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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.

Contemporary Source

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.

Letter from Landrat Warthbrücken to Gestapo Lodz of June 24, 1943
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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.

Contemporary Source

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.

Globocnik Aktion Reinhard
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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.

Sonderkommando Lange Nowgorod
Contemporary Source

1941-10-03 Intercepted Radio Message from Koppe to Himmler’s Staff on Dispatch of Sonderkommando Lange to Clear Asylums in Novgorod

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”.

Letter of Viktor Brackt to Heinrich Himmler of 23 June 1942
Contemporary Source

1942-06-23 Letter from Brack to Himmler: “Globocnik expressed the view that the entire Jewish action should be carried out as quickly as possible”

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.

Contemporary Source

1941-08-16 Radio message from von dem Bach-Zelewski to Koppe: “Please order the immediate deployment of Hauptsturmführer Lange, etc., to Baranowicze.”

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.

Intercepted radio signal from Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski to Wilhelm Koppe of 18 August 1941 on clearing the asylum Novinki near Minsk (PRO HW 16/32, ZIP/GPD 326, traffic 18.8.41, item 5)
Contemporary Source

1941-08-18 Radio message from von dem Bach-Zelewski to Koppe regarding clearing of the asylum near Minsk: “I request that Lange be made temporarily available”

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.

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