Chris Webb: The Belzec Death Camp: History, Biographies, Remembrance

Chris Webb

The Bełżec Death Camp History, Biographies, Remembrance

THE BEŁŻEC DEATH CAMP

Chris Webb

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Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Cover picture: The cover shows the site of the former death camp of Belzec in 2004.

Chris Webb Private Archive

This book is the revised and updated 2nd edition of the 2016 original edition.

ISBN-13: 978-3-8382-1696-6

© ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart 2022

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Printed in the EU

Dedicated to Robert Kuwalek and Michael Tregenza For Freya and Cora

Jerry Steinberg grew up on a tiny-tree lined avenue in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, where oddly enough three tattooed Auschwitz survivors also made their residence. As their newspaper boy, starting at age 12, he would make weekly collections to these survivors homes and in one case, he would be invited into the house to sit and listen for up to 90 minutes at a time as Mr Moses Borenstein, recounted the horrors he was forced to endure in Auschwitz (witnessing the huge impact of ventilation / emotional catharsis helped shape his career choice as a psychologist. Steinberg’s own family was touched by the Holocaust, as his father’s sister was murdered by the Nazis, while her son, Chaim Kuritsky miraculously survived and wrote an incredible book entitled ‘To Survive and to Tell the Story.’

Steinberg graduated with a B.A. in psychology from Temple University and received his graduate degree in psychology with a minor in history from Columbia University.

During the early advent of social media, Steinberg began to encounter websites that were rife with anti-Semitism and began to hone his debating skills as he challenged and refuted the libels, tropes and fallacies. That endeavour began to spill into fighting against the demonization and de-legitimization of Israel and those websites also became his battleground. As more social media sites cropped up—especially inter-active sites such as You Tube, Steinberg began to see the third component of the triad of anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial/ revisionism, dominate comments sections and these hateful comments and lies garnered a much higher percentage of thumbs up / likes than factual comments.

With a background of 30 years of Holocaust research (which he terms ‘proactive study’) he then laboriously researched the challenges of his opponents (what he calls ‘reactive study’) he was able to refute all of them and match them up to one or more of the over 400 fallacies known to exist. This endeavour has led to his authoring

a book on the psychological underpinnings of Holocaust denial which is still in draft form.

This work also prompted Steinberg to establish two Facebook groups of which he is the administrator. The first is ‘Treblinka Extermination Camp’ which boasts 2,100 members, at the time of writing this, and ‘Combat Holocaust Denial,’ which has over 1,200 members. Steinberg now spends his time on a speaking circuit at universities, museums, and other venues.

Steinberg had a long clinical and administrative career in the field of mental health and served as CEO of a large mental health center that served the entire County of Gloucester in Southern New Jersey. He wrote several successful grants bringing in new facilities and innovative mental health programs to meet the previously underserved population of people with chronic and persistent mental illnesses.

Steinberg lives in Southern New Jersey with his wife Joyce. His four grown-up children and soon to be 10 grandchildren all live very close by.

Sometimes we have to step back before we open a history book and ask why this book should even be written; consider what should be included; and think about how we can trust that it represents the truth, which is a moral and ethical imperative.

Can readers trust in the historiography of works such as the one you are about to read? In an age where lack of objectivity and unreliable research methods characterize the reporting of so many events, past and present, it is incumbent upon those we rely upon to be trustworthy, honest and not present opinions (as we so often see in the news or political commentary) or bias based on one’s self interests, preconceived notions, political / religious affiliations or confirmation bias.

People tend to read a history book without really stopping to consider all of the methods of historical research/ inquiry and the reliability and validity of each. Such methods are a crucial in understanding how true historians are able to investigate, recreate, and fact check a bygone era. The more the historian can see a convergence in various methodologies the more trustworthy they become—individually and as a whole.

The task becomes even more daunting when it comes to telling the story of an extermination camp because it is not just a historical event, but also a major crime scene based on its very purpose, structure, staffing, and mission. Also, it is set apart from traditional crime scenes by the massive scale of unfathomably heinous crimes against humanity—industrialized massacre of innocent people of all ages on an unprecedented level.

As is the case with most murder scenes, the perpetrators strives to obliterate all traces of crimes so as to avoid capture, indictment, prosecution and sentencing in addition to public shame and retribution / revenge. The erasure of small crime scenes may seem easy but is often carried out in haste, by one or two perpetrators, and

they usually know better than to risk returning to the scene of the crime. Contrast that with the methodical fastidiousness of the Nazis, their having several months (in some cases) to accomplish their tasks, and a slave labor force of several hundred to go to extraordinary lengths to eradicate as much evidence as they possibly could— as outlined herein.

All that said, writing about Bełżec demands wide ranging research to reconstruct its history. This research must rely upon ALL available aspects of historical methodology and then some. If one method is a bit difficult to employ, or lacking in some way, then other methods must be relied upon even more to make up for this.

With Bełżec, for example Rudolf Reder was one of only two survivors and the only one who was able to give a full account of his experiences in that extermination camp. Therefore this book offers a wealth of other testimonies from Nazis themselves, among many others. All of this adds considerable weight to layers of evidence.

This book exemplifies the proper applications of research methodologies in a way that relies upon the convergence of testimonies (inmates, escapees, local villagers, and craftsmen, camp staff, Nazi leaders etc) with physical / forensic / archaeological evidence, photographic evidence, documentary / archival proofs, and any other forms of research that can be brought to bear on uncovering the mysteries of camps such as Bełżec.

But how does one go about assembling the vast number of assorted pieces of the micro-mosaic?

To be done to the highest level of perfection that one can hope to achieve it, takes researchers/ historians that approach their work with dogged determination, a healthy form of obsessive compulsiveness, and among other things, an uncanny ability to pull together an amalgam of loose ends and tie them all together.

Enter Chris Webb, a historian who has dedicated his professional life to endeavours such as this—building on only solid foundations of his predecessors his discoveries, and those of his contemporaries, but adding so many components that his works have become a

sophisticated algorithm—defined as being a process or set of rules to be followed in approaching problem-solving operations.

I can personally attest to the thoroughness of the author. As one of several Holocaust scholars / researchers, I can recount of a number of e-mail ‘calls to action’ wherein we were asked by the author to research such mundane things as the first name of a survivors teacher, the spelling of inmates names, the service number of an SSOfficer who was part of the camp’s garrison—all in the interests of thoroughness. These unrelenting searches usually bore fruit.

In reading this definitive account of all that was Bełżec one would be hard–pressed to find any further stones that could be unturned to add to the comprehensiveness of this volume of work. After piecing together these stories a micro-mosaic adds up to a gestalt that gives us evidence of the structure and function of the camp in addition to a glimpse at the lives and personalities proclivities of many who served there and who perished there.

Still, one may ask what the point is to investigating extermination camps, recreating all aspects of them, retelling their story, and memorializing the innocent victims. After all, isn’t the disappearance of millions of people enough? Aren’t all the forms of proof enough? Why must this story be told?

The answer is multi-faceted and quite compelling. We know from reports of the Jewish Sonderkommando at Auschwitz, who were in close proximity to people, as they were being ushered towards the gas chambers, that these ill-fated victims, asked for, and prayed for, two primary things: That people remember them and that people know what happened to them.

We therefore honor them by keeping their memory alive, by acknowledging and exposing all the horrors that befell them. We must never allow the Nazis to get away with their goal of taking everything away from them. They took their homes, families, assets, businesses, clothing, hair, gold, fillings, shoes, jewellery etc. They took their identities and reduced them to ashes, but we know what happened to them and we will remember them—All of them, if we can!

We bring the painful truths to the fore, lest in the aftermath of the Holocaust and the generations that follow it, there is a tendency or attempt to try and opportunistically deny it, whitewash it, revise it, invert victim and perpetrator, and even try and justify it. Such efforts are tantamount to re-victimization.

While it has become cliché to point out that history often repeats itself, we must, for the sake of humanity, use the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides to help prevent a gradual progression into the definable stages that culminate in such genocides.

As all Holocaust survivors will soon be extinct what are we doing to keep their experiences alive in the face and consciousness of the world; to keep them relevant; to warn; to educate; and to be their voices?

What are we, as concerned citizens of conscience, doing to make a difference in stopping the progression into succeeding stages? Are we pushing back or simply sitting back waiting to see the next stages unfold. This is not a scare tactic as all of the indicators are there and society as a whole will suffer—not just minorities.

This book serves as a stark reminder of just how horrifically man’s inhumanity to man can reach its ultimate expression. As hard as it is to read and imagine the sheer barbarity and unparalleled cruelty it is a story that must be told.

Jerry Steinberg New Jersey, USA

December 2021

Author’s Introduction

Bełżec—July 2002—Chris Webb by the Belzec Station Sign

Bełżec Death Camp—History, Biographies, Remembrance is an updated and second edition of my book published in 2016, by ibidemverlag. I am extremely grateful to ibidem-verlag to allow this second edition, to see the light of day. I must place on record my sincere thanks to Jana Dävers, Jessica Haunschild and Valerie Lange for all their support and expertise.

What is new to this second edition?

Without doubt the biggest change has been the provision of sources for the Jewish Roll of Remembrance, as well as adding more short biographies. I have been supported in this endeavour mainly due to the efforts of the Bełżec Museum online resource The Director Tomasz Hanejko. He has also supported me in my research about many topics, including the victims and structures in the camp on numerous occasions, and for that I am very grateful. One of the key

finds I have made is that the real name of Rudolf Reder, from a prewar Polish Telephone Directory an entry was found for Rubin Reder, with his known address.

It has also been possible to include new details of the perpetrators thanks to the excellent work of Sara Berger, in her book ‘Experten der Vernichtung: das T4 Reinhardt–Netzwerk in den Lagern Belzec, Sobibor und Treblinka.’ This work was published in Hamburg during 2013.

The most enormous thank you is reserved for the late Robert Kuwalek, who I am honoured to say was a friend of mine. His book ‘Death Camp in Bełżec’ published in Lublin during 2016, has provided much new research material, which has greatly enhanced our knowledge of the death camp. I first met Robert in Lublin, whilst he was working in Majdanek, in the camp’s museum, in 2000, in the company of Michael Tregenza. Mike, an English historian, who was taking me round Lublin and a few days later took me to Bełżec for the first time.

A few years later, Robert Kuwalek acted as our tour guide on the ARC trip to Poland in 2004, and his knowledge of Lublin, Bełżec and the Holocaust in general was second to none. His tragic, early passing in Lvov, during the year 2014, has left a huge void to fill. Indeed I must also pay tribute to the sterling work undertaken by Michael Tregenza, who was an undoubted expert on Bełżec in particular, and Aktion Reinhardt in general. This work owes him an enormous debt, and I cannot thank him enough. Another English historian Dr. Robin O’Neil, also did much pioneering research into the Bełżec death camp, particularly in respect of deportations from Galicia, and he fully deserves a mention in dispatches.

I have also included the accounts of my own personal visits to the site of the former death camp made between 2000, and 2004, and have included a number of photographs, which capture the transformation of the site, from my first visit in 2000, and my last one four years later, after the museum had recently been opened.

I am delighted that Jerry Steinberg, my friend and esteemed colleague from the United States of America, and who is the leading

light of the Treblinka Extermination Camp online group was able to write the foreword for this second edition. Thanks to Jerry I was introduced to Peggy Scolaro, who is a Professor in English, at the George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and Peggy who has undertaken the editing of this book, with consummate skill and dedication. I cannot thank them both enough, for what they have done.

I am also grateful to two very dear friends who have supported me, firstly Professor Matthew Feldman, the Director of CARR, who kindly wrote a review of this book, and my friend Georg Biemann, from Germany, who has undertaken some amazing research, and supported me, in a number of aspects. He is truly a friend for all seasons.

New documentation regarding Bełżec remains stubbornly hard to find and only a few new items have been found. Here I must thank Lutz Moeser from the Bundesarchiv in Berlin, for all his help and support. Some interesting photographs from my private archive have been included, in this edition, both from an historical and more modern perspective.

Bełżec remains to this day the forgotten death camp, and its grisly and horrible past should never be forgotten, and I hope this second edition, is a worthy addition, to remembering the Holocaust and those Jews who tragically lost their lives in this charnel house of horror.

Lastly I must thank my wife Shirley, for all her support and my daughter Heather and her husband Mark and their lovely daughters Freya and Cora, my cherished granddaughters.

Chris Webb

Whitehill,

UK.

November 16, 2021

Abbreviations for Sources used in the book

ARC Aktion Reinhard Camps Group

BA Bundesarchiv, Berlin, Germany

H.E.A.R.T. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team

HHS Holocaust Historical Society UK

IPN Institute of National Memory, Poland

NA National Archives Kew, UK

NARA National Archives Washington DC, USA

NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

USHMM United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC, USA

YVA Yad Vashem Archive, Israel

ZStL Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen Ludwigsburg

Part I

The Hell Called Bełżec

Chapter I ‘Aktion Reinhardt’ An Overview

Aktion Reinhardt—also known as Einsatz Reinhardt—was the code name for the extermination of primarily Polish Jewry from the former General Gouvernement and the Białystok area. The term was used in remembrance of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, the co-ordinator of the ‘Final Solution of the Jewish Question’ (Endlösung der Judenfrage)—the extermination of the Jews living in the European countries occupied by German forces during the Second World War.

On May 27, 1942, in a suburb of Prague, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, members of the Czech resistance, ambushed Heydrich in his car while he was en-route to his office in Prague, from his home at Panenské Březany. Heydrich died from his wounds at Bulovka Hospital on 4 June 1942.1

Four days after his death approximately 1,000 Jews left Prague in a single train which was designated AaH (Attentat aus Heydrich). This transport was officially destined for Ujazdów, in the Lublin district of Poland, but the deportees were gassed at the Bełżec death camp in the far south-eastern corner of the Lublin District. The members of Odilo Globocnik’s resettlement staff henceforward dedicated the murder programme to Heydrich’s memory, under the code name Einsatz Reinhardt. 2

The head of Aktion Reinhardt was SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik, the SS and Police Leader of the Lublin District, appointed to this task by Reichsführer–SS Heinrich Himmler. At the Führer’s Headquarters in Rastenburg (a town in present day Poland known as Kętrzyn), Heinrich Himmler, Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger, Höhere

1 R. Cowdery, & P.Vodenka, Reinhard Heydrich Assassination. USM, Inc., Lakeville 1994, pp. 49 & 63.

2 G. Reitlinger, The Final Solution. Vallentine, Mitchell, London 1953, pp. 105-106.

SS- und Polizeiführer Ost, and Odilo Globocnik met at a conference on October 13, 1941, during which Globocnik was authorized to build a death camp at Bełżec. This was the first death camp built using static gas chambers, the first mass extermination camp in the East, which was Kulmhof (a town in present day Poland known as Chełmno) used gas vans from early December 1941.3

On January 20, 1942, at a villa in Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin, Heydrich organized a conference on the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question in Europe.” The conference had been postponed from December 8, 1941, as Heydrich wrote to one of the participants, Otto Hoffman, that it had been necessary to postpone the conference “on account of events in which some of the invited gentlemen were concerned.”4 This was an allusion to the massacres that had taken place in the East. Dr. Fritz Lange, for example, had overseen the murder of Jews at Riga; these executions were notable as this was the first time German Jews from the Reich had been executed en-masse. These Jews came from Berlin. Those who attended the Wannsee Conference included the leading officials of the relevant ministries, senior representatives of the German authorities in the occupied countries, and senior members of the SS, including Heinrich Müller, head of the Gestapo, and Adolf Eichmann, head of Department IV B4, the sub-section of the Gestapo dealing with Jewish affairs. Dr. Josef Bühler, Staatssekretär who was representing Dr. Hans Frank, from the Generalgouvernement, demanded that the ‘Final Solution’ should be first applied to the Jews of the Generalgouvernement. This request was granted, thus setting in train the mass murder program, which was later to be named as ‘Aktion Reinhardt.’

Odilo Lothario Globocnik was born on April 21, 1904, in Trieste, the son of an Austro-Slovene family, and a construction enginner by

trade. In 1930, he joined the Nazi party in Carinthia, Austria, and after the banning of the Nazi Party in Austria in 1934, earned a reputation as one of the most radical leaders of its underground cells. In 1933 Globocnik joined the SS, which also became a prohibited organization in Austria in 1934, and was appointed deputy Party District Leader (Stellvertretender Gauleiter).5

After serving several short terms of imprisonment for illegal activities on behalf of the Nazis, he emerged as a key figure in the preAnschluss plans for Austria, serving as a key liaison figure between Adolf Hitler and the leading pro-Nazi Austrians.6

After the Anschluss of March 1938,Globocnik’s star continued to rise, and on May 24 he was appointed to the coveted key position of Party District Leader (Gauleiter) of Vienna.

His tenure was short-lived, however, and on January 30, 1939, he was dismissed from this lofty position for corruption, illegal speculation in foreign exchange and tax evasion—all on a grand scale.7

After demotion to a lowly SS rank and undergoing basic military training with an SS-Standarte, he took part with his unit in the invasion of Poland. Eventually pardoned by Himmler, who needed such unscrupulous characters for future ‘unsavoury plans’, Globocnik was appointed to the post of SS- und Polizeiführer Lublin on November 9, 1939. Globocnik had been chosen by the Reichsführer-SS as the central figure in Aktion Reinhardt, not only because of his ruthlessness, but also because of his virulent anti-Semitism.

In Lublin, Globocnik surrounded himself with a number of his fellow Austrians, SS-Officers like Herman Julius Höfle, born in Salzburg on June 19, 1911. Höfle became Gobocnik’s deputy in Aktion Reinhardt, responsible for personnel and the organization of Jewish deportations, the extermination camps and the re-utilisation of the victims’ possessions and valuables. Höfle was later to play a significant role in mass deportation Aktionen in Warsaw and Białystok.

5 J. Poprzeczny, Hitler’s Man in the East—Odilo Globocnik. McFarland, Jefferson, 2004, p. 10.

6 G. Reitlinger, The Final Solution…, op. cit., p. 262.

7 J. Poprzeczny, Hitler’s Man …, op. cit., p. 76.

Ernst Lerch from Klagenfurt became Globocnik’s closest confidante and adjutant. Georg Michalsen, a Silesian from Oppeln, was another adjutant and he, too, participated with Höfle in the deportation of Jews from the ghettos in Warsaw and Białystok. Another early member of this group was Amon Göth, who cleared the Tarnów, Kraków and Zamość ghettos, and later became the notorious commander of Płaszów Arbeitslager in Krakau. 8

The headquarters of Aktion Reinhardt was located in the Julius Schreck Kaserne at Litauer Srasse 11, in a former Polish school close to the city centre in Lublin, where Höfle not only worked but lived in a small apartment. Also located in Lublin were the buildings in which the belongings and valuables seized from the Jews were stored: the former Catholic Action (Katolische Aktion) building on Chopin Strasse, and in pre-war aircraft hangers on the Old Airfield (Alter Flugplatz) on the south-eastern outskirts of Lublin.9

The most notorious and fearsome member of Aktion Reinhardt was SS-Obersturmführer/Kriminalinspektor Christian Wirth, the first commandant of Bełżec death camp and later Inspector of the SSSonderkommandos of Aktion Reinhardt. Before his transfer to Poland, Wirth had been a leading figure in ‘Aktion T4,’ the extermination of the mentally and physically disabled in six so-called ‘euthanasia ‘ killing centres in the Third Reich.

The role of the ‘T4’ euthanasia programme was fundamental to the execution of Aktion Reinhardt; the great majority of the staff in the death camps served their ‘apprenticeships’ in mass murder at the euthanasia institutes of Bernburg, Brandenburg, Grafeneck, Hadamar, Hartheim, Pirna—Sonnenstein where the victims had been murdered in gas chambers using CO gas from steel cylinders. The senior officers in both Aktion T4 and Aktion Reinhardt were all police officers with equivalent SS ranks, and with Himmler’s approval SS-NCO’s had emptied the gas chambers and cremated the bodies of the victims in portable furnaces. The SS –men performed

this work wearing civilian clothes because Himmler did not want the possibility to arise of the public becoming aware of the participation of the SS in the killing. During Aktion Reinhardt the SS authorities also supplemented the forces guarding the death camps, by employing former Red Army troops who had been captured or had surrendered to the Germans, mostly ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) from the Ukraine, the Baltic States and the Volga region of Russia who were trained in an SS camp in the village of Trawniki, 25 km south-east of Lublin. The majority were already anti-Semitic—equating Bolsheviks with Jews and were ideally suited to the persecution and extermination of Jews.

On November 1,1941, construction of the first Aktion Reinhardt death camp began near the village of Bełżec, 125 kilometres southeast of Lublin, and Bełżec death camp became operational in midMarch 1942. Construction of the second camp, at Sobibór, between the town of Włodawa and the city of Chełm on the River Bug, northeast of Lublin, came into operation at the end of April 1942. The third and last of these camps was located near the village train station of Treblinka10, about 100 kilometres north-east of Warsaw. All three camps shared some common vital facts: they were all situated on or close to main railway lines for the speedy delivery of the victims to their deaths and they were located in sparsely—populated regions. The true fate of the Jews was initially hidden from them by announcing that they were being ‘transported to the east for resettlement and work’. The Aktion Reinhardt death camps were very similar in layout, each camp being an improvement on its predecessor, and the ‘conveyor-belt ‘extermination process developed at Bełżec by Christian Wirth was implemented, improved, and refined at the other two camps.

The personnel assigned to Aktion Reinhardt came from a number of sources, SS and policemen who served under Globocnik’s command in the Lublin district, other SS men and civilians drafted into

10 The village of Treblinka was in fact situated further from the camp than village of Poniatowo which was the closest village to the extermination camp.

the Aktion and members of the T4 Euthanasia programme.11 Yitzhak Arad quotes in his book Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka that a total of 450 men were assigned to Aktion Reinhardt included 92 men from the T4 Euthanasia program;12 more recent research by the authors has identified a slightly higher total of 98 men, of whom 39 are known to have served at Bełżec at one time or another.

The Old Lublin Airfield was also used throughout Aktion Reinhardt as a mustering center for personnel transferred from the T4’ euthanasia’ institutions in the Reich, to the extermination of the Jews in the Generalgouvernement. The SS-men, police and civilians thus transferred were usually met at the airfield by Wirth personally, on occasions accompanied by the death camp commandants Reichleitner from Sobibor and Stangl from Treblinka. According to witnesses, at these selections of personnel, all three wore Schutzpolizei uniforms and none of them mentioned anything about their future employment or where they would be based. At the airfield depot the newcomers received Waffen-SS uniforms, provided by the SS-Garrison Administration (SS-Standortverwaltung) in Lublin, but without the SS runes on the right-hand collar patches. The civilian employees from T4, especially the male psychiatric nurses among them, were sent first to the SS training camp at Trawniki for a two week basic military training course.13

The men selected in Lublin and distributed to the three Aktion Reinhardt death camps were augmented by a company-sized unit of about 120 black-uniformed auxiliary guards who had also been trained at the SS training camp in Trawniki—the so-called Trawniki-men (Trawnikimänner), usually referred to as ‘Ukrainians’ because they were the majority.

Those who spoke fluent German were appointed platoon or senior platoon leaders—Zugführers or Oberzugführers. The rest were known as Wachmänner. A select few of the Trawnikimänner were

11 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 17.

12 Ibid p. 17

13 M. Tregenza, Prvate Report Altoting 1972-Michael Tregenza Lublin Collection

given other special duties, including the maintenance and operation of the engines that pumped their poisonous exhaust fumes into the gas chambers. Among them were the infamous Ivan Marchenko (Ivan the Terrible) and Nikolay Shalayev at the Treblinka death camp. 14

In the course of Aktion Reinhardt approximately 1.6 million Jews were murdered in the death camps at Bełżec, Sobibor and Treblinka. Jewish property to the value of 178, 045, 960 Reichsmark (RM) was seized by the SS, which represents the minimum known amount. Through the theft of large amounts of cash and valuables by Globocnik, SS-men, policemen and guards, the true total will never be known.

The Aktion Reinhardt extermination operation ended officially in November 1943, and Himmler ordered Globocnik, who was by then the Higher SS and Police Leader for the Adriatic Coastal Region based in Trieste, to produce a detailed ‘Balance Sheet’ for the murder program. Globocnik produced the requsted financial accounts and suggested that certain SS –officers should be suitably rewarded for their ‘invaluable contribution’ to Aktion Reinhardt. Globocnik received Himmler’s thanks ‘for his ‘services to the German people’, but made no mention of medals for any of Globocnik’s subordinates.15

After completion of the extermination work in the Generalgouvernement, most of the men who had served in Aktion Reinhardt were transferred to northern Italy where their headquarters were in a disused rice mill in the San Sabba suburb of the Adriatic port of Trieste (Risiera di San Sabba). Divided into three SS-Lunits: R-I, RII and R-III, they operated under the code designation ‘Operation R’(Einsatz R) still under the command of Christian Wirth. Their primary task was the round-up and deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau of the surviving Italian Jews, and confiscation of their property and valuables. Einsatz R was simply a smaller version of Aktion

14 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 22.

15 Ibid.,op. cit., p. 375.

Reinhardt. Additionally, Italian-Jewish mental patients were removed from their hospitals and sent to the T4 ‘euthanasia’ institution at Schloss Hartheim in Austria for gassing. The units not engaged in these operations were assigned to security and anti-partisan patrols on the Istrian peninsula.

Wirth turned San Sabba into an interrogation and execution center where not only Jews but also Italian and Yugoslav partisans were tortured, beaten to death, or simply shot and their bodies cremated in a specially installed furnace in the courtyard.16 The human ashes were dumped in the Adriatic Sea. There is also evidence that a gasvan was used in San Sabba.

The key members of Aktion Reinhardt, mostly escaped justice, Globocnik and Höfle both committed suicide, whilst Wirth and Reichleitner (the second commandant of Sobibór death camp) were killed by partisans in northern Italy in 1944. Both Christian Wirth and Franz Reichleitner’s graves can be found at the German Military Cemetery in Costermano, near Lake Garda, in Italy.

Amon Göth was tried and sentenced to death for crimes committed in the Płaszów concentration camp (today a suburb of Kraków). He was executed in the former Plaszow Camp during September, 1946. Dr. Irmfried Eberl, the first Commandant of Treblinka death camp committed suicide in a West German prison in 1948, while awaiting trial. Only Franz Stangl17 (the first Commandant of Sobibór and second Commandant of Treblinka) and Kurt Franz (the last Commandant of Treblinka) were brought to trial. Both were found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. Gottlieb Hering the second Commandant of Bełżec death camp and Commandant of Poniatowa Jewish Labor camp died on October 9,1945, in unknown circumstances in the waiting room at the Katherinen Hospital in Stetten im Remstal, Württemberg, Germany.

16 Ibid.,op. cit., p. 399.

17 It should be noted that many of the key members in the death camps´ staffing in the three death camps were of Austrian nationality! Eberl was Austrian as well as Reichleitner, Stangl, Wagner, Vallaster etc.

As for members of the SS–Garrisons at the three death camps, a number of major figures like Karl Frenzel, from Sobibor and Heinrich Arthur Matthes, August Miete and Willy Mentz, Kurt Franz from Treblinka, received life sentences, while many others received prison terms of less than ten years, but the vast majority of the SS men and Ukrainians who served within the framework of Aktion Reinhardt were never brought to justice.

Only Josef Oberhauser was found guilty of war crimes at the Bełżec trial in Munich during the 1960s. All the other seven former SS men who served at Bełżec were examined by magistrates, but were not sent for trial and were released. Those that had served in the Sobibor death camp were re-arrested and put on trial in Hagen in 1965. These included Werner Dubois, Erich Fuchs, Robert Juhrs, Heinrich Unverhau, and Ernst Zierke.

Chapter II The Labor Camps in the Belzec Area

The village of Bełżec, in South Eastern Poland, first appeared in records during the Middle Ages and show the village as a settlement of animal breeders. At the beginning of the 17th Century, the Lipski family, proprietors of Bełżec, endeavoured to acquire a municipal charter, but this attempt failed because of the proximity of major towns such as Tomaszow Lubelski and Florianow, now re-named Narol.18

Two hundred years later in the 19th Century, Bełżec lay on the border between Galicia and the Kingdom of Poland, with a railway border crossing to that part of Poland under the Tsarist Russian occupation. The location ensured business flourished, and this attracted an influx of Jewish settlers; just prior to the First World War over one hundred Jewish families made a living here on cross-border trade. Most of the Jewish settlers came from Rawa Ruska and Jaroslaw. Jewish culture flourished in Bełżec; it had its own house of prayer and a traditional elementary school—a cheder.19

During the First World War Bełżec was occupied by Austrian troops and a part of the village was burnt down by Russian soldiers as a reprisal for the murder of a Russian officer by locals. During 1915, Bełżec was liberated from Austrian occupation and six years later the village was incorporated into the new Republic of Poland.20

Throughout the inter-war period the Bełżec community consisted of three distinct groups: Poles, Ukrainians and Jews. In the late 1930’s, the Poles made up 75% of the population, the Ukrainians 17%, and the Jews circa 8%.

Jews formed a small and hermetically-sealed group. They lived throughout the whole village, although the main cluster was located

18 R. Kuwalek, From Lublin to Belzec, Ad Rem 2006 P.29.

19 Ibid.,op cit, p. 29.

20 M. Tregenza, Belzec—The Unknown Death Camp of the Holocaust (rev.2006)

Originally published Fritz Bauer Institut Jahrbuch 2000. P.3.

in the center of Bełżec. Here was a wooden Jewish Synagogue, a red brick bath-house, and a religious school (cheder) for Jewish children. They belonged to the religious commune in Lubycz Royal and Narol.

Their lives were consumed with the struggles of trade and transporting goods and people. The more well-known members of the Jewish community were Hejna, Helman, Strula, Fenkl, and the Dykier brothers, one of whom owned a store in the west side of the village, and the other called Lejb Dykier who also owned a store near the church. Nechem Muller owned the grocery store and Nashko Plewer was another shopkeeper in the west side of Bełżec village. There was also Kessler the miller and Isaac Klahr the egg dealer. The Jew Essig ran a small plant near the railway station. Also near the station there was a shop and commercial brokerage run by Berk. A second tavern was located on the left side of the main road to Tomaszow, behind the river. This was also managed by another of the Dykier’s brothers, Judko. Other shopkeepers in the village were M. and R. Muller, Gabel, M. Schiffenbauer, and Racymor.

After drawing a border near the village in early 1940, most of the Jewish population went to the Soviet Union. The remaining few including Moshe Helman, was one of the Jews who did not cross the border.21

The Jewish population declined during the inter-war years. On September 13, 1939, the German Army occupied the village, and a number of the Poles and Ukrainians registered as Volksdeutsche ethnic Germans, and some volunteered for war work in the Reich. History repeated itself when Bełżec once again became a border post, this time between the General Gouvernement and the Soviet Union.22

From the end of May, 1940, until August, 1940, the Germans established a number of labor camps in and around the village of

21 Andrzej Urbanski, Belzec Through the Happening, Shalom Foundation in Warsaw.

22

M. Tregenza, Belzec—The Unknown Death Camp of the Holocaust (rev.2006) Originally published Fritz Bauer Institut Jahrbuch 2000.

Bełżec. These housed workers building, the so-called ‘Otto Line,’ a series of fortifications along the border with the Soviet Union. The Germans forced Jews from Lublin, Radom, and Warsaw districts to slave on this project, and Gypsies from the Reich and other parts of Poland were also used. The Jews were housed at three sites within Bełżec: The Manor which housed 1,000 people; Kessler’s Mill which housed 500 people (The Kessler Mill was owned by a Jewish family, which left Bełżec with the Red Army in the autumn of 1939); and the Locomotive Sheds, which housed 1,500 people. The Locomotive shed and adjacent water tower were built by the Austrians during 1915-1916.

Outside Bełżec village, other workers were housed in Cieszanow in two barracks and Plaszow—not to be confused with the notorious Plaszow Arbeitslager in Krakow—in two houses and in Lipsko near Narol.23

The labor camps were established in abandoned synagogues, warehouses, or barns; a total of some thirty-five camps were created with over 10,000 workers employed on building fortifications, roads, and regulating rivers.

The commander of the labor camps complex was SS-Sturmbannführer Hermann Dolp, who had also been the commandant of the Lipowa Street Camp in Lublin, and during 1941, after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, had served in the SS Strongpoints in the East construction programme based in Minsk.24

Hermann Dolp was born on September 12, 1889, in Turkheim, Bavaria. After service in the First World War, he joined one of the many right-wing para-military Freikorps units active in Bavaria, and he became one of the initial SA street fighters loyal to the cause of Adolf Hitler and National Socialists ideals. He served time in prison for beating up political opponents. In November, 1923, he took part in the abortive Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich.

Dolp joined the National Socialist Party during 1928, and a year later, in October 1929, joined the SS as an unpaid Untersturmführer.

His SS number was 1293. In September, 1930, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Standartenführer, commanding Adolf Hitler’s protection squad in Munich. In late 1933, he was sent to assist with the construction and development of Dachau Concentration Camp, where he remained through the summer of 1934. From January 1935 onward, he served in the SS Heaquarters in Berlin, and in August, 1939, he was sent to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp near Berlin as its garrison commander.

Hermann Dolp was married and the father of four children. He was a good organizer, although not known for his intellect. He developed a weakness for alcohol, which he consumed in great quantities.

After the German occupation of Poland in September 1939, Dolp was given command of local ethnic German para-military units and then headed the Gestapo in Kalisz, in the Warthegau. It was here that his drinking got him into serious trouble. On November 1, 1939, he was caught trying to rape a young Polish woman while drunk. The woman happened to be the girlfriend of another German official. The case was investigated on the order of the Inspector of Concentration Camps, Theodor Eicke, and Hermann Dolp was arrested on January 9, 1940.

He was tried before an SS court on February 4, 1940, where he was found guilty and demoted in rank. He was demoted to the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer and forbidden from drinking alcohol for two years. On February 8, 1940, Reichsführer–SS Heinrich Himmler wrote to Dolp, warning him that any breach of this alcohol ban, would result in him being drummed out of the SS.

By mid-February 1940, Hermann Dolp was transferred to the command of Odilo Globocnik, the SS- und Polizeiführer Lublin, and one of Dolp’s first tasks was to accompany a march of Jewish forced laborers to work in the city of Biala Podlaska. During this march hundreds of Jews died. Globocnik then placed Dolp in charge of establishing a labor camp on Lipowa Street in Lublin.

In the late spring of 1940, Globocnik posted Dolp to supervise the construction of fortifications, the so-called ‘Otto Line’ along the

frontier border with the Soviet-occupied part of Poland. Dolp set up a number of labor camps in the village of Bełżec and its surrounding area. Hermann Dolp was keen to redeem his reputation, and he threw himself into this task with zeal; he saw that his orders were carried out ruthlessly. At Bełżec he was assisted by his deputy, SSHauptscharführer Franz Bartetzko, who later went on to manage the Jewish Forced Labor camp at Trawniki from the spring of 1942, and later on he served as a member of the SS administration at the Jewish Labor Camp at Budzyn.25

Dolp was infamous for his cruelty and sadism towards the prisoners. He was also well-known for his corrupt conduct. Prisoners who were assigned to produce clothing and shoes in the workshops found their wares sold by Dolp on the black market.

Following the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Odilo Globocnik sent Hermann Dolp to act as his representative to Minsk and Mogilew, working on the construction of SS and Police bases. Globocnik had been appointed by Heinrich Himmler on July 17, 1941, as his Plenipotentiary for the Construction of SS and Police bases in the newly occupied Eastern areas of the Soviet Union. Dolp remained in the Soviet Union until May 1942, when he was posted to Norway. Dolp became the commandant of a Prisoner of War Camp at Osen-Elsfjrord, and he was also in charge of various forced labor camps.

From August, 1943, until February, 1944, he was again posted to the SS Headquarters in Berlin, when he was subsequently appointed to become a battalion commander of the Latvian 19th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division. On June 21, 1944, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer. Hermann Dolp was reported missing in action in Rumania during late 1944; his body was never recovered.

Another more famous SS officer, Oskar Dirlewanger, was the commander of the notorious ‘SS-Sonderkommando Dirlewanger,’ which was made up of petty criminals and cut-throats. They were resoponsible for the orgy of killing the population during the Warsaw uprising in 1944. Prior to this, Dirlewanger was the commander

25 Helge Grabitz & Wolfgang Scheffler, Letzte Spuren, Hentrich Edition 1993, p.211.

of a Jewish Labor camp at Dzikow, one of the camps in the Bełżec area.26

Oskar Dirlewanger was born on September 26, 1895, in Würzburg. During the First World War, he reached the rank of lieutenant and won the Iron Cross. Between 1919 and 1921, he was involved in the suppression of communist uprisings in the Ruhr and Saxony. He also served in the Freikorps units in Upper Silesia. In 1922, he obtained a degree in political science, and a year later he joined the Nazi Party. He ran a knit-wear factory in Erfurt for a few years before becoming an SA Leader in Esslingen in 1932. After serving a two year sentence in 1934 for molesting a minor, Dirlewanger joined the Condor Legion in 1937, fighting for Franco in the Spanish Civil War.

By 1939, he had risen to the rank of SS-Obersturmführer in the Waffen-SS, and a year later, in September, 1940, he initiated with Gottlieb Berger, the head of the SS-Recruitment Department—the creation of a special SS detachment of convicted criminals, murderers, and convicted poachers. This detachment known as SSSonderkommando Dirlewanger provoked revulsion in some SS circles by its cruel and barbarous behavior during its role in combating partisans and Jews in Poland and White Russia.

Oskar Dirlewanger served for a time in the Lublin district supervising the building of defence fortifications along the River Bug at Bełżec. Dirlewanger was the commandant of a Jewish Labor Camp located in Dzikow Stary.

Odilo Globocnik, the SS- und Polizeiführer Lublin, recommended Dirlewanger for promotion on August 5, 1941, for his activities in this field of work. However, an investigation into Dirlewanger’s activities was launched in August 1942, and its findings submitted to an SS court, but on Heinrich Himmler’s orders, no action was taken against Dirlewanger.

During 1943, Oskar Dirlewanger was decorated with the German Cross of Gold and a year later was promoted to the rank of SSStandartenführer in the Waffen-SS. His unit was active in the

suppression of the Polish Home Army uprising in Warsaw, which commenced in August, 1944.

By August 5, 1944, Oskar Dirlewanger had 16 officers and 865 troops in Warsaw, and while the fighting was in progress, his forces were expanded by another 2,500 troops, of which 1,900 came from the SS Prison Camp at Matzkau, near Danzig. On August 5,1944, Dirlewanger’s SS barbarians advanced about 1,000 yards, in the Wola district of Warsaw. In every single street in Wola recaptured by the Germans, far behind the frontline, the residents were ordered to leave their homes, induced by promises of evacuation. As soon as large groups of civilians assembled on the streets, they were not taken to evacuation points, but were herded together in cemeteries, gardens, back yards, factory forecourts, or squares. Soldiers then fired machine-gun bursts into the human mass, until there were no further signs of movement. On that day no one was spared—everyone perished, innocents, old men, women and children, as well as members of the Polish Home Army. The soldiers piled the corpses in large heaps, poured petrol over them and set them on fire.

Hospitals in the Wola and Ochota areas suffered the worst of all that day. The ‘good fellows,’ as Heinrich Himmler, RFSS, called them, with Oskar Dirlewanger at their head, stormed into the wards, shot the sick and wounded where they lay. Nurses, nuns, helpers, and doctors, suffered the same fate. At the end of the Warsaw uprising Dirlewanger’s forces had only 648 men left.

After the Warsaw uprising had been crushed, the Sonderkommando Dirlewanger saw further action in the Slovak national uprising in October 1944, where they again acted with their customary brutality. In May 1945, Dirlewanger’s unit was taken into Soviet captivity, but Dirlewanger fled to the west and was arrested in Altshausen by the French Occupation Forces. Dirlewanger died on June 7, 1945, after being recognized by Polish Prisoners of War and beaten so hard, he died of a fractured skull.

The working conditions in the labor camps were truly awful: the workers were beaten and tortured, and were forced to perform heavy labor on starvation rations. Adam

Czerniakow, the Chairman

of the Judenrat (Jewish Council) in the Warsaw Ghetto, wrote about the Bełżec labor camp conditions several times in his diary. His entry on 29, August 1940, noted as follows:

Word from the Bełżec camp, poor food etc. I arranged for two conferences, one with participation of Neustadt. I authorised the Obmann (Chairman) from Zamość to engage doctors at our expense for Bełżec. Tomorrow I will try to obtain a loan for the camp.27

On September 2, 1940, he wrote again:

I received a pass for Furstenburg and Faust who are going to Tomaszow and perhaps to Belzec with Zabludowski. I am sending some blankets, shirts, bowls, cups, and spoons etc. The news from the camps is dismal.28

Another entry in his diary, recorded on September 3, 1940, stated that:

Zabludowski, Faust, and Furstenburg left for Lublin with the gifts for the workers including 10,000 zlotys for the camp. Lambrecht made a demand for twenty doctors for the camp.29

Dr Janusz Peter who directed the hospital in nearby Tomaszow

Lubelski recalled the conditions in one of the labor camps:

Less than two weeks after the founding of the camp, the workers were sleeping for the most part on boards because the straw had to be thrown out for the reason that the suffers from diarrhea befouled it to such an extant that it is only fit for burning. The befouling of the straw is understandable when taking into account the fact that Dolp forbade the Jews to go outside at night to relieve themselves.

The floor was dirty, the air insufferable, and the walls smeared with filth, because, although those in charge of keeping order decreed that one of the boards should be taken out to make it easier to relieve oneself outside the barracks, the overworked people were in no condition to get to the hole past their comrades, who lay stretched out

28 Ibid. p.193

29 Ibid.,op cit, p.193.

27 Adam Czerniakow: The Warsaw Diary of Adam Czerniakow—Editors Raul Hilberg, Stanislaw Staron and Josef Kermisz, Ivan R Dee, Chicago 1999, p.191.

The three individuals, Benjamin Zabludowski, Boleslaw Faust, an official from ORT and Izydor Furstenburg, a member of the Jewish Order Service.

like shot animals, pressed together like herrings in a crate. After a month of forced labor the Jews were ‘working spectres in rags.’30

Though the labor camps were controlled by the SS, the supply of food and clothes and the administration were managed by the Lublin Judenrat. In Bełżec the Germans established a so-called Jewish Gremium that was responsible for the camps organization. All costs connected with the existence of the prisoners were paid by the Judenrat of the towns from where the prisoners came. It was the Gremium who decided the allocation of food to the workers. After August 1940, the Gremium was re-named the ‘Central Camps Council’ and was led by Leon Zylberajch from Lublin.

The labor camps in Bełżec and those located in the area were closed down in October, 1940, and this ‘Eastern Rampart’ was only some 40 kilometres in length by 2.5 metres deep and 7.5 meters wide between Bełżec and Dzikow Stary village. Some of the Jewish workers were released prior to the final liquidation of the labor camps, because they were unfit for work; the last transport of workers released went to Hrubieszow in late October, 1940.

No account of these terrible working conditions in the Bełżec labor camps is complete without mentioning the fate of the Gypsies who were deported from the Reich and were incarcerated on a farm at Bełżec Manor. As with the Jews, the Gypsies were also employed in digging fortifications on starvation rations and many succumbed to illnesses such as typhus and dysentery.

One of these Gypsies, Martha W.—a Sinti woman born in Kiel, Germany in 1921—was deported to Bełżec together with her two children, her mother, and her brother. After the war she recounted her story in an interview with Karin Guth, which is incredibly moving and heart-rending:

In May, I think it was 16 May 1940, they came for us and brought us to the Fruchtschuppen (Fruit Warehouse) in the harbour of Hamburg. My memory is not that good anymore. I only know that a lot

Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Belzec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.37.

of people were in the warehouse. It was like being in an ant-hill, so many people were running around.

We were registered and those above the age of fourteen received a number on the arm; this was not tattooed, as was later the case in Auschwitz, but stamped in ink. The number faded after a few days. I cannot remember how many days we were in the warehouse. Not many, perhaps three days. Quite nearby, only some steps away, we were ordered to enter goods wagons at the Hannoverscher Station.

There was an awful confusion, there being hundreds of people. We were told we were being transported to Poland, where we would receive a nice little house. And they told me that my father was already there, but we were deceived.

When we arrived at our destination, SS surrounded the train. They were there at our arrival and drove us out of the wagons. Policeman had accompanied us, two to a wagon (probably within the brakers cabin at the rear of some wagons).

We naturally did not travel without a guard. They knew we would have otherwise simply left the train and escaped. We would have done this had we had the chance. The policemen who had escorted us appeared thoroughly sheepish when they saw the SS and heard the SS commandant, a small man standing there with a whip in his hand, immediately shouting, ‘If you don’t obey the orders!’ Oh dear, and the rest he said: He called us dogs, and we were treated as such. That was so awful. The policemen from Hamburg stood there speechless. I presume they hadn’t known what we were to experience in Bełżec.

Then we had to walk to a large barn that was more a very large shed. There was only old straw on the floor. We had to enter this shed, and SS guards were posted outside. Today I no longer remember how long we were in that Bełżec camp. It was summer when we arrived. I think we were there for some weeks. It was awful there. One could not wash oneself, and there were no toilets. We were all crammed together.

We were immediately set to work in a work column. We had to dig tank ditches. There were many Jews in Bełżec, too. They were housed in the same shed as we were and also worked in the column. They usually only remained for some weeks and then they were transported from Bełżec to somewhere else.

The food was awful. A Roma was detailed to cook for us all. The SS shot crows and ravens and simply threw them into the large pot. The man didn’t want to cook the birds without first plucking the feathers. They beat him so badly that the blood ran out the bottom of his trousers.

One day those of us with children had to line up because the children were to receive something special to eat. I had two children. My daughter was two and my son was one-year old. Each was given a bowl containing milk with bread crumbled in it. Or so it appeared.

This was especially for the children. Well, one child after the other died over the following days. There was such lamenting, lamenting and crying. Shortly after having eaten the children were unable to breathe anymore; they asphyxiated.My little boy died first. Someone woke me in the morning. I was woken because the chid had kicked and the person wanted to cover him again. So I awoke and went to pick him up. He was already quite stiff.

I was devastated with grief, and I didn’t know what to do. My cousin, the sister of Mrs B., lifted him and a big clot of pus came out of his throat. All the children experienced this. My two year old daughter died in the same way the next day. They had been poisoned.

One day we had to enter cattle wagons again, in Bełżec There was just a bare floor. There were no windows, only air slits, high up. There were no toilet facilities. We had to enter that train, not knowing what to expect. Nobody told us anything.

We were taken to Krychow. We travelled through the night in this cattle wagon. When we arrived at the station, horse-drawn vehicles awaited us that took us to the camp. It was a former Polish prison, far away from the station. We were guarded by men wearing a black uniform. They were Volksdeutsche. These Volksdeutsche and SS were everywhere.31

31 Martha W. Interview with Karin Guth interview 2005 www.Deathcamps.org.

Chapter III Construction of the Death Camp

November 1941–February 1942

The Bełżec death camp was built by the SS Zentralbauverwaltung (Central Building Administration) in the Lublin district. Work commenced on November 1, 1941, under the stewardship of SS-Oberscharführer Josef Oberhauser.32

The site of Bełżec for the first death camp was chosen because of its excellent railway connections; it was linked with the whole of Galicia, from Krakau in the west to Lemberg in the east, and beyond, with the whole of the Lublin district.33

A number of local villagers were employed in the construction of the death camp and, after the war, provided statements about the genesis of the death camp. Twenty skilled Polish manual workers from Bełżec and the surrounding area built the initial gas chambers and barracks under the supervision of the Volksdeutscher Edward Luczynski. These men were recruited by the village community office, as confirmed by Ludwig Obalek, the Mayor of Bełżec.34

One of these local villagers, mentioned above, was Edward Ferens, a thirty-six year old locksmith, who testified on March 20, 1946, in Bełżec:

In the autumn of 1941, I worked for seven weeks on the construction of the barracks in Bełżec which, it later transpired, were used in the exterminiation of the Jews. I worked as an ordinary labourer and was forced into this work by the municipal office in Bełżec.

During this time six barracks were built. Later more barracks were put up, but by then I was no longer employed on their construction.

32 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 24.

33 M. Gilbert, The Holocaust—The Jewish Tragedy, William Collins, London 1987, p. 286.

34 Robin O’Neil, Belzec—Stepping Stone to Genocide, JewishGen, Inc, 2008, p. 115.

I remember that we put up a barracks which was especially big, beside a much smaller one; the two were connected by a corridor. This small barracks was well-built and a narrow-gauge railway laid which ran from this barracks across the field.

When we asked the Germans what this barracks was for, they only laughed and said nothing. I remember that the building of the camp was directed by a young German; he was about twenty years old, slim, blond, and allegedlly came from the Kattowitz area. This German had the building plans and often went around with them among the labourers working in the camp area. I asked him what these barracks were being built for? As an answer, the German only laughed ... he only spoke weak Polish. Besides this young German, there were no other German specialists involved in the building work.35

Stanislaw Kozak, another Polish local worker, provided another key eyewitness account of the building of the death camp, testified also in Bełżec on October 14, 1945, and his detailed statement on the first gassing facilities, should be viewed as the definitive account:

There arrived in Bełżec in October 1941, three SS men who demanded 20 workers from the Bełżec community. The municipal office appointed 20 inhabitants of Bełżec as workers—I was one of them. The Germans selected the area to the South-East of the railway station where a siding ended.

Alongside the siding ran the railway to Lemberg. We began work on November 1, 1941, with the building of barracks at the end of the siding. One barrack—which stood right next to the siding—was 50 metres long and 12.5 metres wide. It was a waiting room for the Jews. The second barrack 25 metres long and 12.5 metres wide—was where the Jews were appointed to bathe.

Near this barracks we had built a third barracks which was 12 metres long and 8 metres wide. This barrack was divided into three parts by wooden walls—each part being 4 metres wide and 8 metres long. The height of each section was 2 metres. The inner walls of this barracks were so constructed that we nailed planks to them and filled the empty space between them with sand. The interior walls of this

barrack were covered with pasteboard, and the floors and walls—to a height of 1.10 metres—were covered with zinc sheeting.

From the first barracks to the second barracks, about which I have already spoken, there led an alleyway 3 metres wide of barbed-wire fencing 3 metres high. The side of the fence nearest the siding was specially covered with pine and fir branches, so that nothing was visible from the siding. From the second barracks, a covered passage 2 metres wide, 2 metres high and about 10 metres long—led to the third barracks. Through this passage one arrived at the corridor of the third barrack which led through three doors into the three parts of the barracks.

Stanislaw Kozak continued his detailed description:

Each part of this barracks had on its northern side a door—about 1.80 metres high and 1.10 metres wide. These doors, as well as the ones in the corridor, were sealed with rubber. All the doors in this barrack opened outwards. The doors were very strong–constructed of planks 75mm thick and fastened from the outside by a wooden bar which fitted into two iron hooks.

In each of the three parts of this barrack there was fixed at a height of 10cms from the floor, a waterpipe. The waterpipe branched from each corner along the western wall of each part of this barrack to the middle of the wall, and ended in an opening at a height of 1 metre from the floor. These waterpipes were joined to a main pipe at a junction under the floor.

In each of the three parts of the above-mentioned barracks were placed stoves weighing 250 kilos. One must surmise that the waterpipes were later connected to these stoves. The stoves were 1.10 metres high, 55 cm wide, and 55 cm long. Out of curiosity, I glanced into the stove through the open door. I did not see any grate there. The interior of the stove was—so it seemed– lined with firebrick. I could not ascertain what the other stoves were like. The stove opening was oval, with a diameter of about 25cm, and about 50cm above the floor.

Along the northern side of this barrack, a 1-metre high ramp made of planks was errected, and along this ramp a narrow-gauge railway track was laid, which led to the grave right in the noth east corner, which had been dug by the ‘Blacks.‘ This grave was dug by 70 ‘Blacks‘ ..... it was 6 metres deep, 20 metres wide, and 50 metres long. This

was the first grave in which the Jews killed in the death camp were buried. The ‘Blacks‘ dug this grave in six weeks, during the time we were building the barracks. This grave was later extended to the middle of the northern boundary.

The first of these barracks I mentioned lay 20 metres from the siding and 100 metres from the southern boundary. At that time, when we Poles were building these barracks, the ‘Blacks‘ erected the fencing around the death camp, which consisted of wooden posts between which was strung barbed-wire.

After we had built the aforementioned three barracks, the Germans released us from our work on 22 December, 1941. As far as I remember, in January or February of 1942, the Germans built three watchtowers around the camp. Further building work in the camp was carried out by Jews under German supervision.

The western, northern, and eastern borders of the camp were planted with big fir trees and pines to hide the interior of the camp. The camp was divided—from east to west—in three parts. In the first part were the Jews employed in burying the corpses of the murdered Jews; in the second part—the sorting of the clothing and other belongings of the Jews; and the third part–those employed in working in the camp (even outside the camp).

I know that the Germans baked 500 loaves of bread a day, sometimes more—for the Jews employed in the camp. These Jews were employed in the camp the whole time it was in operation. At the moment of the disbandment of the camp these Jews were taken away by train in the direction of Rejowiec.

Before the New Year of 1942, the Germans brought about 70 Jews in lorries from Lubycza (Krolewska) and Mosty. The ‘Blacks‘36 explained that these Jews had worked for two weeks and then been killed in the camp without saying how.37

Bełżec death camp was tiny when compared to other extermination centres like Auschwitz-Birkenau. Three sides, the north, the west, and east sides each measured 275 metres and the south side 265

36 The term ‘Blacks’ refer to the Trawnikimänner, who were captured Red Army soldiers, who volunteered to work for the SS, who wore black coloured uniforms, and were trained at the Trawniki camp, in the Lublin District.

37 Stanislaw Kozak Testimony, 14 October 1945. Copy-Holocaust Historical Society UK.

metres. It was built on a partly forested sandy ridge known as Kozielsk Hill. Three watchtowers were built at the corners of the camp, two on the east side and a third at the south-west corner.

A railroad spur originally laid by the Oberschlesische Holzindustrie (Upper Silesian Timber Company) during the year 1906 entered the camp area at the northwest corner via a sturdy wooden gate and a nearby wooden guard house. Bełżec was, in fact, divided into two: Camp 1 in the northern and western part was the reception area, which included the ramp, which could hold twenty cattle wagons, as well as the assembly square for the Jewish deportees, the undressing and storage barracks. Camp 1 also housed the administration area which had two barracks for housing the Jewish prisoners. This area also included the roll-call square and the laundry, kitchen, and other barracks for storage. To the left of the entrance gate already mentioned was the Trawnikimänner area, which included their living quarters, a kitchen, plus their clinic, dentist, and barber. The camp was surrounded by a double fence of chicken wire and barbedwire. The outer fence was camouflaged with tree branches. During the later reorganization of the camp, the space between the two fences were filled with rolls of barbed-wire. On the east side another barrier was erected on a steep slope by the fixing of tree trunks to wooden planks. During the second phase of the camp’s existence a wooden fence was built along the side of the road, at the foot of the steep eastern slope. A line of trees was planted between the western outer fence and the Lublin–Lemberg railway line.

The undressing barracks in Camp I was connected to the extermination area by the so-called ‘der Schlauch‘ (The Tube) some 2 meters wide and 100 meters long passageway enclosed on both sides by camouflaged barbed-wire fences. The naked, and doomed Jews passed through this path which led directly to the gas chambers. Camp II, the so-called extermination area, included the three gas chambers and the mass graves, which were in the east and northeast areas of the camp. The gas chambers were surrounded by trees and a camouflage net was placed over the roof to prevent observation from low flying aeroplanes. As time went by, two barracks were erected in this area for the Jewish work brigades, living quarters, and

a kitchen. Camp II was segregated off from Camp I by barbed–wire fences with a heavily guarded entrance gate.38

The three gas chambers were etremely primitive; as have been described above, each chamber measured 6 metres by 4 metres and had a maximum capacity of 240 people in each chamber. The three chambers was constructed on concrete foundations and after the gassing had taken place, the bodies were unloaded through the three doors at the rear of the chambers and transferred to mass graves, using a narrow-gauge railway with tip-up trucks, though this method was later discarded.39

Erich Fuchs, a member of the SS-Garrison recalled in post-war testimony that a Commission visited Bełżec, to check on the progress of the construction work:

The construction work in Bełżec was supervised by a Commission from Lublin. The members of the Commission wore a bracelet with the inscription SS-Bauamt. They rarely showed up for inspections. I can’t remember names. The names Baurat Moser and architect Naumann that have been put before me, seem familiar to me. I assume they belong to the Commission.40

In Bełżec village, two well-built stone houses near the station on Tomaszowska Street were requisitioned from the Ostbahn (Eastern Railways), one of which served as Christian Wirth’s Kommandantur, his office and living quarters, while the other house served as the living quarters for a number of the SS-garrison. In the kitchen of the Kommandantur, were three local women, sisters of the Jarocka family, and another family, Bronska, who ran the SS–laundry, which was located in the village itself.41 Some of the SS camp personnel were billited in the Kessler Mill, that was located some distance from the Kommandantur, and two other SS-men had quarters on the other

38 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, pp. 27,28.

39 M. Tregenza, Belzec—The Unknown Death Camp of the Holocaust (rev.2006)

Originally published Fritz Bauer Institut Jahrbuch 2000. p.3.

40 NIOD 804-47, p. 238.

41 M. Tregenza, Belzec—The Unknown Death Camp of the Holocaust (rev.2006)

Originally published Fritz Bauer Institut Jahrbuch 2000. p.4.

side of Tomaszowska Street in the building where the families of Polish and Ukrainian train station employees lived.42

A third building, a peasants‘ cottage, which was known as the pavillion, adjacent to the Kommandantur, was requisitioned as the death camps‘ general office. Next to the cottage, at the rear of the Kommandantur, was an armory. At the rear of the building that housed the SS-garrison was a small stable. The complex was surrounded by a wooden fence and barbed-wire, with the exception of the road-side area, which was manned round-the clock by armed sentries.43

Some historical accounts claim that Richard Thomalla from the Waffen–SS Bauleitung Zamość, at General Drescher Strasse 34, who built the Aktion Reinhardt camps at Sobibor and Treblinka, was involved at the commencement of construction in Bełżec on November 1,1941. However, this is unlikely as he was in Russia during this time as part of the constructing SS Strongpoints in the East program, which was under the control of Odilo Globocnik in Lublin. The British Intelligence Service at Bletchley Park intercepted and decoded German Police messages using a replica ‘Enigma‘ machine, provided to them by the Poles.44 Messages sent to Thomalla at Zwiahel on November 21, 1941,would seem to exclude him from overseeing the early stages of the construction of the death camp in Bełżec. Of some note is that other key members of Odilo Globocnik’s staff, such as Hermann Dolp, who commanded the labor camps in the Bełżec areas, was in Minsk, Georg Michalsen who was in Riga, Herman Julius Höfle, who was in Mogilew,and Kurt Claasen who was also in Minsk, were also employed on the ‘Strongpoints in the East‘ construction projects.45

42 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.52.

43 Interview at Belzec in July 2002 with two local villagers who lived through the occupation.

44 Stephen Tyas, British Intelligence Service—Decoded Radio Messages from the General Gouvernement 2004.

45 National Archives Kew, NA, HW16/32.

On his return to Lublin in early 1942, Thomalla may have been involved in the latter stages of construction at Bełżec, but that is by no means certain, and there is no testimony to support this claim. However, there can be no doubt he supervised from the start the construction of the other two death camps which formed part of Aktion Reinhardt, Sobibor and Treblinka.

Chapter IV Recruitment into Aktion Reinhardt:

T4 & Trawniki

T4 was the name of a secret organisation, named after its address in Berlin, Tiergartenstrasse 4, and this organization was part of the Führer’s Chancellery. The T4 organization established several institutions throughout the Reich that murdered mentally ill and disabled men, women, and children by means of gassing by carbon monoxide and lethal injections.46

Kurt Hubert Franz was a member of T4 as well as serving as a Concentration Camp guard at Buchenwald, and during his interrogation in Dusseldorf on December 30, 1959, he provided a detailed account of the T4 recruitment process and subsequent service in the death camps of Aktion Reinhardt. This account has not been altered:

I was raised in Dusseldorf, and here I went to the primary school. Then I first worked as an errand boy at the firm Peter Holters, Factory of Fine Food. Then I completed a 3-year long apprenticeship as a cook at the Wittelsbacher Hof. The apprenticeship time began at one Hirschquelle Bar, which had to close after approximately one year, meaning I had to stop because the owner changed.

After working for a short time as a young cook in Dusseldorf, I came to a working service camp in Ratingen, organized by the Stahlhelm on a voluntary basis. There I first worked in the kitchen, but later I also fulfilled normal work service. At the end I was Gruppenführer. I was not only in Ratingen in the working service, but also in Heiligenhaus and Honnef. At the last camp this was already a Reichsarbeitdienst of the time. From 1932 to 1934 I was busy for about two years at the working service.

46 Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews, Holmes & Meier, New York, London 1985, p.226.

In 1934 and 1935, I was a volunteer with the butcher–master Martin Stollmann in Oberkassel. In autumn of 1935, I was drafted to the Wehrmacht. I fulfilled my military obligation at the Artillery Regiment 6 in Minden/ Westfalen. Towards the end of September, 1937, I was discharged with the service degree of Oberkanonier.

In October 1937, I then entered the Waffen-SS. I came to the Totenkopfverband-Standarte ‘Thüringen.’ This unit was later called, ‘Totenkopf-Standarte Thüringen. The training period was for six weeks, but I want to point out that I myself was immediately designated as a trainer. At the end of 1937, my unit came to the concentration camp Buchenwald, which at the time was being built. My unit was designated for guard service in Buchenwald. The service consisted in that we performed guard duties on watchtowers, and that we were divided as guards when work had to be performed by inmates outside the camp proper. The inmates were accompanied by members of the guard units when they marched from the camp gate to their work places and when they returned after work. During the work, the total object was surrounded by a guarding chain. In Buchenwald I was named a Sturmann and then a Rottenführer.

At this point Kurt Franz explains his recruitment into the T4 organization:

At the end of the year 1939, I was ordered to Berlin. I had to report at the Führer’s office in the Voss Street, at the Reich’s medical leader SS-Standartenführer Brandt. Other than myself, there were other SS members present who had to report at the same time. Two of them also came from Buchenwald. Their names were Fritz Jirmann and Herbert Floss. According to my memory there were three SS members from Dachau present, and they were Gottfried Schwarz, one Niemann called Jonny and one Oberhauser, called by his first name Sepp. These names I can remember because we six were first quartered together in Berlin, and because in the time following we met here and there during our service.

At the service station in the Voss Street were present other than the Reichs Medical Leader, other persons, but of whom I can only recall a certain Blankenburg, who as much as I know had the uniform of an SA-Standartenführer. The others present had civilian clothing. Then we were shown a film, which was probably taken in several madhouses, and which contained pictures of mentally ill people with horrible body deformations. Mainly Brandt explained that

these ill people were a burden for the German people. Brandt or someone else said that it was best to eliminate these ill people.

After this film and the explainations, we six SS members from Buchenwald and Dachau had to sign a red certificate, whereby we committed ourselves to keep quiet about everything we had heard and seen. We were told it was a secret Reich matter. This appeared in writing also on the red certificate. Then we were dismissed. If I remember well, there remained the civilians, and I suppose they were probably doctors. They too had to sign the red certificate. There might have been ten or twelve gentlemen.

After we left the room, we were approached by a gentleman who might have belonged to the service station or the Führer’s office. He was more than 1.90 tall and must have been a movie star, which became obvious from the later relation with him. The name could have been Schwennice, or something like that. He made an appointment with us for the next day in order to buy civilian clothing for us. We then went with him to a department store, where for we six persons only one outfit of civilian clothing was brought for us, and paid by our escort.

On behalf of the Führer’s office we had been accommodated at a Pension at the Hallesche Ufer. We were also told about a place called Lukullus, where we had to eat. We were told we would receive notice when we were needed. Then it took a few weeks—it could also have been 2 or 3 months—until we heard something further. To my knowledge I was the first to be put to service.

Kurt Franz outlined his service in various T4 institutions:

I had to go to Grafeneck, which was nearby Munsingen in Württenberg. There was an institution in the stage of being established. The first thing I had to do was buy the mobile inventory for the kitchen. In the following time I, as kitchen chief, had to take care of the feeding of 60-80 people, meaning for the doctors, nurses, female nurses, administration personnel etc.

Somewhat aside from the main building, barracks and ovens were erected. There later the sick people were killed and burned, which were brought by buses. How the killing process had been carried out I cannot say; I had nothing to do with it. I have only seen that these chimneys of the cremation ovens smoked heavily. I would like to

correct myself: There was only one chimney, but there were probably several ovens.

From Grafeneck I was then transferred to Aschach, by Linz, at the Danube. There on one of the properties of Fürst Starhemberg was also established an elimination institution. There the buses with the sick people went into an inner courtyard, so that one saw even less than in Grafeneck of what happened there. I myself worked there again as a kitchen chief. After training a cook there, I was further transferred to Sonnenstein by Pirna, where there was also an elimination institution. There, too, I worked as a kitchen chief.

For a very short time I was also at the madhouse in Brandenburg, where there, too, sick people were eliminated. I cannot say, but I was probably supposed to work there, too, as a cook. But according to my memory, there I laid down ill, having a tumor in my nose. From Pirna, during the late summer of 1941 I was ordered to Berlin. In the Wilhelmstrasse 40 or 43 I managed a kitchen, in which ate some members of the Führer’s office and the service station of Tiergartenstrasse 4. I think that, according to my memory, in the Tiergartenstrasse there was the ‘Common Foundation for Institutional Care.’ I suppose there was some kind of connection and that the service station Tiergartenstrasse 4 was the central place for the carrying out of the total action.

Kurt Franz recalled his time in Poland, and his time at the Bełżec death camp and the Treblinka death camp as part of Aktion Reinhardt:

About March, 1942, I received a marching order of the Waffen-SS (Führungshauptamt) and had to go to Lublin. I was told that I would there be put to work as a cook. In Lublin I had to report to the SS–and Police Leader. After reporting in Lublin at the service station of the Higher SS- and Police Leader Globocnik, I had to march to Bełżec. There a camp was being established. I heard that this was a camp in which Jews were to be eliminated. This camp was indeed operated, while I was still there, as an elimination camp. The killing of the Jews was done by means of a gassing car. The cars looked like the vehicles of the parcel post. While I was still in Bełżec, gas chambers were built. I was informed, that for these gas chambers there were engine rooms. They had allegedly left the engines running and then by means of gas pipes the gas was led to the gas chambers. I think that the Jews killed in Bełżec were from Poland itself.

I was in Bełżec until the end of 1942.47 In Bełżec—I had become in the meantime an SS-Scharführer—I first trained the members of the personnel militarily, since they had no knowledge about weapons at all. These people had some SS and some police uniforms. I recall that one of them told me that he had been a nurse. These people trained by myself had to participate at the carrying out of the elimination by receiving the transports. At this time? the then camp commander SS-Sturmbannführer, Christian Wirth, was really always present. These people trained by myself had to make sure that the arriving Jews reached the gas chambers. For the servicing of the gas chambers there were some kind of specialists who had a special knowledge in engines.

After the arrival of the Ukrainian guard units, Wirth named me to lead them. They might have been about 40 guards. I trained these guards militarily and proceeded to organize their duties. The German commanding orders were known to the guards. Also among them were Volksdeutche from Russia. The guards had to stand guard around the elimination camp. On some occasions they were used against Partisans.

When transports arrived in Bełżec, the train went all the way into the camp. In the camp itself were the large pits, into which dead people were thrown. The following jobs, like opening the pits and taking out or in of the bodies, were performed by Jewish working commandos. These working commandos inside the camp were not guarded particularly. They received their orders from SS members who served inside of the camp. While the transports were arriving, and the killing action was performed, the camp was surrounded by guards.

In the beginning of 1943 I was transferred from Bełżec to Treblinka.48 Treblinka was a liquidation camp that was operating already for

47 This statement is untrue, Franz by his own admission in other testimony stated he left Belzec in the late summer of 1942.

48 Kurt Franz admitted in other interrogations that he left Bełżec, for Treblinka in mid-summer or early autumn 1942. Why he should state a later date is unknown. Eyewitness accounts by former SS men say he arrived in Treblinka on August 23, 1942.

some time, when I arrived there. Treblinka was considerably larger than Bełżec…………….. 49

In the case of the Trawnikimänner, their recruitment and role at the Aktion Reinhardt death camps is important to understand. One of the Ukrainian guards was Nikolai Petrovich Malagon, and he was interrogated on October 2, 1979, in the city of Vinnitsa. His detailed account will adequately serve to illustrate the historical sequence of events:

During the Great Patriotic War, I participated with my military unit in the defence of the city of Kiev. In August, 1941, I was wounded in the head and taken prisoner by the Germans, together with other soldiers from my unit.While a prisoner, I was first held in a POW camp in the city of Zhitomir. We were later transferred to a camp in the city of Rovno, and a day later we were transferred in railroad cars to a POW camp in the city of Chelm (Poland).

We were held in this camp, for approximately two months. In roughly October or November 1941 we, the POW’s were assembled near the barracks and some man, unknown to me, wearing civilian clothes began to select prisoners for work. He selected a total of roughly 60-70 POW’s, including myself. This man did not tell us what kind of work we would be doing or where we would do it.

The selected POW’s and myself were hauled in three trucks to the village of Trawniki (Poland), and we were told that in this training camp we would be trained as SS guards. When we arrived at the Trawniki training camp, there were already other POW’s there as well as the camp administration. There was a total of approximately 300 trainees in the camp; these were organized into four companies. Three companies consisted of Ukrainian POW’s and one company consisted of Russian POW’s. I was in the 3rd Company. The commander of my company was Mayevskiy (I do not remember his first name and patronymic). He was Polish or German by nationality, since he spoke these languages well. His fate is unknown to me.

Our platoon leader was Komarkin or Komarik—I do not remember his precise name, a German by nationality, who died roughly in the spring of 1942 from heart disease. The squad leader was Broft, whose

first name and patronymic I do not remember. He was a teacher by profession and was a Volga German. His later fate is unknown to me.

Two or three weeks after our arrival at the Trawniki camp, we took an oath of loyalty to Germany and were issued Belgian military uniforms. In January of 1942, the Germans selected 10 men from among the trainees, myself included, and sent us to the city of Zamosc (Polland), where we guarded an estate. Mayevskiy was the senior officer among us. We guarded this estate until the spring of 1942, and then we returned to the Trawniki training camp, where we finished our training course within 2-3 weeks. After this we were awarded the title of SS guards and issued identification. Our identification was printed on heavy paper (I do not remember the colour) and folded double. My photograph was attached to my identification and it had a text in German.

A short time later, as part of a group of guards consisting of 20-25 men whose names I do not remember, I was sent to the Lublin camp. We worked cleaning up the area at this camp and stayed there 5-6 days. From the Lublin camp we were sent to the city of Warsaw, where we stayed approximately three days. During these three days I once guarded the Jewish ghetto.

From Warsaw we, the guards, escorted a train filled with Jewish civilians to the Treblinka death camp. We were all armed with rifles and live ammunition. When we arrived at the Treblinka camp together with the prisoners, we handed them over to the camp guard. When we arrived at the camp, there were other guards there from the Trawniki school.

While at the Treblinka death camp, I met the guard Nikolai Marchenko (Authors Note: This should be Ivan Marchenko) who drove a gas chamber van (this is also incorect—Marchenko operated the engines in the static gas chambers); I do not know where he is at present. In the same camp I met the guard Ivan Demjanjuk. This guard was of average height and heavy build, spoke Ukrainian and had light brown hair. His speech was pure; he pronounced everything well. I did not know where he was from, since I did not talk to him about this. While I was at the Treblinka death camp, he worked there as a cook, preparing food for the guards. I could identify the guard whom I have named as Demjanjuk from photographs.

In February 1943, approximately 15 of us, the guards, were transferred to the Bełżec camp (Poland). Ivan Demjanjuk remained at

Treblinka. We were at Bełżec for approximately five days and, since some of the guards escaped, we were once again returned to Trawniki, where we were given special insignia, and then we were sent to the Auschwitz death camp. I served in this camp from March to April 1943. Then we were transferred to the Buchenwald death camp, where I served as a guard from April of 1943 through February of 1945.50

Returning to the German forces and the crucial role played by the T4 personnel, Viktor Brack, who was Philipp Bouhler’s deputy and Chief of Section II in the Führer’s Chancellery responsible for the T4 management of the euthanasia programme, testified at his post war trial about the transfer of T4 personnel to Aktion Reinhardt:

In 1941, I received an order to discontinue the euthanasia programme, in order to retain the personnel that had been relieved of these duties and in order to be able to start a new euthanasia programme, after the war, Bouhler asked me—I think after a conference with Himmler—to send this personnel to Lublin, and place it at the disposal of SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik.51

One of the SS members of the Bełżec garrison, SS-Scharführer Erich Fuchs, testified after the war about the transfer of T4 personnel to the Bełżec camp:

Polizeihauptmann Christian Wirth conducted the Aktionen in Bernburg. Subordinate to him were the burners, disinfectors, and drivers. He also supervised the transportation of the mentally ill and of the corpses. One day in the winter of 1941, Wirth arranged a transport of euthanasia personnel to Poland. I was picked together with about eight or ten other men and transferred to Bełżec.

I don’t remember the names of the others. Upon our arrival in Bełżec,we met Friedel Schwarz and the other SS men, whose names I cannot remember. They supervised the construction of barracks that would serve as a gas chamber. Wirth told us that in Bełżec ‘all the Jews will be struck down.‘ For this purpose barracks were built as gas chambers. I installed shower heads in the gas chambers. The

50 Nikolai Malagon Interrogation 2 October 1979 Vinnitsa, Copy Holocaust Historical Society UK.

51 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 17.

nozzles were not connected to any water pipes; they would serve as camouflage for the gas chamber. For the Jews who were gassed it would seem as if they were being taken to baths and for disinfection.52

In late December, 1941, Christian Wirth was appointed commandant of Bełżec, and Josef Oberhauser, who was in charge of constructing the death camp, was appointed to the post of Wirth’s adjutant. The scene was set for a period of trial and error, where Wirth would perfect the process where industrialized mass murder became the deadly norm.

52 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 24.

Chapter V Descent into Mass Murder The First Phase March–June 1942

The primitive gas chambers in Bełżec were ready for use by the end of February 1942, after Christian Wirth had experimented with bottled carbon monoxide and the use of a converted parcel carrier to a gas–van had all proved unequal to the task. Kazimierz Czerniak testified about this gas-van on October 17, 1966:

The truck had a sealed chamber to which the exhaust pipe led. The Germans personally made the apparatus conducting the exhaust gas from the truck engine to the sealed chamber. Local blacksmiths and locksmiths made some of the parts, but none of them knew what they would be used for. The Germans put the device together, and they did not let the workers from Tomaszow anywhere near the truck.53

On orders from Christian Wirth disabled people from the vicinity of Bełżec and Tomaszow Lubelski were murdered in this converted parcel van. The gas-van made runs to the Gestapo prison in Zamość, and Polish political prisoners were gassed in it. The bodies of people murdered in the gas-van were strewn at night on the sides of the road leading to Bełżec.54

During an interrogation on March 28, 1966, by Anna Fuchs, the wife of former SS-Scharführer Erich Fuchs who served at Bełżec, as well as at the Sobibor and Treblinka death camps, recalled her husband wrote to her:

Fuchs stayed in Bełżec for seven weeks. I wrote to him and he replied with the address SS Sonderkommando Bełżec. He explained to me in detail that he installed the gassing devices in Bełżec and later also in the other camps, Sobibor and Treblinka. He said that at first he

54

53 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec,, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.117.

Ibid. p.117.

drove a gassing van; the exhaust fumes were fed into it. But it took too much time. The Jews also rioted in the vehicle.55

Obviously the use of a gas-van would not be sufficient to carry out the mass murder program envisaged for Bełżec, and another solution had to be found.

SS-Scharführer Erich Fuchs testified that:

A chemist, a civilian from Berlin, was brought in during the construction. He told me that he had once served with the navy. I admit he may have been known by the name of Dr. Blaurock.56

This chemist from T4 was Dr. Helmut Kallmayer, Dr Blaurock was a pseudonym and his role in Bełżec was to observe the various gasing experiments conducted by Christian Wirth and to provide advice. Dr Kallmayer also provided expert advise on the gassing facilities at the Sobibor death camp.

Mieczyslaw Kudyba, a Polish resident of Bełżec, who was a mechanic, who serviced vehicles in the death camp, testified about the first experimental killing by gas in Bełżec:

The Germans took out a group of Jews from Lubycze-Krolewska and brought them by car to the Bełżec camp. One Jew from that group told me that he had been in the camp some time cutting pine trees. One day all the Jews were driven into a barrack. This Jew was able to hide and later to escape. While in hiding, he heard long screams from the barrack in which the Jews had been locked and then silence. This was the first experimental killing in Bełżec. I heard that this Jew who escaped was later caught by the Germans and killed.57

At his trial in Jerusalem, Adolf Eichmann, the head of IV B4, the Jewish section of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) testified that he visited Bełżec and saw the gassing barrack under construction, but near completion, which would indicate the visit took place between January and February 1942, probably after the Wannsee

55 NIOD Amsterdam, NIOD 804/47.

56 J. Schelvis, Sobibor, A History of a Nazi Death Camp, Berg, Oxfod, New York 2007, p. 99.

57 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 26.

Conference in Berlin. This conference, which had taken place on January 20,1942, was held to co-ordinate the various agencies in the quest to achieve the Final Solution of the Jewish Question in Europe. At Session 10 on April 19, 1961, the witness Captain Avner Less testified to the presiding judge as to what Adolf Eichmann had said:

As ordered, I went to Lublin and came to the office of the SS and Police Leader in Lublin, Globocnik. I reported to him. I told him the Chief of Security Police and the SD had sent me, and afterwards I repeated to him those sentences which Isaid just now, which the Gruppenführer had said to me, that the Führer had ordered the physical extermination of the Jews....... Then Globocnik called in a certain Sturmbannführer Höfle, obviously from his headquarters. I did not know this man; I had never seen this man Höfle, and later on we travelled from Lublin. I no longer recall what was the name of that place. I am confusing this, for I am unable to say whether it was called Treblinka or otherwise. Truly I no longer have an idea where I was taken to then. This I dont know anymore. But this could have been established. I imagine, since there are other testimonies on this subject, and through them it would certainly been possible to check this. For I am not the only person to know of these matters. I reached this place and there was something in the form of a forest.

Things resembling a forest. A road passed through there, a Polish carriage road. Now I still remember, on the right of the road there was an ordinary house, a hostel in which men who were working there lived. A certain Capitan of the Security Police, that is to say of the Order Police, greeted us.

There was also a number of workers there. The Captain of the Order Police—this surprised me considerably—was without his uniform coat; his sleeves were rolled up, and it seemed that he was somehow participating actively in the work. This I still remember. And they were erecting wooden huts, possibly two, perhaps three; this I no longer know exactly. The size –a sort of house with two or three rooms, I would say of that size, not large, and apparently—but I do not know this anymore—Höfle had given instructions to this Police Captain that he should explain this installation to me.

And then he began. He was a man with a voice, let us say ordinary, uncultured—perhaps he was acustomed to drinking, I do not know-with a gruff voice. He spoke the dialect of the south-western region

of Germany, and he told me how he had made everything here hermetically sealed, that everything had been sealed, since an engine of a Russian submarine was going to operate here, and the gases of this engine were going to be directed inside and the Jews would be poisoned. This was terrible for me. I do not have such a steadfast nature for something of this kind... of this kind to pass over me without reaction.58

While not mentioned by name, the description certainly fits Christian Wirth. Within the testimony Eichmann claims the trip took place at the end of summer—in autumn, because the wooden huts were in a region of deciduous trees, in a thickly wooden area of deciduous trees, large trees and their leaves were in full foiliage.59

To achieve the mass killing by gas, the exhaust from a captured Soviet tank engine was connected to the pipe system under the floor of the gas chambers and this had an outlet inside each of the three chambers. The gas pipes and gas outlets were manufactured in the workshop owned by the Czerniak brothers at Saint Tekla Street (now Kopernik Street) in Tomaszow Lubelski.60 Kazimierz Czerniak recalled the gas chamber building:

That was when I had a chance to get close to that building. I saw that there were three doors from that building onto the wooden platform, and from that platform there were narrow gauge tracks that forked off in that part of the camp. Those doors were hung from hooks and they rolled on rollers, on tracks.

The‘blacks‘ said laughing that the barracks was a warehouse. I understood that the gas chambers were in that barracks. The barracks I am talking about had no windows, but it had double walls filled with sand. In its construction, that building was different from the other barracks, and it was located at a distance of about 50 meters from the railroad spur.61

58 Nizkor Trial Transcript Session 10, April 19, 1961-online resource.

59 Ibid. But it is clear that this date is too early, construction work at Bełżec, started in November 1941.

60 Information supplied by Tomasz Hanejko, Bełżec, Museum Director—March 2014.

61 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.44.

Michal Kusmierczak, a railway engine driver from Bełżec, testified on October 16, 1945, about an experimental gassing that took place in February 1942:

The camp at Bełżec was surrounded by wire and a hedge of fir trees and pines. At first, the gas chambers were built inside one of the barracks; later they had another barracks there. The first experiment at exterminating the Jews in the extermination camp was carried out from Lubycza Krolewska. That was in February 1942. At that time about 50 Jews were killed.

One of the ‘Blacks‘ explained to me that the Jews were killed by the exhaust fumes produced by a 250hp engine, or rather were suffocated; the engine was 30m from the gas chamber and hidden about 3m deep in the ground. A pipe led from the engine to the gas chambers. The exhaust pipe was 7 inches in diameter and from this there led two and a half inch diameter pipes. As soon as a transport arrived at the station, the engine was started up.62

With the death camp ready the deportation of Jews, an important dcument has survived written by Dr Richard Turk, the head of the Department of Population Affairs and Welfare in the Lublin district. The main points were:

On March 7, I received a telephone call from the government in Krakow, from Major Regger, in which I was strictly requested, in connection with the resettlement of the Jews from Mielec to the Lublin distrct, to reach an agreement with the SS and Police Leader, and it stressed the highest importance of this agreement.

I arranged a conference with Hauptsturmführer Höfle for Monday, March 16, 1942, and it took place at 5:30 p.m. In the course of this conference, Höfle outlined the following, which, of course, disguised the true meaning of Bełżec:

1. It would be appropriate if the transport of Jews that arrive in the Lublin district were split in the departure stations into those who are able to work and those who are not. If this division is impossible in the departure stations, eventually it should be considered to

divide the transport in Lublin, according to the aforementioned point of view.

2. All the Jews incapable of work would arrive in Bełżec, the final border station in the Zamosc region.

3. Hauptsturmführer Höfle is preparing the erection of a big camp, where the Jews capable of work will be held and divided according to their professions and from where they will be requested for work.

4. Piaski will be cleared of Polish Jews and will become a concentration point for Jews arriving from the Reich.

5. In the meantime Trawniki will not be populated by Jews

6. The Hauptsturmführer asks whether on the train section DeblinTrawniki, 60,000 Jews can be disembarked. After having been informed about the transports of Jews dispatched by us, Höfle announced that out of the 500 Jews who arrived from Suziec, those unable to work can be sorted out and sent to Bełżec.

In conclusion, he announced that every day he can receive four to five transports with 1,000 Jews each for the destination of Bełżec station. These Jews would cross the border (of the occupied territories of the Soviet Union) and never return to the General-Gouvernement.63

This same day, March 16, 1942, saw the first deportation within the framework of Aktion Reinhardt from the Lublin ghetto at Podzamcze to the Bełżec death camp. On the night of March 16, 1942, the Germans commenced the liquidation of the Lublin ghetto, with a mass selection, those unfit for work; on average 1,500 per day were sent to the collection point at the Marashal-shul Synagogue and then subsequently to the Umschlagplatz, (collection–point) the loading ramp of the Municipal Abattoir in Ul. Turytyczna.64

On March 27, 1942, Dr. Josef Goebbels, Minister for Propaganda, wrote the following entry in his diary, about the deportations of the Jews in Lublin:

63 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, pp. 44-45.

64 R. Kuwalek, From Lublin to Bełżec, Ad Rem 2006 P.4.

Beginining with Lublin, the Jews in the Generalgouvernement are now being evacuated eastwards. The procedure is pretty barbaric and is not to be described here more definitley. Not much will remain of the Jews. About sixty percent of them will have to be liquidated. Only about forty percent can be used for forced labor. The former Gauleiter of Vienna (Globocnik), who is to carry out this measure, is doing it with considerable circumspection and in a way that does not attact much attention . . . The ghettos that will be emptied in the cities of the Generalgouvernement will now be re-filled with Jews thrown out of the Reich. The process is to be repeated from time to time.65

Daily the deportations trains departed for the Bełżec death camp and during the period from mid-March to mid-April 1942, approximately 26,000 Jews were deported while approximately 1,500 Jews were shot on the spot.

Alojzy Berezowski testified on November 5, 1945, in Bełżec, regarding the first transport of Jews to arrive in Bełżec:

The first transport of Jews arrived towards evening sometime in March 1942. It consisted of about 15 wagons. This train was taken on to the siding. Later during the evening of the same day, at about 9 o’clock, I heard from outside my house—which was in the station— the dreadful screaming of children, women, and men, mingled with occasional rifle fire and machine-gun fire.

How many people arrived on this transport, I cannot specify, only that with my own eyes I calculated that in each wagon there were about 40 people. They were covered wagons.66

Victor Skowronek, another local, testified in Bełżec on October 16, 1945, although it would appear the date of the first transport to arrive at Bełżec death camp was March 17, 1942, which was the official start of Aktion Reinhardt:

65 G. Reitlinger, The Final Solution…, op. cit., pp. 267268. 66 Alojzy Berezowski Testimony 5 November 1945 in Bełżec. Copy Holocaust Historical Society UK.

The first transport—16 March 1942, in the evening, one heard howls and screams and sporadic shooting.67

Michal Kusmierczyk testified, although he quoted a later date:

At the end of March 1942, the first railroad transports of Jews arrived in Bełżec from the direction of Lublin and next from Lublin and Rawa Ruska. At first two transports arrived per day, and later that increased to three. There were cases when four or even five transports arrived. Many cars were empty then. The average car held about 100 to 120 people. The transport was made up from 40 to 60 freight cars.

The first transports were tightly packed with people. There were no empty cars then. I remember that out of curiosity I asked the dispatchers at the Bełżec station how many Jews were in a transport, and they told me 1800 people.68

SS-Unterscharführer Karl Alfred Schluch, who had served at the ‘T4’ institutions at Grafeneck and Hadamar, was in Bełżec, and he described the mass-murder process in some detail:

In the morning or noon time we were informed by Wirth, Schwarz, or by Oberhauser that a transport with Jews should arrive soon. The disembarkation from the freight cars was carried out by a group of Jewish prisoners under the command of their Kapos. Two or three Germans from the camp staff supervised this action. It was my obligation to carry out such supervision.

After the disembarkation, the Jews were taken to the assembly square. During the disembarkation, the Jews were told that they had come here for transfer and they should go to the baths and disinfection. This announcement was made by Wirth and translated by a Jewish Kapo. Afterwards the Jews were taken to the undressing barracks.69

67 Viktor Skowronek Testimony 16 October 1945 in Bełżec, Copy Holocaust Historical Society UK.

68 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.97.

69 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 70.

Another member of the SS-garrison Kurt Franz who was responsible for training the Trawnikimänner at Bełżec testified:

I heard with my own ears how Wirth, in a quite convincing voice, explained to the Jews that they would have to be deported further and before that, for hygenic reasons, they must bathe themselves and their clothes would have to be disinfected. Inside the undressing barrack was a counter for the deposit of valuables. It was made clear to the Jews that after the bath their valuables would be returned to them. I can still hear today how the Jews applauded Wirth after his speech. This behaviour of the Jews convinces me that the Jews believed Wirth.70

The Jewish deportees were told to leave their luggage in the yard next to the siding and strip naked, the men in the open and the women inside the undressing barrack. After undressing the men were taken through the ‘tube‘ to the gas chambers first, and after the women had their hair shaven off, they and the children were also led through the ‘tube‘ and murdered in the gas chambers. SS-Unterscharführer Karl Alfred Schluch testified at his post-war, pre-trial hearing,what happened next:

My post in the ‘tube’ was close to the undressing barrack. Wirth briefed me that while I was there I should influence the Jews to behave calmly. After leaving the undressing barracks, I had to show the Jews the way to the gas chambers. I believe that when I showed the Jews the way, they were convinced that they were really going to the baths. After the Jews entered the gas chambers, the doors were closed by Hackenholt himself or by the Ukrainians subordinate to him.

Then Hackenholt switched on the engine which supplied the gas. After five or seven minutes—and this is only an estimate—someone looked through the small window into the gas chamber to verify whether all inside were dead. Only then were the outside doors opened and the gas chambers ventilated. After the ventilation of the gas chambers, a Jewish working group under the command of their Kapos entered and removed the bodies from the chambers.

Occasionally, I had to supervise at this place; therefore, I can describe the whole process, which I saw and witnessed personally. The Jews inside the gas chambers were densely packed. This is the reason that the corpses were not lying on the floor but were mixed up in disorder in all directions, some of them kneeling, according to the amount of space they had. The corpses were besmirched with mud, and urine or with spit. I could see that the lips and tips of the noses were a bluish color. Some of them had their eyes closed, others’ eyes rolled.The bodies were dragged out of the gas chambers and inspected by a dentist, who removed finger-rings and gold teeth. After this procedure, the corpses were thrown into a big pit.71

Karl Schluch stated what happened at the mass graves:

The ‘dentists’ took off rings and tore out any gold teeth. The valuables collected in this way were thrown into a carton placed there. After this procedure, the bodies were thrown into big graves. The measurement of a grave I can only give approximately. They could have been 30m x 20m wide. The depth is more difficult to estimate because the side walls were sloping; also the earth was thrown up on the edge. I think however, that the graves could have been 5-6m deep. Reckoned in all, one could easily fit a house in these graves.72

Aleksander Zsmigdow, one of the SS-Trawnikimänner serving in theBełżec garrison, testified about the mass murder process on August 7, 1965:

The first few dozen Jews went very calmly. First they entered the corridor of the gas chamber, and then they realized that they were going to be killed, and they began screaming. However, the Jews behind them pressed forward. In this way the guards forced the majority of the Jews into the gas chamber without hindrance.

From that moment what could be heard in the gas chambers was mostly shouts, the crying of children, and other horrid outcries coming from the victims herded into the gas chambers. The people who were still standing outside the entrance to the chamber and some

71 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, pp. 70-71.

72 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.55.

who were passing in also began screaming and did not want to go any farther.

In such cases the Germans and some guards went into action and used force to herd the Jews to their death. For this they used their bayonets, weapons, and whips. I remember one incident where Schneider flogged a Jew to death with his whip.73

Eduard Luczynski testified on October 15, 1945, about the mass murder process in the early days of the death camp’s operation:

On the walls of the barracks were signs reading as follows: “Please disrobe, go to the showers, bathe and go to rest on straw.” There were signs like this in German, Yiddish, and Polish. After the Jews disembarked from the train cars, they were ordered to undress and turn in their clothing and valuables, for which they received chits and numbers that they took with them as they went to the shower barracks, from which they never returned.

As Wlasiuk the ‘black,’ who is no longer alive, told me, he was the one who started the gasoline motor located next to the gas chamber at the moment when the gas chamber was full of people. Exhaust from the motor went through pipes to the gas chamber causing the asphyxiation of the people who were inside that chamber. The process of being in the chamber lasted about 20 minutes.

After the door was opened, there were cases where some people, adults and children, were alive. Among the adults only those were alive who stood next to the wall and had their faces next to a crack in the wall through which air entered, and among the children those who lay on the ground. In those cases the ‘blacks’ killed the living people.

Jews dragged the corpses out of the gas chamber and used pushcarts on the narrow–gauge rails to take them to the waiting pits. Then the handling of the corpses was changed so that the Jews caught the heads of the corpses in straps and dragged them to the waiting pits, where again a second party of Jews laid them out in rows. The Jews dragging the corpses formed a circle because some dragged the corpses to the pit and then returned without them to the chamber from where they took the next corpses, dragging them

Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec,, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.122.

to the pit. Clearing the corpses out of the chamber took about 15 minutes. After the transports of people came to Bełżec station, shouts and cries for help could be heard from the train cars. There were also shouts and squealing on the grounds of the camp when the newly arrived Jews were ordered to undress and go to the socalled showers.74

The Jews that were unable to proceed to the gas chambers were taken directly to the mass graves and there they were shot. SS-Unterscharführer Robert Juhrs, who had served in the T4 institution in Hadamar was one of the SS-garrison who took part in such shootings, testified:

I had to carry out the shooting of Jews once. In that transport the cars were overloaded; some of the Jews were unable to walk. Maybe, in that confusion, some of the Jews had been pushed down and had been crushed underfoot. Therefore, there were Jews that, by no means, could cover the way to the undressing barrack. Gottlieb Hering gave me an order to shoot these Jews. He told me verbally:

“Juhrs, take these Jews to Camp II immediately and shoot them there.“ These Jews were taken to the gate of Camp II by a Jewish working group, and from there they were taken to the pits by other working Jews. As I remember, there were seven Jews, men and women, who were taken inside the pit.

It is hard to describe the condition these people were in after their long journey in the unimaginly packed freight cars. I regarded the killing of these people in this way as a mercy and redemption. I shot these Jews with a machine-gun as they stood on the edge of the pit. I aimed directly at their heads so that everyone died instantly. I am absolutely sure that nobody felt any torment.75

Heinrich Gley also stated in post-war testimony how the Jews were executed in Camp II:

When the last Jews capable of walking had left the assembly yard, Hering gave the Jewish work-brigade the order to carry away the dead and half-dead through the gate in the fence to the graves. The Jews were laid next to one another in the grave. There, they lay with

74 Ibid, pp.122-123.

75 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, pp.71-72.

their faces to the ground,—they lay on their stomachs. The grave was used only for this purpose and was, to my mind, as big as a room. It could be that the dimensions were five meters by five meters.

I can assert with absolute certainty that not a single one of us carried out such a shooting without an express order or command; to my mind, it was unthinkable any other way.

The grave was not very deep, so that one could climb in with one step; I then stepped up to the victims from behind and, from closeup, aimed at the back of the head. I was armed with a machine-pistol (NP38) with a full magazine, and at my belt an automatic pistol—a 9mm Beretta.

The number of victims varied. When, for example, there were 20-30 dead or half-dead altogether on an incoming transport, then about half of them would already be dead on arrival, so that the number of victims shot would be 10-15. I can definitely say that I carried out the shootings without delay and in seconds.

I am convinced that no member of the German garrison of the Belzec camp was spared such an order. There was only one exception I can quote who was perhaps thankful: Heinrich Barbl, of whom Hering had said: “Barbl cannot participate in this; he is so daft that he would shoot us and not the Jews!“76

Robert Juhrs confirmed that Heinrich Gley took part in these shootings, which Gley seemed to enjoy:

I myself have seen Gley standing at the edge of the graves at shootings. It is no longer possible for me to state today whether he carried a pistol or a machine-pistol. I only know that he liked shooting.77

These first transports of Jews to the death camp from the Lublin ghetto saw approximately 30,000 Jews murdered between March 1942 and mid-April. Other transports from within the Lublin district followed from Zamość, from the transit ghettos of Izbica and Piaski.

On either March 25 or 26, 1942, the first transports to the Bełżec death camp came from the Lemberg (Lvov) district, namely Zolkiew,

quickly followed by mass deportations from Lemberg itself and other places such as Kolomea and Stanislawow. It was from a transport from Zolkiew that two women, Mina Astman and Malka Thalenfeld, escaped from the Bełżec death camp at the end of March 1942; they managed to record their story on their return to Zolkiew:

In closed wagons they were brought into the Bełżec camp and were ordered to undress. The people became scared. One of them asked the SS man who was close to him: “What’s the reason that we should undress?“ Afterward the women were ordered to enter the barrack . . . Exploiting the disorder and noise and lack of experience of the Germans, Astman and Talenfeld jumped into a nearby ditch and sat there undiscovered until dark. Under cover of darkness they escaped from the camp and after a few days returned home.78

During the height of these killings Franz Stangl, the commandant of the Sobibor death camp, was ordered by Odilo Globocnik to report to Christian Wirth in Bełżec. Stangl told the author, Gitta Sereny, that Globocnik had written to Stangl, that Wirth had been appointed as Inspector of camps, but Wirth was not appointed to this post until August 1942, and this visit took place in April 1942. In one of his interviews with Gitta Sereny, in Dusseldorf prison, Stangl explained:

I went there by car. As one arrived, one first reached Bełżec railway station on the left side of the road. The camp was on the same side, but up a hill. The Kommandantur was 200 metres away on the other side of the road. It was a one–story building. The smell... oh God, the smell. It was everywhere.

Wirth wasnt 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 can’t tell you: not hundreds, thousands, thousands of corpses... oh God. That’s where Wirth told me—he said that was what Sobibor was for. And that he was putting me officially in charge.79

78 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 264.

79 Gitta Sereny, Into That Darkness, Pimlico London 1974, p.111.

Gitta Sereny in her book, Into That Darkness, which recorded her interviews with Stangl, stated that Stangl gave a slightly different version of the same event:

Wirth wasn’t in his office; they said he was up in the camp. I asked whether I should go up there, and they said, “I wouldn’t if I were you; he’s mad with fury. It isn’t healthy to go near him.“ I asked what was the matter. The man I was talking to said that one of the pits had overflowed. They had put too many corpses in it and putrefaction had progressed too fast, so that the liquid underneath had pushed the bodies on top and over, and the corpses had rolled down the hill. I saw some of them—oh God, it was awful. A bit later Wirth came down. And that is when he told me. I said to Wirth “I couldn’t do it“; he said, “I simply wasn‘t up to such an assignment. There wasn’t any argument or discussion. Wirth just said my reply would be reported to HQ, and I was to go back to Sobibor.80

Andrzej Jonka, who worked at the train station in Rawa Ruska and witnessed Jewish transports en-route to Bełżec, testified:

I do not remember exactly but it might have been in April, 1942, at the station in Rawa Ruska, that I saw the first train full of Jewish civilians travelling from Lvow in the direction of Bełżec. The train numbered about 20 freight cars tightly packed with people, Jews of various sexes: men, women, and children.

These Jews came from Lvow. I knew perfectly well that they came from Lvow, because I spoke personally with several of the people in that transport. The transport of Jews was not particularly well watched by the Germans, so that it was possible to talk with the Jews. These people said that they were on their way to territory that had previously been occupied by Soviet Russia, that there were large collective farms and factories there, and they would work there. I remember that later transports of Jews from Poland were closely guarded by the German escorts.81

Josef Oberhauser recalled:

80 Ibid.,op cit, p. 112.

81 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.120.

In late April / early May, 1942, Wirth, Schwarz, and almost the entire German camp personnel left Bełżec. Before Wirth left, his last official duty was to shoot or gas the fifty or so work-Jews of the camp including the Kapos. When Wirth and his staff left, I was in Lublin, where I was organizing the transport of a large amount of material. When I came back to Bełżec, there was no one left apart from about twenty Ukrainians guarding the place. The Ukrainian guards were under the supervision of SS-Scharführer Feix.

Curiously, even SS- und Polizeiführer Globocnik did not know anything about Wirth and his staff’s departure. When he found out that Wirth had disaapeared, he sent me to Bełżec to find out where he had gone. I found out that he had travelled to Berlin, via Lemberg and Krakau without informing Globocnik of his departure.

At the beginning of May, 1942, SS-Oberführer Brack from the Führer Chancellery suddenly came to Lublin. With Globocnik he discussed resuming the extermination of the Jews. Globocnik said he had too few people to carry out this program. Brack stated that the Euthanasia programme had stopped and that the people from T4 would from now on be detailed to him on a regular basis so that the decisions taken at the Wannsee conference could be implemented… About a week after Brack had come to Globocnik, Wirth and his staff returned to Bełżec.82

Wirth arrived back in Bełżec by mid-May, 1942. In the last week of May, two transports from two small ghettos near Zamość, Laszczow and Komarow, arrived at the death camp. Then on June 1, 1942, the Germans organized the first deportation of the Jews from Krakau to the Bełżec death camp; this Aktion lasted until June 8, 1942, and some 10,000 Jews were deported and murdered in Bełżec. From his pharmacy in Plac Zgody, in Krakau,Tadeusz Pankiewicz watched the deportations and his eyewitness account about what happened on the evening of June 4,1942:

By the following morning, seven thousand had been assembled. There they were kept throughout the hot summer morning, then driven to the railway station and sent off to an unknown destination. The round-up was repeated the following day, the sixth of June. The

82 E. Klee, W. Dressen, V. Riess, Those Were the Days—The Holocaust As Seen By The Perpetrators and Bystanders, Hamish Hamilton London, 1991, pp. 228-230.

scorching sun was merciless; the heat makes for unbearable thirst, dries out the throats. The crowd was standing and sitting, all waiting, frozen with fright and uncertainty. Armed Germans arrived, shooting at random into the crowd. The deportees were driven out of the square, amid constant merciless screaming of the Germans.83

Christian Wirth realised that with the large scale deportations from Krakau taking place and further large scale deportations from the Lemberg and Lublin districts, the current primitive three gas chambers in Bełżec could not cope. The deportations to Bełżec were halted in the middle of June, 1942, and thus the first phase of operation at the death camp had come to an end. It was estimated that circa 93,000 innocent Jewish men, women, and children had perished during this first phase.84

83 Robin O’Neil, Oskar Schindler, Stepping Stone to Life, susaneking.com 2010, p.84.

84 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 73.

Chapter VI

Camp Expansion—New Gas Chambers Second Phase: June–July 1942

With the realisation that the primitive gassing facilities could not cope with the expected large transports from Krakau (Krakow, Lemberg, Lvov) and the Lublin district, the old wooden gas chambers were dismantled and a new gassing facility of bricks and concrete was constructed during June, 1942.

When the old gas chambers were replaced at Treblinka by a larger facility in August, 1942, the Germans used bricks from dismantled buildings in Warsaw to be taken from the Umschlagplatz and connected to the rear of each daily transport. In the book Letzte Spuren, there is a Waren-Passierschein Nr 00667 for driver Fichtner, authorized by SS-Hauptscharführer Bartetzko for a trip on June 8, 1942, to collect bricks from the Transferstelle—Warschau, who controlled the area where the Umschlagplatz was located. In all probability it would seem logical to assume that these bricks were used in the construction of the new gas chambers in Bełżec, as Fichtner was the camp quartermaster at Bełżec.85

The new gas chambers were not located at the same site as the first gas chambers but were moved to the central part of the camp and a watchtower was built close by. There appears to be some confusion about the actual location of the gas chambers in the second phase. Some former SS camp personnel state it was built in the same location, whilst others claim it was moved to a more central location. Rudolf Reder, who was deported from Lemberg in August 1942, wrote in his book called Bełżec, a detailed description of the gas chambers and the immediate area:

85 Helge Grabitz & Wolfgang Scheffler, Letzte Spuren, Hentrich Edition 1993, p.11.

After a time I knew all the terrain well. It lay in the middle of a young pine forest. The forest cover was heavy, and to reduce the penetration of light further, one tree was lashed to another in order to double the density of the greenery around the place where the chambers were. Beyond them was the sandy road where the corpses were dragged.

The Germans had stretched a roof made of smooth wire overhead, and foliage was laid on the wire. The idea was to secure the terrain from observation from airplanes. That part of the camp under the roof of leaves was shaded. From the gate, you entered a huge yard. The large barracks where the women’s hair was shaved off stood in the yard. Next to that barracks was a small yard surrounded by a fence made of boards nailed tightly together, without the slightest crack, three metres high. That fence, made of gray boards led straight to the chambers. This way no-one could see what was happening on the other side of the fence.

Rudolf Reder now describes the gas chamber building itself:

The building containing the chambers was low, long, and wide, gray concrete, with a flat roof covered in tar paper, and above that another roof of netting covered with foliage. From the yard, three steps a meter wide and without railings led up to this building. A big vase full of different-colored flowers stood in front of the building. On the wall it was clearly and legibly written: “Bade und Inhalationsräume.” The stairs led to a dark corridor, a meter and a half wide but very long. It was completely empty, four concrete walls. The doors to the chambers opened to the left and the right. The doors, made of wood, a meter wide, were slid open with wooden handles.

The chambers were completely dark, with no windows, and completely empty. A round opening the size of an electrical socket could be seen in each chamber. The walls and floors of the chambers were concrete. The corridor and chambers were lower than a normal room, not more than two meters high. On the far wall of each chamber there were also sliding doors two meters wide. After asphyxiation the corpses of the people were thrown out through them.

Outside the building was a small shed, perhaps two meters square, where the ‘machine’ was, a gasoline-driven motor. The chambers were a metre and-a-half above the ground, and at the same level as

the chambers was a ramp at the doors, from which the bodies were thrown to the ground.86

SS-Unterscharführer Karl Alfred Schluch recalled the Bełżec gas chamber’s interior:

I can relate that I saw the gas chambers in the euthanasia institutions, and I was shown the gas chambers in Bełżec. These were about 4 x 8 metres. They had a friendly, bright appearance. Whether the color was yellow or grey, I don’t remember. Maybe the walls were painted with oil colors.

In any case, the floor and part of the walls were made so that the cleaning would be easy. The newly arriving Jews must not guess the purpose the room served, and they should believe that it was a bath. Vaguely I remember that there were shower-heads on the ceiling.87

Rudolf Reder testified in Krakow on December 29, 1945, before the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland provided some further details on the gas chamber:

From the entrance, a corridor which had three solid and tightly sealed single doors on either side ran the length of the building. These doors led into windowless chambers, which at the far end wall, adjoining the loading ramps I described earlier, had double sliding doors. On the other side of the building, i.e. behind the wall at the far end of the corridor, there was a small room where the engines were.

I myself saw that in that small room there was a petrol-driven engine that looked very complicated. I remember the engine had a flywheel, but I could not make out any other specific construction or technical features. Two technicians, Russians from the armed camp staff, always operated the engine. I know only that the engine used up 4 cans of petrol each day, because that is how much petrol was brought to the camp every day. It was when the petrol was delivered to the engine room that I briefly had the opportunity to look inside the room.

86 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, pp. 122-124.

87 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 74.

The chambers were so crammed full of people that even after they had died, they were still upright. As soon as all the chambers had been crammed full, the doors were locked, the outside doors were closed by wedging them together, and then the engine was started. Prisoner Moniek, a coach driver from Kracow, supervised the operation of the engine.

The engine would always run for precisely 20 minutes, after which Moniek would signal to one of the operators to switch it off. After it had been switched off, Moniek ordered other prisoners to open all the doors wide and drag the bodies out, two at a time, using belts tied around their wrists. The bodies were then taken to the mass graves that had been dug with machines some time earlier. On the way from the ramp to the grave, near the chamber, dentists extracted the gold teeth from the bodies.88

Karl Alfred Schluch testified at his pre-trial hearing after the war about his service in Bełżec, and he provided more detailed information on the gas chamber building: This is very important as this testimony mentions that there were two engines used to carry out the gassings, and that the doors through which the corpses were removed from the gas chambers, initially were sliding doors, which were replaced by more modern lift-up doors that you might see in a garage:

They sent me to camp Bełżec during June 1942. The situation there was worse than I thought. Most of us hated this job, but the fear of Wirth was bigger. He ordered me for duty at the ramp and in the ‘tube.’ My job was to lead the victims through the ‘tube’ to the gas chamber building. I had to carry a whip but I never used it. I had to calm down the victims and then tell them to take a bath.

About the gas chamber building: It was a low house with a flat roof. There was a center corridor and three gassing rooms to the left and to the right, each for about 200 people. At the outside there were big gates and concrete ramps along the building: 80cm high and 2m wide. Over the entrance door was a big yellow Star of David. Left

and right of the door were signs with the inscription: “Stiftung Hackenholt,’ and Bade- und Inhalationsräume.”

The doors to remove the corpses were of wood and could be lifted up. Initially they used sliding doors, but these did not close hermetically and were replaced by these lift-up doors. At the rear gable side was the engine-house. Inside were two big engines and the exhaust was piped into the chambers. The corpses were brought into the pits. The pits were dug around the gas chamber buildings, all of different dimensions: about 50 meters long, 25 meters wide, and 10 meters deep.

This job I had to do until December 1942. In this month the gassing was finished. Then I supervised the digging out and burning of about 520,000 corpses.89

On June 13, 1942, the Polish Underground reported that the Jewish work brigade revolted in the extermination area, and this will be covered in the section that deals with reports by the Polish Underground, later in the book.

During July 1942, the SS-garrison was re-inforced by additional personnel from T4 and additional quarters were provided for them in a barracks next to the administration office in the SS-Compound.

Heinrich Gley recalled how the personnel were recruited in testimony after the war:

A group of the personnel at Sonnenstein were ordered to T4: among those people were Schemmel, Tauscher, Rost, Zanker, Klos, Dachsel and myself, Whether there were others or not I can no longer say. We reported according to orders to the guard post at T4, and then stayed about another week in Berlin, until we were ordered to Lublin. During our one week stay in Berlin others arrived from other institutions and joined us.

In Lublin we had to report to the office of Captain Wirth, which was directly besides a Jewish camp to the east of Lublin. With other male nurses, I was ordered to Trawniki, where we were given military

89 Robin O’Neil, Bełżec—Stepping Stone to Genocide, JewishGen, Inc, 2008, pp. 147-148.

training by police officers. This induction time was about two weeks.90

Another of the recruits from T4, Hans Girtzig, during 1961, remembered the selection carried out by Christian Wirth:

Wirth asked the newcomers which of us wanted to join him, police captain Reichleitner, or first lieutenant Stangl. He said nothing here about which units he meant or where they were stationed. He also said nothing about the work which awaited us. I reported to first lieutenant Stangl, whom I already knew.91

Christian Wirth surveyed the three groups and his was the smallest. He ordered the first group of recruits who had rushed to either Reichleitner or Stangl to fall out, and he moved them into his group. Robert Juhrs, another T4 recruit from Hadamar, said:

We stayed, to my knowledge, another two or three days in Lublin, because we had to wait for transport by lorry. There were with me: Zierke, Unverhau, Kielminski, and Schluch. I think that another one joined us, probably Girtzig.92

Thus, a group of about 15 men set off in a lorry from Lublin to Bełżec, with Christian Wirth leading the way in a car. On arrival at the death camp in Bełżec, Hans Girtzig was placed in charge of the kitchen, which catered for the Ukrainian guard detachment, and he recalled his arrival:

As I had been conscripted as a quartermaster sergeant, I was appointed by Wirth as quartermaster to the Russian volunteers. I had under me a kitchen in which meals were cooked for the volunteers, and also about 20 Jewish girls. In addition, I had to supervise 12 Jews who alternated between the kitchen and cutting wood; the woodshed was next to the kitchen. Some Polish girls cooked for the SS. The provisions for the SS were brought, as far as I remember, from Lublin.93

90 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.12.

91 Ibid p.12.

92 Ibid p.13.

93 Ibid. p.14.

During an interrogation by officers of Section IIIa, in 1961, Girtzig changed his statement to say provisions probably came from Tomaszow. This would make more sense as Tomaszow Lubelski was only 9km from Bełżec.

Hans Girtzig, during post-war interrogations in 1960, mentioned that:

When I first arrived in Bełżec, I did not yet know what sort of camp it was and what went on there. I first learned from conversations a few days after my arrival that a gas chamber existed in Camp II in which Jews were gassed. I never learned nor saw that there were more, i.e. that there were six gas chambers. I know nothing about the details of the gassing. I was revolted when one comrade told me later that the teeth were torn out of the dead.

I, like all the rest of the SS guard detachment in Camp I, was forbidden to enter Camp II. The SS members of Camp II did not describe to us what went on this area and were sworn to strict secrecy. I myself was also not interested in it. If my statement seems unbelievable, then it actually happened that when a new transport arrived, I went into the kitchen or somewhere where I had something to do, so that I did not have to look at their misery.94

Kurt Franz, who was the cook at Bełżec, was dismissed from this post by Christian Wirth, who was looking to move him to Camp II to assist with the gassing. Franz refused and for this he was ordered to train the Ukrainian volunteers. Franz recalled in post-war investigations that:

During normal duties I was the only German detailed to this guard unit. With abnormal duties, by this I mean for example, surprise marches outside the camp which happened, in which Wirth marched at the head of the column with Niemann, Oberhauser, and Schwarz in the front rank. Another time, perhaps it was Jirrmann or myself, and finally, other Germans found themselves in the place of a deputy column leader, but these positions were only taken up during abnormal duties and therefore had no meaning within the real organization. 94 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, pp 21-22.

As company leader I carried out the usual exercises and training with the guard unit; I mean by this individual training, such as performing open and closed order with the unit. I also went into the countryside with my unit. Wirth considered it a worthwhile opportunity to convince the population that there were soldiers present. For the rest, it often happened that I, with a part of the guard unit, carried out anti-partisan duties. I had to undertake security tasks within a 20km radius of Bełżec with a reconnaissance troop.95

Another of the July 1942, T4 recruits to Bełżec, Heinrich Unverhau from Hadamar, testified after the war:

As I had been employed in the institutions at the sorting and return of the clothing (of the victims), I was employed by Wirth in the locomotive shed in which was located the clothing depot. I supervised the clothing camp. The orders came from Wirth. In addition, Fichtner—as camp book keeper—advised me on what was to be saved.96

Unverhau was joined at the locomotive sheds by SS-NCO’s Karl Schluch and Rudolf Kamm, to oversee the sorting kommando, which consisted of some 40 men, mainly German Jews who had been deported from the Reich. All useable items of clothing was sent in bales to the main depot at the Lublin Old Airfield for disinfection and final dispatch to Germany. Unverhau recalled:

I had Jewish Kapos at my disposal to carry out the orders and instructions. They carried out the selections of which Jews were to work in my work-brigade, which fluctuated between 25-40 men. They were guarded by Ukrainians; I had nothing to do with the guards—an understanding with the guards was scarcely possible, as they did not speak German.

I do not know the names of any of the Ukrainians…. As the Jewish workers were badly treated—I can say that it was completely understandable that they befriended the Ukrainian guards and that they obtained from them all possible kinds of food and were thus able to live really well. This was strictly forbidden, but in spite of this, food was cooked in my part of the camp.

I can say with absolute certainty that in my area in the locomotive shed, not one Jew was killed or so badly treated that he died. I myself have never killed any Jew and can say the same about the guard detachment under me, which guarded the work-brigade. By comparison, the Jewish Kapos were violent towards their own people. But they, too, never killed any of the Jews in my area.97

Just before Christian Wirth took up his new post as Inspekteur der SS Sonderkommandos-Abteilung Reinhard, in Lublin, he wanted Hans Girtzig to perform a new role in the death camp. Hans Girtzig remembered this during post-war interrogations:

I received from Captain Wirth the task of working with the unloading of the Jews; this was shortly before the relief of Wirth, as camp commandant (i.e. the end of July). I even went so far as to refuse to have anything to do these things. Wirth threatened to send me to a Concentration Camp. I did not allow myself to be intimidated by this threat, but answered him as cold as ice, that I would prefer to be sent to a Concentration Camp than work with the gassing of Jews.

Wirth said to me in his Swabian dialect that I knew very well what would happen to me. In spite of all this, I was still not intimidated and again refused to take part in the extermination of the Jews. I was immediately locked-up in my room by Wirth.

About two or three days after my im prisonment—I can refer to it as that because I was forbidden to leave my room—there came unexpectedly to Bełżec Senior civil servant / SS Major Dieter Allers, who, to my knowledge, was employed at that time at the Führer’s Chancellery and was responsible for the inspection of the camps. I already knew Allers from my home-town Pritzwalk. He was about four or five years younger than I was.

Allers calmed me down and told me I should remain in Bełżec, as, in a very short time, Wirth would be relieved. As a matter of fact, two or three days later Wirth left. From that moment he never bothered me again, on the contrary, from then on he was quite friendly to me. His successor Hering, in no way made difficulties for me.98

97 Ibid. pp. 20-21.

98 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library, 1988, p.22.

In addition to the recruitment of new personnel from T4, the Trawnikimänner contingent was expanded to cope with the increased number of transports. The death camp was enlarged, and several more barracks were constructed, among them adjacent undressing barracks for men and women, as well as a ‘barbers’ barracks. A second railway track was laid into the camp, to increase the capacity of handling more transports, and the unloading ramp area was enlarged.99 Also during the modernization of the camp in the summer of 1942, the barbed-wire fencing of ‘the Tube,’ was replaced by wooden hoardings, some 3 meters high.100

Heinrich Himmler Reichsführer–SS, on July 19, 1942, issued an order to Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger, Higher SS Police Leader East, to complete the ‘resettlement’ of the Jewish population of the General Gouvernement within the framework of Aktion Reinhardt by the end of that year. Transportation difficulties became acute during the German offensive on the Eastern Front.

Himmler ordered SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolf, his chief of personnel staff to contact the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Transport, Dr Theodor Ganzenmuller, and resolve the problems. On July 28, 1942, Dr. Ganzenmuller replied to Karl Wolff at the Prinz Albrecht Strasse 8 in Berlin:

Since July 22, a train load of 5,000 Jews has departed daily from Warsaw via Malkinia to Treblinka, and in addition a train load of 5,000 Jews has left Przemysl twice a week for Bełżec.

GEDOB (Generaldirecktor der Ostbahn) is in constant contact with the Security Police in Cracow. It has been agreed that the transports from Warsaw through Lublin to Sobibor be suspended for as long as the reconstruction works on that section make those transports impossible (approximately until October 1942). These trains have been agreed upon with the commander of the Security Police in the

99 M. Tregenza, Belzec—The Unknown Death Camp of the Holocaust (rev.2006)

Originally published Fritz Bauer Institut Jahrbuch 2000, pp.7-8.

100 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.43.

General Gouvernement, and SS Brigadeführer Globocnik has been advised.101

Franz Suchomel, one of the members of the SS-Garrison in Treblinka, gave a description of Bełżec at this time to Claude Lanzmann, in the film Shoah:

Bełżec was the laboratory. Wirth was camp commandant. He tried everything imaginable there. He got off on the wrong foot. The pits were overflowing and the cesspool seeped out in front of the SS mess hall. It stank—in front of the mess hall, in front of their barracks.

Were you at Bełżec?

No. Wirth with his own men—with Franz, with Oberhauser and Hackenholt—he tried everything there. Those three had to put bodies in the pits themselves so that Wirth could see how much space he needed. And when they rebelled—Franz refused—Wirth beat Franz with a whip. He whipped Hackenholt too. You see?

Kurt Franz?

Kurt Franz. That’s how Wirth was. Then with that experience behind him, he came to Treblinka.102

101 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 51.

102 C. Lanzmann, Shoah, Pantheon Books, New York, 1985, pp.62-63. Franz left Bełżec, for Treblinka in mid-August 1942.

Chapter VII The Killing Frenzy

Visit of Kurt Gerstein and Wilhelm Pfannenstiel & The Deportations from Lemberg— August 1942

On August 1, 1942, major changes took place at Bełżec death camp. The Commandant Christian Wirth was appointed to the post of Inspekteur der SS-Sonderkommando-Abteilung Reinhard (Inspector of SS Sonderkommandos), and he set up a temporary office at the Julius Schreck Kaserne on Litauer Strasse in Lublin, before moving to permanent headquarters, a two –storey villa on Chelmska Street on the Alter Flugplatz (Old Airfield) camp. The ground floor rooms were used as offices, staffed by Wirth, Oberhauser, who came with Wirth from Bełżec, and Willi Hausler, who came from Berlin and was responsible for salaries, administration, and a couple of secretaries. On the first floor was located a first-class dining room and living quarters for Wirth and his staff. The old airfield camp served as the main sorting depot for the clothing and belongings taken from the victims of Bełżec, Sobibor, and Treblinka, in three old hangers.103

SS-Obersturmführer Gottlieb Hering, replaced Wirth as the Commandant of Bełżec; he was well-known to Wirth, as he had served in the Stuttgart C.I.D. with Wirth and had served in a number of T4 institutions throughout the Reich.

Heinrich Gley who arrived in Bełżec, from the T4 Institute at Pirna-Sonnenstein stated:

103 M.Tregenza, Christian Wirth: Inspekteur des SS Sonderkommandos Aktion Reinhard, Zeszyty Majdanka Vol XV, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanka Lublin 1993, pp 2 & 14-15.

At the time of my arrival, Wirth was already Inspector of camps and had his office in Lublin. At Bełżec I met from Sonnenstein: police Captain Schemmel, SS-Second lieutenant Tauscher, SS-Captain Hering, as well as SS-Sergeants Schwarz, Oberhauser and Hackenholt. I further remember sergeants Fichtner, Girtzig, and the Sudeten German Kamm, the driver Kloss, Dachsel, and the male nurses Unverhau and Schluch, sergeant Feix, and a certain Barbl from Linz.104

SS-Obersturmführer Kurt Gerstein, the chief disinfection officer in the Main Hygienic Office of the Waffen-SS, and SS-Obersturmbannführer Wilhelm Pfannenstiel, professor and director of the Hygienic Institute at the University of Marburg / Lahn, travelled to Lublin to advise on disinfection issues and to see whether Zyklon B could be used to improve the killing capacity.

On May 4, 1945, Kurt Gerstein wrote a very detailed report of their visit to Bełżec during August 1942, in Rottweil, in the South Western part of Germany. Gerstein committed suicide before he could face trial in his prison cell in Cherche-Midi, Paris, on July 25,

1945. Gerstein’s report and extracts of the testimony by Wilhelm Pfannenstiel follow, which provide a unique description of Bełżec death camp by non-members of the guard personnel:

The next day we went to Be łżec. A small station had been built especially for this purpose on a hill just north of the Lublin—Lemberg Chaussee in the left corner of the demarcation line. South of the road stood some houses with the notice ‘Sonderkommando der Waffen –SS’. As Polizeihauptman Wirth, the actual head of the whole killing installations was not yet there, Globocnik introduced me to SSHauptsturmführer Obermeyer from Pirmasens.105 The latter only let me see that afternoon what he had to show me. I did not see any

104 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.34.

105 Many historical accounts assume this to be Oberhauser not Obermeyer. But Josef Obermeyer, was in charge of the sorting operation and disinfection of clothing at the Old Airfield Camp in Lublin, which had a direct connection with Gerstein and Pfannenstiel. Also Oberhauser was not from Pirmasens, he was born in Munich, and he was a SS-Hauptscharführer in rank. Wheras Obermeyer was a SS-Hauptsturmführer.

dead that day, but in the hot August weather the whole place smelled like the plague, and there were millions of flies everywhere. Right by the small two-track station there was a large shed, the socalled cloakroom with a large counter where valuables were handed over. There was also a room containing about 100 chairs—the barbers’ room. Then there was an outdoor path under birch-trees, with a double barbed-wire fence on the left and right and the sign ‘To the inhalation and bathrooms.’ In front of us stood a sort of bath-house with geraniums, then a few steps and three rooms each on the right and left, 5 x 5 metres, 1.9 metres high, with wooden doors like garages. In the rear wall, hardly visible in the darkness, large sliding doors. On the roof, as a ‘witty little joke’ the Star of David. In front of the building appeared a notice: ‘Hackenholt Institute.’ More than that I was not able to see that afternoon.

Shortly before seven the next morning I was informed: “The first transport is coming in ten minutes.” The first train from Lemberg did, in fact, arrive in a few minutes. Forty-five wagons containing 6,700 people, of whom 1,450 were already dead on arrival. Besides men and women, children were looking out from behind the barred windows, all their faces dreadfully pale and frightened, their eyes filled with the fear of death. The train came into the station: 200 Ukrainians tore open the doors and drove people out of the wagons with their leather whips. A big loudspeaker gave further instructions: Undress completely, take off artificial limbs, spectacles etc. Give up valuables at the counter without credit notes or receipts. Tie shoes together carefully, otherwise in the pile of shoes, which was a good 25 metres high, no one could have found a pair that matched. Then the women and children went to the barber who cut off all their hair with two or three chops of the scissors and stuffed it into potato sacks. “That is put to some special use in U-boats—for caulking or something like that,” the SS Corporal on duty told me.

Then the procession started to move. With a lovely young girl at the front, they all walked along the path, all naked: men, women, and children, without their artificial limbs. I stood with Hauptmann Wirth up on the ramp between the chambers. Mothers with their babies at the breast came up, hesitated, and entered the death chambers. A sturdy SS man stood in the corner and told the wretched people in a clerical tone of voice: “Nothing at all is going to happen to you. You must take a deep breath in the chambers. That expands the lungs. This inhalation is necessary because of illnesses and

infection.” When asked what was going to happen to them, he answered: “Well, of course, the men must work, building houses and roads, but the women don’t have to work. Only if they want to, they can help with the housework or in the kitchen.” This gave some of these poor people a glimmer of hope that lasted long enough for them to take the few steps into the chambers without resisting.

The majority realized—the smell told them what their fate was to be. So they climbed the steps, and then they saw everything. Mothers with babies at the breast, naked little children, adults, men, women—all naked. They hesitated, but they went into the gas chamber, pushed on by those behind them, or driven in by the leather whips of the SS, most of them without saying a word. A Jewess of about 40, with eyes blazing, called down upon the heads of the murderers the blood being spilt here. Hauptmann Wirth personally gave her five or six lashes in the face with his riding whip. Then she too disappeared into the chamber.

Many people were praying. I prayed with rhem. I pressed myself into a corner and cried aloud to my God and theirs. How gladly I would have gone with them into the chambers. How gladly I would have their death with them. Then they would have found a uniformed SS officer in their chambers. The matter would have been treated as a case of death by misadventure and dealt with: missing presumed dead, unheralded and unsung. But I could not do that yet. First I had to make known what I had seen here.

The chambers filled. “Cram them well in,” Hauptmann Wirth had ordered. Pepole were standing on each other’s feet. 700—800 on 25 square metres, in 45 cubic metres. The SS forced as many in together as was physically possible. The doors closed. Meanwhile the others were waiting outside in the open air, naked . . . Now at last I understood why the whole installation was called the Hackenholt Institute. Hackenholt was the driver of the diesel engine,a minor technician who was also the builder of this installation. The people were to be killed with diesel exhaust fumes.

Gerstein recalled what happened next:

But the diesel did not work. Hauptmann Wirth came. He was obviously embarrassed that this had to happen on the very day that I was there. Yes, I saw everything, and I waited. My stop-watch had recorded it all well. 50 minutes-70 minutes —the diesel did not start.

The people were waiting in the gas chambers in vain. We heard them weeping, sobbing . . . Hauptmann Wirth struck the Ukrainian who was supposed to be helping Unterscharführer Hackenholt mend the diesel. The whip hit him in the face 13 or 14 times. After 2 hours 49 minutes, the stop-watch had recorded it all well, the diesel started.

Up until then people were alive in these four chambers, four times 750 people in four times 45 cubic metres. Another 25 minutes went by. True, many were now dead. One could see that through the little glass window through which the electric light lit up the chamber for a moment. After 28 minutes only a few were still alive. At last, after 32 minutes everyone was dead. Men of the work squad opened the wooden doors from the other side. They—Jews themselves—had been promised their freedom and a certain percentage of all valuables found in payment for the ghastly duty they performed.

The dead were standing upright like basalt pillars, pressed together in the chambers. There would not have been room to fall down or even to bend over. One could tell the families, even in death. They were still holding hands, stiffened in death, so that it was difficult to tear them apart in order to clear the chamber for the next load. The corpses were thrown out—wet with sweat and urine, soiled with excrement, menstrual blood on their legs. Children’s bodies flew through the air. There was no time to lose. The whips of the Ukrainians whistled down on the backs of the work squad. Two dozen dentists opened the mouths with hooks and looked for gold. Gold on the right, without gold on the left. Other dentists used pliers and hammers to break gold teeth and crowns out of the Jews.

The naked corpses were carried in wooden barrows just a few metres away to pits of 100 by 20 by 12 metres. After some days the putrefying bodies swelled up and then, a short time later, collapsed violently so that a new batch could be thrown on top of them. Then 10 centimetres of sand was strewn over it so that only a few single heads and arms stuck out. In one of these spots I saw Jews clambering about on the corpses in the pits and working. I was told by an oversight those who were already dead when the transport arrived had not been undressed. Because of the textiles and valuables, which they would otherwise have taken with them to the grave, this had, of course, to be rectified. Nobody took any trouble either in Bełżec or in Treblinka to record or count those who had been killed. The figures were only estimates based on the capacity of the wagons.

The next day—the 19th August 1942—we went in Hauptmann Wirth’s car to Treblinka, 120 km, NNE of Warsaw. The installations was somewhat similar to that in Bełżec except that it was larger. Eight gas chambers and veritable mountains of cases, textiles and underclothes. A banquet in the dining-hall was laid on in our honour in typical Himmlerite Old German style. The meal was simple, but there were masses of everything. Himmler himself had ordered that the men of these Kommandos should receive as much meat, butter and other things, particularly alcohol, as they wanted.

We then went by car to Warsaw . . .

106

Some historians have questioned the veracity of what Kurt Gerstein wrote, but if one compares what he recounted with the testimony of Wilhem Pfannenstiel, regarding Bełżec, a picture of the hell called Bełżec emerged. His testimony given on April 25, 1960, supports a great deal of what Kurt Gerstein wrote:

When I am asked about executions of Jews, I must confirm that on 19 August, 1942, I witnessed an execution of Jews at Bełżec extermination camp . . . During this first visit I was taken around by a certain Polizeihauptmann named Wirth, who also showed and explained to me the extermination installations in the camp. He told me that the following morning a new transport of about 500 Jews would be arriving at the camp, who would be channeled through these extermination chambers. He asked me whether I would like to watch one of these extermination actions, to which, after a great deal of reflection, I consented. I planned to submit a report to the Reichsarzt-SS about these extermination actions. In order to write a report, I had, however, first to observe an action with my own eyes. I remained in the camp, spent the night there and was witness to the following events the next morning.107

A goods train travelled directly into the camp of Bełżec; the freight cars were opened, and Jews whom I believe were from the area of Romania or Hungary were unloaded. The cars were crammed fairly full. There were men, women, and children of every age. They were ordered to get into line and then had to proceed to an assembly area

106 G. Schoenberner, The Yellow Star, Corgi Books, London 1978, pp. 134-135.

107 Josef Oberhauser testified that Wirth, Globocnik, and himself were in Treblinka on August 19, 1942, which indicates that this date is incorrect. See below.

and take off their shoes. I stood a little to the side of this line and watched the proceedings together with Polizeihauptmann Wirth and Obersturmführer Gerstein.

The SS escorts took up guard positions outside the camp and Jewish functionaries from the camp gave the arriving transports to understand that they would now be examined and instructed them to undress so that they could be deloused and take a bath. They also told them they had to inhale in a certain room to prevent them passing on any illnesses through their respiratory tracts. I could not understand what the Jewish camp functionaries were saying but Herr Wirth explained it to me.

After the Jews had removed their shoes they were separated by sex. The women went together with the children into a hut. There their hair was shorn and then they had to get undressed. The men went into another hut, where they received the same treatment. I saw what happened in the women’s hut with my own eyes. After they had undressed, the whole procedure went fairly quickly. They ran naked from the hut through a hedge into the actual extermination centre. The whole extermination centre looked just like a normal delousing institution. In front of the building there were pots of geraniums and a sign saying ‘Hackenholt Foundation’, above which there was a Star of David. The building was brightly and pleasantly painted so as not to suggest that people would be killed here. From what I saw, I do not believe that the people who had just arrived had any idea of what would happen to them.

Wilhelm Pfannenstiel then recalled what happened next:

Inside the building, the Jews had to enter chambers into which was channeled the exhaust of a 100hp engine, located in the same building. In it there were six such extermination chambers. They were windowless, had electric lights, and two doors. One door led outside so that the bodies could be removed. People were led from a corridor into the chambers through an ordinary air-tight door with bolts. There was a glass peep-hole, as I recall, next to the door in the wall. Through this window one could watch what was happening inside the room, but only when it was not too full of people. After a short time the glass became steamed up.

When the people had been locked up in the room the motor was switched on, and then I suppose the stop-valves or vents to the

chambers opened. Whether they were stop-valves or vents, I could not say. It is possible that the pipe led directly to the chambers. Once the engine was running, the light in the chambers was switched off. This was followed by palpable disquiet in the chamber. In my view it was only then that the people sensed something else was in store for them. It seemed to me that behind the thick walls and door they were praying and shouting for help.

After about twelve minutes it became silent in the chambers. The Jewish personnel then opened the doors leading outside and pulled the bodies out of the chambers with long hooks. To do this they had to put these hooks in the mouths of the bodies. In front of the building they were once again thoroughly examined and the bodily orifices were searched for valuables. Gold teeth were ripped out and collected in tins. These activities were carried out by the Jewish camp personnel.

The bodies were taken from the searching area directly and thrown into deep mass graves which were situated near the extermination institute. When the grave was fairly full, petrol—it may have been some other flammable liquid—was poured over the bodies and they were then set alight. I had barely established that the bodies were not completely burned when a layer of earth was thrown over them and then more bodies were put into the same grave. During the disposal of the bodies, I also established that the whole procedure was not entirely satisfactory from the point of view of hygiene.108

What is questionable is the date of the visit as recalled by Wilhelm Pfannenstiel—the trip to Treblinka on August 19, 1942—, from testimony by Josef Oberhauser. Wirth went to Treblinka to see for himself the chaos that Dr. Irmfried Eberl had caused. Oberhauser accompanied Wirth supporting him in Wirth’s new role as Inspector of SS-Sonderkommando Reinhardt. Another extremely important flaw in Kurt Gerstein’s account is that he states he saw a gassing facility with eight chambers. At that time there was only the three chambers gassng facility in August 1942; the new gas chambers construction was only started when Wirth and Stangl were at Treblinka, and these were operational in the autumn of the same year.

108 E. Klee, W. Dressen, V. Riess, Those Were the Days—The Holocaust As Seen By The Perpetrators and Bystanders, Hamish Hamilton London, 1991, pp. 239-244.

This would either indicate that either Gerstein and Pfannenstiel made more than one trip to the extermination camps, or the visit was later, either September or October 1942. It is known that Pfannenstiel was indeed in Lublin in September 1942. A German police message decoded by the British Intelligence Service at Bletchley Park revealed that Ernst Lerch, Globocnik’s adjutant, had to provide a car for him on September 30, 1942.109

At virtually the same time as the visit of Kurt Gerstein and Wilhem Pfannenstiel, in one of the transports from Lvov (Lemberg) one of the few survivors from the Bełżec death camp, Rubin Reder, better known as Rudolf Reder arrived at the camp. We owe a great debt to Rudolf Reder for writing down his experiences of Bełżec, a unique account of what life and death were like in this man-made hell. During the month of August, 1942, the killings reached a frenzied peak with 50,000 Jews murdered at Bełżec between 10–23 August, 1942. Mass deportations from Krakau between August 25–30 August, 1942, saw 14,000 Jews murdered. Other large scale deportions from Drohobycz, Przemysl, Tarnopol, and Krakau district added to the death toll. So to provide the clearest picture of what happened to all the transports during August, 1942, and beyond, we will use extracts from Rudolf Reder’s book called Bełżec to cover his transportation, arrival, and initial stay in the death camp :

Reder recalls the start of the deportation from the Janowska camp in Lemberg:

At six in the morning they ordered us to get up off the damp grass and form up in fours, and the long rows of the doomed marched to the Kleparow station. Gestapo and Ukrainians surrounded us in tight ranks. Not a single person could escape. They herded us onto the ramp at the station. A long freight train was already waiting just past the ramp. There were fifty cars. They began loading us. The doors of the freight cars had been slid open and Gestapo stood on

both sides, two on each side with whips in their hands, beating everyone on the face and head on the way in.110

The convoy of death reached Bełżec:

About noon the train reached the Bełżec station. It was a small station. Little houses stood around it, in which the Gestapo lived. Bełżec was on the Lublin—Tomaszow line, fifteen kilometres from Rawa Ruska. At the Bełżec station the train reversed from the main line onto a spur that ran another kilometer, straight through the gate of the death camp. Ukrainian railroad workers also lived near the Bełżec station, and there was a small post office. An old German with a thick black mustache got into the locomotive at Bełżec—I do not know his name but I would recognize him in an instant –he looked like a hangman.111 He took command of the train and drove it right to the camp in two minutes. The German who had driven the train to the camp got down and ‘helped.’ Shouting and lashing out, he drove the people from the train. He himself went into each car and checked whether someone remained there. He knew all the tricks. When the train was empty and checked, he signalled with his flag and drove the train out of the camp.112

The Reichsbahn official was Rudolf Gockel. Teo Pansera, a Polish Volksdeutscher who worked for the Ostbahn in Bełżec, recalled on July 12, 2000, in an interview with Michael Tregenza and Chris Webb, that the German station master Gockel attended his wedding uninvited, ‘sitting like a lord’ on the first cart, his uniform pressed and his handle-bar mustache, a sight to behold.

113

Rudolf Reder remembered the first moments at the death camp: The train pulled into a yard about a kilometer long and wide, surrounded by barbed wire and iron fencing, one atop the other, two meters high. The wire was not electrified. You drove into that yard through a wide, wooden gate topped with barbed wire. Next to the

110 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, p. 117.

111 Rudolf Gockel—Reichsbahn Official.

112 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, pp. 118-119.

113 Interview with Teo Pansera in Bełżec, Michael Tregenza, Chris Webb 12 July 2000 (Unpublished Journal).

gate stood a hut where a sentry sat with a telephone. In front of the hut stood several SS-men with dogs. When a train had passed through the gate, the sentry closed it and went inside the hut.114

Now the SS-men took control of the transport:

Several dozen SS-men opened the cars, screaming “los!” They drove people out of the cars with whips and rifle butts. The cars had doors a meter above the ground, and all those being herded out, young and old, had to jump. They broke arms and legs during this, having to jump to the ground...... Aside from the SS, the so-called ‘Zugführers’ were on duty. These were the supervisors of the permanent Jewish death crew in the camp, dressed normally without camp insignia.

The sick, the old, and the small children, all the ones who could not walk on their own, were placed on stretchers and set down at the edge of enormous dug graves. Gestapo–man Jirmann115 shot them there, and then pushed them into the grave with the rifle butt.116

The next part of the process was where the SS announced to the new arrivals that they needed to take a bath, all done to allay fears and stop resistance from occurring:

Jirmann spoke very loudly and distinctly. “Ihr gehts jetzt baden, nachher werdet ihr zur Arbeit geschickt” (Now you are going for a bath and afterwards you will be sent to work). That was all. Everybody cheered up and was happy that they were going to work after all. They applauded . . .

The whole crowd moved on in silence, the men straight through the yard to a building on which it was written in large letters: ‘Bade und Inhalationsräume’ (Baths and Inhalation Room). The women went some twenty meters further to a large barracks, thirty meters by fifteen. The women and girls had their hair shaved off in that barracks . . . Later on I saw that only a few minutes later when they were given wooden stools and lined up across the barracks, when they were

114 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, p. 119.

115 Reder said his name was Irrmann, this is incorrect, it is Fritz Jirmann.

116 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, p. 119.

ordered to sit, and eight Jewish barbers, robots silent as the grave, approached them to shave their hair down to the scalp with clippers.117

Now the doomed women and children took their final journey:

I stood off to the side, in the yard, together with the group picked out to dig graves, watching my brothers, sisters, acquaintances, and friends being driven to their death. While the women were being herded forward, naked and shaved, whipped like cattle to the slaughter, without being counted, faster, faster, the men had already died in the chambers. It took more or less two hours to shave the women, which is also how long it took to prepare for the murder and the murder itself.

Several dozen SS-men used whips and sharp bayonets to drive the women to the building with the chambers and up three steps to the gangway, where the askars counted 750 people into each chamber.... I heard the doors closing, the moans and the screams; I heard the desperate cries in Polish and Yiddish, the bloodcurdling laments of the children and the women, and then one joined, terrifying cry . . . that lasted fifteen minutes. The machine ran for twenty minutes, and after twenty minutes it was very quiet; the askars opened the doors from the outside, and I, together with the other workers, picked out like me from previous transports, without any tattoos or insignia, went to work. We dragged the bodies of people who had still been alive not long ago; we used leather straps to drag them to the huge, waiting mass graves and the orchestra played during this time; it played from morning to evening.118

Rudolf Reder was able through his book to shed some light on the social activities of the camp staff, once the daily tasks of exterminating thousands of innocent men, women and children was concluded for the day:

No one from the families ever came, and none of them lived with a woman. They raised whole flocks of geese and ducks. People said that in the spring they were sent whole baskets of cherries. Crates of vodka and wine were brought daily . . . Each Sunday evening they

117 Ibid.,op cit, p. 120.

118 Ibid.,op cit, pp. 121-122.

summoned the camp orchestra and held a drunken party. Only the Gestapo got together; they gorged themselves and drank. They threw scraps of leftovers to the musicians.119

The Trawnikimänner also enjoyed socializing, and they had a small recreation center, a small bar called the Komadowski Bar, on the same side of the road as the Kommandantur and SS NCO living quarters on Tomaszowska Steet.

During the summer while Lorenz Hackenholt was in the Treblinka death camp, the local village mechanic Kazimierz Czerniak was summoned to the camp, to make a new filter for the engine in the gas chamber. He stated:

I had to make a filter for the 200hp engine whose job it was to separate the smoke from the pure gas and to channel it further. I made this filter about two weeks after the time when I had fixed the dynamo on this engine. A lieutenant who was later killed in the camp, told me that when the above-mentioned filter was ready, the camp would come to its end quicker. I made three such filters for the three lorries in which Germans brought Jews to the camp in Bełżec.120

Stanislaw Kozak, the local blacksmith said he spied on the death camp from the hills known locally as Lysa Gora, using a telescope:

Before the harvest of 1942, I observed through a telescope the interior of the death camp from a hill opposite the camp. I saw then how the Jews were beaten with whips by the ‘Blacks:’ being driven in the direction of the gas chambers which lay in the middle of the camp behind a copse of trees. The undressed Jews ran through an open–air passage in the copse into the opened gas chambers.

After they were all inside, the doors were shut. While these people were running, one could hear terrible screams, wailing, and shouting. Through the telescope I saw that the Germans had nailed tree branches to the doors of the gas chambers as camouflage; in addition, the gas chambers themselves were surrounded by an artificial hedge of firs.

119 Ibid.,op cit, p. 137-138n.

120 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.189.

Ten minutes after the Jews had entered the gas chambers, one could see that the Jews working at the gas chambers were dragging something. I concluded that they were probably dragging the poisoned Jews out of the gas chambers and taking them to the graves.121 121 Ibid, P. 205.

Chapter VIII Jewish Work Brigades

Unlike Auschwitz-Birkenau, with its massive slave-labour force, the Jews selected to live and work at Bełżec were a small fraction of those deported to the death camp. In the first phase of the camp’s existence, the Jewish work brigade (Arbeitsjuden) consisted of 100150 men. In the second phase a total of 500 prisoners in Camps I and II were utilized; the vast majority of this number were employed on removing corpses from the gas chambers and burying them. There was also a small orchestra.

From the initial transports, Christian Wirth selected between 100 to 150 Jewish men to form various work brigades; they were used to unload people from the cattle cars, collect their luggage, another work brigade to drag the bodies out of the gas chambers, then throwing them into the tip-up trucks, and bury them in mass graves.

Another work brigade took the collected luggage and belongings of the victims to an abandoned locomotive shed near the Bełżec station. In this building everything was sorted and stored prior to shipment to the main Aktion Reinhardt depot on the Alter Flugplatz (Old Airfield) in Lublin, which was near the Lublin concentration camp. Heinrich Unverhau, who was in charge of this operation, testified after the war that 40-50 Arbeitsjuden worked in the locomotive sheds.

Artificial limbs and medicines were sent to the Sportplatz Lager in Lublin, which was under the control of Dr. Kurt Sickel. He was tried after the war for war crimes, in respect of the murders of American Prisoners of War troops, at Malmedy, in the Ardennes. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted and after the war, and he resumed his family practice in Cologne.122

Once a transport arrived in Bełżec death camp, it was met by SS guards, Trawnikimänner and Jewish workers under the supervision

122 Correspondence between Georg Biemann and the author—November 2020.

of the so-called ‘Zugsführer’—these were the Jewish supervisors of the permanent Jewish work brigades. Jewish prisoners helped with the undressing and eight barbers were employed to shave the women’s and girls hair, before they were gassed in the gas chambers. The men had already been gassed first. A small team of dentists armed with pincers extracted gold teeth from the corpses.

Heinrich Unverhau testified on July 21,1960, regarding the Arbietsjuden:

Everything that was directly connected with killing was a job for the Jewish kommandos that worked under Jewish supervision. There were Jews there who pulled their co-religionists out of the train car on the run; there were Jewish barbers who cut off the women’s hair, and Jews who led them to the gas chambers. The pulling of the bodies out of the gas chambers and carrying them to the mass graves, as well as the ripping out of gold teeth and prostheses was also done with the help of Jews.123

Rudolf Reder recalled the living quarters for the work brigades:

In the camp there were two barracks for the death crew: one for general workers, and the second for the so-called skilled workers. Each barrack held 250 workers. The bunks were two-level. Both barracks were the same. The bunks were bare planks with a small tilted board under the head. Not far from the barracks stood the kitchen, and further on the warehouse, administration laundry, stitching workshop, and finally the elegant barracks for the askars (Trawnikimänner).124

Chaim Hirszmann and his family were deported from Zaklikow in early November 1942, and recalled how he was selected to work, how he worked as a barber and emptied the gas chambers; he testified before the Jewish Historical District Commision in Lublin on March 19, 1946 :

The train entered the camp. Other SS men took us off the train. They led us all together—women, men, children—to a barrack. We were

123 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.146.

124 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, p. 124.

told to undress before we go to the bath. I understood immediately what that meant. After undressing we were told to form two groups, one of men and the other of women with children. An SS man, with the strike of a horsewhip, sent the men to the right or to the left, to death or to work. I was selected to death; I didn’t know it then. Anyway, I believed that both sides meant the same—death. But, when I jumped in the indicated direction, an SS man called me and said, “Du bist ein Militärmensch, dich können wir brauchen” (“You have a military bearing, we could use you.”).

We who were selected to work were told to dress. I and some other men were appointed to take people to the kiln. I was sent with the women. The Ukrainian Schmidt, an ethnic German, was standing at the entrance to the gas chamber and hitting with a knout every entering woman. Before the door was closed, he fired a few shots from his revolver and then the door closed automatically and forty minutes later we went in and carried the bodies out to a special ramp. We shaved the hair of the bodies, which were afterwards packed into sacks and taken away by Germans.

The children were thrown into the chamber simply on the women’s heads. In one of the ‘transports’ taken out of the gas chamber, I found the body of my wife, and I had to shave her hair. The bodies were not buried on the spot; the Germans waited until more bodies were gathered. So that day we did not bury.125

Rudolf Reder recalled how the money and valuables were collected and sent on from the death camp:

Valuables, money and dollars were taken out of the storehouse each day. The SS-men collected it themselves and put it into suitcases which workers carried to Bełżec, to the headquarters. A Gestapo officer went first, with Jewish workers carrying the suitcases. It was not far, only a twenty-minute walk, to the Bełżec station. The camp in Bełżec, that is, the torture chamber in Bełżec, was under this headquarters. Jews working in administration said that the whole shipment of gold, valuables, and money was sent to Lublin, where

125 M. Gilbert, The Holocaust—The Jewish Tragedy, William Collins, London 1987, p. 304.

the main headquarters was, with authority over the Bełżec headquarters.126

Reder continued his account:

The torn clothes of the unfortunate Jewish victims were collected by workers and carried to the warehouse. There were ten workers there, who had to unstitch every piece of clothing very carefully, under the supervision and whips of the SS, who between themselves divided up the money found . . . The Jewish workers sorting and unstitching the clothing couldn’t misappropriate anything and didn’t want to.127

Chaim Hirszmann told his second wife Pola about his experiences at Bełżec, and she later recalled:

The prisoners were constantly beaten and every day many of the workers from the regular staff were killed. Typhus was prevailing, but one had to avoid admitting the disease. The sick were murdered on the spot. Getting medical treatment or lying down was out of the question. Sick with typhus and with a fever of 40 degree Celsius, my husband worked and somehow managed to conceal his conditions from the Germans . . .

Two Czechoslovak Jewesses were working in the camp office. They, too, had never entered the camp. They even enjoyed a certain freedom of movement. They often went with the SS men to town to arrange different matters. One day they were told that they would visit the camp. The SS men showed them around the camp and in a certain moment they led the women to the gas chamber, and, when they were inside, the door closed behind them. They finished with them in spite of the promise that they would live.

The Germans ordered the prisoners to set up a football team, and on Sundays games were being played. Jews played with SS men, the same ones who tortured and murdered them. The SS men treated this as a matter of sport, and when they lost a game, they had no complaints . . . There were also women employed in the camp, but their number was much smaller than the number of men. There

127 Ibid.,op cit, p. 129.

126 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, p. 129.

were no children at all. Women worked. They were selected from the transports.128

Rudolf Reder described the workers who toiled in the extermination area of Camp II:

I belonged to the permanent death crew. There were five hundred of us all together. Only 250 were ‘skilled’ workers, but these 200 worked at jobs for which they didn’t have to be specialists: digging graves and dragging corpses. We dug the pits, the enormous mass graves, and dragged the bodies. Besides doing their work, the skilled workers also had to take part in this. We dug with shovels and there was also a machine that loaded sand and lifted it above ground level. The machine threw the sand out at the side of the grave. A sandpile formed, which was used to cover the graves, when they were filled with corpses. About 450 people were always occupied with the graves. It took one week to dig one grave.

Reder remembered the brutal guard Heini Schmidt, a Volksdeutsche, who supervised the grave diggers:

We were watched all the time we worked by a thug named Schmidt, who beat and kicked us. If someone was not—in his opinion—working quickly enough, he would order him to lie down and give him twenty-five lashes with the whip. He ordered him to count, and if he miscounted he gave him fifty instead of twenty-five. Fifty was too much for any tormented man to bear; the victim usually dragged himself to the barracks and died the next morning. This happened several times a day.

Also thirty to forty workers were shot each day. The physician usually submitted a list of those who were exhausted, or else the socalled Oberzugsführer, the main foreman of the prisoners, produced a list of ‘offenders’ so that thirty or forty died each day. They were led out to a grave at dinnertime and shot.129

Rudolf Reder also recalled the tasks of the work brigade who had to remove the dead bodies from the gas chambers:

128 M. Gilbert, The Holocaust—The Jewish Tragedy, William Collins, London 1987, pp. 305-306.

129 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, pp. 130-131.

Aside from digging graves, it was the task of the death crew to pull the corpses out of the chambers, throw them into a high pile, and then drag them all the way to the graves. The ground was sandy. It took two workers to drag one corpse away. We had leather straps with buckles. We put the straps over the arms of the corpses and pulled. The heads often got caught in the sand. We were ordered to sling the corpses of small children over our shoulders two at a time and carry them that way. We left off digging graves when we dragged the corpses . . . We had to work that way from early morning until dusk. Dusk ended the working day, because the ‘work’ was done only by daylight.130

Rudolf Reder outlined how a typical working day started and continued:

At three-thirty in the morning, the askar sentry who walked around the barracks at night was already pounding on the door and shouting ‘Auf Heraus!’—before we could get out of bed; the thug Schmidt burst in and chased us out of the barracks with his riding crop. We ran out holding one shoe in our hands or barefoot. We usually hadn’t undressed, and we even slept in our shoes because we couldn’t have managed to get dressed in the morning.

At twelve noon we received a meal. We filed past two small windows. At the first one we got mugs, and at the second a half a litre of barley soup, in other words water, sometimes with a potato. Before dinner we had to sing songs; we also had to sing before the evening coffee.131

Rudolf Reder described how a typical working day ended:

In the evening the lights burned for half an hour. Then they were turned off. The Oberzugsführer prowled around the barracks with a whip and didn’t allow people to talk. We spoke very quietly with our neighbours. The crew was mostly made up of people whose wives, children, and parents had been gassed. Many had managed to get a tallith and tefillin from the warehouse, and when the barracks were locked for the night, in the bunks we heard the murmur of the

130 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, p. 131.

131 Ibid.,op cit, pp. 131-132.

Kaddish prayer. We were saying prayers for the dead. Then it was quiet.132

Rudolf Reder recalled in his book how women workers were treated in Bełżec:

In October a transport of Czech Jewish women arrived from Zamosc. There were several dozen women whose husbands worked in the death crew. A decision had been made to keep several dozen women from that last transport.

Forty were assigned to work in the kitchen, laundry, and stitching workshop. They were not allowed any contact with their husbands. In the kitchen they peeled potatoes, washed pots, and carried water. I don’t know what became of them. They surely shared the common fate. These were all educated women. They’d arrived with luggage. Some of them had portions of butter with them, they gave us whatever they had.

And they helped everyone who worked in the kitchen or near the kitchen. They lived in a small separate barracks and had a Zugsführerka over them. During work—I fixed stoves everywhere and went all around the camp—I saw how these women spoke with each other. They were not as mistreated as we were. Their work ended at dusk and they lined up in twos for soup and coffee. Like us, they’d not had their own clothing taken away or been given striped uniforms.133

Hans Girtzig described what happened to a Jewish work-brigade who were employed outside the death camp in a forest:

Once—I can no longer give an exact date—a brigade of about 20 Jewish youths aged 16-17 were employed in the forest cutting birch twigs for brooms. They were guarded by a Ukrainian. I went into the forest and got the Ukrainian drunk after I had first ascertained he was already a bit drunk. I told the youths that they should run away while the ‘boss’ was still asleep.

As a matter of fact, the guard returned that evening—without the Jews. At an investigation the guard explained that, I too, had been in the forest, but no one could prove that I had sent the people away.

132 Ibid.,op cit, p. 132.

133 Ibid.,op cit, pp. 133-134.

The guard was not punished because it was seen as negligent to have sent him alone with the Jews.134

Heinrich Gley slowly regained the trust of Commandant Gottlieb Hering and was entrusted with guarding working Kommandos outside of the camp:

I believe I can say that I belonged to those who had the steady and quiet trust of the camp chief—Hering. In any case, I was often given the duty of escorting Jewish work-brigades to work outside the camp. The tasks lasted varying lengths of time—up to six weeks. They took me up to a distance of 50km away from the camp.

I can remember well the town of Zamość. There we had to dismantle Todt Organization barracks, to take them down, pull out the nails etc. I had with me the Volksdeutsch Budziak and some Hiwis135 as guards. I must state about this, that during the time of my duty with the work-brigades—not one Jew was killed, and, on the other hand, no one escaped. The Jews had good conditions during this duty and it was very popular to belong to such a brigade. The work sites were very near villages and with the help of the Hiwis the Jews could barter with the local population.136

134 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.24.

135 Hiws is an abbreviation of the German word Hilfswilliger—auxiliary volunteer.

136 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.275.

Chapter IX

Transports of Death: Eyewitness Accounts

In this chapter a number of people, from all sides of the story will give their accounts. From one of the Polish locomotive drivers, to German railroad personnel, from Jews who escaped from the death trains, Wehrmacht Officers and members of the Schutzpolizei who guarded the transports, Jews fleeing Nazi persecution, and others who witnessed the transports to Bełżec death camp. Heinrich Gley recalled after the war, the state of the transports which arrived in Belzec during the summer months:

In August 1942, some very big transports arrived in Belzec. In the wagons we found between the living –also the dead. The trains arrived at Belzec station, and from there were shunted backwards by the engine driver into the camp. The engine-driver was easily singled out by his moustache (Kaiser Wilhelm moustache)137

Immediately after the unloading of the train, the above mentioned engine-driver took the transport train out of the camp again.138

Robert Juhrs stated in 1961, about the transports:

I know that the Jews were transported in these wagons for days on end and in the great heat. On the journeys they received no provisions and no drinking water. The wagons were grossly overfull, 6070 people huddled together in a wagon. It is not possible for me to say how many wagons there were to a transport. The numbers were very different, and I can remember that some transports came all at once—came into the camp in one stage—while others were divided up for unloading in the camp. At least 25 wagons were shunted into the camp. The biggest transport could consist of 30 wagons.139

137 This was Rudolf Gockel.

138 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.38.

139 Ibid. p.38.

Stefan Kirsz, a Polish locomotive driver for the Ostbahn, who lived in Bełżec testified after the war:

As a co-driver of a locomotive, I led the Jewish transports from the station of Rawa Ruska to Bełżec many times. These transports were divided in Bełżec into three parts. Each part, which consisted of twenty freight cars pushed by the locomotive, stopped near the former border wall of 1939/40.

Immediately after the freight cars stopped inside the camp, they were emptied of the Jews. Within 3-5 minutes the twenty cars were empty of Jews and their luggage. I saw that in addition to the living, corpses were taken out. The Germans did not allow us to watch the camp, but I was able to see it when I approached the camp and deceptively pretended that I must put the coal closer to the entrance gate.140

Mieczyslaw Kudyba testified on October 14, 1945 in Bełżec:

The Germans also took about 30 people to the death camp in a big black vehicle. Some of the Jews of Tomaszow Lubelski were taken to the death camp in this vehicle. According to my reckoning, about 450 people could be put into the gas chambers which we had built near the railway siding.

The transports were lined up on the siding and then shunted into the area of the death camp. In March 1942, when I was going along the road from Lubycza to Bełżec, I saw that the Jews brought in were already undressed and that each one was carrying the clothing to the wagons. At that time about 5 cm of snow lay on the ground.

The undressed children, women and men were screaming. I had a good view of this through the camouflaged trellis of branches, at the moment the wagons were rolled back from the siding. The 2nd and 3rd barracks, of which I spoke at the beginning of my statement, were about 50 metres from the siding. During the time the camp was in operation the Germans built a whole row of barracks on the part of

140 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 69.

the camp near the siding. There could have been about 30 barracks.141

Tadeusz Misiewicz told the War Crimes Investigators in 1945, how a group of Ukrainian guards from the death camp tormented the Jewish deportees at the Bełżec station:

I remember one evening during the summer of 1942, a transport entered Bełżec station which consisted of 65 wagons. The Jews in the wagons pleaded for water. The Ukrainians Stecenko, Huber, Koroaczenko, Litus, Hawrykuch and others took water and threw it through the hatches into the wagons. They did this all night long; this train was to be the next to enter the camp the following morning.

At Bełżec station I was told that Jews in one of the wagons had torn a plank out and that a Jewess had leaned out of the gap and called for help. For that she was struck so hard in the face by a German policeman that her face was completely smashed. Through the gap in the wagon one could see that the undressed Jews were sitting on the corpses of naked Jews who took up a quarter of the wagon.142

Tadeusz Misiewicz witnessed how another German policeman behaved at the Bełżec railway station, when shooting a Jewess who had leaned out of a ventilation window high up in the goods wagon:

The Jews then threw the body out of the window after which it was taken into the camp by the camp Jews. From the same transport there jumped another Jewess who, in spite of her pleas, was taken into the camp. I repeatedly had the opportunity to see that the Jews taken into the camp were completely naked. One could see this through the broken planks in the wagons.

From one transport which came from the direction of Rawa Ruska there jumped two Jewesses when near Lubycza. They were caught by the Ukrainian police and brought to the Kommandantura at Bełżec. These Jewesses kissed the hands of the Ukrainians and

141 Mieczyslaw Kudyba Testimony, 14 October 1945. Copy-Holocaust Historical Society UK.

142 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.40.

pleaded to be allowed to go free in exchange for the riches they had with them.143

Georg Hölzel deputy station master at Zwierzyniec station in the Lublin District was frequently at the Bełżec station and from his interrogation in 1962, had this to say about the Bełżec and transports to the death camp:

In Bełżec the SS-men lived in small farm houses directly opposite the station. I in no way had any point of contact with the SS-men. During my duty in Bełżec, I came across one SS-man in particular who always went around with a riding-whip. I noticed that he definitely wore four stars on his collar, but I am not familiar with SS ranks.

I once saw how a transport of Jews was shunted into the Bełżec camp. It happened like this: in the station area the engine was changed from the front to the rear of the train, and then shunted it into the camp. The engine was then uncoupled and eventually the camp was locked. At this point the train personnel had to leave the station. Whether the trains were then handled exclusively by German personnel, I cannot say. To my knowledge Polish personnel were used.

I know only from heresay that in the critical times three transports a day rolled into Bełżec. These trains also ran on Sundays. I remember such transports. I cannot give numbers. One experience made an impression on me. It was one Sunday afternoon about 1:30 p.m. A transport of Jews was reported from Zawada.

At our station in Zwierzyniec, engines took on water. This happened also with the above mentioned train. A little Jewish girl was squeezed out of the stationary train who I estimate was ten–twelve years old. She came to me clutching a five mark note in her hand— for water. I gave my Polish station master instructions that he could take my water tumbler and hand the girl some water.

I told the girl that she should put her money away. While the girl was drinking, the SS transport leader, who wore four stars as badges of rank appeared suddenly behind me. He then knocked the glass

143 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, pp. 40-41.

out of the girl’s hand with his riding-whip and then dealt the child several more blows. The girl’s father squeezed out of the wagon and on his knees begged the SS-Officer to leave her alone.

The SS-Officer drew his pistol and shot the father in the back of the neck. The girl was thrown back into the wagon. The same happened with the dead man. The SS-Officer told me it was a disgrace and not worthy of a German official to be a Jew’s slave. When in this connection I am asked the name of this SS-Officer, I can only say that he presumably came from Lublin.

In my opinion, the management of Bełżec station came under Zwierzyniec, SS—Rottenführer Schuette belonged to this management. To my knowledge he came from the area of Gelsenkirchen or Hamm.144

Oskar Diegelmann, a Reichsbahn Oberinspektor ( Senior Inspector) based in Lublin recalled:

As a controller I was responsible for ensuring the track was in good condition and in particular that the trains ran smoothly. During a visit to the station at Bełżec, the supervisor, a Secretary or Senior Secretary from Thuringen, informed me that he was having a lot of problems with the SS, who were stationed near the wood.

Some time later I myself saw and had a word with a number of SS people in the waiting-room at Bełżec. When I inquired, they told me that they were not members of the SS, but had merely been given these uniforms. As they described it, most of them came from lunatic asylums or nursing homes in the Reich, where they had been involved in the killing of the mentally ill.

I would like to say that one day the full significance of Bełżec camp became clear to me when I saw mountains of clothes of all types behind our locomotive shed. There was also a large number of shoes there, as well as jewellery and other valuables. The SS had piled these things up there. Petrol was poured over items of clothing that were no longer wearable and they were then burnt.

There were a lot of rumours that valuable items were trafficked by the camp staff in the surrounding area. So it was not surprising that

144 Georg Hölzel Interrogation 10 January 1962. ZStL Zentralle Stelle Ludwigsburg 208/ AR-Z 268/59.

women of easy virtue, in particular, were attracted to the area surrounding Bełżec, where they set themselves up in business. There were apparently a lot of orgies at that time.145

Stanislaw Bohdanowicz from Zwierzyniec visited the site of the Bełżec death camp to see for himself the final destination for the Jews from his home town and other local communities:

In the camp itself, which consists of only a few barracks, we didn’t see any movement of people. Every train that arrived there was closely watched by the German and Ukrainian SS. The Polish railwaymen are locked up in Bełżec station from where the German railwaymen took the trains along a special siding into the camp. There was immediately such a commotion that we could hear the screams of the people and the shouts of the German guards, shots from pistols, rifles etc, but soon everything became quiet until the arrival of the next train. The inhabitants of Bełżec village were complaining about the stench, which increased day by day. Everyone knew that Jews were being killed in some way. In the end, passengers travelling through Bełżec by train, started to complain that the stench of rotting corpses was unbearable and was even penetrating to the interior of the carriages, through tightly shut windows.146

Fajga Kanner made a statement regarding early transports of Jews to Bełżec:

On March 25, 1942, the transports from Rawa Ruska to Bełżec began. At first we were still not aware what Bełżec was but, afraid of deportation, we never undressed from March 1942 to January 1943, to be prepared to flee at any moment. We built bunkers.

Transports of Jews, 70 or 80 railroad cars, passed all summer, twice a day. We could hear the moans and crying of smothered children from the cars. The majority did not know where they were headed; they were sure that they were being sent to work. Later transports already knew that they were on their way to the gas. Some jumped from the trains and others were so dispirited that they did not take advantage of possible opportunities to save themselves. Heaps of the

145 E. Klee, W. Dressen, V. Riess, Those Were the Days—The Holocaust As Seen By The Perpetrators and Bystanders, Hamish Hamilton London, 1991, p.234.

146 M. Tregenza,Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.46.

corpses of those who had jumped unsuccessfully lay near the tracks and embankments.147

Maria Daniel, who lived next to the railway line near Bełżec station testified on October 16, 1945, in Bełżec:

What happened inside the death camp I do not know. I can only state that after the arrival of the wagons inside the camp, terrible human cries could be heard, like, “People, if you believe in God, rescue us!” This lasted about 5-10 minutes, then silence prevailed.

The empty wagons came out of the camp again, and the next lot was shunted in. Then the screams were repeated afresh from inside the camp. Several times I saw naked Jews inside the wagons being conveyed into the camp.

In the summer of 1942, I was a witness when a naked woman lept out of a wagon; she was immediately caught by the ‘Blacks’ and, naked, taken into the camp . . . In 1942, as I travelled on the road from Rawa Ruska to Bełżec, I saw Germans bringing two lorries full of gypsies; the gypsies were on their knees, pleading to be released.148

On August 30, 1942, a Wehrmacht Non-Commissioned Officer named Wilhelm Cornides was in Rzeszow on his way to Cholm (Chelm) in the General-Gouvernement by train. In his diary he recorded that a railway policeman in Rzeszow had told him that a marble plaque with golden letters was to be erected on 1 September, because by then the city would be free of Jews.

The railway policemen also told him that:

Trains filled with Jews pass almost daily through the shunting yards, are dispatched immediately on their way and return swept clean most often the same evening. Some 6,000 Jews from Jaroslaw were recently killed in one day.

Wilhelm Cornides then took the regular passenger train from Rzeszow to Cholm, reaching Rawa Ruska, an important rail junction on August 31. Cornides stayed in the Deutsches Haus, which was

147 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, Deposition of Fajga Kanner, p. 91.

148 Maria Daniel, 16 October 1945. Copy-Holocaust Historical Society UK.

located in the Sokol pre-war building on Narutowicz Strasse, in the centre of Rawa Ruska. He recorded what he saw in his diary:

At ten minutes past noon I saw a transport train run into the station. On the roof and running boards sat guards with rifles. One could see from a distance that the cars were jammed full of people. I turned and walked along the whole train. It consisted of thirty-five cattle cars and one passenger car.

In each of the cars there were at least sixty Jews. In the case of the enlisted men’s or prisoner transports, these wagons would hold forty men; however, the benches had been removed, and one could see that those who were locked in here had to stand pressed together. Some of the doors were opened a crack, the windows criss-crossed with barbed-wire. Among the people locked in there were a few men and most of them were old; everyone else was women, girls, and children. Many children crowded at the windows and the narrow door openings. The youngest were surely not more than two years old.

As soon as the train halted, the Jews attempted to pass out bottles in order to get water. The train, however, was surrounded by SS guards, so that no-one could come near. At that moment a train arrived from the direction of Jaroslaw, and the travellers streamed toward the exit without bothering about the transport. A few Jews who were busy loading a car for the armed forces waved their caps to the people locked in.

I talked to a policeman on duty at the railway station. Upon my question as to where the Jews came from he answered; “Those are probably the last ones from Lvov. That has been going on now for three weeks without interruption. In Jaroslaw they only let eight remain, no-one knows why.”

I asked, “How far are they going?” Then he said; “To Bełżec.” And then? “Poison.” I asked, “Gas?” He shrugged his shoulders, then said, “At the beginning they always shot them, I believe.”

Here in the Deutsches Haus I just talked with two soldiers from the front-line Prisoner of War Camp 325. They said these transports had lately passed through every day, mostly at night. Yesterday a 70-car one is supposed to have gone through.

From Rawa Ruska Cornides took the afternoon train to Cholm. The things he learned on this journey were so extraordinary that he made three separate entries in his diary within an hour. The first entry was at 5:30 p.m.

When we boarded at 4:40 p.m., an empty transport had just arrived. I walked along the train twice and counted fifty-six cars. On the doors had been written in chalk sixty, seventy, once ninety, occasionally forty—obviously the number of Jews inside the cattle cars.

In my compartment I spoke with a railway policeman’s wife who was visiting her husband here. She says these transports are now passing through daily; sometimes also with German Jews. Yesterday six children’s bodies were found along the tracks. The woman thinks that the Jews themselves had killed these children, but they must have succumbed during the trip. The railway policeman who was escorting the train joined us in our compartment. He confirmed the woman’s statement about the children’s bodies which were found along the track yesterday. I asked, “Do the Jews know what is happening to them?”

The woman answered, “Those who come from far won’t know anything, but here in the vicinity they know already. They attempt to run away, if they notice that someone is coming for them. So, for example, most recently in Cholm, three were shot on their way through the city. In the railway documents these trains run under the name of resettlement transports, remarked the railway policeman. He then said, “After the murder of Reinhard Heydrich, several transports containing Czechs had passed through.”

Cornides continued his account:

Camp Bełżec is supposed to be located right on the railway line and the woman promised to show it to me, when we passed it. At 5:40 p.m. we came to a short halt. Opposite us a transport again stops. I speak with the policeman in front of the compartment we ride in. I ask, “Are you going back home to the Reich?” Grinning, he says, “You probably know where we are coming from. For us the work is never finished.” Then the transport opposite us moves away, thiry-five empty and cleaned wagons. In all probability this was the train that I had seen at 1:00 p.m. in Rawa Ruska station

At 6:20 p.m., we passed Camp Bełżec. Before then, we travelled for some time through a tall pine forest. When the woman called, “Now it comes.” One could see a high hedge of fir trees. A strong sweetish odour could be made out distinctly. “But they are stinking already,” says the woman. “Oh, nonsense, its only the gas,” the railway policeman said laughing. Meanwhile we had gone about 200 meters—the sweetish odour was transformed into a strong smell of something burning. “That is from the crematory,” said the policeman.

A short distance further on, the fence stopped. In front of it one could see a guard house with an SS post. A double track led into the camp. One track branched off from the main line over a turntable from the camp to a row of sheds some 250 meters away. A freight car happened to stand on the turntable. Several Jews were busy turning the turntable while SS guards, rifles under their arms, stood by. One of the sheds was open, and one could distinctly see that it was filled to the ceiling with bundles of clothes.

As we went on, I looked back one more time—the fence was too high to see anything at all. The woman says, “Sometimes, while going by, one could see smoke rising from the camp,” but I did not notice anything of the sort. My estimate is that the camp measures about 800 meters by 400 meters.

In his diary Wilhelm Cornides recorded conversations he had with other witnesses. A policeman in the town-hall restaurant in Cholm on September 1, 1942, said:

The policemen who escort the Jewish trains are not allowed into the camp. The only ones who get in are the SS and the Ukrainian Special Services. But these people are doing a good business over there. Recently a Ukrainian visited us, and he had a whole stack of money in notes and watches and gold and all kinds of things. They find all of that when they put together the clothing and load it.

Upon the question, as to how these Jews were actually being killed, the policeman answered, “They are told that they must get rid of their lice, and then they must take off their clothes and then they come into a room, where first off they get a hot blast of air, which is already mixed with a small dose of gas. That is enough to make them

unconscious. The rest comes after, and then they are burned immediately.149

A member of the Schutzpolizei in Lemberg (Lvov) Josef Jacklein, a Zugwachtmeister, wrote a report concerning a transport from Kolomea to Bełżec dated September 14, 1942:

On 9 September 1942 I received orders to take over command of the Jewish resettlement train which was leaving Kolomea for Bełżec on 10 September 1942. At 19.30 hours in accordance with my orders, I took over command of the train together with an escort unit consisting of one officer and nine men at the railway yard in Kolomea. The resettlement train was handed over to me by the Schutzpolizei Hauptwachtmeister Zitzmann. When it was handed over to me, the train was already in a highly unsatisfactory state. Hptw. Zitzmann had informed me of this fact when he handed it over to me.

As the train had to depart on schedule, and there was no other person who could take responsibility for loading on the Jews, there was nothing left for me to do but to take charge of the transport train in its unsatisfactory state. The condition of the train notwithstanding, the insufficient number of guards—i.e. one officer to nine men in the escort unit—would have been reason enough for me to refuse to take over command of the train. However, in accordance with my orders, I had to take over the train with the escort manpower I had. Hptw. Zitzmann stayed at the station with his guard unit until the train departed. Both units had their hands full, preventing Jews escaping from the cars, since it had meanwhile become so dark that it was not possible to see the next car properly. It was not possible to establish how many Jews escaped from the train before its departure alone; however, it is probable that almost all were eliminated during their escape attempts.

At 20.50 the train departed from Kolomea on schedule. Shortly before its departure I divided up my escort squad, as had been planned beforehand, putting five men at the front and five men at the rear of the train. As the train was, however, very long—fifty-one cars with a total load of 8,200 Jews—this distribution of manpower turned out to be wrong, and the next time we stopped I ordered the guards to post themselves right along the length of the train. The guards had

149 M. Gilbert, The Final Journey, George Allen & Unwin Ltd London 1979, pp. 9295.

to stay on the brake housing for the entire journey. We had only been travelling a short time when the Jews attempted to break out of the wagons on both sides and even through the roof. Some of them succeeded in doing so, with the result that five stations before Stanislau, I phoned the stationmaster in Stanislau and asked him to have nails and boards ready, so that we could board up the damaged cars temporarily and put some of his Bahnschutz (Track guards) at my disposal to guard the train.

When the train reached Stanislau, the workers from Stanislau station as well as the Bahnschutz were at the station waiting for our train. As soon as the train stopped, work began. An hour and a half later I considered it adequately repaired and ordered its departure. However, all of this was of very little help, for only a few stations later, when the train was stationary, I established that a number of very large holes had been made and all the barbed wire on the ventilation windows had been ripped out. As the train was departing I even established that in one of the cars someone was using a hammer and pliers. When these Jews were questioned as to why they had these tools in their possession, they informed me that they had been told that they might well be of use at their next place of work. I immediately took away the tools. I then had to have the train boarded up at each station at which it stopped, otherwise it would not have been possible to continue the journey at all.

At 11.15 hours the train arrived in Lemberg. As there was no replacement escort squad, my squad had to continue guarding the train until Bełżec. After a short stop at Lemberg station the train went to the suburban station of Kleparow, where I handed over nine wagons to SS-Obersturmführer Schulze which had been marked with an ‘L’ and had been designated for Lemberg compulsory labor camp. SS-Obersturmführer Schulze then loaded on about 1,000 more Jews and at about 13.30 hours the transport departed again.

At Lemberg the engine was replaced, and an old engine was attached, which was not powerful enough for the weight of the train. The train driver never managed to reach top speed with his engine so that the train, particularly when travelling uphill, moved so slowly that the Jews could jump off without any risk of injury. I ordered the train driver on numerous occasions to drive faster but this was impossible. It was particularly unfortunate that the train frequently stopped in open country.

The escort squad had meanwhile used up all the ammunition that had been brought with us as well as an extra 200 bullets that I had obtained from some soldiers, with the result that we had to rely on stones when the train was moving and fixed bayonets when the train was stationary. The ever-increasing panic among the Jews, caused by the intense heat, the overcrowding in the wagons, the stink of the dead bodies—when the wagons were unloaded there were about 2,000 dead in the train—made the transport almost impossible.

At 18.45 the transport arrived in Bełżec, and I handed it over to the SS-Obersturmführer and head of the camp at 19.30 hours. Towards 22.00 hours the transport was unloaded. I had to be present during unloading. I was not able to establish the number of Jews that had escaped.150

One of those deportees on the transport from Kolomea to Bełżec was Iesaja Feder, who testified about his escape from the deathtrain:

We were told that we were traveling to work in the Ukraine, but somehow, while closed in the freight car, the word ‘Bełżec’ came up. After traveling some time, I decided to escape. We were a few youngsters, and we tore down the barbed wire from the small window; I squeezed myself through and jumped. It was dark, and the SS guards were shooting all the time, even without seeing any escapee, just to frighten us.

I fell on the earth, and the train passed by . . . I was marching on a path, when suddenly in front of me appeared a Ukrainian who shouted at me, “Where are you going?”

I answered that I was on the way to Kolomea.

“So you escaped from the train. Let’s go to the police,” he said, and caught my hand. He was a strong peasant, and I was weakened from life in the ghetto, so I could not resist him.

After marching a while, I asked him to let me urinate, and then I started to run. I ran as if Death were behind me, and succeeded in escaping. During daylight I continued to march. Passing a forest, I met a girl from Kolomea with a broken leg. She had escaped from

150 E. Klee, W. Dressen, V. Riess, Those Were the Days—The Holocaust As Seen By The Perpetrators and Bystanders, Hamish Hamilton London, 1991, pp.232-235.

the same train as I had. She decided to stay for a while in the forest. I continued on my way when I found myself surrounded by three Ukrainians.

They led me to a small barrack at a train stop, where I met some other Jews who had escaped the transport and had been caught. We were beaten up and taken to Kolomea. Along the railway, many victims were lying, who, like myself, had jumped from the train. Some were dead; others were still alive, but with broken hands and legs. In Kolomea the Ukrainians handed us over to the railway police guards. We were again beaten up and then taken to the Gestapo and to prison.

For a few days we were kept in prison with no food, and afterwards we were taken to the railway station. We were packed 160 people into a freight car. The train moved. I decided to escape again. We again cut the barbed wire, and, with help from other people, climbed through the small window and jumped from the train.

I found some corn in the field and quelled my hunger. Two Ukrainians approached me. I had some money and offered it to them. They let me go. Having no place to hide myself, I went back to Kolomea, where some Jews were still kept in a labor camp. On the way I met a Polish woman. She took me, the stranger, to her house, kept me there for two days. She fed me, prepared me an armband with a Star of David that the Jews were wearing. She led me to a group of Jews who worked in the neighborhood, and with them I returned to the ghetto.151

Thomas Toivi Blatt, a Jew who lived in Izbiza, a typical shtetl in south-eastern Poland, tried to escape to Hungary to escape the Nazi persecution. In his book, From the Ashes of Sobibor, he recounts his journey, which took him past the Bełżec death camp, on his way to Lemberg:

It was 1:00 in the morning, time to get ready for the train. Slowly, one after another, we departed. The date is etched on my memory: 26 October, 1942 . . . Suddenly a kind of subdued anxiety spread among the passengers. They closed the windows; some lit cigarettes. What had happened? Why did the talk turn to whispers? I caught

151 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1987, pp. 251-252.

scraps of sentences. “They gas..... fat for soap.” Despite the closed windows, the odor of rotting flesh seeped through.

Bełżec! Of course. I grew numb with shock. We were passing near one of the rumoured death factories. My heart pounded as I looked out the window. There were scarce woods, and in the distance I saw flames—now fading, now shooting higher into the sky. This was the destiny I was trying to escape. The smell receded as the train raced on, but I could still see the reflection of fire in the sky.152

A message from Odilo Globocnik was sent on August 24, 1942, to SSSturmbannführer Gunther, the deputy of Adolf Eichmann, of the RSHA IV B4, regarding the evacuation of Rumanian Jews. This message stated that all deportation trains should be directed to the Trawniki railway station, where further distribution would take place.153

A month later a conference was held to establish the transportation requirements for the deportation of additional Jews from the General Gouvernement and the expulsion of 200,000 Jews from Rumania to Bełżec. This conference was held at the Ministry of Transport in Berlin on September 26 and 28, 1942. At this conference, attended by Rolf Gunther, from the IVB4 office of the RSHA, Stier of Gedob, and headed by Klem of the Ministry of Transport, the following was decided, and recorded by Klem:

Evacuation of the Polish Jews

Urgent transports as proposed by the Chief of the Security Police and the SD:

2 trains daily from the Warschau District to Treblinka

1 train daily from the Radom District to Treblinka

1 train daily from the Krakau District to Bełżec

1 train daily from the Lemberg District to Bełżec

152 Thomas Toivi Blatt, From the Ashes of Sobibor, Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Illinois, 1997, pp. 46-47.

153 HW 16/21—National Archives Kew.

These transports will be carried out with the 200 freight cars already made available for this purpose by order of the Directorate of the German railways in Krakau, as far as this is possible.

Upon completion of the repair of the Lublin-Chelm line, probably around November 1, 1942, the other urgent transports will also be carried out. These are:

1 train daily from the Radom District to Sobibor

1 train daily from the north Lublin District to Bełżec

1 train daily from the central Lublin District to Sobibor, as far as this is feasible and the required number of freight cars is available

With the reduction of the transport of potatoes, it is expected that it will be possible for the special train service to be able to place at the disposal of the Directorate of the German railway in Krakau the necessary freight cars. Thus the train transportation required will be available in accordance with the above proposals and the plan completed this year.154

Deportation of Rumanian Jews

On the day of the conference, the Rumanian railways notified by telegram that they could not attend this conference for official reasons and asked that the conference be adjourned. The conference, which was held without representatives of the Rumanian railways, produced the following result:

The departure station in Rumania for the special trains is Adjud, on the Ploesti-Cernauti line, the border station at the General Gouvernemt is Sniatyn, the destination is Bełżec.

It was envisaged that a special train should run every two days, consisting of 50 freight cars, and one passenger car for the accompanying staff, for the transport of two thousand people. In order to avoid that it runs unoccupied, German covered wagons will be used, which are located in Rumania or will arrive there.

154 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 52.

The General Agent of the German railways in Bucharest was asked to arrange, together with the Rumanian railways, that the wagons be made available to carry out the transport, and this probably a little later than intended, in agreement with T.K. Bucharest and WTL South East.

The handover of the special trains by the C.F.R. is carried out in good time on the traffic days, in agreement with the management of the German railways Krakau, so that they can leave Sniatyn in the direction of Lemberg at 1:03 a.m.

Klem155

Despite all these detailed planning arrangements, the planned deportation of the Jews from Rumania did not take place for a number of reasons. There were various disagreements within the Rumanian administration, a protest submitted by the United Sates of America to the Rumanian government in September 1942, and various efforts by the Jewish leaders within Rumania.156

Franciszek Wloch a resident of Rawa Ruska, recalled the transports passing through there, in the autumn of 1942:

From the autumn of 1942, two or three transports a day waited about half an hour at Rawa Ruska station before it was telephoned through that the transport could enter. The telephoned report was taken by a special German commandant who worked at the station and had direct contact with the camp authorities.

Each transport numbered 50, 52, up to 60 goods wagons, each with 100 people. Almost all the transports to Bełżec travelled via Rawa Ruska; the only exceptions were those from Lublin. When the transports came from nearby places, such as Lwow or Krakow, there were three transports daily –usually between 10:00 a.m.–10:30 a.m. and between 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.157

155 Protokoll written by Klem, Holocaust Historical Society Archives.

156 Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 53.

157 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.267.

Wloch also recalled that Jews were trying to escape from the transports:

In the empty wagons, which, after unloading, travelled back through Rawa Ruska, we found holes bitten with teeth through which the people threw their children, or attempted to throw themselves. Along the rails one found every day the bodies of such desparate people. The rails were also strewn with gold and valuables.

Sometimes one came across people still alive. The naked ones all died of cold. I know of no case where the local Polish or Ukrainian population had rescued such an escapee; at the most, they helped by giving a piece of bread. The Germans had issued special orders to the population to report if any naked people were found.158

Janett Margolies, a Jewish woman, was deported from the Tarnopol ghetto, in Eastern Galicia on November 8, 1942, and en-route to the Bełżec death camp, she escaped from one of the death convoys. She recalled:

On the way, a policeman came close to me, whispering quietly into my ear to join the younger ladies in the wagon. When we arrived at the railroad station, the men were separated, and we were pushed toward the railroad cars. I did observe where the young were concentrated, joining them in the wagon, which was closed and sealed.

We were eighty women. The small windows were high up, with bars and thorny wire. Once inside, we found out that somebody had smuggled in a file to cut bars. I started to organize a crew. Standing on top of the others, we started to work. The train continued to run. When the job was finished, and the bars cut, each candidate, legs through the window, then held on with their hands, later with only one hand, and with a strong swing, jumped into the direction of the running train.

I stood watching the jumping. Most of them were killed on the spot. Some were killed by trains coming from the opposite direction. Others were shot by Gestapo watchmen. Those who succeeded were later caught by special railroad watchmen. Of all the Tarnopol train jumpers, I think that I was the only one left alive. 158 Ibid. p.267.

I took quite a while to decide to jump or not to jump. I realized fully how hopeless the situation looked . . . but I decided to jump. Already hanging outside the wagon, I got tangled up in the thorny wire. Being scared, I cried out loudly, feeling that I was falling down. A shot was heard over my head; it was a watchman. Luckily he missed. At the same moment I noticed a locomotive running straight toward me. With my last strength, I rolled over downwards into a depression. All this lasted just a few seconds. I was saved, but badly injured, bleeding from my head and hands. I tore out a little frozen grass, putting it on my wounds. I succeeded in stopping the bleeding. Later I wiped it off my face, bringing myself to order.159

Another eyewitness was Ernst Brosig, who was based in Zamosc and was a member of Georg Wippern, the ‘keeper of the vault’ of the SSStandortverwaltung in Lublin. This unit was responsible for the sorting and processing of valuables and currency from the murdered victims in the three death camps of Bełżec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. He visited the Bełżec death camp in August 1942 with Georg Wippern and later provided a post-war statement:

On the other hand I was once in the Bełżec camp. That was in July/August 1942. Wippern was in Zamość and wondered if I could break free for a trip to Bełżec. I have no recollection of whether he said the purpose of the trip. I actually went to Bełżec with him. A subordinate from the Lublin office was also there.

I don’t know what Wippern had to do in Bełżec. I just remember that we were given permission to enter the camp. I then have the memory of a terrible stench of corpses. I realized that there was a building in the camp with chambers. I thought that was the gas chambers. I have a dim recollection of seeing corpses in the distance. I still remember that there were several Jews who handled gold items. Who was with us when we walked through the camp, I really don’t remember. When we drove away, I remember we were given a sack. What was in this sack, I cannot say for the best of me.160

There are a number of reports of Polish Christians being deported to Bełżec to share the fate of the Jewish people. What follows is a

159 Janett Margolies, Escapes from Bełżec Transports www.deathcamps.org.

160 Statement by Ernst Brosig November 20, 1967. Holocaust Historical Society.

number of eyewitness statements, including one stated by Tadeusz Misiewicz:

In one of the transports which arrived at Bełżec, there was a Catholic family of seven people. These people shouted and pleaded for help. This incident was confirmed by one of the Jewesses who worked in the Kommandantura and had the right to leave the camp.161

Stefan Kirsz also remembered how Poles were also deported from Lemberg / Lwow to the death camp:

As a locomotive driver, I took transport trains of Jews many times from Rawa Ruska to Bełżec. I can definitely confirm that during the course of the summer of 1942, Poles who had been arrested because of their political activities, as well as Jews, were taken from Lwow to Bełżec. On one occasion there were four wagon loads of Poles from Lwow itself.

I have ascertained that I saw transports with Poles on eight occasions. I spoke to a Polish woman transported to Bełżec in this way; she told me she was the wife of a police officer from Rzeszow who had been brought to Bełżec because she had hidden Jews. This was confirmed at the time by the locomotive driver from Rzeszow, who had driven the train from there.

I also spoke to a Ukrainian who said that he had come from Rawa Ruska and had been arrested on political grounds. I did not converse with any other Christians transported to Be łżec, as we were not allowed near the wagons by the Germans. In any case, one could see that these were Poles in the wagons….. Whether they were pure Poles or not, I cannot say. That I saw such wagons with Christians on about eight occasions—one can determine that over 1,000 Christians were brought as well.162

161 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.179.

162 Ibid. p.183.

Chapter X The End of the Slaughter

During the months between September 1942, until December 1942, the transports continued to roll into Bełżec daily, and the slaughter continued unabated. From Galicia, the Lublin District, Krakau and a number of other cities, towns and villages, the Jews were rounded up and shipped to Bełżec. In the month of September major deportations took place from Bilgoraj, Kolomea, Stanislawow, Stryj, and Sanok, and on October 28, 1942, 7,000 Jews were deported from Krakau, with further deportations from Kolomea, Stryj, and Sandomierz. In November the last major deportation from Lemberg took place over three days from November 18–November 21, 1942, where between 8,000 to10,000 Jews were taken to Bełżec.

Rudolf Reder witnessed the particularly brutal killing of Azriel Szeps, the Vice-President of the Zamość Judenrat during November 1942:

It was around November 15, when the weather had already turned cold, and snow and mud covered the ground. A large transport from Zamość arrived like many others in the middle of a blizzard. The transport contained the whole Judenrat (Jewish Council).163

Everyone was standing there naked, and, in the normal course of events, the men were driven to the chambers and the women to the barracks where hair was shaved off. But the President of the Judenrat164 was ordered to remain in the yard. As the Askars herded the transport to be killed, a whole parade of SS men stood around the President of the Judenrat. I do not know his name, I saw a middle-aged man as white as a corpse and completely calm.165

163 This deportation took place on 2 November 1942. The Zamosc Judenrat were first deported from Zamość to Izbica during 16—18 October 1942, and from there to Bełżec death camp.

164 He was Vice-President of the Zamość Jewish Council.

165 His name was Azriel Szeps.

The SS-men ordered the orchestra to move into the yard and await orders. The orchestra, made up of six musicians, usually played in the space between the gas chambers and the graves. They played without a break on instruments taken from the murdered. I was working then on some masonry work and saw them all. The SS-men ordered the orchestra to play the tunes, “Es geht alles vorbei” and “Drei Lilien, kommt ein Reiter gefahren, bricht der Lilien.” They played on violins, flutes, and an accordion.

This went on for some time. Afterwards they stood the President of the Zamość Judenrat against a wall and beat him with lead-tipped canes, mostly about the head and face, until the blood flowed. Jirmann, the fat Gestapo man Schwarz, Schmidt, and several Askars carried out the torture. They ordered their victim to dance and jump to their blows and the music.

After several hours, they brought him a quarter-loaf of bread and forced him with beatings to eat it. He stood there with the blood trickling down, indifferent, serious and I didn’t hear a single moan. This man’s tribulations continued for seven hours. The SS-men stood laughing: “Das ist eine höhere Person, Präsident des Judenrates” (“This is a dignitary, the head of the Judenrat”), they called out with loud, cruel bravado. Not until six p.m. did the Gestapo–man Schmidt push him along to the edge of the grave, shoot him in the head, and kick him onto the heap of gassed corpses.166

Rudolf Reder recalled a brutal and terrible event, also in November 1942:

Not long before my escape, in November, a hundred people—already naked by then—had to be picked out from such an overcrowded transport to bury corpses, because the Gestapo calculated that the permanent crew would not keep up with putting so many smothered people into the graves.

They picked only young boys. All day long they dragged corpses to the graves, beaten, not given a drop of water, naked in the snow and cold. In the evening the thug Schmidt led them to the edge of the grave and shot them with a Browning. He ran out of ammunition when there were still more than a dozen left, so he killed them one

166 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, pp. 134-135.

after the other with a pick handle, right to the last one. I didn’t hear the groans; I only saw how they tried to cut in front of each other in the line for death, helpless shreds of life and youth.167

At the end of November 1942, Fritz Jirmann sent Rudolf Reder under escort to Lemberg to collect sheet metal. Reder recounted what happened next:

I went there, loaded into a truck with four Gestapo–men and a sentry. In Lemberg (Lvov), after a whole day loading sheet metal, I was left alone in the truck with one hoodlum guarding me. The rest went off to have a little fun. I sat there for a few hours without thinking or moving. Then I chanced to notice that my guard had dozed off and was snoring. By reflex, without a moment’s thought, I slipped out of the truck; the thug was still asleep. The guard who fell asleep was Karol Trauttwein.168

I stood on the sidewalk, for a while longer, I pretended to be fussing with something near the sheet metal, and then I moved slowly away. Legionow Street was very busy. I pulled my cap down. The street was dark and no-one saw me. I remembered where my landlady lived, a Polish woman, and made my way there. She hid me.169

Right to the end of its operational life, the horrors of Bełżec continued and Mieczyslaw Nieduzak testified in Bełżec on October 17, 1945, about several instances of brutality:

During the time the death camp in Bełżec was being built and then in operation, I lived in Rawa Ruska. Towards the end of 1942, I travelled through Bełżec station and while waiting there for a train, I began a conversation with the “Blacks,” as I know the Russian language well; the “Blacks” began to tell me certain things about the death camp.

One of these “Blacks” boasted to me how he had torn a young Jewish girl from her mother—a young girl who had clung tightly to her mother—seized her by the hair and with all his strength beaten her

167 Ibid p.136.

168 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.148.

169 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, pp. 141-142.

against a post so that her spine was broken and the girl was killed instantly.

The other told me of the following occurrence: As he drove the Jews into the gas chambers, one of them hit him on the head with a piece of wood; he was forced to shoot this Jew. A third ‘Black’ told the following story; A Jew who had knocked a ‘Black’ to the ground was punished in the following way—by being tied to a post and rubbed so hard with a goosefeather floor polisher that his naked bones showed. They only stopped when he lost consciousness. This happened before the eyes of the Jews who were employed in the death camp and had been forced to watch.

When I began to ask questions about how the Jews were killed in the gas chambers, they broke off the conversation with the advice that I should not ask that.170

Mieczyslaw Kudyba, the local blacksmith, also witnessed an incident of brutality:

I saw how the Volksdeutsch Zimbert took out of the bunker by the Kommandantura of the Bełżec camp—which was outside the death camp—a Pole from the village of Losiniec or Mazily; he was dressed in a sheepskin coat and carried a small basket with him.

After a few minutes, the above-mentioned Volksdeutsch brought this Pole to the Bełżec death camp. A few minutes later I heard some pistol shots from the area of the camp. The Pole did not come out again. I do not know the name of the Pole.171

The last transports to arrive at the Bełżec death camp came from Rohatyn on December 8, 1942, and Rawa Ruska between December 7-11, 1942, where between 2,000 and 2,500 Jews were murdered.

With these final transports, Bełżec ceased its mass murder function, and, for the rest of its existence, the death camp staff and prisoners exhumed and burned the Jewish victims that had crossed its threshold. The next chapter will cover in greater detail what happened between November 1942 and March 1943.

170 Mieczyslaw Nieduzak Testimony, 17 October 1945. Copy-Holocaust Historical Society UK.

171 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.269.

Chapter XI

Exhumation and Cremation

November 1942–March 1943

Rudolf Reder claims in his book that Heinrich Himmler visited the Bełżec death camp in October, 1942, along with SS-Gruppenführer Fritz Katzmann SS-Polizeiführer Lemberg district in mid-October 1942. It is possible that visit, triggered the vast exhumation and cremation program that commemced in Bełżec in November 1942. That was the case with Treblinka death camp, following Himmler’s visit in February 1943; having found out the victims had been buried and not burnt, he ordered that cremations should begin immediately.

Heinrich Gley, an SS-Oberscharführer, testified after the war:

As I remember, the gassing stopped at the end of 1942, when snow was already falling. Then the unearthing and cremation of the corpses began. It lasted from November 1942 until March 1943. The cremation was conducted day and night without interruption. At first the burning took place at one site and later at two. One cremating site had the capacity to burn 2,000 corpses in twenty-four hours.

About four weeks after the beginning of the cremation operation, the second burning site was erected. On the average, during five months, at the first burning site about 300,000 corpses were cremated, and in four months at the second burning site about 240,000 corpses. Naturally, these are average estimates.172

Stanislaw Kozak testified on October 14, 1945, regarding the exhumation and cremation activities:

In the late fall of 1942, they stopped bringing Jews to Bełżec. At that time two large mechanical cranes were brought to the death camp to remove the murdered Jews from the pits. The dug up corpses were

172 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, pp. 172-173.

placed on a burning pyre onto which some kind of liquid was poured. Two or three fires burned at a time.

At this time a repulsive smell of rotten human bodies, burned bones, and human flesh hung over Bełżec. This terrible odor could be smelled 15km from Bełżec. The burning of corpses lasted without interruption for a period of three months.173

Maria Daniel, a Polish woman who lived in the village of Bełżec, testified after the war:

We could see a machine that took out the corpses from the graves and threw them into the fire. There were a few such fires going simultaneously. At that time a dreadful smell dominated the whole area, a smell of burned human bones and bodies. From the moment they began burning the corpses, from all directions of the camp came the smell of the corpses. When the Germans completed the burning of the corpses, they dismantled the camp.174

Heinrich Gley provided a statement on February 6, 1962 in Münster:

I was assigned with a big Jewish work brigade to the cremation of the corpses by means of railway lines which served as a grate. About 80-90 Jews then worked under my supervision in three shifts. The cremation site was as long as a rail and about 4-5 metres wide. The rails were placed on top of big rocks and narrow-gauge rails served as a cross-mesh. The cremation surface could take about 200 corpses. First, a wood fire was kindled under the iron grate. During the course of the cremation operation the corpses later served as the only fuel. From time to time the badly twisted rails had to be replaced by new ones.175

Gisela Gdula, who lived in a house in the Bełżec village that housed the bakery that served the death camp with loaves, was interviewed in the former bakery on July 20, 2002, and she recalled that:

173 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.153.

174 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 173.

175 Statement by Heinrich Gley 6 February 1962 in Münster. File Number 208 ARZ 268/59.

The pyres were like a volcano and the villagers scraped human fat off their windows.176

Heinrich Gley, an SS-Oberscharführer, testified further:

When all the bodies had been removed from the graves, a special search commando sifted through the earth and extracted all the leftovers: bone, clumps of hair, etc and threw these remains on the fire. An additional mechanical excavator was brought to accelerate the work. One excavator came from Sobibor and the other from the Warsaw district, which were operated by Hackenholt.177

Rudolf Reder recalled in his book Bełżec how he later found out how the evidence of the crimes committed at Bełżec was erased:

And later, the local residents told me, the bones were ground up and the wind had scattered the dust over the fields and forests. A prisoner named Spilke, brought for the purpose from the Janowska Camp to Bełżec, set up a machine for grinding human bones. He told me that he found only piles of bones there and that all the buildings had disappeared. Later he managed to escape and save himself. He gave me his account of this right after the liberation of Lvov by the Red Army.178

Two of the SS camp personnel died in separate incidents during March 1943; first Fritz Jirmann was shot and killed by accident at the hands of Heinrich Gley, who testified about this incident in 1963:

One evening, the company commander, Jirmann, ordered me to go with him to a copse near the Kommandantur, where a bunker was located. I did not know what he intended doing there, but on the way I learned from him that two Ukrainians were locked-up there, who, during their guard duty, had broken into the valuables room.

As Jirmann opened the bunker door, both Ukrainians lept on him and knocked him to the ground. As he dropped the torch during the incident, I could not see how he—Jirrman—had fallen to the ground

176 Interview with Gisela Gdula, Mike Tregenza and Chris Webb-July 20, 2002 in Belzec.

177 Robin O’Neil, Bełżec Stepping Stone to Genocide, JewishGen, Inc, 2008, p. 180.

178 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, pp. 134-135.

178 Ibid.,op cit, pp. 142-143.

as the first Ukrainian came out of the bunker. I assumed it was one of the Ukrainians and fired at him. As a matter of fact, it was Jirmann I had fatally wounded.179

Jirmann was buried in the German Military Cemetery in Tomaszow Lubelski and his remains were later re-buried in the Przemysl German Military Cemetery in 1996.

SS-Oberscharführer Erwin Fichtner, the camp quartermaster at Bełżec death camp, was killed by Polish partisans on March 29, 1943, near Tarnowatka, which is about 10 miles north of Bełżec. He, too, like Jirmann, was buried in in the German Military Cemetery in Tomaszow Lubelski and he too was later moved to the German Military Cemetery in Przemysl.180 A photograph showing the name of Fritz Jirmann from the German Military Cemetery in Przemysl is shown below. This is an old photograph; his name has now been removed:

179 M.Tregenza, Christian Wirth: Inspekteur des SS Sonderkommandos Aktion Reinhard, Zeszyty Majdanka Vol XV, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanka Lublin 1993, p. 48.

180 Michael Tregenza private correspondence with the author 2002.

Chapter XII The Final Days

With the last of the bodies exhumed and cremated, the SS started to dismantle the barracks and destroy the buildings and plant trees and shrubs to disguise the mass slaughter that had taken place at Bełżec.

SS-Scharführer Werner Dubois testified about the dismantling of the camp:

The transports to Bełżec, and consequently, the gassing operations, stopped quite suddenly. As staff members of the Bełżec camp, we were informed that the place would be re-built completely. A working group of Jews, whose size I don’t remember, was in charge of the demolition work. It is worth mentioning that at that time, March— April 1943, the cremation of the corpses was terminated and the graves were levelled.

The camp was emptied entirely and levelled accordingly. I heard that some planting was done there. The Jewish work commando, after accomplishing this work, was taken to Sobibor. I remained in Bełżec for two more days, together with some of my colleagues and guards, to carry out the last clearing and loading . . . Some time later, when I was in Sobibor, I heard that during the transport of the Jewish work commando from Bełżec to Sobibor, some mutiny and shooting took place, which led to some deaths.181

Fritz Tauscher testified on December 18, 1963, in a prison in Stadehelm:

After the cremations had been carried out, Commandant Hering left Bełżec. Wirth then assigned me to complete the job of closing down the camp, levelling the ground and planting new shrubs. This was finished by the end of March or early April 1943. To carry out this task we had available: the remainder of the core German staff

181 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 370.

including Dubois and Jührs, the Ukrainian guards, and 300 to 350 Jewish laborers.

The latter had been assured by Hering that after Bełżec had closed down, they would be taken to a labor camp of their own choice, either Lublin, Trawniki, or Budzyn. What happened in fact was that about 14 days before the work was fully completed, Wirth, the inspector of the three extermination camps, turned up all of a sudden without warning early one morning. At the same time, a train with eight or nine wagons pulled into the camp. Wirth announced that the Jews were now going to a camp of his choice, and they all had to get into the train.182

The destination of this transport was the Sobibor death camp. Edward Luczynski, a local Bełżec villager testified about this transport on October 15, 1945, in Bełżec:

During the time of the disbandment of the camp, a few transports of completely naked Jews were brought to Bełżec, which were then sent on to Sobibor. These Jews came from the direction of Lwow; it was said that they came from the city of Lwow itself. Between Bełżec station and Mazily, a small village about eight kilometres NW of Bełżec and the next station along the line, the naked Jews began to leap out of the wagons, but they were shot down by the Germans.

The Jews who had been chosen to work in the death camp in Bełżec were, after the disbandment of the camp,put into railway wagons almost naked and brought to Sobibor. From this transport only Sylko Herc from Krakau was able to escape:183 he came toBełżec and told me how he had saved himself. From here he went to Krakau; whether he is still alive or not, I do not know. I know that he had a wife and children in Krakau who had been hidden by a Catholic priest.184

When the train from the Bełżec death camp arrived in the Sobibor death camp, at the ramp, the prisoners from Bełżec, scattered in all directions and refused to go quietly to the gas chambers. Members

182 J. Schelvis, Sobibor, A History of a Nazi Death Camp, Berg, Oxfod, New York 2007, p. 145.

183 This is incorrect; Chaim Hirszmann also escaped from this transport.

184 Edward Luczynski Testimony, 15 October 1945. Copy-Holocaust Historical Society UK.

of the Sobibor SS-garrison shot them on the platform. Sobibor prisoners sorting the clothes recovered from the prisoners from Bełżec, found letters in the pockets, calling for revenge:

We worked a year in Bełżec. I do not know where they are taking us now, to Germany they say. There are tables in the train cars to eat at, and we were given bread for three days, canned meat, and vodka. If it’s a lie, then know that your death is awaiting you. Don’t believe the Germans . Avenge us!185

This brave act of resistance by the prisoners from Bełżec had a profund effect on the Sobibor inmates, to consider the same course of action, to resist and escape from their tormentors.

Back in Bełżec, one thing worthy of mention is that while the wooden barracks were burned down, the fences and watch towers taken down, and the gas chambers were destroyed, the sturdily built Kommandantur and the adjacent house used for the SS camp staff were returned to the Ostbahn186

Edward Luczynski, testified about the lengths the Germans went to in order to disguise the site:

After levelling and cleaning the area of the extermination camp, the Germans planted the area with small pines and left. At that moment, the whole area was plucked to pieces by the neighboring population, who were searching for gold and valuables. That’s why the whole surface of the camp was covered with human bones, hair, ashes from cremated corpses, dentures, pots, and other objects.187

A special SS-Commission inspected the area to ensure that all traces of the mass murder had been eradicated, and the SS finally left Bełżec on May 8, 1943.188 The members of the SS-garrison was distributed to a number of camps in the Lublin district, either to Sobibor or Treblinka death camps. Others were sent to the Jewish

185 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.150.

186 M. Tregenza, Bełżec—The Unknown Death Camp of the Holocaust (rev.2006).

Originally published Fritz Bauer Institut Jahrbuch 2000, p. 9.

187 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1987, p. 371.

188 Testimony by Tadeusz Misiewicz-15 October 1945, www. Zagladazydow.pl.

Labor camps at Poniatowa, Dorohucza, Budzyn bei Krasnik, or the Old Airfield Camp in Lublin. The latter was the main sorting depot for the clothes of the Jews murdered in Bełżec, Sobibor, and Treblinka death camps.189

In a number of well-regarded accounts of when the transport of Jewish workers left Bełżec for Sobibor, there appears to be much confusion and conflict. Arad states in his book, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, on page 265,that this transport left in July 1943. Robin O’Neil, in his book Belzec—Stepping Stone to Genocide, on page 183, that Leon Feldhendler, one of the leaders of the revolt in Sobibor, has testified that this transport from Bełżec arrived on June 30, 1943, whilst Thomas Toivi Blatt in his book Sobibor—The Forgotten Revolt on page 31, writes the transport from Bełżec arrived on June 26, 1943. It seems unlikely to me, if the SS did indeed leave Bełżec on May 8, 1943, and this seems more likely as the demolition and planting work was completed by April 1943, that the Jewish workers who toiled on this work would have left two months later. It is more logical that this transport left Bełżec just before the SS left Belzec in May 1943, and indeed the statement of Sobibor survivor Moshe Bahir, would seem to support this view:

One day in the month of May, 1943, we were ordered to remain in our huts. We were not taken to work, and this aroused dark forebodings in us. In the afternoon the Bahnhofkommando (station / transport reception commando) was summoned to its usual work at the train station. When the men got to the train, a dreadful vision appeared before them. This train had brought the last of the Jews from the Bełżec death camp who had been engaged in burning the bodies of those killed in the gas chambers.190

Odilo Globocnik, the head of Aktion Reinhardt, wrote to Heinrich Himmler, proposing that a small farm should be built on the site of all three death camps, occupied by a guard to ensure that the Polish

189 M. Tregenza, Bełżec—The Unknown Death Camp of the Holocaust (rev.2006).

Originally published Fritz Bauer Institut Jahrbuch 2000, p. 9.

190 Moshe Bahir Testimony. M. Novitch, Sobibor Matrydom and Revolt, Holocaust Library New York, 1980, p.159.

population did not search for gold and valuables on the sites and to provide the false perception that these former sites of mass murder were just innocent farmsteds.

A small group of twelve Ukrainians under the command of SSUnterscharführer Karl Schiffner went to Bełżec from Treblinka to build the farmhouse and SS-Scharführer Heinrich Unverhau, from Sobibor, also went to Bełżec, and he testified about this visit after the war:

A few weeks before the uprising in Sobibor, I and three other SS men and a larger group of Ukrainian auxiliaries were again ordered to go toBełżec. We were doing afforestation work there . . . We had to prevent the Poles from turning the whole area upside down in their searches for gold.191

This work was completed at the end of October, 1943; the SS-Kommando vacated the site, and a former Ukrainian Volksdeutscher member of the camp personnel settled into the farm with his family.192

191 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 371.

192 M. Tregenza, Bełżec —The Unknown Death Camp of the Holocaust (rev.2006) Originally published Fritz Bauer Institut Jahrbuch 2000, p. 9.

Part II

Survivors, Victims, Perpetrators and the Aftermath

Chapter XIII Jewish Survivors and Victims

This chapter is an attempt to record some of the names of Jewish survivors and victims who set foot in the living hell that was Bełżec death camp. What has been created is not an impersonal statistic, but intends to show these people were flesh and blood and to honor their memory.

Mostly we have included the details where surnames are known, and when some personal details are known. We are all too painfully aware that there are many more names; many more accounts are unknown, so this roll of remembrance will never be complete, and this list does not claim it is the definite list, which will probably never be achieved. The Germans did not make transport lists of names of Polish Jews, but comprehensive records exist in the case of German Jews deported from the Reich.

We have relied on information according to a number of sources: victim’s databases on reputed websites, books, survivor accounts, personal correspondence, all respectfully presented, and hopefully the memory has been preserved in an accurate and fitting manner. Firstly we will cover the survivors/ escapees, then those who were selected in the camp to work in other camps, and finally the victims. All the names shown are in alphabetical order, surname first, and where known, then forenames.

Rudolf Reder in his book Bełżec was able to devote one paragraph to his fellow inmates who endured the hell called Bełżec and he wrote this:

We moved around like people who had no will anymore. We were one mass. I know a few names, but not many. Who was who and what their names were, in any case, were matters of complete indifference. I know that the physician was a young doctor from somewhere near Przemysl, he was called Jakubowicz. I also met a merchant from Krakau, Schlüssl, and his son, and a Czech Jew named Ellenbogen, who was said to have a bicycle warehouse, and a chef,

Goldschmidt, who’d been well known at the Brüder Hanicka restaurant in Karlsbad. No one took any interest in anyone else. We went mechanically through the motions of that horrible life.193

Bełżec Survivors

This list includes those who survived the Holocaust or escaped from the camp but did not survive the occupation:

ASTMAN, Mina. Deported from the Zolkiew ghetto in the Galician district at the end of March 1942, Mina escaped from the camp along with Malka Thalenfeld. They returned to Zolkiew, and their story was recorded. Her fate is unknown but it is likely she did not survive.194

BACHNER. A dentist from Krakau. He arrived in the camp with the last transports from Krakau at the begining of October 1942. When the transport reached the camp, he succeded in entering a latrine and hid there for a few days. One night he was able to leave the latrine pit and escaped from the camp. He returned to Krakau, but his eventual fate is unknown. He told his story to Tadeusz Pankiewicz in Krakau. 195

HERC, Sylko. Sylko and his father, first name unknown, were both deported from Krakau to Bełżec. Sylko was member of the Jewish work brigade that dismantled the camp and was put on a train in May 1943, bound for Sobibor death camp. He escaped along with Chaim Hirszman and returned to Bełżec village, where he spoke

193 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, pp. 132-133.

194 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanka, Lublin 2016.

195 Testimony by Tadeusz Pankiewicz.

to Edward Luczynski about the escape. He returned to Krakau but his eventual fate is not known.196

HIRSZMAN, Chaim. Born on October 24, 1912, in Janow Lubelski. By profession he was a mechanic and metal worker and during the occupation he lived in Janow Lubelski. In September 1942, Chaim, his wife, and 6-month old child went to Zaklikow, from which they were deported to Bełżec. His wife and child were both murdered, but Chaim was selected to work.

Chaim was part of the Jewish work brigade who dismantled the camp and put on a train to the Sobibor death camp in May 1943. He escaped from the death train along with Sylko Herc. He managed to join a partisan group in the forests near Janow Lubelski. He fought bravely, murdering 29 Germans and was awarded the Grunwald Cross.

He gave evidence to the Jewish Historical District Commission on March 19, 1946, and that same evening he was murdered by two or three men from the N.S.Z. group in Lublin. Chaim maried Pola, and she also testified after his murder on what he had told her of his experiences in the Bełżec death camp.197

REDER, Rubin (aka Rudolf). Born on April 4, 1881, in Debica, to Henryk and Frederike, formerly Jorkner. He lived in Lvov and was by profession a chemist in the soap industry. He lived at ul. Panienska 7, where the factory was also located until the Germans occupied the city. He lived with his daughter Zofia in an appartment on Wrzybroniewskiego Street, when he was deported to Bełżec.

Reder was married to Fanny Eeder, formerly Felsenfeld. He was deported to Bełżec from Lemberg on August 16, 1942. He worked in the ‘Death Brigade’ clearing the gas chambers and digging mass graves.

196 Statements of Mieczyslaw Kudyba and Edward Luczynski at the Bełżec Investigation Commission 1945/1946. Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw.

197 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanka, Lublin 2016.

He managed to escape from Lemberg, after being sent there by Fritz Jirmann at the end of November 1942, when his Trawniki-männer guard, Karol Trauttwein, fell asleep. Reder hid with his former landlady, Anastazja Hawrylak and was assisted by Joanna Borkowska until Lemberg was liberated by the Red Army. He lived in Krakow and wrote his memoirs, in 1946, the only account by a survivor of Bełżec; he emigrated to Toronto, Canada, and changed his name to Roman Robak. He attended the Bełżec Trial of Josef Oberhauser, in Munich; Oberhauser was the only member of the SS –garrison to stand trial for the crimes committed at Bełżec.198

SAND, Jozef. Born in 1924. He was a student of the Jewish Gimnazjum in Lvov. Joseph Rebhun, in his account Leap for Life, New York 2000, wrote:

On a sunny morning in the ghetto, I suddenly encounter someone, Josef Sand, whom I have not seen for years. He adds some information that is so incredible I do not mention it to anyone in the ghetto, so as not to be considered certifiably crazy. Sand tells me that he ran away from Bełżec. I have no clear idea how he escaped. He had been taken there as a member of a small group separated from the one thousand taken from the Janowska camp.

In Bełżec, he claimed he had helped to build showers through which poisonous gas could be piped in for the trapped Jews; the showers kill thousands each day. He swears to me that he is telling the truth, but it is impossible to believe what I hear. He looks normal to me, and yet his story is incredible. I ask him what he intends to do now. To leave the ghetto as soon as possible, he says; he just came to find out about his family. I never see him or hear about him again.199

SPILKE. Recalled by Rudolf Reder in his memoirs as a prisoner brought from the Janowska camp in Lemberg to Bełżec to set up a machine for grinding human bones. He told Rudolf Reder this, in Lvov, after it had been liberated by the Red Army. Spilke said that he found only piles of bones there, and all of the buildings

had disappeared. He managed to escape from the camp, return to Lvov, and then settled in Hungary.200

SZAPIRO, Izrael. He was a rabbi from Lemberg, who was deported to Bełżec in October 1942. He worked in the Jewish Sorting Brigade, sorting the clothes and possessions of the Jews murdered in the gas chambers. He escaped in the cattle wagons taking away the clothes for distribution to the Reich.201

SZMIRER. A Jew called Podgorski, a survivor from the Lublin ghetto, met Mr. Szmirer, a 21-year old man, somewhere on a ghetto street. Szmirer was the son of a well-known furniture merchant from Lublin, and he said he had been deported to Bełżec during the ‘Aktion‘ in March 1942.

Szmirer informed him that he had escaped from Bełżec hidden under the clothes of the gassed victims on a freight train that had returned to Lublin. Back in Lublin, Szmirer had informed some members of the Jewish Council in Lublin about his experiences, though it would appear that not many people believed him. His eventual fate is unknown, but it is likely he perished during the final liquidation of the Lublin ghetto on November 9, 1942.202

THALENFELD, Malka. Deported from the Zolkiew ghetto in the Galician district at the end of March 1942. She escaped from the camp along with Mina Astman. They returned to Zolkiew and their story was recorded. Her fate is unknown, but it is likely she did not survive.203

While there were probably more escapes from Bełżec, this incredibly low number shows just how efficient at mass murder

Bełżec was, although it is recognized that it was very primitive in construction.

200 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec Memoirs pp. 142-143.

201 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanka, Lublin 2016.

202 Institute for National Remembrance in Warsaw.

203 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanka, Lublin 2016.

Victims from Germany—Murdered at Bełżec

This is a listing of all the Jews who were deported from the Reich to the Bełżec death camp, retrieved from the Bundesarchiv Memorial website. Where there is doubt as to the whether the individuals were murdered in Bełżec or another camp, such as Sobibor, or Auschwitz, then these people have not been included. For consistency sake, the German wartime names for Krakow have been recorded as Krakau, and Lvov has been shown as Lemberg, when the time period in question is during the occupation:

APFELBAUM, Nathan. Born on February 5,1890, in Rzeszow, Poland. Emigrated from Berlin to Poland. He was deported from Rzeszow on July 7, 1942 and perished in Bełżec on July 7, 1942.

APFELBAUM, Sara. Born on September 12,1895, formerly Kurz, in Blizne, Poland. Emigrated from Berlin to Poland. She was deported from Rzeszow on July 7, 1942, where she perished in Bełżec on the same day.

BAUM, Johanna. Born on May 11, 1907, in Frei-Laubersheim. Deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942 to the Piaski Transit ghetto in Poland. She perished in Bełżec.

BECKER, Joel. Born on January 28, 1932, in Kiel. Expelled to Poland in 1939. He perished in Bełżec during September 1942.

BEIN, Malka. Born on March 31,1886, in Gorlice, Poland. A resident of Leipzig, she was expelled to Poland on October 28, 1938. She perished in Bełżec.

BERGER, Jenta. Born on October 22, 1889, formerly Gartner, in Nowy Zmigrod, Poland. Emigrated to Poland on July 24, 1939, from Munich. She perished in Bełżec.

BERGER, Josef. Born on August 30, 1887, in Nowy Zmigrod, Poland. Emigrated to Poland on July 24, 1939, from Munich. He perished in Bełżec.

BERGER, Lemel. Born on December 10, 1885, in Sokolow, Poland. Expelled to Poland from Nuremburg on October 28, 1938, to the Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment Camp. He perished in Bełżec in 1942.

BERGER, Sara. Born on June 16, 1888, formerly Kaufmann, in Nienadowka, Poland. Expelled to Poland from Nuremburg on October 28, 1938, to the Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment Camp. She perished in Bełżec in 1942.

BINDER, Aron. Born on September 17, 1897, in Nowy Sacs, Poland. Deported from Berlin. He perished in Bełżec.

BRODREICH, Lionel. Born on March 8, 1881, in Einartshausen. Deported from Mainz–Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit ghetto in Poland. He perished in Bełżec.

BRUCKNER, Adolf. Born on May 7, 1931, in Cologne. He perished in Bełżec in June 1942.

BRUCKNER, Regina. Born on May 12, 1890, formerly Piperberg, in Blazowa, Poland. Deported from Rzeszow, Poland, to Belzec. She perished in Bełżec in 1942.

BRUCKNER, Salomon. Born on September 15, 1870, in Sienliawa, Poland. Expelled to the Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment Camp. Deported from Rzeszow, Poland, to Bełżec where he perished.

BUCHSDORF, Golda. Born on January 4, 1884, in Lvov. Expelled from Breslau to Poland in 1938/39. Deported from Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec, where she perished during 1942.

DECKER, Johanna. Born on January 13, 1895, in Wachenheim. Deported from Mainz–Darmstadt to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. She perished in Bełżec.

DOMINITZ, Sabina. Born on April 18, 1897, formerly Unger, in Tuchow, Poland. Expelled to the Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment Camp on October 28, 1938, from Cologne. Deported to Bełżec where she perished.

DREILINGER, Edith. Born on May 15, 1922, in Vienna, Austria. Lived in Gelsenkirchen. Died in Bełżec during 1942.

DREILINGER, Egon. Born on October 16, 1928, in Gelsenkirchen. Died in Bełżec during 1942.

DREILINGER, Hermann. Born on July 27, 1917, in Stryj, Galizien. Lived in Gelsenkirchen. Died in Bełżec during 1942.

DREILINGER, Klara. Born on November 29, 1924, in Vienna, Austria. Lived in Gelsenkirchen. Died in Bełżec during 1942.

DRESNER, Gretel. Born on July 30, 1896, formerly Cohn, in Greiz. She emigrated to Poland during August 1939. She was deported from the Nowy Sacs Ghetto to Bełżec. She perished in Bełżec on August 18, 1942.

EPSTEIN, Wolf. Born during 1895 in Pilzno Poland. He emigrated to Poland. He was deported from the Debica Ghetto to Bełżec, where he perished.

FISCH, Esther. Born in 1905, formerly Hubermann, in Warka, Poland. Expelled from Dresden to Poland on August 2, 1939. She was deported from the Krakau Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.

FISCH, Frieda. Born on August 26, 1911, in Nadworna, Poland. She was expelled from Dresden to Poland on October 28, 1938. She was deported from Krakau Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, and she perished in Bełżec.

FISCH, Gerson. Born on July 7, 1873, in Nadworna, Poland. He was expelled from Dresden to Poland on October 28, 1938. He was deported from the Krakau Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, and he perished in Bełżec.

FISCH, Hanni. Born on June 10, 1930, in Dresden. She was expelled from Dresden to Poland on August 2, 1939. She was deported from the Krakau Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, and she perished in Bełżec.

FISCH, Jakob. Born on June 9, 1904, in Nadworna, Poland. He was expelled from Dresden to Poland during 1938/39 to the Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment camp. He was deported from the Krakau Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, and he perished in Bełżec.

FISCH, Jakob. Born on October 11, 1904, in Nadworna, Poland. He was expelled from Dresden to Poland on August 2, 1939. He was deported from the Krakau Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, and he perished in Bełżec.

FISCH, Rachel. Born on October 17, 1887, in Nadworna, Poland. She was expelled from Dresden to Poland on October 28, 1938. She was deported from the Krakau Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, and she perished in Bełżec.

FISCH, Rita. Born on December 18, 1931 in Dresden. Expelled from Dresden on August 2, 1939, to Poland. She was deported from the Krakau Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.

FRIEDMAN, Miriam. Born in 1933 in Frankfurt am Main. Deported to the Tarnow ghetto in Poland. She perished in Bełżec in 1942.

GERSTNER, Betty. Born on February 25, 1922 in Chemnitz. Expelled to Poland on October 28, 1938. She was deported from the Slomniki Ghetto to Bełżec in September 1942, where she perished.

GERSTNER, Chawa. Born on December 19, 1895, formerly Weisberg, in Lodz, Poland. Expelled to Poland on October 28, 1938. She was deported from the Slomniki Ghetto to Bełżec in September 1942, where she perished.

GERSTNER, Jakob. Born on September 1, 1896, in Krakow, Poland. Expelled to Poland from Chemnitz on October 28, 1938, to the Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment Camp. He was deported from the Slomniki Ghetto to Bełżec in September 1942, where he perished.

GERSTNER, Sigo. Born on August 18, 1929, in Chemnitz. Expelled to Poland from Chemnitz on October 28, 1938, to the Bentschen

(Zbaszyn) Internment Camp. He was deported from the Slomniki Ghetto to Bełżec in September 1942, where he perished.

GLASER, Adele. Born on December 15, 1895, in Oswiecim, Poland. She lived in Furth. She died in Bełżec in 1942.

GLASER, Berta. Born on May 18, 1930, in Furth. She died in Bełżec during 1942.

GOLDBERGER, Jenny. Born 1880, in Stargard. Lived in Berlin. Expelled to Poland during October 1938, to the Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment Camp. Died in Bełżec in 1942.

GUTFREUND, Lea. Born on June 13, 1895, in Przeworsk, Poland. She was expelled from Leipzig to Poland on October 28, 1938. She perished in Bełżec.

HEIDENHEIMER, Lina. Born on January 7, 1881. Lived at Guntherstasse 61, in Nuremburg. On March 24, 1942, she was deported from Nuremburg on a transport to the Izbica Transit Ghetto, in Poland. From there she was deported from there to Bełżec, during 1942, where she perished.204

HERSCHLAG, Henrietta. Born on April 15, 1910, in Ropczyce, Poland. She emigrated to Poland. She was deported from the Debica Ghetto to Bełżec where she perished.

HERSCHLAG, Tauba. Born on June 25, 1890, formerly Drexler, in Sobeszice, Poland. She was expelled on October 28, 1938, to Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment Camp. She was deported from the Debica Ghetto to Bełżec where she perished.

HEUBERGER, Meyer. Born on February 5, 1876, in Krakow, Poland. He was expelled from Leipzig on October 28, 1938, to Poland. He perished in Bełżec.

HILLMANN, Hersch. Born on April 22, 1890, in Nadworna, Poland. He was expelled from Chemnitz on October 28, 1938, to the Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment Camp. He perished in Bełżec. 204

HILLMANN, Klara. Born on November 6, 1896, in Mielec, Poland. She was expelled from Chemnitz to Poland. She died in Bełżec in 1942.

HILLMANN, Max. Born on April 18, 1926, in Chemnitz. He was expelled from Chemnitz to Poland. He died in Bełżec in 1942.

HILLMANN, Rolf. Born on June 9, 1930, in Chemnitz. He emigrated to Poland on July 29, 1939. He died in Bełżec in 1942.

HOROWITZ, Regine. Born during 1914, formerly Buchsdorf, in Lvov, Poland. She was expelled from Breslau to Poland. She was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec, where she perished.

JOSEPH, Berta. Born on March 14, 1891, formerly Grunbaum, in Kuppenheim. She was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit ghetto in Poland. She perished in Bełżec.

JOSEPH, Max. Born on September 22, 1882, in Worms. He was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit ghetto in Poland. He perished in Bełżec.

JOSEPH, Theresa. Born on February 16, 1922, in Edingen. She was deported from Dusseldorf on April 22, 1942, to the Izbica Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was transported to Bełżec in May 1942, where she perished.

KALLANN, Ernst. Born on February 24, 1922, in Bitburg. He was deported from Dusseldorf on April 22, 1942, to the Izbica Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there he was transported to Bełżec in May 1942, where he perished.

KAPP, Flora. Born on October 8, 1884, in Rulzheim. She was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. She perished in Bełżec.

KATZ, Jenny. Born on December 27, 1877, formerly Konig, in Felsberg. She was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942 ,to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. She perished in Bełżec.

KATZ, Manuel. Born April 20, 1878, in Erdmannrode. He was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. He perished in Bełżec.

KELLER, Arthur. Born on November 27, 1921, in Gimbsheim. He was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. He perished in Bełżec.

KELLER, Eugen. Born on April 13, 1911, in Gimbsheim. He was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. He perished in Bełżec.

KLEIN, Senta. Born on October 15, 1893, formerly Minczeles, in Lvov, Poland. Emigrated from Berlin on March 24, 1939, to Poland. Deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec, where she perished.

KLEIN, Stella. Born on May 15, 1920, in Lvov, Poland. Emigrated from Berlin on March 24, 1939 to Poland. Deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec where she perished.

KLEINZAHLER, Mina. Born on November 7, 1905, formerly Morgenstern, in Nowy Sacs, Poland. She emigrated to Poland on February 6, 1933. She perished in Bełżec.

KOHANE, Kalman. Born June 13, 1888, in Krakow, Poland. Expelled to Poland in 1938, from Berlin. Deported from the Krakau Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.

KOHANE, Tina. Born on November 24, 1889, in Bielitz, Poland. Emigrated to Poland in 1939, from Berlin. Deported from the Krakau Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.

KOHS, Dora. Born on October 3, 1901, formerly Fischel, in Bedzin, Poland. She was expelled on October 28, 1938, from Leipzig to Poland. She was deported from the Dabrowa Tarnowska Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.

KORN, Arno. Born on June 2, 1929, in Berlin. Emigrated to Poland. Perished in Bełżec during August 1942.

KORN, Cacilie. Born on February 2, 1895, formerly Straus, in Debica, Poland. She emigrated to Poland during 1939, from Berlin. She perished in Bełżec on August 15, 1942.

KORN, Jakob. Born on May 11, 1885, in Gorlice, Poland. Expelled to Poland from Berlin on October 28, 1938. He perished in Bełżec during August 1942.

KORN, Simon. Born during 1890 in Gorlice, Poland. Emigrated to Poland from Berlin. He perished in Bełżec.

KORN, Walter. Born on January 11, 1913, in Worms. He was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. He perished in Bełżec.

KOSCHITZKY, Chaja. Born during 1882, in Checiny, Poland. Emigrated to Poland from Berlin. She died in Bełżec in 1942.

KOSMANN, Alfred. Born on March 12, 1898, in Antwerp, Belgium. He was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. He perished in Bełżec on April 15, 1942.

KOSMANN, Emmy. Born on December 28, 1895, formerly Hausmann, in Wachenheim. She was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. She perished in Bełżec.

KOSMANN, Lutz. Born on May 8, 1926, in Worms. He was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. He perished in Bełżec.

KOSMANN, Ruth.Born on September 25, 1924, in Worms. She was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. She perished in Bełżec.

KRISTELLER, Hilda. Born on April 13, 1899, formerly Reinheimer, in Worms. She was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. She perished in Bełżec.

KRISTELLER, Paul. Born on September 14, 1895, in Schwenten. He was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. He perished in Bełżec.

LAMBEK, Hirsch. Born on July 6, 1860, in Siary, Poland. Emigrated to Poland. He was deported from the Gorlice Ghetto to Bełżec in August 1942, where he perished.

LEDERBERGER, Aron. Born on January 25, 1892, in Krakow, Poland. He emigrated to Poland from Leipzig on August 28, 1939. He perished in Bełżec.

LEDERBERGER, Jetti. Born on January 27, 1894, formerly Wanderer, in Leipzig. She emigrated to Poland from Leipzig. She perished in Bełżec.

LESERKIEWICZ, Lydia. Born on July 31, 1927, in Dusseldorf. Expelled to Poland on October 28, 1938, to Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment Camp. She was deported from the Nowy Targ Ghetto to Bełżec, where she perished in 1942.

LEVY, Josef. Born on September 2, 1892, in Aach. He was deported from Dusseldorf on April 22, 1942, to the Izbica Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there he was deported to Bełżec in May 1942, where he perished.

LEVY, Selma. Born on November 25, 1890 in Aach. She was deported from Dusseldorf on April 22, 1942, to the Izbica Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec in May 1942, where she perished.

LEVY, Selma. Born on February 19, 1911, formerly Hirsch, in Neumagen. She was deported on April 22, 1942. Deported to Bełżec in May 1942, where she perished.

LOEB, Anna. Born on March 25, 1885, formerly Westheimer, in Hasloch. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. She was deported to Bełżec, via Chelm, where she perished.

LOEB, Ernestine. Born on July 21, 1898, in Sprendlingen. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. She was deported to Bełżec, where she perished.

LOEB, Hedwig. Born on November 4, 1895, in Sprendlingen. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. She was deported to Bełżec, where she perished.

LOEBL, Leo. Born on August 16, 1887, in Bamberg. Deported from Berlin to Bełżec, where he perished.

MAYER, Anna. Born on December 5, 1894, formerly Strauss, in Niederhofheim. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. She was deported to Bełżec, where she perished.

MAYER, August. Born on March 13, 1895, in Frankfurt am Main. He was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. He was deported from there to Bełżec, where he perished.

MAYER, Betty. Born on August 27, 1895, in Westhofen. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec, where she perished.

MAYER, Hermann. Born on October 6, 1879, in Bingen. He was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. He was deported from there to Bełżec, where he perished.

MAYER, Kurt. Born on September 23, 1915, in Worms. He was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. He was deported from there to Bełżec, where he perished.

MAYER, Lisbeth. Born on May 31, 1912, in Worms. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit

Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec, where she perished on April 7, 1942.

MAYER, Margot. Born on April 15, 1926, in Niederhofheim. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec where she perished.

MAYER, Moses. Born on March 9, 1884, in Alsheim. He was deported from Mainz—Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. He was deported from there to Bełżec, where he perished on June 30, 1942.

MAYER, Rosa. Born on January 28, 1898, formerly Lovy, in Hesloch. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. She was deported to Bełżec where she perished on April 8, 1942 .

MAYER, Senta. Born on July 27, 1902, in Maikammer. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec where she perished.

METZGER, Paula. Born on December 7, 1885, in Kirchheimbolanden. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec where she perished.

MEYER, Franziska. Born on October 13, 1906, in Worms. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec where she perished.

MEYER, Gertrude. Born on March 15, 1927, in Worms. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec where she perished.

MEYER, Lucie. Born on April 7, 1925, in Worms. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit

Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec where she perished.

NEMANN, Wilhelm. Born on May 22, 1888, in Leszno, Poland. He was a resident of Halle. Deported to Bełżec where he perished.

NEUFELD, Klara. Born during 1920, in Horodenka, Poland. She was expelled from Wittichenau on October 28, 1938, to Poland. She was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.

NEUFELD, Rosa. Born during 1918, in Muhlenbach. She was expelled from Wittichenau on October 28, 1938, to Poland. She was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.

NEUFELD, Rut. Born during 1923. He was expelled from Wittichenau on October 28, 1938, to Poland. He was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.

NEUFELD, Zipora. Born during 1884, formerly Laster, in Horodenka, Poland. She was expelled from Wittichenau on October 28, 1938, to Poland. She was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.

ORTWEILER, Henny. Born on September 18, 1890, formerly Muller, in Erfurt. She was deported from Weimar-Leipzig on May 10, 1942, to the Belzyce Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec, where she perished.

PESE, Gerda. Born on October 23, 1907, in Weiswasser. She was deported from Breslau on April 13, 1942, to the Izbica Transit Ghetto, in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec, where she perished.

PESE, Margarete. Born on June 5, 1880, formerly Rosenberg, in Friedeberg. She was deported from Breslau on May 3, 1942, to Lublin. From there she was deported to Bełżec where she perished.

REICH, Joseph. Born on February 12, 1883, in Rzeszow, Poland. He was expelled from Berlin on October 28, 1938, to the Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment Camp. He settled in the Tarnow Ghetto in Poland. From there he was deported to Bełżec where he perished.

REICHSTEIN, Kathe. Born on June 7, 1882, formerly Ert, in Hannover. Expelled from Hannover to Bentschen (Zbaszyn) Internment Camp on October 28,1938. She was deported from the Tarnopol Ghetto to Bełżec in September 1942 where she perished.

REINMANN, Elsa. Born on September 10, 1903, in Essenheim. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec where she perished.

ROSEN, Chaim. Born on August10, 1889, in Turka, Poland. He emigrated from Leipzig on July 15, 1939, to Poland. He perished in Bełżec.

ROSENBAUM, Abraham. Born on April 18, 1879, in Dortsfeld. Deported from Dortmund to Zamosc on April 28, 1942. One of the Jewish Arbeitsjuden, recalled by name by one of the SS members of the Bełżec garrison. He was recalled by Werner Dubois, as a cattle broker from Dortmund, who was said to be a Kapo in Camp II.205

ROSENBERG, Adolf. Born on November 11, 1879, in Hildesheim. He was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there he was deported to Bełżec where he perished.

SALOMON, Ferdinand. Born on May 26, 1904, in Worms. He was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there he was deported to Bełżec where he perished.

205 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.146.

SALOMON, Regina. Born on June 19, 1886, formerly Lavy, in Aach. She was deported from Koblenz on April 30, 1942, to the Krasniczyn Ghetto. From there she was deported in May 1942, to the Bełżec death camp, where she perished.

SCHENKEL, Moses. Born on December 13, 1894, in Gorlice, Poland. He was expelled from Leipzg on October 28, 1938, to Poland. He died in Bełżec.

SCHIFF, Awigdor. Born on January 16, 1940, in Furth. He was deported from Nurnberg on March 24, 1942, to the Izbica Transit Ghetto, Poland. From there he was deported to Bełżec death camp, where he perished.

SCHIFF, Benno. Born on August 24, 1894, in Oberthulba. He was deported from Nurnberg on March 24, 1942, to the Izbica Transit Ghetto, Poland. From there he was deported to Bełżec death camp, where he perished.

SCHIFFMANN, Greta. Born on March 7, 1922, in Dortmund. She was expelled from Dortmund to Bentschen (Zbaszyn) on October 28, 1938. She later perished in Bełżec.

SELINGER, Dyna. Born on August 29, 1886, formerly Ellend, in Tarnow, Poland. She emigrated to Poland on August 1, 1939. She perished in Bełżec.

SELINGER, Hirsch. Born on April 2, 1882, in Rzeszow, Poland. He emigrated to Poland on August 1, 1939. He perished in Bełżec.

SONDHEIMER, Felicitas. Born on November 17, 1908, formerly Rosenstrauch, in Karlsruhe. She was deported from MainzDarmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec, via Chelm, where she perished.

SONDHEIMER, Josef. Born on November 14, 1889, in Burstadt. He was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there he was deported to Bełżec, via Chelm, where he perished.

SONNENBERGER, Cornelie. Born on July 19, 1891, in Worms. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec, where she perished.

STEIN, Liba. Born during 1890, formerly Pfenig, in Lesko, Poland. She was expelled from Dresden to Poland on October 28, 1938. She perished in Bełżec.

STEIN, Wolf. Born on December 21, 1885, in Dynow, Poland. He was expelled from Dresden to Poland on October 28, 1938. He perished in Bełżec.

STIEFEL, Bertha. Born on April 1, 1878, in Muhlheim. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec, via Chelm, where she perished.

TANZER, Elkan. Born on November 18, 1883, in Podgorze, Krakow, Poland. He emigrated from Leipzig to Poland on May 11, 1938. He died in Bełżec.

TANZER, Ruchel. Born on July 10, 1890, formerly Lemberger, in Krakow, Poland. She emigrated from Leipzig to Poland on November 9, 1938. She perished in Bełżec.

TUTEUER, Hans. Born on March 11, 1932, in Kaiserslautern. He was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there he was deported to Bełżec, where he perished.

TUTEUER, Lina. Born on March 16, 1907, formerly Mayer, in Worms. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec, where she perished.

WACHENHEIMER, Albrecht. Born on February 24, 1885, in Worms. He was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there he was deported to Bełżec, via Chelm, where he perished.

WEIS, Hillel. Born on November 28, 1939, in Worms. He was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there he was deported to Bełżec, where he perished.

WEISS, Elias. Born on August 5, 1882, in Hamburg. He was deported from Koblenz on March 22, 1942, to the Izbica Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there he was deported to Bełżec, where he perished.

WEISSBERGER, Eva. Born on September 12, 1922, in Zabrze, Poland. She was expelled on October 27/28, 1938, to Poland. From the Krosno Ghetto she was taken to Bełżec, where she perished in September, 1942.

WEITZ, Amalie. Born on August 31, 1890, formerly Spielmann, in Ropczyce, Poland. She died in Bełżec.

WEITZ, Minna. Born on July 18, 1886. She was a resident of Kiel and Leipzig. She died in Bełżec.

WEITZ, Rubin. Born on May 18, 1886, in Rzeszow, Poland. He died in Bełżec.

WERMUTH, Ida. Born on July 26, 1894, formerly Presser, in Grybow, Poland. She lived in Frankfurt am Main, before emigrating to Poland. She perished in Bełżec on August 24, 1942.

WOLF, Gertrud. Born on April 29, 1903, formerly Levy, in Aach. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec, where she perished on March 31, 1942.

WOLF, Marie. Born on January 17, 1928, in Bingen. She was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there she was deported to Bełżec, where she perished during 1942.

WOLFF, Gertrud. Born on May 12, 1894, formerly Aron, in Gorlitz, Poland. She was deported from Breslau on April 13, 1942, to the

Izbica Transit Ghetto. From there she was deported to Bełżec, where she perished.

WOLFF, Hans. Born on July 22, 1924, in Hambuch. Died in Bełżec in May 1942.

WOLFF, Simon. Born on January 21, 1888 in Landeshut. He lived in Breslau. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.

Bełżec Victims from other Countries

This is a partial listing, in alphabertical order. This list has been compiled from survivor testimony and from two major websites consulted, which were the Holocaust Historical Society and Yad Vashem Central Shoah database. Where it is listed that an individulal might have died at Bełżec or another camp/ place, then these entries have been omitted, unless there is compelling evidence that the individual perished in Bełżec and not somewhere else.

I cannot thank the late Robert Kuwalek from Lublin enough for all his help with this section, as well as Lukasz Biedka from Warsaw; both of them provided a host of information regarding those Jews who were sent to the Bełżec death camp. I also must pay tribute here to Tomasz Hanejko, from the Bełżec Museum, who has also contributed so much to this chapter. I cannot thank him and the Museum enough.

Most of the victims listed were born and raised in Poland, but where the birthplace was in a different country, then this is shown. This list will never be complete, but will be updated if re-prints occur. This type of listing is not a precise science, and therefore I should take the opportunity to say that errors are possible, but every effort has been taken to avoid them. I apologize in advance, for anyone missed. They are no less important. Some of the entries from the Yad Vashem have been included, even when the dates of death have been listed incorrectly, such as 1943, when it is known that the last

transports for Bełżec ceased in 1942. The names and details have been included, but the date of death has not been recorded.

ABBE, Fela. Born during 1896, formerly Jakubowicz, in Lodz. She was a Bund activist for the Jewish Socialist Party and was the widow of Dawid Abbe, who died in 1936. She was the mother of Henryk Izio who was born in 1924, and Jurek who was born in 1928.

After her husband’s death, she became a Tradeswoman. Until the outbreak of the Second World War, she lived in Torun with her family. During the occupation, she lived in the Tarnow ghetto together with her sons.

In June 1942, her youngest son Jurek was sent to Bełżec in the first transport from Tarnow. During the next resettlement action, Fela and Henryk Izio hid in a basement within the ghetto area. The shelter had been prepared for about twenty people, but thanks to the dedication of the host Markus Wiktor Jakubowicz, there were forty-one people in the bunker.

During September 1942, thirty-nine people were captured and transported to Bełżec. As well as Fela and Henryk Izio, among the others deported were Markus and Ida Jakubowicz, Maks and Sala Glikman. Dr. Kaplan with his wife and sons, and a woman named Traube, along with her daughter and grand-daughter. 206

ADLER, Aba. Born during 1877. He was married to Henia and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Proszowice to Bełżec where he perished during September 1942.207

ADLER, Ber. Deported from Zamość to Bełżec, where he perished.208

ADLER, David. Born during 1883, in Dukla. He was a businessman who lived in Jedlicze during the occupation. He was deported to Bełżec, where he perished.209

206 Bełżec Museum online resource.

207 Yad Vashem Central Database.

208 Ibid.

209 Ibid.

ADLER, Dwora. Born in 1909, formerly Beitler, in Narol. She was married and was deported from Rawa Ruska to Bełżec, where she perished during 1942.210

ADLER, Elka. Born during 1900, in Lubaszow. She was married. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.211

ADLER, Ester. Born during 1899, formerly Nestel, in Strzeliska Nowe. She was married. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.212

ADLER, Freude. Born during 1924, in Strzeliska Nowe. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.213

ADLER, Gitel. Deported from Zamość to Bełżec, where she perished.214

ADLER, Golda. Born during 1937, in Kolomea. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.215

ADLER, Hena. Born during 1897, formerly Gut, in Wojtkowka. She perished in Bełżec.216

ADLER, Hersh. Born in Wojtkowka in 1896. He perished in Bełżec.217

ADLER, Kisiel. Born during 1892. He was married to Ester. Deported from Strzeliska Nowe to Bełżec, where he perished during 1942.218

ADLER, Klara. Born during 1886, in Kolomea. Her maiden name was Feurstadt. She was married to Leon, and they lived at Lamana 24, in Kolomea. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.219

ADLER, Leib. Born in 1907 in Krakow. He was married to Sala and was a butcher by profession. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec, where he perished.220

ADLER, Leibisch. Born during 1905, in Kurdanow. He was married and lived in Podgorze, a suburb of Krakau. He perished in Bełżec.

ADLER, Malka. Born during 1909, formerly Muntz, in Zamość. She was married to Yitzhak. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.221

ADLER, Maurycy. Born on May 22, 1892, in Skawina. He was a technical foreman by profession and lived at Lembergersttrasse 2, in Krakau and was married. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec, where he perished.222

ADLER, Miriam. Born during 1917, in Kolomea. She was single, a student, and she perished in Bełżec during 1942.223

ADLER, Mordekhai. Born during 1908, in Belz. He was married. He was deported from Lubicza Krolewska to Bełżec, where he perished during 1942.224

ADLER, Moses. He was born during 1903, in Wojtkowka. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.225

ADLER, Mosze. Born during 1896, in Izbica. He was married. He was deported from Izbica to Be łżec, where he perished.226

ADLER, Natan. Born in Rawa Ruska. He was a clerk by profession and was married. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.227

ADLER, Olga. Born on April 3, 1882, formerly Furth, in Susice, Czechoslovakia. She was married to Siegfried, and they lived at

Grosse Mohrengasse 2/14 Vienna, Austria. She perished in Bełżec on May 15, 1942.228

ADLER, Rivka. She was deported from Zamość to Bełżec, where she perished.229

ADLER, Sala. Born during 1916, in Krakow, formerly Noihof. She was married to Arie and was a housewife. She perished in Bełżec.230

ADLER, Sarah. Born during 1915. She was deported from Zagorze to Bełżec, where she perished on September 2, 1942.231

ADLER, Siegfried. Born on June 26, 1876, in Luka, Czechoslovakia. He was a textile factory owner and was married to Olga; they lived at Grosse Mohrengasse 2/14 Vienna, Austria. He perished in Bełżec on May 15, 1942.232

ALBERT, Sarah Ita. Born circa 1900, in Rzeszow. She was married to Shlomo Albert. They had three children, Chaia, Malka and Avraham Yoshua (Shia). They lived in the Rzeszow ghetto, where she suffered from gallbladder attacks, and due to this illness, she was sent to Debica, together with her daughters Chaia, who was born circa 1914-1915, and Malka, who was born circa 1921-1922. They were all deported from Debica in July 1942, to the Bełżec death camp, where they all perished. 233

ALLERHAND, Jozek. Grandson of Maurycy and Salomea Allerhand. He was deported with them from Lemberg in August 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.234

ALLERHAND, Maurycy. Born during 1862, in Lvov. He was a Professor of the Lvov University and author of many books about jurisprudence, which are still in use today by students and lawyers in

228 Ibid.

229 Yad Vashem Central Database.

230 Ibid.

231 Ibid.

232 Ibid.

233 Bełżec Museum online resource.

234 Dr Leszek Allerhand, Notes From Other World 2003.

Poland. Before the Second World War, as a lawyer he was a member of the Supreme Court in Poland. During 1941--42 he lived in the Lemberg Ghetto where he wrote a diary. During the ‘Great Action‘ in August 1942, he was deported to Bełżec, along with his wife Salomea and their grandson Jozek. All three perished in Bełżec. The diary he wrote in the Lemberg (Lvov) Ghetto was found after some time. His second gransdon, Dr. Leszek Allerhand, published the diary in Poland in 2003, under the title: ‘Notes from Other World.‘ 235

ALLERHAND, Salomea. Born Weintraub, the wife of Professor Maurycy Allerhand, she was deported with him and their grandson Jozek from Lemberg in August 1942 to Bełżec, where she perished.236

ASCHNOWITZ, Adolf Wolf. Born during 1867, in Krakow. He was the owner of an inn in Jaworzno. Married twice, he was deported from Nieplomice to Bełżec in August 1942, in a collective transport from Wieliczka.237

AUERBACH, Herman. Born October 26, 1901, in Tarnopol. He was a famous mathemtician and he was a Professor of Lvov University. Before the Second World War he published many works about mathematics and geometry which were translated from Polish into French and German languages, and these are still in use today.

While he was in the Lemberg Ghetto during 1941-42 on the reverse of German documents, he wrote his last work on geometry. On August 17, 1942, during the ‘Great Action,‘ he was deported to the Bełżec death camp, where he perished. His last work, written in the Lemberg Ghetto, was finally published in Polish in 1992.238

235 Ibid.

236 Ibid.

237 Bełżec Museum online resource.

238 Robert Kuwalek in correspondence with the author.

BACHNER, Moszey. Born during 1904, in Krakow He was a merchant and single. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec, during 1942, where he perished.239

BAJLER, Abram Icchoc. Born in 1927, son of Fela and Shimon Hirsh, deported together with his parents to Bełżec, where he perished.240

BAJLER, Fela. Born in 1905, resetted‘ to Zamość from the Warthegau. She was deported to Bełżec together with Szlamek Bajler. She was the sister-in-law of Szlamek, and they were deported from Zamość during the ‘First Action‘ on April 11, 1942. She perished in Bełżec.241

BAJLER, Rivka. Born in 1938, the daughter of Fela and Shimon Hirsh. She was deported from Zamość with her parents to Bełżec, where she perished.242

BAJLER, Shimon. Born in 1901. He was the brother of Szlamek and husband to Fela. He was deported along with other members of his family from Zamość to Bełżec in April 1942. He perished in Bełżec.243

BAJLER, Szlamek. Bajler lived until December 1941 in the Warthegau. He was deported to the Chelmno (Kulmhof) death camp, on January 13, 1942, from the town of Izbica Kujawska. Selected to work as a member of the ‘Death Brigade‘ who worked at emptying the gas-vans and digging mass graves, he escaped from Chelmno on January 19, 1942, and for several days lived in the Warsaw Ghetto. There he made contact with Emanuel Ringelblum, and he informed him of the death camp in Chelmno and how the Germans were murdering the Jews. He left Warsaw and went to live with his brother and sisterin-law in Zamość. When the deportations as part of Aktion

Reinhardt commenced, Szlamek once again made contact with Ringelblum and his Oneg Shabbat group, sending a letter informing them that ‘Bełżec is the same as in Kulmhof‘.

Szlamek was deported from the Zamość Ghetto along with his sister-in-law, brother, and other members of the family on April 11, 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished. Their fate was related to Emanuel Ringelblum by Fela’s son. Szlamek’s harrowing report about Chelmno is virtually unique, as there were so few survivors.244

BALDACHIM, Engineer. From a statement made in 1968, by Panteleon Radunkow, who was a Ukrainian teacher in the Bełżec village during the occupation.: Engineer Baldachim came from Rzeszow. He worked in a group of Jewish prisoners who were allowed to work outside the death camp, of course guarded by Ukrainians. Radunkow met Baldachim several times and from him learned many detais about the death camp, including the method of killing. Radunkow sent post cards written by Baldachim to the Rzeszow Ghetto, where his family still lived. According to Radunkow, Engineer Baldachim, was killed in the course of the liquidation of the camp in 1943.245

BALDINGER, Sara. Born during 1920, in Biecz. She was a pupil, and she perished in Bełżec.246

BALSENBOUM, Peshia. Lived in Tomaszow Lubelski, probably deported to Bełżec during the spring of 1942, where she perished. During this first deportation aktion in Tomaszow Lubelski, the assembly point for deportations was at the market square close to the Jewish quarter. In the autumn of 1942, prior to deportation to Bełżec, Jews were concentrated on Krasnobrodzka Street, which is now known as Pilsudskiego Street.247

244 Robert Kuwalek in correspondence with the author.

245 Statement by Pantelon Radunkow 1968.

246 Yad Vashem Central Database.

247 Bełżec Museum online resource.

BARAN, Jakub. Deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec in March 1942, where he perished.248

BAUER, Sosza. Born during 1902, in Drohobycz. She was single and she perished in Bełżec during September 1942.249

BAUER, Yakob. Born during 1874, in Poland. He was a restaurant owner. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.250

BAUM, Gitel. Born during 1897, in Tomaszow Lubelski. She was married and was a housewife. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.251

BAUM, Leib. Born during 1916 in Wielopole. He was single, and he died in Bełżec during 1942.252

BAUM, Naftali. Born during 1915, in Broniszow. He was married and was a landowner. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.253

BAUM, Zofia. Born during 1894, in Podbuz. She was married. She was deported from Sambor to Bełżec, where she perished.254

BECK, Salomea. Born during May 1924, in Zakopane. She was deported from Nowy-Targ to Bełżec during September 1942, where she perished.255

BEER, Hene. Born on November 1, 1914, formerly Verner, in Tuchow. She was a clerk by profession and married. She perished in Bełżec during September, 1942.256 248 Kazimierz Poraj Memoirs. Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 1966. 249 Yad Vashem Central Database.

255 Kazimierz Poraj Memoirs. Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 1966.

256 Yad Vashem Central Database.

BEICZER, Leizor. Born during 1888, in Szczebrzesyn, Poland. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.257

BEIN, Estera. Born during 1875, in Poland. She was married and a housewife. She perished in Bełżec.258

BEKER, Awraham. Born during 1924, in Witkow Nowy. He was single and a pupil. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.259

BEKERMAN, Reizil. Born during 1910, in Zmudz. She was single and a clerk by profession. She perished during 1942 in Bełżec.260

BEKKER, Henryk. Born on June 6, 1886, in Bialystok, into a wealthy middle-class Jewish family. He graduated from the Munich University of Technology, and after the First World War, he settled in Lublin. He founded his own construction company, which he ran until 1939. In 1924, he became active in a number of Jewish social organizations. He was a member of the Society for Health Care and the Society for the Support of Jewish Production in Poland, where he was directly involved in vocational training.

At the begining of the 1920s, Bekker also became involved in politics. He was associated with the Folkists, and from 1924 he was the leader of the Lublin branch of the Jewish People’s Party (Yidishe Folkspartei). He represented the Party in the elections to Lublin’s Municipal Council, wining the councillor post twice, in 1927 and 1929. From June 1927, he served as the secretary of the Technical and Construction Commission and later as the head of the Housing Development Commission of the Lublin Development Committee.

In December 1936, he was elected President of the Council of the Jewish Religious Community. After the outbreak of the Second World War, in accordance with the November Ordinance of the General Gouvenor on the administration of Jewish communities in the General-Gourvernement, on January 8, 1940, he was

appointed by the German authorities as a member of the Jewish Council (Judenrat) in Lublin.

Then on January 25, 1940, at the first constitutional meeting, he was elected President of the Judenrat. He supervised all the departments of the Judenrat. He was known for diligent execution of the orders given by the occupation authorites, which made him a target of frequent accusations of collaborating with the Germans. He enjoyed many privilleges as President of the Judenrat. He lived with his closest family outside of the Lublin ghetto, in his flat at Zielona Street. Because of the time-consuming nature of his position and lack of possibility to work in his former profession, he was the only member of the Judenrat to receive a fixed salary of PLN 500.

Bekker saw the function he performed as his mission. It would be unfair to call him a collaborator. On behalf of the Judenrat, in May 1940, he became a member of the Hospital Council, which supervised the work of the Jewish hospital. On June 1, 1940, as President of the Judenrat, he became the chairman of the Department of Non-Local Labor Camps.

The aim of the department was to take care of people staying in labor camps in Bełżec and Tyszowce and to organize volountary labor for agricultural work, which, in view of the struggles with food supply, seemed to be a justified measure to take. In 1940, due to the deplorable housing conditions in the Jewish quarter in Lublin, he ordered the closure of all synagogues, temples, and larger prayer houses, which were to serve as shelters for newly arrived refugees.

Following the Germans’ decision to reduce the number of Judenrat members, issued on March 31, 1942, Henryk Bekker was unexpectedly deported from Lublin. He was promised a managerial post in the Judenrat in his new place of residence, following the selection of the Judenrat members, he knew about the fate of the deportees, and, without suitcases, he went to the Umschlagplatz in Lublin, wearing his prayer shawl. Bekker and his wife,

Helena, were deported to the Bełżec death camp, where they perished in the gas chambers.261

BENDLER, Ronia. Born during 1887 in Tomaszow Mazowiecki. She was married and was a housewife. She perished in Bełżec.262

BER, Brejndel. Born during 1902 in Lubaszow. She was widowed and a grocer by profession. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.263

BERCHARD, Fryda. Born during 1925 in Rawa Ruska. She perished in Bełżec.264

BERGER, Izak. Born during 1914 in Uhnow. He was single and a merchant by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.265

BERGER, Mendl. Born during 1914 in Wielopole. He was married and a merchant by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.266

BERGER, Nesia. Born during 1889, in Uhnow. She was married and a housewife. She perished during 1942 in Bełżec.267

BERKOWICZ, Marie. Born during 1871, in Vienna, Austria. She was deported from Krakow to Bełżec, where she perished during June 1942.268

BERKOWICZ, Sara. Born on March 14, 1914, in Krakow. She was a clerk by profession and married. She was deported from Krakau to Bełżec, where she perished on October 28, 1942.269

BERLINSKA, Mala. Born during 1916 in Zywiec. She was deported from the Belzyce Ghetto during 1942, to Bełżec, where she perished.270

BERNBLAT, Chaja. Born during 1923, in Tomaszow Lubelski. She was single and a pupil. She perished during 1942 in Bełżec.

BERNSTEIN, Gitel. Born Boryslaw. She was married to Berl and was a housewife. She was deported from Boryslaw to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.

BILITZ, Frida. Born during 1909 in Krakow. She perished in Bełżec during 1942

BINDER, Leib. Born during 1885 in Rozdol. He was married and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.

BINDER, Mirl. Born during 1923 in Rozdol. She was single and perished in Bełżec.

BINDER, Mojsze. Born during 1882 in Rozdol. He was married and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.

BINDER, Samoil. Born during 1921 in Rozdol. He was single and a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.

BINDER, Simcha. Born during 1903, in Rozdol. He was married and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.

BIRNBAUM, Rebeka. Born on May 15, 1912 in Rozwaldow. She was married and lived in Dukla. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.

BIRNBERG, Rozia. Born during 1902 in Podwoloczyska. She was married and she perished in Bełżec during 1942.

BLAICHER, Frida. Born during 1916, formerly Blum, in Proszowice. She was a housewife and married. She was deported from Krakau to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.271

270 Ibid.

271 Yad Vashem Central Database.

BLAJBERG, Mendel. Born during 1901, in Niemirow. He was married. He was deported from Niemirow to Bełżec, where he perished.272

BLANDE, Icchak. Born during 1882, in Laszczow. He was married and a merchant by profession. He perished during 1942,in Bełżec.273

BLANDE, Zacharia. Born during 1919 in Laszczow. He was married and a merchant by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.274

BLANDER, Faivel. Born during 1907 in Tomaszow Lubelski. He was married and a merchant by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.275

BLANDER, Yehoshua. Born during 1882 in Tomaszow Lubelski. He was married and a textile merchant by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.276

BLANK, Mordko. Born during 1896 in Tomaszow Lubelski. He was married and a hairdresser by profession. He perished in Bełżec.277

BLANKENHAMER, Hersh. Born during 1910 in Uhnow. He was married, and he perished during 1942, in Bełżec.278

BLAT, Hana. Born during 1882. She was married to Lipa and lived in Krasnystaw. She perished during 1942 in Bełżec.279

BLAT, Reizl. Born during 1895 in Izbica. She perished in Bełżec.280

BLATT, Fela. Born during 1895 in Krakow. She was a housewife and married. She was deported from Slominki to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.281

BLATT, Hersz. Born during 1902, in Warsaw. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec, where he perished.282

BLATT. Lea. Born during 1895 in Przemysl. She was married to Izidor, and was a widow. She was deported from Przemysl to Bełżec, where she perished.283

BLATT, Rywka. Born during 1884 in Krakow. She was a housewife and married. She lived in Plaszow. She was deported from Krakau to Bełżec, where she perished during 1942.284

BLAU, Zlata. Born during 1890 in Sanok. She was a housewife and perished in Bełżec during 1942.285

BLAUTAL, Szajndel. Born during 1900 in Kolomea. She was single and was deported from Kolomea to Bełżec, where she perished.286

BLAUTHAL, Chaja. Born during 1910 in Kolomea. She was deported from Kolomea to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.287

BLAUTHAL, Jehudit. Born during 1902 in Kolomea. She was single. She was deported from Kolomea to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.288

BLAUTHAL, Rachel. Born during 1914, in Buczacz. She was single and was deported from Stanislavov to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.289

BLECH, Chana, Born during 1882. She was deported from Zamość to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.290

BLEIBERG, Gitel. Born in Opatow. She was married and was a housewife. She perished in Bełżec.291

BLEIBERG, Hersch. Born during 1922 in Jaworow. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.292

BLEJBERG, Sarah. Born during 1899 in Lubaszow. She was married and perished in Bełżec during 1942.293

BLEM, Dr. Karol. Deported from the Lemberg Ghetto in March 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.294

BLIC, Ichak. Born during 1910, in Krakow. He was married and perished in Bełżec during 1942.295

BLITER, Etla. Born during 1914 in Glogow. She was single and perished in Bełżec.296

BLITTER, Tauba. Born during 1895 in Sokolow Malopolski. She was married. She was deported from Sokolow to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.297

BLITZER, Shendel. Born during 1922 in Sokolow. She was single, and she perished during 1942 in Bełżec.298

BLOCH, Rysia. Born on January 22, 1898, in Delatyn. She was married and was deported from Lemberg to Bełżec, where she perished.299

BLONSHTEIN, Rachel. Born during 1908 in Gliniany. She perished in Bełżec.300

BLUM, Rywka. Born during 1900 in Gorlice, formerly Holander. She was married and was a housewife. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.301

BLUM, Sara. Born during 1870 in Wodzislaw. She was deported from Proszowice to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.302

BLUM, Zeev. Born during 1861 in Wladyslawow. He was a tinsmith by profession and lived in Proshovitza. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.303

BLUMBERG, Dow. Born during 1914 in Lubaczow. He was single and a lawyer by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.304

BLUMBERG, Icchak. Born during 1892. He was married to Lea and was a haberdasher by profession. He lived in Lubaszow. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.305

BLUMENFELD, Chaja. Born during 1917 in Lubicz. She was married to Moshe. She perished during 1942 in Bełżec.306

BLUMENFELD, Feiwel. Born during 1900 in Oswiecim. He was married and was a Rabbi. He was deported from Proszowice to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.307

BLUMENFELD, Rakhel. Born during 1898, formerly Wolosker, in Przemysl. She was married to Arie and was a merchant by profession. She was deported from Przemysl to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.308

BLUMENTAL, Eliezer. Born during 1908 in Jagelnica. He was single and a baker by profession. He perished in Bełżec.309

BLUTH, Ester. Born during 1910, in Ropczyce. She was married and was deported from Ropczyce to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.310

BLUZER, Malka. Born during 1896 in Tomaszow Lubelski. She was married to Yisrael, and was a housewife. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.311

BOIM, Jozef. Born during 1890 in Pstragowa. He was married and deported from Wielopole to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.312

BOJM, Chaja. Born during 1896 in Zamość. She was a housewife and was deported from Zamość to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.313

BRANDE, Rywka. Born during 1901 in Czortkow. She was married and a housewife. She was deported from Radziechow to Bełżec, where she perished.314

BRANDL, Malka. Born during 1914 in Trawniki. She was single and was deported from Trawniki to Bełżec, where she perished.315

BRAUN, David. Born during 1903 in Zamość. He was married to Shifra and a factory owner. He perished in Bełżec.316

BRAUN, Sara. Born during 1906 in Dukla. She was married to Shlomo and was a housewife. She was deported from Tarnow to Bełżec, where she perished.317

BRAUN, Tonia. Born during 1912. She was single and was deported from Krakau to Bełżec, where she perished.318

BRIK, Mindl. Born during 1878 in Debica. She was a widow, married to Khaim, and a housewife. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.319

BRIKS, Chana. Born during 1902 in Slupca. She was a housewife, and she perished in Bełżec.320

BRIKS, Ferka. Born during 1867 in Slowce. She was married and a housewife. She perished in Bełżec.321

BURSZTYN, Lejba. Born during 1910, in Szczebrzeszyn. He was married to Sara. He was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Szczebrzeszyn to Bełżec, where he perished.322

CZOBAN, Alfred. Born on April 17, 1891, in Husiatyn. He was married to Henryka and was a lawyer by profession. During the occupation he lived in Zimna Woda but moved to Lvov. He was deported from there to Bełżec during August 1942, where he perished.323

CZOBAN, Sara. Born during 1864. She lived at Kopernika 3, Lvov. She was deported from there to Bełżec, during August 1942, where she perished.324

DACH, Chaim. Born during 1892 in Jozefow. He was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Jozefow to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.325

DANZIG, Izak. Born during 1910 in Krakow He was a tailor by profession and married. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.326

DAR, Wolf. Born during 1913 in Dembica. He was single and a merchant by profession. He was deported from Tarnow during 1942 to Bełżec, where he perished.327

DELIGACZ, Yoel. Born during 1875 in Trembowla. He was a merchant by profession and married. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.328

DEMESTI, Wolf. Born during 1910 in Bilgoraj. He was married to Hadasa and was a merchant by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.329

DEUTSCH, Dr. He was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec during the ‘Small Action‘ on June 28, 1942, when about 8,000 of Lemberg’s Jews were resettled from the Ghetto to the Janowska Camp and then on to Bełżec, where he perished.330

DINTER, Leibish. Born during 1901 in Belz. He was married to Tova and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.331

DODYK, Chaya. Born during 1890 in Zaleszczyki. She was a housewife and was deported from Korolowka to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.332

DOMINIK, Sarah. Born during 1875 in Sanok. She was a housewife and she perished during 1942 inBełżec.333

DOMINITZ, Reizl. Born during 1880, formerly Zilbershtein, in Lubaczow. She was married to Shmuel and was a housewife. She perished during 1942 in Bełżec.334

DORENBUST, Elimelech. Born during 1880 in Bilgoraj. He was married to Dvora and was a butcher by profession. He was deported from Bilgoraj to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.335

DORNFELD, Dr. Jakob. Born during 1895 in Boryslaw. He was a physician and married to Berta. He was deported from Boryslaw to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.336

DRAJER, Sara. Born during 1900 in Skarbiszow. She was deported from Krasnystaw to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.337

DREIFACH, Zofia. She was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec in March 1942, where she perished.338

DYM, Rachela. Born during 1910 in Rzeszow. She was a lawyer by profession and single. She was deported from Rzeszow to Bełżec, where she perished.339

ECKSTEIN, Ilek. Born during 1924 in Drohobycz. He was single. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.340

EDELIST, Henryk. Born during 1927 in Krakow. Before the war he was a student in one of Krakow’s primary schools. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec on October 28, 1942, where he perished.341

334 Ibid.

335 Yad Vashem Central Database.

336 Ibid.

337 Ibid.

338 Kazimierz Poraj Memoirs. Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 1966.

339 Yad Vashem Central Database.

340 Ibid.

341 Bełżec Museum online resource.

EDELSTEIN, Ita. Born during 1880 in Rawa Ruska, formerly Katz. She was a housewife, married to Yehoshua. She was deported from Rawa Ruska to Bełżec, where she perished.342

EDELSTEIN, Sucher. Born during 1872 in Galicia. He was married to Lea. He was deported from Sokal in 1942 to Bełżec, where he perished.343

EHRLICH, Aszer. Born during 1912. He was a merchant. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.344

EHRLICH, Benzion. Born during 1910 in Zamość. He was a merchant by profession in Trawniki. He was deported from Trawniki to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.345

EICHENBAUM, Chawe. Born during 1902 in Tarnopol. She married Samuel Naftali Teicholz in Tarnopol, and they lived in an apartment on Rynek Street. As they had a religious ceremony for the wedding, it was not officially recognized by the Polish government. They had two children, Chaya, born on December 16, 1923, and Malka born sometime during 1933.

She was a housewife and mother and on November 8-9, 1942, while living in the Tarnopol Ghetto, the Nazis started an ‘Aktion‘ during which her husband and Malka were shot, and she was deported to Bełżec. Chaya survived by changing her name to Sonja Tarasowa. She subsequently married JMA van der Horst. Chaya (Sonja) has four children and eight grandchildren. The Hebrew name of one grandchild, Anna, is Chawe, after her Great Grandmother.346

EISNER, Ludwika. Born in 1893, formerly Weinstock. She was deported from the Przemysl Ghetto to Bełżec during the ‘First Action‘ on July 27, 1942. She perished in Bełżec.347

EKSTEIN, Baruch. Born in 1895, in Kolbuszowa. He was married and a merchant by profesion. He died in Bełżec during 1942.348

EKSTEIN, Gitla. Born in Tarnobrzeg, formerly Ekshtein. She was married and was a housewife in Kolbuszowa. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.349

ELENBOGEN, Ischak. Born during 1898 in Rzeszow. He was married and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.350

ELLENBOGEN. A Czech Jew who once owned a bicycle store, remembered by Rudolf Reder in his memoirs.351

ELOWICZ, Riwka. Born in 1885, formerly Veinberger, in Krukenice. She lived in Nowy Sacz. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.352

ELTSTER, Josef. Born in 1904 in Krystonopol. He was married to Glika and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Szczewice during 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.353

ENGLANDER, Chana. Born during 1905 in Oleszyce, formerly Argand. She was married to Shmul and a clerk by profession. She was deported from Tarnow to Bełżec in June 1942, where she perished.354

EPSTEIN, Cipa. Born during 1901 in Zydaczow. She was deported from Skole to Bełżec, where she perished on September 7, 1942.355

EPSTEIN, Herszel. Born during 1878 in Magerow. He was a widower and a teacher by profession. He was deported from Niemirow to Bełżec, where he perished.356

348 Yad Vashem Central Database.

349 Ibid.

350 Ibid.

351 Rudolf Reder Memoirs p.132.

352 Yad Vashem Central Database.

353 Ibid.

354 Ibid.

355 Yad Vashem Central Database.

356 Ibid.

EPSTEIN, Malka. Born during 1915 in Mielec. She was single and was deported from Krakau to Bełżec, where she perished.357

EPSTEIN, Mindl. Born during 1890 in Wierzbowiec. She was married and was deported from the Trembowla Ghetto to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.358

EPSTEIN, Sara. Born during 1911 in Skalat. She was married to Sheya and was a tailor by profession. She was deported in 1942 to Bełżec, where she perished.359

EPSZTEJN, Hana. Born during 1897 in Skalat Stary. She was married to Moshe. She lived in Belzyce. From there she was deported to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.360

ERLICH, Abram. Born during 1905 in Bychawa. He was married to Bluma and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.361

ERLICH, Arie. Born during 1870 in Laszczow. He was married and a merchant by profession. He was deported to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.362

ERLICH, Bracha. Born during 1875 in Lashchov. She was married and was a housewife. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.363

ERLICH, Brantche. Born during 1920 in Bichava. She was single. She was deported to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.364

ERLICH, Eli. Born during 1900 in Chelm. He was a shop-owner. He was deported from Chelm to Bełżec, where he perished.365

ERLICH, Ester. Born during 1912 in Bichava. She was single. She was deported from Bichava to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.366

ERLICH, Hersh. Born during 1898 in Laszczow. He was married and a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.367

ERLICH, Josef. Born during 1916 in Bichava. He was single and a merchant by profesion. He died in Bełżec.368

ERLICH, Rivka. Born during 1878 in Bichava. She was married to Mordekhai. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.369

ERLICH, Rivka. Born during 1914 in Dukla. She was married and a housewife. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.370

ERLICH, Rywka. Born during 1920 in Laschov. She was single. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.371

ERLICH, Shmuel. Born during 1900 in Laszczow. He was married and a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.372

FAJERSZTAJN. The family of a dentist from Lublin. They were deported to Belzec during Easter 1942. The family lived in the same house as the family of Dr. Teresa Buk-Szmigielska at the border of the Lublin Ghetto in the Old Town. They had close and friendly contact with the Polish family. When SS men kicked them out of their flat, Mrs. Fajersztajn said to the mother of the doctor, “Farewell Mrs. Buk, we know they are taking us to our death.“ Shortly after the war the mother of Dr Buk-Szmigielska met a survivor, who told her that the Fajersztajn famiy was

deported to Bełżec. Dr Buk-Szmigielska only remembers the surname of the family.373

FELBER, Feiga. Born during 1912, lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec and perished there in August 1942.374

FELBER, Hersch. Born during 1882, lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec and perished there in August 1942.375

FELBER, Moses. Born during 1910, lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec and perished there in August 1942.376

FELDMAN, Aharon. He was deported from Zamość to Bełżec, where he perished.377

FELDMAN, Berl. Born during 1900, in Grodzisko. He was married to Rachel and lived in Krakow. He perished in Bełżec.378

FELDMAN, Chaim. Born during 1922 in Krystynopol. He was single and lived in Witkow. He perished in Be łżec.379

FELDMAN, Charna. Born during 1910 in Zbaraz. She was married and was a housewife. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.380

FELDMAN, Elke. She was deported from Zamość to Bełżec, where she perished.381

FELDMAN, Ester. Formerly Tzukermann, she was born in 1888, in Korzec. She was a housewife and lived in Korzec. She perished in Bełżec on August 15, 1942.382

373 Dr. Teresa Buk-Szmigelska, Lublin.

FELDMAN, Fejga. Born 1883 in Odessa, Russia. She was married to Dawid. She was deported from Lemberg to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.383

FELDMAN, Gina. Born during 1923 in Stryj. She was a student and was deported from Stryj to Bełżec, where she perished.384

FELDMAN, Helena. She was married, formerly Fojer. She was deported from Kochawina to Bełżec, where she perished on September 2, 1942.385

FELDMAN, Hersh. He was deported from Zamość to Bełżec, where he perished.386

FELDMAN, Jehuda. Born during 1882. He was married to Frimet and lived in Wadowice. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.387

FELDMAN, Mordekhai. Born during 1887 in Krystynopol. He was married to Zlata and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.388

FELDMAN, Pinkhas. Born in Probuzhne during 1895. He was married to Golda and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.389

FELDMAN, Zlata. Born in Witkow in 1887. She was married to Mordekhai and was a housewife. She perished in Bełżec.390

FELDMAN, Zosia. Zosia was the daughter of a famous advocate in Czortkow. She was deported from the Czortkow ghetto on August 21, 1942, to Bełżec, where she perished.391

FINKELMAN, Sima. Born in 1899 in Czortkow. As a Zionist movement activist, she started her career early as a leader of a female Hashomer Hatzair group. In 1924 she graduated from the Faculty of Medicine within the University of Lvov. She was the first female doctor in Czortkow. During 1935 she moved to Palestine. After nearly a year spent looking for a job in her profession, she decided to return to her home in Czortkow. During the German occupation, after the establishment of a ghetto, she settled in the Jewish district together with her mother, Rivka, who was born in 1870. All this time she continued to work as a doctor. She was deported with her mother from Czortkow to Bełżec in October 1942, where they both perished.392

FINKELSTEIN, Bluma. Formerly Honorow, Bluma lived in Tomaszow Lubelski, probably deported to Bełżec during the spring of 1942, where she perished.393

FRENKEL, Gabriela. Jewish painter and painting teacher in Lvov. She graduated from the Academy of Art in Paris. She was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec during March 1942, where she perished.394

FRIESS, Dawid. A well-known butcher from Tarnow, Dawid was born in 1870. He was deported with his son and daughter during the first deportation to Bełżec on June 11, 1942, where they all perished.395

GABEL, Abraham. Born during 1872, Abraham was married and lived in Lubaszow. He perished in 1942 in Bełżec.396

392 Bełżec Museum online resource.

393 Ibid.

394 Kazimierz Poraj Memoirs. Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 1966.

395 Robert Kuwalek.

396 Yad Vashem Central Database.

GARBAR, Berta. Born during 1897 in Boryslaw. She was married to Yaakov and was a housewife. She perished during 1942 in Bełżec.397

GARFINKEL, Ben. Born during 1911 in Boryslaw. He was single and a metal worker by profession. He perished in 1942, in Bełżec.398

GARFINKEL, Chaja. Born during 1890 in Zamość, Chaja was married to Yitzhak and a housewife. She perished during 1942, in Bełżec.399

GARFUNKEL, Regina. Born on May 2, 1896, formerly Bindefeld, in Frankfurt, Germany. Regina was married to Yisrael and was a housewife. She was deported from Bochnia to Bełżec, where she perished.400

GASTMANN, Fiszel. Born during 1920, in Brzesko, Fiszel was single. He perished in Bełżec in 1942. 401

GEISLER, Rivka. Born during 1911, in Czortkow, Rivka was single, and she perished in Bełżec.402

GEISLER, Yeshayahu. Born during 1888, in Laszkowice. He was married and a merchant. He was deported from Czortkow to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.403

GELBARD, Regina. Born during 1899, formerly Kohen, in Korolowka. She was married and a housewife, deported from Lemberg during 1942 to Bełżec, where she perished.404

GELER, Josef. Born during 1880 in Nowy Sacs. He was married and was a furrier by profession. He was deported from Nowy Sacs to Bełżec, during 1942, where he perished.405

GELER, Leib. Born during 1900, in Sloboda. He was married to Miriam. He was deported from Kolomea during 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.406

GELERNTER, David. Born during 1895 in Warsaw. He was married to Miriam and was a bookeeper by profession. He died during 1942 in Bełżec.407

GELLER, Rachel. Born during 1895, in Bardiov, Czechoslovakia. She was married and was deported from Gorlice in 1942, to Bełżec, where she perished.408

GELLER, Yakub. Born during 1882, in Gorlice. He was married to Rakhael and was a leather merchant by profession. He was deported from Gorlice to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.409

GERSZTENFELD, Ita. Born during 1883 in Miechow, Ita was a housewife, married to Aharon. She was deported from Miechow in 1942, to Bełżec, where she perished.410

GINSBURG, Rita. Born on January 3, 1906, formerly Gluzman, in Proskurow. She was deported from Lemberg on July 10, 1942, from her workplace in the Stadtische Werkstette, to the Bełżec death camp, where she was murdered.411

GLANCMAN, Leja. Born during 1909 in Boryslaw. Leja was married and a housewife. She was deported from Boryslaw to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.412

GLASMAN, Mordechai. Born during 1900 in Mielec. He was married to Sara and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Mielec to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.413

GLAZER, Icek. Born in Lipiny. He was married to Dona and was a merchant by profession. He was deported in 1942 from Zamość to Bełżec, where he perished.414

GLEJZER, Majer. Born during 1922 in Maciejow. He was single and a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.415

GLOBIN, Shmuel. Born during 1875 in Chelm. He was married and a merchant by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.416

GLOGER, Rosza. Born in Probuzna. She perished during 1942 in Bełżec.417

GOLDBAUM, Sara Rebeka. Deported in April, 1942 from the Lublin Ghetto to Bełżec, where she perished.418

GOLDBAUM, Srul. Deported together with his wife Zysia and his younger daughter Sara from the Lublin Ghetto during April 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.419

GOLDBAUM, Zysia. Deported in April 1942 from the Lublin Ghetto to Bełżec, where she perished.420

GOLDBERG, Chana. Born during 1870, in Lenka. She was married to Yehuda and was a housewife. In 1942, she was deported from Dabrowa to Bełżec, where she perished.421

GOLDBERG, Sara. Born in 1913. Deported from Przemysl in 1942 to Bełżec, where she perished.422

GOLDBERG, Sara. Born during 1915, in Nowy Sacs. She was single and a clerk by profession. She perished during August 1942 in Bełżec.423

GOLDBERG, Sara. Born during 1922 in Mosciska. She was married and a housewife. She perished during 1942 in Bełżec.424

GOLDBERGER, Cecylia. Born circa 1897. She was married to Samuel-Issak Goldberger. During the occupation she lived in Ciezkowice. She was deported along with her husband and daughters Frania, who was born in 1924, and Kamila–Kaja, who was born in 1926, to Bełżec, where they all perished.425

GOLDENBERG, Gizela. Born on April 16, 1906 in Lvov. She was single and a clerk by profession. She perished in Bełżec.426

GOLDGRABER, Rywa. Born during 1881 in Szczebrzeszyn. She was married and perished in Bełżec.427

GOLDMAN, Chawa. Born during 1902 in Lubaczow. In 1942 she was deported to Bełżec, where she perished.428

GOLDMAN, Dawid. Born in 1925 in Bolin. He was deported from Bochnia during 1942 to Bełżec, where he perished.429

GOLDMAN, Dwora. Born in Rajowiec Lubelski. She was single and perished in Bełżec.430

GOLDMAN, Resia. Born during May 1921 in Bochnia. In 1942, she perished in Bełżec.431

GOLDNER, Leib. Born during 1907 in Snyatin. He was married to Khaia and was a clerk by profession. He perished in Bełżec.432

GOLDSAND, Sara. Born during 1910 in Majdan Kolbuszowski. She was a housewife and married to Aharon. She was deported from Rzeszow to Bełżec, where she perished.433

GOLDSCHMIDT. A Chef de Cuisine who had been well-known at the ‘Bruder Hanicka‘ restaurant in Karlsbad, remembered by Rudolf Reder in his memoirs.434

GOLDSTEIN, Chaja. Born during 1893 in Probuzna. She was married to Tzvi. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.435

GOLDSTEIN, Jozef. Born during 1891 in Lublin. Married to Rakhel. Deported from Lublin in 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.436

GOLDSTEIN, Moshe. Born during 1923 in Zaklikow. He was single and a merchant by profession. In 1942, he was deported from Zaklikow to Bełżec, where he perished.437

GOLDSZTAJN, Abram. Born during 1877 in Lublin. He was married to Malka. In 1942, he was deported from Lublin to Bełżec, where he perished.438

GOLDSZTAJN, Jechiel. Born in 1895. He was married to Sara. During 1942 he was deported from Lublin to Bełżec, where he perished.439

431 Yad Vashem Central Database.

432 Ibid.

433 Ibid.

434 Rudolf Reder Memoirs pp. 132-133.

435 Yad Vashem Central Database. 436 Ibid. 437 Ibid.

GOMOLINSKI, Ruchcia. Born during 1892 in Piotrkow Trybunalski. She was married and was deported from Piotrkow to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.440

GOMOLINSKI, Tonia. Born during 1920 in Piotrkow Trybunalski. He was a clerk by profession. He was deported from Piotrkow to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.441

GONOROV, Szaja. Born during 1877, in Tomaszow Lubelski. He was married to Rakhel and was a merchant by profession. In 1942, he was deported from Rawa Ruska, to Be łżec, where he perished.442

GORTLER, Chaja. Born during 1910, in Krasnobrod. She was married to Tzvi. She perished in Bełżec.443

GOTESMAN, Arie. A Rabbi who lived in Gliniany, Eastern Galicia. He was deported from there to Bełżec on December 2, 1942, where he perished.444

GOTESMAN, Scheindel. Born during 1912, formerly Khamudes, in Boryslaw. She was married to Yitzhak. She perished in Bełżec.445

GOTLIB, Towa. Born during 1920 in Kulikov. She was married and a housewife. She was deported from Lemberg to Bełżec, during 1942, where she perished.446

GOTTLIEB, Hinda. Born during 1904 in Lubaczow. She died in Bełżec during 1942.447

GRADA, David. Born during 1900 in Krakow. He was married to Adela and was a clerk by profession. He perished during 1942, in Bełżec.448

GRAF, Chaia. Born during 1900, formerly Brand, in Krasnik. She was married to Nakhum and was a housewife. She perished during 1942 in Bełżec.449

GREBEL. Born in 1908 in Gliniany. He was deported from Przemyslany during 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.450

GREINER, Dwora. Born during 1912 in Kosow Pokucki. She was married and a housewife. She perished on September 7, 1942, in Bełżec.451

GRIN, Beila. Born during 1910 in Dukla. She was married to Eliahu. She was deported from Korczyna to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.452

GRIN, Rywka. Born during 1892 in Brzesko. She was married to Moshe and was a housewife. She perished in 1942 in Bełżec.453

GRIN, Yehoszua. Born during 1882 in Korczyna. He was married to Rakhel. He was deported from Korczyna to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.454

GRINBERG, Malka. Born in 1888 in Modliborshitz. She was married to Yosef and was a housewife. She perished in 1942 in Bełżec.455

GRINBERG, Rywka. Born during 1874,in Zamch. She was married to Mendel. She perished during 1942, in Bełżec.456

GRINER, Lejba. He was married and a carpenter by profession. He was deported from Plonka to Bełżec, where he perished.457

GRINFELD, Simon. Born in 1900, in Krakow. He was married to Roza and was a lawyer by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.458

GRINSZTEIN, Aron. Born on August 19, 1919, in Starokonstantinov, Ukraine. He was single and a tailor by profession. In 1942 he was deported from Hrubieszow, Poland, to Bełżec, where he perished.459

GRINTUCH, Riwka. Born during 1912 in Torbin, Riwka was married to Avraham. She perished in Bełżec.460

GRIS, Yehoshua. Born during 1913 in Dabrowa. He was married to Itel and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.461

GRISGOT, Mosze. Born during 1878 in Podhajce. He was married to Shprintza and was an agronomist by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.462

GROSFELD, Jehuda. Born during 1909 in Krakow. He was married and a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.463

GROSSER, Jakub. Born during 1898in Tomaszow Lubelski. He was married to Sima and was a shoemaker by profession. He was deported from Komorow to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.464

GROSSMANN, Fryderyka. Born during 1905 in Kobylnica Woloska. She studied history and philosophy at the Lvov University. She was the director of Gemilut Chesed (Interest-free Loan Bank) in Kamionka Strumilowa. She was married, but her husband was murdered in prison during 1941.

She was the mother of Anita, who was born in 1933. She was deported from Kamionka Strumilowa to Bełżec, with her daughter and mother Agata, during September 1942, where they all perished.465

GRUNBLATT, Chaskiel. Born in 1899. Lived in Strzyzow. He perished in July 1942, in Bełżec.466

GRUNBLATT, Golda. Born in 1874.in Strzyzow. She perished in July 1942 in Bełżec.467

GRUNER, Golda. Born during 1880 in Brody, Golda was married to Efraim and was a housewife. She perished in Bełżec.468

GRYNBERG, Bat, Szewa. Born in Bychawa. She was married to Moshe and was a seemstress by profession. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.469

GRYNBERG, Mordchaj. Born during 1868 in Zabia Wola. He was married to Ester and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.470

GRYNBERG, Szmuel. Born during 1917 in Bychawa. He was single. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.471

GRUENSTEIN, Mendel, Lejb. Rabbi from Tarnow, deported to Bełżec on September 12, 1942, during the ‘Second Action‘ in the Tarnow Ghetto.472

GUMPLOWICZ, Taube. Born on August 28, 1868 in Krakow. She lived there until 1941. She was the second wife of Henryk Hersz Gumplowicz, who was the father of Anna Rozalia Imich and 465 Bełżec Museum online resource. 466 JewishGen.org. 467 Ibid. 468 Ibid. 469 Ibid. 470 Yad Vashem Central Database. 471 Ibid. 472 Robert Kuwalek in correspondence with the author.

Matylda Schneider. She was deported from Wieliczka on August 26, 1942, to Bełżec, where she perished.473

GURFEIN, Abraham. Born on April 22, 1891, in Sanok. He was married to Sara and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Sanok to Bełżec in September 1942, where he perished.474

GURFEIN, Izak. Born on March 21, 1925, in Sanok. He was single and a pupil. He perished in Bełżec.475

GUTENBERG, Kajla. Born during 1911, formerly Rafalovitz, in Proszowice. She was married to Moshe and was a housewife. She perished during 1942, in Bełżec.476

GUTMAN, Zofia. Deported together with her mother from Zolkiew to Bełżec on March 20,1942. She entered the gas chamber supporting her mother.477

GUTTMANN, Eta. Born during 1939, to Miriam and Shlomo, in Kolomea. She was a child and she died in Bełżec during 1942.478

GUZIK, Anna. Born in Sanok. She was a housewife. She perished during 1942, in Bełżec.479

HABER, Chiel. Born February 22, 1900 Chiel lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec, he perished during December 1942.480

HABER, Herman. Born during 1898 in Podliski. He was married to Tova and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Chodorow to Bełżec, where he perished.481

473 Jan Imich in correspondence with the author—April 2003.

474 Yad Vashem Central Database.

475 Ibid.

476 Ibid.

477 Gerszon Taffet, Zagloda Zolkiewskich, Lodz, 1946.

478 Yad Vashem Central Database.

479 Ibid.

480 JewishGen.org.

481 Yad Vashem Central Database.

HABER, Izrael. Born on October 18, 1927. Lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec, he perished during December 1942.482

HABER, Jozef. Born on July 25, 1930. Lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec, he perished in December 1942.483

HABER, Laja. Born in 1895. Deported to Bełżec, she perished in December 1942.484

HABER, Tauba. Born during 1898 in Knihynice. She was married and she perished in Bełżec.485

HABERMAN, Sara. Born during 1872 in Rawa Ruska. She was a widow and a housewife, and mother. She was deported from Rawa Ruska to Bełżec, in August 1942, where she perished.486

HALBERSTADT, Shlomo. He was a member of the Lublin Judenrat. He was deported to Bełżec on March 30, 1942, following the selection of Judenrat members. He did not believe the Nazis promises of work in the East and thought the deportations led to destruction, and disagreed with his fellow Judenrat colleagues. He perished in Bełżec.487

HALPERN, Leonia. She was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec in March 1942, where she perished.488

HALPERN, Meir. Born during 1900 in Brzezany. He was married and a merchant by profession. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.489

HALPERN, Rosa. Born during 1879 in Buczacz, Poland. She married Ascher Wiesenthal, and the couple had two sons, Simon and

482 JewishGen.org.

483 Ibid.

484 Ibid.

485 Yad Vashem Central Database.

486 Ibid.

487 Robert Kuwalek in correspondence with the author.

488 Kazimierz Poraj Memoirs. Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 1966.

489 Yad Vashem Central Database.

Hillel, who died as a child. Rosa was widowed during the First World War. They lived in Dolina, with her husband Eisig Halpern and son. They later moved to Lvov. She was deported from the Lemberg ghetto to Bełżec during August 1942, where she perished. Her son Simon, later became the renowned‚ Nazi hunter.490

HALPERN, Zalman. Born during 1867. He was a widower and a grain merchant by profession. He perished during 1942, in Bełżec.491

HAMPEL, Dwosia. Born during 1905, formerly Gertler, in Miechow. She was married to Aharon. She perished in Bełżec.492

HAROWITZ, Frida. Born in Probuzna. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.493

HARTMANN, Pesia. Born during 1898 in Chrzanow. She lived in Brzesko and was married to Reuven. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.494

HARTSTEIN, Dora. Born during 1903 in Stryj. She was a philosopher by profession. She perished in Bełżec during September 1942.495

HASEN, Jakub. Born during 1885. Lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec during June 1942, where he perished.

HASEN, Mechel. Born in 1899. Lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec during June 1942, where he perished.496

HASEN, Mendel. Born during 1883. Lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec during June 1942, where he perished.497

490 www.holocaust-denkmal-berlin-de.

Yad Vashem Central Database.

HASEN, Natan. Born during 1900. Lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec during June 1942, where he perished.498

HASEN, Tauba. Born during 1897. Lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec during June 1942, where she perished.499

HEIBLUM, Ephraim. Born during 1920 in Starachowice, Ephraim was single and a butcher by profession. He was deported from Starachowice to Bełżec, where he perished.500

HEIM, Noach. Born during 1900 in Skawina, Noach was married and a merchant by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.501

HEIZLER, Malka. Born during 1912, formerly Goldberg, in Moscicka. She was married to Avraham and was a housewife. She was deported during 1942, from Moscicka to Bełżec, where she perished.502

HELER, Roza. Born during 1891 in Zaklikow, Roza was married to Barukh and was a housewife. She was deported during 1942 from Zaklikow to Bełżec, where she perished.503

HELLER, Bluma. Born during 1907 in Rozdol, Bluma was married to Kalman and was a housewife. She perished in Bełżec.504

HELLER, Zejniwl. Born during 1918 in Tomaszow Lubelski. He was single and was deported from Tomaszow Lubelski to Bełżec, where he perished.505

HELMAN, Wolf. Born during 1907 in Belz. He was single and a salesman by profession. He was deported from Lemberg to Bełżec duing 1942, where he perished.506

HENIG, Idel. Born during 1917 in Sanok. He was single and a merchant by profession. He was deported during 1942 from Sanok to Bełżec, where he perished.507

HERBSTMAN, Chaim. Born during 1908 in Brzesko, Chaim was married to Feigel. He was deported to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.508

HERBSTMAN, Malka. Born during 1894 in Lubaszow, Malka was married to Shlomo. During 1942 she was deported from Lubaszow to Bełżec where she perished.509

HERC. Father of Sylko Herc, deported from Krakau to Bełżec. A member of the Jewish work-brigade. He died of natural causes in the camp, and, according to Sylko, who escaped, the Germans organized a normal funeral, complete with a coffin.510

HERING, Shmuel. Born in Poland, he was married to Reizl, deported from Janow Lubelski to Bełżec, where he perished.511

HERLICH, Inda. Born during 1919 in Laszczowo. She was married and perished in Bełżec during 1942.512

HERNHUT, Szaja. Born during 1869, in Zamość, Szaja‘s well-known family were the owners of a printing-office in Zamość. He was deported to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.513

HERSCHMANN, Kurt. Born July 31, 1928. Deported from Prague on June 12/13, 1942, on Transport ‘AaH‘ (Attentat auf Heydrich—Assasination of Heydrich). About 1,000 Jews were sent to the East as a reprisal measure following the death of Reinhard Heydrich.

507 Ibid.

508 Yad Vashem Central Database.

509 Ibid.

510 Statements of Mieczyslaw Kudyba and Edward Luczynski at the Bełżec Investigation Commission 1945/1946.(IPN) Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw.

511 Yad Vashem Central Database.

512 Ibid.

513 Testimony of Jekutiel Cwilich.

This transport was officially destined for Ujazdow in the Lublin District, but the deportees were gassed at Bełżec.514

HERSCHMANN, Wilhelmina. Born on November 20, 1889, she was deported from Prague on June 12/13, 1942, on Transport AaH (Attentat auf Heydrich—Assasination of Heydrich), along with her son and about 1,000 other Jews sent to the East as a reprisal measure following the death of Reinhard Heydrich. This transport was officially destined for Ujazdow in the Lublin District, but the deportees were gassed at Bełżec.515

HESS, Wolf. Head of the Judenrat in Borszczow, Wolf was a good and solid leader of the Judenrat. He cleansed the Judenrat of corruption and was proud and respectable to the Germans. Because of his courageous behaviour, he was denounced by Jewish informers who were controlled by the Gestapo. He was arrested and deported to Bełżec on July 22, 1942, where he perished.516

HILLER, Bela. Born 1892 in Ozorkow, Bela was a housewife and married to Yekhiel. She perished in Bełżec.517

HILLMANN, Rosa. Born during 1898 in Dolina, Rosa was married and a teacher by profession. She was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto in 1942 to Bełżec, where she perished.518

HIMELFARB, Chaim. Born during 1890 in Krasnosielc, he was single and a ritual slaughterer. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.519

HIMMER, Miriam. Born in Gliniany. During the occupation she lived with her family in the Przemyslany ghetto. She was deported from the Przemyslany ghetto to Bełżec on April 12, 1942,

514 Frank Bright in correspondence with the author. Date of Birth—www.holocaust.cz.

515 Ibid.

516 JewishGen.org.

517 Yad Vashem Central Database. 518 Ibid. 519 Ibid.

where she perished. Her husband and sons were shot in the Przemyslany ghetto.520

HIROM, Abraham. Born during 1915 in Krakow, he was married and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.521

HIROM, Gitel. Born during 1910 in Krakow, Gitel was single and a seemstress by profession. She perished in Bełżec.522

HIROM, Lea. Born during 1913 in Kolomea, she was married and a housewife. She was deported from Nadworna to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.523

HIROM, Mordcha. Born during 1882 in Kolomea, he was married and a merchant by profession. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec, where he perished.524

HIRSCHFELD, Chana. Born during 1885 in Iasi, Romania, Chana was married to David. She was deported from Niemirow to Bełżec, where she perished.525

HIRSCHFELD, Feiwel. Born during 1915 in Niemirow, he was single and a clerk by profession. He perished in Bełżec.526

HIRSCHFELD, Roiza. Born during 1895 in Przemysl, Roiza was married to Tzvi. She was deported from Przemysl to Bełżec, where she perished.527

HIRSCHFELD, Salomon. Born during 1910 in Lezajsk, he was single and a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.528

HIRSCHHORN, Lea. Born during 1902 in Rawa Ruska, Lea was married to David. She was deported from Rawa Ruska to Bełżec, where she perished.529

HIRSHHORN, Sara. Born during 1908, Sara was married and a housewife. She perished during 1942 in Bełżec.530

HIRSZHORN, Natan. Born during 1905, he was married to Mindl. He perished duing 1942 in Bełżec.531

HISS, Roza. Born during 1887, in Lvov, she was married and a housewife. She was deported from Lemberg to Bełżec, where she perished.532

HISS, Wolf. Born during 1880 in Lvov, Wolf was married to Roiza and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.533

HIT, Kalman. Born during 1864 in Zamość, he was shoemaker by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.534

HITELMAN, Awram. Born during 1909 in Kurow, he was married to Khaia and was an egg trader by profession. He was deported from Kurow during 1942 to Bełżec, where he perished.535

HOCHMAN, Hersz. Born in Zamość, he was deported from Zamość to Bełżec, where he perished.536

HOCHMAN, Mina. Born during 1880 in Zamość, she was a housewife who was deported from Zamość to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.537

HOENIG, Chaya. Born during 1914 in Probuzna, Chaya was married. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.538

HOENIG, Israel. Born during 1887 in Probuzna he was married to Khala and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.539

HOENISCH, Israel. Born during 1892 in Kolomea, he was married to Batsheva and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Kosow to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.540

HOFERT, Sucia. One of four women photographed in the Kolbuszowa ghetto on January 5, 1941. They were sent from there to the Rzeszow Ghetto in June 1942. She was then deported to Bełżec in July 1942, where she perished.541

HOFFMAN, Zysl. Born during 1892, formerly Kornbrot, in Wolbrom. She was married to Yehoshua. She perished in Bełżec on September 4, 1942.542

HOFMAN, Sara. Born during 1921 in Piaski, Sara was single and was deported from Piaski to Bełżec, where she perished.543

HOLANDER, Josef. Born during 1920 in Rawa Ruska, Josef was single and in 1942 was deported from Rawa Ruska to Bełżec, where he perished.544

HOLCER, Abrahm. Born during 1910 in Nowy Sacs, he was single and a merchant by profession. He was deported from Nowy Sacs to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.545

HOLCER, Ruchel. Born during 1910 in Mielec, Ruchel was married to Avraham. She was deported from Nowy Sacs to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.546

HOLCER, Shlomo. Born during 1883 in Nowy Sacs, Shlomo was married and a merchant by profession. He was deported from Nowy Sacs in 1942 to Bełżec, where he perished.547

HOLCER, Wolf. Born during 1866,in Dabrowa Gornicza, Wolf was married to Gitel and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Dabrowa Gornicza to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.548

HOLDER, Kalman. Born during 1879 in Wisnicz, Kalman was married to Reizl and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.549

HOLENDER, Yisrael. Born during 1902 in Rawa Ruska. He was married. He was deported from Rawa Ruska to Bełżec, where he perished.550

HOLLAENDER, Ana. Born during 1879, in Krakow, Ana was married to Avraham and was a housewife. She was deported from Makow to Bełżec, where she perished.551

HOLLER, Abraham. He was born in Bukaczowce. Before the Second World War he worked as a postmaster. He was married to Feiga, and they had two sons, Dawid and Hansel. Abraham was deported from Bukaczowce to Bełżec, along with his wife and son Hansel, in October 1942, where they all perished.552

HOLZER, Gitta. Born in Tuchov, Gitta was married to Nakhum. She perished in Bełżec.553

HONIG, Jacob. Born during 1864 in Dzikov, Jacob was married to Khana and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Lemberg in 1942 to Bełżec, where he perished.554

HONIGMAN, Hersz, Wolf. Born during 1898 in Szydlowiec, Wolf lived in Proszowice, where he was a manufacturer of underwear. He was married to Chana, and they had five children. Together with his wife and daughter Etel, who was born during 1920, and Sara, who was born during 1922, they were resettled to Slomniki on August 28, 1942. From there they were deported to Bełżec on September 2, 1942, where they all perished.555

HONOROW, Frida. Lived in Tomasz ow Lubelski. She was probably deported during the spring of 1942 to Bełżec where she perished.556

HORN, Dr. Bernard. Born on December 16, 1880 in Brody. He was married to Roda and was a lawyer by profession. He perished in Bełżec.557

HORNUNG, Sala. Born during 1913, in Przemysl, Sala was single and a student. She was deported from Przemysl to Bełżec, where she perished.558

HOROVICH, Rabbi Abraham. Born in Probuzna, Rabbi Abraham was deported from Probuzna to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.559

553 Yad Vashem.

554 Ibid.

555 Bełżec Museum online resource.

556 Ibid.

557 Yad Vashen Central Database.

558 Ibid.

559 Ibid.

HORWIC, Baruch. Born during 1895 in Tomaszow Lubelski, Baruch was single and a ritual slaughterer by profession. He perished in Bełżec.560

HUETTNER, Bronislawa. Born during 1890 in Jaroslaw, she was a housewife, and she perished in Bełżec.561

HUPPERT, Mendel. Born during 1891 in Krakow, he was married to Gitel and was a housepainter by profession. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.562

IMBER, Shmuel, Yankev. Born during 1889 in Jezierna, in eastern Galicia. Shmuel was a nephew of Naftali Herz Imber, who wrote the song Hatikvah, the national anthem of Israel. He studied in Zloczow and Tarnopol. He became famous for writing Yiddish poems, and he published literary works. He was deported from Zloczow to Belzec on November 3, 1942, where he perished.563

IMICH, Anna, Rozalia. Born on December 24, 1895, formerly Gumplowicz, in Krakow. She lived there until 1941, then moved to Wieliczka, from where she was deported to Bełżec on August 26, 1942. She was deported together with her sister Matylda Schneider, step-mother Taube Gumplowicz and other members of the Gumplowicz family.564

JACUBOWICZ. A young physician from somewhere near Przemysl, as remembered by Rudolf Reder, in his memoirs.565

JUST, Rajzel. Born during 1920, in Rawa Ruska, Rajzel was single and a pupil. She was deported from Rawa Ruska to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.566

560 Ibid.

561 Ibid.

562 Ibid.

563 JewishGen.org.

564 Jan Imich in correspondence with the author—April 2003.

565 Rudolf Reder Memoirs, p.132.

566 Yad Vashem Central Database.

KATZ, Klara. . Born during 1893, in Zolkow, Klara was single and a clerk by profession. She was deported from Zolkow in 1942 to Bełżec, where she perished.567

KATZ, Lea. Born during 1918 in Zbaraz, Lea was single and a pupil. In 1942 she was deported from Zbaraz to Bełżec, where she perished.568

KARP, Franci. Born on December 22, 1895, formerly Bondy, daughter of Siegfried and Charlotte, Franci was married to Jaques Rudolf Karp, a coffee trader by profession. They had a daughter Rita Ann. Franci was deported along with her husband from Vienna to Opole Lubelski in Poland during February 1941. From Opole she went to Lublin. She was deported from Lublin to the Bełżec death camp in the spring of 1942, where she perished.569

KESTENBAUM, Josef. Born during 1900 in Tarnow, Josef graduated from a school of economics in Vienna. He was married to Ida and was a mechant by profession. He was deported with his wife and son to Bełżec in September 1942, where they all perished.570

KIRSZNBAUM, Sara. Formerly Suzman. She was married to Ichiel Kirsznbaum and they had two children Ester and Szlom. She was resettled from Lodz, together with her family and sent to Krasniczyn, a village in Krasnystaw county, during 1940 ,or 1941. Sara and her family were deported to the Bełżec death camp in April 1942, where they all perished.571

KLINGER, Salem. Born circa 1876, in Liczkowce, Salem was an accountant by profession. He was married to Frida, formerly Silberman, who was born during 1880. They had four children: Dora, Stella, Lorenc and Jozef. On August 10, 1942, Salem and Frida

567 Yad Vashem Central Database.

568 Ibid.

569 Bełżec Museum—online resource.

570 Bełżec Museum—online resource.

571 Ibid.

were deported from Lemberg to Belzec, where they both perished.572

KLISKES, Josel. From Zamość, Josel was arrested by the SS, together with some Czech Jews, while he was waiting for soup at the community welfare kitchen in the Zamość Ghetto. He was deported to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.573

KOHN, Rivka. Born during 1883, formerly Ingelman, in Tomaszow Lubelski, Rivka was married to Mordekhai and was a housewife living in Grodzisk. In 1942, she was deported from Grodzisk to Bełżec, where she perished.574

KULIK, Brandla. Born during 1937, Brandla was deported to Bełżec in June 1942, where she perished.575

KULIK, Chana. Born during 1936 and lived in Strzyzow, she was deported to Bełżec during June 1942, where she perished.576

KULIK, Estera. Born during 1890 and lived in Strzyzow, she was deported to Bełżec during June 1942, where she perished.577

KULIK, Salomon. Born during 1892. Lived in Strzyzow. Deported to Bełżec during June 1942, where he perished.578

KULIK, Utka. Born during 1938, lived in Strzyzow, Utka was deported to Bełżec during June 1942, where she perished.579

KURTYCZ, Janina. Born during 1912, formerly Tieffenbrunner, in Pisarzowa, near Limanowa. She was married to Jozef Kurtycz, and they had two children—Jan, who was born in 1934, and Maria who was born in 1936.

572 Ibid.

573 Testimony of Jekutiel Cwilich.

574 Yad Vashem Central Database.

575 JewishGen.org.

Ibid.

Before the Second World War, Janina lived in Pielgrzymowice in Cieszyn, Silesia, where her husband was a primary school headmaster. After the German occupation they were forced to leave Pielgrzymowice and went back to Pisarzowa. Janina was taken from her house on August 25, 1942, in plain sight of her children, who were outside playing nearby. She was deported within a collective transport from Nowy Sacs to Bełżec, during August 1942, where she perished.580

LAUFER, Elja. Born during 1897, in Krakow, Elja lived in Warsaw and perished in Bełżec during 1942.581

LEDERKREJMER, Szulim. Born in 1912, in Tomaszow Lubelski, Szulim was single. He perished in Bełżec.582

LEDERKREMER, Mirl. Born during 1882, formerly Brand, in Tomaszow Lubelski, Mirl was married to Eliezer and was a merchant by profession. She was deported during 1942 to Bełżec, where she perished.583

LIBMAN, Zisel. Born during 1919, formerly Sofer, in Borszczow, Zisel was married and a seemstress by profession. She was deported from Borszczow to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.584

LIEBLIEN, Mordechaj-Markus. Born during 1896, in Skolem. He married Lea, formerly Rosenberg, who was born during 1900. They had two children, Dolek who was born during 1928, and Benek, who was born during 1930. Mordechaj was deported to Bełżec, along with his wife and son Dolek, during October 1942, where they all perished.585

LIEBMAN, Sara. Born during 1898, Sara lived in Lvov and Borszczow. She perished in Bełżec in 1942.586

580 Bełżec Museum online resource.

581 Yad Vashem Central Database.

582 Ibid.

583 Yad Vashem Central Database.

584 Ibid.

585 Bełżec Museum online resource.

586 Yad Vashem Central Database.

LIPSZYC, Sala. From Radom, Sala was deported to Bełżec and was among other Jewish women who worked in the death camp. Some Polish people from the Bełżec village had contact with her, because she was allowed to leave the camp for work at the Commandant’s office, which was located outside of the death camp. She told some of the Poles details about the gas chambers and the extermination process. She was murdered by the Nazis during the course of the liquidation of the death camp.587

LORBER, Etka. Born on November 10, 1893 in Tarnopol, Etka was married to Shmuel and was deported from Tarnopol to Bełżec during August 1942, where she perished.588

LORBER, Malcia. Born during 1902 in Zbaraz, Malcia was married and a housewife. She was deported to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.589

LOWENTHAL, Brandla. Born during 1870 in Dobromil, Brandla was married to Josef. She was deported from Przemysl in July 1942, to Bełżec, where she perished.590

LOWENTHAL, Josef. Born on April 24, 1866 in Dobromil, Josef was married to Brandla. He owned a restaurant in Przemysl. He was deported from Przemysl, along with his wife Brandla, in July 1942, to Bełżec, where they both perished.591

LURBER, Menakhem. Born during 1912 in Kolomea. He perished in Bełżec.592

MANDELSBERG-SZYLDKRAUT, Dr. Bela. She was a doctor of history who graduated from the University of Warsaw. She published historical works about the Jews in Lublin. Before the

587 Statement of Edward Luczynski and Tadeusz Misiewicz at the Bełżec Investigation Commission 1945/46. Copy held in the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw. (IPN).

588 Yad Vashem Central Database.

589 Ibid.

590 Bełżec Museum online resource.

591 Ibid.

592 Yad Vashem Central Database.

Second World War she was a teacher by profession in Lublin. She was deported together with her whole family to Bełżec during March 1942, where she perished.593

MARGULES, Dr. Ozjasz. He was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec during March 1942, where he perished.594

Mariska. A Jewish girl who worked together with two other Jewish girls in the SS bakery, which was located in the village of Bełżec, Mariska was not allowed to speak and had to sleep in the bakery itself or a nearby hut. The bakery building was guarded by a Ukrainian at the gate. One day she was taken away, together with her two Jewish co-workers, and shot by the SS when the camp was closed down in May 1943.595

Mawka / Miriam. A Jewish girl who worked together with two other Jewish girls in the SS bakery, which was located in the village of Bełżec. She was not allowed to speak and had to sleep in the bakery itself or a nearby hut. The bakery building was guarded by a Ukrainian at the gate. One day she was taken away, together with her two Jewish co-workers, and shot by the SS when the camp was closed down in May 1943.596

MEJLICH, Lewowicz. Before the Second World War he lived in Zywiec. He was married to Ruchla, formerly Beitner. They had eight children. Together with his wife they were taken from Wolbrom to the railway station in Slomniki. From there they were taken to Bełżec during September 1942, where they both perished.597

593 Robert Kuwalek.

594 Kazimierz Poraj Memoirs. Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 1966.

595 Mike Tregenza in conversation with Gisela Gdula, in July 2002, witnessed by the author.

596 Ibid.

597 Belzec Museum online resource.

MEZEL, Golda. She was deported from the Tarnow Ghetto during the second ‘aktion‘ on September 12, 1942 to Bełżec, where she perished.598

Moniek. Rudolf Reder mentioned a Jewish prisoner from the workbrigade, named Moniek, who was a coach driver from Krakau. He supervised the motor room in which the gas was produced. Reder provided this information to the Main Commission of the Investigation of the Nazi Crimes in Poland.599

MUNK, Max. A cigarette case belonging to Max Munk, bearing the inscription Max Munk, Wien 27, was found in 1997, at the former Ramp area, during the archaeological investigations.600

MUSSLER, Chaskiel. Born on May 30, 1905, lived in Strzyzow, Chaskiel was deported to Bełżec, in December 1942, where he perished.601

MUSSLER, Mariem. Born on March 16, 1870, Mariem lived in Strzyzow. She was deported to Bełżec, in December 1942, where she perished.602

NACHTIGAL, Berko. A Jewish Kapo photographed holding a stick in front of the workshops in the death camp, he was described by Dr. Janusz Peters at the hospital in Tomaszow Lubelski, as being well-built and strong. Berko was killed in the camp.603

NADEL, Genia. Born in Poland, formerly Tilleman. She was married to Avraham and was deported from Drohobycz during 1942, to Bełżec, where she perished.604

598 Robert Kuwalek.

599 Rudolf Reder Memoirs.

600 Robin O’Neil, Bełżec ‘Stepping Stones to Genocide’ JewishGen Inc 2008.

601 JewishGen.org.

602 Ibid.

603 Mike Tregenza in correspondence with the author.

604 Yad Vashem Central Database.

OEHLBERG, Emil. Born during 1913, in Tarnopol. He was married and was an Agronomist by profession. He was deported from Kolomea to Bełżec, where he perished.605

OLENDER. The wife of Abraham Olender and his two children were deported from Krasnik to Bełżec on April 12, 1942, during the first ‘aktion‘. Abraham Olender was incarcerated in the Budzyn labor camp.606

OSTERMAN, Regina. Born circa 1900, formerly Stettner. Before the Second World War she was a translator and writer. Her daughter Gertruda was deported from Kolomea to Bełżec, during 1942. She escaped from this transport and went to live in Warsaw. Her mother Regina had stayed in the Lemberg Ghetto to take care of her nephew who had typhus. During November 1942, Regina was deported from Lemberg, to Bełżec, where she perished.607

PFEFFER, Markus (Maks). Born during 1891, a lawyer by profession, he was deported from the Przemysl Ghetto at the begining of the First ‘Aktion‘ on July 27, 1942. He perished in Bełżec.608

PFEFFER, Sara. Born during 1920, she was a student. She was deported from the Przemysl Ghetto at the begining of the First ‘Aktion‘ on July 27, 1942. She perished in Bełżec.609

PELCMAN, Pshaje. Born during 1880 in Zaklikow, he was married to Rivka, and they had a son Chil, who was born in 1905. Pshaje was deported to Bełżec during November 1942, with his son Chil, his daughter-in-law Bajla, and grandson Mates, who was born in 1905. They all perished.610

605 Ibid.

606 Testimony of Abraham Olender. The Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw (ZIH).

607 Bełżec Museum online resource.

608 Lukasz Biedka.

609 Ibid.

610 Bełżec Museum online resource.

PUTER, Shmuel. Born during 1910 in Zamość. He was married to Beile and was a beverage merchant by profession. He was deported from Zamość to Bełżec during April 1942, where he perished.611

RACKER, Yehiel. Born in Gorlice, he was married. In 1942 he was deported from Gorlice to Bełżec, where he perished.612

REDER, Bronislaw. The son of Bełżec survivor Rudolf Reder, Bronislaw was born in 1907 and was deported from Lemberg on August 10, 1942, to the Bełżec death camp. Rudolf Reder was informed that he perished in the gas chambers shortly after arriving in the camp.613

REIMER, Jozefina. Born in 1910, formerly Frim. A year before the Second World War broke out, she started working as a teacher of Polish in Kazimierz Morawski School for boys in Przemysl. After the outbreak of war, she lived in the Soviet occupation zone of Przemysl and was delegated to teach mathematics in one of the newly opened year-10 schools.

During the time of the German occupation, after the ghetto had been established, she worked in a kitchen, and shortly before the deportation, she married a former colleague. She took care of two girls whose parents had been taken away during one of the earlier deportation aktions. Jozefina was deported from the Przemysl ghetto to Bełżec in November 1942, where she perished.614

ROSENBERG, Mania. Born during 1910, in Skolem, Mania was a pharmacist by profesion. She was deported toBełżec during October 1942, where she perished.615

611 Yad Vashem Central Database.

612 Ibid.

613 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p.56.

614 Bełżec Museum online resource.

615 Ibid.

ROSENFELD, Maksymillana. A well-known pianist from Lvov, Maksymillana was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec in March 1942, where she perished.616

ROTH, Ruzia. Born during 1900, in Boryslaw, Ruzia lived in Krakow before the Second World War. She was married to Izydor Roth, and they had a daughter named Sonia. She was deported from Boryslaw during August 1942, along with her mother Rebeka and her daughter Sonia, to the Bełżec death camp, where they all perished.617

ROZENEL. The wife of Nuchim Rozenel and their three children were deported to Bełżec during the first ‘aktion‘ in the Krasnik Ghetto on April 12, 1942. They were killed, but Nuchim was incarcerated in the Jewish Labor camp in Budzyn. He escaped from Budzyn during the evacuation of the camp in July 1944.618

RUBINFELD, Berl. Born during 1938 and lived in Strzyzow, he was deported to Bełżec, where he perished in June 1942.619

RUBINFELD, Hencia. Born on March 19, 1897, Hencia lived in Strzyzow, and was deported to Bełżec, where she perished in June 1942.620

RUBINFELD, Macht. Born during 1894, lived in Strzyzow, Macht was deported to Bełżec, where he perished in June 1942.621

RUBINFELD, Szyja. Born during 1939, Szyja lived in Strzyzow and was deported to Bełżec, where he perished in June 1942.622

Sala / Salomea. A Jewish girl who worked together with two other Jewish girls in the SS bakery, which was located in the village of

616 Kazimierz Poraj Memoirs. Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 1966.

617 Bełżec Museum online resource.

618 Testimony of Nuchin Rozenel. The Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw (ZIH).

619 JewishGen.org.

620 Ibid. 621 Ibid. 622 Ibid.

Bełżec, Sakinea was not allowed to speak and had to sleep in the bakery itself or a nearby hut. The bakery building was guarded by a Ukrainian at the gate. One day she was taken away, together with her two Jewish co-workers, and shot by the SS when the camp was closed down in May 1943.623

SANDAUER, Abraham. Born on August 1, 1882 in Sambor, he was deported from the Lemberg ghetto to Bełżec during August 1942, where he perished.624

SANDAUER, Franciszka. Born on January 23, 1898, in Husiatyn, Franciszka was married to Jozef and was a physician by profession. She lived at Kraszewskie 11, Flat 7, Lvov. She was deported from Lemberg to Bełżec during August 1942, where she perished.625

SANDAUER, Jozef. Born on October 2, 1884, in Sambor, he was married to Franciszka, and they had a son Feliks, who was born during 1928.Jozef was a lawyer by profession and worked with his brother in the same practice. He lived at Kraszewskie 11, Flat 7, Lvov. He was deported from Lemberg to Bełżec during August 1942, where he perished.626

SANDBERG, Fanny. Wife of Zygmunt, Fanny was a mother to Roza, who was born in 1908; Lola who was born during 1919; and Amelia, known as Mila, who was born in 1923. Fanny was deported with her family from Kolomea to Bełżec during October 1942. Lola, Mila, and adopted child Jasia managed to escape from the cattle car. Fanny and her husband Zygmunt perished in Bełżec.627

623 Mike Tregenza in conversation with Gisela Gdula, in July 2002, witnessed by the author.

624 Pawel Sawicki in correspondence with the author, February 12, 2021.

625 Ibid.

626 Ibid.

627 Bełżec Museum online resource.

SANDBERG, Zygmunt. Husband of Fanny. Deported along with members of his family from Kolomea to Bełżec during October 1942, where he perished.628

SCHARF, Mojsze. Born during 1874 in Oswiecim. He was a rabbi and mohel. He was a member of the Bobov Hassidic community in Bielsko. He was deported from Tarnow to Bełżec during November 1942, where he perished.629

SCHAPIERA, Leiba. Born during 1922. Lived in Strzyzow, deported to Bełżec in June 1942, where she perished.630

SCHENKELBACH, Bertold. Bertold was a self-taught photographer, a resident of Drohobych. In 1926 he won the second prize in the Polish Photographic Industry competition in Poznan. He was deported from Drohobycz, along with his wife Edda, on August 8, 1942, to the Bełżec death camp, where they both perished.631

SCHEPS, Feiga. Born during 1897, Feiga lived in Strzyzow, was deported to Bełżec in June 1942, where she perished.632

SCHLUSSEL. Remembered by Rudolf Reder as a merchant from Krakow. He also had a son. Both were probably killed in the camp.633

SCHNEIDER, Matylda. Born on August 2, 1900, formerly Gumplowicz, in Krakow. She lived there until 1941. On August 26, 1942, she was deported from Wieliczka to Bełżec, together with her sister Anna Imich, step-mother Taube Gumplowicz, and other members of the Gumplowicz family.634

SCHRAGER, Leon. A Jewish carpenter from the Lemberg Ghetto, Leon was deported to Bełżec during March 1942. From the 628 Ibid.

630 JewishGen.org.

631 Bełżec Museum online resource.

632 JewishGen.org.

633 Rudolf Reder Memoirs p.132.

634 Jan Imich in correspondence with the author—April 2003.

railway station in Bełżec he sent a letter to his son Henryk Schrager, stating that he is in Bełżec now.635

SCHREIBER. Remembered by Rudolf Reder, a Jew from the Sudetenland, a former lawyer who worked in the camp office. He probably perished in the death camp.636

SCHREIBER, Rabbi Anshel. Born during 1880, Anshel was a Hassidic rabbi and a Jewish scholar from Lvov. When the German forces occupied Lvov, which was renamed Lemberg on June 30, 1941, they established a Judenrat, in which he was a member. He was a member of the Religious Affairs Department.

In the same year, the Germans established a ghetto for the Jewish population. Rabbi Anshel Schreiber was forced to compile names for deportation lists. Despite his identity-card, which identified him as a member of the Judenrat, he was himself deported to Bełżec during March 1942, where he perished. The Nazis gave the official reason for his deportation: that Schreiber was too religious, and he looked like a typical orthodox Jew.637

SEGEL, Jakub. Jakub was deported from Zolkiew, near Lemberg, during the first ‘Aktion‘ on March 20, 1942. He said goodbye to his wife in public, in front of the gas chamber building, and the Jews waiting to be gassed started crying.638

SEIGEL, Dwojra. Born in 1890, Dwojra lived in Strzyzow. She was deported to Bełżec in June 1942, where she perished.639

SIEGFRIED, Erna. Born in 1910, married to David Siegfried. She perished inBełżec.640

SIEGFRIED, Esther. Born in 1920, she was single. She perished in Bełżec.641

635 Robert Kuwalek in correspondence with the author.

636 Rudolf Reder Memoirs p.128.

637 Holocaust-denkmal.de.

638 Gerszon Taffet, Zagloda Zolkiewskich, Lodz, 1946.

639 JewishGen.org.

640 Lillian Siegfried, Staten Island, New York.

641 Lillian Siegfried, Staten Island, New York.

SIEGFRIED-SCHWINGER, Eva. Born in 1907, married to Efram Schwinger. She perished in Bełżec.642

SIEGFRIED, Dr. Josef. Born in Radomysl Wielki. He was an economist who graduated from the universities of Vienna and Cologne. Before the war he was a representative of the Lublin Trade Company. During the occupation he was a member of the Lublin Judenrat, responsible for health affairs. He also co-operated with the Judisches Soziale Selbshilfe. He was deported to Bełżec in April 1942, where he perished.643

SIEGFRIED, Josef. Born during 1903. He was married and perished in Bełżec.644

SIEGFRIED, Mina. Born in 1911, married to Benjamin Siegfried. She perished in Bełżec.645

SIEGFRIED, Natan. Natan and Regina were the parents of nine chidren, and they lived at 10 Kazimierza Wielkiego in Jaslo. They were both murdered in Bełżec along with other members of their family.646

SIEGFRIED, Regina. Natan and Regina were the parents of nine chidren and they lived at 10 Kazimierza Wielkiego in Jaslo. They were both murdered in Bełżec along with other members of their family.647

SIEGFRIED, Szymon. Born during 1910, and married to Rachel, formerly Kaplan. He perished in Bełżec.648

SILBER, Regina. Born during 1915, formerly Feldmann, in Krystnoypol. Regina was married to Khaim and was a housewife. She was deported from Witkow to Bełżec, where she perished.649

SILBERBERG, Schifra. Born during May 1914, formerly Shteiner, in Nowy Sacs. Schifra was married and a housewife. She was deported from Nowy Sacs to Bełżec, where she perished.650

SILBERMAN, Aron. Born on August 18, 1889, in Ustrzyki Dolne. He was married to Feigl and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Rymanov to Bełżec, where he perished.651

SILBERPFENIG, Rivka. Deported from the Tarnow Ghetto during the second ‘Aktion‘ on September 12, 1942, to Bełżec, where she perished.652

SILBERSTEIN, Leib. Born during 1904 in Lodz. He was married to Daria and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.653

SILBIGER, Szymon. Born during 1890 in Brzesko, Szymon was married to Malka and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Brzesko to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.654

SINGER, Henrik. Born during 1894, in Szczucin, Henrik was married to Henia and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Szczucin to Bełżec, where he perished.655

SINGER, Reisel. Born during 1918 in Brzesko, Reisel was single. She was deported from Brzesko to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.656

649 Yad Vashem Central Database.

650 Ibid.

651 Ibid.

652 Robert Kuwalek in correspondence with the author.

653 Yad Vashem Central Database.

654 Ibid.

655 Ibid.

656 Ibid.

SINGER, Sara. Born during 1892 in Brzesko. Sara was married to Kalman and was a housewife. She was deported from Brzesko to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.657

SINGER, Salman. Born during 1900 in Zolkiew. He was married to Sara and was a craftsman by profession. He was deported from Zolkiew to Bełżec, where he perished.658

SOKALER, Dr. Michal. A lawyer and a violinist from Lvov, Michal was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec during the ‘Grossaktion‘ during August 1942, where he perished.659

SONNENSCHEIN, Mala. Born during 1915 in Krakow, Mala was married. She was deported from Krakau to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.660

SPODEK, Maria. A young Jewish woman from Zamość, Maria was deported to Bełżec and selected on the ramp for work in the camp laundry. She was killed in 1943 when the camp was liquidated. She was remembered by Krystyna Natyna during an investigation undertaken in 1966 by the Polish Secret Police.661

STADLER, Martha. Born on May 14, 1904, formerly Drucker, in Korycany, Martha met her husband Otto in Zlin, Moravia, in 1924. After the First World War they moved to Vienna, Austria. They had two children inVienna, Harry in 1925, and Robert in 1929. In 1934, the family moved from Vienna to Klatovy, then to Czechoslovakia, then to Pilsen and Prague in April / May 1939. From Prague Martha and Otto were taken to Theresienstadt during February 1942, and in the middle of March 1942, were deported on Transport ‘AB‘ to the Izbica Transit Ghetto in Poland.

657 Ibid.

658 Ibid.

659 Kazimierz Poraj Memoirs. Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 1966.

660 Yad Vashem Central Database.

661 Statement by Krystyna Natyna from Bełżec during an investigation by Polish Secret Police. Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin.

She was deported to Bełżec along with Otto, where they both perished.662

STADLER, Otto. Born on March 22, 1897, in Strazow Na Sumave. (Czech Republic), Otto met his wife Martha in Zlin, Moravia, in 1924. After the First World War they moved to Vienna, where Otto went into business with a cousin selling duvets. They had two children in Vienna, Harry in 1925 and Robert in 1929.

In 1934, the family moved from Vienna to Klatovy, then to Czechoslovakia, then to Pilsen and Prague in April / May 1939. From Prague Otto and Martha were taken to Theresienstadt during February 1942, and in the middle of March 1942, were deported on Transport ‘AB‘ to the Izbica Transit Ghetto in Poland. He was deported to Bełżec along with Martha, where they both perished.663

STEINITZ, Hermann. He, came from a Jewish family which settled in Chorzow, and he was married to Salomea, formerly Rein, who came from Kalisz and later settled in Poznan. They had two children: Helmut, who was born in 1927 in Poznan, and a younger brother who was called Rudolf.

Hermann studied German, French, and English at the University of Wroclaw, and he was a teacher of these languages in the Schiller Secondary School in Poznan. During the German occupation, the whole family lived in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, then they moved to Warsaw, and finally settled in the Krakau ghetto. While in the Krakau ghetto Hermann taught English.

In June 1942, Hermann, Salomea and Rudolf were deported from Krakau to the Bełżec death camp, where they all perished.

Helmut survived the Holocaust and settled in Israel, and there he took the Hebrew name Zwi. Helmut Zwi returned to Poznan, Krakow, and Bełżec during 2009 to honor his murdered family.

Helmut Zwi Steinitz passed away in Israel in 2019.664

STERNLICHT, Szymon. Born in Krakow during January 1896. He was a shop owner arrested by the Germans and deported to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished. This information was supplied by his daughter Helen Sternlicht, later Jonas-Rosenzweig, who worked as a maid for the notorious camp commandant of Plaszow, Amon Goth. Goth was a brutal sadist, who had previously been a member of Aktion Reinhardt in Lublin.665

STYK, Ozjasz. Famous co-painter of ‘Raclawice’s Panorama‘—the painting depicts the battle of Raclawice, fought in April 1794, between Russian troops and a Polish peasant army, defending Polish independence. The Poles won the battle but lost the war. Before the Second World War the painting was exhibited in Lvov, and today it can be seen in Wroclaw. Ozjasz was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec during March 1942, where he perished.666

SUSSKIND, Mindla. Born in 1913 in Biecz, Mindla was deported in 1942 from Biecz to Bełżec, where she perished.667

SUSSKIND, Rozia. One of four women photographed in the Kolbuszowa ghetto on January 5, 1941, they were sent from there to the Rzeszow Ghetto in June 1942. Rozia was then deported to Bełżec in July 1942, where she perished.668

SZEPS, Azriel. Born during 1886 in Zamość, Azriel was a well-known tailor in Zamość. He was a member of the Zionist Organization and Vice-President of the Zamość Judenrat. Before the Second World War he was a member of the City Council and the Jewish Community Council. In October 1942, he was deported with his family and other Jews from Zamość to Izbica, and in early

665 Helen Jonas-Rosenzweig, My Father was a Nazi Commandant, Tv Documentary, Allentown Productions Inc 2006.

666 Kazimierz Poraj Memoirs. Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 1966.

667 Yad Vashem Central Database.

668 Bełżec Museum online resource.

November from Izbica to the Bełżec extermination camp. Rudolf Reder witnessed his death.669

SZEPS, David. The son of Azriel and Pesa, David was deported with his parents from Zamość to Izbica, and from there to Bełżec in early November 1942, where he perished.670

SZEPS, Lea. She was the daughter of Azriel and Pesa. She was deported with her parents from Zamość to Izbica, and from there to Bełżec in early November 1942, where she perished.671

SZEPS, Pesa. Born in 1890, Pesa was the wife of Azriel Szeps. She was deported from Zamość to Izbica, and from there to Bełżec in early November 1942, where she perished.672

SZLAM, Frajda. Born during 1890 in Zamość, Frajda was deported from Zamość to Bełżec together with her husband Icek during April 1942, where she perished.673

SZLAM, Icek. Born during 1880 in Zamość, Icek was married to Frajda and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Zamość to Bełżec in April 1942, where he perished.674

TABAK, Rachel. Born during 1888, formerly Weiss, in Stryj, Rachel was married and a housewife. She was deported from Stryj to Bełżec, where she perished.675

TAJTELBAUM, Roza. Born during 1885, in Krakow, Roza was married to Yekhezkel. She was deported from Krakau to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.676

TAJTLER, Syma. Born during 1897, formerly Rozenberg, in Boryslaw, Syma was married to Moritz and was a housewife. She was

669 Robert Kuwalek and A. Kopciowski.

670 Ibid.

671 Ibid.

672 Ibid.

673 Testimony of Jekutiel Cwilich.

674 Ibid.

675 Yad Vashem Central Database.

676 Ibid.

deported from Boryslaw to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.677

TAU, Chawa. Born during 1912, in Chelm, Chawa was married to Fishel and was a housewife. She was deported during 1942, from Lublin to Bełżec, where she perished.678

TAU, Schlomo. Born during 1892, in Piask, Schlomo was married and a merchant by profession. He was deported to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.679

TAUB, Aharon. Born during 1909, in Krakow, Aharon was single and was deported from Wieliczka to Bełżec, where he perished.680

TAUCHER, Wolf. Jewish Kapo, described by Dr. Janusz Peter, who worked at the hospital in Tomaszow Lubelski, as being well-built and very strong. He perished in Bełżec.681

TEICH, Gabriel. Born on March 16, 1880, in Brody, Gabriel graduated from secondary school in Brody and the Faculty of German Philology in the Philosophy Department, University of Lvov. He spent his professional life in Przemysl, where he worked as a teacher in a number of secondary schools.

He was also connected to the Assimilation Movement. He was also a member of the philantropic organization Humanitas— B’nei B’rith. He was involved with the Receivership Management Board of the Jewish Community, the Society of Teachers of Higher Education in Przemysl, the Society of Friends of Science in Przemysl, Henryk Sienkiewicz Association of the Folk School, and the Polish Philological Association.

During the Soviet occupation from January 1940, to June 1941, he worked in the Adam Mickiewicz School as a teacher of German. He was married to Lida Spiro, and was a father to Alma Bianka and Renata Julia.

He did not flee with the Soviets when they left Przemysl for Soviet territory and was deported from Przemysl to Bełżec in July 1942, where he perished.682

TEICHTAL, Joseph. Born during 1908 in Brzesko, Joseph was married and a merchant by profession. He was deported from Krakau to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.683

TEITELBAUM, Lieba. Born during 1872 in Rymanow, Lieba was married to Yisrael and was a housewife. In 1942 she was deported from Rymanow to Bełżec, where she perished.684

TEITELBAUM, Miriam. Born during 1910 in Vienna, Austria, Miriam was single and was deported in 1942 from Rymanow to Bełżec, where she perished.685

TENCER, Icchak. Born during 1883, in Strzyzow. He was married and a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.686

TENCER, Szmuel. Born during 1898 in Strzyzow, Szmuel was married and a merchant by profession. He perished in Be łżec.687

TENENBAUM, Hene. Born in Dzialoszyce, formerly Platkeiwicz, Hene was a housewife and in 1942 was deported to Bełżec, where she perished.688

TENENBAUM, Klara. Born during 1915 in Zloczow, Klara was married and a housewife. She was deported in 1942 from Zloczow to Bełżec, where she perished.689

TIRGFELD, Rejzel. Born during 1884 in Zborow, Rejzel was married to Yaakov and a housewife. In 1942 she was deported from Slawna to Bełżec, where she perished.690

TIRKILTOUB, Wolf. Born during 1905, in Chrobjeszow, Wolf was married and a carriage owner by profession. He was deported from Ludma to Bełżec, where he perished.691

TOBIAS, Berta. Born in 1911, formerly Shvartz, in Oswiecim, Berta was married to Herman and was a housewife. She was deported from Krakau to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.692

TROHM, Israel. Born in 1890 in Frysztak, Israel was married to Ida and was a merchant by profession. In 1942 he was deported from Rzeszow to Bełżec, where he perished.693

TURM, Malka. Born during 1872, formerly Likhtenshtein, in Komarow, Malka was married to Yisrael and was a housewife. During 1942, she was deported from Komarow to Bełżec, where she perished.694

TURNER, Eleonora. Eleonora (Lea) Turner was born on July 26, 1898, to parents Shlomo and Yehudit. in Pisarzowa, Poland. She married Tzvi Hersch and moved with him to Nowy Targ in 1918. They lived at 10 Ludzmierska Street where Hersch ran a butchery. They had four children. After her husband’s death in 1927, Eleonora never remarried. Her sons Heniek and Mojzesz who survived the Holocaust, remembered her as an educated, lively, and friendly woman, who gave charity and help, to all who needed it. She managed to balance running the butchery with motherhood. She was deported along with her two daughters, Hela Keila, who was born on May 17, 1922, and Cela Cecylia, who was born on

September 6, 1926, to Belzec from Nowy Targ on August 30, 1942, where they all were murdered.695

VEINBERG, Shalom. Born in Turobin, Shalom was married to Matil. He was deported from Bychawa to Bełżec, where he perished.696

WACHMAN, Dr. A lawyer from Lvov, Dr. Wachman was deported in March 1942 from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec, where he perished.697

WAJNSZTOK, Feiga. Born to Moshe and Khaia, Feiga was deported in 1942 from Szcebrzeszyn to Bełżec, where she perished.698

WAJSBROT. A Hassidic rabbi from Turobin, during the war he was in the Krasnik Ghetto together with his son and his family. In October 1942, during the second ‘aktion‘ in the Krasnik Ghetto, they were deported to Zaklikow, which was the main collecting point for the Jews in Krasnik county. From there he and his family members were deported to Bełżec, where they perished.699

WAJSELFISZ, Josef. Born on August 1, 1898, Josef was an activist of the Zionist Organization in Lublin, and a member of the Jewish Community Council, who worked with Hebrew schools in Lublin. During the Nazi occupation he was a member of the Judenrat. Together with his whole family they were deported on March 31, 1942, to Bełżec, where they perished.700

WEB, David. Born in 1893 in Rawa Mazowiecka, David was married to Masha and was a Rabbi. He was deported from Rawa Mazowiecka to Bełżec, where he perished.701

695 Information supplied to the author by Tali Nates, on February 11, 2020.

696 Yad Vashem Central Database.

697 Kazimierz Poraj Memoirs. Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 1966.

698 Yad Vashem Central Database.

699 Testimony of Nuchim Rozenel. The Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.

700 Robert Kuwalek in correspondence with the author.

701 Yad Vashem Central Database.

WEIN, Suzia. One of four women photographed in the Kolbuszowa ghetto on January 5, 1941. They were sent from there to the Rzeszow Ghetto in June 1942. Suzia was then deported to Bełżec in July 1942, where she perished.702

WEINBAUM, Jehuda. Born during 1887, in Stojanow, Jehuda was married and an engineer by profession. He was deported from Sambor to Bełżec, where he perished.703

WEINBERG, Riwka. Born during 1882, formerly Katz, Riwka was married to Yisrael and was a housewife. She was deported from Sokal to Bełżec, where she perished.704

WEINBERG, Shmuel. Born during 1892 in Rowne, Shmuel was married to Mala and was a merchant by profession. He perished during 1942, in Bełżec.705

WEINSTOCK, Berthold (Olek). Born during 1897, an electrical engineer by profession, Olek was deported from the Przemysl Ghetto during the first ‘aktion‘ on July 27, 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.706

WEINSTOCK, Irena. Born during 1903, formerly Reisner, a school teacher by profession, Irena was deported from the Przemysl Ghetto during the first ‘aktion‘ on July 27, 1942 to Bełżec, where she perished.707

WEINSTOCK, Izydor (Chaskel). Born during 1865, a jeweller by profession, Chaskel was deported from the Przemysl Ghetto during the first ‘aktion‘ on July 27, 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.708

WEINSTOCK, Ludwiczek. Born during 1934, Ludwiczek was deported from the Przemysl Ghetto during the first ‘Aktion‘ on July 27, 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.709

WEITZ, Pepka. One of four women photographed in the Kolbuszowa ghetto on January 5, 1941. They were sent from there to the Rzeszow Ghetto in June 1942. Pepka was then deported to Bełżec in July 1942, where she perished.710

WEJNRATH, Szejndel. Born during 1902 in Lubaczow, Szejndel was married. In 1942 she was deported from Lubaczow to Bełżec, where she perished.711

WEJNSZTOK, Gustav. Born during 1914 in Lvov, Gustav was married and a school teacher by profession. He perished in Bełżec.712

WELC, Cwy. Born during 1918, in Tarnogrod, Cwy was single. He was deported from Tarnogrod to Bełżec, where he perished.713

WELICZKER, Abraham. Born during 1894 in Stojanov, Abraham was a timber merchant; he was associated with a company that exported eggs and was a partner in a cement-pipe company in Stojanov. When the famly moved to Lvov he designed houses. He was the father of Leon Weliczker Wells, who wrote a famous account of his life in Janowska camp called The Death Brigade after the war. Abraham was deported from Lemberg on November 19, 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.714

WERDINGER, Ana. Born during 1908, formerly Roka, in Boryslaw, Ana was a clerk by profession. She was deported from Boryslaw to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.715

709 Ibid.

710 Bełżec Museum online resource.

711 Yad Vashem Central Database.

712 Ibid.

713 Ibid.

714 Leon Weliczker Wells, The Janowska Road, USHMM, Washington DC, 1999, P. 18-19, 137,138.

715 Yad Vashem Central Database.

WERTMAN, Ichak. Born during 1896 in Izbica, Ichak was married to Mendel and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.716

WERTMAN, Pinie. Born during 1910 in Tomaszow Lubelski, Pinie was married and a merchant by profession. He perished in Bełżec.717

WETSTEIN, Cila. Born in 1921, daughter of Hirsch and Chaja-Sura, Cila was deported in June 1942 from Krakau to Bełżec, where she perished.718

WICKLER, Rachel. Born in 1876, Rachel was deported from Probuzna to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.719

WIENER, Stefa. Born during 1900 in Krakow, Stefa was married to Yulius and was a housewife. In 1942 she was deported from Krakau to Bełżec, where she perished.720

WIKLER, Abraham. Born in Probuzna, Abraham was deported from Probuzna to Bełżec, where he perished.721

WILF, Isser. Born during 1905 in Boryslaw, Isser was married and an engineer by profession. He perished at Bełżec in 1942.722

WILNER, Fajwel. Fajwel lived in the Debica ghetto. He was deported from Debica to Be łżec on November 15, 1942. He knew about the final destination of the transport and organized a common prayer in the cattle car.723

WITLIN, Abraham. Born during 1910, in Zolkiew, Abraham was single and a grocer by profession. In 1942, he was deported from Zolkiew to Bełżec, where he perished.724

WITMAN, Ysak. Born during 1888 in Sobibor, Ysak was married to Sara and was a merchant by profession. He perished during 1942 in Bełżec.725

WOLBROMSKI, Sara. Born during 1918 in Ksiaz Wielki, Sara was deported from Ksiaz Wielki to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.726

WOLBROMSKI, Tzirel. Born during 1886 in Wodzislaw, Tzirel was married to Aahron and lived in Ksiaz Wielki. She was deported from Ksiaz Wielki to Bełżec, during 1942, where she perished.727

WOLF, Sara. Born during 1910 in Zwadka, Sara was married to Yosef and was a housewife. She was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec during 1942, where she perished.728

WOLKENFELD, Juda. Born during 1895, Juda was married to Tziporan and lived in Biecz. He perished in Bełżec on November 11, 1942.729

WOLMAN, Szmul. Born on November 4, 1889 in Lublin, Szmul was the owner of large hardware stores in Lublin. He was deported in March 1942 to Bełżec, where he perished.730

WOLSZTAJN, Lejb. Born during 1927, in Wloclawek, Lejb was resettled to Zamość in 1940. During the first ‘aktion‘ he was sent to Bełżec on April 11, 1942, together with his mother and sister. Lejb managed to escape, and he returned to the Zamość Ghetto. There he told the Judenrat in Zamość about the death camp and the fate

of the Jews transported there. In August 1942, he was again deported to Bełżec, together with his father Szmul. Both of them perished in Bełżec.731

WOLSZTAJN, Rojza. Born in 1921, Rojza was the daughter of Szmul and Zera. She perished in Bełżec.732

WOLSZTAJN, Szmul. Born in 1890, the father of Lejb and Rojza, Szmul was resettled to Zamość in 1940, together with his family. He was a member of the Judische Soziale Selbshilfe in the Zamość Ghetto. He was deported to Bełżec along with his son Lejb, in August 1942. They both perished in Bełżec.733

WOLSZTAJN, Zera. Born during 1892, Zera was the mother of Lejb and Rojza, and wife to Szmul. She perished in Bełżec in August 1942.734

ZAJDENFODEM, Szymon. Born during 1920 in Chelm, Szymon was married to Pesa and was a metalworker by profession. He was deported from Chelm to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.735

ZALCBERG, Sara. Bornin 1900, formerly Tzukerman, in Miechow, Sara was a housewife. In 1942, she was deported from Miechow to Bełżec, where she perished.736

ZAUER, Sara. Born in 1918, in Limanowa, in 1942 Sara was deported from Chelmiec to Bełżec, where she perished.737

ZEMLER, Fawl. Born in 1887 in Nemirow, Fawl was married to Roshi and was a merchant by profession. In 1942, he was deported from Rawa Ruska to Bełżec, where he perished.738

ZIEGEL, Berl. Born during 1913 in Laski, Berl was single and a merchant by profession. He was deported from Laski to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.739

ZIEGEL, Josef. Born during 1900 in Cieszanow, Josef was married to Pesel and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from the Lemberg Ghetto in 1942, to Bełżec, where he perished.740

ZIGEL, Amalia. Born during 1890 in Uhnow, Amalia was married to Moshe. In 1942 she was deported from Uhnow to Bełżec, where she perished.741

ZILBERSZTEIN, Fejga. Born during 1895, Fejga was married to Yosef and was a housewife in Tomaszow Lubelski. She was deported from Tomaszow Lubelski to Bełżec, where she perished.742

ZINGER, Mirjam. Born during 1884 in Tomaszow Lubelski, Mirjam was married to Iasha. She was deported from Tomaszow Lubelski to Bełżec, where she perished.743

ZIS, Faivel. Born duing 1874 in Zamość, Faivel was married to Ester. He was deported from Zamość to Bełżec, where he perished.744

ZISKIND, Rosalia. Born during 1921 in Gorlice, Rosalia was single. In 1942 she was deported from Gorlice to Bełżec, where she perished.745

ZLOCZOWER, Chana. Born during 1920 in Lvov, Chana was the daughter of Rachel and Shlomo Zloczower. She perished in Bełżec together with her parents and sister Rena, in 1942.746

ZLOCZOWER, Israel. Born during 1900 in Lvov, Israel was a tailor by profession. He perished in Bełżec during 1942.747

ZLOCZOWER, Rachel. Married to Shlomo, Rachel was deported in 1942 from the Lemberg Ghetto to Bełżec, where she perished with other members of her family.748

ZLOCZOWER, Rena. Born during 1924 in Lvov, Rena was the daughter of Rachel and Shlomo Zloczower. She perished in Bełżec together with her parents and sister Chana in 1942.749

ZLOCZOWER, Shlomo. Born during 1890 in Lvov. He was married to Rachel, and they had two daughters: Chana and Rena. Shlomo was a tailor by profession. He perished in Bełżec in1942, along with the rest of his family.750

ZMISZLONO, Jakob. Born during 1910 in Dzaloszice, Jakob was married to Sara and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Dzaloszice to Bełżec in 1942, where he perished.751

ZOMMER, Brajndel. Born during 1920 in Debica. Brajndel was a pupil and single. She was deported from Debica to Bełżec in 1942, where she perished.752

ZUCKER. One of the dentists in the death camp, as recalled by Rudolf Reder. He came from Rzeszow. His fate is unknown, but in all probabilty he perished.753

ZYLBER, Szlomo. Born during 1888 in Zamość. He was married to Reizl and was a worker by profession. He was deported from Zamość to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.754

ZYLBERBERG, David. Born during 1902 in Tomaszow Lubelski, David was married to Miril and was a driver by profession. He perished in Bełżec.755

ZYLBERBERG, Miril. Born during 1902 in Tomaszow Lubelski, Miril was a housewife and was married to David. She perished in Bełżec during 1942.756

ZYSKIND, Michael. Born in 1875 in Rozyszcze, Michael was married to Khala and was an agent by profession. He was deported from Kowel to Bełżec during 1942, where he perished.757

ZYSKIND, Sheindl. Born during 1910 in Kowel, Sheindl was single and in 1942 was deported from Kowel to Bełżec, where she perished.758

Chapter XIV The Perpetrators

The following chapter is based on information disclosed at the trials of those men who served at the Aktion Reinhardt camps or from survivor accounts and accounts by their fellow officers.

Almost all of them came from the lower middle class: Their fathers were factory workers, craftsmen, salesmen, or shop workers. Most of the men who served in the death camps had finished extended elementary school, some lower high school, and a few had attended a secondary school. Some had attended commercial schools or had received vocational training. Those who were former euthanasia program employees were mostly former nurses, craftsmen, farm workers, or salesmen.

Almost all of the accused were members of either the NSDAP (The Nazi Party), the police, the SS (Schutzstaffel) or the SA (Sturmabteilung). Some had joined these organizations before Hitler came to power; others joined the Party later. Their average age was between thirty and forty at the time they served in the death camps.

The personnel who ran the camps and supervised the extermination activities were absolutely ordinary people. They were not assigned to these roles because of any exceptional qualities or characteristics. The anti-Semitism that festered within them was no doubt part of their milieu and was an accepted phenomenon among large segments of German society. Many of them were married, and most had no criminal record. They had either volunteered to serve in the SS or had been drafted into its ranks. So it was not unusual that a man wore an SS uniform but received his salary from his real employer, the German police, or Aktion T4, the Nazi euthanasia program.

These men carried out the murder of hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children loyally and without question. What is more, they constantly displayed initiative in trying to improve the extermination process. An integral aspect of their duties was that

they were to exhibit cruelty towards their victims, and many of them contributed their own ideas and innovations for various forms of torture that served to entertain them all. Under the Nazi regime, these perfectly ordinary people were turned into something extraordinarily inhuman.

Source and pertinent material on the daily lives of these men in Bełżec, on their personal feelings about the tasks that they carried out, and their relationship to their innocent victims is almost nonexistent; men more than anxious to cover up their past were not about to sit down and record their memoirs. Even at their trials, at which some of them were forced to attest to their deeds, very little was brought out about their personal feelings and experiences. The primary sources on the behaviour of these perpetrators and their actual relationship to their victims are the testimonies of those who survived the camps, as well as some material and evidence that was submitted during their trials. The prisoners used to give nicknames to the various SS men, and these names were indicative of their reputations and activities in the camp. These nicknames were also a type of code to be used as a warning when a particular SS man appeared in a certain area of the camp.

Taking the above restrictions on information into account, it is nevertheless possible to compile a reasonably comprehensive staff list of Bełżec perpetrators. The staff list is compiled from known evidence and information from various sources, however scant, about the perpetrators. The SS-garrison was only comprised of about twenty to thirty men stationed in the camp at any given time, and this list contains the names of mainly SS men who were assigned duties at Bełżec during the time of its existence.

Members of the SS held key positions in the camp and many of the staff belonged to a police detachment of unknown origin; a few were civilians. SS men were sometimes transferred between the three Aktion Reinhardt camps, and may have served in Bełżec only briefly. It cannot be ascertained if this list contains all of the staff that served at the camp, as not all of the names of the camp staff or their specific functions could be gleaned from eyewitness reports.

Most of the SS camp personnel first worked in the euthanasia program (Aktion T4), although not all functions were known, but where this is known the information has been included.

After the three Aktion Reinhardt camps were demolished; most of the personnel were posted to Northern Italy, assisting with the suppression of partisan activities, rounding-up Jews, confiscating Jewish property and valuables. As the war drew to a close, the Nazi command realized that the staff and commanders could incriminate their superiors, and they were consequently sent to dangerous areas where some of them, such as Christian Wirth and Franz Reichleitner were killed by partisans. As Franz Stangl said afterwards:

“We were an embarrassment to the brass. They wanted to find ways to incinerate us.”

Given the lack of eyewitness testimony, as there were so few survivors, a few of the SS-garrison were remembered by Rudolf Reder and former SS-NCOs who served at the death camp, and this is what they said about their brutal conduct.

Rudolf Reder recalled SS-Oberscharführer Reinhold Feix in his book on Bełżec:

Oberscharführer Reinhold Feix practiced cruelty in a different way. It was said he came from Gablonz on the Neisse and was married and the father of two children. He spoke the way intelligent people speak. He talked quickly. If someone failed to understand him at once, he beat him and screamed to the high heavens like a madman. Once when he ordered the kitchen painted, and a Jewish doctor of chemistry was doing it, standing right at the top of a ladder just under the ceiling, Feix ordered him to climb down every few minutes and beat him across the face with his riding crop, so that the man’s face was swelled up and covered with blood. That was how he did his job. Feix seemed abnormal. He played the violin. He ordered the orchestra to play the Polish melody ‘Highlander, Have You No Regrets?’ until they dropped. He commanded people to sing and dance, and he toyed with them and tortured them. The beast went amok.759

759 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, p.138.

Robert Juhrs recalled in 1961, the arrival of Reinhold Feix in Belzec:

As far as I remember, Feix arrived in Bełżec in the autumn of 1942. He was a great ‘go-getter’ and had his permanent work area in Camp II. What he did in the area of Camp II, I cannot say exactly. When I am reproached that I certainly saw him in the area of Camp II and I must therefore know what he did there, then I reply that I saw several NCOs there. Who the senior NCO was there, I really don’t know. In all probability he carried out shootings there. I cannot at the moment remember seeing this with my own eyes.760

Former SS-garrison member Karl Schluch recalled in testimony after the war about Lorenz Hackenholt:

Hackenholt was a pitlless, hard, brutal man without any sense of honor, and I can say that he was also devoid of character and listless. He drank a great deal of alcohol and was even locked up for this. His particular workplace at Bełżec was the gassing apparatus. I can also state that his duties during the arrival of transports included the shooting of Jews who were incapable of walking to the gas chambers. I also saw with my own eyes how he shot a Jew from the labor detail on the spot for working too sluggishly.761

The two commandants, ChristianWirth and his successor Gotlieb Hering, were much feared by the SS-NCOs, who stated in post-war interogations, what they witnessed. First Robert Juhrs stated in 1961:

Threats and swearing were the order of the day from Wirth and Hering. It was known to each of us that Wirth –and Hering, as well— were afraid of nothing in their brutality.762

Former SS-NCO Werner Dubois also stated in the same year that:

I myself have seen how these two members of the Waffen-SS beat about the face those who were not quick enough—I have experienced how they imposed their will by brutal threats. At a frank refusal to obey an order, Wirth as well as Hering, was capable—

760 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p. 175.

761 Robert Kuwalek, Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2016, p.63.

762 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, pp. 25-26.

without the authority of an SS –court, or any other superior court— of making a frightening example by drawing his weapon and shooting a disenter. To make it even clearer, Wirth and Hering were beasts. With them, opposition meant to gamble one’s life away.

Dubois added in a later statement recorded in 1963: Wirth was more than brutal. In my opinion, this brutality was grounded more in his human character structure than in the emanations of his political mentality. . . Already, with his employment in euthanasia, these traits had appeared. Already at this time he bellowed, screamed and threatened us; there was no one in Bełżec camp who was not afraid of Wirth. He had a special hatred for us drivers because of the materials situation at this time: the scarcity of spare parts and tyres and the inferior quality of the fuel, resulted in continuous invective for the drivers.763

Dubois gave an account of a particulary nasty occurrence with Wirth to further illustrate Wirth’s cruel behaviour towards his own men:

Wirth received an order to report to Globocnik in Lublin. I had to get him there within two hours. When the Ford V-8 car I was driving was only halfway from the camp to the Kommandantura—it wouldn’t go any more, and, as on already quite a number of occasions before—I had to dismantle the carburettor, take it apart and clean it, Wirth went into the office and fumed. Then he came out again, drew his pistol and said that he would shoot me. I had my 6.35mm pistol loose in my pocket—was probably extremely irritated myself—drew my pistol and aimed it at Wirth. Wirth was evidently non-plussed; anyway it did not come to an exchange of shots. I then drove him to Lublin, but on the way the carburettor once again got dirty and had to be cleaned. Because of this, Wirth arrived too late and travelled back again in another vehicle. I got out of this incident quite well, it could just as well have ended badly.764

Werner Dubois recalled in 1961, how he was punished for the events during Wirth’s visit to Lublin, when he was ordered to Camp II, to carry out an execution by shooting:

763 Ibid. p.26.

764 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p. 26.

A row of infirm Jews already lay at the edge of the graves. I shot six infirm Jews with a Belgian FN-pistol. There were more such Jews lying there, and I should have shot more, but there was an acute shortage of ammunition for my 9mm pistol, and I only had six bullets. I also could not have handed over these Jews to the Ukrainians—who shot victims every day—because Wirth stood by me and watched whether I carried out his orders.765

Hans Girtzig stated his opinion of Wirth:

I must say that I believed him capable of anything. He even physically maltreated the SS men, as well as the Ukrainians. He especially maltreated SS-sergeant Barbl with a whip—and that was often.766

However, it wasn’t only Wirth who was a sadist. Gottlieb Hering. Tadeusz Misiewicz, the Polish cashier who worked in the goods yard at Bełżec railway station, testified before the Polish War Crimes Investigation Commission in 1945:

Once, the Major—the commander of the camp—devised a new entertainment. He tied a Jew to his car with rope and by driving fast forced the Jew to run behind. The Major’s dog ran behind biting the Jew. The Major drove back and forth from the camp to the railway water pump which was on Tomaszowska Street.767

In survivor accounts very little is recounted about the Trawnikimänner who served at the death camps, so it is important where survivors provide more details, that we include this. Rudolf Reder paints a vivid description of one of the most brutal of this important cog of the machinery of death. His description of Heni Schmidt deserves its place in this book:

The young volksdeutsch Heni Schmidt took even more delight in his bestial mission. He was probably a Lett—he spoke German strangely, saying ‘t’ instead of ‘s.’ To the askars he spoke Russian. He did not like spending a single day away from camp.

Nimble, quick on his feet, thin, with the face of a blackguard, always drunk, he raced around the camp from four in the morning until

evening, inflicting pain, gazing meditatively on the suffering of the victims and revelling in the sight. “He’s the worst of the thugs,” the prisoners whispered, and immediately answered, “They’re all the worst.” Wherever people were being tormented most, he was always the first to show up.

He was always there for goading the unfortunate victims along to the chambers; he listened closely to the women’s piercing, air-splitting screams escaping the chambers. He was the ‘soul’ of the camp, the most degenerate, monstrous, bloodthirsty. He gazed with pleasure into the burnt-out faces of the workers returning to the barracks at night, exhausted to the final limit. He couldn’t resist landing his whip full force on everyone’s heads. When one of us managed to duck, he chased him down and had to make him suffer.768

Robert Juhrs during a post-war interrogation on October 11, 1961, mentioned about Karl Schluch, and the winding-up of the Bełżec death camp:

Schluch was with me together in Hadamar, as I already stated, before we came together at Bełżec. In the camp he had the same basic tasks as I had to do, that is he got his orders as required to serve in Camp I and Camp II. Schluch was a typical loner, and I believe it was because he had been caretaker for idiots for years. I don’t think he had to do executions. He was also in Italy in Trieste.

At the end of February or early March 1943, I was transferred to Dorohucza, together with Zierke, Schluch, and possibly Tauscher or Schwarz.769

Another former Trawnikimänner who served at the Bełżec death camp was Nikolai Antonevitch Pavli, who was born in 1921 in the village of Staro-Michailowka, in the area of Marinsk, in the District of Stalino. He was interrogated in the city of Stalino, on November 17, 1949. He was captured by the invading German forces during July 1941. He was sent to a Prisoner of War camp in Chelm, Poland, and this is where we pick up the testimony:

768 Rudolf Reder, Bełżec, Judaica Foundation, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Krakow 1999, pp. 139-140.

769 ZStL Zenrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltung Ludwigsburg File 208/ AR-Z 251/59.

At the Prisoner of War camp in the town of Chelm, I was held until September 1941. The Germans used me and the other prisoners for work within the camp. Later together with a number of people, [I was] conscripted by the Germans to serve in the SS force at the Trawniki concentration camp, Lublin command, as a Wachman of the SS.

About 26 September, 1941, a German officer of the SS forces, Oberscharführer Mayewski came to the prisoners’ camp in the city of Chelm and ordered the camp command to hold a parade of the prisoners in the camp. When the soldiers were arranged on parade, he, Mayewski and an interpreter among the prisoners, passed through the parade and the said officer, Mayewski, selected to his considerations, from among the prisoners, asking them about their origins.

I told him that I was from the Donbass and after that I was taken aside. A group of prisoners of war who had been chosen stood there. After 60 people had been selected, myself among them; no-one told us for what purpose we had been selected. Subsequently, the group that had been selected, including myself, was put on two trucks and taken to the Trawniki camp, Lublin command (Poland).

Upon our arrival at the Trawniki concentration camp we were located in a building with the camp. For a month we were not used for work, but just fed; we underwent a period of isolation. After a month we were divided into groups and began to hold basic training. Each company had about 60 people and at that time there were six such companies. Germans—Volksdeutsche from the Germans of Russia, held the military training with us. They taught me and the others basic training and use of weapons—rifle and the rules for guarding prisoners. They did not teach us other subjects.

We studied at the school for Wachman’s of the SS. I took part in guard duties at the Trawniki camp; at that time there were no prisoners at the camp. During the training at the Trawniki camp, in October or November 1941, each of us was interrogated by a member of the camp command, filled in a form—questionnaire that was later signed by him and gave a thumb print; then each of us was granted the title of Wachman of the SS.

In November 1941, I was sent as part of a group of 40 Wachmans of the SS for further service at the Belzec death camp, where I continued to serve as a Wachman until August 1942. Being an SS-Wachman at the Bełżec death camp, I guarded all the time imprisoned

civilians who were brought by the Germans from various conquered countries for extermination in special gas chambers—‘bath houses,’ through suffocation gas.

The prisoners from various conquered countries would arrive by train to the Bełżec camp; under the guard of Wachmans and Germans, the prisoners would be taken off the trains and from there led to the gas chambers, where Wachmans and Germans would force the prisoners to undress naked, irrespective of their sex, including children.

Afterwards they would be put into the gas chambers—‘bath houses,’ [and] the doors would be hermetically closed. By the building with the gas chambers was located the machinery division with an internal combustion engine, from which the exhaust gas would be piped to the chambers in which the prisoners were killed. After about 1520 minutes, the gas chambers would be opened and work details consisting of Jewish prisoners would remove the bodies, load them on a special cart, and take them to special pits that had been dug in advance. There the bodies would be arranged: as the pit filled up, work details would cover it with earth.

My participation in extermination of the people was expressed in that on a regular basis I guarded the prisoners. When the trains arrived, I would guard the prisoners during their disembarkation from the train; I ensured that none of the prisoners would escape. I also accompanied the prisoners under guard to the place where they were undressed. I guarded the clothes while other Wachmans and Germans would take the prisoners into the gas chambers. I also guarded the work details when they were engaging in unloading bodies by the pits.

Apart from that, I guarded the pit to which they would bring people for execution by shooting, from among the prisoners who had arrived by train, since on every train there were sick prisoners. Those who could not walk to the death camp by themselves, were led by Jewish prisoners to a pit and there a German officer would shoot them with a pistol. From every train, about 20-30 people would be shot, depending on the number of sick.

During my service as an SS-Wachman at the Bełżec death camp, 40,000 people—prisoners were put to death, most of them through suffocation gas.

In August 1942, I was sent as part of a group of 30 SS-Wachmans for further service at another death camp, Sobibor, Lublin command. At Sobibor death camp, I performed the same service as that at Belzec death camp. I guarded imprisoned civilians that had been brought from conquered countries by Germans for destruction in the gas chambers—also by suffocation gas from an engine.

Ivan Werdenik, born 1921-1922, Ukrainian, served in the Soviet Army as a soldier, was captured by the Germans in 1941. Being a prisoner in the city of Chelm, he was conscripted by the Germans in October 1941 to the SS forces.

In March 1942, he was sent together with me for further service in the SS forces to the Belzec concentration camp, Lublin command –Poland, where he served as an SS-Wachmann until August 1942. From August 1942 until November 1942, he served together with me as an SS-Wachmann at the Sobibor concentration camp, Lublin command. In November 1942, I was sent for further service at another camp, while Werdenik continued to serve in the SS forces at Sobibor.

As an SS-Wachmann, Werdenik guarded at the death camps of Bełżec and Sobibor prisoners who had been brought by Germans from various conquered countries for extermination in the gas chambers through gas. He participated in the extermination of Jews in that he guarded the trains that would arrive with the prisoners. He guarded the pit where the executions by shooting were carried out.770

Kurt Franz developed a close friendship with one of the Ukrainian Trawniki-männer who served at Bełżec, had been shot, probably in August 1942, and he stated what happened to Piotr Alexejew, during an interrogation during 1961:

During my stay in Bełżec I got to know one of the Ukrainians of the guard detachment by the name of Piotr Alexejew. We later became very friendly, not only because we played chess together, but also because we thought alike and had the same views.

770 www.TheNizkorProject, Interrogation of Nikolai Pavli, on November 17, 1949, in the City of Stalino.

After my return from leave I heard that Alexejew-who was in all practicality my mate—had been shot. I learned later that he had been executed as an alleged partisan. I was shocked by this and went to see Hering. He told me briefly and pointedly that Alexejew had been a partisan and had been justly executed. To that I told Hering that if my mate had been a partisan, then I would gladly be one too.771

Kurt Franz gave an interview in March 1988, where he gave a different version of the events leading up to the death of Piotr Alexejew:

One day a naked Jewish woman approached me, and throwing herself on her knees, told me she was ready to be gassed, but she implored me to save her daughter. The daughter implored me to save her mother’s life. They were very beautiful—both of them. I gave orders to my orderly, the Ukrainian Alexejew, Piotr—to procure clothes for them and to put them in the SS kitchens to peel potatoes there.

I don’t know why Piotr—always so obedient—failed to carry out my orders. Doubtless persuaded that I wished these two women to stay alive, he made a foolish decision: he let them leave the camp, took the train to the town with them—thinking probably to find them a place there. As luck would have it, the police were checking all travellers. The Ukrainian, unable to justify his presence on the train, was suspected of wanting to join the partisans and taken back to the camp.

The two women were immediately gassed and my orderly killed on the spot with a revolver by the commandant. Furious—as I greatly estimated the Ukrainian, he kept my boots in marvellous condition. I complained to Christian Wirth—that was a horrible man . . . After hearing me out, he flew into a rage and hit me in the face. He then transferred me to Treblinka, which was run by Franz Stangl. 772

Heinrich Gley recalled how camp security was tightened up by Commandant Hering:

771 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p. 269.

772 Ibid. p.270.

There was an increasing danger from within and without. Polish partisan activity was on the increase, and we permanently had to reckon on an attack from outside. On the other hand, the Hiwis were not completely trustworthy.

On the orders of camp commandant Hering, we all had to take part in security duties. At night this duty was carried out in pairs. We had to supervise patrols around the camp and generally see to the security of the camp. We did not have to perform guard duties in the watch-towers and neither were we responsible for those guards.773

What follows are biographies of the members of the key Aktion Reinhardt high command and members of the SS-Garison who served at the Bełżec Death Camp. I am grateful for the recent book by Sara Berger, Experten der Vernichtung: das T4-Reinhardt-Netzwerk in den Lagern Belzec, Sobibor und Treblinka, for providing new information.

Another key contribution is the book by Ernst Klee, Euthanasie im Dritten Reich, which provides details of where T4 personnel served in the Euthanasia institutes prior to being posted to serve in Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka.

In addition to this book, I am extremely grateful to Michael Tregenza for his unpublished paper, “Only the Dead” held in the Wiener Library in London, which has provided unique first-hand testimony about the SS-Garrison and has proved a major feature to not only this section but throughout the book. I thank Sonia Bacca from the Collections Team at the Wiener Library for all her help with this particular unpublished paper. Another vital source of information regarding the SS personnel has come from the files of the Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen (ZStL) in Ludwigsburg.

I must also acknowledge the efforts of the three Holocaust related groups and websites that I co-founded; ARC –Aktion Reinhard Camps in 2002, the Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team (H.E.A.R.T.) that I co-founded with Carmelo Lisciotto in 2006,and

773 M. Tregenza, Only the Dead, Unpublished paper held at the Wiener Library 1988, p. 275.

the Holocaust Historical Society that was founded in October 2006, to study the personnel at the Bełżec death camp.

Odilo GLOBOCNIK

SS and Police Leader Lublin—Head of Aktion Reinhardt

Born on April 21, 1904, at Via Guilia 34, in Trieste, Odilo Globocnik’s father was Franz Globocnik, who was born on February 8, 1870, in Trzic. He was a cavalry officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army, and on his discharge he found employment with the postal service in Trieste. Globocnik’s mother was Anna Globocnik, formerly Petschinka, who was born on July 24, 1870, in Werschetz.

Odilo Globocnik was a builder by profession. He joined the Nazi Party in Carinthia, Austria, in 1930 and became a “‘radical”’ leader of its cells in the province. In 1933, Globocnik entered the SS and was appointed Deputy District Leader of the NSDAP in Austria.

He was imprisoned for over a year on account of political offences, though he re-emerged as a key liaison figure between Hitler and the Austrian National Socialists. He was appointed provincial Nazi Chief of Carinthia in 1936 and was further promoted to the post of Gauleiter of Vienna on May 24, 1938. He was dismissed from this position for illegal speculation in the foreign exchange on January 30, 1939, and was replaced by Josef Burckel.

Globocnik was pardoned by Himmler, and he was appointed to the post of SS and Police Leader for the Lublin distict on November 9, 1939. He was chosen by Himmler as the central figure in Aktion Reinhardt, the mass murder program of Polish Jewry, no doubt because of his scandalous past record and well-known virulent antiSemitism.

Globocnik built up a special company of SS men, not subordinate to any higher authority, and responsible only to Himmler. Globocnik established three death camps in Poland—Bełżlzec, Sobibóor, and Treblinka, as part of Aktion Reinhardt. He also had a hand in the creation of Lublin (Majdanek) Concentration Camp. Additionally, he built up an economic empire, including the Jewish Labor

Camps at Budzyn, Krasnik, Poniatowa, Trawniki, as well as a number of camps in Lublin itself, such as Lipowa and the Old Airfield, and various enterprises throughout the Lublin district. Globocnik had offices in Lublin and Warsaw, which was confirmed by Franz Stangl, in his 1970’s interviews with Gitta Sereny. The Lublin SS und Polizei headquarters office was located on Ostland Strasse 8, and the Warsaw office was located in the Befehlstelle at 103 Zelazna Street. This location housed the Einsatz Reinhardt staff from Lublin during the Grosaktion.

Globocnik was also responsible for clearing Polish peasant farmers from the Zamośćsc lands and replacing them with ethnic Germans. Globocnik and some of his cohorts amassed rich rewards from the slaughter of approximately 1.6 million Jews whose property and valuables were seized by the SS and his various business interests. As his situation reports showed, Globocnik carried out Himmler’s orders with brutal efficiency; by November 1943 Aktion Reinhardt had been completed and the three death camps under his control had been liquidated.

On September 13, 1943, Himmler wrote to Globocnik, appointing him to the post of Higher SS and Police Leader for the Adriatic Coastal Zone, based in Trieste, and replacing him in Lublin by Jakob Sporrenberg. Himmler instructed Globocnik to produce a final accounting statement regarding the assets and economic achievements of Aktion Reinhardt by December 31, 1943. Globocnik provided a portfolio and on January 5, 1944, produced a detailed appendix. This appendix demonstrated that 178 million Reichmarks had been added to the Reich’s finance coffers, as a result of Aktion Reinhardt.

Odilo Globocnik married Lore Peterschinegg in October 1944; she was head of the Carinthian BDM (Bund Deutscher Mädel). They had one son, Peter, born in January 1946.

At the end of the Second World War, Globocnik succeeded in evading arrest by returning to his native country in the mountains south of Klagenfurt. He was eventually tracked down and arrested

by a British army patrol at Wiessensee. He commited suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule at Paternion, Austria, on May 31, 1945.

Hermann Julius HÖFLE Deputy Head of Aktion Reinhardt

Born on June 19, 1911, in Salzburg, Austria, Hermann Julius Höfle was a trained mechanic and drove a taxi in Salzburg; he went on to own his own taxi company. He joined the Nazi Party and the SS on August 1, 1933. He led SS-Sturmbann 1/76 after serving a brief prison sentence. He served for three months in Znaim, in the Sudetenland, and attended the Führerschule in Dachau. After the invasion of Poland, he served in a Selbstschutz unit in Nowy Sąaczs (Neu Sandez). During 1940, he was the Leader of the Labor Camps employed on building the border fortifications known as the “Bug-Graben” near Bełżec in the Lublin district.

On July 17, 1941, RFSS Heinrich Himmler appointed Odilo Globocnik as his Plenipotentiary for the Construction of SS and Police bases in the newly occupied Eastern Territories and Höfle was sent from Lublin to Mogilev to supervise construction work there. Höfle was recalled by Globocnik to Lublin and he was responsible for overseeing the construction of the death camp at Bełżec; he was appointed by Globocnik to act as the Deputy Head of Aktion Reinhardt, which was the name given in 1942 to the mass murder program of Polish Jewry, following the death of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague.

Höfle was highly regarded by Globocnik, playing a leading role in the mass deportation ‘Aktions’ in Warsaw, during July –September 1942, which sent hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths in the Treblinka death camp, as well as the clearance of the Białystok Ghetto during the summer of 1943.

He was married and had four children, although two of his children were twins who died, and at their graveside he lamented; “This is punishment for the children of Warsaw.”

While in Lublin, Höfle lived and worked in the Julius Schreck Kaserne, the headquarters of Aktion Reinhardt at Litauer Strasse 11.

His associate Georg Michalsen, who worked for Höfle in the mass deportations from Warsaw and Białlystok, provided a description:

The staff building was a three-storey house. On the ground floor— immediately by the entrance—there was a transport squad. On the first floor—on one side—there was the administration, accounts and archive (documents) offices. Here the chief-of-staff also had a room and an ante-room. On the second floor there was located the personnel department. Here Hermann Höfle also had his living quarters in one room.

Höfle also played a key administrative role in the destruction of the remaining Jewish workers, according to the post-war testimony of Jakob Sporrenberg, the SS and Police Leader for Lublin, who had replaced Odilo Globocnik. This mass murder frenzy, ordered by Himmler, was known as ‘Aktion Erntefest’—Harvest Festival –resulting in the mass murder of over 40,000 Jewish workers on November 3–4, 1943, in a number of labor camps in Lublin itself, as well as the camps in Poniatowa and Trawniki, by means of shooting in specially prepared ditches.

Höfle left Lublin and briefly served as the Commander of a Guard unit at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. This was followed by spells of duty in Belgium and the Netherlands. He was re-united with Globocnik, who was now in Trieste. Höfle was among a group of SS men who were captured by the British Army. He was photographed beside the body of Globocnik, who had swallowed poison at Paternion, Austria on May 31, 1945.

Höfle learned in 1948 that the Polish Communist government wanted to extradite him to Poland to stand trial for war crimes he had allegedly committed there. With help he fled first to Italy and then returned to his native Austria. Making his way to Bavaria, he worked for the American Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) as a low level agent. Höfle was again arrested and committed suicide on August 21, 1962, in a Vienna prison cell during pre-trial detention.

Ernst LERCH Chief of Globocnik’s Personal Office

Ernst Lerch was born in Klagenfurt, Austria, on 19 November 1914. According to his initial British interrogation report, he was educated in Klagenfurt and briefly studied at the Hochschule für Welthandel in Vienna. From 1931 to 1934 he worked as a waiter in various hotels in Switzerland, France, and Hungary to learn the hotel trade from 1934 until Austria was annexed by the Reich; he was employed in the café of his father in Klagenfurt. It was during this time at the café, that he met Odilo Globocnik, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Kurt Kutschera, and other leading Austrians who served the Nazis after the Anschluss in March 1938. Kurt Kutschera changed his surname to Claasen and, along with Lerch, also worked with Globocnik in Lublin.

Lerch became a member of the illegal Nazi Party and the SD from 1936. The annexation brought him promotion to the rank of an SDHauptsturmführer, and he became an SD-Leiter, a post he resigned from in July 1938. He was called up to serve in the German Army and served in the Polish campaign as a signals corporal. In 1940 he was released from the army and employed with the Fremdenverkehrsverband Kärnten in connection with the resettlement of German hotel proprietors from South Tyrol. According to Lerch in his interrogation with the British in September 1941, he joined the Waffen-SS and was appointed Rasse und Seidlungsführer based in Krakow in the General Gouvernment. However, Lerch joined Globocnik the SSPF Lublin on 20 December 1941 and became chief of Globocnik’s personal office and Stabsführer der Allgemeinen-SS.

Lerch played a leading role in Aktion Reinhardt, being responsible for Jewish affairs and he was responsible for the radio link between the Aktion Reinhardt Headquarters in Lublin and Berlin. During his interrogation by the British forces after his capture, Lerch conveniently lied about his time in Lublin during the incriminating years between 1942 and 1943, stating he was in Klagenfurt and Krakau. At the former trial of the former Gestapo Chief in Lublin, Hermann Worthoff, it was stated that Lerch had overseen the

liquidation of thousands of Jews from the Majdan Tatarski ghetto in Lublin at the nearby Krepiec Forest.

When Aktion Reinhardt was finished, Lerch was transferred to Italy in September 1943, together with some of Globocnik’s staff. In Trieste he continued to serve as chief of Globocnik’s personal staff in Adriatic Coastal Area; he was also involved in anti-partisan operations, and for a few weeks Lerch was provisional police commander in Fiume. After the German surrender in Italy, he made his way back to Carinthia, his homeland, where he was captured along with Odilo Gobocnik, Hermann Höfle, Georg Michaelsen, and Karl Helletsberger near the Wiessensee Lake. He was interrogated by the British forces in Wolfsberg from where he escaped and went into hiding between 1947 and 1950. Lerch was eventually brought to trial on May 15,1972, but the trial was suspended and adjourned sine die. Ernst Lerch died in 1997, in Klagenfurt, having never been brought to justice.

Georg MICHALSEN Einsatz Reinhardt Member

Georg Michalsen was born as Georg Michalczyk, on September 13, 1906, in Wendrin, Upper Silesia. The son of a schoolteacher, he attended school in Opole between the years 1912 to 1920. He then served an apprenticeship in a law firm in Opole. Afterwards, he worked in agricultural co-operatives and in the construction industry.

Michalczyk joined the ‘Wehrwolf ’ in 1924, a regional organization, and on November 1, 1928, he became a member of the Nazi Party. He served in a number of roles in Opole, such as treasurer. He also belonged to the SA-Reserve. On January 10, 1932, Michalczyk transferred from the SA to the SS (SS No. 29337).

Following the German attack on Poland in September 1939, Michalczyk belonged to an SS unit which occupied Częestochowa. In Poland Michalczyk commanded a 70-strong squad of SS men, who trained Volksdeutsche Selbstschutz units in Petrikau, Opoczno,

and Rawa. This paramilitary organization was established as an auxillary police force.

During 1940, Michalczyk married, and in the same year he changed his Polish sounding name to Michalsen. Following service in the SS and Police Leader’s office in Radom, he was transferred to serve in the same capacity in Lublin, which was under the control of SSPF Odilo Globocnik.

Globocnik was appointed by RFSS Heinrich Himmler after the German invasion of the Soviet Union to construct SS and Police strongpoints in the East, and Michalsen was appointed to head this activity in Riga. Michalsen returned to Lublin and became part of the Aktion Reinhardt Kommando, under Hermann Höfle. Michalsen assisted Höfle in the resettlement of the Jews of the Warsaw Gghetto commencing in July 1942. Michalsen, along with Hermann Höfle met with Adam Czerniakóow and other members of the Warsaw Judenrat on July 22, 1942, to order the start of deportations in Warsaw to the Treblinka death camp.

After July 27, 1942, Michalsen, the Deputy Head of the re-settlement commando, was deployed at the Umschlagplatz, the place where the cattle cars left for Treblinka. During the mass deportation ‘Aktion’ in Warsaw, the resettlement squad, under Michalsen’s command was deployed to the nearby towns of Otwock, Wolomin, and Miedzyrzec-Podlaski, during August 1942.

Michalsen was then involved in deportations within the Lublin district in Piaski and Włlodawa. He returned to the Warsaw Ghetto in the spring of 1943, during the Jewish uprising, to organize the transfer of major factories, such as Többens and Schultz to the Poniatowa and Trawniki Labor Camp sites.

Between February 1943 and August 16 and 23, 1943, Michalsen was involved in the dissolution of the ghetto in Białystok, where over 17,000 Jews were deported to the Treblinka death camp.

In the autumn of 1943, Himmler appointed Globocnik to the post of Higher SS and Police Leader for the Adriatic Coastal Zone based in Trieste, and Michalsen soon joined him. He became head of the

HSSPF’s personnel department and was later involved in partisan combat in Istria.

Michalsen was captured by British Forces in Paternion, in Carinthia, Austria, along with Globocnik, Höfle, Lerch, and others on May 31, 1945. Both Michalsen and Lerch were interviewed by the British Army on June 5, 1945, but both of them failed to disclose that they had participated in the mass murder of Jews, serving under Globocnik.

Michalsen was released from captivity during 1948, and he settled in Hamburg, where he worked as an accountant. He was arrested on January 24, 1961, but released. He was arrested again and stood trial. On July 25, 1974, Georg Michalsen was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment by the Regional Court of Hamburg. He died on May 21, 1993.

Amon GÖTH Einsatz Reinhardt Member

Amon Leopold Göth was born on December 11, 1908, in Vienna. He was married twice, divorced in 1934, and married again in 1944. He had two children. He studied agriculture in Vienna until 1928; then from 1928 until 1939, he was employed by the company of ‘Verlag für Militär und Fachliteratur’ in Vienna.

In 1932 Göth joined the NSDAP, his party membership number 510764, and he joined the SS in 1940; his SS number was 43673. On 5 March, 1940, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht with the rank of Unterfeldwebel.

He was promoted in succession to SS-Obersturmführer in 1940 and Untersturmführer with the letter F denoting professional officer in war time in 1941. The final rank Göth obtained was SSHauptsturmführer in 1944, and he was a holder of the Cross of Merit with swords. After serving at Cieszyn and the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle in Kattowice, Göth was transferred to Odilo Globocnick’s staff in Lublin in June 1942, for participation in “Judenumsiedlung” (Jewish Deportations), as part of Aktion Reinhardt. He commanded

the deportation ‘Aktion’ in the Zamość ghetto. In February 1943, he left Lublin after a conflict with SS Major Hermann Höfle, Globocnik’s Chief of Staff for Aktion Reinhardt. He was transferred to Krakau with the rank of SS-Unterscharführer, as the Commandant of Plaszow Labor camp.

Göth served in Krakau from 11 February 1943 until 13 September 1944, and it was clear that he had arrived with a brief to destroy the remaining Jews. In order to wipe out the Jews of Krakau, the Germans chose a most symbolic site for a camp—the new Jewish cemetery on the outskirts of the city in the suburb of Plaszow. There huts were constructed in desecration of the freshly-dug graves and a sign was hung up proclaiming “Arbeitslager” (Labor Camp). Göth played a leading role in the destruction of a number of Jewish ghettos, including the Zamość and Rzeszow in 1942, where the Jews were deported to the death camp at Bełżec and the Krakau ghetto on 14 March 13-14, 1943, where he personally shot about 50 children. He supervised the liquidation of the Tarnów Ghetto in early September 1943, when 10,000 Jews were deported to Plaszow and 4,000 were killed. During the liquidation of the Tarnów Ghetto, he shot a girl who asked him for a transfer to a different working group to be together with her fiancé.

Göth also prepared under the leadership of Willi Haase plans for the liquidation of ghettos in Bochnia, Rzeszow and Przemysl. On September 13, 1944, he was arrested by the SS und Polizeigericht Vl (Police Court) in Krakau for large-scale fraud. He was also interrogated by the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police) for giving information to the engineer Grunberg about the liquidation of the Krakau Ghetto. Grunberg was a German sympathetic to the Jews and closely associated with Stern, Pemper, and Oskar Schindler. He passed the information on to Schindler, who in turn warned the ghetto leaders. Göth was released from prison in January 1945, due to his diabetes and was moved to a sanatorium in Bad Tolz. There he was arrested by the Americans. The Americans agreed to the request to extradite Göth to Poland following a request by the Polish authorities, and Goth was tried before the Polish Supreme Court on

charges of committing mass murder during the liquidations of the ghettos in Krakow and Tarnów and the camps at Plaszow and Szebnie. He was sentenced to death in Krakow on September 5, 1946, and hung in the former camp at Plaszow on September 13, 1946, defiantly saluting Hitler.

Richard THOMALLA

Bełżec—Construction Supervisor—Otto Line Chief of Construction for Aktion Reinhardt

Richard Thomalla was born on October 23, 1903, in Sabine-bei-Annahof (today, Sowin in Polish Silesia) in the Falkenberg District of Upper Silesia. A builder by profession, he was bi-lingual in German and Polish, and joined the SS on July1, 1932, and the Nazi Party a month later. On October 5, 1935, Thomalla married Margarete Bruckner. He saw military service in Falkenberg and Oppeln and service in the SS in Wohlau and Breslau (Wroclaw) in the present–day southeastern part of Polish Lower Silesia.

On September 6, 1940, Thomalla was transferred from Breslau to the Generalgouvernment, where he was a member of the SSHilfspolizei (auxiliary police) in the cities of Czestochowa and Radom. On August 22, 1940 he was transferred by Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger, the HSSPF Ost, based in Cracow, to serve under Odilo Globocnik, SSPF Lublin. From August–October 1940, he was a Section Leader of the SS-Border Defence Construction Service in Bełżec, on the demarcation line between the Generalgouvernement and Sovietoccupied Galicia (Western Ukraine). He lived in the Belzec village at Zamojska Street 15.774 His first task was the establishment of a construction depot of the Waffen-SS and Police in Zamość, about 40 kilometers north of Bełżec.

After the invasion of Russia, Thomalla was also in charge of constructing SS Strongpoints in the Ukraine, with branch offices in Zwiahel and Kiev. He was recalled by Globocnik to Lublin at the beginning of 1942; whether he was involved at all in the construction

774 Information supplied by Tomasz Hanejko on May 26, 2021.

activities at Bełżec is open to question. This is by no means certain, but what is not open to any doubt, after returning to the Lublin district, he was the construction chief at the next two death camps. He also oversaw construction of the other Aktion Reinhardt camps at Sobibor and Treblinka in early 1942. At both camps, he was the senior-SS–officer at each site until the camps became operational.

In 1943, Thomalla headed Waffen-SS construction offices in Riga, the capital of Nazi-occupied Latvia and Mogilev in White Russia. Later during 1943-44, he also played a role in the ‘pacification’ operations of the SS and police in Zamość district.

Thomalla was last seen in Zamość in June, 1944, a few weeks before the entry of the Red Army into the town the following month. He was arrested by the Russians near Jicin, on the Czechoslovakian side of the Czech-Polish border. He was held in a special prison nearby for members of the SS and Nazi Party officials at KarthausWalditz. On May 12, 1945, Thomalla was ‘ordered out of his cell, with all his belongings’. This was a typical order by the Soviet NKVD immediately before the prisoner was executed.

Christian WIRTH

First Commandant of Bełżec Death Camp & Inspector of SS Sonderkommando Aktion Reinhardt

Christian Wirth was born on November 24, 1885, in Oberbalzheim, a small village in the Upper Swabian part of Württemberg in southwest Germany. After completing elementary education at the age of 14, he was employed as an apprentice carpenter with the Bühler brothers’ timber firm in Oberbalzheim. From 1905-1907 he served his two-year draft with Grenadier Regiment 123 in Ulm, and after a short break, re-enlisted for another two years as an army instructor. After an honorable discharge from the army in 1910, Wirth joined the Württemberg State Police as a uniformed constable in Heilbronn, and the same year married Maria Bantel, with whom he had two sons; the first was Eugen, who was born on May 22, 1911, and his

second son, Kurt, who was born on September 22, 922. Two other children died shortly after birth.

In 1913 Wirth transferred to the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo), the plain clothes detective squads at their headquarters on Büchsenstrasse near the city center in Stuttgart. In October, 1941, two months after the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered to serve in the army of Kaiser Wilhelm II and saw action on the Western Front in Flanders and northern France in the ranks of Reserve Infantry Regiment 246. He received a field promotion to acting officer (Offiziersstellvertreter) and was awarded several medals and decorations for bravery, including the Iron Cross I and II Class and the Gold Württemberg Military Service Medal. At the end of 1917, Wirth was transferred back to Stuttgart as an officer in the Military Police, guarding a supply depot for Reserve Infantry Regiment 119. During this duty he won high praise for defending the depot against the Spartakists, the forerunners of the German Communist Party, who attempted to raid the depot for weapons and ammunition.

Wirth re-joined the Kripo in 1919 and by 1923 was the head of Precinct II (Dienststelle II) on Büchsenstrasse in Stuttgart. He earned a reputation for solving difficult crimes that had defeated other officers, often by using brutal methods of interrogation. His “dedication and zealous methods” finally led to questions being asked about him in the Württemberg Regional Parliament (Landtag).

In 1937, Wirth was the head or deputy head of all police and Party organizations, not only in Stuttgart, but the whole of Württemberg, which resulted in his recruitment by Reinhard Heydrich’s Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst—SD) as a ‘V-Mann’ (Vertrauensmann), a confidential agent spying and informing on his Party and police comrades.

By 1939, Wirth had reached the rank of Kriminalinspektor, in charge of Kommissariat 5, a special detective squad for investigating serious crimes, including murder. Wirth then carried out special police duties in Vienna, Austria, and in Olmütz, Czechoslovakia. In the spring of 1939, a special remark was inserted into his personal file:

“At the disposal of the Führer” (“z.V. Führer”). He had been earmarked for future “special tasks.”

In the autumn of 1939, Wirth began the first ‘special task’ as founding member of the euthanasia planning team in Hitler’s private Chancellery. His well-known reputation for “meticulous administration and organization” was put to use in setting up the bureaucracy. In mid-January 1940 he was among a group of high-ranking Nazi officials who witnessed the first test gassing of psychiatric patients in the abandoned prison in Brandenburg-an–der-Havel. Among this group were Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler, head of Hitler’s private Chancellery; Dr. Karl Brandt, Hitler’s escorting physician; Dr. Leonardo Conti, Secretary of State for Health; and SS-Standartenführer Viktor Brack, chief of Head Office II in Hitler’s private Chancellery. Brack was soon to be in charge of the daily running of the euthanasia operation under the code designation ‘T4,’ named after its headquarters in a villa at Tiergartenstrasse 4 in Berlin-Charlottenburg.

At the beginning of February 1940, Wirth arrived at the first ‘T4’ euthanasia institute established in Grafeneck castle in the Swabian mountains, 60 kilometers south of Stuttgart, in charge of administration and security. In May 1940, Wirth was appointed “roving inspector” of the euthanasia institutions to tighten-up discipline among the staff, which had deteriorated alarmingly, improve security, and streamline the killing process and ensuing paperwork. He spent much of his time in the euthanasia instituton in Hartheim castle, near Linz in Upper Austria. It was here that he encountered the police officer Franz Stangl, the future commandant of the Aktion Reinhardt death camps at Sobibor and Treblinka. At Hartheim castle, Stangl was in charge of administration and security, and his first meeting with Wirth made a profound impression on him:

Wirth was a gross and florid man. My heart sank when I met him. He stayed at Hartheim for several days that time and often came back. Whenever he was there he addressed us daily at lunch. And here it was again, this awful verbal crudity: when he spoke about the necessity for this euthanasia operation, he was not speaking in humane or scientific terms ... he laughed. He spoke of “doing away with

useless mouths, and that sentimental slobber about such people made him puke.”775

Just before Christmas 1941, Wirth arrived in Bełżec where the first Aktion Reinhardt death camp was under construction, and in the New Year returned to the ‘T4’ euthanasia institution at Bernburg to select the first group of 15 men to staff the camp.

Between mid-January and the beginning of March 1942, he experimented with different methods of gassing, including in the early days using the exhaust fumes from a Post Office parcel delivery van converted into a mobile gas chamber. He also tried pumping the exhaust fumes from army trucks into three primitive gas chambers, before trying Zyklon B, a pesticide issued to all German military units in the field, and bottled carbon monoxide (CO) gas. This was the method used in the ‘T4’ euthanasia institutes.

He finally decided that CO gas produced from engines was the most efficient and had a Russian tank engine brought from a depot of captured Russian vehicles in Lemberg (today Lvov in the Ukraine). This method was then applied in the other two Aktion Reinhardt death camps Sobibor and Treblinka.

In time, Wirth also perfected the ‘conveyor-belt’ method of mass murder, in which the Jews themselves carried out most of the tasks in the extermination process, working permanently at specific points to ensure its smooth continuity. This method, too, was also adopted at Sobibor and Treblinka. Wirth ran the Bełżec death camp with a rod of iron, feared not only by Jews, but also by his own staff, Germans and Ukrainians alike.

After ensuring that Bełżec was operating efficiently, on August 1, 1942, SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik appointed Wirth to the post of Inspector of the three SS-Sonderkommando’s operating at Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka: “Abteilung Reinhard-Inspekteur der SSSonderkommando Aktion Reinhardt” with his office at first in the “Julius Schreck Barracks,” the headquarters of Aktion Reinhardt in Lublin. At the end of the year, Wirth’s Inspectorate was moved to a

775 Sereny, Into That Darkness....., op.cit., p.54.

building on the Old Airfield just outside Lublin and close to the Lublin concentration camp (Majdanek).

From mid-August 1942, Wirth played a leading role in the re-organization of Treblinka, including the construction of the new gas chambers, and thereafter visited the camp frequently. Wirth was also present when RFSS-Heinrich Himmler visited Sobibor death camp on February 12, 1943.

On September 20, 1943, Globocnik, Wirth, Stangl, and several Ukrainian guards from the Aktion Reinhardt death camps were transferred to Trieste in northern Italy where Globocnik had been appointed the Higher SS and Police Leader for the Adriatic Coastal Region. Wirth was given command of three special units formed from former Aktion Reinhardt personnel, including many of the Ukrainian guards, most of whom had arrived in Trieste by the end of the year. Based in the buildings of an old rice husking factory in the San Sabba suburb of Trieste, their task was rounding-up and deporting the remaining Italian Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and confiscating their property. Under the cde designation “Einsatz R” (Operation ‘R’) these tasks were merely an extension of Aktion Reinhardt, albeit on a far smaller scale.

Wirth, however, turned the San Sabba factory into an interrogation center and mini-death camp for Jews as well as captured Italian and Yugoslav partisans. Executions were carried out by shooting, hanging, or beating to death with a mallet. For a time, a gas-van was also used. Erwin Lambert, who had constructed the gas chambers at the ‘T4’ euthanasia institutions and supervised construction of the new and bigger gas chambers at Treblinka and Sobibor, converted a basement heating furnace into a crematorium to dispose of the bodies of the victims. The charred and burnt human bones and ashes were dumped into the Adriatic from a boat or a jetty in the harbor.

Christian Wirth returned to Lublin and, on behalf of Globocnik, played a leading role in the mass murder of the Jewish workers employed in a number of labour camps within the Lublin district, in Lublin itself, and at Poniatowa and Trawniki. The mass murder of 18,000 Jews alone at Lublin, 15,000 at Poniatowa, and 10,000 at

Trawniki was the last mass killing of the Jews within the Generalgouvernement. Wirth’s involvement in these mass killing was revealed during post-war interrogations with Jakob Sporrenberg, SSPF Lublin, who had taken over this post from Globocnik.

By the spring of 1944, Globocnik was aware that the tide of the war was turning against Germany and became concerned about the mass murders in Poland and Italy, for which he was ultimately responsible. Therefore, he forbade Wirth to carry out any more killing of prisoners in San Sabba. Wirth’s special units were switched instead to anti-partisan duty on the Istrian peninsula, where they committed atrocities against the Yugoslav and Italian population under the guise of “pacification operations.”

Christian Wirth was ambushed and killed by Yugoslav partisans of the First Battalion of the ‘Istrska’ (Istrian) Division on May 26, 1944 near Kozina, just outside Trieste. He was on his way by car to inspect one of his SS-units in Fiume (today, Rijeka in Croatia) on the other side of the peninsula.

Wirth was buried with full military honors in the German Military Cemetery in the small village of Opicina, up on the Karst above Trieste. During the late 1950s–early 1960s, the remains of all German war dead in Italy were exhumed from their widely scattered graves and reinterred in a new and big German Military Cemetery at Costermano, on the south-eastern shore of Lake Garda, near Verona in northern Italy. For many years, the presence of Wirth’s grave at Costermano has been a matter of bitter dispute, although his SS-rank has been erased from his gravestone and his name removed from the Roll of Honor in the Propyleum.

Gottlieb Jakub HERING

Second Commandant Bełżec

August 1942–May 1943

Temporary Commandant Sobibor

Gottlieb Jakub Hering was born on June 2, 1887, in Warmbronn, near Leonberg, Württemberg. Leaving school he worked as an

agricultural labourer on estates in the Leonberg area. In 1915 he was conscripted into a Machine Gun Company of Grenadier Regiment 123. He fought on the Western Front in northern France and was awarded the Iron Cross First Class among other medals. Discharged from the Army in 1918, he joined the police at the end of December 1918 and served in the Kripo office at Goppingen, Württemberg. He later worked for the Stuttgart CID, where he became acquainted with Christian Wirth.

From December 1939 until December 1940, he served in a team of Kripo officers in Gotenhafen (Gdynia) dealing with the resettlement of ethnic Germans on the Baltic coast. In 1941 Hering was drafted into ‘T4’ and served in Bernburg, then later at Hadamar, Pirna-Sonnenstein before arriving in Belzec death camp in July 1942. One month later in August 1942, he was appointed commandant of Bełżec, when Wirth became the Inspector of Sonderkommando Aktion Reinhardt.

After the liquidation of Bełżec in May 1943, he became the commandant of the Jewish Labor Camp at Poniatowa until its liquidation on November 4, 1943, as part of Aktion Erntefest (Harvest Festival). Hering was temporary commandant of the Sobibor death camp during the dismantling and closure of the death camp in November 1943. He attended the funerals of the SS personnel murdered during the revolt in Sobibor in the Chelm Military Cemetery in October 1943. In 1944 he was ordered to Italy, where he again replaced Christian Wirth as chief of Kommando R1 in Trieste after Wirth was killed by partisans. On October 9, 1945, he died in unknown circumstances in the patients’ waiting room of the Katherinen Hospital in Stetten-in-Remstal, Württemberg, while under investigation by the French military authorities.

Belzec Death Camp Garrison

Listed in Alphabetical Order

BAER, Rudolf. Born on March 28, 1906, in Leipzig. He was a carpenter from Halle-an-der-Saale in Saxony-Anhalt. He worked for T4 Euthanasia institutes at Brandenburg and Bernburg as a cook. Served at Bełżec from September 1942 until the spring of 1943, and at the Treblinka death camps in the administration office. In May 1945, he was interned in a Prisoner–of–War camp near Kircbach, Austria. He escaped and has never been traced.

BARBL, Heinrich. Born on March 3, 1900, in Sarleinsbach, Austria, Heinrich worked at the T4 Euthanasia at Grafeneck and Hartheim, before being sent to the Bełżec death camp in Poland where he helped install the gas pipes. He referred to himself as the Hausklemper (plumber); he worked with Erich Fuchs on the installation of gas pipes in the gas chambers in Sobibor.

BOROWSKI, Werner. Born on October 23, 1913, in Sprottau in the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia, Werner served at the Bernburg T4 Euthanasia institute as head of the economics office. He was posted to the Bełżec death camp in January 1942 until April 1942, and then onto the Treblinka death camp. Because he fell victim to the typhus epidemic in the camp, after recovering he was sent back to Bernburg. He joined the Luftwaffe and was reported missing in action, presumed killed.

BREE, Max. Born on November 28, 1906, in Lubben im Spreewald, following service in T4 Euthanasia Institutes at Grafeneck and Hadamar. Bree served in Bełżec from June / July 1942 until September 1942, when he was transferred to the Treblinka death camp. In the spring of 1943, he was transferred to the Sobibor death camp. He met his death at Sobibor, during the prisoner revolt on October 14, 1943.

DACHSEL, Arthur. Born on March 11, 1898, in Bohlen in Sachsen. In civilian life, Dachsel had a number of professions; he was a blacksmith, locksmith, cigar handler, police officer, and a carer.

He worked at the T4 Euthanasia institute at Pirna-Sonnenstein, where he incinerated bodies. He served at the Bełżec death camp in Poland, and in July 1942 he was transferred to the Sobibor death camp, where he supervised the Waldkommando. He was promoted to the rank of Oberwachtmeister in March 1943. He was remembered by Thomas (Toivi) Blatt as one of the least brutal SS men. He passed away on November 10, 1958.

DUBOIS, Werner. Born on February 26, 1913 in Wuppertal-Langenfeld, Dubois was brought up by his grandmother. After school he worked as a joiner, brushmaker, printer, and on a farm. He joined the SS in January 1937, and he worked as a driver for the Gruppenkommando Oranienburg; he also served as a driver and a guard at the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.

In August 1939, he was transferred to the T4 organization where he drove the buses and worked as a burner in a number of T4 Euthanasia institutions in Bernburg, Brandenburg, Grafeneck, and Hadamar. Following a brief spell in Russia working for the Organiasation Todt, in March /April 1942 he was transferred to the Bełżec death camp, where he admitted shooting Jewish prisoners. In the summer of 1943 he was transferred to the Sobibor death camp, when Bełżec was closed. At Sobibor he was in charge of the Waldkommando, and he was attacked in the armoury on the day of the prisoner revolt on October 14, 1943, suffering serious wounds. Dubois was acquitted at the Bełżec trial in August 1963. However, in 1966 he was sentenced to three years imprisonment at the Sobibor trial in Hagen. He passed away on October 22, 1971, in Munster.

FEIX, Reinhold. Born on July 3, 1909 in Neundorf / Oberschwarzbrunn, Sudetenland, Feix settled in Gablonz on the Neisse River. In civilian life, he was a barber by profession, was married and had two children. Werner who was born on January 1, 1935, and Dieter who was born on August 17, 1940. His SS Number was 329871. After serving in the SS Training camp at Trawniki, he served in the Bełżec death camp from the autumn of 1942, according to Robert Juhrs. At Bełżec he was one of the most brutal

and feared SS men on the camp’s staff. Rudolf Reder recalled that Feix was married with two children, and that his wife and children lived in Koblenz. Reder knew this because Feix occasionally sent parcels to his family, and Reder used to address the parcels for him. He left Bełżec in December 1942 when he was appointed to the role of Commandant of the Jewish Labor Camp in Budzyn. He left Budzyn during August 1943 and disappeared. He saw service in Italy, according to post-war testimony by Werner Dubois. He survived the war and died at his home in Amberg, Bavaria, on May 30, 1969.

FICHTNER, Erwin. Born on January 12, 1912, in Trachenberg, Fichtner served as a cook at the T4 Euthanasia institutions at Bernburg, and Brandenburg. At Bełżec he was the camp quartermaster. He was killed by Polish partisans on March 29, 1943, near Tarnawatka, 17 kilometres north of Bełżec on the road to Zamosc. He was buried in the German Military Cemetery in Tomaszow Lubelski, but his remains were exhumed in 1996 and re-buried in the German Military Cemetery in Przemysl.

FLOSS, Erich Herbert. Born on August 25, 1912, in Reinholdsheim, Floss attended extended elementary school. After school he was trained in textile dyeing, but he could not secure a position in this line of work and consequently worked in several other jobs. From April 1, 1935, he served in the 2 Totenkopfsturmban Elbe and saw service in the Buchenwald concentration camp; he also served at the T4 Euthanasia institutes at Grafeneck, Hadamar and Bernburg.

Erich Herbert Floss was to make a name for himself as the Aktion Reinhardt cremation expert, which he put to good effect at Bełżec, Sobibor, and Treblinka death camps during 1943. Floss was nicknamed by the Jews at Treblinka, as Tadellos (perfect); that was his favourite expression. Floss served mainly at Sobibor death camp. He was one of the SS men who took the victims‘ last possessions before they entered the ‘Tube‘ leading from Lager II to the gas chambers.

One week after the revolt at Sobibor on October 14, 1943, Floss escorted a group of Ukrainian guards to the Trawniki training camp when he was killed by his own machine-gun by Trawnikimänner Wasil Hetmaniec, between Chelm and the village of Zawadowka, on October 25, 1943.

FRANZ, Kurt Hubert. Born on January 17, 1914, in Dusseldorf, Franz attended elementary school from 1920 until 1928 in his home town. From 1929 he trained as a cook, first at the “Hirschquelle” restaurant, then in “Hotel Wittelsbacher Hof,” in Dusseldorf, without taking his final examination.

Franz then served as a soldier between the years 1935 to 1937; in October 1937 he joined the Waffen-SS as part of the SS-Totenkopfstandarte Thüringen. As a member of the 6th battalion, he served at the Buchenwald concentration camp as part of the guard unit. At the end of 1939 Franz was summoned to the Führer’s Chancellery in Berlin and detailed for service as a kitchen chief in the T4 institutions at Grafeneck, Hartheim, Sonnenstein, and Brandenburg.

During March 1942, Franz was ordered to the Generalgouvernment, and he reported to Odilo Globocnik SSPF in Lublin; he was then posted to the Bełżec death camp. In Belzec Franz was responsible for supervising the Ukrainian guards and military training and was promoted to the rank of SS-Oberscharführer on April 20, 1942.

In August 1942, he was ordered to the Treblinka death camp as deputy camp commandant and took over control of the Ukrainian guard unit. In March 1943 he was promoted to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer. After the revolt on August 2, 1943, he was appointed to the post of the final Commandant of the camp. He was responsible for the liquidation of the death camp from August 27, 1943 until November 1943.

Franz was one of the most brutal and muderous members of the camp staff when it came to the day to day running of the camp. To the prisoners Franz was the cruellest and most feared among the SS personnel. His physical appearence was extremely

deceiving; he was handsome and had a round, almost baby-face, and was nicknamed “Lalka“ (Doll) by the prisoners. He was accompanied on his rounds of the camp by Barry, a Saint Bernhard cross, who attacked and maimed prisoners on Franz’s command. Franz is mentioned frequently in survivor accounts; all paint the same evil picture.

When Treblinka closed down he briefly went to the Sobibor death camp, and then to Trieste and Goriza in Italy, where he was head of the Landesschutz school.

In May 1945, he was arrested by the Americans, but escaped back to Germany, where he was re-arrested again by the Americans but later released. He then lived undisturbed in Dusseldorf until his arrest in 1959. He was tried as a War Criminal in the Treblinka Trial in Dusseldorf and sentenced to life imprisonment by the German Landesgericht on September 3, 1965. Kurt Franz died in an old people’s home in Wuppertal on July 4, 1998.

FUCHS, Erich. Born on April 9, 1902, in Berlin. After his education in an elementary school Fuchs trained to become a skilled motor mechanic and automative foreman. Before the Second World War he was a driver in Berlin, and he joined the Nazi Party in the early 1930’s, becoming a member of the SA and later the SS. His address in Berlin was SW 29 Gneisenaustr.

Fuchs was drafted to T4 where he worked as Dr. Eberl’s driver in the T4 institutions at Brandenburg and Bernburg, and was, as he expressed himself, an interested spectator‘ at the gassing of 50 mental patients.

In the winter of 1941, Fuchs was selected at Bernburg by Christian Wirth and posted to Bełżec death camp. At Bełżec he installed the “ showers,“ the disguised gassing facilties, drove the converted parcel van that was turned into a gas-wagon, and worked as a truck driver in the motor pool, transporting material to the death camp site. In April 1942 he collected a Russian watercooled petrol engine from Lemberg, which was to produce the lethal gas for exterminating the Jews at Sobibor death camp. He

installed the engine with Erich Bauer and ensured that it worked with a trial gassing of Jews.

Erich Fuchs was then posted to Treblinka to assist with the installation of an engine in the gas chamber, which he testified, “Subsequently I went to Treblinka. In this extermination camp I installed a generator which supplied electric light for the barracks. The work in Treblinka took me about three to four busy months. During my stay there, transports of Jews who were gassed were coming in daily.“

In December 1942, Fuchs managed to arrange his release from T4 and, from early 1943, he worked for the German oil company Ostland-Öl-Vertriebsgesellschaft in Riga. In February 1945, he became a soldier and member of the Waffen-SS, where he served in a tank transport unit. In March 1945, he was wounded during a bombing raid. Fuchs was taken prisoner by the Russians and subsequently was held as a Prisoner of War by the Americans in Western Germany. He was employed by the British Army as a driver / mechanic in Bergen Belsen, until his release in 1946.

Fuchs worked until 1962 at a number of jobs as an assistant worker, locksmith, and truck inspector at the TUV in Koblenz; he was arrested and held in custody from April 8, 1963. The Schwurgericht am Landgericht Hagen sentenced him to four years imprisonment on December 20,1966, for being an accessory to the murder of at least 79,000 people. He died in Koblenz on July 25, 1980.

GIRTZIG, Hans. Born on April 23, 1905 in Berlin, Girtzig served in the canteen in the T4 Euthanasia institutions at Grafeneck, Hadamar, and Hartheim. In the middle of 1942, he was transferred to Bełżec. When Bełżec was closed down, he served at the Poniatowa Jewish labor camp. After the war he returned to Berlin. Arrested to stand trial during the 1960s, he was released due to ill –health (multiple sclerosis).

GLEY, Heinrich. Born on February 16, 1901, in Rödlin, Mecklenburg, after completing elementary school education, Gley worked on a farm until 1919. From 1929 he worked as a male nurse. He joined

the NSDAP in 1932 and entered the SS in 1934. He joined the T4 organization on January 4, 1940 and served at the T4 Institutions at Grafeneck and Pirna-Sonnenstein. During the winter of 1941/42, he served in an Organisation Todt transportation unit for wounded soldiers.

In mid-August 1942, Gley was transferred to Bełżec, where he worked on the ramp and the undressing barracks. In March 1943, he was involved in the accidental shooting of SS-Nco Fritz Jirmann, involving two Ukrainian guards who were locked up in a punishment bunker near the station. After the war he was interrogated and claimed the incident took place much earlier in October 1942.

When Bełżec was closed down, he was transferred to Poniatowa Jewish Labor camp. He served in Italy, but was sent to Berlin in late 1944, due to ill-health. He was discharged from Prisoner of War status on December 29, 1947. He then worked as a bricklayer in Munster. He was acquitted at the hearings before the Bełżec Trial. He passed away during 1985.

GRAETSCHUS, Siegfried. Born on June 9, 1916, in Tilsit, East Prussia. After extended elementary education, Graetschus became a farmer and was a member of the NSDAP from 1936. He served at the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, as confirmed by the War Crimes Group in 1947. Graetschus was recruited into the T4 Organization and served at the T4 Euthanasia institutes at Grafeneck, Brandenburg, and Bernburg.

Graetschus was posted to the Bełżec death camp and was involved in the early gassing experiments, including the conversion of a Post Office parcel van into a gas-wagon. Siegfried Graetschus was transferred to Treblinka death camp in May 1942, where he served until August 1942, when he was dismissed at the same time as Dr. Eberl. He was sent to the Sobibor death camp, where he commanded the Ukrainian guards, replacing Erich Lachmann as their chief. Graetschus was killed during the prisoner revolt on October 14, 1943, by Jehuda Lerner.

GRINGERS, Max. Born August 6, 1898, Gringers served at the T4 Institutions of Bernburg, Hadamar, and Hartheim. He served in Bełżec from June / July 1942, until May 1943, where he was in charge of sorting the clothing of the Jewish victims. He also served at the Jewish Labor camp at Poniatowa. He was transferred to Trieste and was killed in active service in Italy on April 30, 1944, by partisans. He was buried at the German Military Cemetery in Costermano, Italy, Block 15, Grave 734.

GROTH, Paul Johannes. Born on February 9, 1922, in Holthausen, Schwein, Groth served at the T4 Euthanasia institute at Hartheim near Linz, Austria. He was posted to the Bełżec death camp in January 1942. Christian Wirth transferred Groth to the Sobibor death camp in April 1942, where he supervised the sorting activities in Lager II. He was regarded by the prisoners as one of the worst sadists. However, Groth fell in love with a Jewish girl called Ruth, who was shot in Lager III. Groth was transferred back to the Bełżec death camp in December 1942. He was in charge of the transport that brought the last Jewish work-brigade from Bełżec to Sobibor death camp in May 1943. In 1951 his wife declared that Groth had died in order to claim her widow’s pension.

HACKENHOLT, Lorenz Maria. Born on June 25, 1914, in the coal mining area of Gelsenkirchen, northrhine—Westphalia, in the northern part of the Ruhr, after attending the local elementary school until the age of 14, Hackenholt became an apprentice bricklayer and, on passing the trade examinations, worked on various building sites.

In 1934 he joined the 2 Totenkopfstandarte (Death’s Head Regiment) ‘Brandenburg‘ stationed at Oranienburg, north of Berlin. In March 1938 he was transferred to the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was employed in the motor pool and as a driver for the camp Kommandantur and personnel.

In November 1939, Hackenholt was one of a group of ten SSNCO’s summoned to the Führer’s Chancellery on Vosstrasse in Berlin. During a meeting with SS-Standartenführer Viktor Brack, the head of Main Office II of the Führer’s Chancellery, they were

informed of the euthanasia program and their roles within its ranks, mainly as bus-drivers conveying the patients and as corpse incinerators. This duty was to be performed in civilian clothes. After the SS-NCOs were sworn to secrecy, civilian clothes were brought for them and Hackenholt drove them in a bus to Grafeneck castle in the Swabian mountains, south of Stuttgart. From the beginning of 1940, when Grafeneck became operational, until the summer of 1941, when the gassings were temporarily halted on Hitler’s orders, Lorenz Hackenholt served in all six T4 euthanasia institutions, both as a bus driver and as a so-called disinfector/ burner, unloading the corpses from the gas chambers and incinerating them.

After the temporary halt in the T4 gassings, Hackenholt, together with a small group of SS-NCOs from the Foundation T4, was transferred in the autumn of 1941 to serve under SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik, the SS-and Police Leader of the Lublin District in the Generalgouvernement. Hackenholt was assigned to Bełżec, a remote village in the far south-eastern corner of the Lublin District, on the main road and railroad between Lublin and Lemberg (Lvov).

Here, on the outskirts of the village, the first Aktion Reinhardt death camp was under construction. When the camp became operational on March 17, 1942, Hackenholt became the supervising mechanic who started the Russian tank engine which pumped its lethal exhaust fumes into three primitive gas chambers in a wooden shed. He rapidly became the gassing expert of Aktion Reinhardt, and a few months later designed and supervised the construction of a new and bigger gassing building with six chambers. It was named the “Hackenholt Foundation” (“Stiftung Hackenholt”) in his honor.

In August 1942, Hackenholt was ordered to Treblinka by Christian Wirth, by then the Inspector of the three Aktion Reinhardt SS-Sonderkommandos operating at Bełżec, Sobibor and Treblinka, to replace the original three gas chambers with a new and bigger building containing ten gas chambers. He was

assisted in this task by Erwin Lambert, the ‘T4’ construction expert. On completion of this task, both men were sent by Wirth to Sobibor death camp to construct new and bigger gassing facilities there.

Hackenholt then returned to Bełżec where, in the late autumn of 1942, he became involved in the exhumation and cremation of the hundreds of thousands of corpses buried in the mass graves. In the spring of 1943, Hackenholt returned to Treblinka on orders from Wirth to assist with the exhumation and cremation operations as one of the excavator drivers. Follwing the liquidation of Bełżec duing May 1943, Hakenholt was transferred to the Old Airfield camp just outside Lublin, which was the main sorting, cleaning, and storage depot for the vast amounts of belongings and valuables seized from the Jews murdered in the Aktion Reinhardt death camps.

Valuable furs were disinfected with Zyklon B in four specially constructed chambers; after Hackenholt arrived at the airfield, he used the chambers for killing prisoners who were unfit for work, instead of sending them to the gas chambers in the nearby Lublin concentration camp (Majdanek).

In the autumn of 1943, Hackenholt was transferred to Trieste in northern Italy, where he served in the R-I Sonderkommando of Einsatz R at San Sabba. In 1944, he was awarded the Iron Cross II Class for his dedicated service to Aktion Reinhardt. Shortly after Easter 1945, he was arrested and interned in San Sabba, awaiting execution for selling arms to the partisans. However, Dieter Allers, the head of Aktion T4 and Einsatz R, who had replaced Christian Wirth after his assassination, realized that the war was all but over and released Hackenholt, who promptly disappeared. Hackenholt was next seen driving a bus for a Trieste motor company.

After that, he disappeared until, during the retreat of the Einsatz R troops into Austria, the convoy passed him on the road to Kirchbach. He was driving a horse-drawn milk float. In the summer of 1945, his wife Ilse, received news of him in Berlin from

Rudolf Kamm, a former SS-comrade from the Bełżec death camp. He wanted to collect Hackenholt’s civilian clothing. In 1946, two former SS-comrades from Sobibor death camp, Erich Bauer and Wenzel Rehwald, claim to have met him near Ingolstadt in Bavaria, where he was living under an assumed name and employed in a motor accessories shop. A year later, Hackenholt’s brother, Theo, believed he passed him driving a delivery van near their hometown of Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr. After that nothing more was heard of Lorenz Hackenholt. However, after a fruitless four-year hunt by the West German police, and intensive and repeated interrogations of his wife Ilse and other family members, it seemed likely that Hackenholt could have been living under a false name in the area of Memmingen, in the Allgau region of southern Germany. His wife, Ilse, lived in the same area. The Allgau region was close to the border with Austria, a country that had no extradition treaty with West Germany. Lorenz Hakenholt, wanted for participation in the mass murder of at least 1.5 million people, has never been found.

HIRCHE, Fritz. Born on June 10, 1893, in Penzig, Oberlausitz, Fritz Hirche was employed as a manual labourer before becoming a Detective assistant (Kriminalobersekretär). He was a member of the NSDAP since 1933. He joined the T4 Organization in 1939. He was chief of the office and captain of the Schutzpolizei at Brandenburg, Bernburg and then at Hartheim. He was transferred to Bełżec in July 1942. From November 1943, he was head of Criminal Investigation Department in Straslund. He committed suicide on May 1, 1945.

JIRMANN, Fritz. Born on January 11, 1914, in Barzdorf, Braunau, Fritz Hirmann served in the Czech army and then in the Sudetenland Freikorps. He joined the Sudeten-German Party in 1934, the SS in 1938, and the Nazi Party. He then served in the Totenkopfverband Ostmark-Aldershof, before being recruited by the Totenkopfverband Thüringen.

Jirmann then served at the Buchenwald concentration camp before being recruited along with Kurt Franz and Erich Floss into the T4 organization. He was posted to the T4 Euthanasia institute at Grafeneck. He was later posted to Bełżec death camp, where he was feared as a rather brutal member of the camp staff, as recalled by Rudolf Reder. He was killed by Heinrich Gley, in an accidental shooting on March 1, 1943, involving two Ukrainian guards in the dark at the punishment bunker, near the Kommandantur. He was buried at the German military cemetery at Tomaszow Lubelski, in plot 317. In 1995 his remains were moved to the German Military cemetery in Przemysl.

JUHRS, Robert Emil. Born on October 17, 1911, in Frankfurt am Main, by profession Juhrs was a painter, but he also worked as a labourer, caretaker, and usher at the Frankfurt Opera House and an office clerk. After serving at the T4 institute at Hadamar, where he was employed as a male nurse, he was a painter and clerk until late 1941.

Juhrs was posted to the Bełżec death camp in June 1942, where he served at the ramp and at the Lazarett, shooting the sick and disabled. In late February or early March 1943, he was posted to the Jewish labor camp at Dorohucza, where peat was dug and he remained there until early November 1943.

Juhrs escorted the Arbeitshäftlinge from Dorohucza to Trawnki, where all of them were shot during Aktion Erntefest (Harvest Festival). Following the revolt in Sobibor in October 1943, Juhrs was sent to Sobibor to help with the dismantling of the camp, and he formed a guard cordon of the last prisoners to be killed at Sobibor, once they had finished with the clean-up of the death camp.

Juhrs was ordered to Italy in December 1943. He was acquitted at the pre-Trial Bełżec hearings at the Landgericht Munich in 1963, and he was also acquiited at the Sobibor Trial in Hagen on December 20, 1966, on charges arising from his involvement in the demolition of the camp.

KAMM, Rudolf. Born on January 19, 1905, in Sedenz, a village near Teplitz Schonau in the Sudetenland, Kamm was a glazier by profession. He served at the T4 Euthanasia institute at Pirna-Sonnenstein as a ‘burner.'

He was posted to the death camp at Bełżec in 1942, and records from the nearby hospital at Tomaszow Lubelski show that he was hospitalised on June 17, 1942 until the June 25, 1942, and again from December 30, 1942 until January 31, 1943 with typhus.* Kamm was transferred to Sobibor in 1943, where he supervised the sorting barracks. He was then posted to Italy. Franz Suchomel testified that he saw him for the last time after the end of the war, in a Gasthaus between Mauthern and Hermagor, Carinthia (Austria), the last lodgings of our former unit (R-1 in Trieste).

*Note; A number of the SS garrison were also hospitalized at Tomaszow Lubelski, including Gottfried Schwarz and Heinrich Unverhau, as well as Rudolf Kamm and a number of Trawnikimänner such as Peter Aleksejev, Maks Bauman, Wasyl Hulyj, Petro Litus, Franz Pamin, Alexander Prus, Arnold Rosenko, Alexander Szwab, Jakub Wysota, Ignatz Zuk and many others.

KIELMINSKY, Otto. Born during 1904, in Berlin, in civilian life Kielminsky was a driver by profession, and he continued in his line of work for T4. He served in Bełżec from June 1942 until the spring of 1943, also as a driver. He was then transferred to Italy, where he served in Udine on the Adriatic Coast. Further details unknown.

KLOS, Walter. Born in 1906. from Dresden, according to post-war testimony by Werner Dubois, Klos served as a T4 driver at the Bernburg and Pirna-Sonnenstein Euthanasia Institutions. He served at the Bełżec death camp, from June 1942 and Sobibor. He was transferred to the Lublin concentration camp, where he died in unknown circumstances.

KRASCHEWSKI, Friedrich. Born in 1893. In civilian life he was a carer, Kraschewski served at the Grafeneck T4 Euthanasia

Institution. He served at Bełżec between July to September 1942, but Wirth declared him unfit to serve there and transferred him to Auschwitz. He later served in Trieste. His eventual fate unknown.

LOFFLER, Alfred. Born on September 15, 1904, in Basel, Switzerland. Served at Bełżec. Arrived in the Treblinka death camp on August 20, 1942. He was assigned to the Totenlager. According to prisoner Jankiel Wiernik, just before the prisoners revolt on August 2, 1943, Loffler was transfered to the Lublin Concentration Camp. He promised to take Wiernik with him, which of course never happened.

From Lublin, Loffler was posted to Northern Italy, where he was killed in action on April 30, 1944. He was buried first in the German Military Cemetery in the village of Opicnia, near Trieste. His body was exhumed and re-buried in the late 1950’s, in the large German Military Cemetery at Costermano, near Verona, in northern Italy.

NIEMANN, Johann. Born on August 4, 1913, in Wollern Ostfriesland. He served at a number of concentration camps such as Oranienburg, Esterwegen and Sachsenhausen between the years 1934— 1941. He was a member of T4 and was employed as a ‘burner‘ at the T4 institutes at Bernburg, Grafeneck and Brandenburg.

Niemann was posted to service in the east at the Bełżec death camp, where according to Kurt Franz, he was in charge of the Totenlager, which included the gas chambers and mass graves, before being posted to Sobibor in January 1943. Niemann was promoted to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer following Himmler’s visit to the death camp on February 12, 1943. He was acting camp commandant when the prisoner revolt took place on October 14, 1943, and he was killed in the tailors barracks by a blow from an axe wielded by Alexander (Kalimali) Shubayev.

OBERHAUSER, Josef. Born on September 20, 1915, in Munich. Worked on farms after leaving school. In 1935, he joined the SS and the NSDAP. At the outbreak of the war he served with the

Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler. From 1940, he worked in the T4 Institutes at Bernburg, Brandenburg and Grafeneck, burning corpses.

In November 1941, he was assigned to the SS –and Police Leader Lublin and was responsible for the construction of the Bełżec death camp, which commenced in November 1941. He served at Bełżec until August 1942, when he became Christian Wirth’s adjutant, as Wirth became Inspector of the SS Sonderkommando Aktion Reinhardt. Oberhauser was promoted to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer because of his service in Aktion Reinhardt.

In the autumn of 1943, he was ordered to Italy, where he was the comandant of the camp at San Sabba, Trieste.He was captured by British troops in Bad Gastein, Austria in May 1945. In 1948, he was sentenced to fifteen years‘ imprisonment by the Magdeburg Landesgericht for participation in ‘euthanasia‘ crimes. He was released in April 1956, and he was employed as a casual worker and a barman in Munich.

In 1965, he was tried by jury in Landesgericht I in Munich at the Bełżec trial and was sentenced to a total of four years and six months imprisonment for the crime of acting as an accessory in the common murder of 300,000 people and for his role in the common murder of 150 people. Oberhauser was interviewed by Claude Lanzmann in the film Shoah, in the ‘Franziskaner Poststübl‘ about Christian Wirth and the number of Jews murdered at Bełżec.

ORLIEWSKI. Born in 1905, and lived in Berlin. In civilian life he was a leather worker. Served at the T4 Euthanasia Institution at Pirna-Sonnenstin as a ‘burner‘. Served at Bełżec. Fate unknown

SCHEMMEL, Ernst. Born on September 11, 1883, in Kirchhain, north Saxony. A career police officer he was a member of the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo), the plain clothes detective squads. Commandeered to T4, he was employed as head of administration at the Pirna-Sonnenstein and Hartheim Euthanasia institutions. Transferred in early 1942, to Bełżec death camp in the administative office and then for a short time, late September–early October

1942, as acting commandant at Treblinka. He died of a heart attack, in Dresden on December 10, 1943, whilst home on leave, aged 60.

SCHIFFNER, Karl. Born on July 4, 1901, in Weiskirchlitz, under the name of Kresadlo. He attended extended elementary school and later studied at the public school in Weiskirchlitz. He served a three year apprenticeship as a carpenter at a Trade School. He then served in the Czech Army during the years 1921-1923.

Schiffner married in 1928, and became a member of the Sudetendeutsche Partei, and became a member of the SA, once the Sudetenland was occupied. He transfered from the SA to the SS, because the black uniforms looked better. His SS number was 321225.

He received the Ehrenwinkel (Chevron of Honour) because of his membership in the Sudetendeutsche Partei. He changed his name from Kresadlo to Schiffner in 1941. Until 1942, he served at the T4 Euthanasia institute at Pirna-Sonnenstein, and then he was posted to the Treblinka death camp, where he was in charge of the camps joinery and construction teams.

During June and July 1943, Schiffner and a group of twelve Ukrainian Trawnikimänner under his command went to the site of the former Bełżec death camp, to construct a farmhouse, which was to be occupied by a Ukrainian family to keep a close watch on the site.

Schiffner also served at Sobibor, and from there he was posted to Trieste, to serve in a police unit, which fought against the partisans, unti the end of the Second World War. Schiffner made his way to Karnten in Austria, where he was captured by British Forces, and interned in a Prisoner of War Camp at Usbach. He was released in October 1945, and he made his way to Salzburg, and then disappeared. No further details are known.

SCHLUCH, Karl Alfred. Born on October 25, 1905, in Lauenburg, Pommern. He spent his childhood with his grandparents. After attending elementary school he became an agricultural worker.

From April 1930, he was employed as an attendant at the sanatorium run by Dr Wiener in Bernau, near Berlin. He passed his Public Nursing examinaion in 1932.

He joined the NSDAP in 1936, and joined the T4 Organization on June 13, 1940, where he served at Grafeneck and Hadamar Euthanasia institutions. During the winter of 1941/42, he served in an Organisation Todt transportation unit for wounded soldiers on the eastern front.

Schluch was transferred toBełżec during June 1942, along with Robert Juhrs,where he served on the Ramp and accompanied the naked Jews through the ‘der Schlauch‘ to the gas chambers. After Bełżec was closed down he served in the Poniatowa Jewish Labor camp. In the autumn of 1943, he was sent to Triest in Italy to fight the partisans. At the end of the war he was arrested by US forces, but released on July 6, 1945.

After the war he returned to being an agricultural worker and then a construction worker, before retuning to the nursing profession as a male nurse in a hospital in Bedburg-Hau.

SCHMIDT, Fritz. Born on November 29, 1906, in Eibau, Gorlitz district in eastern Saxony.A motor mechanic by trade, he was employed in the T4 euthanasia institute at Pirna –Sonnenstein, in 1940, as a guard and driver. In 1941, he was transferred to Bernburg euthanasia institute. He served in Bełżec from June /July 1942, until September 1942, when he was transferred to the Treblinka death camp, to supervise the maintenance and running of the gassing engines in the Upper Camp. He was also in charge of the SS garage and also supervised the metal-workshop. He was then transferred to Sobibor death camp during September 1943, and he stayed there until the camp was liquidated in November 1943.

After that he served with Einsatz R in Trieste, northern Italy. He was captured by the Americans at the end of the war, but was released and he returned to Germany. He was arrested by the Soviet millitary authorities, placed on trial. On December 14, 1949, he was sentenced to nine years imprisonment. He escaped and

fled to West Germany, where he died on February 4, 1982, aged 76.

SCHNIEDER, Friedrich. A Volksdeutscher who was in charge of the Trawnikimänner at Bełżec.

SCHWARZ, Gottfried. Born on May 3, 1913, in Furth. He served at Brandenburg, Grafeneck and Bernburg T4 Euthanasia institutes as a ‘burner.‘ Schwarz was deputy commandant of Bełżec and he assisted in the construction of the death camp. According to Erich Fuchs Schwarz also served at Sobibor taking part in trial gassings.

Schwarz was regarded by Rudolf Reder as being one of the most cruel SS guards. When Bełżec was liquidated he was appointed the commandant of the Dorohucza labor camp, in either late February or early March 1943. Schwarz was ordered to Trieste and he was killed by Italian communist partisans in San Pietro, near Civdale on June 19, 1944. He was buried at the German Millitary Cemetery at Costermano, Italy.

TAUSCHER, Fritz. Born on May 20, 1903, in Planitz, near Zwickau. Worked as a supervisor at the registry office in Pirna-Sonnenstein.

Transferred to Bełżec in October 1942, he served there until March 1943, he was in charge of the cremation of the exhumed bodies. Tauscher according to SS-NCO’s Juhrs and Zierke was the last commandant of Dorohucza, the Jewish Labor camp after also having served at Budzyn bei Krasnik Jewish Labor camp. He was then posted to Trieste. Tauscher committed suicide on February 8, 1965, whilst in a remand prison in Hamburg.

UNVERHAU, Heinrich. Born on November 26,1911, in Vienenburg, Goslar. In April 1925, he became a plumber’s apprentice, but as a result of an accident at work, he lost the sight in his right eye, and he was forced to end his apprenticeship. He became a muscian and from 1934, he worked as a nurse.

In January 1940, he was ordered to join T4 and he was employed at Gafeneck and Hadamar Euthanasia institutes, as a

nurse. In the winter of 1941 /42, he was drafted to the Eastern Front for service in the Organisation Todt looking after the wounded in Raume Wjasma.

In June 1942 ,he was posted to the Bełżec death camp and whilst there in November 1942, he was hospitalised at Tomaszow Lubelski with spotted typhus and this disease caused him to lose his right eye completely. At the death camp he was responsible for sorting the possessions in the railway sheds located just outside the death camp, opposite Bełżec railway station.

In the summer of 1943, he was posted to the Sobibor death camp where he supervised the cleaning up of the undressing area in Lager II and in one of the sorting barracks. Unverhau was ordered back to the former death camp site at Bełżec to help with the planting of trees to erase the traces of the crimes committed there. He returned to Sobibor in November 1943, just in time to help with the re-planting there.

Unverhau was cleared at the Bełżec pre-Trial hearings in 1963, and was also acquitted at the Sobibor Trial in Hagen in 1966.

VALLASTER, Josef. Born on February 5, 1910, in Silbertal, Austria. He served in the T4 Euthanasia institutes of Hadamar and Hartheim. He was posted to Bełżec, where he served from January 1942, until April 1942.

He was then posted to Sobibor in the same month—April 1942. He worked in Lager III, supervising the gassing and burial— later burning—of the victims. He often drove the narrow-gauge railway engine that pulled the trucks filled with the elderly and disabled from the ramp to Lager III. One of the most brutal SSNCO’s in Sobibor, he was killed in the prisoner revolt on October 14,1943, in the shoemakers workshop.

VEY, Kurt. Born on September 27, 1897, in Bunzlau. He was recruited into the T4 Organization and served at the T4 Euthanasia institute at Pirna-Sonnenstein, in the administration office. He was posted to the Bełżec death camp and then onto Sobibor. At Sobibor he served in Lager II. Af ter Sobibor was closed down, he

was posted to Trieste, Italy. He was killed in action during a fight with partisans.

ZANKER, Hans. Born on September 8, 1905, in Sachsen. In civillian life he was a butcher by profession. He served in the T4 Euthanasia institute of Pirna-Sonnenstein as a cook. He served at the death camps in Poland including, Bełżec, Sobibor and Treblinka. He arrived in Bełżec during September 1942, and stayed until the camp closed, when he was transferred to the Jewish Labor camp in Poniatowa. He was then transferred to Italy, where he was based in Trieste. No further details known.

ZIERKE, Ernst Theodor Franz. Born on May 6, 1905, in Krampe, the son of a railroad worker. After he graduated from elementary school he worked as a forester, and in 1921, he was apprenticed to be a blacksmith. After passing the blacksmith apprenticeship exams he was employed in agriculture from 1925.

In 1934, he changed careers and became a nurse at a clinic at Neuruppin near Brandenburg and was summoned to the T4 Headquarters in Berlin in December 1939, and he served at the T4 Euthanasia institutes at Grafeneck and Hadamar.

In the winter of 1941/42, he was drafted into the Organisation Todt for the care of the wounded in Russia. He returned to Germany and worked at a T4 institute at Eichberg, near Rudesheim. He was posted to the Bełżec death camp in June 1942, where he served until March 1943. At Bełżec he served on the ramp.

In March 1943, he was transferred along with Robert Juhrs to the Jewish Labor camp at Dorohucza, which dug peat, until November 1943. Zierke was amongst the SS who escorted the Jewish Arbeitshäftlinge from Dorohucza to the neaby Jewish Labor camp at Trawniki, where all of them were shot, as part of Aktion Erntefest (Harvest Festival).

Zierke was sent to Sobibor death camp, to help with the closure of the camp, and he formed part of the cordon that watched over the final liquidation of the Jewish workers from Treblinka. He was then posted to Italy. Zierke was released prior to the Bełżec Trial in Munich in 1964. He was subsequently tried in

Hagen for war crimes committed at Sobibor, but was released from custody on health grounds. Zierke died on May 23,1972.

SUPPORT STAFF

GOCKEL, Rudolf. Born on June 23, 1884, in Berbach. Son of Karl and Lisetty Gockel. He worked for the Reichsbahn and was responsible for the Bełżec railway station and he drove the trains packed with deportees into the death camp. He cut a dinstinctive figure with his Kaiser Wilhem moustache. He was imprisoned in Zamosc for three years but never charged. He died in 1965, in Lauffen am Neckar, near Stuttgart.776

776 Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv, Potsdam.

Chapter XV Wartime Reports About the Death Camp

The Polish Underground passed on information about the Bełżec death camp to the Polish Government-in-Exile in London and some of these reports were published by the Polish Ministry of Information. Information. The Home Army (Armia Krajowa) or the Delegatura passed on information via monthly reports using a network of Underground messengers who travelled through occupied Europe via neutral countries such as Spain or Sweden to reach the Government-in-exle in London.

The Delegatura report for April 1942 included a comprehensive account of the Bełżec extermination camp:

The camp was fully completed a few days before March 17, 1942. From that day transports with Jews began to arrive from the direction of Lvov and Warsaw. On the first day five transports arrived, afterward, one transport arrived daily from each direction. The transport enters the railway spur of Bełżec camp after disembarkation, lasting half an hour, the train returns empty. The observations of the local people (the camp is within sight and hearing distance of the inhabitants near the railway station) led all of them to one conclusion: that there is a mass murder of the Jews inside the camp. The following facts testify to this:

1. Between March 17 and April 13, about fifty-two transports (each of eighteen to thirty-five freight cars with an average of 1,500 people) arrived in the camp.

2. No Jews left the camp, neither during the day nor the night.

3. No food was supplied to the camp (whereas bread and other food articles had been dispatched to the Jews who had worked earlier on the construction of the camp).

4. Lime was brought to the camp.

5. The transports arrived at a fixed time. Before the arrival of a transport, no Jews were seen in the camp.

6. After each transport, about two freight cars with clothing are removed from the camp to the railway stores. (The guards steal clothes.)

7. Jews in underwear were seen in the area of the camp.

8. In the area of the camp there are three barracks; they cannot accommodate even one-tenth of the Jews.

9. In the area of the camp, a strong odor can be smelled on warmer days.

10. The guards pay for vodka, which they drink in large quantities, with any requested sum, and frequently with watches and valuables.

11. Jews arrived in Bełżec (the township) looking for a witness who would testify that Jews are being killed there. They were ready to pay 120,000 zloty..... They did not find a volunteer. It is unknown by which means the Jews are liquidated in the camp. There are three assumptions: (1) electricity; (2) gas; (3) by pumping out the air. With regard to (1) : there is no visible source of electricity; with regard to (2): no supply of gas and no residue of the remaining gas after the ventilation of the gas chamber were observed; with regard to (3): there are no factors that deny this possibility. It was even verified that during the building of one of the barracks, the walls and floor were covered with metal sheets (for some purpose). In the area of the camp huge pits were dug in the autumn. At that time it was assumed that there would be underground stores. Now the purpose of this work is clear. From the particular barrack where the Jews are taken for so-called disinfection, a narrow railway leads to these pits. It was observed that the ‘disinfected’ Jews were transported to a common grave by this trolley.In Bełżec the term ‘Totenlager’ (death camp) was heard in connection with the Jewish camp. The leadership of the camp is in the hands of twelve SS-men (the commander is Hauptmann Wirth) who have forty guards for help.777

Dr.Ignacy Schwarzbart, a member of the Polish National Council, stated in London on November

15, 1942:

The methods applied in this mass extermination are, apart from executions, firing squads, electrocution and lethal gas-chambers. An electrocution station is installed at Bełżec camp. Transport of settlers arrive at a siding, on the spot, where the execution is to take place. The camp is policed by Ukrainians. The victims are ordered

to strip naked, ostensibly to have a bath, and are then led to a barracks with a metal plate for a floor. The door is then locked, electric current passes through the victims, and their death is almost instantaneous. The bodies are loaded on the wagons and taken to a mass grave, some distance from the camp.778

In the Polish Fortnightly Review dated Tuesday December 1st 1942, published in London. By the Polish Ministry of Information the main feature was a report on the extermination of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, but it also briefly mentioned Bełżec, and in an annexe, to the main report, a fuller account regarding the extermination camp at Bełżec was also covered:

Main Report

A camp was organised at Bełżec for the special purpose of execution by electrocution and here in the course of about a month, in March and April 1942, 80,000 Jews from the Lublin, Lwow, and part of the Kielce provinces were executed. Out of Lublin’s 30,000 Jews only 2,500 were left, 70 of them being women.779

Extraordinary Report from the Jew-extermination Camp at Belzec—Annex

July 10th 1942

According to information from a German employed at the extermination camp, it is situated in Bełżec, by the station, and is barred off by barriers of barbed wire. Inside the wire, and all round the outside, Ukrainians are on guard. The executions are carried out in the following fashion: When a trainload of Jews arrives at the station in Bełżec, it is shunted by a side-track up to the wire surrounding the place of execution, at which point there is a change in the engine crew and train guards.

From the wire onward the train is serviced by German drivers who take it to the unloading point, where the track ends. After unloading, the men go to a barracks on the right, the women to a barracks situated on the left, where they strip, ostensibly in readiness for a

778 The Black Book of Polish Jewry.

779 National Archives Kew FO 371/ 31097, page 2.

bath.After they have undressed both groups go to a third barracks where there is an electrified plate, where the executions are carried out. Then the bodies are taken by train to a trench situated outside the wire, and some thirty metres deep. This trench was dug by Jews, who were all executed afterwards. The Ukrainians on guard are also to be executed when the job is finished. The Ukrainians acting as guards are loaded with money and stolen valuables; they pay 400 zlotys for a litre of vodka, 2,000 zlotys and jewellery for relations with a woman.780

The Polish Underground reported on a spontaneous act of resistance took place in Bełżec on June 13, 1942:

The revolt in the camp, probably the first one, took place on June 13th, when Jews were summoned to remove the corpses of murdered women and children: at the horrible sight (they were standing in the gas chamber holding each others’ waists and necks, presumably in the prenatal reflexes), they attacked the ‘Wachmannschaft’ (the guards), which resulted in a struggle in which 4-6 Germans and nearly all the Jews died; several Jews managed to escape.781

Dr. Ignacy Schwarzbart, a Jewish member of the Polish National Council sent a telegram to the Jewish Congress in New York on December 5, 1942 regarding the extermination of the Jews in Poland, including the mass gassing of Jews in Bełżec. The extract read as follows:

Special official envoy Gentile escaped and arrived here left capital this October Saw Warsaw Ghetto on last August and September. Witnessed mass murder of one transport six thousand Jews at Bełżec. Spoke to him yesterday 3 hours confirm all most horrible mass atrocities......782

A British Intelligence report dated March 16, 1945 mentions a transport of Polish people to the Bełżec death camp:

780 National Archives Kew FO 371/ 31097, page 4.

781 Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 257.

782 National Archives Kew FO 371/ 30924.

It might be interesting to learn that during an ‘Action’ directed spefically against Aryan Poles, the latter were kidnapped in the streets, from streetcars, in stores, and public places. A transport consisting entirely of Aryan Poles was sent to Bełżec, where they shared the fate of their Jewish compatriots. This however, only happened once.783

Chapter XVI The Long Road to Justice

Given that nearly half a million innocent Jewish men, women and children were murdered in Bełżec, the long road to justice, was poorly travelled,with only Josef Oberhauser brought to stand trial, for crimes committed at the Bełżec extermination camp, during the 1960’s.

One of the Bełżec SS-NCO’s Heinrich Unverhau was arrested and charged in 1948, accused of killing patients at the Grafeneck T4 Institution. Unverhau at Bełżec had been in charge of the sorting depot, housed in the locomotive sheds, opposite the Bełżec railway station. It was during the course of this trial that details began to emerge about the Bełżec death camp and the other Aktion Reinhardt camps. Although his testimony about Bełżec and Sobibor death camps were discounted by the Court, as being irrelevant to the Grafeneck proceedings. After a lengthy hearing Heinrich Unverhau was acquitted of all charges, as it was proven he had not participated in the killings.784

Between the years 1959, and 1963, former SS-NCO’s who had served at Bełżec, and other death camps, which were part of Aktion Reinhardt were arrested and subjected to pre-trial interrogations and pre-trial court hearings. These included Werner Dubois, Erich Fuchs, Heinrich Gley, Hans Girtzig, Robert Juhrs, Josef Oberhauser, Karl Schluch, Heinrich Unverhau and Ernst Zierke. One of them Hans Girtzig was released due to ill-health, as he suffered from multiple sclerosis.785

Robert Lorent, a member of the T4 organisation made a statement, regarding his visits to Bełżec death camp, and a number of

784 Robin O’Neil, Bełżec—Stepping Stone to Genocide, JewishGen, Inc, 2008, p. 206.

785 Ernst Klee, Das Kulturlexikon Zum Dritten Reich, S.Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankurt am Main, 2007, p.184.

the camp personnel, who were under investigation, on May 4, 1961 in the German city of Cologne:

In February 1942 I reported to the Community Charity Foundation in Berlin, which was then in the process of dissolution. The personnel were largely passed to the office of Globocnik. I need to amend this statement and say that about 20% of the personnel were thus transferred and of these a large part continued to be paid by the foundation. These payments were made by a Loans Office, of which I was in charge. My knowledge of the camp Bełżec and its staff stem from this arrangement.

I went to Bełżec twice. I no longer remember the exact dates.There was an interval of about six weeks to two months between these visits. The second visit in 1942 must have taken place before the weather turned cold, as I clearly recall that I spent the night in a PKW, near the railway station Rawa Ruska, there was a guarded market-place—which I could not have done had it been really cold.

The purpose of my visit was to deliver supplies to the camps in the Lublin region. I seem to remember that the goods train was shunted into sidings at the camp (Bełżec) and that I spent the night in a sturdily constructed brick building, on a road about 500 metres distant from the camp.

Close to this was the billet of Wirth. The staff which accompanied the goods train became the responsibility of the admin staff member Fichtner. I already knew him from a previous meeting. I am of the opinion he must also have been employed in another Foundation and that I must have got to know him, when this was dissolved.

From my two visits I clearly remember only Wirth and Fichtner. In the course of the dissolution of these organizations, mainly at evening get-togethers, I learned the names of other people, and likewise because I was in charge of these organizations, but this did not mean I could recall individuals.

On one occasion—I no longer remember whether it was my first or second visit—a trainload of Jews arrived while I was there. Accompanied by a SS-man I was able to watch the unloading of the Jews. Who this SS-man was I cannot now say. I also do not know what rank he had. There would be no point in showing me photos of possible people for me to identify, nor any purpose in naming them. One has to take account that 20 years have since passed.

The question as to who were materially involved in driving the Jews out of their carriages, is not one I can give a straight answer. The train consisted of ordinary passenger carriages. The disembarkation of the Jews took place with relatively little trouble, and I gained the impression that after a long journey the Jews were glad to be able to breathe some fresh air.

Where there was a certain melee, order was restored with the help of a Jewish working party and other volunteers. After a short while the Jews were addressed, possibly by Wirth, but I cannot be certain about this, as I was not interested in these details. The way I have put this, does not do justice to my attitude. I should like to reply to the question in a useful manner, but I found this experience too upsetting for me to be able to remember these things.

After the address, the Jews, though clearly disturbed went surprisingly peacefully along the way pointed out to them, which led to the huts. I do not believe that the Jews knew what was in store for them. I did see, for example, how an SS-man supervised the hut where the Jews had to undress and another SS-man then pointed them in the direction they had to follow, but I cannot say who these SS-men were. I mean that I am not in a position to say it was this, or other SS-men who carried out this given function.

I am unable to answer the question regarding the organization of the SS staff or which rank was responsible for which function. I never knew who was camp commandant or his deputy, or who was chief NCO, or section leader. In my opinion the camp commandant was Wirth. I cannot say whether Wirth had an adjutant, or who he might have been.

According to my information after the closure of the camps in the Lublin area, four men belonging to the volunteer group went to Italy. I do not know their names. A number of names were mentioned to me, regarding which I can say the following:

Barbel—He probably came from Linz and was Austrian786 Girtzig—I know his name, but I have nothing further to say.

786 Correct name Barbl. Served in Bełżec and Sobibor death camps.

Groot—Came from Hamburg, was rather young, as I remember came from Hartheim Institution. I noted that he was unable or unwilling to reply to me in a low-German dialect.787

Hausler—Was originally in the administration of T4 and later on the Lublin administrative staff.788

Hodl—Was possibly a driver in Hartheim. I do not know if he was posted to the East.789

Kriegas—Or Kriegad—was possibly correct name Gringers. I know nothing more.790

Munzberger—Was possibly Austrian and to my knowledge was not posted to the East, as he was probably too old. He must now be in his early sixties. 791

Oberhauser—I do know but can no longer describe him. He was possibly a section leader

Zierke—I have heard this name, but I cannot say if he belonged to the T4 office staff or was transferred to the East.792

I am unable to answer the question which actual duties were performed in Belzec by Oberhauser, Girtzig, Unverhau or Gley, as I do not know. I am unable to provide further information regarding the events and conditions in camp Belzec or about people on the camp staff.

Signed: R.Lorent 793

In August 1963, the eight former SS-NCO’s were brought before examining magistrates to answer for their alleged war crimes committed at Bełżec. During these pre-trial hearings Rudolf Reder, now

787 Correct name Paul Groth. Served in Bełżec and Sobibor death camps.

788 Willi Hausler served with Christian Wirth as part of the Inspector of SS Sonderkommando Aktion Reinhardt in Lublin.

789 Franz Hodl served in the Sobibor death camp.

790 Correct name was Max Gringers.

791 Gustav Munzberger served at the Treblinka death camp.

792 Ernst Zierke served at the Bełżec and Sobibor death camps.

793 Robert Lorent Interrogation on 4 May 1961. Zentralle Stelle Ludwigsburg 208 AR-Z 252/59.

known as Roman Robak travelled from Toronto in Canada, but was unable to positively identify any of the accused.

Although those charged, tried to minimise the roles they played in the extermination of the Jews in Bełżec, they admitted their guilt, but pleaded mitigating circumstances. They claimed they had carried out their duties in Bełżec, in fear of their lives, so brutal, were commandants Wirth and Hering. As a consequence of this, the examining magistrates decided not to proceed with a public trial for seven out of the eight men accused. They ruled that Josef Oberhauser alone would stand trial, because of his close relationship with Christian Wirth and his wider involvement with Aktion Reinhardt. The rest were acquitted.

Werner Dubois, Erich Fuchs, Robert Juhrs, Heinrich Unverhau and Ernst Zierke did not enjoy their freedom, as immediately after leaving the courtroom, they were once again arrested and taken into custody, to face similar war crimes charges, in connection with their service at the Sobibor death camp.

Josef Oberhauser faced justice at the Munich Assize Court on January 18, 1965, in a trial that only lasted four days. One of his former collegues in the SS, Karl Schluch was particularly scathing about Oberhauser:

If Oberhauser maintained that he did not partipate in the extermination of the Jews in Bełżec, or that he did not see the whole operation from beginning to end—from the unloading to the removal of the bodies-then I say, try another one. Oberhauser not only knew the entire running of the extermination operation well, but also took part in it. In my opinion, there is no doubt that Oberhauser was an authoratiative person in the killing of the Jews in Bełżec camp. The Bełżec camp operated for only one reason and for what Oberhauser did he was well promoted.794

Oberhauser claimed at the start of his trial that he had already been tried in a Magdeburg court, for crimes committed at Bełżec, and had been found guilty and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but the court investigated this claim, and established that Oberhauser had

794 Robin O’Neil, Bełżec —Stepping Stone to Genocide, JewishGen, Inc, 2008, p. 208.

been tried and sentenced for crimes relating to euthanasia, and thus the trial proceeded.

Despite Oberhauser’s defence of only being on the periphery of the mass extermination of the Jews in Bełżec, he was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to four-and-a-half years imprisonment, the only defendant to answer for the death of nearly half a million innocent men, women and children. He only served half the sentence and returned to his old job as a barman in the Franziskaner Postubel in Munich. It was at this bar, that Oberhauser was confronted by Claude Lanzmann who in the film Shoah, released in 1985, held up a photograph of Christian Wirth:

Do you recognise this man? No? Christian Wirth? Mr Oberhauser! Do you remember Bełżec? No memories of Bełżec? Of the overflowing graves? You don’t remember?

Josef Oberhauser passed away during 1979, in Munich, he was 64 years old.

A number of the Trawnikimänner who had served at the Bełżec death camp were brought to trial by the Soviets. B. Bielakow, M. Matwijenko, I. Nikoforow, W. Podienko, F. Tichonowski, F. Schultz, J. Zajczew and several others were tried, found guilty of war crimes and executed. Two further trials were held in Kiev and thirteen former Ukrainian SS guards shared the same fate.

Samuel Kunz, an ethnic German was born in August 1921, in a small village on the River Volga and who joined the Red Army and fought against the invading Germans. He was captured and whilst a Prisoner of War volunteered to join the SS, and was trained at the SS Training camp at Trawniki, near Lublin. Samuel Kunz was then posted to the Bełżec death camp, where he served from January 1942, to May 1943, as a Volksdeutsch member of the camp staff.

After the war he settled near Bonn, then West Germany, now Germany, where he worked as a technician for the Buildings Ministry. Kunz was questioned on numerous occasions, in 1969, 1975, and 1980, but he evaded justice due to his lowly rank. He was finally charged in July 2010, with assisting in the murder of 430,000 Jews. It

was also alleged he murdered ten Jews by shooting them in two separate incidents.

On November 22, 2010, a Bonn Court spokesman Joachim Klages confirmed that Samuel Kunz had died, aged eighty-nine, in his hometown near Bonn, although the causes of death were unknown.795

So Samuel Kunz had at least been charged somewhat belatedly for his alleged crimes, but had evaded justice. It is highly unlikely that anyone else will stand trial for war crimes committed at Belzec death camp, the long road to justice has finally come to an end.

795 Topping—Suspected Nazi Death Camp Guard Samuel Kunz dies before trial www.Guardian.co.uk, 22 November 2010.

Chapter XVII The Paintings of Waclaw Kolodziejcyk

During the 1960’s, Waclaw Kolodziejczyk, a former railway employee at the Bełżec station created six paintings, showing the Bełżec death camp and the village during the German occupation. He and his family were eye-witnesses to the brutal conditions of the transports, as they passed through the station on the way to the death camp.

Only four of the six paintings have been re-produced here, shortly before his death Waclaw Kolodziejczyk donated the paintings to the local parish church in the Bełżec village. It must be stressed that Waclaw Kolodziejczyk never set foot in the death camp, and the two paintings of the death camp were from a combination of second-hand knowledge, along with a degree of artistic licence, and therefore cannot be treated as definitive illustrations. For example the heavy wooden entrance gate has been replaced by a see-through iron gate:

Bełżec Death Camp—Arrival of a Jewish Transport

Bełżec Death Camp—Burning of Corpses

The Punishment of Bartlomiej Panasowiec

This painting shows the punishment of Bartlomiej Panasowiec, a resident of Belzec village who was caught by the Germans spying on the camp. Christian Wirth and Gottlieb Hering on horse-back chased him through the village, setting their dogs on him and beating him with whips. Panasowiec was seriously injured but he

survived the ordeal, and as a Ukrainian, he and some of his family were resettled to the Ukraine. It is worth pointing out that the two SS men were pictured wearing German Army uniforms, which is incorrect.

Bełżec—Railway Station

This is a fine painting of the old railway station before it was destroyed. On July 5,1944 a German ammunition train was standing at the Bełżec station, when it was bombed in an attack by a lone Soviet fighter plane. In the ensuing explosion the station and a number of adjacent buildings were destroyed completely.

Chapter XVIII The Number of Victims

As a result of recent research, most notably by Steven Tyas, which considerably helped my ow research at the National Archives in Kew, a German police message sent by Herman Höfle was intercepted and decoded by the British Intelligence staff at Bletchley Park. It is thanks to the sterling research of Steven Tyas, that this important decode became known.

The message sent by Herman Höfle to SS-Obersturmbannführer Franz Heim of the BdS office in Krakau, was a 14-day report for Aktion Reinhardt and a year –end report up to December 31, 1942. This was the second of two messages intercepted by the British, the first one from Höfle was sent to Adolf Eichmann at RSHA Berlin, was only partially intercepted. The second message to Heim was intercepted in full, on January 11,1943. The death camps were identified only by letters

*In the original message the British Intelligence staff made a mistake and missed the last 5 off the Treblinka figure, it has to be 713,555 to fit the total figure. The message does not refer to the above as victims, but people sent to the camps. This decoded message is one of the most important historical finds of recent years.796

The figure of 434,508 for Bełżec is thought to be the total for only the Generalgouvernement and does not include the Jews deported from the Reich and other places deported to Bełżec, recently estimated as between 20-25,000. Thus the likely total for the number of people murdered at Bełżec death camp is around the half a million mark. Though it is fair to say it is unlikely that the true figure will ever be known.

What is interesting that the figures for Aktion Reinhardt submitted by Herman Höfle in his message include the camp at Lublin (Majdanek) which was not officially part of Aktion Reinhardt. The camp at Lublin came under the control of the WVHA-Concentration Camp Inspectorate, whilst Bełżec, Sobibor and Treblinka were controlled by Odilo Globocnik. The Old Airfield Camp was a storage depot for the clothing and footwear of the murdered victims in the three Aktion Reinhardt camps, as well as from ghettos, and was due to become a sub-camp of Lublin concentration camp, but the liquidation of the camp as part of Aktion Erntefest in November 1943, meant this plan never came to fruition.

797 Tomasz Kranz, Extermination of Jews at the Majdanek Concentration Camp, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2007, p. 64.

Chapter XIX The Archaeological Excavations

The investigation carried out at Bełżec by leading archaeologists was historically important. Although investigations have been undertaken in all three death camps, which formed part of the Aktion Reinhardt mass murder programme, the results of the excavations at Bełżec during 1997, and 1999, were contained in a publication by the group's leader Professor Andrzej Kola, from the University of Torun, Poland. The publication was titled: 'Bełżec—The Nazi Camp for Jews in the Light of Archaeological Sources—Excavations 19971999'. This has been reproduced from the Holocaust Historical Society on-line resource.798

The archaeological investigations carried out by Professor Kola and his team confirmed by overwhelming evidence that mass murder was committed at Bełżec, and that there was a determined effort by the Nazis to conceal the enormity of the crime. The excavations also helped to determine the locations of mass graves, and confirm the probable layout of the camp, during the first and second phases.

Previous Investigations

The 1997 archaeological investigations at Bełżec were initiated by an agreement between the Council for the Protection of Memory of Combat and Martyrdom (Rada Ochrony Pamieci Walk I Meczenstwa—ROPWiM) in Warsaw in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. How Bełżec was to be commemorated was the subject of a wide-ranging competition among artists who placed their suggestions before a selecting committee. The successful contributors were a team of architects and artists led

by Marcin Roszczyk

who intended: ‘To honour the earth that harboured the ashes of the victims’. It is within this definition that the archaeological investigations were commenced to examine the topography of the former camp and locate mass grave areas before the erection of a suitable memorial commemorating the victims murdered in Bełżec.

As a result of the work carried-out by the archaeological team from Toruń University, a clearer picture emerged of how the camp was constructed, organised and functioned in both phases of its existence. Before looking at the most recent survey, some background to previous investigations may be helpful.

The First investigation 1945

Very shortly after the end of the war, several War Crimes Investigation Commissions were established in Poland by the Soviet-backed civil authorities. At all locations in Eastern Europe where Nazi atrocities had taken place, teams of specialist investigators descended to set up officially constituted boards of enquiry with powers to summon local people to attend and give evidence. On October 10th, 1945, an Investigation Commission team lead by Judge Czesław Godzieszewski from the District Court in Zamosc entered Bełżec and commenced investigations. In addition to hearing oral testimony from many inhabitants of Bełżc village and its environs, the team of investigators carried out an on-site investigation at the camp. Nine pits were opened to confirm the existence of mass graves. The evidence found indicated that thousands of corpses had been cremated and any remaining bones crushed into small pieces. The human remains unearthed were re-interred in a specially built concrete crypt near the northeast corner of the camp.

Within hours of this simple ceremony to commemorate the victims, local villagers ransacked the grave area looking for treasure. This desecration of mass graves by local inhabitants continued for years. Immediately after the completion of the 1998 excavations,

overnight, the excavations sites were visited and damaged by searches for Jewish valuables.

The Second investigation 1946

This was a continuation of the earlier investigation during which certain eye-witnesses were re-interrogated. In view of the findings at Bełżec, the Investigation Commission published a report on April 11, 1946, which concluded that Bełżec was the second death camp to have been built by the Nazis for the specific purpose of murdering Jews. The report sites that the first camp in which mass murder took place was at Chelmno, which operated between December 1941, and April 1943, in its first phase and from Spring 1944, the so-called second phase until its evacuation in January 1945.

The Investigation Committee relied on the testimonies of eyewitnesses who had been employed in the construction of Bełżec, or who had lived locally and had observed what was taking place. One of the Bełżec death camp witnesses, Chaim Hirszman who had escaped from the transport taking the last few members of the Jewish 'death brigade' from Bełżec to the Sobibor death camp, where the Jewish workers were shot on arrival. Chaim Hirszman testified before a Lublin Court on March 19, 1946, and was due to continue his testimony in court the following day, but was murdered by Polish anti-Semites, belonging to the National Armed Force Group, in Lublin, before he could do so.

The investigation Commission drew attention to the systematic destruction of the ghettos and the 'resettlement' transports to the transit ghettos in Izbica and Piaski from towns within the Nazi occupied territory of Poland and those territories annexed to the Reich. The Commission further noted 'resettlement' transports from Western Europe to Belzec, and transports of Polish Christians who had been engaged in anti-Nazi activities, or accused of assisting or hiding Jews. The Commission concluded that between 1,000 and 1,500 Polish Christians were murdered in Bełżec. The final part of the Report by the Bełżec Investigation Commission death with the

winding-down activities: the exhumations and cremations, the destruction of evidence, the dismantling of the gas chambers, removal of fences, the ground being ploughed up and planted with fir trees and lupines. The Commission verified from the evidence that a final inspection had been carried out at Bełżec by a special SS Commission, in order to ensure that everything had been done to cover up the enormity of the crimes perpetrated under the 'Aktion Reinhardt' mass murder programme.

The Third investigation 1961

The Council for the Preservation of the Memory of Victims of War and Persecutions declared that the former death camp at Bełżec should be commemorated as a place of remembrance. In order to preserve the site, as a memorial, extensive excavations were carried out. Approximately six hectares were levelled and fenced off, and marked out as the memorial site. A monument was erected above the crypt where the human remains found in the first investigation in 1945, had been interned. Immediately behind the monument four symbolic tombs cast in concrete were placed where the mass graves were believed to be located, which in fact was incorrect. On the north side of the camp, six large urns intended for eternal flames were positioned on a series of elevated terraces. Over the years, further landscaping was carried out on parts of the former camp area, adjoining the timber yard.

The Fourth Investigation 1997-1999

The most recent investigations were directed by Professor Andrzej Kola, Director of the Archaeological Department at the Nicholas Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. The principal Investigating Officers on site were: Dr. Mieczyslaw Gora, Senior Curator of the Museum of Ethnology in Lodz, Poland, assisted by Dr. Wojciech Szulta, and Dr. Ryszard Kazmierczak. Unemployed males from the

Bełżec village were engaged in all three investigations employed on excavation work and the labour-intensive drilling.

Professor Kola's Investigations

The methodology used during Professor Kola's investigations conducted during 1997 to 1999, was consistent: the area to be examined was marked out to a fixed grid system at 5 meter intervals. Exploratory boreholes to a depth of 6 metres were made, obtaining core samples of the geological strata. A total of 2,001 archaeological exploratory drillings were carried out and were instrumental in locating 33 mass graves of varying sizes. From these exploratory drillings, many graves were found to contain naked bodies in wax-fat transformation and carbonised human remains and ashes were identified. The investigating personnel were divided into three teams, each working at a table to record data, as soil samples were withdrawn and examined. Using a map of the area to a scale of 1:1,000 prepared by the District Cartographic Office in Zamosc, a Central Bench Mark (BM 2007) was utilised as the reference point from which the archaeologists worked. Positive data and negative findings were recorded before replacing the soil samples in the boreholes.

Area of Mass Graves

During its first phase, Bełżec was the scene of much experiments in the development of procedures and logistics of mass extermination by gas and the burial of corpses, under the watchful eye of Commandant Christian Wirth. The camp structures and mass graves during the first phase in Bełżec were concentrated along the northern fence, leaving the majority of the camp area unused, but ready for utilisation and expansion at a later date.

The two distinct phases of the gassing operations may be identified by the arrangement of the mass graves and camp structures between the graves. Thus, the apparent proliferation of small wooden

structures between the graves of the first phase may have been temporary barracks for the Jews of the 'death brigade' employed in digging the mass graves, and shelters for the guards. Three of the smallest wooden structures, arranged at intervals, around the west and south part of the grave field from the first phase suggest watchtowers overlooking the grave digging area. The structures in the southern half of the camp area, date from the second phase.

The mass graves are numbered as they appear on the plan above, and are located looking into the camp from the main gate, with the forester's property on the right. On the right, the graves marked 1-6 are grouped together. These were the graves located by the investigators during the 1997 excavations, and it was believed these were the last series of graves dug in late 1942, when gassings ceased.

Graves 12 and 14 to 20, situated along the northern fence, were in accordance with the statements made by eye-witnesses covering the period February to May 1942. These graves probably contain the remains of Jews from the Lublin and Lemberg (Lwov) Districts deported to the Bełżec camp between mid-March and mid-April 1942, along with the remains of early transports from the Lvov ghetto and the transit ghettos at Izbica and Piaski. It is also probable that the remains of German Jews deported from the Reich in April and May 1942, are also located here.

Graves 10, 25, 27, 28, 32, and 33, all contain a layer of lime covering decomposed human remains. It is probable that these graves also date from early transports when the local authorities complained about the health hazard caused by the smell of decomposing corpses in open graves. Chloride of lime was spread over the six still open mass graves, identified above, in an effort to avoid epidemics breaking out. Evidence of the subsequent failed attempt at cremating corpses in graves may be found in the small graves near the northern fence: 27, 28, and 32, in each of which a layer of burnt human remains and pieces of carbonised wood were found. The bottom of each of these graves was lined with a layer of burnt human fat.

The preparation and digging of these graves would appear to have been made on an ad-hoc basis with the early graves located in

the north-eastern part of the camp. Many graves were close together and when the exhumation and cremation work commenced in November 1942, the sides of the graves would have collapsed, thereby rendering any accurate record of grave dimensions difficult. This suggests a hurried sealing of the ground, destruction of any identifiable border, which in turn made the archaeologists work even more difficult and their findings less precise. In addition, a mechanical excavator was used to remove the top layer of soil and remove the corpses, and then refill the pits with the cremated human remains and ash.

It has been suggested that some of the smallest graves, Numbers 13, 27, 28, 32, and 33 could have been the execution pits in which the old, sick and infirm Jews were shot during the first phase, while graves 2, 21, and 23, could be the execution pits from the second phase. The smaller graves correspond with sketches and written descriptions of the camp layout during the second phase (July 1942–December 1942) by members of the former SS-garrison.

From the evidence uncovered by the 1997-98 investigations, the SS-garrison in Bełżec did not destroy all traces of the death camp. Their aim was to disguise the enormity of the numbers buried in the camp. In the clear-up operation after burning the corpses, the cremated human remains, as well as the remnants of the burnt-down wooden barracks and demolished solid structures, were simply dumped into the pits and covered over. Solidly constructed cellars beneath certain buildings were also used as refuse pits into which were thrown items of glass and metal objects, which could not be completely destroyed by fire. The cellars, just like the graves, were simply filled-in with soil.

Mass Graves Numbered 1-33 Are listed in the Order of Discovery

Grave Pit No. 1

The grave pit No. 1 was situated in the north-western part of the camp. It was in the shape of an irregular rectangle with the size of

40 meters by 12 meters and with a depth of 4.80 meters. The pit was filled with bodies in wax-fat, transformation; from the depth of about 2 meters burnt human bones and charcoal were mixed together. Such contents were already found at the depth of about 2030 cm's from the surface. Burnt human bones and charcoal were also found samples drilled out in the area around the pit. Underground waters appeared at the depth of 4.10 meters. The estimated volume of the pit was about 1,500 meters.

Grave Pit No. 2

Located in the north-eastern part of the camp. Dimensions of the grave were determined as 14 meters by 6 meters, with the depth of 2 meters. Crematory grave with the volume of about 170 meters.

Grave Pit No. 3

Located in the southern part of the camp. This was the first mass grave, the location of which was positively identified from a Luftwaffe aerial photograph taken in 1944. It appears as a T-shaped white patch and has the appearance of being the biggest grave in the camp. Dimensions of the grave were determined as 16 meters by 15 meters and a depth of over 5 meters. The grave contained a mixture of carbonised wood, fragments of burnt human bones, pieces of skulls with skin and tufts of hair still attached, lumps of greyish human fat, and fragments of unburned human bones. The bottom layer consisted of putrid wax-fat transformation. The volume of the pit was about 960 meters.

Grave Pit No. 4

The pit was registered at the borderline in the southern part. The grave was in the shape of a rectangle and dimensions were determined as 16 meters by 6 meters. The drilling was suspended at the depth of 2.30 meters because of a layer of bodies in wax-fat transformation. The volume of crematory part is about 250 meters.

Grave Pit No. 5

Located in the south-western part of the camp. The grave had the shape of an irregular lengthened rectangle with the dimensions of 32 meters by 10 meters, reaching a depth of over 4.5 meters. It was of a homogenous content. Studies of its crematory layers structure suggested multiple filling of the grave with burnt relics. The layer with the biggest thickness and intensity of crematory contents appeared in the lowest part of the pit and was about 1 meter thick; above 50 cm thick layer of soil, 4 following layers of crematory remains appeared, separated from each other with 20-30 cm layers of sand. The volume of the pit was about 1350 meters.

Grave Pit No. 6

This grave was located in the south-central part of the camp. It had the shape of a lengthened rectangle, with the dimensions of 30 meters by 10 meters with a depth of 4 meters. The ashes were scattered around the grave, reaching the depth of 1 meter. The grave contained homogenous crematory contents. The volume of the pit was about 1200 meters.

Grave Pit No. 7

This grave was located in the north-central part of the camp, where one of the concrete pylons, commemorating the camps victims was erected during the 1960's was situated. The shape of the pit similar to a high trapezoid, with dimensions of 13 meters by 14 meters, and a height of about 27 meters, and the depth of 4.5 meters. The grave was homogenous with crematory ashes and sand. The lowest layer with the thickness of over 1.5 meters contained the most intensive traces of body ashes. The upper layer contained brick rubble and stones at the depth of 0.8 meters. The volume of the grave was about 1600 meters.

Grave Pit No. 8

This grave was located in the south-western part of the camp. The second pylon from the 1960's was erected over it. The general shape of the grave was in the shape of a lengthened rectangle, with the dimensions of 28 meters by 10 meters. Additional drilling revealed that 2 neighbouring graves existed, joined together as one, at a later date. The depth of the original grave was about 4 meters, and the bottom layer consisted of dense crematory remains. The fillings were covered with 20-30 cm of sand, coming probably from the soil separating the graves. The ditch created that way, with the depth of 2 meters was filled with body ashes, charcoal and brick rubble. The volume of the pit amounted to about 850 meters.

Grave Pit No. 9

A relatively small grave with an irregular shape was located in the eastern part of the camp, between the pylon, and the present line of the camp enclosure. The pit was an irregular shape with the dimensions of 8 meters by 10 meters. The depth exceeded 3.80 meters. The contents of the pit were crematory remains and charcoal. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to about 280 meters.

Grave Pit No. 10

One of the biggest graves located in the north-central part of the camp. It was rectangular in shape, with dimensions of 24 meters by 18 meters. The grave was very deep, over 5.20 meters, and the drills were stopped because of bodies in wax-fat transformation and underground waters. One drill at the depth of 4.40 meters revealed the appearance of several centimetres layer of white sand mixed with rich lime. Over body layers there were some levels of crematory remains, mixed with charcoal in turn with layers of sandy soil. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to about 2100 meters.

Grave Pit No. 11

This grave of relatively small volume was located in the north-eastern corner of the camp. The dimensions of the grave was 9 meters by 5 meters with a depth of 1.90 meters. A small layer of crematory remains was found. At the depth of about 50 cm remains of musty wood was located. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to about 80 meters.

Grave Pit No. 12

Located immediately to the north of grave pit 10, an L-shaped grave with the foot measuring 20 meters, with a depth that reached below 4 meters. The grave contained crematory in layers. In the separating layers charcoal and brick rubble was found. The volume of the grave amounted to about 400 meters.

Grave Pit No. 13

Located towards the west of grave No. 12. One of the concrete everburning fires from the 1960's was placed over it. Dimensions of the grave which was trapezoid in shape, was determined as 12.50 meters by 11 meters and a height of 17 meters, with a depth reaching up to 4.80 meters. The grave contained body remains of mixed character. There was a layer of bodies in wax-fat transformation with a thickness of about 1 meter in the bottom part; directly over it there was a layer of sand and lime. Above there were layers of crematory remains and charcoal. The volume of the grave was estimated at 920 meters.

Grave Pit No. 14

The vast grave basin of an irregular shape was located in the western part of the fenced camp area. The grave's dimensions were 37 meters by 10 meters. The average depth of the grave was about 5 meters. The grave contained crematory remains, and the drills revealed pieces of glass and plastic. The graves volume was over 1850 meters.

Grave Pit No. 15

Located in the north-western part of the camp. This grave on its surface had the second concrete ever-burning fire from the 1960's. The grave was in the shape of a rectangle, and the dimensions were about 13.50 meters by 6.50 meters and reached the depth of about 4.50 meters. The grave contained crematory remains. The estimated volume was about 400 meters.

Grave Pit No. 16

Located in the north-western part of the camp, under the third existing concrete ever-burning fire. The grave was in the shape of a rectangle with the dimensions of 18.50 meters by 9.50 meters, with the depth of about 4 meters. In the bottom layers lime presence was found. The grave contained crematory ashes in layers with sand. The shallow drilling close to the grave confirmed the presence of burnt bones. The volume of the grave amounted to about 700 meters.

Grave Pit No. 17

Located east of grave No.16. The grave had the shape of a rectangle with the dimensions of 17 meters by 7.50 meters with a depth up to 4 meters. The grave contained crematory ashes. Burnt bones were also placed in layers with sand. A layer of rich lime was found in three drills at the depth of about 3 meters. The volume of the grave amounted to about 500 meters.

Grave Pit No. 18

Located in the eastern part of the camp, to the east of the grave pit No. 15. The grave was in the shape of a rectangle with the dimensions of 16 meters by 9 meters with a depth of about 4 meters. The grave contained crematory ashes and charcoal. In the bottom part traces of lime were found. The volume of the grave amounted to about 570 meters.

Grave Pit No. 19

Located in the eastern part of the camp, directly under the first concrete fire. The ditch had the shape of a square with sides of about 12 meters. The depth of the grave was not more than 4 meters. The grave contained crematory ashes with a high density of human bones and charcoal. The volume of the grave amounted to about 500 meters.

Grave Pit No. 20

This grave was situated directly to the south of Grave Pit No.12 and its western part exceeded slightly the present enclosure of the camp. The grave had the shape of a rectangle with the dimensions of 26 meters by 11 meters, with a depth of 5 meters. The grave contained layers of crematory remains and charcoal. The farthest western drill contained not only body ashes, but pieces of musty paper and wood, a piece of a nail and brick rubble. The volume of the grave amounted to about 1150 meters.

Grave Pit No. 21

Located centrally in the camp. This was a relatively small grave 5 meters by 5 meters, with a depth of 1.70 meters. The grave contained crematory ashes which were reported at a depth of 70 cm. The volume of the grave amounted to about 35 meters.

Grave Pit No. 22

Located in the eastern part of the camp, under the eastern end of the alley, running in front of the concrete pylons symbolising the graves, erected during the 1960's. The grave had a shape close to a flattened triangle with the base of about 9 meters and the height of 15 meters. The grave contained crematory ashes and sand. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to about 200 meters.

Grave Pit No. 23

Located in the central part of the camp. The grave was in the shape of a rectangle with the dimensions of 16 meters by 8.50 meters, with a depth exceeding 4 meters. The grave contained crematory ashes. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to about 550 meters.

Grave Pit No. 24

Located in the southern part of the camp, just to the south of the fifth concrete ever-burning fire. The grave had the shape of a lengthened rectangle with the dimensions of 20 meters by 5.50 meters with the depth of about 5 meters. The grave contained irregular layers of crematory ashes and lime. The lowest layer of ashes with the thickness circa 60 cm was covered with about 40 cm thick layer of sand. Above that regular surface of body ashes and sand were reported. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to 520 meters.

Grave Pit No. 25

Located in the southern part of the camp under the alley, between the fifth and the sixth ever-burning fire. The dimensions of the grave was about 12 meters by 5 meters, with a depth of about 4 meters. The bottom of the grave contained 40-50 cm layer of bodies in waxfat transformation covered with a layer of lime. Above that there was a layer with the thickness of about 60-80 cm, covered with an 80 cm layer of sand. Over it was another intensive layer of burnt wood with a thickness of 80-100 cm covered with a surface bed of humus-like sand. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to 250 meters.

Grave Pit No. 26

Located in the south central part of the camp, under the alley close to the sixth ever-burning fire. The grave had the shape of a rectangle with the dimensions of 13 meters by 7 meters with a depth of over 4 meters. The grave contained crematory ashes, with clear layers of ashes, charcoal and sand. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to 320 meters.

Grave Pit No. 27

Located in the central part of the camp, towards the west of grave pit No. 25. It was the shape of a lengthened rectangle with the dimensions of 18.50 meters by 6 meters with a depth of about 5 meters. The bottom part of the grave consisted of nearly 1 meter thick layer of bodies in wax-fat transformation, above it there was a 20-25 cm thick layer of lime—over 2 meter thick intensive layer of charcoal with small amounts of crematory ashes. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to 450 meters.

Grave Pit No. 28

Located in the central part of the camp, towards the west of grave pit No. 27. Two clear layers of bodies in wax-fat transformation covered with lime were reported. Above them was found intensive structures of charcoal without body ashes. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to 70 meters.

Grave Pit No. 29

Located in the central part of the camp. It was the shape of an irregular rectangle with the dimensions of about 25 meters by 9 meters with a depth of about 4.50 meters. The grave contained crematory ashes. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to about 900 meters.

Grave Pit No. 30

Located in the central part of the camp. The dimensions of the grave was 5 meters by 6 meters. The crematory remains were noted only from the depth of 2.70 meters. Above that a high density of charcoal was found. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to about 75 meters.

Grave Pit No. 31

A relatively small grave located to the north from grave pit No. 30. The grave was probably in the shape of a rectangle with the

dimensions of 9 meters by 4 meters, with a depth of 2.60 meters. The grave contained crematory ashes, mixed with sandy soil. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to about 90 meters

Grave Pit No. 32

Located in the north western corner of the presently enclosed area of the camp. The grave was the shape of a lengthened rectangle with the dimensions of 15 meters by 5 meters, with the depth of over 4 meters. The grave contained bodies in wax-fat transformation, covered with lime at the depth of about 3.60 meters. Above that there was a mixed structure of crematory ashes with charcoal. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to about 400 meters.

Grave Pit No. 33

A relatively small grave located in the north-western corner of the presently existing borderline of the camp, which went beyond the fence. The grave had dimensions of 9 meters by 5 meters, with a depth of about 3 meters. The grave contained the remains of crematory ashes and charcoal. The estimated volume of the grave amounted to about 120 meters.

The total surface of the mass graves was estimated at 21,000 cubic meters. It was believed that at least a dozen graves still contain unburnt, partially mummified or decomposing corpses. Exactly why the SS did not empty all the graves and destroy the traces of their crimes is not known.

Camp Structures

The focus of the investigations moved away from the graves to where the 'resettlement' transports had terminated inside the camp—the so-called 'Ramp.' Here the Jews disembarked from the wagons to be addressed by the camp personnel, before moving on to the undressing barracks and subsequently the gas chambers. The archaeological team carried out four excavations and located what was believed to be the end of the railway spur line. The investigating

team selected a 75 meter long section at the south-western end where the former railway sidings emerged between two earthen banks, 8-10 meters apart. The terrain at this location was forested and uneven, rising steeply to the east.

Four excavations were carried out:

1. At right angles to the line of the ramp, which concluded that the rail-link did not extend this far.

2. Located 15 meters north-west of excavation No. 1, measured 14 meters by 1 meter and 1 meter deep. There were positive findings: traces of a standard gauge railway track-bed; and a layer of crushed brick and cinders (ballast) covered with black grease. A second track-bed was found running parallel and to the east of the first. Six samples of oil were taken away for further analysis.

3. Excavations were carried out parallel to excavations No.1 and 2, some 30 meters north-west of excavation No.2. Further indications of track-beds in parallel were found.

4. The fourth excavation was located 15 meters north-west of excavation No. 3 and measured 8.5 meters by 1 meter, by 2 meters deep. Further evidence of the twin track system was found. Also at the unloading ramp a Polish railway switch lamp, in remarkably good condition was found, this was probably a pre-war item, used on the Polish Railways. Another find at the unloading ramp was the lid of a silver cigarette case, using a metal detector. On the inside of the case was the inscription: Max Munk, Wien 27. This cigarette case of Max Munk, probably belonged to a man born on April 17, 1880. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt and from there on April 1, 1942, deported to the transit ghetto of Piaski in the Lublin district. From Piaski it would appear his journey ended in Bełżec.

The Investigation team identified through excavations a number of structures, such as the garage, and a generator housing, but the purpose of some of the structures could not be identified. The structures were given the alphabetical lettering A-H. Within the southern area of the camp, the structure that was recorded as Building D was the largest structure in Belzec that was found during the excavations.

The foundations had managed to be preserved to date, whereas the upper parts had been completely pulled down. It was determined that the structure consisted of at least 3 rooms. The outside walls rested on continuous stone footings 100-140 cm wide. The dimensions of this structure was 26 meters in length by 12 meters wide. The building had at least 6 equal rooms with the dimensions of about 16.60 meters by 3.80 meters, separated by an inside wall. Only the southern (6th) room was additionally divided into two smaller ones. The rooms had concrete floors on brick rubble.

In one case only the inside room was covered with flat limestones with cement sliding surface forming a regular floor. A large

Max Munk Cigarette Case Lid found at the Bełżec Unloading Ramp (P.Bielecki)

part of that floor remained along the outside north-western wall and in the smallest part in the eastern corner of the room. There was a channel made of brick in that room. The dimensions of the room was 6 meters by 1 meter. The walls of the channel were made of eleven lines of bricks plastered from the inside. The total thickness of these walls together with the plaster was about 30 cm. The bottom of the channel, serving originally as an inspection pit for repairing vehicles, was covered with a concrete floor. Over it there were boards placed horizontally, being a kind of insulation from the bottom for people working there.

Four cavities with the length of 0.55 meters, height 0.24 meters and depth of 0.14 meters were situated evenly in the longer walls at the height of 0.80 meters from the floor and with the distance of 1.20 meters from both top walls. They probably served as tool and light shelves for the people working there. The inspection pit was 1.22 meters deep. The conclusion reached was this structure served as a garage.

The layers of the interior contained numerous objects, such as pieces of combs, medicine or perfume bottles, a lead seal, gun cartridges, spoons—complete or in pieces, forks, knives, different metal boxes, mugs, a metal pot, elements of rail fastenings. Particularly interesting was a set of 304 pieces of concrete rings, with the diameter of about 6 cm and I cm thickness on which 5 number figures had been pressed. They were excavated at the area of a stone floor in the western part of the central room.

Dr. Robin O'Neil, English historian was present during the investigations that took place during April 28 1998 and June 4 1998, and he carried out a daily video and photographic record, which he kindly donated to the Holocaust Historical Society.

On July 4, 1944, a German anmmunition train was stationary at the Bełżec railway station when it was bombed by a lone Soviet fighter plane. In the ensuing explosion the station was completely destroyed, along with a number of other buildings in the vicinity. After the fires had been put up the Germans erected a wooden barrack near the ruins that served as the station for the next fifty years, until a new station was built in 1994. The destruction of the railway station, may well be the reason, why no railroad documentation of the transports to Bełżec has apparently survived.

The Soviet Red Army liberated Bełżec village on July 21, 1944, and a Polish War Crimes Commission led by Judge Czeslaw Godzieszewski from the District Court in Zamosc commenced their investigations at the former death camp site. In addition to hearing testimony from the Bełżec villagers, including those who had helped construct the gas chambers, and others who witnessed transports arriving, the investigation team carried out on-site investigations at the former death camp. Nine pits were opened to confirm the existence of mass graves. The human remains found were reinterred in a specially erected concrete crypt near the north-east corner of the camp. In February 1946, officials from the District Court Zamosc, returned to Bełżec to interview several of the witnesses again, and the War Crimes Commission published a report on their findings on April 11,1946.

On October 11`, 1954, Alfred Wiener, who founded the Wiener Library in London, wrote to Marcus Carr, the Clerk to the Court of Beth Din in London:

Dear Mr Carr

With reference to your enquiry of August 6th and our letter of August 11th, we heard from friends we contacted the following:

We inform you that the chief expulsion of the Jews in the small town Niepolomiec near Krakow took place on the 22 August 1942. About 3,000 Jews were then sent to Wieliezka and from there to the extermination camp in Bełżec. The 27 August 1942, the Nazis shot in Niepolomiec the last 700 Jews. In this locality there were no more Jews. We trust this information will be of use799.

The first monument to the victims who perished at Bełżec was unveiled on December 1,1963, but the site was neglected and rarely visited.In 1993,an agreement was reached between Poland and the United States of America concerning the construction of a new memorial at the site of the former death camp. Among the signatories were members of the Council for the Preservation of the Memory of Victims of War and Persecutions and members of the American Jewish Community.

My Visits to Bełżec

Chris Webb recalls his visits to Bełżec village and the death camp in 2000, 2002, and 2004, which are contained in his unpublished journals: ‘Trip to Poland 2000’ and ‘The ARC Trips to Poland 2002 and 2004’:

In July 2000, my first visit to Poland and I stayed at the Lublin home of English historian Michael Tregenza, and Basia. On Thursday July 13, 2000, we set off from his Lublin apartment. We took a taxi to the Lublin bus station. At the bus station there was old well, with its pumps removed and this was one of the places during the occupation where Jews were assembled prior to deportation.

We walk around the square and locate the bus for Tomaszow Lubelski. We board the bus and pay for the journey 24 zloty for both of us, for the 2 hour journey. We leave the city and are soon in rolling countryside.

We pass through the small Polish village of Izbica, and see the station area from the road. This is where Thomas Blatt lived before he

799 Copy of letter courtesy of the Wiener Library, London kindly provided to the author.

was deported to the Sobibor death camp during March 1943. At 11:30 we arrive in Tomaszow Lubelski, and seek refreshments.

After refreshments we make our way to the Regional Museum, and we ask to see the Museum Director Eugeniusz Hanejko. After a warm welcome Eugeniusz leaves us for a moment and returns with a gas outlet pipe used in the gas chambers at Bełżec. This was discovered in the 1950’s by Dr. Janusz Peters, who ran the hospital in Tomaszow Lubelski. Eugeniusz kindly lets me take a photograph of this relic from the death camp.

We leave the museum and get into Eugeniusz’s red Volkswagen Golf, and Mike points out the former German Soldatenheim, and we head out toBełżec, it is starting to rain heavily now.

The first stop is one of the Bełżec Labour Camp sites and the Gypsy camp, which are located in a road with a school, that Eugeniusz used to teach in. I take a few photos and we get back in the car and drive to the crossroads by the Jedrus Bar, and drive to a small house, which during the occupation served as the SS Bakery. This is where Mike and I will be staying overnight.

We then continue our journey out of the village center, where Mike points out the house where Richard Thomalla lived in, when he was building the border defences, the so-called ‘Otto Line’ between the Generalgouvernement and the Soviet Union in 1940. We pull up next to two stone houses, that served as the Kommandantur and Christian Wirth, the Bełżec commandant’s living quarters, and the second building was the living quarters for a number of the SS garrison.

I take some photographs, today a tractor stands where the famous photograph of members of the SS-garrison stood at the rear of the house. At the rear of the garden stands another brick building, which when the camp was in operation, it was a weapon store. It has hardly changed from the time Erwin Fichtner was photographed leaving the house, known as the ‘pavilion’ next to the armoury. The house is no longer there.

We get back in the car and drive to a small car park, the site is desolate and neglected. Mike leads us into the camp, not through the iron main gate, but through a gap in the low wall. We pass the garage inspection pit and a generator pit. Also we see some concrete foundations. Mike explains that all the buildings had concrete foundations because of the sandy soil.

We pass the urns and the huge concrete monuments that were constructed to represent the mass graves and Mike points out the antitank ditch that was part of the ‘Otto Line,’ built by Jews and Poles in 1940, which I take a photograph of it. We move back into the site of the former death camp, and Eugeniusz bends down and picks up a fragment of bone, then another. It is quite un-nerving to be literally standing on human remains. It starts to rain harder again, but it is only showers.

Eugeniusz bids us farewell and we start to explore more of the site, luckily it has stopped raining. We visit the modern day railroad station, built in the 1960’s. It is an imposing building for such a desolate site. We cross the tracks and head for the Railroad shed and adjacent water tower, originally built by the Austrians, in red-brown brick. I follow Mike into the Railroad shed. It is a very large building and there are rails inside the building, which are now falling into decay, and I take a number of photographs, of the building both inside and out. This was the building where the clothes and possessions of the murdered Jews were stored, prior to onward transportation to the Old Airfield warehouses in Lublin.

We once again re-cross the railroad tracks and Mike takes me to the home of Stefan Kirsz, the Polish train driver who drove the transports into the death camp. He makes us very welcome, offering us tea and coffee. Mike has a chat with him, and we take our leave. This house is right by the train tracks.

We walk back to the village, on the right hand side of the main road. We pass the two stone houses mentioned earlier, and on the opposite side of the road on the left we pass the former Trawniki-Männer bar. Mike explains that Christian Wirth kicked a Polish boy through the window for daring to look into the bar.

We reach the Jedrus Bar at the crossroads and we are joined by local villager Adam, and a local Ukrainian man named Shevchenko. For some unknown reason we leave the bar and head for what appears to be an ‘open air’ bar, by the railroad tracks. A well frequented spot judging by the number of empty vodka bottles. We watch the train to Lvov go by, like they did 60 years ago.

Following this drinking session, Mike and me bid farewell and make our way to the house of Teo Pansera, a Polish Volksdeutscher, who worked for the Ostbahn during the Nazi occupation, at first he did

not want to talk to us, but changed his mind, and took us into the back garden, where we sat adjacent to a rather large satellite dish. Teo produced from nowhere a tray, 3 glasses and a bottle of vodka. Clearly this is the Polish way of conducting discussions. Teo told Mike about the German station master Rudolf Gockel, the German station master at Bełżec, who attended his wedding uninvited, sitting like a lord on the first cart. His Reichsbahn uniform was pressed and the handle-bar mustache was a sight to behold. His small chained –up dog barked us goodbye, and we made our way to our overnight accommodation in the Adam Mickiewicz Street. This house belonged to Gisela Gdula, and during the occupation this was the SS Bakery, which served the death camp with loaves every day.

Mike learnt from Gisela that her sister, Krystyna Natyna, married the SS Trawniki-Männer Karol Trauttwein, who had visited the bakery many times. After dinner I slept in a room, that was obviously Gisela’s as it had her wedding dress hanging up.

I awoke at 06:00 hours due to the sound of a cockerel, and after breakfast we all gathered in the back garden and I took some photographs of Mike and Gisela standing by the well. Mike and I bade Gisela farewell and we set off from the former SS Bakery in Adam Mickiewicz Street, past the coffin maker back to the crossroads by the modern bar. Then we turn left in the direction of the former death camp. On the way we pass girls on the roadside selling vodka. Blue buses with curtains drawn, pass us by. These buses came from the Ukraine, the border is only some 14 kilometers away from Bełżec. We cross the railroad tracks and head for the cottage of Bronislaw Ragan, who helped build the gas chambers at the Bełżec death camp. Sadly, he had died a few years ago, but Mike keeps in touch with the family. His family made us very welcome, sitting in the kitchen, with its big ovens, and wooden tables. Mike conversed with the family for a while, and we said goodbye and made our way back to the site of the former death camp.

I was able to take some more photographs of the garage inspection pit and one of a cellar, as well some more general shots of the former camp. We leave the camp, cross the road and before us lies the former Kessler Mill. This is the same mill that Mike gave me a picture of, showing a Ukrainian Trawniki-Männer standing in front of the mill, in 1942. It looks virtually the same in 2000.

Today, it is very hot indeed, and we pop into a small shop to buy some water, and as we walk back towards the Bełżec village center, Steffan Kirsz, standing at the front of his house waves a good morning greeting to us. We pass the former Kommandantur and SS accommodation on the other side of the road, and I take some more photographs. Cycling along the road we meet again Shevchenko, who cuts a comic figure, riding his 12-years old daughter’s bicycle, in the direction of the Ukraine border. He stops, chats to us, and turns around and heads back to the center of the village.

Soon we are back at the crossroads, and find ourselves back at the Jedrus Bar, where we retire to the back garden, and we meet Shevchenko, who produces a bottle of Ukrainian vodka. From the garden, Mike points out another red-brick building, which during the occupation served as the SS-Laundry.

We bid farewell to those gathered and we make our way to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Tomaszow Lubelski. The bus from the Ukraine arrives and we board it. On the outskirts of Tomaszow Lubelski, Mike decides we should get off the bus and pay a visit to a local. We walk down Ul. Matejki and arrive at the home of Bronislaw Czachor, who was another local worker, who helped build the gas chambers at the Bełżec. Sadly we were informed that Bronislaw was not at home. He ironically had gone to Bełżec to visit relatives. We were invited in for coffee, and after this we walk back to the main road, and catch the bus to Tomaszow Lubelski. My first ever visit to Bełżec had come to an end.

In July 2002, the newly formed ARC Group, which was a small group of independent Holocaust researchers consisting of founders Peter Laponder, Michael Peters, and Chris Webb joined by talented model maker Billy Rutherford and Johannes Feuser, who was a friend of the Michael Peters family. We met at Michael’s home in Alfstedt, Germany.

We travel to Poland, via Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, overnight in Pirna, back to Berlin. We caught the train to Warsaw, and then onto our final destination which is Lublin, where we are met by Mike Tregenza, and our Polish driver Piotr, at approximately 23:00 hours at night. Eventually after a brief stop in the Old Town, we arrive at the Hotel Viktoria. The following day on Saturday July 20, 2002, my journal records:

Mike and Piotr picked us up in the white min-bus from the Hotel Viktoria, and we make our way to Izbica, a small village en-route to Bełżec. We come to halt, having passed through the village, and stop by the railway station. Mike said this was the area where the Jews were kept waiting, after being rounded-up by the Germans. We take a few photographs, then its back on the bus, to continue the journey to Bełżec.

We arrive in Bełżec at lunchtime—and stop for lunch in the modern restaurant by the crossroads, and straight after lunch I take a photo of the red brick building, which is close to the restaurant, which during the occupation served as the SS-Laundry. It was built during the days of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

We then boarded the mini-bus and drove down the main road, Tomaszowska Street, in the direction of Lvow, past the two houses that the camp’s SS staff lived in, during the occupation, and parked up in the car park adjacent to the Bełżec railroad station.

After posing for some photographs by the train station Bełżec sign, we cross the main road to the two stone houses, which once belonged to the Polish Railways and the first one we visited was the fomer camp Kommandantur and private quarters of Christian Wirth and subsequently Gottlieb Hering. Billy Rutherford started filming in the back garden of both houses, including the former camp armoury building.

During the filming Mike Tregenza got talking to two elderly local gentlemen. The eldest of the two admitted he had been held in the bunker, which often held Ukrainian camp staff who had committed breaches of camp discipline. The bunker was located opposite the two stone houses on land near the train station. He said he was released by Commandant Hering.

He also described the Kommandantur, which had two wooden fences with earth in between them at the front and left-hand side, some 2 meters high. Billy on seeing the two old gentlemen, as he began filming ‘called for lights, camera, make up –lots of make up.’

Once filming of the interview had been wrapped up, we then visited the former death camp site. We saw the symbolic urns that had been constructed in the 1960’s, over the mass graves, had been destroyed as well as the famous larger monument, which had also been

demolished, in preparation for a new memorial and museum, that was being planned.

Mike, led us through the camp site-we reached a wooded area, where Mike explained this was the site of the former gas chambers, and one of the execution pits that served as one of a number of ‘Lazarett’s where victims who were unable to walk to the gas chambers were shot, by a shot in the back of the head. This pit was at the end of the ramp, and was 5 meters by 5 meters, with a depth of 2 meters.

Mike then showed us the spot where Jewish remains had been uncovered during the archeological digs that had taken place a few years back, which he explained in great detail to Peter Laponder. Peter managed to annoy Mike intensely,by referring everything Mike said, with the Treblinka death camp. Mike asked him kindly to concentrate on Bełżec.

Before boarding the mini-bus I went off on my own to take some photographs of the locomotive sheds, where the victim’s clothes and belongings were stored, before being shipped off to Lublin. Returning to the mini-bus we drove back down Tomaszowska Street, stopping to take photographs of the Trawniki-Bar. At the cross-roads by the modern restaurant we turned right and parked up on Adam Mickiewicz Street, which I recognised from my stay two years earlier. We then as a group went into the home of Gisela Gdula, formerly Natyna.

She made us most welcome, and she told us a great deal about her family and her life:

She was 18 in 1942, so was born in 1924, and her brother was a member of the German Sonderdienst. Her sister Krystyna Natyna married the Trawniki-Männer Karol Trauttwen, who was a member of the Bełżec death camp garrison.

The house had been a bakery since 1926, and it baked 1,000 loaves daily, the round loaves were taken by carts drawn by horses to the camp gate. Three Jewish women baked the bread, their names were Mariska, Mawka (Miriam) and Salomea. The three girls slept in the bakery or a nearby hut. There was a Ukrainian guard at the gate. The bakery had one large oven—made of bricks—one large chimney and only two small windows, which meant the working conditions were very hot. Water for the bakery came from a well in the garden, which had been built before the Second World War.

She recalled that when the Germans started cremating the dead bodies, that the villagers saw pyres like volcanos and that the locals in the village scraped human fat off the windows, which was horrible.

The girls at the bakery were shot by the SS when the camp was closed, and the bakery was used by the Red Army when they occupied the area in 1944.

At this point the former Mayor of Bełżec joined us and he told us that when the SS took the last 23 Jews from the Bełżec village—they were led through the village to the death camp with barbed wire around their necks.

We said our goodbyes after taking a series of photographs of the former bakery, and made our way to our next stop on the schedule, which was Zamosc.

In July 2004, the expanded ARC Group returned to Bełżec, as part of a massive tour of Poland, which covered Krakau, Plaszow, Auschwitz, Kielce, Radom, Zwolen, Siedlce, Treblinka, Sobibor, Adampol, Wlodawa, Lublin, Trawniki, Poniatowa, Izbica, Belzec, Zamość, Ciechanow and Jaroslaw.

On July 25, 2004, the group arrived at the site of the former death camp in the village of Bełżec. Since our last visit in 2002, the site had been transformed. The site now had a fine museum, with a symbolic monument of stacked train sleepers and rails.

The whole site has been transformed, the site has been covered with slag, and fenced in. At the front of the central area, this is bordered with a white memorial walkway, that lists the communities that were destroyed at the Bełżec death camp.

We undertake a tour of the site, walk down the central path to a white wall, that includes a sombre grey covered memorial which lists the first names of Jews murdered at Bełżec. Whilst undoubtedly this new set-up is a vast improvement compared with walking on human remains, the decision to bury under the slag, the few remaining original remnants of structures such as the garage inspection pit, the generator and other structures seems like a lost opportunity to preserve the past. Obviously, this is a personal view from having seen these strutures from my previous visits, others may not agree, but in an ever changing world, this seems like the wrong choice was made.

We then enter the museum, which is a worthy venture, it contains various artifacts that have been discovered on the site of the former death camp. These include the gas outlet pipe, that I photographed in 2000. Also signs displayed in the death camp, keys, padlocks, Jewish armbands showing Stars of David, shoes, spoons, glass and china destructs, concrete numbered plates. The museum also houses models of the gas chambers. Without doubt this collection of artifacts has been assembled with care and devotion to honor the people murdered here.

After a cold buffet organised by tour member and the Bełżec Museum Director Robert Kuwalek, we are joined by Eugeniusz Hanejko, the Director of the Regional Museum in Tomaszow Lubelski, whom I had first met, four years before. He brought with him the original photograph album containg the photographs taken during the occupation of the former death camp, the gypsy camp and the construction work of the border defences, known as the ‘Otto Line.’

After looking through this unique photograph album, we take a tour led by Robert Kuwalek to see the former ramp, walking along to an elevated spot where there is a wooden structure that supported a watchtower still exists. We also walk along where the unloading ramps were, and spot the odd sign that this was the former ramp.

The group divides and a few of us pay a visit to the locomotive sheds, which has been partially destroyed by a recent fire. The water tower is still there, and you can make out the outlines of the turntable, near the engine sheds, mentioned by Rudolf Reder in his account. We go to the area where the punishment bunker was for Ukrainian camp staff who breached the rules, and take some photographs.

Cameron Munro and myself walk down the main road where we photograph the two stone houses, on the other side of the road which served as the Kommandantur and the SS quarters during the occupation. We head back to the car park at the front of the new Museum and board the bus. Once on the bus, we stop after a few hundred yards to take a photograph of the Trawniki Bar, which is on the left hand side of the main road, in the direction of Tomaszow Lubelski.

The last stop on our tour was one of the former labour camp and gypsy camp, at the site known as the Manor, a long red brick and

white building that was falling into disrepair. Nearby was an overgrown graveyard, unkempt and neglected.

Returning to the new 2004, memorial, it is important to provide some more details. The site took the form of a symbolic cemetery designed by Polish artists, Andrzej Solyga, Zdislaw Pidek and Marcin Roszcyk. The entire area of the former camp with its central part covered in slag and marked mass graves. This area is dominated by a huge monument with a passage through it, that symbolises the last stage of life. At the end of the passage there is a wall with names of Jewish forenames who were murdered at Bełżec. Around the central area is a concrete walkway, with the names of over 200 communities raised in iron.

The Memorial Museum is built in the shape of a train entering the camps unloading ramps and is a fine building. The Museum was opened on June 3, 2004 by Aleksander Kwasniewski, the President of Poland. He was accompanied by representatives from the Polish government, the American Jewish Committee and the United States Holocaust Museum, Washington DC, United States of America.

It is a fitting memorial to the hell called Bełżec.

Illustrations and Sources

This section has been completely revised from the first edition. The historical photographs were kindly sent to me by my friend the late Robert Kuwalek, when he was director of the Bełżec Museum. Other historical photographs of Bełżec and Tomaszow Lubleski come from my own private archive.

The modern day photographs come from visits to the former death camp site. I took my first visit to Bełżec in July 2000, in the company of Lublin based English historian Michael Tregenza, where we stayed overnight in the house of the former SS Bakery. The trips in 2002 and 2004, were part of the ARC Group official tours. It is worth pointing out that the images captured in 2000, show the former camp site, as it had been for years. The site was being re-developed in 2002, to the 2004, visit, where the site was unrecognisable and a museum had been built. From 2000, you can also see how the locomotive sheds, used for sorting and storing clothes changed in appearance, for ever. Today even the former SS Bakery in the village lies abandoned, since the owner Gisela passed away.

Fig. 1. Erwin Fichtner exits the administration building—Armoury to the right (Courtesy of Regional Museum Tomaszow Lubelski)

Fig. 2. Belzec Kommandantur (Courtesy of Regional Museum Tomaszow Lubelski)

Fig. 3. Josef Oberhauser, Fritz Jirmann, Kurt Franz—Road entrance of the Belzec Kommandantur (Courtesy of Regional Museum Tomaszow Lubelski)

Fig. 4. Railway Cannon (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 5. Fuchs at Belzec (Holocaust Historical Society)

Fig. 6. Parcel Van Tomaszow Lubelski (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 7. Soldatenheim Tomaszow Lubelski (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 8. Trawnikimänner at the entrance to the Belzec Death Camp. From left to right: Trautwein, Samuel, Rosenholz, unknown, Kunz, unknown, unknown (Courtesy of Regional Museum Tomaszow Lubelski)

Fig. 9. SS Staff in front of the Kommandantur (Courtesy of Regional Museum Tomaszow Lubelski)

Fig. 10. Belzec Gypsy camp—Women (Courtesy of Regional Museum Tomaszow Lubelski)

Fig. 11. Rawa Ruska Bahnhof (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 12. Tomaszow Lubelski Hospital (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 13. Lublin Alter Flugplatz (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 14. Johann Schwarzenbacher, Christian Wirth, Jürgen Lassmann (Holocaust Historical Society)

Fig. 15. Belzec death camp—Jewish Kapo’s by the Sorting Sheds (Berko Nachitigall holding stick (Courtesy of Regional Museum Tomaszow Lubelski)

Fig. 16. Kurt Franz and unknown SS Officer by the Sorting Sheds (Courtesy of Regional Museum Tomaszow Lubelski)

Fig. 17. Rudolf Kamm without SS cap by the Sorting Sheds (Courtesy of Regional Museum Tomaszow Lubelski)

Fig. 18. Belzec railway station—German soldiers winter 1940 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 19. Belzec—German soldiers 1940 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 20. Belzec Goods Station—Winter 1940 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 21. Building the Otto Line (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 22. Belzec Villagers (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 23. Belzec railway station—German troops by cattle car (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 24. Gassing Outlet Pipe discovered at Belzec—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 25. Gypsy Camp—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 26. Belzec Former Kommandantur—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 27. Eugeniusz Hanejko and Mike Tregenza by the formerarmoury in Belzec—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 28. Belzec Station—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 29. Belzec Water Tower—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 30. Belzec Former Death Camp—Garage Foundations—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 31. Belzec Foundations—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 32. Belzec Former Death Camp—General View—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 33. Belzec Village—Former Bakery for the Death Camp—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 34. Belzec Locomotive Sheds—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 35. Kessler’s Mill—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 36. Former Laundry—July 2002 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 37. Inside the Locomotive Sheds—July 2002 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 38. Site of Gas Chambers—July 2002 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 39. Belzec Former Trawniki Bar—July 2002 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 40. Belzec Crossroads—July 2002 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 41. Belzec View—July 2004 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 42. Belzec Watchtower—July 2004 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 43. Belzec Ramp—July 2004 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 44. Belzec Tracks—July 2004 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 45. SS Houses—July 2004 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 46. Belzec Former Death Camp—Generator Housing—July 2000 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 47. Discussion with locals in the back garden of the former SS quarters in Belzec filmed by Billy Rutherford—July 2002 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 48. SS Quarters—2004 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 49. Bakery Well—2002 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 50. Belzec pathway (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 51. Memorial (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 52. Names (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 53. Symbolic Monument (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 54. Aktion Reinhardt Headquarters (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Fig. 55. Lublin Old Airfield Hangers (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Drawings, Maps and Sources

I am extremely grateful for knowing the late William ‘Billy’ Rutherford, and he was an extremely competent model maker, and very skilled at drawing. I have included his detailed map of the Bełżec death camp, and two fine drawings of the Old and New Gas Chambers.

Although i never met him personally, I am also extremely grateful to have made contact with the late Sir Martin Gilbert, distinguished and well respected Jewish historian and author. I am very pleased he granted me his permission to use his maps, in connection with my research. One of his excellent maps showing the principle deportations to the Bełżec death camp is also included.

Draw. 1. Belzec Camp Dezember 1942: Drawing by William “Billy” Rutherford (Chris Webb Private Collection)

Draw. 2. Belzec First Gas Chamber Drawing: William “Billy” Rutherford (Chris Webb Private Collection)

Draw. 3. Belzec Second Gas Chamber Drawing: William “Billy” Rutherford (Chris Webb Private Collection)

Draw. 9. Principal Deportations to Belzec Map (Used with permission from Sir Martin Gilbert)

Documents and Sources

Documents in relation to the Bełżec death camp, remain quite rare. I have therefore included some of the key documents contained in the first edition.

I am extremely grateful to Lutz Moser from the Bundesarchiv in Berlin, for his continued support and the use of documents from the personal files of former SS men.

My thanks also go to Tali Nates for the document of her relative Leah Turner from Nowy Targ, who was murdered in the Bełżec death camp.

Doc 1. Belzec Postcard 1940 (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Doc 3. Vermerk (Holocaust Historical Society)

Doc 7. Tomaszow Lubelski Hospital Envelope (Chris Webb Private Archive)

Doc 8. Polish Telephone 1939 Extract (Holocaust Historical Society)

Doc 12. Leah Turner (Tali Nates)

Appendix 1

Alphabetical List of Ukrainian Guards—Bełżec

Name Additional Information

ALEKEJEW, Piotr

Became close friends with Kurt Franz. Shot by Gottlieb Hering, for trying to join a partisan group

BARTELS, Iwan Volksdeutscher

BAUMANN, Maks

BENDER, Ivan Volksdeutscher

BERG Volksdeutscher

BIALAKOW, Wasyl

BUDZIAK

BULJI, Waslyl

DALKE, Heinrich Volksdeutscher. Also served at Sobibor death camp

DYNER

FLEISCH Volksdeutscher

GRUZIN, Wasyl

HAWRYLUCH

HAZDICKI

HUBER, Michal Volksdeutscher

HULEYT, Vasyl

HUTYT, Wasyl

HUZIJA, Iwan

JADZIOL, Stefan

JAKOVEVITS, Diner

JAWOROW, Fiodor

Served at Bełżec, Sobibor and Treblinka. Highly respected by the Germans

JESCHKE, Adolf Volksdeutscher

KOBAWCZENKO

KOLISYN, Borys

KOLONKO, Adolf Volksdeutscher

KOROACZENKO

KOSTENKOW, Kyril

KOTYCHYN, Borys

KOZENDE, Mikolaj

KOZLOWSKI, Iwan

KUCZERCHA, Iwan

KULYCHIN, Wasyl

KUNZ, Samuel

LAZARENKO

LITUS, Petro

LUSSE

LYNGKIN

Volksdeutscher. Arrested but died before he could stand trial in 2010. See Chapter 17

MALAGON, Nikolai Also served at Treblinka death camp

MAMCZUR

MATWIJENKO, Nikolai

MOTYGULAN, Sagudula

NIKOFOROW, Iwan

OLEJNIK, Taras

OLJIEWSKI

ORLOVSKIJ, Vasily

OSTER, Peter Volksdeutscher

PAMIN, Franz Volksdeutscher

PAVLI, Nikolai

PECZENYT, Grygory

PIECZONY, Gregorz

PIETKA, Alexej

PITKONYT

PITNOWY, Genrikh

POCHOLENKO, Michal

PODIENKO, Wasyl

PODIONAK, Wasyl

POHL Volksdeutscher

POKOLENKO, Michal

PROCHENKO, Wasyl

PROCHIN, Dymytri

PRUS, Alexander Volksdeutscher

PRYMAK

ROGOSA, Boris Also served at Treblinka death camp, as head of the Ukranian guards

ROHLE, Heinrich Volksdeutscher

ROSENHOLZ Volksdeutscher

ROSENKO, Arnold

SABAT, Viktor

SAMUEL

SCHARF

SCHMIDT, Heinrich Volksdeutscher from the Baltic States. Remembered by Rudolf Reder ‘as the worst of the thugs. Went to Italy after the conclusion

of Aktion Reinhardt. He committed suicide in Italy.

SCHMITZ Volksdeutscher

SCHULTZ, Alexander Volksdeutscher

SIEVERT, Reinhard Volksdeutscher

SIMIONOW, Alexander

STEINER Volksdeutscher

STEPANOW, Peter STECENKO

STURM Volksdeutscher

SYSTOLA, Jakub

SZACHOLIJ, Wasyl

SZPAK, Dimitri

SZPAK, Profiry

SZWAB, Alexander

TICHONOWSKI, Iwan

TRAUTTWEIN, Karol

TRUBENKO, Wasyl

TWERDOCHLIB, Alexander

Volksdeutscher. Married Krystyna

Natyna, who lived at the SS Bakery in the village

VEITH Volksdeutscher

WANOCHA

WEDRYHAN, Fiodor

WEDRYHAN, Petro

WERDENIK, Ivan

WLASIUK, Edward

WOLOSZYN, Iwan

WONK, Michal

WOWK, Viktor

WYSOTA, Jakub

ZAGREBAJEW

ZAJCZEW, Iwan

ZAPLAWNYJ, Iwan

ZIMBERT Volksdeutscher

ZSMIGDOW, Aleksander

ZUJEW

ZUK, Ignatz

Appendix 2

Glossary of Nazi Terms

Abteilung: A branch, section or sub –section of a main department or office (Hauptamt, Amstgruppe or Amt, q.v) Also a military or para-military unit of up to battalion strength, i.e. approximately 700 men

Allgemeine-SS: General body of the SS consisting of full-time, parttime and inactive or honorary members, as distinct from the Waffen-SS (see entry for Waffen-SS).

Amt: A directorate or an office of a ministry.

Amstgruppe: A branch of a Hauptamt

Anschluss: Annexation of Austria to the German Reich in March 1938

Arbeitslager: Labor / Work Camp

Außenstelle / Außendientstelle: Out-station of an office, agency or ministry.

Gau: One of 42 main territorial divisions of the Nazi Party

Gauleiter: The highest ranking Party Official in a Gau, responsible for all political and economic activity, mobilization of labor and civil defence.

Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo): Secret State Police which became Amt IV of the RSHA in September 1939. Headed by SSObergruppenführer Heinrich Müller.

Generalgouvernement: German-occupied Poland administered by Hans Frank from his headquarters in Cracow.

Hauptamt: A main or central office

Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer: Higher SS and Police Leader. Himmler’s personal representative in each Military Region. Also established in the occupied territories. Nominally the commander of all SS and Police units in his area, as well as acting as a liaison officer with the military and senior regional authorities.

Judenrat: Jewish Councils established by the Nazis for Jewish selfadministraton, in all its various facets, food, housing, labor allocation, welfare, police, economic and social etc

Kapo: A prisoner-functionary in the Nazi camps who was assigned by the SS camp staff to supervise labor brigades, maintain discipline, or fulfil administrative tasks.

Kommando: A brigade, squad or detail

Kommissariat: A Regional HQ of the Police; also a political administration in the occupied eastern territories (e.g. Reichskommissariat Ukraine).

Kreishauptmann: The principal district official in the Generalgouvernement and occupied territories

Kriminalpolizei (Kripo): Criminal Police, the plainclothes detective squads which together with the Gestapo formed the Sicherheitspolizei. In 1939 the Kripo became Amt V of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA). Headed by Reichskriminaldirektor Arthur Nebe.

Lagerälteste: Camp Elder, the senior prisoner in a Nazi camp

Leitstelle: A Regional HQ of the Gestapo or Kripo established at the HQ of a Military District or capital of a county.

Oberkapo: Senior Kapo in a Nazi camp.

Oberzugführer: Senior platoon leader; in charge of the platoon leaders

Ordnungspolizei (Orpo): Order Police. The regular uniformed police, comprising the Schutzpolizei (Schupo), Gendarmarie

(rural constabulary), and Feuerschutzpolizei (Fire Fighting Police), together with certain technical and auxiliary services.

Organisation Todt: A para-military government organization used mainly for the construction of strategic highways and military installations.

Reichsgau: One of eleven regions formed from territories annexed to the Reich.

Reichskanzlei: Chancellery of the Reich directed by Hans Lammers

Referat: A sub-section within a Gruppe

Referent: The official in charge of a Referat.

Reichsführer-SS: Reichs Leader of the SS. Heinrich Himmler’s SStitle from June 1936

Reichskriminalpolizeiamt (RKPA): Berlin HQ of the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo) which in September 1939 became Amt V of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA).

Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) : Reich Security Main Office, formed in September 1939 and combined the Sicherheitspolizei and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). It was both an SS-Hauptamt and a branch of the Reich Ministry of the Interior.

Schutzpolizei (Schupo): Protection Police. The regular uniformed municipal constabulary forming the bulk of the Ordnungspolizei.

Sicherheitsdienst (SD): Security Service. The intelligence branch of the SS headed by Reinhard Heydrich

Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo): Security Police, comprising the Kripo and Gestapo, headed by Reinhard Heydrich.

Sonderkommando: A special unit of the SS employed for police and political tasks in occupied territories. Also used to denote the special brigades of prisoners in the death camps who dealt with the corpses.

SS-Leibstandarte ‘Adolf Hitler‘: Hitler’s bodyguard regiment. The oldest of the SS-militaized formations, formed in 1933. Commanded by Joseph ‚Sepp‘ Dietrich.

SS- und Polizeiführer: SS and Police Leader. In command of a District in the eastern occupied territories, subordinate to a Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer.

Standarte: SS or SA formation equivalent to a regiment, i.e. approximately 3,000 men

Sturmabteilung (SA): Storm Detachment, also called the ‘Brown Shirts’ after their uniform. The original Nazi para-military organization founded in 1921.

Sturmbann: An SA or SS unit, equivalent to a battalion, i.e. 7501,000 men

Volksdeutsche: Ethnic Germans

SS-Totenkopfverbände: SS-Death’s Head units which guarded the concentration camps. In 1939 they formed the nucleus of the SSTotenkopf Division, one of the first field formations of the Waffen-SS.

SS-Verfügungstruppen: The pre-war militarized formations of the SS, renamed the Waffen-SS in 1939.

Volksdeutsche: Ethnic Germans

Vorarbeiter: Foreman of a team of workers

Waffen–SS : Fully militarized SS formations. Initially composed of the SS-Verfügungstruppen and the SS-Totenkopf units. During the Second World War it comprised of 40 Divisions, both German and non-German units.

Wehrkreis: Military Region, usually indicated on maps by a Roman numeral.

Wehrmacht: The German Armed Forces, i.e. the army, air force and navy

Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt

Administration and Economic Main Office of the SS,formed from the SSHauptamt Haushalt und Bauten in 1940. Headed by Oswald Pohl, the WVHA supervised the SS economic enterprises and administered the concentration camps.

Zugführer: Military term for platoon leader

(WVHA):

Appendix 3

Table of Equivalent Ranks

SS-Reichsführer Reichs Leader

SS-Oberstgruppenführer General

SS-Obergruppenführer Lieutenant General

SS-Gruppenführer Major General

SS-Brigadeführer Brigadier General

SS-Oberführer Senior Colonel

SS-Standartenführer Colonel

SS-Obersturmbannführer Lieutenant Colonel

SS-Sturmbannführer Major

SS-Hauptsturmführer Captain

SS-ObersturmführerFirst Lieutenant

SS-UntersturmführerSecond Lieutenant

SS-SturmscharführerSergeant Major

SS-HauptscharführerMaster-Sergeant

SS-OberscharführerSergeant First Class

SS-ScharführerStaff Sergeant

SS-UnterscharführerSergeant

SS-RottenführerCorporal

SS-Sturmmann Acting Corporal

SS-Oberschütze Private First Class

SS-Schütze Private

Appendix 4

The Death of Fritz Jirmann

There appears to be some conflict as to when Frtiz Jirmann, a feared member of the SS-Garrison at Bełżec, actually lost his life in an accidental shooting. This was at the hand of fellow officer Heinrich Gley. Some eyewitness claimed during post-war investigations that Jirmann’s death occurred in October 1942. Jirmann’s body was buried in Tomaszow Lubelski, and the date recorded for this is July 14, 1943, in plot 317. This date cannot be correct as the SS left the Bełżec death camp during May 1943, according to post-war testimony given by a Polish eyewitness.

The eyewitness testimony given by SS members of the Bełżec garrison, is is at odds with the memoirs of Bełżec survivor Rudolf Reder, who clamed that Jirmann was involved in the murder of Azriel Szeps, the vice-president of the Zamość Judenrat in early November 1942. In addition to this, Reder was clear in his memoirs that it was Jirmann who sent him to Lemberg to pick up sheet metal at the end of November 1942, from which he escaped. Other researchers claim that Jirmann was killed on March 1, 1943, based on official records. This particular Appendix is based upon the unpublished paper produced by English historian Michael Tregenza, titled, ‘Only the Dead’, which is held by the Wiener Library in London. Also heavily consulted is the Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen Ludwigsburg File 251/59 which has been translated in parts by my dear friend Georg Biemann. I cannot thank him enough for his expertise and his support.

Robert Juhrs stated this in post-war interviews held during 1961:

As far as I remember, about six weeks at least after I had arrived in Bełżec, I heard that two Russian or Ukrainians had been locked up in the bunker. I cannot determine the time more exactly. Jirmann

with another member of the Bełżec garrison—I don’t know who it was—went to the bunker at nightfall.

What Jirrman and the other one wanted to do there, I don’t know. I was told later that there was a fight with the prisoners in the bunker during which a shot was fired, which fa-tally wounded Jirmann. No further details of this incident reached my ears. I believe I can remember that Jirmann was laid out in a room near the kitchen, in this building there was also a munitions room.

Another former SS-NCO at Bełżec Werner Dubois was asked during post-war investigations if he could provide some more details of Fritz Jirmann’s death:

I can distinctly remember a mistake was made. About two months after my arrival in Bełżec—about the end of September—beginning of October 1942, Jirmann was killed in unexplained circumstances. About that I remember the fol-lowing:

Two Ukrainians had been locked up in the bunker, probably because they rebelled against discipline after an excess of alcohol. That evening, after darkness had fallen, Jirmann proceeded to the bunker with the intention of shooting them both. Whether he wanted to carry out the execution of his own accord, or had been ordered to—I cannot say.

The locked-in Ukrainians must have had either a hand-to-hand fight with him, or thrown a cover over his head, so they could escape. Another member of the Bełżec staff had seen the first prisoner fleeing and had opened fire. Who had fired, I don’t know. I only surmised it was Gley. Jirmann was carried into the administration building and attended by a Jewish doctor.

Dubois continued his account:

In my view, Jirmann and Gley wanted to kill the two Ukrainians, as they went to the bunker in darkness; It is my opinion that the death of Jirmann was not intentional. Or to put it in other words, I put it down to a definitive unfortunate accident. The behaviour of Gley after the incident sup-ports this—he was shaking his head, distracted and seemed very troubled. After a very short time—about a quarter of an hour Jirmann was dead. Today, I can no longer say with absolute certainty whether the funeral took place in Tomaszow, or

somewhere else. I could not attend the funeral, as I was on duty in the camp.

Heeinrich Gley was interviewed on November 25, 1961, by two officers of Section IIIa of the Bavarian provincial CID, about his part in the death of Fritz Jirmann:

As I remember, I arrived in the camp in July or August 1942. One evening—it could have been 14 days, or at the most four weeks after my arrival in Bełżec, because I know that at that time I still did not know my way around the camp very well—we were sitting at supper, or we had already finished supper. Hering was criticising and grumbling about us. What he was specifically objecting to—I can no longer say today.

Anyway Jirmann stood up, buckled on his belt and pistol, and said to me, ‘Gley, come with me.’ In the presence of Hering, Jirmann used the formal form of address, i.e. Sie, when talking to me, but when we were together, we addressed each other by the familiar form (Du). Anyway, I stood up and buckled on my belt and pistol… it was natural to leave the Kommandantura armed.

It was pitch black outside and only I carried a torch. Diagonally opposite the Kommandantura there was a bunker in a copse, which was the cell for those Ukrainians under arrest. We both went to the bunker. I let Jirmann take my torch. On the way to the bunker we spoke not one word. I also did not ask him where we were going, or what was happening. I had no idea of the purpose of all this.

After I had given the torch to Jirmann, he ordered me to stand still. With torch in hand, he proceeded to the bunker. I knew well that Jirmann still had his pistol in its holster; he had not taken it out, loaded it, or released the safety catch. There is no doubt about this in my mind.

Jirmann opened the door of the bunker and went in with torch shining. I could see that a shadow sprang from behind him and tore him to the ground. He dropped the torch and it went out. When I saw this surprise attack, I drew my pistol from its holster, and released the safety catch. This all happened in a few seconds. I then saw a shadow leap out of the bunker and attempt to flee to one side.

Without knowing who it was escaping out of the bunker. I also fired at this one without knowing who it was. The man dropped to the

ground, his throat rattling. Exactly at that moment, a third shadow leapt out of the bunker and I can no longer say with any certainty whether I also fired at that one. Everything happened in an unbelievably short time—I may say in the space of seconds.

The next day Wirth arrived in Bełżec , and overheard a conversation between Wirth and Hering:

I learned through overhearing a conversation between Wirth and Hering that after a discussion with Hering, Jirmann had indeed wanted to carry out the shooting and had received permission to do so from Hering.

Gley further recalled when he realised it was Fritz Jirmann whom he had shot:

About that, I have to say that the whole event happened uncannily fast and at the same time as the third shadow sprang out of the bunker, I realised that the second shot by me was Jirmann. At the same moment I realized it was Jirmann, who by the Berlin Document Centre as having taken place on 1 March 1943, then I have to say that with all clarity this is not possible. I will say about that the authentification could well have been on 1 March 1943—about that by the way, I know nothing—but the death of Jirmann took place much earlier, which I cannot date precisely. From this time on I was the black sheep of the camp staff. I felt that my life was no longer secure and I was apprehensive that I would be liquidated in cold blood.

Werner Dubois stated that after Jirmann’s death he took over command of the Ukrainian SS forces:

I had to exercise the troops and train them. In addition I had to perform anti-partisan guard duties with a part of the guard unit. I was not the chief of the guard unit because I had to report to either Schwarz or Hering. The guard duties were allotted by Schwarz. I was additionally responsible for the munitions room.

Karl Schluch was interviewed by the Criminal Investigation Department of Bavaria on November 10, 1961. This interrogation was continued on November 12, 1961:

I only got to know Oberscharfuhrer Fritz Jirmann in the Bełżec camp. He was on duty practically everywhere in the camp, and as far

as I can remember, was mainly involved with the guards. He was later killed in an accident in Bełżec.

In order to determine the time of his fatal accident more precisely, I have to go back a little further. In January 1943, I fell ill. I had to go to Berlin to examine and treat my stomach ailment. From there I returned to Bełżec in February 1943.

At the time of my return, it was still a severe winter and I know that Jirmann was still alive at that time. In the summer of 1943, I was transferred to another camp with Hering, Gley and a few others. I can no longer say the exact date of the transfer. I only know that after staying in the new camp for a while, I got home leave and was able to take apples with me.

In the meantime after my return from Berlin in February 1943, and before my transfer to the other camp in early summer 1943, the fatal accident must have occurred. I didn’t see the fatal accident myself. At that time I was still on duty within the camp. I know from heresay that at least one Ukrainian or there could have been two, was in the bunker for the guard unit. Only members of the guard unit were looked in these bunkers, if for example, they had been drunk and had done poor service or violated the service regulatons. In the case of more serious crimes, such as planned mutiny—and I remember one such case—the guards involved were disarmed, pulled out of the unit and immediately transported away.

I never found out where they went and what happened to them. So I assume that the soldier or soldiers who sat in the bunker did not commit any serious offences. Jirmann and Gley must have visited the bunker at dusk or at dusk. I don’t know what they wanted there. I heard that there was a scuffle and that Gley accidentally shot Jirmann. I cannot say how the incident played out in detail. All I know is that Gley was badly shaken.

Whilst already recounted in the main body of the book, it is worth for clarity to re-produce what Ruldolf Reder wrote about Fritz Jirmann in November 1943:

I must tell about the transport from Zamość. It was around November 15, when the weather had already turned cold and snow and mud covered the ground……. The transport contained the whole Judenrat. Everyone was standing there naked and, as in the normal course of events, the men were driven to the chambers and the women to the

barracks where hair was shaved off. But the president of the Judenrat was ordered to remain in the yard.

…. Afterwards they stood the president of the Zamość Judenrat against a wall and beat him with lead-tipped canes, mostly about the head and face, until the blood flowed. Jirmann, the fat Gestapo man Schwarz, Schmidt and several askaris carried out the torture.

Rudolf Reder stated in his memoirs, his last encounter with Fritz Jirmann:

At the end of November, the fourth month of my incredible stay in Bełżec death camp was drawing to a close. The thug Jirmann told me one morning that the camp needed sheet metal, a lot of sheet metal. I was swollen and bruised then, and pus was running from my wounds. Gestapo man Schmidt had abused both sides of my face with a stick. Jirmann informed me with a venomous smile that I would be going under escort to Lwow to get the sheet metal—‘Sollst nicht durchgehen’—Just don’t make a run for it.

Post-war research by Michael Tregenza found some information about Erwin Fichtner and Fritz Jirmann concerning their burial information in Tomaszow Lubelski. Erwin Fichtner’s death stated a reason for his death, killed by partisans, whilst no cause was entered for Jirmann.

Both bore dates of death, Fichtner on March 29, 1943, whilst Jirmann showed July 14, 1943, and that he was attached to the SSFührungshauptamt 3 Stabskorp and that he died in Bełżec.

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CZERNIAKOW, Adam: The Warsaw Diary of Adam Czerniakow. Editors Raul Hilberg, Stanislaw Staron and Josef Kermisz, Ivan R. Dee, Chicago 1999.

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GILBERT, Martin: The Holocaust—The Jewish Tragedy, William Collins, London 1987.

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HILBERG, Raul: Die Vernichtung der europäischen Juden, Band 2 Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1990.

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HOFFMANN, Dr Ute Hoffmann & SCHULZE, Dietmar: Gedenkstätte Bernburg, Dessau 1997.

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KUWALEK, Robert: Death Camp in Bełżec, Panstwowe Muzuem na Majdanku, Lublin 2016.

KUWALEK, Robert: From Lublin to Bełżec, Ad Rem, Lublin 2006.

LANZMANN, Claude: Shoah, Pantheon Books, New York 1985.

LONGERICH, Peter: The Unwritten Order—Hitler’s Role in the Final Solution, Tempus, Stroud 2001.

MACLEAN, French L.: The Camp Men, Schiffer Military History, Atglen PA 1999.

MARSALEK, Jozef: Majdanek, Interpress, Warsaw 1986.

NOVITCH, Miriam: Sobibor Martydom and Revolt, Holocaust Library, New York 1980.

O’NEIL, Robin: Bełżec Stepping Stone to Genocide, Jewish Gen, New York 2008.

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PIRO, Anna: The Cracow Ghetto 1941–43, The Historical Museum of the City of Krakow, Krakow 2005

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REDER, Rudolf: Bełżec, Brzenka Panstwowe Muzeum, Oswiecim 1999.

REITLINGER, Gerald: The Final Solution,Vallentine, Mitchell, London 1953.

SCHELVIS, Jules: Sobibor A History of a Nazi Death Camp, Berg, Oxford, New York 2007.

SCHOENBERNER, Gerhard: The Yellow Star, Corgi Books, London 1978.

SERENY, Gitta: Into That Darkness—From Mercy Killing To Mass Murder, Pimlico, London 1974.

TREGENZA, Michael: Bełżec Death Camp, The Wiener Library Bulletin 1977, volume XXX 41/42; pp. 8-25.

TREGENZA, Michael: Christian Wirth and the First Phase of Einsatz Reinhard, Zeszyty Majdanka Vol XIV, Panstwowe Muzeum na Majdanka Lublin 1992.

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Published Papers and Unpublished Works/ Correspondence

Published:

GILBERT, Sir Martin: Maps of Aktion Reinhardt

GUTH, Karin: Interview in Hamburg. Available online from http:// www.deathcamps.org

TOPPING, Alexandra: Guardian Online Newspaper 22 November 2010: Suspected Nazi death camp guard Samuel Kunz dies before trial. http://www.Guardian.co.uk

TREGENZA, Michael: Bełżec—The Unknown Death Camp of the Holocaust, Fritz Bauer Institut Jahrbuch 2000. (Revised and updated 2006)

Unpublished:

TREGENZA, Michael: Private Report, Allötting Germany 1972

TREGENZA, Michael: Christian Wirth The Exemplary Officer

TREGENZA, Michael: Only the Dead—Christian Wirth and SS Sonderkommando Bełżec, 1988

WEBB, Chris: Holocaust Historical Society—The ARC Trips to Poland 2002 and 2004

Correspondence:

BIEMANN, Georg Private Correspondence with the author 2020–2022

BRIGHT, Frank: Private correspondence with the author 2014

CHOCHOLATY, Michal, Private correspondence with the author

2021

HANEJKO, Eugeniusz: Private correspondence with the author

2008

HANEJKO, Tomasz: Private correspondence with the author 2013–

2014

IMICH, Jan: Private correspondence with the author April 2003

KUWALEK, Robert private correspondence with the author

RUTHERFORD, William: Private correspondence with the author

2003–2005

STADLER, Harry: Interview and correspondence with the author

2003

TREGENZA, Michael: Private correspondence with author

Archival Sources

Bełżec Memorial Museum, Poland

Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv Potsdam, Germany

Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Außenstelle Ludwigsburg (formerly the Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen, Ludwigsburg

Bundesarchiv Koblenz, Außenstelle Berlin-Lichterfelde (formerly the Berlin Document Centre)

Chris Webb Archive, Whitehill, UK

Ghetto Fighters House, Israel

Holocaust Historical Society, UK

Majdanek Museum, Lublin, Poland

Michael Tregenza Archive, Lublin, Poland

National Archives Kew, London, UK

National Archives, Washington DC, USA

NIOD—Institute voor Oorlogs—Holocaust en Genocidestudies (Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Regional Museum Tomaszow Lubelski, Poland

Staatsarchiv München, Germany

Tall Trees Archive UK

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC, USA

Wiener Library, London, UK

Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel

Zentrale Stelle der Lanesjustizverwaltungen Ludwigsburg, Germany

Websites

Action Reinhard Camps (ARC)

archives portaleuropre.net

Bełżec Museum online resource

Das Bundesarchiv Gedenkbuch.de—Memorial Book

Guardian online

Holocaust Education & Archive Reasearch Team (H.E.A.R.T)

Holocaust cz

Holocaust Historical Society (HHS)

Jewish Gen

NIOD—online resource

Nizkor—Adolf Eichmann Complete Trial Transcripts

The Nizkor Project –Shofar FTP Archive File

Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims Names

Acknowledgements

ADLER, John; Anne-Marie (Bordon Library); ARORA, Surinder; BACCA, Sonia (Wiener Library, London); BIEDKA, Lukasz; BIELECKI, P; BIEMANN, Georg; BIERSCHNEIDER, Robert (Staatsarchiv Munchen); BOHM, Dr. Boris (Sonnenstein / Pirna Memorial); BOWLES, Paula; BRIGHT, Frank (Holocaust Survivor); BURZLAFF, Jan; COCHOLATY, Michal (Czech Author and Historian); CONSTANDY, Michael (Westmoreland Research Alexandria VA ); COX, Dave; ENGELKING, Barbara; FELDMAN, Professor Matthew; FERRERO, Shaul (Yad Vashem); GILBERT, Sir Martin (Author and Historian); GOHLE, Dr Peter (Ludwigsburg); GROSMAN, Judy (Ghetto Fighters House, Israel); HANEJKO, Eugeniusz (Director Regional Museum Tomaszow Lubelski);

HANEJKO, Tomasz ( Head of Belzec Memorial Museum); HOJAN, Artur (T4 Association); IMICH, Jan; JAROS, Marek (Wiener Library London); KATZ, Lilli-Mai; KATZ, Michael; KUWALEK, Robert (Former Belzec Museum Director); LAPONDER, Peter; LISCIOTTO, Carmelo (H.E.A.R.T); MUNRO, Cameron (T4 Association); NATES, Tali (Johannesburg Holocaust Centre); O’NEIL, Dr Robin (Author and Historian); OREN, Zvi (Ghetto Fighters House, Israel); PANZ, Dr Karolina Panz; PARZER, Robert (T4 Association); PETERS, Michael; PRESTON, Trevor; RUTHERFORD, William (Billy); SAWICKI, Pawel (Warsaw); SHACHER, Madene (Ghetto Fighters House, Israel); SCOLARO, Professor Peggy; SPYRAKIS, Clare; SPYRAKIS, Heather; SPYRAKIS, Nicky; STADLER, Harry (Kinder Transport); STEINBERG, Jerry; TELEZYNSKA, Ewa (Warsaw); TREGENZA, Michael (Author and Historian); TYAS, Stephen; WEBB, Shirley; WITTE, Peter

Abbe, Dawid 151

Abbe, Fela 151

Abbe, Henryk 151

Abbe Jurek 151

Adler, Aba 151

Adler, Ber 151

Adler, David 151

Adler, Dwora 152

Adler, Elka 152

Adler, Ester 152

Adler, Freude 152

Adler, Gitel 152

Adler, Golda 152

Adler, Hena 152

Adler, Hersch 152

Adler, Kisiel 152

Adler, Klara 152

Adler, Leib 153

Adler, Leibisch 153

Adler, Malka 153

Adler, Maurycy 153

Adler, Miriam 153

Adler, Mordekhai 153

Adler, Moses 153

Adler, Mosze 153

Adler, Natan 153

Adler, Olga 153

Adler, Rivka 154

Adler, Sala 154

Adler, Sarah 154

Adler, Siegfried 154

Albert, Sarah 154

Albert, Shlomo 154

Index of Names

Allerhand, Dr Leszek 155

Allerhand, Jozek 154

Allerhand, Maurycy 154

Allerhand, Salomea 155

Allers, Dieter 67, 267

Alexejew, Piotr 238-239, 270, 377

Apfelbaum, Nathan 134

Apfelbaum, Sara 134

Arad, Yitzhak 6, 124

Aschnowitz, Adolf 155

Astman, Mina 54, 130, 133

Auerbach, Herman 155

Bacca, Sonia 240

Bachner 130

Bachner, Moszey 156

Baer, Rudolf 258

Bahir, Moshe 124

Bajler, Abram 156

Bajler, Fela 156

Bajler, Rivka 156

Bajler, Shimon 156

Bajler, Szlamek 156-157

Baldachin, Engineer 157

Baldinger, Sara 157

Balsenboum, Peshia 157

Bantel, Maria 251

Baran, Jakub 158

Barbl, Heinrich 53, 72, 234, 258, 287

Bartels, Iwan 377

Bartetzko, Franz 15, 59

Basia 320

Bauer, Erich 263, 268

Bauer, Sosza 158

Bauer, Yakob 158

Baum, Gitel 158

Baum, Johanna 134

Baum, Lieb 158

Baum, Naftali 158

Baum, Zofia 158

Bauman, Max 270, 377

Beck, Salomea 158

Becker, Joel 134

Beer, Hene 158

Beiczer, Leizer 159

Bein, Estera 159

Bein, Malka 134

Beker, Awraham 159

Bekerman, Reizl 159

Bekker, Henryk 159-160

Bekker, Helena 161

Bender, Ivan 377

Bendler, Ronia 161

Ber, Brejndel 161

Berchard, Fryda 161

Berezowski, Alojzy 47

Berg 377

Berger, Isak 161

Berger, Jenta 134

Berger, Josef 134

Berger, Lemel 135

Berger, Mendl 161

Berger, Nesia 161

Berger, Sara 135

Berger, Sara (Writer) 240

Berk 12

Berkowicz, Marie 161

Berkowicz, Sara 161

Berlinska, Mala 162

Bernblat, Chaja 162

Bernstein, Gitel 162

Biedka, Lukasz 150

Bielakow, B 290

404

Bielakow, Wasyl 377

Biemann, Georg 389

Bilitz, Frida 162

Binder, Aron 135

Binder, Leib 162

Binder, Mirl 162

Binder, Moysze 162

Binder, Samoil 162

Binder, Simcha 162

Birnbaum, Rebeka 162

Birnberg, Rozia 162

Blaicher, Frida 162

Blajberg, Mendel 163

Blande, Icchak 163

Blande, Zacharia 163

Blander, Faivel 163

Blander, Yehoshua 163

Blank, Mordko 163

Blankenburg, Werner 32

Blankenhamer, Hersh 163

Blat, Hana 163

Blat, Reizl 163

Blatt, Fela 164

Blatt, Hersz 164

Blatt, Lea 164

Blatt, Rywka 164

Blatt, Thomas (Toivi) 106, 124, 259, 320

Blau, Zlata 164

Blautal, Szajndel 164

Blauthal, Chaja 164

Blauthal, Jehudit 164

Blauthal, Rachel 164

Blech, Chana 165

Bleiberg, Gitel 165

Bleiberg, Hersh 165

Blejberg, Sarah 165

Blem, Dr. Karol 165

Blic, Ichak 165

Bliter, Etta 165

Blitler, Tauba 165

Blitzer, Shendel 165

Bloch, Rysia 165

Blonshtein, Rachel 166

Blum, Rywka 166

Blum, Sara 166

Blum, Zeev 166

Blumberg, Dow 166

Blumberg, Icchak 166

Blumenfeld, Chaja 166

Blumenfeld, Feiwel 166

Blumenfeld, Rakhel 166

Blumentel, Eliezer 167

Bluth, Ester 167

Bluzer, Malka 167

Bohdanowicz, Stanislaw 98

Boim, Jozef 167

Bojm, Chaja 167

Borowski, Werner 258

Borkowska, Joanna 132

Bouhler, Philipp 38, 253

Brack, Viktor 38, 56, 253, 265

Brande, Rywka 167

Brandl, Malka 167

Brandt, Dr. Karl 32-33, 253

Braun, David 167

Braun, Sara 167

Braun, Tonia 168

Bree, Max 258

Brik, Mindl 168

Briks, Chana 168

Briks, Ferka 168

Brodreich, Lionel 135

Broft 36

Bronska Family 28

Brosig, Ernst 111

Bruckner, Adolf 135

Bruckner, Margarete 250

Bruckner, Regina 135

Bruckner, Salomon 135

Buchsdorf, Golda 135

Budziak 92, 377

Buhler Brothers 251

Buhler, Dr Josef 2

Buk-Szmigielska, Dr. Theresa 174175

Bulji, Wasyl 377

Burckel, Josef 241

Bursztyn, Lejba 168

C

Carr, Marcus 319

Claasen, Kurt (Kutschera) 29, 245

Conti, Dr. Leonardo 253

Copernicus, Nicholas 302

Cornides, Wilhelm 99, 102

Czachor, Bronislaw 324

Czerniak, Brothers 44

Czerniak, Kazimierz 41, 44, 83

Czerniakow, Adam 17, 247

Czoban, Alfred 168

Czoban, Sara 168

D

Dach, Chajm 168

Dachsel, Arthur 63, 72, 258

Dalke, Heinrich 377

Daniel, Maria 99, 118

Danzig, Yitzhk 169

Dar, Wolf 169

Decker, Johanna 135

Deligacz, Yoel 169

Demesti, Wolf 169

Demjanjuk, Ivan 37

Deutsch, Dr. 169

Diegelmann, Oskar 97

Dinter, Leibish 169

Dirlewanger, Oskar 15-17

Dodyk, Chaya 169

Dolp, Hermann 13-15, 29

Dominik, Sarah 169

Dominitz, Reizl 170

Dominitz, Sabina 135

Dorenbust, Elimelech 170

Dornfeld, Dr. Jakob 170

Drayer, Sara 170

Dreifach, Zofia 170

Dreilinger, Edith 136

Dreilinger, Egon 136

Dreilinger, Hermann 136

Dreilinger, Klara 136

Drescher, General 136

Dubois, Werner 9, 121-122, 146, 232233, 259-260, 270, 285, 289, 390, 392

Dykier, Brothers 12

Dykier, Judko 12

Dykier, Lejb 12

Dym, Rachela 170

Dyner 377

EEberl, Dr. Irmfried 8, 262, 264

Ekstein, Barauch 172

Eckstein, Ilek 170

Edelist, Henryk 170

Edelstein, Ita 171

Edelstein, Sucher 171

Ehrlich, Aszer 171

Ehrlich, Benzion 171

Eichenbaum, Chawe 171

Eichmann, Adolf 2, 42-44, 107, 297

Eicke, Theodor 14

Eisner, Ludwika 171

Ekstein, Barauch 172

Ekstein, Gitla 172

Elenbogen, Ischak 172

Ellenbogen 172

Elowicz, Riwka 172

Eltster, Josef 172

Englander, Chana 172

Epstein, Cipa 172

Epstein, Herszel 172

Epstein, Malka 173

Epstein, Mindl 173

Epstein, Sara 173

Epstein, Wolf 136

Epsztejn, Hana 173

Erlich, Abraham 173

Erlich, Arie 173

Erlich, Bracha 173

Erlich, Brantche 173

Erlich, Eli 173

Erlich, Ester 174

Erlich, Hersh 174

Erlich, Josef 174

Erlich, Rivka 174

Erlich, Rywka 174

Erlich, Shmuel 174

Essig 12

F

Fajersztajn 174

Faust , Boleslaw 18

Feder, Iesaja 105

Feix, Dieter 259

Feix, Reinhold 56, 72, 231-232, 259260

Feix, Werner 259

Felber, Feiga 175

Felber, Hersch 175

Felber, Moses 175

Feldhendler, Leon 124

Feldman, Aharon 175

Feldman, Berl 175

Feldman, Chaim 175

Feldman, Chana 175

Feldman, Elke 175

Feldman, Ester 175

Feldman, Fejga 176

Feldman, Gina 176

Feldman, Helena 176

Feldman, Hersh 176

Feldman, Jehuda 176

Feldman, Mordekhai 176

Feldman, Pinkhas 176

Feldman, Zlata 176

Feldman, Zosia 176

Fenkl 12

Ferens, Edward 23

Feuser, Johannes 324

Fichtner, Erwin 59, 72, 120, 260, 286, 321, 394

Finkelman, Sima 177

Finkelstein, Bluma 177

Fisch, Esther 136

Fisch, Frieda 136

Fisch, Gerson 136

Fisch, Hanni 136

Fisch, Jakob 137

Fisch, Rachel 137

Fisch, Rita 137

Fleisch 377

Floss, Erich, Herbert 32, 260-261

Franco, Francisco 16

Frank, Hans 2, 381

Franz, Kurt 8-9, 31-32, 49, 65, 69, 238-239, 261-262, 269, 271, 377

Frenkel, Gabriela 177

Frenzel, Karl 9

Friedman, Miriam 137

Friess, Dawid 177

Fuchs, Anna 41

Fuchs, Erich 9, 28, 38, 41-42, 258, 262-263, 269, 275, 285, 289

Furstenberg, Izydor 18

G

Gabčík, Jozef 1

Gabel 12

Gabel, Abraham 177

Ganzenmuller, Dr. Theodore 68

Garbar, Berta 178

Garfinkel, Ben 178

Garfinkel, Chaja 178

Garfunkel, Regina 178

Gastmann, Fiszel 178

Gdula, Gisela 118, 323, 326, 331

Geisler, Rivka 178

Geisler, Yeshayahu 178

Gelbard, Regina 178

Gelemter, David 179

Geler, Josef 179

Geler, Leib 179

Geller, Rachel 179

Geller, Yakub 179

Gerstein, Kurt 72, 74, 76-79

Gerstner, Betty 137

Gerstner, Chawa 137

Gerstner, Jakob 137

Gerstner, Sigo 137

Gersztenfeld, Ita 179

Ginsburg, Rita 179

Gilbert, Sir Martin 361

Girtzg, Hans 64-65, 67, 72, 91, 234, 263, 285, 287

Glancman, Leja 179

Glaser, Adele 138

Glaser, Berta 138

Glasman, Mordechai 180

Glazaer, Icek 180

Glejzer, Mayer 180

Gley, Heinrich 52-53, 63, 71, 92-93, 117-119, 239, 263-264, 269, 285, 288, 389-393

Glikman , Maks 151

Glikman, Sala 151

Globin, Shmuel 180

Globocnik, Anna 2 41

Globocnik, Franz 241

Globocnik, Odilo 1-3, 7-8, 14-16, 29, 34, 38, 43, 47, 54, 56, 69, 72, 79, 107, 124, 233, 241-250, 254-256, 261, 266, 286, 298

Globocnik, Peter 242

Gloger, Rosza 180

Gockel, Karl 278

Gockel, Lisetty 278

Gockel, Rudolf 80, 278, 323

Godzieszewski, Czeslaw 300, 319

Goebbels, Dr Josef 46

Goldbaum, Sara 180

Goldbaum, Srul 180

Goldbaum, Zysia 180

Goldberg, Chana 180

Goldberg, Sara 180

Goldberger, Cecylia 181

Goldberger, Jenny 138

Goldenberg, Gizela 181

Goldgraber, Rywa 181

Goldman, Chawa 181

Goldman, Dawid 181

Goldman, Dwora 181

Goldman, Resia 182

Goldner, Leib 182

Goldsand, Sara 182

Goldschmidt 130, 182

Goldstein, Chaja 182

Goldstein, Jozef 182

Goldsztajn, Abram 182

Goldsztajn, Jechiel 182

Gomolinski, Ruchcia 183

Gomolinski, Tonia 183

Gonorov, Szaja 183

Gora, Dr Mieczyslaw 302

Gortler, Chaja 183

Gotesman, Arie 183

Gotesman, Scheindel 183

Goth, Amon 4, 8, 215, 248-249

Gotlieb, Towa 183

Gottlieb, Hinda 183

Grada, David 183

Graetschus, Siegfried 264

Graf, Chaia 184

Grebel 184

Greiner, Dwora 184

Grin, Bella 184

Grin, Rywka 184

Grin, Yehoszua 184

Grinberg, Malka 184

Grinberg, Rywka 184

Griner, Lejba 184

Grinfeld, Simon 185

Gringers, Max 265, 288

Grinsztein, Aron 185

Grintuch, Riwka 185

Gris, Yehoshua 185

Grisgot, Mosze 185

Grosfeld, Jehuda 185

Grossmann, Fryderyka 185

Grosser, Jakub 185

Groth, Paul (Groot) 265, 288

Grunberg 249

Gruner, Golda 186

Gruzin, Wasyl 377

Grynberg, Bat 186

Grynberg, Mordchaj 186

Grynberg, Szmuel 186

Grunblatt, Chaskiel 186

Gruenstein, Mendel 186

Gumpolowicz, Henryk 186

Gumpolowicz, Taube 186, 198, 209

Gunther, Rolf 107

Gurfein, Abraham 187

Gurfein, Yitzhak 187

Gutfreund, Lea 138

Gutenberg, Kajla 187

Guth, Karin 19

Gutman, Zofia 187

Guttmann, Eta 187

Guzik, Anna 187 H

Hasse, Willi 249

Haber, Chiel 187

Haber, Hermann 187

Haber, Izrael 188

Haber, Jozef 188

Haber, Laja 188

Haber, Tauba 188

Haberman, Sara 188

Hacknholt, Ilse 267

Hackenholt, Lorenz 49, 63, 69, 7273, 83, 119, 232, 265-268

Hackenholt, Theo 268

Halberstadt, Shlomo 188

Halpern, Leonia 188

Halpern, Meir 188

Halpern, Rosa 188-189

Halpern, Zalman 189

Hampel, Dwosia 189

Hanicka, Bruder 130

Hanjenko, Eugeniusz 321-322, 328

Hanjenko, Tomasz 150

Harowitz, Frida 189

Hasen, Jakub 189

Hasen, Mechel 189

Hasen, Mendel 189

Hasen, Natan 190

Hasen, Tauba 190

Hartmann, Pesia 189

Hartstein, Dora 189

Häusler, Willi 71,288

Hawrykuch 95, 377

Hawrylak, Anastazja 132

Hazdicki 377

Heiblum, Ephrahim 190

Heidenheimer, Lina 138

Heim, Franz 297

Heim, Noach 190

Heizler, Malka 190

Hejna 12

Heler, Roza 190

Heller, Bluma 190

Heller, Zejniwl 190

Helletsberger, Karl 246

Helman, Moshe 12

Helman, Wolf 190

Henig, Idal 191

Herbstman, Chaim 191

Herbstman, Malka 191

Herc (Father) 191

Herc, Sylko 122, 130-131, 191

Hering, Gottlieb 8, 52-53, 67, 71-72, 92, 121-122, 232-234, 239-240, 256, 289, 294, 325, 377, 391-393

Hering, Shmuel 191

Herlich, Inda 191

Hernhut, Szaja 191

Herschlag, Henrietta 138

Herschlag, Tauba 138

Herschmann, Kurt 191

Herschmann, Whilhelmina 192

Hetmaniec, Wasil 261

Heuberger, Meyer 138

Heydrich, Reinhard 1-2, 191-192, 252, 383

Hilberg, Raul 396

Hiller, Bela 192

Hillmann, Hersch 138

Hillmann, Klara 139

Hillmann, Max 139

Hillmann, Rolf 139

Hillmann, Rosa 192

Himelfarb, Chaim 192

Himmer, Miriam 192

Himmler, Heinrich 1, 3-5, 7, 14, 16-17, 38, 68, 76, 117, 124, 241-244, 247, 255, 271, 383

Hirche, Fritz 268

Hirom, Abraham 193

Hirom, Gitel 193

Hirom, Lea 193

Hirom, Mordcha 193

Hirschfeld, Chana 193

Hirschfeld, Feiwel 193

Hirschfeld, Roiza 193

Hirschfeld, Salomon 193

Hirschhorn, Lea 194

Hirschhorn, Sara 194

Hirszhorn, Natan 194

Hirszmann, Chaim 86, 88, 130-131, 301

Hirszmann, Pola 88, 131

Hiss, Roza 194

Hiss, Wolf 194

Hit, Kalman 194

Hitelman, Awram 194

Hitler, Adolf 3, 13-14, 241, 253, 384

Hochman, Hersz 194

Hochman, Mina 194

Hodl, Franz 288

Hoenig, Chaya 195

Hoenig, Israel 195

Hoenisch, Israel 195

Hofert, Sucia 195

Hofle, Hermann Julius 3-4, 8, 29, 43, 45-46, 243-244, 246-249, 297-298

Hoffman, Otto 2

Hoffman, Zysi 195

Hofman, Sara 195

Holander, Josef 195

Holcer, Abraham 195

Holcer, Ruchel 196

Holcer, Shlomo 196

Holcer, Wolf 196

Holder, Kalman 196

Holender, Yisrael 196

Hollaender, Ana 196

Holler, Abraham 196

Holters, Peter 31

Holzel, Georg 96

Holzer, Gitta 197

Honig, Jacob 197

Honigman, Heisz 197

Honorow, Frida 197

Horn, Dr. Bernard 197

Hornung, Sala 197

Horovich, Rabbi Abraham 197

Horwic, Baruch 198

Horowitz,Regine 139

Horst, J. M.A. van der 171

Huber, Michal 95 , 377

Huettner, Bronislawa 198

Huleyt, Vasyl 377

Huleyt, Wasyl 377

Hulyj, Wasyl 270

Huppert, Mendel 198

Huzija, Iwan 377

Imber, Naftali, Herz 198

Imber, Shmuel 198

Imich, Anna 198

Jacklein, Josef 103

Jadziol, Stefan 377

Jakovevits, Diner 377

Jakubowicz 129, 198

Jakubowicz, Ida 151

Jakubowicz, Markus 151

Jarocka Family 28

Jaworow, Fiodor 377

Jeschke, Adolf 377

Jirmann, Fritz 32, 65, 81, 114-115, 119120, 132, 264, 268-269, 389-394

Jonas-Rosenzweig, Helen 215

Jonka, Andrzej 55

Joseph, Berta 139

Joseph, Max 139

Joseph, Theresa 139

Juhrs, Robert 9, 52, 64, 93, 122, 232, 235, 269, 274-275, 285, 289, 389

Just, Rajzel 198

Kallann, Ernst 139

Kallmayer, Dr. Helmut (Blaurock, Emil) 42

Kaltenbrunner, Ernst 245

Kamm, Rudolf 66, 72, 268, 270

Kanner, Fajga 98

Kaplan, Dr 151

Kapp, Flora 139

Karp, Franci 199

Katz, Jenny 139

Katz, Klara 199

Katz, Lea 199

Katz, Manuel 140

Katzmann, Fritz 117

Kazmierczak, Dr Ryszard 302

Keller, Arthur 140

Keller, Eugen 140

Kessler (Mill) 12-13, 28, 323

Kestenbaum, Josef 199

Kielminski, Otto 64, 270

Kirsz, Stefan 94, 112, 322, 324

Kirsznbaum, Sara 199

Klahr, Isaac 12

Klages, Joachim 291

Klee, Ernst 240

Klem 107, 109

Klein, Senta 140

Klein, Stella 140

Kleinzahler, Mina 140

Klinger, Salem 199

Kliskes, Josel 200

Klos, Walter 63, 72, 270

Kobawczenko 377

Kohane, Kalman 140

Kohane, Tina 140

Kohn, Rivka 200

Kohs, Dora 140

Kola, Professor Andrej 299, 302-303

Kolisyn, Borys 377

Kolonko, Adolf 377

Kolodziejcyk, Waclaw 293

Komarkin / Komarik 36

Koroczenko 377

Korn, Arno 140

Korn, Cacille 141

Korn, Jakob 141

Korn, Simon 141

Korn, Walter 141

Koroaczenko 95

Koschitzky, Chaja 141

Kosman, Alfred 141

Kosman, Emmy 141

Kosman Lutz 141

Kosman, Ruth 141

Kostenko, Kyrll 377

Kotychin, Borys 377

Kozak, Stanislaw 24-25, 83, 117

Kozende, Mikolaj 377

Kozlowski, Iwan 377

Kraschewski, Fritz 270

Kristeller, Hilda 141

Kristeller, Paul 142

Krüger, Friedrich-Wilhem 1, 68, 250

Kubiš, Jan 1

Kuczercha, Iwan 377

Kudyba, Miecszyslaw 42, 94, 116

Kulik, Brandla 200

Kulik, Chana 200

Kulik, Estera 200

Kulik, Salomon 200

Kulik, Utka 200

Kulychin, Wasyl 377

Kunz, Samuel 290-291, 378

Kurtycz, Janina 200, 201

Kusmierczak, Michal 45, 48

Kuwalek, Robert 150, 328, 331

Kwasniewski, Aleksander 329

Lachmann, Erich 264

Lambek, Hirsch 142

Lambert, Erwin 255, 267

Lambrecht 18

Lammers, Hans 383

Lange, Dr Fritz 2

Lanzmann, Claude 69, 272, 290

Laponder, Peter 324, 326

Laufer, Elja 201

Lazarenko 378

Lederberger, Aron 142

Lederberger, Jetti 142

Lederkrejmer, Szulim 201

Lederkremer, Mirl 201

Lerch, Ernst 4, 79, 245-246, 248

Lerner, Jehuda 264

Leserkiewicz, Lydia 142

Less, Avner 43

Levy, Josef 142

Levy, Selma 142

Libman, Zisel 201

Lieblien, Mordechaj–Markus 201

Liebman, Sara 201

Lipszyc, Sala 202

Lisciotto, Carmelo 240

Litus, Petro 95, 270,378

Loeb, Anna 142

Loeb, Ernestine 143

Loeb, Hedwig 143

Loeb, Leo 143

Loffler, Alfred 271

Lorber, Etka 202

Lorber, Malcia 202

Lorent, Robert 285, 288

Lowenthal, Brandla 202

Lowenthal, Josef 202

Luczynski, Edward 23, 51, 122-123

Lurber, Menakhem 202

Lusse 378

Lyngkin 378

Malagon, Nikolai 36, 378

Mamczur 378

Mandelsburg-Szyldkraut, Dr. Bela 202

Marchenko, Ivan 7, 37

Margoiles, Janett 110

Margules, Dr. Ozjasz 203

Mariska 203, 326

Matthes, Heinrich Arthur 9

Matwijenko, M 290, 378

Mawka (Miriam) 203, 326

Mayer, Anna 143

Mayer, August 143

Mayer, Betty 143

Mayer, Hermann 143

Mayer, Kurt 143

Mayer, Lisbeth 143

Mayer, Margot 144

Mayer, Moses 144

Mayer, Rosa 144

Mayer, Senta 144

Mayevskiy 36-37, 236

Mejlich, Lewowicz 203

Mentz, Willy 9

Metzger, Paula 144

Meyer, Franziska 144

Meyer, Gertrude 144

Meyer, Lucie 144

Mezel, Golda 204

Michalsen, Georg 4, 29, 244, 246-248

Mickiewicz, Adam 217, 323, 326

Miete, August 9

Misiewicz, Tadeusz 95, 112, 234

Moniek 204

Moser, Baurat 28

Moser, Lutz (Bundesarchiv) 365

Motygulan, Sagudula 378

Müller, Heinrich 2, 381

Muller, Nechem 12

Muller, R 12

Munk, Max 204, 315

Munro, Cameron 328

Münzberger, Gustav 288

Mussler, Chaskiel 204

Mussler, Mariem 204

Nachtigal, Berko 204

Nadel, Genia 204

Nates, Tali 365

Natyna, Krystyna 213, 323, 326, 379

Naumann, Rudolf 28

Nebe, Arthur 382

Nemann, Wilhelm 145

Neufeld, Klara 145

Neufeld, Rosa 145

Neufeld, Rut 145

Neufeld, Zipora 145

Neustadt 18

Nieduzak, Miecslaw 115

Niemann, Johann (Jonny) 32, 65, 271

Nikoforow 290, 378

Obalek, Ludwig 23

Oberhauser, Josef 9, 23, 32, 39, 48, 55, 65, 69, 71-72, 78, 132, 271-272, 285, 288-290

Obermeyer, Josef 72

Oehlberg, Emil 205

Olejnik, Taras 378

Olender 205

Olender, Abraham 205

O’Neil, Dr Robin 124, 317

Orliewski 272, 378

Orlovskij, Vasily 378

Ortweiler, Henny 145

Oster, Peter 378

Osterman, Regina 205

Peters, Michael 324

Peterschinegg, Lore 242

Pfannenstiel, Wilhelm 72, 76-79

Pfeffer, Markus 205

Pfeffer, Sara 205

Pidek, Zdislaw 329

Pieczony, Gregorz 378

Pietka, Alexey 378

Piotr 324-325

Pitkonyt 378

Plewer, Nashko 12

Pocholenko, Michal 378

Podgorski 133

Podienko,Wasyl 290,378

Podionak, Wasyl 378

Pohl 378

Pohl, Oswald 385

Pokolenko, Michal 378

Prochenko, Wasyl 378

Prochin, Dymytri 378

Prus, Alexander 270, 378

Puter, Shmuel 206

Prymak 378

R

Racker, Yehiel 206

Racymor 12

Radunkow, Panteleon 157

Ragan, Bronislaw 323

Rebhuhn, Joseph 132

Pamin, Franz 270, 378

Panasowiec, Bartlomiej 294

Pankiewicz, Tadeusz 56, 130

Pansera, Teo 80, 322-323

Pavli, Nikolai 235, 378

Peczenyt, Grygory 378

Pelcman, Pshaje 205

Pemper 249

Pese, Gerda 145

Pese, Margarete 145

Peters, Dr. Janusz 18, 204, 217, 321

Reder, Bronislaw 206

Reder, Fanny 131

Reder, Rudolf (Robak, Roman) 5961, 79-80, 82, 86-91, 113-115, 117, 119, 129, 131-132, 172, 182, 198, 204, 206, 209-210, 227, 231, 234, 260, 269, 275, 288-289, 328, 378, 389, 393394

Reder, Zofia 131

Regger, Major 45

Rehwald, Wenzel 268

Reich, Joseph 146

Reichleitner, Franz 6, 8, 64, 231

Reichstein, Kathe 146

Reimer, Jozefina 206

Reinman, Elsa 146

Ringelblum, Emanuel 156-157

Rogosa, Boris 378

Rohle, Heinrich 378

Rosen, Chaim 146

Rosenbaum, Abraham 146

Rosenberg, Adolf 146

Rosenberg, Mania 206

Rosenfeld, Maksymilliana 207

Rosenholz 378

Rosenko, Arnold 270, 378

Rost, Paul 63

Roszyck, Marcin 300, 329

Roth, Ruzia 207

Rozenel, (wife of Nuchim) 207

Rozenel, Nuchim 207

Rubinfeld, Berl 207

Rubinfeld, Hencia 207

Rubinfeld, Macht 207

Rutherford, William (Billy) 324-325, 361

Schenkel, Moses 147

Schenkelbach, Bertold 209

Scheps, Feiga 209

Schiff, Awigdor 147

Schiff, Benno 147

Schiffmann, Greta 147

Schiffner, Karl 125, 273

Schiftenbauer, M 12

Schmitz 379

Schindler, Oskar 249

Schluch, Karl 48-50, 61-62, 64, 66, 72, 232, 235, 273-274, 285, 289, 392

Schlussel 209

Schlussl 129

Schmidt, Fritz 274, 394

Schmidt, Heinrich (Heini) 87, 89-90, 114, 234, 378

Schneider, Friedrich 51, 275

Schneider, Matylda 187, 198, 209

Schrager, Henryk 210

Schrager, Leon 209

Schreck, Julius 4, 243, 254

Schreiber 210

Schreiber, Rabbi Anshel 210

Schuette 97

Schultz, Alexander 379

Schultz, F 290

Schulze 104

Sala / Salomea 207, 326

Salomon, Ferdinand 146

Salomon, Regina 147

Sand, Jozef 132

Sandauer, Abraham 208

Sandauer, Franciszka 208

Sandauer, Jozef 208

Sandberg, Fanny 208-209

Sandberg, Zygmunt 209

Samuel 378

Scharf 378

Scharf, Mojsze 209

Schapiera, Leiba 209

Schemmel, Ernst 63, 72, 272

Schulze, Dietmar 396

Schwarz, Gottfried (Friedl) 32, 38, 48, 56, 65, 72, 114, 235, 270, 275, 392, 394

Schwarzbart, Dr. Ignacy 280, 282

Segel, Jakub 210

Seigel, Dwojra 210

Selinger, Dyna 147

Selinger, Hirsch 147

Sereny, Gitta 54-55, 242

Shalayev, Nikolay 7

Shevchenko 322, 324

Shubayev, Alexander 271

Sickel, Dr Kurt 85

Sievert, Reinhard 379

Siegfried, Dr. Josef 210

Siegfried, Erna 210

Siegfried, Esther 210

Siegfried, Josef 210

Siegfried, Mina 211

Siegfried, Natan 211

Siegfried, Regina 211

Siegfried, Szymon 211

Siegfried-Schwinger, Eva 211

Sienkiewicz, Henryk 217

Silber, Regina 212

Silberberg, Schifra 212

Silberman, Aron 212

Silberpfenig, Rivka 212

Silberstein, Leib 212

Silbiger, Szymon 212

Simionow, Alexander 379

Singer, Henrik 212

Singer, Reisel 212

Singer, Sara 213

Singer, Salman 213

Skowronek, Victor 47

Sokaler, Dr. Michal 213

Solyga, Andrzej 329

Sondheimer, Felicitas 147

Sondheimer, Josef 147

Sonnenberger, Cornelie 148

Sonnenschein, Mala 213

Spilke 119, 132

Spiro, Lida 217

Spodek, Maria 213

Sporrenberg, Jakob 244, 256

Stadler, Harry 213-214

Stadler, Martha 213-214

Stadler, Otto 213-214

Stadler, Robert 213-214

Stangl, Franz 6, 8, 54-55, 64, 78, 231, 239, 242, 253, 255

Stecenko 95, 379

Steiner 379

Steinitz, Hermann 214

Stepanow, Peter 379

Sternlicht, Helen 215

Sternlicht, Szymon 215

Stier 107

Stein, Liba 148

Stein, Wolf 148

Stern, Itzsak 249

Stiefel, Bertha 148

Stollmann, Martin 32

Strula 12

Sturm 379

Styk, Ozjasz 215

Suchomel, Franz 69, 270

Susskind, Mindla 215

Susskind, Rozia 215

Systola, Jakub 379

Szacholij, Wasyl 379

Szapiro, Izrael 133

Szeps, Azriel 113, 215-216, 389

Szeps, David 216

Szeps, Lea 216

Szeps, Pesa 216

Szlam, Fryda 216

Szlam, Icek 216

Szmirer 133

Szpak, Dimitri 379

Szpak, Profiry 379

Szulta, Dr Wojciech 302

Szwab, Alexander 270, 379

Tabak, Rachel 216

Tajtelbaum, Roza 216

Tajtler, Syma 216

Tanzer, Elkan 148

Tanzer, Ruchel 148

Tarasowa, Sonja 171

Tau, Chawa 217

Tau, Schlomo 217

Taub, Aharon 217

Taucher, Wolf 217

Tauscher, Fritz 63, 72, 121, 235, 275

Teich, Gabriel 217

Teichtal, Josef 218

Teitelbaum, Lieba 218

Teitelbaum, Miriam 218

Tencer, Icchak 218

Tencer, Szmuel 218

Tenenbaum, Hene 218

Tenenbaum, Klara 218

Thalenfeld, Malka 54, 130, 133

Thomalla, Richard 29-30, 250-251, 321

Tichonowski, F 290, 397

Tirgfeld, Rejzel 219

Tirkiltoub, Wolf 219

Toebbens and Schultz 247

Tobias, Berta 219

Traube 151

Trauttwein, Karol 115, 132, 323, 326, 379

Tregenza, Michael 80, 240, 320-326, 331, 389, 394

Trohm, Israel 219

Trubenko, Wasyl 379

Turk, Dr. Richard 45

Turm, Malka 219

Turner, Cela 219

Turner, Eleonora 219

Turner, Hela 219

Tuteuer, Hans 148

Tuteuer, Lina 148

Twerdochlib, Alexander 379

Tyas, Stephen 297

Unverhau, Heinrich 9, 64, 66, 72, 8586, 125, 270, 275-276, 285, 288-289

V Vallaster, Josef 276

Veinberg, Shalom 220

Veith 379

Vey, Kurt 276 Wachman, Dr. 220, 236, 237 W

W. Martha 19

Wachenheimer, Albrecht 148

Wachman, Dr. 220

Wajayselfisz, Josef 220

Wajnsztok, Fajga 220

Wajsbrot, Rabbi 220

Wanocha 379

Web, David 220

Webb, Chris 80, 320, 324

Wedryhan, Fiodor 379

Wedryhan, Petro 379

Weinbaum, Jehuda 221

Weinberg, Riwka 221

Weinberg, Shmuel 221

Weinstock, Berthold 221

Weinstock, Irena 221

Weinstock, Izydor 221

Weinstock, Ludwiczek 221

Weis, Hillel 149

Weiss, Elias 149

Weissberger, Eva 149

Weitz, Amalie 149

Weitz , Minna 149

Weitz, Rubin 149

Wejnsztok, Gustav 222

Welc, Cwy 222

Wein, Suzia 221

Weitz, Pepka 222

Wejnrath, Szejndel 222

Weliczker, Abraham 222

Weliczker, Wells, Leon 222

Werdenik, Ivan 238

Werdinger, Ana 222

Wermuth, Ida 149

Wertman, Ichak 223

Wertman, Pinie 223

Wickler, Rachel 223

Wiener, Dr Alfred 274, 319

Wiener, Stefa 223

Wiernik, Jankiel 271

Wiesenthal, Ascher 188

Wiesenthal, Simon 189

Wikler, Abraham 223

Wilf, Isser 223

Wilhelm, Kaiser 93, 252, 278

Wilner, Fajwel 223

Wippern, Georg 111

Wirth, Christian 4-8, 28, 35, 38-39, 41-42, 44, 48-49, 54-57, 62-65, 67, 69, 71-78, 85, 121-122, 231-234, 239, 251-257, 262, 265, 267, 271-272, 280, 286-287, 289-290, 294, 303, 322, 325, 392

Wirth, Eugen 251

Wirth, Kurt 252

Witlin, Abraham 224

Witman, Ysak 224

Wlasiuk, Edward 51, 379

Wloch, Franciszek 109-110

Wolbromski, Sara 224

Wolbromsi, Tzirel 224

Wolf, Gertrude 149

Wolf, Karl 68

Wolf, Marie 149

Wolf, Sara 224

Wolff, Gertrud 149

Wolff, Hans 150

Wolff, Simon 150

Wolkenfeld, Juda 224

Wolman, Szmul 224

Wolsztajn, Lejb 224

Wolsztajn, Rojza 225

Wolsztajn, Szmul 225

Wolsztajn, Zera 225

Woloszyn, Iwan 379

Wonk, Michal 379

Worthoff, Hermann 245

Wowk, Victor 379

Wysota, Jakub 270, 379 Z

Zabludowski, Benjamin 18

Zagrebajew 379

Zajczew, Iwan 290, 379

Zajdenfodem, Szymon 225

Zalcberg, Sara 225

Zanker, Hans 63, 277

Zaplawnyj, Iwan 379

Zauer, Sara 225

Zemler, Fawl 225

Ziegel, Berl 226

Ziegel, Josef 226

Zierke, Ernst 9, 64, 235, 275, 277-278, 285, 288-289

Zigel, Amalia 226

Zilberger, Amalia

Zilbernadel, Ester

Zilbersztein, Fejga 226

Zimbert 116, 379

Zinger, Mirjam 226

Zis, Faivel 226

Ziskind, Rosalia 226

Zitzmann 103

Zloczower, Chana 226

Zloczower, Israel 227

Zloczower, Rachel 227

Zloczower, Rena 227

Zloczower, Shlomo 227

Zmiszlono, Jakob 227

Zommer, Brajndel 227

Zsmigdow, Aleksander 50, 379

Zwi, Herbert 214

Zucker 227

Zujew 379

Zuk, Ignatz 270

Zylber, Szlomo 227

Zylberajch, Leon 19

Zylberberg, David 228

Zylerberg, Mirl 228

Zyskind, Michael 228

Zyskind, Sheindl 228

Chris Webb & Michal Chocholatý

THE TREBLINKA DEATH CAMP

History, Biographies, Remembrance

2nd, revised and updated edition. With a Foreword by Tom Lawson

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Chris Webb

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THE BELZEC DEATH CAMP

History, Biographies, Remembrance

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Chris Webb

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THE SOBIBOR DEATH CAMP

History, Biographies, Remembrance

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Chris Webb

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THE AUSCHWITZ CONCENTRATION CAMP

History, Biographies, Remembrance

490 pages

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Chris Webb & Artur Hojan

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THE CHELMNO DEATH CAMP

History, Biographies, Remembrance

502 pages

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