Testimony of Peham, Josef on Kulmhof / Chelmno Extermination Camp (December 12, 1962)
Interrogation protocol of Josef Peham, dated December 12, 1962, on his experiences in Kulmhof (Chelmno) extermination camp.
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1943-11-04 Letter from Globocnik to Himmler on the completion of Aktion Reinhard (Operation Reinhard)
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”.
1942-04-00 Report by Hersz Wasser “The Incidents in Kulmhof” on Chelmno Extermination Camp
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.
1942-03-09 Invoice for “8 Barrels of 100 kg Chlorinated Lime” for Chelmno Extermination Camp
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.
1943-08-13 Letter from Plate to Gestapo Litzmannstadt confirming “the rental shortfall of the district gardening grounds used by the SS-Sonderkommando in Kulmhof (Chełmno)”
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.
1941-10-04 Letter from Uebelhör to Himmler: “If the Ghetto Lodz were a pure extermination ghetto…”
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.
1943-06-24 Letter from Becht to Gestapo Lodz about the “use of part of the district gardening area by the SS-Sonderkommando in Kulmhof”
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.
1942-07-28 Letter from Ganzenmüller to Wolff on deportation of Jews to the Extermination Camps Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibor
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.
1941-10-04 Himmler to Koppe: “The Sonderkommando is to be dispatched immediately”
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.
1943-03-03 Letter from Globocnik to Reichsführer-SS on Delivered Values from Aktion Reinhard (Operation Reinhard)
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.