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.