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, Hans Bothmann assumed the role of commander at the Kulmhof extermination camp, succeeding Herbert Lange in this position. Witness accounts depict a man who oscillated between calculated professionalism and unpredictable cruelty. He was “generally calm and deliberate,” recalled one former colleague, “except when he had been drinking.” And he drank often. Others remembered him shooting Jewish prisoners in the neck when they were no longer able to work, or casually joking about killing his own men.
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.