Individual NAZI Death Camps


Figure 1.--The death camps were built for one purpose and ne purpose only--killing. They were very small facilities with minimal staffs. Virtually all the people arriving here were murdered upon arrical. There were almost no survivors. Auschwitz was different. It was a huge workcamp. The Birkenau facility there was the killing operations. Most of the arrivals were murdered, but there was a selecion for work and some, albeit a small number of survivors. There are virtually no siurviving photographs at the killing operations at the Death Camps. We do have a photographic record of Auschwitz-Birkenau, compoled by two SS men who wanted a record of their 'great' work. Here tey have photographed Hungarian Jews still on the ramp at Birkenau, but separated into men on one side and women and children on the other side. Notice that they were ordered to pile their belonings to the side. Also notice the small number of guadsin the background.

NAZI Germany established a huge net work of camps across first Germany and then occupied Europe. There were many different camps, set up for a variety of purposes. Many were used for forced labor. Five camps were created for the sole purpse of killing--primarily killing Jews. These were the camps created for Aktion Reinhard, the extermination of Polish Jews. There were other camps where Jews were killed, but at the death camps, Jew were killed on an industrial basis, as soon or shortly after they arrived. As a result, the camps could be suprisingly small given the number of Jew jilled there. The NAZIs killed large numbers of non-Jews during the War. The vast majority of those killed at the death camps were Jews. And at the death camps, whole families were killed. Other NAZI killing operations, except for gypseys, did not normally include the children. The five death camps were: Belzec, Chelmo, Maly Trostenets, Sorbibor, and Treblinka. SS Reich Führer Heinrich Himmler ordered Odilo Globocnik to begin construction on Belzec (October 13, 1941). It would be the first labor camp in the General Government. Belzec was already being used as of Himmler's SS Burggraben project. The SS quickly followed with the construction of three additional camps, Sobibór and Maidanek in the Lublin district, and Treblinka at Małkinia Górna (early 1942). Globocnik was the individual assigned to oversee these projects and the subsequent operation of the camps. The killing methods varied from camp to camp. The death camps were built for one purpose and ne purpose only--killing. They were very small facilities with minimal staffs. Virtually all the people arriving here were murdered upon arrical. There were almost no survivors. Auschwitz was different. It was a huge workcamp. The Birkenau facility there was the killing operations. Most of the arrivals were murdered, but there was a selecion for work and some, albeit a small number of survivors.

Auscwitz-Birkenau

While Auschwitz was primarily a work camp, Jews and otheres were killed here on an industrial basis. The NAZIs carried out the largest numbers of murders by gas in an industrial fashion at the Birkenau killing opperation. Birkenau was one of the many sub-camps, but the most infamous one. Auschwitz-Birkenau became the the NAZIs premier killing center. Auschwitz when fully operational had the capacity to murder 10,000 people in 24 hours, accorduing to Camp Commandant Rudolf Hoess at the War Crimes Trials following the War. Witness after witness, document after document produced irrefutable evidence of the crimes committed, and no witness was more shocking than Rudolf Hoess, who calmly explained how he had come to exterminate 2,5 million people. The NAZIs first experimented with gassing (September 1941). They chose 850 malnourished and sick prisoners no longer capable of work. When the gass chambers were completed, murder became a daily routine (mid-1942). The NAZIs used Zyklon-B to kill Jews on an industrial level as part of a carefully planned effort to exterminate European Jews. Historians believe that about 3 million persons were murdered at Auschwitz. The largest number were killed by gassing, but starvation, disease, and shooting also took their toll. The opening of the gas chambers changed the nature of Auschwitz. Up to that point, the killing was largely to dispose of people who because of sickness, abuse, and malnutrition were no longer capable of work. The killing capacity of the gas chambers meant that huge numbers of people could be killed daily. This began the killing of Jews in lage numbers. The NAZIs had already prepositioned Jews for easy transport. Poland's large Jewish comminity had been isolated in medieval ghettos. Other Jews throughout NAZI occupied Europe had also been concentrated or were in the process of being so. Rail transports delivered the Jews to a station platform located adjacent to the gas chambers. A selection at the station selected out mothers with children, the elderly, and sick. Healthy individuals unencumbered with children were selected for slave labor which because of the conditions would eventually reduced them to a condition where they would also be gassed. Most of the NAZI victims were Jews, perhaps 90 percent. They were, however, not the only victims. The NAZIs also gassed Christian Poles, Soviet POWs, gypseys, and homosexuals. The difference was that these groups (except the gypseys) did not include children and family groups.

Belzec (Poland: July 1942-October 1943)

Belzec was the first of the death camps the Germans built in occupied Poland or near Poland after 'perfecting' tgevkilling process at Chelmo. SS Reich Führer ordered Odilo Globocnik to begin construction on Belzec (October 13, 1941). It would be the first labor camp in the General Government. Belzec was already being used as of Himmler's SS Burggraben project. The SS quickly followed with the construction of three additional camps, Sobibór and Maidanek in the Lublin district, and Treblinka at Małkinia Górna (early 1942). Globocnik was the force overseeing these projects and the operation of these camps. The Soviet winter offensive (December 1941) threatened the whole process of the Holocaust. The Wehrmacht had succeeded, however, in stabilizing the front (mid-April 1942). The NAZIs had been denied victory, but they still controlled Poland and work on Belzec and the other death camps were rushed to completion. Belzec was a small camp with one purpoise only--to kill. When murder was the sole purpose, the camps did not have to be very large or have a large staff. The SS succeeded in killing about 74,000 Jews from Lublin and Galacia in only one month. A total of 0.4-0.6 million Jews are believed to have been murdered at Belzac. Many of the Jews confined, starved, and eventually murdered at Belzec were from Eastern and Western Galicia. Many German Jews and Jews from areas of occupied countries incorporated into the Reich were also killed at Belzac. About 1,500 Poles accused of helping Jews, Gypsies, and thousands of Soviet prisonors of war were also killed at Belzec. [Gilbet, p. 421.] The victims after arrival by train were directed into disguised gas chambers and were then murdered with exhaust gas (only used at Sobibor and Treblinka). There was no crematorium. The bodies were buried in 33 massive pits. the NAZis attempted to hide what was done at Belzec by destroying the buildings and planting trees. They also built a small farm house there. A joint Isreali-Polish Belzec Memorial Project is now building a memorial at the site to remember the victims murdered there.

Chelmo/Kulmhof (Poland: December 1941-Match 1943 and summer 1944)

Chelmo was one of the five death camps, camps created for the expressed purpose of killing Jews. Like most of the death camps, the NAZIs located it in Poland. Chelmno was named after te nearby town located about 50 miles from Lodz. The Germans who were in the process of Germanizing the area called it Kulmhof. The first gassing of Jews in large numbers occurred at Chelmo. Some of the work to "perfect" the killing process was done at Chelmo. The killing was overseen by Herbert Lange who commanded a Sonderkommando. The SS transferred Lange to Chelmno. He had worked in the T4 euthanasia program where he was involved with murdering Posen psychiatric patients using gas vans. Thus Lange was an experienced killer before arriving at Chelmo. The killing was initially done using vans. Many Reich Jews were killed here. Chelmo was the first of the death camps to begin operation (December 7, 1941). It was primarily used to kill Jews from the nearby large Lodz Ghetto. The first commandant at Chelmo was Herbert Lange. The camp consisted of two principal sections. The first was for the administration section, the barracks and the storage of valuables and goods taken from the victims. The second was for the burial and cremation of the victims. The killing was done by three gas vans. The Jews were locked into the van and then killed with carbon monoxide. Operations at Chelmo continued until most of the Lodz Jews had been killed (March 1943). It was briegly reopened to finish the killing of the Lodz Jews (June 23, 1944). The NAZIs finally ceased operations as the Red Army began moving into western Poland (January 17, 1945). There is no precise accounting of the number of Jews miurdered at Chelmo. Estimates range widely, about 150-300,000 Jews and other NAZI victims.

Lublin-Majdanek (Poland: )

Lublin-Majdanek is sometimes kisted as a death camp. It was, however, was not one of the three major Reinhard death camps. The SS did murder Jews and others there, but in relatively small numbers compared to the major Reinhard death camps. Majdanek was a multipurpose camp, in fact a very large labor camp near with extermination as a secondary purpose. It was very close to Lublin. Because of its size and location could not be kept a secret and was not thus suitable for use as one of the death camps.

Maly Trostenets (Soviet Union: )

Maly Trostenets was located near Minsk in the Soviet Union, the only one of the death camps that the NAZIs did not locate in Poland. The camp was used in 1941 to murder thousands of Soviet POWs during the initial successful phase of Operarion Barbarosa. Beginning May 10, 1942 transports of Jews began to reach the camp. Many Reich Jews were murdered here. More than 0.3 million Jews, many from Austria, Czecheslovakia, and Germany and were murdered upon arrival. The killing process was especially efficient. There are no known survivors of the transports to Maly Trostenets. [Gilbert, p. 421.] The reason was in large part due to its location so far east.

Sobibor (Poland: May-June 1942, October-December 1942, and March-August 1943)

Sobibor was the most isolated of the three Reinhard camps. It was located in a lightly populsted area near Poland's current border with Belarus, fairly close to Belzec. It was established (March 1942), close to the village and rail station of Sobibor just off the Chelm-Wlodawa rail line. The camp itself was situsated in an isolated, wooded and swampy area. SS-Obersturmführer Richard Thomalla, a staff member of the SS Construction Office in Lublin, oversaw the construction. After only a month, SS-Obersturmführer Stangl replaced him. He completed the construction and became the first Camp Commandant. Stangl proved to be Odilo Globocnik favorite and most trusted camp commander. The camp had about 15 German SS men who ran the camp, supervising about 150 Ukranian guards. As in all the death camps, Jews were forced to participate in the killing by the SS. There were also a number of Jews and Soviet POWs who served as prisoner workers. Sobibor despite its lethality, was very small. It was a rectangle, 400 by 600 meters. There was a 3m high barbed wire fencec around it. The SS had tree branches worked into the wire so as the prevent outsiders from viewing what went on inside. It was divided into three separate areas: 1) administration, 2) reception, and 3) killing. Each of the different sectioins were separated by more barbed wire. The vast majority of those sent to Sorbibor to be killed were Jews. Most were murdered by gas within hours of their arrival. About 0.25 million Jews were killed at Sorbior, many from the surrounding area. Some Dutch Jews were also killed at the camp. There was no significant forced labor work at Sorbibor. The sole purpose was to kill Jews as soon as they arrived. A few healthy Jews were selected for slave labor at nearby camps. Almost all of our accounts from Sorbibor comes from those selected for labor. The worker Jews and Soviet POWs staged a rare sucessful rising (October 14, 1943). They managed to kill a few SS and Ukranian guards. A few of the prisoners managed to escape, most of those who broke out were tracked down and killed by the SS as were all prisoners who did not participate in the uprising. The camp was subsequently closed, in part because of the advancing Red Army and in part because the number of available Jews in NAZIs had already been significantly reduced by the Aktion Reinhard killings. Very few photographs were taken at Sobibor. A movie was made bout the revolt, Escape from Sobibor (1978). Although the film focuses on the revolt, the operation of the camp is explsined in some detail.

Treblinka II (Poland: July 1942-October 1943)

Treblinka was one of the most terrible death camps in terms of the number of Jews killed. There were two camps. Treblinka I was a forced labor camp used to manufacture gravel and support the killing operatioin at mearby Terblinka II. The camps were located about 100 km northeast of Warsaw, close to the village of Małkinia Górna. Treblinks was designed and built for the sole purpose of killing people. It was a very small camp as the victims were not to be housed there--only killed. It was one of the four secret camps of Aktion Reinhardt The NAZIs killed more than 0.75 million Jews at Teblinka. Some estimates are as high as 0.9 million Jews. This was a horredous death toll given that the camp only operated for 16 months. Treblinka is often seen as the most efficent of the NAZI industrial killing facilities. Thhis was all accomplished with an amazingly small German staff. Almost all of the victims were Jews. A small number of Gypseys (Roma) were also killed here. The Jews killed at Treblinka were primarily Polish Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto and smaller ghettoes like Random.. The killing began as soon as the gas chamber was completed (July 1942). Other Polish victims came from the more than a hundred villages in the area around Warsaw. But not just Polish Jews were killed at Trblinka. Jews from as far as Greece were murdered there. The victims were told that they were being taken to a transit camp before being transported to a new life in the East. As part of the deception, a fake train station was nuilt with a ticket counter nd clock. There was even music. The whole idea was tokeep the victims cal, for as long as possible to fvilitate the killing process. The killing occurrd in gas chambers. The killing agent was carbon monoxide (MO) produced by tank engines. Jews stage a revolt at Treblinka (August 2, 1943). They killed a few Germans and a few of the Jews managed to escape. Most were subsequently executed. The gassings at the camp, however, stopped (October 1943).

Sources

Gilbert, Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century Vol. 2 1933-54 (William Morrow and Company, Inc.: New York, 1998), 1050p.








CIH





Navigate the CIH World War II Holocaust Pages:
[Return to Main NAZI death camp page]
[Return to Main NAZI concentration camp page]
[Return to Main Operation Heydrich page]
[Return to Main Holocaust page]
[Return to Main World War II page ]
[Allies] [Biographies] [Children] [Concentration camps] [Countries] [Decision] [Denyers/Apologists] [Displaced persons]
[Economics] [Eisatzgruppen] [Eugenics] [German Jews] [Ghettoes] [Impact] [Justice] [Literature]
[Movies] [NAZIs] [Occupied Poland] [Process] [Propagada] [Resistance] [Restitution] [Questions] [SA] [SS] [Special situations] [Targets] [Wansee Conference]
[Return to the World War II]
[Return to the Main mass killing page]
[Return to CIH Home page]




Created: 2:33 AM 8/3/2010
Last updated: 12:25 AM 12/17/2017