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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!elnk-pas-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!sn-xit-02!sn-xit-01!sn-post-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!nizkor From: Nizkor Project <nizkor@nizkor.org> Newsgroups: alt.revisionism,soc.history,soc.answers,alt.answers,news.answers Subject: HOLOCAUST FAQ: Operation Reinhard: A Layman's Guide (2/2) Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.edu Supersedes: <ar-02_1078290901@veritas.nizkor.org> Followup-To: soc.history Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 04:15:08 -0000 Organization: The Nizkor Project Message-ID: <ar-02_1082175301@veritas.nizkor.org> Expires: 14 Jun 2004 04:15:01 GMT References: <ar-01_1082175301@veritas.nizkor.org> Summary: Research guide to Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka - The Operation Reinhard death camps Reply-To: kmcvay@nizkor.org Keywords: Belzec,Reinhard,Sobibor,Treblinka Originator: nizkor@vex.net X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 880 Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.revisionism:977955 soc.history:191829 soc.answers:18998 alt.answers:72439 news.answers:269600 Archive-name: holocaust/reinhard/part02 Last-modified: 2000/12/14 Operation Reinhard: A Layman's Guide to Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka (Part Two of Two) 4.0 Compiling estimates on numbers exterminated................10 4.1 Deportation Statistics ..................................11 4.1.1 Belzec...................................................11 4.1.2 Sobibor..................................................11 4.1.3 Treblinka................................................12 5.0 Administration.............................................13 5.1 Operation Reinhard Command Staff.........................14 5.1.1 Belzec Staff...........................................14 5.1.1.1 Wachmen..............................................14 5.1.2 Sobibor Staff..........................................15 5.1.2.1 Wachmen..............................................18 5.1.3 Treblinka Staff........................................18 5.1.3.1 Wachmen..............................................18 5.2 Selection................................................19 5.3 Financial Accounting.....................................19 6.0 Research Sources & Other Useful Appendices.................20 6.1 Recommended Reading......................................20 6.2 Abbreviations Used in Citations..........................21 6.3 Glossary.................................................22 6.4 Work Cited...............................................23 [Reinhard] [Page 10] 4.0 Compiling Estimates of the Numbers Exterminated "The exact number of Jews who were deported to the Operation Reinhard death camps is difficult to determine because of the prevailing conditions at the time and the method employed by the Nazi extermination machine in expelling the victims to Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. The number of Jews who lived in the towns and townships of Poland before the war is known from the population census carried out there in 1931. Some demographic changes took place during the years 1931-1939, but these did not basically alter the number of Jews living there on the eve of the German occupation. Substantial demographic changes did occur during the war, during the years 1939-1945, until the onset of the deportations to the death camps. In these years, tens of thousands of Jews escaped from one place to seek refuge in another. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were expelled and resettled, sent to labor camps, or concentrated in larger ghettos. Thousands of Jews were murdered in shooting Aktionen in the vicinity of their homes -- before, during, and after the deportations to the death camps. Thus, on the eve of the expulsions, there were many small localities in which Jews no longer lived and other localities in which the number of Jews was much higher than before the war. The deportation method, as carried out by the German authorities in the General Government, was 'en masse', without lists of names or even exact numbers. Usually ghettos were totally liquidated, and only the killing capacity of the camps and the volume of the trains dictated the number of people who were deported. In places where some Jews were temporarily left behind, the Germans counted the few who remained, while all the others were pushed into the trains. Documents of the German railway authorities, which were found after the war, provided some data on the number of trains and freight cars. If we take into account that each fully packed freight car carried 100-150 people, we can arrive at an approximate indication of the number of Jews in each transport. Another source of information was the census of the ghetto inhabitants carried out by the Judenrats in some of these places. A census of this type was usually taken by order of the German authorities for purposes of forced-labor requests or in preparation for the deportations. Sometimes the Judenrats also took a census for their own purposes ... food rationing or housing problems. Documents containing these data and sometimes even the number of Jews who were deported, as collected by the Judenrat, were found after the war. Sometimes they were mentioned in diaries written by ghetto inmates and left behind. Numerous memoirs written by survivors, as well as the memorial books (Yizkor books, text from two are available from our server (see pub/holocaust/poland/wlodawa and ~/ostrow), contain important data about the deportations, including dates and the number of deported. Testimonies by survivors, statements by local people who witnessed the deportations, and evidence given by members of the German administration at the war crimes trials serve as significant sources of information. [Reinhard] [Page 11] Together, all these documents and sources enable us to arrive at an estimation that comes very close to the actual figures and dates of the deportations to the Operation Reinhard death camps." (Arad, 381-382) 4.1 Deportation Statistics Yitzhak Arad's work (Belzec) has provided an extensive collection of deportation lists, most of which are available through our Holocaust archive sites. His comments regarding the sources for these statistics are found immediately above, in Section 4.0. In addition, German court findings during post-war trials provides additional documentation, and we have transcribed the Operation Reinhard section of the Yad Vashem Studies XVI, and made it available by anonymous ftp and the World Wide Web. See Part 01, Page 1, for retrieval comments. Yad Vashem provides extensively documented material, of great value to researchers. It is important to note here that the figures provided below, from Arad (Belzec), do _not_ include Jews from outside the General Government area, i.e. Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, etc. 4.1.1 Belzec Arad (Belzec) lists 246,922 deportees from within the General Government area alone, and a total of 600,000 killed in all, primarily Jews, with perhaps a few hundred to a few thousand Gypsies as well. He adds, This figure was confirmed by the Glowna Komisja Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce (Main Commission for Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland) and was accepted by the judical authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany. (Encyclopedia, Vol. I, 178) Deportations to Belzec ended in December, 1942, and the transports stopped. Most of the Jews in the General Government were already dead, and Sobibor and Treblinka would handle any that weren't. Information about Belzec is scarce, as very few escaped death there. One who did, Rudolf Reder, who escaped in November, 1942 after four months in the camp, recorded his testimony in Krakow, in 1946. (Reder, R. Belzec. Krakow, 1946; See also Tregenza, M. "Belzec Deathcamp," Wiener Library Bulletin 30, 1979, 8-25) 4.1.2 Sobibor Yitzhak Arad (Belzec) provides the following information regarding Sobibor: "...close to 100,000 Jews from the District of Lublin were deported to Sobibor. Based on the number of Jews who lived in small townships and villages in these areas before the war, and considering the thousands of Jews who were expelled or fled from territories in western Poland, which was annexed to Germany, and who found refuge in the Lublin area, the actual number of those who were deported to Sobibor is much higher. We may assume that the total number of Jews from the District of Lublin who were exterminated in Sobibor was about 130,000 to 140,000. About 15,000 to 25,000 Jews were deported from Lvov and the other ghettos in the District of Galicia to Sobibor in the period ... after Belzec was closed." (Arad, Belzec) [Reinhard] [Page 12] 4.1.3 Treblinka The most accurate figures available regarding the numbers killed at the Treblinka camp are found in the judgements (URTEILSBEGRUNDUNG) from the first and second Treblinka trials, held in Dusseldorf in 1965 and 1970: Passed on September 3, 1965 in the trial of Kurt Franz and nine others at the court of Assizes in Dusseldorf (First Treblinka Trial) (AZ-LG Dusseldorf: II 931638, p. 49 ff.), and the trial of Franz Stangl at the court of Assizes at Dusseldorf (Second Treblinka Trial) on December 22, 1970 (pp. 111 ff.,AZ-LG Dusseldorf, XI-148/69 S.) Number of Persons Killed at the Treblinka Extermination Camp: ------------------------------------------------------------- At least 700,000 persons, predominantly Jews, but also a number of Gypsies, were killed at the Treblinka extermination camp. These findings are based on the expert opinion submitted to the Court of Assizes by Dr. Helmut Krausnick, director of the Institute for Contemporary History (Institute fuer Zeitgeschichte) in Munich. In formulating his opinion, Dr. Krausnick consulted all the German and foreign archival material accessible to him and customarily studied in historical research. Among the documents he examined were the following: (1) The so-called Stroop report, a report by SS Brigadefuhrer [Brigadier] Jurgen Stroop, dealing with the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto. This report consists of three parts: namely, an introduction, a compilation of daily reports and a collection of photographs. (2) The record of the trial of the major war criminals before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. (3) The official transportation documents (train schedules, telegrams, and train inventories) relevant to the transports to Treblinka. The latter documents, of which only a part were recovered after the war, were the subject of the trial and were made available to Dr. Krausnick by the Court of Assizes. Dr. Krausnick's report includes the following information: According to the Stroop report a total of approximately 310,000 Jews were transported in freight trains from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka during the period from July 22, 1942 to October 3, 1942. Approximately another 19,000 Jews made the same journey during the period from January, 1943 to the middle of May, 1943. During the period from August 21, 1942 to August 23, 1943, additional transports of Jews arrived at the Treblinka extermination camp, likewise by freight train, from other Polish cities, including Kielce, Miedzyrec, Lukow, Wloszczowa, Sedzizzow, Czestochowa, Szydlowiec, Lochow, Kozienice, Bialystok, Tomaszow, Grodno and Radom. Other Jews, who lived in [Reinhard] [Page 13] the vicinity of Treblinka, arrived at Treblinka in horse-drawn wagons and in trucks, as did Gypsies, including some from countries other than Poland. In addition, Jews from Germany and from other European countries, including Austria, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece were transported to Treblinka, predominantly in passenger trains. It has not been possible, of course, to establish the exact number of people transported to Treblinka in this fashion, because only a part of the transportation documents, particularly those relevant to the railroad transports, are available. Still, assuming that each of the trains consisted of an average of 60 cars, with each freight car holding an average total of 100 persons and each passenger car an average total of 50 (i.e., that each freight train might have carried an approximate total of 6,000, and each passenger train an approximate total of 3,000 Jews to Treblinka) the total number of people transported to Treblinka in freight trains and passenger trains might be estimated at approximately 271,000. This total would not include the 329,000 from Warsaw. Actually, however, these figures in many instances were much larger than the ones cited above. Besides, many additional thousands of Jews - and also Gypsies - arrived in Treblinka in horse-drawn wagons and on trucks. Accordingly, it must be assumed that the total number of Jews from Warsaw, from other parts of Poland, from Germany and from other European countries, who were taken to Treblinka, plus the total of at least 1,000 Gypsies who shared the same fate, amounted to far more than 700,000, even if one considers that several thousands of people were subsequently moved from Treblinka to other camps and that several hundred inmates succeeded in escaping from the camp, especially during the revolt of August 2, 1943. In view of the foregoing, it would be scientifically admissible to estimate the total number of persons killed in Treblinka at a minimum of 700,000. The court of Assizes sees no reason to question the opinion of this expert, who is known in the scholarly world for his studies on the National Socialist persecution of the Jews. The expert opinion he has submitted is detailed, thorough and, therefore, convincing. In the fall of 1969 another expert, Dr. Scheffler, submitted for the second Treblinka trial an opinion which was based on more recent research, estimating the total number of victims at about 900,000. 5.0 Administration All men joining Operation Reinhard were required to swear that they understood they were forbidden to pass on any form of information, verbally or in writing, on any facet of the work they undertook. The written form, dated 18 July 1942, that the men were supposed to sign has survived and has been reprinted. (Arad, Documents, 275-275, as cited in Breitman) The form used the phrase "..evacuation of the Jews.." to describe the nature of their work. (Breitman, 237) "The commanders of Operation Reinhard, Globocnik, Wirth, and the SS men subordinate to them, succeeded in creating an efficient yet simple system of mass extermination by using relatively scanty [Reinhard] [Page 14] resources. In each of the death camps -- in Belzec, in Sobibor, and in Treblinka -- a limited number of 20 to 35 Germans were stationed for purpose of command and supervision, and about 90 to 130 Ukrainians were responsible for guard duties. All the physical work of the extermination process was imposed on 700 to 1,000 Jewish prisoners who were kept in each camp." (Arad, Epilog) For an extensive examination of Reinhard staff, see http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/orgs/israeli/yad-vashem/yvs16.02. Pekka de Groot is gathering an extensive list of concentration camp staff, which may be viewed at http://www.helsinki.fi/~degroot/reinhard_personnel.htm. 5.1 Command Staff - Operation Reinhard (Aktion Reinhard & Einsatz Reinhard also used) Globocnik, Odilo - Appointed by Himmler as SS- und Polizei-fuehrer of the Lublin District of the General Government, in late (Oct-Nov) of 1941. Commanded Operation Reinhard. Ho"fle, Hans - (Hauptsturmfuehrer), appointed by Himmler as Globocnik's Chief of Operations, in charge of organization and manpower. Himmler assigned the following tasks to his new Reinhard commander: 1. Overall planning of deportations 2. Construction and operation of the death camps 3. Co-ordination of the deportations from each of the five districts of the General Government (Warsaw, Lublin, Radom, Krakow, and Lvov.) Globocnik had a team of 450 Germans at his disposal - at their core was a group of 92 men, headed by Christian Wirth, who had been assigned to Globocnik for the euthanasia program. It was this group from which key staff were selected for Reinhard, including the camp commanders. Each camp was allotted 20-30 German staff. [Arad, who wrote the Reinhard section of the Encyclopedia, which is paraphrased here, used '20 to 35' in the epilog to his book on the subject, quoted earlier in this document. knm] Also recruited was a special auxillary unit, consisting of Ukrainian volunteers, most of them Soviet POW's. They were billetted in an SS training camp (Trawniki) where they were issued black uniforms and weapons. They were organized into platoons and companies, and received brief training. Their unit commanders were German. Each camp was allotted from 90 - 120 of these "Trawniki's," who were also used in deportation and escort capacities. (Encyclopedia, I, 14-15) 5.1.1 Command Staff - Belzec Oberhauser, Josef Schluch, SS-Unterscharfuehrer Wirth, SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Christian (Camp Commandant) 5.1.1.1 Ukrainian & Russian Wachmans, Belzec Pavli, Nikolai. See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/p/pavli.nikolai.antonevitch for Soviet interrogation record of Nikolai Pavli. Werdenik, Ivan. See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/p/pavli.nikolai.antonevitch [Reinhard] [Page 15] 5.1.2 Command Staff - Sobibor Bauer, Erich Bolander, Karl (Kurt Balender? - Get http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/places/poland/wlodawa/wlodawa.015) Some confusion exists in my mind about Bolander - or Balender - since both names have appeared, they may be one and the same, or there may have been two men with similar names.. I do not know yet. Bredov, SS Sgt. Paul Frenzel, SS Sgt. Karl When the Germans learned of a planned revolt, they chose 72 men and sent them to the crematorium - Frenzel supervised this action, and "Returning from the scene of the murder he ordered the quick erection of a temporary stage out of some planks, called for the orchestra, gathered the women and told them to sing and dance."(Testimony from the Sobibor Trials, as related in Wlodawa.016) During the trials, Frenzel has also accused of shooting a young boy for the crime of eating sardines... Gomerski, SS Sgt. Hubert Groth, Paul (Sgt) Hering, SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Gottlied - Replaced Wirth as Camp Commandant after Wirth appointed Inspector of the Reinhard death camps in August, 1942. Lampert, Erwin Michel, SS Sgt. Hermann ("The Preacher") Neiman, Oberltnt. Designated as deputy commander by Razgonayev. See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/r/razgonayev.mikhail.a for Soviet interrogation of same. Poul, ? SS Obersturmfuehrer (1st. Lt.) Rashke's work (Escape from Sobibor) provides some insight into the mentality of the German staff regarding their attitude towards their victims. He notes that the flow of transports into the camp during the winter of 1942 had slowed to a trickle, primarily because most of the Polish Jews were already dead, and because the trains were needed to support the crumbling Eastern Front. This, he comments, along with the isolation of the nearly snowbound camp, made them edgy and bored: They took it out on the Jews. Sergeant Paul Groth made up little games. He'd order four Jews to carry him around the yard like a king while he'd drop burning paper on their heads. Or he'd make prisoners jump from roofs with umbrellas, or scale roof beams until they fell to the floor. Those who sprained ankles and broke legs were shot in Camp III. Or he'd organize a flogging party, forcing Jews to run the gauntlet past Ukrainians with whips. Or he'd order a thin prisoner to gulp vodka and eat two pounds of sausage within minutes. They he'd force open the Jew's mouth and urinate in it, roaring with laughter as the prisoner retched in the snow. [Reinhard] [Page 16] Groth softened briefly. Three beautiful girls came to Sobibor on a transport from Vienna. Groth took Ruth as his servant and mistress. Seageant Poul, the drunk, smuggled the other two into the Merry Flea. Groth fell in love with the dark-eyed teen-ager and, almost as a favor to her, or so it seemed, stopped beating the other Jews. But the truce was short-lived. It was against SS regulations to molest Jewesses - an insult to the master race. Himmler was quite adamant on that point. So while Groth and Poul were on leave, Kommandant Reichleitner transferred both of them. Groth ended up at Belzec. The Sobibor Jews were delighted to see the two Nazis go, but Groth and Poul were easily replaced, and life went on as usual. The empty winter days also got to Kurt Bolander and Erich Bauer. Because there was little to do in Camp III without Jews to gas, Bauer turned to vodka. He kept a private bar in his room in the Swallow's Nest, and there Jews would come to mix drinks or make eggnog. The short Nazi - he was under five feet six inches - would sit in his armchair, facing a photograph of his wife and children and a portrait of the Fuehrer ... and drink himself into oblivion. If a prisoner spilled any liquor or broke a bottle, the former street-car conductor would make him wipe the floor with his tongue. Bolander took out his frustration on the ten Jews who carried the swill buckets from Camp I to the gate to Camp III. Bolander would make them run, and if, as sometimes happened, the Jews in Camp III opened the gate before the Jews from Camp I had left, Bolander would shoot the swill carriers. Somehow, the Nazis had deluded themselves into believing that the Camp I Jews didn't know what went on in Camp III. And they wanted to keep it that way. (Rashke, 101-102) Reichsleitner, SS-Obersturmfuehrer Franz. Replaced Stangl as commander at the end of August, 1942. Stangl was transferred to Treblinka. Stangl, Franz, Oberleutnant (Camp Commandant) Franz Stangl, the commander of Sobibor and Treblinka, was stationed in northern Italy, in the areas of Fiume and Udine, from the autumn of 1943 and engaged in actions against partisans and local Jews. After the war he escaped to Brazil; in 1967 he was discovered there, arrested, and extradited to the Federal Republic of Germany. He was tried in Dusseldorf in 1970 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in prison a few months after the end of the trial. (Arad, Belzec) Stangl was sent to command Sobibor after construction fell behind schedule in the Spring of 1942. His commanding officer sent him to meet with Wirtz at Belzec, and he described his visit thus: "I went there by car. As one arrived, one first reached Belzec railway station... Oh, God, the smell! It was everywhere. Wirth wasn't in his office. I remember they took me to him... he was standing on a hill next to the pits... the pits.... full...they were full. I cannot tell you; not hundreds, thousands, thousands, thousands of corpses... that's where Wirth told --- he said that was what Sobibor was for... [Reinhard] [Page 17] Wirth told me I should definitely become the commander of Sobibor. I answered that I was not qualified for such a mission.... I received from Globocnik the task to erect the camp. That it was not to be an ammunition camp but a camp for killing Jews I learned finally from Wirth. ... Actually, I was not relieved [of my post]. I stayed in Sobibor. Transports arrived and were liquidated..." When asked during his trial how many people could be murdered in one day, Stangl answered: "Regarding the question of what was the optimum amount of people gassed in one day, I can state: according to my estimation a transport of thirty freight cars with 3,000 people was liquidated in three hours. When the work lasted for about fourteen hours, 12,000 to 15,000 people were annihilated. There were many days that the work lasted from the early morning until the evening." (Arad, Belzec) Thomalla, SS-Obersturmfuehrer Richard. SS Construction Office, Lublin Wagner, Gustav (Quartermaster-Sergeant) - the man who supervised the daily life at Sobibor. Moshe Bahir described him thus: He was a handsome man, tall and blonde -- a pure Aryan. In civilian life he was, no doubt, a well-mannered man; at Sobibor he was a wild beast. His lust to kill knew no bounds. I saw such terrible scenes that they give me nightmares to this day. He would snatch babies from their mothers' arms and tear them to pieces in his hands. I saw him beat two men to death with a rifle, because they did not carry out his instructions properly, since they did not understand German. I remember that one night a group of youths aged fifteen or sixteen arrived in the camp. The head of this group was one Abraham. After a long and arduous work day, this young man collapsed on his pallet and fell asleep. Suddenly Wagner came into our barrack, and Abraham did not hear him call to stand up at once before him. Furious, he pulled Abraham naked off his bed and began to beat him all over his body. When Wagner grew weary of the blows, he took out his revolver and killed him on the spot. This atrocious spectacle was carried out before all of us, including Abraham's younger brother. (Museum, 37, as cited in Arad, Belzec) Wagner's ruthless behavior toward the Jews is mentioned in some other testimonies of Sobibor survivors. Ada Lichtman writes that on the fast day of Yom Kippur, Wagner appeared at the roll call, took out some prisoners, gave them bread and ordered them to eat. As the prisoners ate the bread, he laughed loudly; he enjoyed his joke because he knew the Jews he had forced to eat were pious. (Lichtman, 36-37, as cited in Arad, Belzec) Gustav Wagner escaped after the war to Brazil, where he lived openly. The Brazilian Supreme Court refused to extradite him. In October 1980 his attorney announced that Wagner had committed suicide. (Arad, Belzec) [Reinhard] [Page 18] 5.1.2.1 Ukrainian & Russian Wachmans - Sobibor Danil'chenko, Ignat Terent'yevich (See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/d/danilchenko.ignat.t/ for Soviet interrogation extracts) Dem'yanyuk, Ivan - (Demjanjuk) placed in service at Sobibor by Danil'chenko and others. See above. Ivchenko, Ivan - named as cook by Danil'chenko Pankov, Vassily Nikolaievitch (See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/p/pankov.vassily.n/pankov.001 for Soviet interrogation records) Razgonayev, Mikahil Affanaseiwitch. See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/r/razgonayev.mikhail.a for Soviet interrogation of same. Werdenik, Ivan. See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/p/pavli.nikolai.antonevitch/ 5.1.3 Command Staff - Treblinka Eberl, SS-Obersturmfuehrer Imfried - Commandant until replaced by Stangl Franz, Kurt (Deputy Commandant) - held command from September, 1942. Kuettner, Kurt - SS sergeant - shot by prisoners during escape attempt in which 750 participated and about 70 survived. Lampert, Erwin Stangl - see Sobibor 5.1.3.1 Russian and Ukrainian Wachmans - Treblinka Broft (or) Brovt - see MALAGON Dem'yanyuk, Ivan (Demjanjuk). Placed at Treblinka by Malagon. See Malagon interrogations, and http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/d/demjanjuk-john for a collection of citations and articles dealing with Demjanjuk's deportation from the United States and subsequent trials in Israel. See also DEMJANJUK.6COA, for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which disputes this claim. Fedorenko - See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/k/korotkikh.yevstigneyev/korotkikh.001 for testimony placing Fedorenko at Treblinka. Received police training at the SS Trawniki camp. Malagon is not certain if Fedorenko was assigned to Treblinka, or was simply there after escorting a train from somewhere else. See pub/people/m/malagon.nikolai.petrovich for the Malagon interrogations, and http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/s/shevchenko.ivan.semenovich/shevchenko.001, also in the Nizkor archives. Goncharov, Pyotr Nazarovich - Places Marchenko in Treblinka during his Soviet interrogations. See GONCHAROV.001 for details. Malagon, Nikolai Petrovich - see http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/m/malagon-nikolai/ interrogation excerpts of Malagon. Trained at Trawniki. Marchenko, Nikolai. Named as working "near the diesels" at Treblinka, Marchenko was one of the men running the engines. See Malagon interrogations and Demjanuk Appeal judgement noted above, which names Marchenko as one of two operators of the gas chambers. [Reinhard] [Page 19] Rebeka - see Malagon interrogations. Shalayev, Nikolai. Identified by multiple sources (including his own 1950 statement) as one of two gas chamber operators (along with Ivan Marchenko. See also Demjanjuk.6coa. Shevchenko, Ivan Semenovich. See SHEVCHENKO.001 in the TREBLINKA archives for Soviet interrogation records. Yeger, Aleksandr Ivanovich - See YEGER.001/002 in the TREBLINKA archives for Soviet interrogation records. Platoon commander. 5.2 Selection The extermination process at all three camps was similar, and reflected the reality that the camps existed for the sole purpose of exterminating the Jews of the General Government. Transports would arrive, and those who had survived the journey were herded into a "reception area," where they were told to remove their clothing and surrender their valuables. A few, a very few, were sorted out if they claimed experience in trades needed to maintain the camp, and others survived for a time as workers in the extermination area. After cutting the hair off the women (it was reportedly utilized to manufacture felt boots for the Wehrmacht), the prisoners were told that they would be fed and assigned to work camps, but that they had to shower first. They were then driven (with whips and clubs) through the "tubes", which were enclosed pathways which led from the reception area directly to the gas chambers, where they were murdered. Those too weak to make the trek from the rail platform to the reception area were taken directly to the extermination camp by narrow-gauge railroad, and shot. (This proceedure varied at the three camps, but the result was always the same.) (For a comprehensive list of documentation regarding the killing process, see pub/camps/aktion.reinhard, and http://www.nizkor.org/hweb//orgs/israeli/yad-vashem. Although our Yad Vashem material is limited, it offers extensive commentary on both Operation Reinhard, and the prisoner revolts as well. It is based upon personal and court testimonies for the most part, and extensively documented.) 5.3 Financial Accounting Arad's Encyclopedia article ends with the following, somewhat chilling information about the monies and valuables collected from the Reinhard victims: [Reinhard] [Page 20] On December 15, 1943, the Aktion Reinhard headquarters submitted an account of the moneys, gold, and valuables taken from the Jews in the extermination camps for which the Reinhard headquarters was responsible. The figures were quoted in German marks (the rate of exchange of the reichsmark against the United States dollar at the time was 2.5 to 1). The report contains the particulars of the various catagories: United States currency, about $1,100,000 in cash and $250,000 in gold coins; other foreign currency, from forty-eight countries; other gold coins, from thirty-four countries; 2910 kilograms (6,415 pounds) of gold bars; 18,734 kilograms (41,301 pounds) of silver bars; diamonds totalling 16,000 carats. The report ends with the sum totals of the value of all the Jewish possessions collected. Cash in Polish zlotys and German marks RM 73,852,080.74 Precious metals 8,273,651.60 Foreign currency, in cash 4,521,224.13 Foreign gold coins 1,736,554.12 Precious stones and other valuables 43,662,450.00 Textiles 46,000,000.00 Total RM 178,645,960.59 6.0 Research Materials & Sources Vera Laska provided an extensive list of assets for those interested in Holocaust research, which was included in the Auschwitz FAQ. I recommend it as an excellent starting point for anyone wishing to do serious research into the Reinhard camps. We also recommend Yad Vashem Studies, and have the 1991 English Publications list available by mail-based server, along with a pricelist. (http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/bibliographies/biblio.05) The information is a bit dated, but it's helpful nonetheless. (We have no interest in the sale or distribution of these materials, we simply recommend them as one of the best sources for accurate information.) See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/miscellany/curriculum/research-centers for a list of major Holocaust research centres worldwide. 6.1 Recommended Reading We have transcribed memorial books for inclusion in our archives, and call your attention to the Wlodawa series - the first to be included. Many of the stories deal with Sobibor. For a list of the Wlodawa Yizkor files, try anonymous ftp via ftp.nizkor.org, in the directory pub/places/poland/wlodawa. Donat, A., ed. The Death Camp Treblinka. New York, 1979 Wiernik, Y.A. A Year in Treblinka. New York, 1945 [Reinhard] [Page 21] Yad Vashem Studies IV. Proceedings of the Fourth Yad Vashem International Historical Conference, Jerusalem, January, 1980. In particular, see "Jewish Prisoner Uprisings in the Treblinka and Sobibor Extermination Camps." An index of Yad Vashem Studies XVI, shown below, lists additional Yad Vashem material of interest to Operation Reinhard researchers: YAD VASHEM STUDIES XVI Edited by Aharon Weiss YAD VASHEM MARTYR'S AND HEROES' REMEMBRANCE AUTHORITY JERUSALEM 1984 "Operation Reinhard": Extermination Camps of Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka yvs16.01: Background & Introduction yvs16.02: The Personnel of Operation Reinhard yvs16.03: The Construction of Belzec yvs16.04: The Construction of Sobibor yvs16.05: The Construction of Treblinka yvs16.06: Belzec, from March 17 til June 1942 yvs16.07: Sobibor - from May to July 1942 yvs16.08: Treblinka - from July 23 to August 28, 1942 yvs16.09: The Construction of Larger Gas Chambers yvs16.10: The Attempt to Remove Traces yvs16.11: The Liquidation of the Camps The Fascism and Holocaust archives may be obtained via anonymous ftp from: ftp.nizkor.org, in the directory /pub, and from the World Wide Web (http://www.nizkor.org). Yad Vashem now maintains its own site on the World Wide Web. The URL is http://yvs.shani.net. 6.2 Abbreviations Used in Citations The following abbreviations may be used throughout this document: IFZ.........Institut fuer Zeitgeschichte, Munich IRR.........Investigative Repository Records NA..........United States National Archives RG 59.......NA Diplomatic Records RG 84.......Washington National Records Center, Diplomatic Post Records RG 153......Washington National Records Center, Records of the Office of the (Army) Judge Advocate RG 165......Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, Washington National Records Center RG 208......Office of War Information Records, Washington National Records Center [Reinhard] [Page 22] RG 226......Office of Strategic Services Records RG 238......War Crimes EC Series NG........Microfilm T-1139 NI........Microfilm T-301 NO Series NOKW Series PS Series RG 242......NA Record Group 242 - Captured German Records RG 319......Records of the Army Staff T...........NA Microfilm Series If you note any that are not explained above, please let me know, and I will try to run them down for you. 6.3 Glossary Einsatzgruppen: Battalion-sized, mobile, armed units of police, primarily Security Police and SD officials, which were used to attack and execute perceived enemies in conquered territories. (Breitman, 311) Einsatzkommando: Company-sized component of the Einsatzgruppen (Breitman, 311) Gauleiter: Supreme territorial or regional party authority(-ies) (The term is both singular and plural). The Nazi Party divided Germany and some annexed territories into geographical units called Gaue, headed by a Gauleiter. (Breitman, 311) General Government: The Nazi-ruled state in central and eastern Poland. Headed by Governor Hans Frank. (Breitman, 311) Final Solution: Euphemism for the extermination of European Jewry Judenrat: Jewish community authority, appointed by the Nazis for ghetto and village administration. Trawniki: Labor camp, established in the Fall of 1941, in Trawniki, S.E. of Lublin, Poland. Trawniki was part of a network of labor camps and death camps controlled by Globocnik. Trawniki was destroyed when Himmler ordered the death camps closed, and the ground plowed and converted to farm use. See Encyclopedia, Vol. IV, pp 1480-1481. SD (Sicherheitsdienst): The SS Security Service Sonderkommandos: Division of Einsatzgruppen, generally smaller than Einsatzkommando, but also a more general term for special commando units assigned particular functions. (Breitman, 311) [Reinhard] [Page 23] Military rank - here's a list from Breitman (314) which shows SS ranks and the Western military equivalent: Oberstgruppenfuehrer General Obergruppenfuehrer Lt. General Gruppenfuehrer Major General Brigadefuehrer Brigadier General Oberfuehrer between Brigadier & Colonel Standartenfuehrer Colonel Obersturmbannfuehrer Lt. Colonel Sturmbannfuehrer Major Hauptsturmfuehrer Captain Obersturmfuehrer 1st. Lieutenant Unterscharfuehrer Corporal Rottenfuehrer Private, First Class Sturmann Private SS-Mann no equivalent 6.4 Works Cited Arad, Yitzhak. Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka - the Operation Reinhard Death Camps. Indiana University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-253-3429-7 Arad, Yitzhak, Yisrael Gutman, and Abraham Margaliot, eds. Documents on the Holocaust: Selected Sources on the Destruction of the Jews of Germany, Austria, Poland, and the Soviet Union. (Jerusalem, 1981) Breitman, Richard. The Architect of Genocide: Himmler and the Final Solution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991 Encyclopedia - See Gutman Gutman, Israel, ed. in Chief, et al. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1990. ISBN 0-02- 896090-4 (set) (Referenced in this FAQ as "Encyclopedia") Just, Willy. "Letter to SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Walter Rauff, June 5, 1942." in: Nazism: A History in Documents and Eye Witness Accounts, 191-1945, vol. 2, document 913 Kogon,Eugen. "Der SS-Staat" Bonn, 1974 Lichtman, Ada. Yad Vashem Archives, L-11/5, testimony of Ada Lichtman, as cited in Arad. Lochner, Louis P., ed. The Goebbels Diaries. New York, 1948 Museum. Publication of the Museum of the Combatants and Partisans, Tel Aviv, April, 1973, as cited in Arad Prattle et al. "The Toxicity of Fumes from a diesel Engine Under Four Different Running Conditions," British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1957, Vol 14 [Reinhard] [Page 24] Rashke, Richard. Escape From Sobibor (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982). Zabecki, Franziszek. Wspomnienia dawne i nowe. Warszawa, 1977, as cited in Arad, Belzec -- The Nizkor Project - An electronic Holocaust educational resource http://www.nizkor.org/faqs -- The Nizkor Project - An electronic Holocaust educational resource David Irving vrs. Deborah Lipstadt & Penguin Books Ltd: Judgment http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/i/irving-david/judgment-00-00.html http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/i/irving.david/libel.suit