Contemporary Source

The document details a list of transports carrying 16,748 Jews from Radegast Station in the Łódź Ghetto to Przybyłów near Kulmhof, conducted between March 16 and April 2, 1942.

The document provides a list of transports with 10,348 Jews deported between March 1 and 15, 1942 from Radegast Station in the Litzmannstadt (Łódź) Ghetto to Warthbrücken. It was used to establish the transportation costs, which were reviewd by SS-Hauptscharführer Alfred Stromberg from the Stapo Litzmannstadt on March 27, 1942.

The document, dated April 22, 1942, was written by Forschungsstelle A Litzmannstadt, a local branch of Hermann Göring’s Secret Service Forschungsamt of the Reich Ministry of Aviation. The message recalls a statement by Hebert Schefe of the Litzmanndstadt Stapo office. Schefe stated that “All Jews in the Warthegau capable of working would be resettled into the Litzmannstadt Ghetto after the removal of those unfit for work”. Furthermore, he noted that “those Jews not capable of working would be placed in so-called care camps” – an euphemistic term for Kulmhof extermination camp.

The document, dated January 16, 1941, was addressed from Forschungsstelle A in Litzmannstadt to Forschungsamt 5 A 3. Both offices were part of Hermann Göring’s Secret Service, the Forschungsamt of the Reich Ministry of Aviation. The telex communicates details from Herbert Weygandt of the Stapo office in Litzmannstadt about forthcoming actions in the ghetto. He mentioned the planned “resettlement beginning on January 16 of 10,000 non-working Jews – involving whole families and following this “a complex currently housing approximately 8,000 Jews will be removed from the ghetto”. Weygandt also estimated “the number of non-working Jews at around 100,000” and indicated “further resettlement of non-working Jews, to bring in 10,000 Jewish workers from the Warthegau”. The removal of a section of the ghetto “intended to improve traffic conditions and finally make the highway to Warsaw available for public use again”. This document reveals a strategy of step by step progress taken by the Nazi officals to exterminate the Jews, which was orchestrated under the guise of economic, hygienic, infrastructural etc. improvements. This approach also helped to maintain a façade of legality and administrative normality amidst the atrocities.
This document reveals the systematic approach taken by Nazi officials to reconfigure urban areas by removing Jewish populations, reflecting both the regime’s brutal efficiency and its disregard for human life. Furthermore, the planned introduction of 10,000 Jewish workers from the Warthegau after the removal of the non-working Jews indicates a continuous cycle of exploitation and displacement, orchestrated under the guise of economic and infrastructural improvements. This not only facilitated the Nazis’ genocidal policies but also helped maintain the façade of legality and administrative normality amidst widespread atrocities.

The telex, dated December 9, 1941, was sent from Forschungsstelle A Litzmannstadt to Forschungsamt 5 A 3, both of which were components of Hermann Göring’s Secret Service Forschungsamt of the Reich Ministry of Aviation. The message from the Litzmannstadt branch mentions a conversation involving Robert Schefe, the head of the local Stapo office that “by order of the Gauleiter, the sick from the ghetto should be ‘removed’.” Furthermore, when questions were raised about whether central authorities in Berlin had been informed of this decision, the response of the Stapo “was evasive”.

The term “removed” implies the extermination of the sick in Kulmhof extermination camp, where the operation was ramped-up at the time. The evasive answer about informing Berlin suggest a possible attempt to manage such operations discretely or independently at the local level, indicating the decentralized nature of some Nazi policies.

The letter, dated December 3, 1942, from Himmler to SS-Obergruppenführer Greiser, acknowledges Dr. Blome’s concerns regarding the proposed plan to address incurable tuberculosis patients. Himmler “carefully reconsidered whether the original idea should be implemented in some form” but concludes that “Proceeding against the sick in the intended manner, in my opinion, is not feasible”. Instead, he suggests now an alternative approach, advocating for the relocation of these patients to a designated area. Additionally, he emphasizes the importance of properly leveraging propaganda to support this action.

The letter, dated November 21, 1942, from the Reich Governor of the Reichsgau Wartheland Posen to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, discusses the authorization granted “to subject those members of the Polish community who are proven to be afflicted with open and thus incurable pulmonary tuberculosis to special treatment”, which effectively meant execution. Despite thorough evaluation and planning, concerns regarding implementation were raised by Professor Dr. Blome, Deputy Head of the Main Office for Public Health of the NSDAP, in a letter dated November 18, 1942. Greiser seeks Himmler’s opinion on whether to inform the Führer about this stage of the process. However, he personally believes such consultation of Hitler may not be necessary, citing that previousy “regarding the Jews, he told me to proceed at my own discretion”.