 From 1940 to 1942 Chmielewski, by then a Hauptsturmführer, served as Schutzhaftlagerführer at Gusen concentration camp and it was here that he developed a reputation for extreme brutality.He then became commandant of the newly established Herzogenbusch concentration camp, where he further became a by-word for cruelty.Amongst the claims made against him was that during inspections he ordered the drowning of prisoners in buckets of water.