December 2024

Letter of February 13,1942
Contemporary Source

1942-02-13 SS-Sturmbannführer Kriegsheim Criticized Over Remark That “The Executions of Jews Is Unworthy of a German”

On February 13, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich’s adjutant, SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans-Achim Ploetz, forwarded a report from Einsatzgruppe A to the staff of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler on the “defeatist” remarks made by SS-Sturmbannführer and Oberstleutnant Arno von Kriegsheim. Among other statements, Kriegsheim expressed that “executing Jews is unworthy of a German.” The report also noted that “similar statements, albeit in less severe forms, were made by almost all the officers of the Commander of the Rear Army Area North during the first months of the Eastern campaign.”

Greiser to Pohl of February 14, 1944 on liqidation of Ghetto Lodz by means of Sonderkommando Bothmann
Contemporary Source

1944-02-14 Greiser Informs Pohl That Reduction of the Getto Łódź “Will Be Carried Out by the Sonderkommando of SS-Hauptsturmführer Bothmann”

Letter dated February 14, 1944, regarding the Nazi administration’s plans for the liquidation of the Litzmannstadt (Łódź) ghetto, one of the largest Jewish ghettos in occupied Poland. In this document, Reich Governor of the Warthegau, Arthur Greiser, informs Oswald Pohl, head of the SS Administrative Main Office (SS-WVHA), that the ghetto’s population “will be reduced to a minimum”. Greiser specifies that the “reduction will be carried out by the Sonderkommando of SS-Hauptsturmführer Bothmann,” who will be “withdrawn from his mission in Croatia and made available to the Gau Wartheland again”.

Letter of October 23, 1941
Contemporary Source

1941-10-23 Head of Anti-Jewish World League Paul Wurm: “Much Will Be Destroyed of The Jewish Vermin Through Special Measures”

Paul Wurm, the Foreign Editor of the Nazi propaganda newspaper Der Stürmer and head of the so-called “Anti-Jewish World League,” wrote a letter on October 23, 1941, to Franz Rademacher, the Foreign Office’s expert on Jewish affairs. In this letter, Wurm mentioned a recent encounter with “an old party comrade” who was actively involved in implementing the “resolution of the Jewish Question” in the East. According to Wurm, this old party comrade disclosed that “much will be destroyed of the Jewish vermin through special measures”.

D5 - Letter of 30 December 1944 on Kaltenbrunner's proposal to Himmler to kill with carbon monoxide
Contemporary Source

1944-12-30 Kaltenbrunner’s Execution Proposal to Himmler: “Carbon Monoxide Introduced Via an Apparatus Operated From the Driver’s Seat”

After the shooting of Generalleutnant Fritz von Brodowski while in Allied captivity on 28 October 1944, the Nazis retaliated by executing French Major General Gustave Mesny “while attempting to escape” on 19 January 1945. In a letter dated 30 December 1944, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, chief of the Security Police, officially proposed to Himmler also the option that “carbon monoxide be introduced into the sealed rear compartment of the vehicle via an apparatus operated from the driver’s seat”.

Letter by Himmler of September 18, 1941 on the deportation of German Jews to the Litzmannstadt Ghetto
Contemporary Source

1941-09-18 Clearing the Reich: Himmler’s Order for the Deportation of 60,000 German Jews to the Litzmannstadt (Łódź) Ghetto

On September 18, 1941, Heinrich Himmler sent a letter to Arthur Greiser, Gauleiter of the Warthegau, conveying Hitler’s request that the Old Reich and the Protectorate be “cleared and freed from Jews from west to east as soon as possible.” In line with this policy, Himmler ordered the deportation of 60,000 Jews from the Old Reich to the Litzmannstadt Ghetto in occupied Poland.

Order of July 19, 1942
Contemporary Source

1942-07-19 Himmler’s Order for the Complete “Resettlement” of Jews in the General Government

On July 19, 1942, Heinrich Himmler, the Reichsführer of the SS, issued a directive ordering the complete “resettlement of the entire Jewish population of the General Government” to be carried out by December 31, 1942. The order specified that no persons of Jewish origin were to remain in the area after this date, except those confined in designated “collection camps” located in Warsaw, Krakow, Częstochowa, Radom, or Lublin. Himmler emphasized that this action was “in the interest of the security and cleanliness of the German Reich and its spheres of interest.”

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