February 2026

Report dated April 7, 1942
Contemporary Source

1942-04-07 / Labor Office Report Lublin: “Of the 40,000 Jews in Lublin, all but 2,000 are being removed from the city”

A confidential report dated April 7, 1942, issued by the Lublin Labor Office, documents labor allocations for March 1942, including transfers of workers to the Reich, SS construction projects, and the reorganization of Jewish forced labor during the early phase of Operation Reinhard. The report explicitly records the onset of mass deportations in Lublin that “in mid-month a larger resettlement action of Jews was initiated by the SS and Police Leader, which is still ongoing and during which the ghetto was sealed off. Of the 40,000 Jews residing in Lublin, all but approximately 2,000 are being removed from the city. These 2,000 consist of approximately 800 skilled workers and their family members.” The document further states that “The resettlement action is also to be carried out in the towns of the rest of the district”.

Jeckeln radio report Police Battalion 320 Kamenenz Podolskij 1941
Contemporary Source

1941-08-28 / Radio Message from HSSPF South: “5,000 Jews were shot” in Kamenets-Podolsky

Radio message from the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) Russia South, Friedrich Jeckeln, to the Kommando Stab RF-SS, dated 28 August 1941. The situation report records that Police Regiment South reported “369 Jews shot,” while Police Battalion 320 stated that, “approximately 5,000 Jews were shot” during the “special action” in Kamenets-Podolsky (Kamianets-Podilskyi).

Interrogation protocoll dated April 28, 1959 Hans Stark Auschwitz
Post-War Testimony

1959-04-28 / The 1959 Interrogation of Auschwitz SS Man Hans Stark

Interrogation of former SS-Untersturmführer Hans Stark of the Auschwitz Political Department, dated April 28, 1959, on atrocities committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. As a former member of the admissions department, Stark testified that “newly arriving transports that were designated for shooting were not to be registered, as would have been done with others, but were to be led directly to be shot.” He further described the early use of poison gas, stating that “the first gassing was carried out in the autumn of 1941 in the small crematorium. … A group of approximately 200 to 250 Jews was brought to the crematorium. They were men, women, and children of all ages. They were sent into the crematorium. I stood at the entrance and counted them. The gassings were carried out in such a way that the Jews were sent into a room which was then closed behind them. Then Zyklon B was poured through two openings in the roof”.

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