Important keywords - Death Camps Memorial Site Fri, 15 Jan 2021 14:24:19 +0000 Joomla! - Open Source Content Management en-gb Einsatzgruppen - Nazi Death Squads

Please read the most important facts and data about the Einsatzgruppen; The section is being expanded, new materials will be uploaded successively.

Einsatzgruppen (German units separated from SIPO and SD) - special operational groups moving behind the front line, created by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) on the orders of Reinhard Heydrich. It is estimated that at least 900,000 people died at the hands of the Einsatzgruppen torturers, and according to some sources* this number could even reach 1,500,000 - 2,000,000. [*] (The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

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The task of the Special Operational Units of the Security Police was to combat all elements who were hostile towards the Reich and anti-German. They operated in the enemy's country behind the fighting troops. Other tasks of the Einsatzgruppen were: to secure industrial plants, more important municipal and strategic facilities and reserves of raw materials. In history, however, they will generally be remembered as units which committed mass genocide in Eastern Europe in 1941-1943.

The Beginnings of the Activity of Einsatzgruppen

The first unit of this type was the Einsatzkommando Österreich, created in 1938 under the command of prof. Dr. Franz Six. This unit operated in Austria during the annexation of these lands to the Third Reich. In October 1938, new groups were formed: Einsatzgruppe Dresden, under the command of Heinz Jost, and Einsatzgruppe Wien, led by Dr. Franz Stahlecker.

The next groups of this type were established in Czechoslovakia in March 1938 and these were the following groups: Einsatzgruppe I Prag (Prague), Einsatzgruppe II Brünn (Brno), Einsatzkommando 9 Mies (Stříbro), Sonderkommando Pilsen (Pilzno).

Activity Of Einsatzgruppen In The Years 1939 - 1941 In The Occupied Polish Territory

In July 1939, five operational groups Einsatzgruppen I/II/III/IV/V were created which began operations in September 1939. At that time, three more groups were created, including Einsatzgruppe VI, Einsatzgruppe "z.b.V." and Einsatzkommando 16 - "special purpose" groups which were directed to Silesia, Greater Poland and Pomerania.

The death squads committed crimes against Poles through mass executions, including in fordońska "Death Valley", Piaśnica, Kórnik and Warsaw. The operational groups also took part in: Operation Tannenberg, executions in parliamentary gardens and the elimination of Polish intelligentsia - "Intelligenzaktion". According to research carried out, among others, by the Institute of National Remembrance, Einsatzgruppen units are responsible for the death of about 200,000 people in the area of occupied Poland.

Activity Of Einsatzgruppen In 1941-1944 In Eastern Europe

After the invasion of the USSR by German troops in 1941, the main task of the Einsatzgruppen became the mass extermination of Jews, communists, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and the enemies of the system among the civilian population (including partisans). The Einsatzgruppen units carried out these tasks mainly through mass shootings, as well as hanging and gassing in specially constructed trucks (Gas Van).

Due to their size and areas of operation, the divisions were appropriately divided into four operational groups: Einsatzgruppe A/B/C/D. Local collaborators - police officers, officials and ordinary citizens also participated in the pogroms of Jews, communists, and other enemies of the Third Reich. It happened that Wehrmacht and Waffen SS units supported Einsatzgruppen. In the vicinity of Odessa, apart from Einsatzgruppe "D", Romanian and Ukrainian troops also carried out mass murders.

People were murdered in the entire occupied area, but the most notorious crimes were committed in the following places: Babi Yar (Kiev), Kharkov, Kamieniec Podolski, Kostopol, Kaunas, Lviv, Lutsk, Odessa, Ponary (Vilnius), Rovno, Rumbula (Riga)
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Areas of activity of individual operational groups. [map by Paweł Krupiński]

Einsatzgruppen - structure • commanders • information

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Einsatzgruppen Trials

On September 29, 1947, trial number 9 regarding the activities of the Einsatzgruppen began in Nuremberg. A total of 24 people were accused, including Otto Rasch (commander of Einsatzgruppen C), withdrawn from the trial for health reasons - he died on November 1, 1948. The military tribunal was headed by Michael Mussmano, and the chief prosecutor was Telford Taylor with his assistants - James Mac Haney, Benjamin Ferenez, James Heath.

The trial ended on April 10, 1948, and 22 commanders of groups and subgroups were convicted of their criminal activities in Einsatzgruppen. 14 people were sentenced to death, but only 4 were executed. The rest of the sentences were later changed into life sentences or long imprisonment. 
Among the 24 accused, 11 held at least a doctoral degree. As a result of leniency, all prisoners were released by 1960.

Executed death penalty: Otto Ohlendorf, Erick Naumann, Paul Blobel, Werner Braune;
The death penalty imposed and changed to life imprisonment: Ernst Biberstein, Walter Haensch, Mathias Sandberger, Adolf Ott, Waldemar Klingelhofer
The death penalty was imposed and changed to: 25 years imprisonment - Walther Blume, 20 years imprisonment - Eugen Steimbert, 15 years imprisonment - Wili Seibert, 10 years
imprisonment - Heinz Schubert

Eduard Strauch - was handed over to the Belgian authorities, where he was sentenced to death, but died before executing the sentence;
Emil Haussmann - committed suicide before the sentence was executed;
Mathias Graf - Einsatzkommando 6 officer. He was the only one who was not arrested after the trial (the period of being arrested was included in the sentence).

Related Articles:

Archival Photos

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Einsatzgruppen - Nazi Death Squads Tue, 29 Sep 2020 21:39:03 +0000
Gas chambers in Germans Death Camps In concentration and extermination camps, the Germans used gas chambers for mass extermination, mainly of the Jewish people, but also of Poles, Soviets, Roma, and prisoners deported from actually every occupied European country. Before the Germans started the extermination with the use of the most known agent, gas "Zyklon B", used in the camps: Auschwitz, Majdanek, Stutthof, the SS used gas chambers fueled with carbon monoxide from diesel / petrol engine exhaust.

Gas chambers in Germans Death Camps Fri, 21 Aug 2020 14:57:51 +0000
Gas Van - mobile gas chambers Gas Van - mobile gas chambers Mon, 20 Jul 2020 21:59:00 +0000 Kulmhof - German extermination camp Period of operation: XII 1941- IV 1943 and VI 1944 - I 1945

Place / City: Chełmno nad Nerem (DE - Kulmhof)

Number of victims: around 200 000 *

* - due to the very small number of victims who survived and testified after the war, as well as due to damaged documentation, and the activities of Sonderkommando 1005 which blurred traces of the crime, the estimated number of victims is about 200,000, including about 4,000 Roma and countless Poles, children from the Zamość region, children from Lidice, and prisoners of the Red Army. The investigation conducted after the war by judge Władysław Bednarz from the District Court in Łódź allowed to estimate the number of victims at 350,000. The lowest, 152,000 victims, was found at the Bonn trial in the 1960s. The most likely number is around 200,000 murdered.

Commandants of the Kulmhof extermination camp

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The palace complex in Kulmhof am Nehr (Chełmno on the Ner), which was very much like the Tötungsanstalt Pirna-Sonnenstein (Sonnenstein Euthanasia Center) where mass murders were carried out as part of Operation T4, was selected as the site of the first German center for the mass extermination of Jews. Chełmno nad Nerem became the main place of mass extermination of the Jewish population from the Reichsgau Wartheland and prisoners of the Litzmannstadt ghetto. It was the only extermination camp which functioned in two periods, i.e. 1941-1943 and 1944-1945.

The construction of the camp began in the fall of 1941 under the command of Herbert Lange, who, as a participant in the T4 operation, already had experience in mass murders using gas. He also became the first commandant of the camp.

The first period of operation dates from December 8, 1941 to April 11, 1943. Extermination was carried out in cars - mobile gas chambers, using exhaust fumes. After arriving in the village of Kulmhof (Chełmno na Nerem), the prisoners, under the guise of bathing and disinfecting, were directed to the undressing room in the palace basement before their further journey. The naked victims were beaten and forced to go down a narrow corridor. At the end, there was the entrance to the gas car to which the exhaust pipe outlet was connected. Thus, exhaust gases filled the chamber of the car. In an airtight interior, death occurred within 10-20 minutes.

Then, the trucks went to the Rzuchowski Forest, 4 kilometers away, where a special commando of prisoners named Waldkommando unloaded and buried the bodies in mass graves, 60 to 230m long. At the same time, the second special commando - the Hauskommando - cleaned the undressing room, sorted clothes, and collected valuable items, which were then transported deep into the Reich.

First, Jews from the surrounding ghettos were murdered: Koło, Kowale Pańskie, Kłodawa, and Izbica Kujawska. In January 1942, deportations of Roma began from the local camp in Litzmannstadt (Ziegeunerlager in Łódź) established in the fall of 1941, and then Jews from the Łódź ghetto and Jews from Germany, Czech Republic and Austria, who were settled in Łódź in the fall of 1941. 

In March 1942, Herbert Lange was transferred to the RSHA to work in the Kripo, and was succeeded by Hans Bothmann. In the summer of 1942, extermination was briefly halted because of an epidemiological threat. The removal of the bodies from the graves and burning them in the field crematoria began. In March 1943, a decision was made to liquidate the camp. On April 11, the SS men left the camp, blowing up the crematoria, and the day before, the palace used as a "changing room". The camp crew under the command of Hans Bothmann was sent to Yugoslavia. Then, Paul Blobel appeared in Kulmhof with his Sonderkomando 1005. Their task was to obliterate the evidence of mass murders.

In March 1944, Hans Bothmann returned to Chełmno with his men, preparing the camp infrastructure for mass deportations and extermination of the Jewish population from the Reichsgau Wartheland. In the period from June 23 to July 14, 1944, ten transports of Jews came from Litzmannstadt (Łódź). At that time, 7,196 inhabitants of the Litzmannstadt ghetto were murdered. Then, the extermination action was stopped. The extermination was carried out within the Rzuchowski Forest, where barracks were built and the area was adapted to receive further transports of victims.

Part of the Sonderkommando staff and a group of the last Jewish prisoners, held in a granary next to the demolished palace, remained in the village. On the night of January 17-18, 1945, during the evacuation, the SS men carried out the last execution of the 47 surviving prisoners. The prisoners were led out of the granary in fives and murdered with shots in the back of the head. Desperate prisoners, locked in a granary, rioted and managed to kill two torturers. Then, the Germans set fire to the granary with the prisoners inside. The order was given by the commandant Hans Johann Bothmann. During this action, two prisoners, i.e. Szymon Srebrnik and Mieczysław Żurawski, managed to survive.


Fugitives and people saved from death

Little is known about the escapees from the camp. It is assumed that at least 11 prisoners escaped from the camp. However, anything more can only be said about the 7 survivors. Six people survived the war:
1. Szymon Srebrnik
2. Michał Podchlebnik
3. Abraham Rój
4. Mieczysław Żurawski
5. Jarchemiel Widawski
6. Icchak Justman
7. Jakub Grojanowski (Szlamek) - died in the German death camp in Bełżec.

Silent hearo from Chełmno

Stanisław Kaszyński - Polish local government official and social activist during the Second Polish Republic. For many years, he was the secretary of the Chełmno nad Nerem commune. In January 1942, Kaszyński took the initiative to spread the news about the crimes committed in Kulmhof to the West. However, his letter was intercepted by the SS. As a consequence, Stanisław Kaszyński was arrested and shot. It probably took place on February 2, 1942, in the vicinity of the palace, while trying to escape. Stanisław Kaszyński’s wife, Karolina, who was then pregnant, was deported to a women's camp in Łódź, and then transferred to the Gestapo prison, where she was murdered. The Kaszyńskis orphaned four children who, after their mother's arrest, were looked after by Cecylia Sońta, Karolina's friend.

What happened to the torturers:

  • Herbert Lange - the first commandant of the camp died at the end of the war, during the fights for Berlin.
  • Hans Bothmann - the second commandant of the camp hanged himself in April 1946, in his cell.
  • Walter Piller - deputy commander, was sentenced to death by a Polish court. The sentence was carried out in 1949.
  • Hermann Gielow - death car chauffeur, was sentenced to death by a Polish court. The sentence was carried out in 1951.
  • Bruno Israel - gendarme, was sentenced to death by a Polish court in 1946, the sentence was changed to life imprisonment, released in 1958.
  • 13 camp staff members were brought to trial in West Germany in 1962-1965. Eight of them were sentenced to imprisonment from 7 to 13 years.
  • In July 2001, Henryk Mania (a prisoner from Fort VII sent to Chełmno) was sentenced to 8 years in prison for his participation in the genocide process.

Calendar of events

1941-12-08 ▪ The first mass execution of about 700 Jews who arrived a day earlier was carried out.
1941-12-17 ▪ 975 Jews from the Dąbie ghetto are transported to the Kulmhof camp - 920 people are killed immediately.
1942-01-16 ▪ Beginning of deportation of Jews from the Łódź ghetto to the Kulmhof camp.
1942-01-17 ▪ The first group of Jews from Litzmannstadt is murdered in the Kulmhof camp.
1942-08-XX ▪ Beginning of transports of the Roma to the Kulmhof camp.
1942-09-XX ▪ Deportation of Jews from the Łódź ghetto. Around 15,700 ghetto inhabitants are transported to Kulmhof.
1943-04-01 ▪ The commando left the Kulmhof camp, blowing up crematoria.
1943-04-11 ▪ SS-Sonderkommando Kulmhof leaves Chełmno and is directed to Yugoslavia as part of the Waffen SS Prinz Eugen unit.
1944-06-23 ▪ Kulmhof extermination camp resumes operations. Extermination was carried out within the Rzuchowski Forest, where barracks were built and the area was adapted to receive subsequent transports of victims.
1945-01-18 ▪ Evacuation of the Kulmhof extermination camp, during which SS men carried out the last execution of the Sonderkommando crew.

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Photo gallery

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Kulmhof photo gallery


A monument was erected (1964) and a small museum was opened in the former extermination camp (June 17, 1990). The exhibition shows items related to the history of the area and copies of reports and post-war court documents.  The granary has been restored. The Rzuchowski Forest includes a monument that represents the "wall of remembrance" with the inscription: In memory of the Jews murdered in Chełmno 1941–1945, and important places were marked, such as graves, location of gas chambers and crematoria, and a Lapidarium of Jewish tombstones.


Kulmhof - German extermination camp Wed, 12 Feb 2020 18:46:10 +0000
Kulmhof - Wielka Szpera, mass deportations Kulmhof - Wielka Szpera, mass deportations Sun, 06 Sep 2020 20:04:51 +0000 Lorenz Hackenholt - "Gas Master" Lorenz Hackenholt (born on June 25, 1914 in Gelsenkirchen, date of death unknown) - German Nazi in the rank of SS-Hauptscharführer. He was a member of the crew of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the Bełżec extermination camp, in which he was responsible for the operation of the gas chambers. He also designed gas chambers in the camps in Sobibór and Treblinka.

Lorenz Hackenholt - "Gas Master" Wed, 13 May 2020 16:12:06 +0000