1944

Documents dated 1944

Memo of October 18, 1944
Contemporary Source

1944-10-18 Insights from RSHA Memo: Polish people “fear that they, similar to the Jewish people, are to be annihilated in their ethnic substance”

Memo by SS-Sturmbannführer Herbert Strickner, head of RSHA Department III (Volkstum, or Ethnicity), analyzing occupation policy from 1939 to 1944 and outlining considerations for reorganizing Polish policy. The document, dated October 18, 1944, explores various approaches to manage the Polish population, with a particular focus on the Generalgouvernement. Strickner notes that “a final and official decision on the ultimate fate of the Polish people was not reached” and the Polish people “fear that they, similar to the Jewish people, are to be annihilated in their ethnic substance.”

Report of the Cash Office of Operation Reinhardt
Contemporary Source

1944-01-05 Report of the Cash Office of Operation Reinhardt

Operation Reinhardt (also Reinhard), a Nazi campaign to exterminate Jews in the Generalgouvernement region of occupied Poland, systematically seized the property of Jewish victims. According to a report by the Cash Office of Operation Reinhardt, a total of 178,745,960.59 Reichsmarks (RM) was confiscated from April 1, 1942, to December 15, 1943. The report is a supplementary to the report by Odilo Globocnik on the Economic Part of Operation Reinhard enclosed to his letter to the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler dated January 5, 1944.

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.

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.”

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