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Concentration camps and death camps
Concentration camps were a central element of the National Socialist regime from 1933 onwards. At first, they primarily served to detain political opponents. The National Socialists extended the system of concentration camps as they prepared for war and as the war progressed. The death camps in occupied Poland were also part of the National Socialist system of camps. Millions of Jews from many European countries were murdered in these camps in the course of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”.
Murder on an industrially-organised scale began in October 1941 with the opening of the Chelmo death camp and the plans for the three Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka death camps in the General Government. The mass murder in the General Government has been carried out under the codename “Operation Reinhardt”. Heinrich Himmler put the SS and Police Leader Odilo Globocnik in charge of “Operation Reinhardt”.
Auschwitz and Majdanek were the only sites functioning as both concentration and death camps.
From spring 1942, the Economic and Administrative Main Office of the SS (WVHA) was responsible for the concentration camps and their numerous satellite camps. The concentration camps were under the command of SS units specially trained for this purpose and SS guards kept watch over the sites, which were surrounded by barbed wire, electric fences and watch towers. The SS forced prisoners to assume supervisory functions and other tasks to secure the internal organisation of the camps.
13.1.1.
Concentration and Death Camps, 1943
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13.1.2.
Concentration and Death Camps, early 1944
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13.2.
“Operation Reinhardt”
“Operation Reinhardt” aimed to murder the Jews in the General Government in a systematic and planned way. It was later also directed against Jews from throughout Europe. Approximately more than 1,75 million Jews and 50,000 Sinti and Roma were killed between March 1942 and November 1943.
The genocide of European Jews reached new dimensions with the death camps at Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. Hundreds of thousands were rapidly murdered at these small sites by a minimal number of staff.
All arrivals were led from the train to a separate part of the camp, without selections or registration. The deportees had to undress and the women’s heads were shaved. They were told that they were in a “transit camp”. A narrow passageway led to the gas chambers, which were made out to be a washroom. Within 20 minutes the victims had suffered an agonising death by suffocation through inhaling exhaust fumes.
The clothing and luggage of the murdered were piled up in large storerooms before being taken to the German Reich by train for re-use.
Each camp was commanded and managed by no more than around 30 SS and police officers. Some of the staff, along with the commandants, had gained previous experience through the mass murder of the disabled (“euthanasia”). The SS deployed former Soviet prisoners of war as guards, training them at the Trawniki camp.
A small number of prisoners were deployed in forced labour commandos; they were called Arbeitsjuden. They too were murdered after a few weeks and replaced by new commandos. In 1943 there were uprisings of Arbeitsjuden condemned to death in Treblinka and Sobibor and several hundreds managed to escape. However, fewer than 200 prisoners from the three camps survived the war.
Entry from the diary of Joseph Goebbels, Reich Propaganda Minister and Gauleiter of Berlin, 27 March 1942
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Odilo Globocnik (1904-1945), SS and Police Leader for the Lublin District, in charge of organising and implementing “Operation Reinhardt"
For Globocnik, the mass murder of Jews was closely related to the “Germanisation” and colonisation plans for the Lublin district and beyond. |
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Christian Wirth (1885-1944), criminal police, manager of the “euthanasia” killing centres in Brandenburg, Hadamar and Hartheim. He was the first commandant of Belzec and later inspector of the camps set up under "Operation Reinhardt" |
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Albert Ganzenmüller, doctor of engineering (1905-1987), State Secretary at the Reich Transport Ministry and Deputy Director General of the German Reich Railways |
Letter from Ganzenmüller to Wolff, 28 July 1942; and reply, 13 August 1942
Exchange of letters between Karl Wolff and Albert Ganzenmüller. Wolff welcomes the rapid sequence of deportations and thus the efficient progress of the murder programme.
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“Since 22 July there has been a daily train carrying 5,000 Jews from Warsaw to Treblinka via Malkinia, as well as two trains a week carrying 5,000 Jews from Przemysl to Belzec.”
“I would like to thank you – also on
behalf of the Reichsführer SS – for your letter of 28.7.1942. I was
particularly pleased to read that for the past fortnight there has been a daily
train taking 5,000 members of the selected people to Treblinka and that we are
thus in the position to carry out these population movements more rapidly.”
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Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) with Karl Wolff (1900-1984), Chief of the Personal Staff of the Reichsführer SS (BA Berlin) |
Conclusion of “Operation Reinhardt”
During 1943, Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka were dismantled and all traces erased. There were to be no reminders of the genocide. Globocnik subsequently balanced the accounts containing the revenue generated by the stolen valuables from the murdered.
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List of the values of “Jewish goods” deposited up to 3 February 1943, drawn up by Globocnik following a personal request from Himmler (excerpt)
“The value of the goods collected lies primarily in the fact that such large quantities of necessary raw materials could be obtained in the process. A source of currency income can be achieved through these goods and thus raw materials again purchased by Reich departments.” |
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Wehrmacht consignment note for the transport of prisoners on German Reich Railways, final destination Sobibor, 4 November 1943
By this time the Sobibor and Treblinka death camps had ceased operations. The prisoners were presumably deployed as Arbeitsjuden to take the collected belongings of the murdered to the Alter Flugplatz labour camp which still existed in Lublin. Here the items were sorted through and transported for further distribution. |
Letter from Globocnik to Himmler, 4 November 1943; and its reply, 30 November 1943 (excerpt):
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“Reichsführer! On 19. October 1943 I concluded Operation Reinhardt, the project I implemented in the General Government, and liquidated all the camps. I hereby send you, Reichsführer, the enclosed folder as a final evaluation. In Lublin I established that there the General Government was a particularly infectious environment, even more so in the Lublin district. I therefore attempted to record these dangerous moments in pictures. It will perhaps prove expedient in the future to be able to point to the elimination of this threat. On the other hand, however, I have tried to give an assessment of labour deployment. This indicates the scale of labour deployment, but also with how few Germans it was possible to carry out this major labour operation. Labour deployment has now grown to such an extent that noteworthy industries have shown an interest in it. In the meantime, I have handed over these labour camps to SS-Obergruppenführer Pohl. Reichsführer, I would ask you to look through this folder. Reichsführer, during a visit you told me that there was the prospect of several Iron Crosses [a decoration] being awarded once the work was over in view of the exceptional results achieved during this hard task. Reichsführer, I would ask you to inform me whether I may make proposals in this regard. (…)
Reichsführer, I would be most grateful for a positive response regarding this matter, as I would very much like to see my men rewarded for their hard work. Heil Hitler! SS Gruppenführer and Police Lieutenant General”
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The answer of Himmler, 30 November 1943:
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“Reichsführer SS
To the Higher SS and Police Leaders in the operational zone Adriatic Coast SS Gruppenführer Globocnik Trieste
Dear Globus, I hereby acknowledge receipt of your letter of 4. November 1943 and your report on the conclusion of Operation Reinhardt. I would also like to thank you for sending me the folder. I would like to express my thanks and recognition to you for the extensive and unique work you carried out for the entire German people in the implementation of Operation Reinhardt.
Heil Hitler! Yours H H”
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