The preparation for the extermination of the Jews of the
Generalgouvernement
had actually started months before the
"
Wannsee Conference". A special organisation was
formed which came to be called
Aktion Reinhard, probably named in honour of
Reinhard Heydrich after his assassination in
Praha (Prague). This organisation, founded in
Lublin, was established under the command of
SSPF
Odilo Globocnik, who had been appointed by
Himmler.
On
20/21 July 1941, Himmler visited
Globocnik in
Lublin and decided to enlarge and extend the SS economic enterprises there. In
an official note, Himmler instructed the
SSPF Lublin to establish a concentration camp in the city for
25,000 to 50,000 prisoners, with a view to employing them in the workshops and on the building sites of the SS and
Police. Towards the
end of 1941 it was decided that the
KZ Lublin (also known as
Majdanek by the Polish population) would also serve as a camp for Soviet
POWs. He also ordered the expansion of the work camp
7 Lipowa Street, and the settlement of Germans in the
Zamosc region.
In
mid-July 1942, on the eve of the
Großaktion concerning the Jews of
Warsaw, Himmler visited
Sobibor, one of the
Aktion Reinhard
death camps in the
Lublin area. On
19 July
he also visited the SS Training Camp at
Trawniki, where a number of photographs were taken.
He ended his tour with a visit to the
Aktion Reinhard headquarters in
Lublin, and following discussions with
Globocnik, concluded that with the completion of the
death camps, the Jews of the
Generalgouvernement could be exterminated.
While still in
Lublin on
19 July 1942, Himmler issued
an order to
HSSPF Ost,
Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger, to complete the deportation of all of the Jews
of the
Generalgouvernement by
31 December 1942.
In
early March 1943, Himmler once again visited the
Aktion Reinhard
Headquarters and the death camps of
Sobibor and
Treblinka. In anticipation of Himmler’s
visit the camps were thoroughly cleansed.
Karl Frenzel
(
Sobibor), testified at his trial regarding this visit:
"
The visit was announced a few days ahead. The leadership of the camp
took steps to make order in the camp… I was ordered, together with some Unterführer’s and
Ukrainian guards, to take over the outside security of the camp and guarantee Himmler’s personal security.
When Himmler visited the gassing installation in Camp III, I guarded the surrounding area. I remember that afterwards
all the Unterführer were assembled in the canteen, and Himmler delivered an address to them…”
In honour of Himmler’s visit a special gassing of several hundred young Jewish girls took place.
This is confirmed by the testimony of
SS-Oberscharführer Hubert Gomerski
(
Sobibor):
"
I remember the visit of Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler in
Sobibor, ... I saw Himmler with the whole
group going in the direction of Camp III."
Himmler also visited
Treblinka, along with a group of
about twenty people,
Kurt Franz and
Franz Stangl,
the Camp Commandant, showed them the camp. The entourage went to the
Lazarett, quickly by-passing the huts, and
subsequently inspected the extermination area, where they stayed for half an hour. During his visit to
Treblinka, Himmler learnt that despite his orders, the
corpses of the Jews had been buried and not cremated. In order to destroy all traces of the mass
extermination, he commanded that the corpses be cremated, and this activity became the main
task in the camp’s final months.
In addition Himmler decided to send
transports from Holland to
Sobibor, as well as
transports from the Balkan Countries, Bulgaria, and Greece to
Treblinka. This decision did not change
Himmler’s overall conclusion that
Aktion Reinhard was basically completed,
and its camps were to be closed once these transports and the cremations had ceased.
Himmler was impressed with the efficiency and dedication of the
Aktion Reinhard
camps staff, concluding his visit with a decision to promote the commanding officers and
NCOs who had played a major part in the extermination action.
Globocnik wrote to
SS-Gruppenführer
Maximillian von Herff, the head of the SS Personal
Main Office in a letter dated
13 April 1943, stating
“
The SS-Reichsführer, on the
occasion of his visit to Aktion Reinhard installations in March, as I have already
verbally informed you, has approved the promotion of the best men and commanders
who are engaged in this action.”
On
5 July 1943 Himmler wrote to
Oswald Pohl,
Odilo Globocnik, and
Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger, proposing the conversion of the transit camp
Sobibor into a concentration camp. In the proposed
concentration camp a depot for booty ammunition was to be established. Himmler’s order that
Sobibor was to become a concentration camp meant
that it would now be subordinated to
Pohl, and not
Globocnik. After discussion with
Globocnik,
Pohl
wrote to Himmler on
15 July, suggesting that the changes the
Reichsführer-SS
wanted could be achieved without a change of designation or control. On
24 July 1943,
Pohl was informed that Himmler agreed to his
proposal, and activity commenced in
Sobibor to rebuild the
whole north east section close to the railway station with bunkers and barracks to store the ammunition.
Following a conference held by
Hans Frank in
Krakow
on
19 October 1943, five days after the revolt in
Sobibor, the issue
of the Jews in the labour camps was raised. Whilst inspections were recommended, Himmler decided
to annihilate the Jews in the labour camps immediately. Himmler instructed
Krüger to carry out the liquidation order.
Krüger delegated this mission to
Jakob Sporrenberg, who had replaced
Globocnik as
SSPF Lublin. This operation was
given the code name
Aktion Erntefest (“Action Harvest Festival”)
and was carried out in
November 1943. Approximately 42,000 Jews were murdered
during this last mass killing of the Jews within the
Generalgouvernement.
Technically,
Globocnik remained head of
Aktion Reinhard
until
19 October 1943, but in fact he had been posted at the
end of September to his home town of
Trieste, where he was appointed
HSSPF Adriatisches
Küstenland. From
Trieste,
Globocnik bombarded Himmler with correspondence,
including the fiscal statements for
Aktion Reinhard on
5 January 1944. (See
The Economics of Aktion Reinhard).
Himmler replied that
Globocnik had performed a great and
unique service for the German people.
Himmler and
Globocnik were partners in crime, the most
monstrous crime in history.
Sources:
Arad, Yitzhak.
Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka - The Operation Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press,
Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1987
Robert S Wistrich.
Who’s Who in Nazi Germany. Routledge London 1995
Gerald Reitlinger.
The Final Solution, Valentine and Mitchell 1953
© ARC 2005
