Transports to Chelmno for extermination began on December 7, and the camp went into operation the next day. Chelmno was meant to be a site for the murder of the Jews of the Lodz Ghetto and the Wartheland. The first victims were Jews from communities in the vicinity, who were told that they were being transported to Germany for labor and that they must undergo disinfection in groups of 70-90 persons. As the Jews undressed, their valuables were collected in baskets and the appearance of recording them with their owners’ names was made. Then they were led naked through a doorway bearing a sign "To the Baths" into a 25-meter passage, fenced on both sides. At its end, the passage turned into a slope that led to a gas van. From the moment the victims reached the slope, the Germans, with great cruelty, made them run in the only direction possible: downhill into the truck. 
 The camp had three gas vans, each of which was equipped with a sealed rear compartment that had a set of double doors. From the outside, they looked like moving vans. Inside, the compartment was lined with galvanized steel and had a wooden grating on the floor. Under the grating was a pipe with openings, and at the end of the pipe was a fixture with which gas was pumped into the compartment through a hose. The driver padlocked the rear doors and started the engine. Within 10 minutes, the victims died of suffocation from the exhaust fumes. Forced laborers were induced, under severe torture, to remove the corpses from the gas vans and bury them in mass graves.