the extermination site. The Sonderkommando required a total of 30 tons of iron. In turn, Plate committed provision of 2,000 kg of diesel fuel to the Ghetto Lodz Administration to fuel the trucks used for transporting the belongings of murdered Jews to the sorting camp in Pabianice. Later, Ghetto Administration head Hans Biebow confirmed with Sonderkommando leader Hans Bothmann that they would receive 5,000 liters each of gasoline and diesel fuel.

Memo by SS-Sturmbannführer Herbert Strickner, head of RSHA Department III (Volkstum, or Ethnicity), analyzing occupation policy from 1939 to 1944 and outlining considerations for reorganizing Polish policy. The document, dated October 18, 1944, explores various approaches to manage the Polish population, with a particular focus on the Generalgouvernement. Strickner notes that “a final and official decision on the ultimate fate of the Polish people was not reached” and the Polish people “fear that they, similar to the Jewish people, are to be annihilated in their ethnic substance.”

Operation Reinhardt (also Reinhard), a Nazi campaign to exterminate Jews in the Generalgouvernement region of occupied Poland, systematically seized the property of Jewish victims. According to a report by the Cash Office of Operation Reinhardt, a total of 178,745,960.59 Reichsmarks (RM) was confiscated from April 1, 1942, to December 15, 1943. The report is a supplementary to the report by Odilo Globocnik on the Economic Part of Operation Reinhard enclosed to his letter to the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler dated January 5, 1944.

On December 29, 1942, SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler delivered a report to Adolf Hitler, mentioning the execution of 363,211 Jews within only four months, between August and November of that year. Himmler’s report, known as report no. 51 to the Führer on Bandit Fighting, provides one of the clearest examples of high-level documentation of the Holocaust.

On April 16, 1943, Hans Biebow, head of the Nazi’s Łódź (Litzmannstadt) Ghetto Administration, penned a letter to Friedrich Ribbe regarding the retrieval of a “transmission belt” promised by Sonderkommando Kulmhof. His letter contained a revealing remark that inadvertently exposed the Ghetto Administration’s complicity in the Chełmno extermination process: “The Gestapo has us to thank that the operation out there in K[ulmhof] ran smoothly.” Biebow urged Ribbe to discuss the issue with Alfons Rosse, the deputy head of the Gestapo in Litzmannstadt. Ribbe’s inquiry revealed that the transmission belt is no longer available, as it has been taken by SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel, the commander of Aktion 1005.

On 15 July 1942, SS-Obersturmbannführer Ernst Fick, commander of the Sennheim training camp, requested a portable flamethrower unit from the SS Cavalry Brigade at the Waffen-SS training camp in Dębica to be provided to SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel’s Sonderkommando 1005. Blobel subsequently tested the effectiveness of the flamethrower for corpse disposal at the Chełmno/Kulmhof extermination camp.

According to a radio message from September 15, 1942 and a trip report dated September 17, 1942, on 16 September 1942, a delegation from Auschwitz — consisting of Commandant SS-Obersturmbannführer Rudolf Höß, SS-Untersturmführer Franz Hößler, who was responsible for clearing mass graves, and SS-Untersturmführer Walther Dejaco from the Central Construction Office — visited Litzmannstadt to inspect “the test station for field ovens as part of Aktion Reinhard”, i.e. the open air cremation furnaces at the Kulmhof / Chełmno extermination camp The group examined the “special facility” and discussed its implementation at Auschwitz with SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel. Blobel also ordered the delivery of “construction materials” and reserved a “ball mill for substances for Auschwitz concentration camp.”

Between 1940 and 1942, Franz Heinrich Bock served as Mayor and Official Commissioner of the Polish village of Poddębice. During this period, he kept a detailed diary documenting his experiences in Nazi occupied Poland, which was later published in 1961 under the pseudonym Alexander Hohenstein, with names of people and places changed (Poddębice became “Poniatowec”). On May 12, 1942, Bock described the visit of an SS officer to Poddębice, who came to oversee the collection of belongings left behind by the deported Jews. During their conversation, the SS officer disclosed that the Jews were killed in “specially constructed trucks” that “quickly and painlessly” kill those inside. The following day, Bock traveled to the Łódź Ghetto Administration to negotiate financial compensation for the deportation.

On June 28, 1943, the Central Construction Office Auschwitz wrote a report addressed to the SS-WVHA on the completion of the third crematorium at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The document was written by SS-Untersturmführer Josef Janisch and prepared for the signature of SS-Sturmbannführer Karl Bischoff, head of the office. According to the report, Crematoria II and III each had the ability to cremate “1,440 persons” per day, while Crematoria IV and V could handle “768 persons” per day. Combined with the older crematorium at Auschwitz I, the camp’s total daily capacity reached “4,756 persons”.

Wilm Hosenfeld, a German officer stationed in Warsaw during World War II, recounts in a diary entry of 23 July 1942 the actions of the German occupation, particularly the extermination of Jewish communities in occupied and annexed Polish territories. Hosenfeld learned specifically that “From Litzmannstadt and Kutno, it is said that Jews – men, women, and children – are poisoned in mobile gas vans, their clothes stripped from their corpses, and their bodies thrown into mass graves, with the clothing being sent to textile factories for reuse”.

In June and July 1942, the Ghetto Łódź Administration delivered large quantities of chlorinated lime and cement to the Sonderkommando at Kulmhof, according to the invoices addressed to the Secret State Police S[Sonderkommando] and internal correspondence of the administration. The materials were picked up by truck at the loading point at Baluter Ring (Balucki Rynek). For instance , on 21 July 1942 Sonderkommando member Erich Kretschmar confirmed the “receipt of 100 sacks of cement (one hundred) from the warehouse of the Ghetto Administration at Baluterring for the SS special operation”. The chlorinated lime was used to disinfect the mass burial sites, the cement was required for constructing the furnaces used for body disposal.

In March 1942, the Inspector of the Health Service under the Reich Commissary for the Consolidation of German Folk ordered 1,641 kg of chlorinated lime, which was commonly used as a disinfectant. The delivery was processed by Kopernikus Pharmacy in Posen and billed on 31 March 1942. The payment for the shipment, which was unloaded at Warthbrücken, the nearest train station to the Kulmhof extermination camp (Chełmno), was made through the special account of the Ghetto Administration in Litzmannstadt (Łódź Ghetto) through which the extermination camp was funded.

Report by Topf & Söhne engineer Fritz Sander, dated September 14, 1942, on the new construction of incineration ovens for concentration camps. Sander points out the “high demand for cremation ovens” especially in Auschwitz”, where “they resort to using a large number of ovens or muffles and overloading the individual muffles with multiple corpses”. Furthermore, the practice that “multiple corpses must be packed into the muffle simultaneously…will likely cause damage to the relatively delicate muffle brickwork.”

Memo by Topf & Söhne engineer Kurt Prüfer regarding a phone call with the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt (SS Economic and Administrative Main Office) on September 8, 1942. Prüfer reports that the Auschwitz concentration camp is planning for cremation ovens with a total capacity to incinerate 2,650 corpses per day. However, he notes that “this number of muffles is still not sufficient; we are to deliver more ovens as quickly as possible.”

Report of SS-Untersturmführer Fritz Ertl, dated August 21, 1942 about a meeting with engineers Kurt Prüfer and Robert Köhler in Auschwitz from August 19 and 20, 1942. The report discusses the “installation of two 3-muffle ovens at the bathing installations for special actions”, an euphemism for the Bunker extermination sites.

The Franke-Gricksch Report was written by SS officer Alfred Franke-Gricksch following his visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp in May 1943. It describes in detail the processes involved in the mass extermination of Jews, including the use of gas chambers and crematoria.

The letter dated 28 August 1942 discusses the transfer of furs confiscated from those murdered in Kulmhof (Chelmno) to the Waffen-SS, a branch of the Nazi military forces. According to the Higher SS and Police Leader in Posen, Wilhelm Koppe, a wagonload of “high-quality furs” had been delivered to Berlin for the benefit of the SS, with expectations of more to follow.

The following document, dated August 13, 1942, is SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff’s response to an earlier letter from Albert Ganzenmüller, Deputy Director General of the German Reichsbahn, regarding the deportation of Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp. In his reply, Wolff expressed his appreciation that “for the past 14 days a train with 5,000 members of the chosen people has been traveling daily to Treblinka and that we are thus able to carry out this population movement at an accelerated pace”.

Odilo Globocnik’s report, enclosed in his January 5, 1944 letter to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, details the “administrative processing of Operation Reinhardt”. Globocnik highlighted that “all assets accrued from this operation were centrally recorded, organized, and booked by an administration set up by me.” These assets included large quantities of Reichsmarks, Zloty, jewelry, and clothing, which were primarily transferred to the state institutions. Globocnik estimated the total value of these assets to be minimum “approximately 180,000,000 Reichsmarks,” with “over 1,900 wagons delivered to the German industry alone.” As most Jews deported during Operation Reinhardt were murdered in the death camps at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka, even “their food, transported with them, was used to supply Jewish camps.

Deposition in Yiddish in February 1942 in the Warszaw Ghetto by Szlama Winer aka Jakub Grojnowski. In his account titled “Gvies-eydes funem tsvang-kabren . . .” (Testimony of a forced gravedigger), Winer reports his experiences in the Jewish working detail at the Chełmno (Kulmhof) extermination camp . Winer was deported from Izbica Kujawska to Chełmno on January 5, 1942 but managed to escape the camp on January 19, 1942.

Report by Odilo Globocnik on the “economic part of Operation Reinhardt” enclosed in his letter of January 5, 1944 to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. The report is divided into four sections: the “resettlement” of Jewish populations, the exploitation of forced labor, the utilization material assets, and the acquisition of hidden values, including real estate. Regarding the extermination camps Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor the report notes that “the facilities built for this operation from accruing funds … have been entirely removed. For monitoring reasons, a small farm has been established in each camp, manned by a specialist”.

On April 16, 1962, Adele Freigang, former resident of the village Chełmno nad Nerem (Kulmhof), provided a detailed testimony to West-German investigators . In autumn 1941, Freigang heard rumors of a Gestapo commando in Kulmhof, which later seized several key buildings. Reports surfaced about transports of Jewish people, initially believed to be going through a transit camp but later revealed to be destined for extermination. The victims were killed in gas vans, and their bodies disposed of in the nearby forest.

In a letter dated January 5, 1944, the Higher SS and Police Leader Odilo Globocnik, addressed Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler regarding the economic settlement of Operation Reinhardt (Aktion Reinhard). The letter was submitted in response to Himmler’s order from September 22, 1943, which requested its completion by December 31, 1943. He outlined the two-part structure of the accounting of the “economic part of Operation Reinhardt… a) accounting and delivery of confiscated valuables and b) accounting of values generated from labor”. Globocnik also stressed that “With the entire accounting of Reinhardt, it must also be noted that their documents must be destroyed as soon as possible since the documents of all other works in this matter have already been destroyed.”

In this letter dated 30 November 1943, Heinrich Himmler replied to Odilo Globocnik letter of 4 November 1943 and acknowleged “the completion of Operation Reinhardt”. Himmler expresses his gratitude and appreciation for Globocnik’s role in what he describes as “great and unique services” to the German people. This operation was responsible for the mass extermination of Jews in the General Government.

Interrogation protocol of Josef Peham, dated December 12, 1962, on his experiences in Kulmhof (Chelmno) extermination camp.

On 4 November 1943, Odilo Globocnik reported to Heinrich Himmler the completion of “Operation Reinhardt, which I led in the General Government, and dissolved all the camps”. Globocnik enclosed a detailed folder and sought approval to propose Iron Cross awards for the “special achievements of this arduous task”.

In a report titled “The Incidents in Kulmhof,” Hersz Wasser, the secretary of the Warsaw Ghetto underground organisation Oneg Shabbbat, describes the atrocities at the Chelmno Extermination Camp, also known as Kulmhof, during December 1941 and January 1942. The document was addressed to the Polish Home Army in April 1942.

On 8 March 1942, the F. Reichelt Aktiengesellschaft Litzmannstadt, a Pharmaceutical Company, issued an invoice to the Ghetto Administration in Lodz for “8 barrels of 100 kg chlorinated lime”. The bill was paid on May 7, 1942 from the special account 12300, suggesting that the materials were supplied to Chelmno extermination camp for desinfecting the mass grave in the forest camp.

Albert Plate, deputy commander of Kulmhof extermination camp, confirmed the correctness of the claim by Walter Becht, Disctrict Administrator of Warthbrücken (Koło) for reimbursement of lease loss for the district gardening ground next to the Kulmhof castle. The letter was sent on August 13, 1943, with the field post number of the Feldgendarmerie-Trupp 7 of SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division Prinz Eugen.

On October 4, 1941, the Government President of Litzmannstadt, Friedrich Uebelhoer, wrote to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, addressing the planned transfer of “at least 20,000 Jews and 5,000 Gypsies” to the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. The letter explained the ghetto’s current capacity issues (“if the Litzmannstadt Ghetto were a pure extermination ghetto, then one could consider even greater crowding of the Jews”) and the potential risks to the surrounding German population. In the end, he declared that he “must decline responsibility for the consequences in full” if the deportations of additional Jews and the Sinti and Roma will be carried out.

The letter dated June 24, 1943 was sent from Walter Becht, Disctrict Administrator of Warthbrücken (Kolo) to the State Police Office in Litzmannstadt. Becht reveals in this document that the SS-Sonderkommando Kulmhof took over the gardening area next to the estate with the “castle” (mansion) as early as October 1941. After the dissolution of the commando, the original tenant resumed full lease payments from April 1, 1943. The document requests reimbursement for the remaining lease loss of 50 RM for the period from October 1, 1942, to the end of March 1943.

On July 28, 1942, Albert Ganzenmüller, State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Transport and Deputy Director General of the German Reichsbahn, wrote a letter to SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolf. The letter cites a report from the General Directorate of the Eastern Railways in Krakow that “since July 22 [1942], a train with 5,000 Jews has been running daily from Warsaw via Malkinia to Treblinka, and also twice a week a train with 5,000 Jews from Przemysl to Belzek [Belzec]”. The transports to Sobibor were paused due to construction on the route.

In this intercepted radio communication dated 4 October 1941, Heinrich Himmler replied to Wilhelm Koppe that “the Sonderkommando is to be dispatched immediately”. This communcation refers to Koppe’s earlier messsage whether Sonderkommando Lange could be provided to clear an asylum in Veliky Novgorod as requested by the German army.

The following set of documents was provided on 3 March 1943 by the SS- and police leader of Lublin Odilo Globocnik to the staff of Heinrich Himmler. Among other things, the report details the “delivered values from Operation Reinhard”, i.e. the extermination of the Jews in the General Gouvernement, The total value of the confiscated assets reached RM 100,047,983.91 and underscores the vast scale of economic exploitation carried out alongside the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Interrogation protocol of Wilhelm Görlich, former member of the SS-Sonderkommando Kulmhof, dated 21 December 1960, recorded in Bonn on his participation and experiences in the extermination camp Kulmhof (Chełmno).

In this radio communication dated 3 October 1941, intercepted by British intelligence, the Higher SS and Police Leader Posen, Wilhelm Koppe, asked for Himmler’s decision to “dispatch Sonderkommando Lange with appropriate aparatus to clear three asylums near Novgorod” in occupied Northwest Russia. This request followed an initiative by Hans Hefelmann from the Chancellery of the Führer. The Army High Command offered to provide logistical support by sending “a Ju 52 to Posen on the morning of October 5th so that Krimiminal-Kommissar Lange with approximately 5 employees can promptly begin his work”.

On 23 June, 1942, SS-Oberführer Viktor Brack from Hitler’s Chancellory wrote to Heinrich Himmler on the matter of mass sterilisation of Jews considered fit for work by the Nazis and implies that the Jews not fit for forced labour will perish. He connects the latter activities to the “special task” of SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik, to whom he had provided “some of my men” (i.e. staff from the Nazi Euthansasia program). Brack notes that “Globocnik expressed the view that the entire Jewish action should be carried out as quickly as possible” and recalls Himmler’s statement that “we must work as quickly as possible for reasons of camouflage”. Globocnik carried out the mass murder of Jews mentioned in this letter through Operation Reinhard (Aktion Reinhard / Reinhardt) in the extermination camps in the General Gouvernement: Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka.

On 16 August, 1941, the British intelligence intercepted a radio message from the Higher SS and Police Leader Center, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, to the Higher SS and Police Leader Posen, Wilhelm Koppe. In this communication, von dem Bach-Zelewski requested Koppe to “order the immediate deployment of Hauptsturmführer Lange, etc., to Baranowicze. On August 15, 1941, the day before, Himmler attended a demonstration shooting in Minsk and visited the Novinki asylum near Minsk. According to von dem Bach-Zelewski, Himmler ordered the facility to be cleared using a more humane method than shooting.

Interrogation protocol of Walter Burmeister, former member of the SS-Sonderkommando Kulmhof, dated 24 January 1961, recorded in Flensburg on his participation and experiences in the extermination camp Kulmhof (Chełmno). According to this, in late 1941, Burmeister was assigned to drive Hauptsturmführer Herbert Lange to Kulmhof (Chełmno), where a special unit was being formed for the extermination of Jews and others. He described his duties, which included managing the kitchen, driving duties, and distributing special rations. He also detailed the killing operations at Kulmhof, including the use of gas vans to murder victims. Burmeister admitted to giving deceptive speeches to victims about to be killed and driving gas vans. He claimed he could not recall his thoughts or motivations at the time, nor could he explain why he did not resist the orders.

Two days after Bach-Zelewski requested Sonderkommando Lange to come to Baranowicze, on August 18, 1941, the British intelligence intercepted another radio message from the Higher SS and Police Leader Center, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, to the Higher SS and Police Leader Posen, Wilhelm Koppe. Von dem Bach-Zelewksi acknowledged that Sonderkommando is not available at the moment, but stressed again “that Lange be made temporarily available to me upon becoming available” as he would like “to have the procedure demonstrated to me personally” by him.

On October 22, 1940, the Higher SS and Police Leader of East Prussia, SS-Gruppenführer Wilhelm Rediess, forwarded a letter from Wendelin Seith of Sonderkommando Lange to the Chief of the Personal Staff Reichsführer SS, SS-Gruppenführer Karl Wolff, with a request to address Seith’s complaint. Rediess also mentioned that “the commando will be deployed in Holland according to the men’s wishes” and that “the Reichsführer-SS places great importance on the care of the men entrusted with this difficult task”. It can be presumed that the members of Sonderkommando Lange were sent to Holland for a recreational mission (collective vacation).

Interrogation protocol of Fritz Ismer, former member of the SS-Sonderkommando Kulmhof, dated 9 November 1960, recorded in West-Berlin. Ismer mentions his transfer to Kulmhof (Chełmno) under SS-Hauptsturmführer Lange and describes the mass murder using gas vans and burial in mass graves. He admits that he handled the valuables taken from victims but denied participation in violence. In spring 1942, cremation ovens were built for burning of the bodies in the mass graves. Ismer also mentions SS-Standartenführer Blobel, who directed the open air cremations.

Certified copy of interrogation protocol of former forester Hans Staegemeir, dated 30 August 1961, recorded in Paderborn (West-Germany) on his experiences and observations on the extermination of Jews near Kulmhof (Chełmno). Staegemeir was appointed as a district forester to Wartheland and witnessed unusual and secretive operations involving the transportation of Jewish people and the ominous presence of gas vans. The area was heavily policed and eventually fenced off and raised suspicions among local forestry officials. Staegemeir described the regular shuttle movement of sealed, gray vehicles that resembled small furniture vans, intensifying in frequency, sometimes every 10 minutes. His observations are also recalled in Heinrich May’s manuscript on Kulmhof from early 1945.

As Wilhelm Rediess declined to pay 10 Reichsmarks for each institutional inmate killed by the Sonderkommando Lange in Soldau and requested a decision from the Reichsführer-SS, Wilhelm Koppe reiterates his position on this matter to Karl Wolff, chief of the personal staff of the Reichsführer-SS. Koppe notes that he “took 1,558 troublesome people away from the Higher SS and Police Leader Northeast for alternative accommodation” and emphasises “it was necessary for a Kommando from my office to stay in East Prussia for 17 days”. He stresses that East-Prussia’s “Gauleiter Koch has agreed to cover all expenses associated with this order”. Additionally, the payment will be also used to fund “Sonderkommando Lange’s stay in Holland ordered by the Reichsführer-SS with over RM 3,000”.

Certified copy of interrogation protocol of forestry official Heinrich May dated 13 December 1960, recorded in Bonn (West-Germany) on his experiences and observations linked to the Holocaust operations near Kulmhof (Chelmno). May was a longstanding member of the NSDAP and SS, career took a dark turn during WWII when he found himself managing a forestry office near Kulmhof extermination camp. May witnessed suspicious activities, including the movement of “gas vans” used for exterminating Jewish individuals. Despite not seeing the killings firsthand, the evidence was overwhelming, with frequent sightings of smoke rising from the forest. Bothmann, the commander of the Sonderkommando operating the site, later revealed to May the presence of mass graves and confirmed the scale of the atrocities. At the end of the war, May penned a manuscript, “The Great Lie,” which recounted these grim details but was never published. In the post-war interrogation, May corroborated the details presented in his manuscript.

This document, dated November 7, 1940, is a response to the letter from Wilhelm Koppe to Jakob Sporrenberg. The former Higher SS and Police Leader of East-Prussia, Wilhelm Rediess, escalated the financial dispute to the Reichsführer-SS over the payment of 10 RM for each victim killed by Sonderkommando Lange in Soldau (East-Prussia). In the letter, addressed to Karl Wolff of Himmler’s personal staff, Rediess mentions “the Kommando Lange” evacuated “1,558 inmates from the East Prussian Provincial Institutions” and “also about 250 to 300 mentally ill (Poles) from the Zichenau region” after “obtaining permission from the Reichsführer-SS”. He explains that he could not take Koppe’s demand for “payment of RM 10.- for each patient…seriously”, as he considered “the matter to be in the interest of the Reich”. Wolff added a handwritten remark “Brack” to the text, referencing to Viktor Brack, a key figure in implementing Nazi Euthanasia.

In the letter of 19 October, 1940, the Higher SS and Police Leader of the Warthegau, Wilhelm Koppe, disclosed to his counterpart in East Prussia, Jakob Sporrenberg, that “the so-called Sonderkommando Lange…evacuated 1,558 sick individuals from the transit camp in Soldau” in the period from May 21 to June 8, 1940. Koppe mentions that Sporrenberg’s predecessor, Wilhelm Rediess, had agreed “at that time that an amount of RM 10.- should be paid for the evacuation of each sick person”. At the beginning of the operation, the “leader of Sonderkommando Lange, Kriminalkommissar Lange, took an advance of RM 2,000.- from the Inspector of the Security Police and the SD in Königsberg”. Koppe requests from Sporrenberg the “transfer the remaining amount of RM 13,580”. The document provides insight into the administrative and logistical aspects of early Nazi extermination operations, particularly how they managed and funded the tasks involved SS and police units.

The document details a list of transports carrying 16,748 Jews from Radegast Station in the Łódź Ghetto to Przybyłów near Kulmhof, conducted between March 16 and April 2, 1942.

At the end of 1941, the SS-Sonderkommando leader Herbert Lange recruited Plate to the extermination camp Kulmhof. After the departure of SS-Obersturmführer Herbert Otto in early 1942, Plate assumed the position of acting camp commander until the camp’s dissolution. In this role, Plate was a key figure in the extermination of Jews at Kulmhof. He personally shot members of the Jewish work commando selected for execution.

The document provides a list of transports with 10,348 Jews deported between March 1 and 15, 1942 from Radegast Station in the Litzmannstadt (Łódź) Ghetto to Warthbrücken. It was used to establish the transportation costs, which were reviewd by SS-Hauptscharführer Alfred Stromberg from the Stapo Litzmannstadt on March 27, 1942.

The document is dated April 22, 1942 and was written by Forschungsstelle A Litzmannstadt (Łódź), a local branch of Hermann Göring’s Secret Service Forschungsamt of the Reich Ministry of Aviation. The message recalls a statement by Robert Schefe of the Litzmannstadt Stapo office that “All Jews in the Warthegau capable of working would be resettled into the Litzmannstadt Ghetto after the removal of those unfit for work”. Furthermore, he noted that “those Jews not capable of working would be placed in so-called care camps” – an euphemistic term for Kulmhof extermination camp.

The document, dated January 16, 1941, was addressed from Forschungsstelle A in Litzmannstadt to Forschungsamt 5 A 3. Both offices were part of Hermann Göring’s Secret Service, the Forschungsamt of the Reich Ministry of Aviation. The telex communicates details from Herbert Weygandt of the Stapo office in Litzmannstadt about forthcoming actions in the ghetto. He mentioned the planned “resettlement beginning on January 16 of 10,000 non-working Jews – involving whole families” and following this “a complex currently housing approximately 8,000 Jews will be removed from the ghetto”.

The telex, dated December 9, 1941, was sent from Forschungsstelle A Litzmannstadt to Forschungsamt 5 A 3, both of which were components of Hermann Göring’s Secret Service Forschungsamt of the Reich Ministry of Aviation. The message from the Litzmannstadt branch mentions a conversation involving Robert Schefe, the head of the local Stapo office that “by order of the Gauleiter, the sick from the ghetto should be ‘removed’.” Furthermore, when questions were raised about whether central authorities in Berlin had been informed of this decision, the response of the Stapo “was evasive”. The term “removed” implies the extermination of the sick in Kulmhof extermination camp, where the operation was ramped-up at the time. The evasive answer about informing Berlin suggest a possible attempt to manage such operations discretely or independently at the local level, indicating the decentralized nature of some Nazi policies.

The letter, dated December 3, 1942, from Himmler to SS-Obergruppenführer Greiser, acknowledges Dr. Blome’s concerns regarding the proposed plan to address incurable tuberculosis patients. Himmler “carefully reconsidered whether the original idea should be implemented in some form” but concludes that “Proceeding against the sick in the intended manner, in my opinion, is not feasible”. Instead, he suggests now an alternative approach, advocating for the relocation of these patients to a designated area. Additionally, he emphasizes the importance of properly leveraging propaganda to support this action.

The letter, dated November 21, 1942, from the Reich Governor of the Reichsgau Wartheland Posen to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, discusses the authorization granted “to subject those members of the Polish community who are proven to be afflicted with open and thus incurable pulmonary tuberculosis to special treatment”, which effectively meant execution. Despite thorough evaluation and planning, concerns regarding implementation were raised by Professor Dr. Blome, Deputy Head of the Main Office for Public Health of the NSDAP, in a letter dated November 18, 1942. Greiser seeks Himmler’s opinion on whether to inform the Führer about this stage of the process. However, he personally believes such consultation of Hitler may not be necessary, citing that previousy “regarding the Jews, he told me to proceed at my own discretion”.

While the Nazi authorities in the Warthegau were already planning the killing of Polish individuals incurably afflicted with tuberculosis, concerns were raised by the Main Office for Public Health of the NSDAP. In a letter dated 18 November 1942 to Arthur Greiser, the Reich Governor of the Wartheland, Kurt Blume detailed the plan of the Warthegau authorities where “approximately 35,000 incurable and contagious Poles would be given special treatment.” He also noted that Greiser “obtained approval for the special treatment from the appropriate authorities,” (e.g. the Security Police and Reichsführer SS) but stressed the need to ensure “explicitly that the Führer truly agrees with such a solution.” Blume pointed out that Hitler “already halted the action in the asylums some time ago, and currently does not consider ‘special treatment’ of the hopeless patients politically expedient or acceptable.” Overall, Blume expressed that “secrecy is simply impossible… one day even the relatives of the patients will notice that ‘something is not right here,’ even with the best efforts at secrecy.”

After receiving the request from the government of the Warthegau to kill Polish nationals suffering from incurable tuberculosis through the use of the Sonderkommando Lange, Rudolf Brandt from the Personal Staff of the Reichsführer-SS sought a statement from the Chief of the Security Police, Reinhard Heydrich, on this matter. On June 9, 1942 ( after Heydrich’s death), Gestapo Chief Heinrich Müller reported that there were “no objections to Polish nationals of the Wartheland region, who are afflicted with open tuberculosis and stateless individuals of Polish ethnicity, being subjected to special treatment as proposed by Gauleiter Greiser”, however, “the implementation must be as inconspicuous as possible”.

On May 3, 1942, in a coordinated action with the Reich Governor Arthur Greiser of the Reichsgau Wartheland, Wilhelm Koppe, the Higher SS and Police Leader in the same region, reached out to Rudolf Brandt, Personal Staff of the Reichsführer-SS. Their aim was to secure Himmler’s approval “for the transfer of those Poles who are demonstrably suffering from open tuberculosis to Kommando Lange for special treatment”, effectively meaning their execution by the Sonderkommando Lange, then operating the Kulmhof extermination camp.

On May 1, 1942, Arthur Greiser, the Reich Governor in the Reichsgau Wartheland, relayed to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler that “The action of special treatment of around 100,000 Jews in my district, which you approved in agreement with the Chief of the Reich Security Main Office, SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich, will be completed in the next 2-3 months”, pertaining to the death toll of Kulmhof extermination camp. Additionally, Greiser proposed “to eradicate cases of open TB within the Polish ethnic group here in Warthegau” by “using the existing and incorporated Sonderkommando after the Jewish action”, suggesting the involvement of Sonderkommando Lange (then under the leadership of Hans Bothmann) in the extermination of Poles with open tuberculosis.

On February 6, 1942, Martin Luther of the German Foreign Office forwarded an anonymous letter to Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller. The letter concernced “alleged incidents in the course of the solution of the Jewish question in the Warthegau”. In his response to Luther two weeks later, classified under the reference number “Geheime Reichssache (1005)”, Müller acknowledged misconduct against Jews in the Warthegau, noting that “where the axe falls, chips will fly”. However, he pointed out that these “measures” were often exaggerated to elicit sympathy and foster hope for an end to them. Müller emphasized that “the Jew tries to escape his well-deserved fate.” The letter is considered as a starting point for the later operation known by the codename “Aktion 1005.”

The letter, dated September 18, 1940, is addressed from SS-Oberscharführer Wendelin Seith to the Higher SS and Police Leader of East-Prussia SS-Gruppenführer Wilhelm Redieß. Seith, serving as a driver for Sonderkommando Lange, expresses gratitude for receiving an amber box as gift for their mission in Soldau, noting the challenges faced and the lack of recognition except through this gift. Redieß forwarded the letter to Karl Wolff, chief of the Personal Staff Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler. This document stands as one of the earliest explicit references to Sonderkommando Lange within contemporary German records.

The document describes the fate of 127 individuals identified as “Jews with children under 14 years,” deported from Kalisch by the Sonderkommando Lange on December 1, 1941. Notably, the memo recounts the escape of Mojsie Nejmanowicz, Sara Nejmanowicz, and Nechemja Nejmanowicz from the camp. Additionally, it mentions that the possessions of the deportees will be collected by the “Gestapo.” See also the report by the same author regarding a prior deportation supported by local police in Kalisch.

This document of November 22, 1941 was written by Hauptmann Speckmann from the regular police in Kalisch (Kalisz) and describes procedures for the deportation of Jews by Sonderkommando Lange. The killer commando is referred to as “official of the Special Representative of the Secret State Police.” The handwritten memo provides detailed instructions regarding guard duty. Furthermore, it discusses the consolidation of areas and the apprehension of escaped Jews. The document concludes with the temporary stop of the so-called “Jewish action” as ordered by Sonderkommando Lange, withdrawal of guard duty and the transfer of workshop keys to an official of the Economic Office. Thus, the document provides some valuable insights into the logistics of the deportation of the Jews during the phase when Sonderkommando Lange operated as a mobile killing unit.

In January 1942, authorities in the Warthegau region grappled with the spread of typhus originating from Sinti and Roma victims, who had been deported from the Litzmannstadt ghetto, to the extermination site of Sonderkommando Kulmhof. At least half of the Polish workers in the Sonderkommando were infected. The local health office detailed these typhus cases in Kulmhof in a letter to the president of the government of Hohensalza (Inowrocław) on January 24, 1942. The report referred to the camp staff as “members of the Sonderkommando” and the Polish laborers as the “Polish working detail,” each group housed separately. Additionally, it mentioned the “Jewish working detail,” who were accommodated in the palace of Kulmhof.

On September 2, 1941, Rolf-Heinz Höppner, head of the Central Migration Office in Posen, outlined plans for reorganizing the office to address the impending task of “resettling millions of people”. Höppner stressed that it is “essential…to have complete clarity from the outset about the ultimate fate of these displaced ethnic groups unwanted in the Greater German Settlement Areas—whether the goal is to secure a certain life for them permanently or to eradicate them entirely.”

On January 6, 1942, Herman Krumey, the head of the Migration Central Office in Litzmannstadt, recorded the names of three SS men provided by the Migration Central Office to Sonderkommando Lange: SS-Obersturmführer Herbert Otto, SS-Hauptscharführer Fritz Ismer, and SS-Scharführer Karl Goede. The group was accompanied by the driver Grebe, whose first name remains unknown.

On December 18, 1941, Ernst Damzog, the Inspector of the Security Police and SD in Posen, wrote to Hermann Krumey, the head of the Migration Central Office Litzmannstadt, that he has “informed SS-Hauptsturmführer Krim.-Kommissar Lange about the delegation of the 3 SS leaders or sub-leaders to his commando”. The notorious obligation declaration, binding all members of the Sonderkommando to strict secrecy, was scheduled to be administered personally by Lange.

Hans Staegemeir was forester of the area at Kulmhof extermination camp. He observed the activities of theSonderkommando and shared his experiences with his superior, Forester Heinrich May. Members of the Sonderkommando visited his forestry office to make telephone calls. Staegemeir also had the opportunity to visit the extermination site in the forest camp.

On July 16, 1941, authorities in the Reichsgau Wartheland convened to deliberate on what was euphemistically termed the “solution of the Jewish question.” Rolf-Heinz Höppner, head of the SD and Umwandererzentralstelle (Migration Center Office) in Posen, forwarded the discussed proposals to Adolf Eichmann, seeking his feedback. Höppner himself regarded the suggestions as “fantastic,” yet entirely viable.

The following report, dated February 1945, was authored by Heinrich May, detailing his experience and knowledge of the Kulmhof (Chelmno) extermination camp in the Warthegau. The document integrates May’s firsthand observations on-site, explanations provided by members of Sonderkommando Kulmhof, and descriptions relayed by other visitors of Sonderkommando Kulmhof.

In March 1942, Bothmann assumed the role of commander at the Kulmhof extermination camp, succeeding Herbert Lange in this position.

Heinrich May served as the head of the forestry office in Warthbrücken (now Koło) within the Warthegau region, which included overseeing operations at the Kulmhof Forestry. Between 1941 and 1944, May bore witness to the atrocities committed at the Kulmhof extermination camp.

Lange oversaw the infamous Sonderkommando Lange and subsequently assumed command at the Kulmhof extermination camp. In this capacity, he bore the responsibility for orchestrating the systematic slaughter of both inmates of asylums and Jews within the Warthegau region.