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1942-08-13 Letter from Wolff to Ganzenmüller on Deportations of Jews to Treblinka Extermination Camp

The following document, dated August 13, 1942, is SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff’s response to an earlier letter from Albert Ganzenmüller, Deputy Director General of the German Reichsbahn, regarding the deportation of Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp. In his reply, Wolff expressed his appreciation that “for the past 14 days a train with 5,000 members of the chosen people has been traveling daily to Treblinka and that we are thus able to carry out this population movement at an accelerated pace”.

Report of 5 January 1944 by Globocnik to Himmler on Administration of Operation Reinhardt
Contemporary Source

1944-05-01 Report by Globocnik on the Administrative Processing of Operation Reinhardt

Odilo Globocnik’s report, enclosed in his January 5, 1944 letter to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, details the “administrative processing of Operation Reinhardt”. Globocnik highlighted that “all assets accrued from this operation were centrally recorded, organized, and booked by an administration set up by me.” These assets included large quantities of Reichsmarks, Zloty, jewelry, and clothing, which were primarily transferred to the state institutions. Globocnik estimated the total value of these assets to be minimum “approximately 180,000,000 Reichsmarks,” with “over 1,900 wagons delivered to the German industry alone.” As most Jews deported during Operation Reinhardt were murdered in the death camps at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka, even “their food, transported with them, was used to supply Jewish camps.

Szlama Winer
Contemporary Source

1942-02-00 Report by Chełmno Escapee Winer on his Experience in the Extermination Camp

Deposition in Yiddish in February 1942 in the Warszaw Ghetto by Szlama Winer aka Jakub Grojnowski. In his account titled “Gvies-eydes funem tsvang-kabren . . .” (Testimony of a forced gravedigger), Winer reports his experiences in the Jewish working detail at the Chełmno (Kulmhof) extermination camp . Winer was deported from Izbica Kujawska to Chełmno on January 5, 1942 but managed to escape the camp on January 19, 1942.

Report by Globocnik of January 5, 1944 on the economic part of Aktion Reinhard
Contemporary Source

1944-01-05 Report by Globocnik on the Economic Part of Operation Reinhard: “The facilities built for this operation from accruing funds … have been entirely removed”

Report by Odilo Globocnik on the “economic part of Operation Reinhardt” enclosed in his letter of January 5, 1944 to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. The report is divided into four sections: the “resettlement” of Jewish populations, the exploitation of forced labor, the utilization material assets, and the acquisition of hidden values, including real estate. Regarding the extermination camps Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor the report notes that “the facilities built for this operation from accruing funds … have been entirely removed. For monitoring reasons, a small farm has been established in each camp, manned by a specialist”.

Globocnik to Himmler on Operation Reinhard
Contemporary Source

1944-01-05 Letter from Globocnik to Himmler on Operation Reinhard (Aktion Reinhard): “the documents of all other works in this matter have already been destroyed”

In a letter dated January 5, 1944, the Higher SS and Police Leader Odilo Globocnik, addressed Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler regarding the economic settlement of Operation Reinhardt (Aktion Reinhard). The letter was submitted in response to Himmler’s order from September 22, 1943, which requested its completion by December 31, 1943. He outlined the two-part structure of the accounting of the “economic part of Operation Reinhardt… a) accounting and delivery of confiscated valuables and b) accounting of values generated from labor”. Globocnik also stressed that “With the entire accounting of Reinhardt, it must also be noted that their documents must be destroyed as soon as possible since the documents of all other works in this matter have already been destroyed.”

Himmler to Globocnik, November 4 1943
Contemporary Source

1943-11-30 Letter from Himmler to Globocnik Acknowledging Completion of Aktion Reinhard (Operation Reinhard)

In this letter dated 30 November 1943, Heinrich Himmler replied to Odilo Globocnik letter of 4 November 1943 and acknowleged “the completion of Operation Reinhardt”. Himmler expresses his gratitude and appreciation for Globocnik’s role in what he describes as “great and unique services” to the German people. This operation was responsible for the mass extermination of Jews in the General Government.

Contemporary Source

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.

Contemporary Source

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.

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