Post-War Testimony

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.

Certified copy of interrogation protocol of former forester Hans Staegemeir, dated 30 August 1961, recorded in Paderborn (West-Germany) on his experiences and observations on the extermination of Jews near Kulmhof (Chełmno). Staegemeir was appointed as a district forester to Wartheland and witnessed unusual and secretive operations involving the transportation of Jewish people and the ominous presence of gas vans. The area was heavily policed and eventually fenced off and raised suspicions among local forestry officials. Staegemeir described the regular shuttle movement of sealed, gray vehicles that resembled small furniture vans, intensifying in frequency, sometimes every 10 minutes. His observations are also recalled in Heinrich May’s manuscript on Kulmhof from early 1945.

Certified copy of interrogation protocol of forestry official Heinrich May dated 13 December 1960, recorded in Bonn (West-Germany) on his experiences and observations linked to the Holocaust operations near Kulmhof (Chelmno). May was a longstanding member of the NSDAP and SS, career took a dark turn during WWII when he found himself managing a forestry office near Kulmhof extermination camp. May witnessed suspicious activities, including the movement of “gas vans” used for exterminating Jewish individuals. Despite not seeing the killings firsthand, the evidence was overwhelming, with frequent sightings of smoke rising from the forest. Bothmann, the commander of the Sonderkommando operating the site, later revealed to May the presence of mass graves and confirmed the scale of the atrocities. At the end of the war, May penned a manuscript, “The Great Lie,” which recounted these grim details but was never published. In the post-war interrogation, May corroborated the details presented in his manuscript.