1940
1940-09-18 Letter from Wendelin Seith to Wilhelm Redieß: “Sonderkommando Lange…besides the unforgettable comradeship and farewell evening in Soldau, this gift is the only recognition of our mission”
The letter, dated September 18, 1940, is addressed from SS-Oberscharführer Wendlin Seith to the Higher SS and Police Leader of East-Prussia SS-Gruppenführer Wilhelm Redieß. Seith, serving as a driver for…
1940-10-18 Letter from Koppe to Sporrenberg: “The so-called Sonderkommando Lange …evacuated 1,558 sick individuals from the transit camp in Soldau”
In the letter of 19 October, 1940, the Higher SS and Police Leader of the Warthegau, Wilhelm Koppe, disclosed to his counterpart in East Prussia, Jakob Sporrenberg, that “the so-called…
1940-11-07 Letter from Rediess to Wolff on Sonderkommando Lange in Soldau: “the matter to be in the interest of the Reich”
This document, dated November 7, 1940, is a response to the letter from Wilhelm Koppe to Jakob Sporrenberg. The former Higher SS and Police Leader of East-Prussia, Wilhelm Rediess, escalated…
1941
1941-07-16 Letter of Höppner to Eichmann: “…to eliminate the Jews, as far as they are not capable of working, by some quick-acting agent.”
On July 16, 1941, authorities in the Reichsgau Wartheland convened to deliberate on what was euphemistically termed the “solution of the Jewish question.” Rolf-Heinz Höppner, head of the SD and…
1941-09-02 Memorandum of SS-Sturmbannführer Höppner: “the ultimate fate of these displaced ethnic groups unwanted in the Greater German Settlement Areas—whether the goal is to secure a certain life for them permanently or to eradicate them entirely.”
On September 2, 1941, Rolf-Heinz Höppner, head of the Central Migration Office in Posen, outlined plans for reorganizing the office to address the impending task of “resettling millions of people”….
1941-11-22 Memo of Police Kalisch on Sonderkommando Lange: “an official of the Special Representative of the Secret State Police…informed that the Jewish action had been temporarily finished”
This document of November 22, 1941 was written by Hauptmann Speckmann from the regular police in Kalisch (Kalisz) and describes procedures for the deportation of Jews by Sonderkommando Lange. The…
1941-12-01 Memo by Police Kalisz on Sonderkommando Lange: “List of Jews with children under 14 years were transferred today”
The document describes the fate of 127 individuals identified as “Jews with children under 14 years,” deported from Kalisch by the Sonderkommando Lange on December 1, 1941. Notably, the memo…
1941-12-09 Telex from Forschungsstelle A Litzmannstadt to Forschungsamt 5 A 3: “the sick from the ghetto should be “removed”. When the Stapo office asked whether Berlin had been informed about this, the response was evasive”
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…
1941-12-18 Letter of Damzog to Krumey: “Providing SS members to the commando Lange”
On December 18, 1941, Ernst Damzog, the Inspector of the Security Police and SD in Posen, wrote to Hermann Krumey, the head of the Migration Central Office Litzmannstadt, that he…
22-02-1941 Letter from Wilhelm Koppe to Karl Wolff on Sonderkommando Lange in Soldau: “I took 1,558 troublesome people away”
As Wilhelm Rediess declined to pay 10 Reichsmarks for each institutional inmate killed by the Sonderkommando Lange in Soldau and requested a decision from the Reichsführer-SS, Wilhelm Koppe reiterates his…
1942
1942-01-06 Memorandum of SS-Obersturmbannführer Krumey: “as many SS leaders, sub-leaders, and men as possible are to be detached…for the Kommando Lange”
On January 6, 1942, Herman Krumey, the head of the Migration Central Office in Litzmannstadt, recorded the names of three SS men provided by the Migration Central Office to Sonderkommando…
1942-01-16 Telex from Forschungsstelle A Litzmannstadt to Forschungsamt 5 A 3: “the resettlement beginning on January 16 of 10,000 non-working Jews, involving whole families…estimated the number of non-working Jews at around 100,000”
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…
1942-01-24 Report of the Health Office Warthbrücken (Kolo): “the Jewish work detail employed in Kulmhof has been strictly isolated…it is housed in the Kulmhof Castle at night”
In January 1942, authorities in the Warthegau region grappled with the spread of typhus originating from Sinti and Roma victims, who had been deported from the Litzmannstadt ghetto, to the…
1942-02-28 Letter from Heinrich Müller to Martin Luther: “Geheime Reichssache (1005)…alleged incidents in the course of the solution of the Jewish question in the Warthegau”
On February 6, 1942, Martin Luther of the German Foreign Office forwarded an anonymous letter to Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller. The letter concernced “alleged incidents in the course of the…
1942-03-00 List of Jewish transports from Radegast Train Station in Ghetto Litzmannstadt (Łódź) to Warthbrücken (Koło) between 1 and 15 March 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…
1942-04-00 List of Jewish transports from Radegast Train Station in Ghetto Litzmannstadt to Przybyłów near Kulmhof between 16 March and 2 April 1942
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.
1942-04-22 Telex from Forschungsstelle A Litzmannstadt to Forschungsamt 5 A 3: “All Jews in the Warthegau capable of working would be resettled into the Litzmannstadt Ghetto after the removal of those unfit for work…Jews not capable of working would be placed in so-called care camp”
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 …
1942-05-01 Letter from Arthur Greiser to Heinrich Himmler: “The action of special treatment of around 100,000 Jews in my district…will be completed in the next 2-3 months…the existing and incorporated Sonderkommando”
On May 1, 1942, Arthur Greiser, the Reich Governor in the Reichsgau Wartheland, relayed to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler that “The action of special treatment of around 100,000 Jews in my…
1942-05-03 Letter from Wilhelm Koppe to Rudolf Brandt: “the transfer of those Poles who are demonstrably suffering from open tuberculosis to Kommando Lange for special treatment”
On May 3, 1942, in a coordinated action with the Reich Governor Arthur Greiser of the Reichsgau Wartheland, Wilhelm Koppe, the Higher SS and Police Leader in the same region,…
1942-06-09 Letter from Heinrich Müller to Heinrich Himmler: “no objections to Polish nationals…afflicted with open tuberculosis, being subjected to special treatment..the implementation must be as inconspicuous as possible.”
After receiving the request from the government of the Warthegau to kill Polish nationals suffering from incurable tuberculosis through the use of the Sonderkommando Lange, Rudolf Brandt from the Personal…
1942-11-18 Letter from Kurt Blome to Arthur Greiser: “approximately 35,000 incurable and contagious Poles would be ‘specially treated’….one day even the relatives of the patients will notice that ‘something is not right here,’ even with the best efforts at secrecy.”
While the Nazi authorities in the Warthegau were already planning the killing of Polish individuals incurably afflicted with tuberculosis, concerns were raised by the Main Office for Public Health of…
1942-11-21 Letter from Arthur Greiser to Heinrich Himmler: “to subject those members of the Polish community who are proven to be afflicted with open and thus incurable pulmonary tuberculosis to special treatment…do not believe that the Führer needs to be consulted…since during our last discussion regarding the Jews, he told me to proceed at my own discretion”
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…
1942-12-03 Letter from Heinrich Himmler to Arthur Greiser: “Proceeding against the sick in the intended manner, in my opinion, is not feasible”
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…
1945
1945-02-00 Report of Heinrich May on Kulmhof Extermination Camp
The following report, dated February 1945, was authored by Heinrich May, detailing his experience and knowledge of the Kulmhof (Chelmno) extermination camp in the Warthegau. The document integrates May’s firsthand…