Testimony of May, Heinrich on Kulmhof extermination camp
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.