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Chelmno (German Kulmhof) was the first Nazi camp which used gas for mass extermination in mobile units. Chelmno was located on the Ner River 37 miles from Lodz, Poland. Between December, 1941 and spring 1943 Jews in the Warthegau district were sent for extermination. Chelmno also operated from June to July, 1944. It ceased to exist on January 18, 1945 when prisoners were then sent to Auschwitz where many more prisoners could be killed using Zykon B gas. Estimates of the victims at Chelmno range from 170,000 to 320,000 people. Included in these figures are 60,000 Jews from Ludz and 11,000 West European Jews. Although Jews were the primary victims they were not the only victims to be killed there. An unknown number of soviet prisoners of war, 5,000 gypsies, and 88 Czechoslovakian children from Lidice were also among the victims.
Jacob Grojanowski (the name may be a pseudonym) arrived at Chelmno on January 6, 1942. He escaped on January 19, 1942 and gave a detailed report to Emanuel Ringelblum's Oneg Shabat group, the underground archive. This report was passed on to the Polish goverment-in-exile and was known in London by June, 1942. In December, 1942 a detailed article on Chelmno was published in the Amercian jewish publication The Jewish Frontier.
The cmap was staffed by a unit called the Sonderkommando Kulmhof which consisted fo 20 security police (Sicherheitspolizei) and 120 regular uniformed police (Schutzpolizei). The camp was under the direction of Sonderkommando Herbet Lange and later by Sonderkommando Hans Bothman.
Chelmno consisted of two parts. The Schloss, an old palace which was surrounded by a high fence and theWaldlager which was located. 2.5 miles away in the Rzuwowski forest. The victims were told they were being sent to work. Signs were posted directing victims: "to the Showers" and "To the Doctor." the prisoners were directed toward a ramp which led into a large hermetically sealed Renault truck. The doors were closed and the victims were gassed. The truck was then driven to the Waldlager where mass graves and cremation ovens were located.
From August, 1944 until January, 1945 the Germans worked at removing evidence of the exterminations. As the Soviet troops approached, the SS men began execution of the Jewish workers. Resistance by the workers caused the deaths of two German soldiers. Two Jewish prisoners survived, Simon Srebhnik and Mordechai Padchlebnik.
From 1947 to 1950 trials were held in Poland of two staff members, Walter Piller and Hermann Gielow who were sentenced to death. From 1962 to 1965 twlelve of the camp's staff were placed on trial in West Germany. They were found guilty and received sentences ranging from light punishment to thirteen years in prison.
Bibliography
Berenbaum, Michael. "Chelmno." Encycopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berembaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 4.2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 589-590. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Holocaust Documentation & Educ Ctr. 14 May 2008
http://go.galegroup.com
"Chelmno" The Holocaust Encyclpedia Ed. Walter Laqueur. New Haven, CT: Yale Unviersity Press, 2001
Krakowski Shmuel. "Chelmno." Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Ed. Israel Gutman. 4 vols. New York: MacMIllan Publishing Co., 1990.
Jacob Grojanowski (the name may be a pseudonym) arrived at Chelmno on January 6, 1942. He escaped on January 19, 1942 and gave a detailed report to Emanuel Ringelblum's Oneg Shabat group, the underground archive. This report was passed on to the Polish goverment-in-exile and was known in London by June, 1942. In December, 1942 a detailed article on Chelmno was published in the Amercian jewish publication The Jewish Frontier.
The cmap was staffed by a unit called the Sonderkommando Kulmhof which consisted fo 20 security police (Sicherheitspolizei) and 120 regular uniformed police (Schutzpolizei). The camp was under the direction of Sonderkommando Herbet Lange and later by Sonderkommando Hans Bothman.
Chelmno consisted of two parts. The Schloss, an old palace which was surrounded by a high fence and theWaldlager which was located. 2.5 miles away in the Rzuwowski forest. The victims were told they were being sent to work. Signs were posted directing victims: "to the Showers" and "To the Doctor." the prisoners were directed toward a ramp which led into a large hermetically sealed Renault truck. The doors were closed and the victims were gassed. The truck was then driven to the Waldlager where mass graves and cremation ovens were located.
From August, 1944 until January, 1945 the Germans worked at removing evidence of the exterminations. As the Soviet troops approached, the SS men began execution of the Jewish workers. Resistance by the workers caused the deaths of two German soldiers. Two Jewish prisoners survived, Simon Srebhnik and Mordechai Padchlebnik.
From 1947 to 1950 trials were held in Poland of two staff members, Walter Piller and Hermann Gielow who were sentenced to death. From 1962 to 1965 twlelve of the camp's staff were placed on trial in West Germany. They were found guilty and received sentences ranging from light punishment to thirteen years in prison.
Bibliography
Berenbaum, Michael. "Chelmno." Encycopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berembaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 4.2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 589-590. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Holocaust Documentation & Educ Ctr. 14 May 2008
http://go.galegroup.com
"Chelmno" The Holocaust Encyclpedia Ed. Walter Laqueur. New Haven, CT: Yale Unviersity Press, 2001
Krakowski Shmuel. "Chelmno." Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Ed. Israel Gutman. 4 vols. New York: MacMIllan Publishing Co., 1990.
