| Nazi Death Camps |
| In 1941 Hitler gave the order to begin the Final Solution to the "Jewish Question." As part of the solution, Hitler and Himmler created Operation Reinhard. Operation Reinhard was a term for the Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka death camps. Chelmno was the beginning: a pilot project for a planned extermination program. Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka were built solely for the purpose of killing Jews and Gypsies. In addition to these camps, killing facilities were also in use in Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek. |
| As the first killing center, Chelmno was a secret camp located in Poland. As early as 1939, the Nazis were killing people at the camp. As many as 340,000 people were murdered at the camp, ninety-nine percent of whom were Jewish. The bodies of the victims were burned in nearby woods. December 8, 1941 marked the beginning of transports of Jews into the camp for extermination. The primary goal of the camp was to get rid of the 450,000 Jews in the Warthegau area. Jews were also transported from other areas of Poland, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Holland. 5,000 Gypsies, and 1,000 Polish and Russian POWs were also killed at Chelmno. Victims in Chelmno were killed by shooting first, and later by carbon monoxide. Chelmno employed three gas vans to kill victims. SS profits were gained through the sale of victims' belongings. Chelmno served as the prototype for the extermination centers that followed. |
| Operation Reinhard began in 1942 to exterminate 2.3 million Jews in the General Government. In the General Government were the Warsaw, Cracow, Lublin, Lvov, and Radom districts. Guards for Operation Reinhard were sworn to secrecy. Men from the euthanasia program were used as part of Operation Reinhard. Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka were located in Poland near railways and ghettos. Construction on Belzec began in November 1941. Deportations to Belzec began on 17 March 1942. Construction on Sobibor began in March 1942. Deportations to Sobibor began in April 1942. Construction on Treblinka began in spring 1942. Deportations to Treblinka began on 23 July 1942. Problems in the camps: Administration. Railroad repairs delayed trains. Disposing of large numbers of corpses. Inexperienced labor to do the physical work. Jews were deported to the camps from the following countries: Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Austria, Slovakia, Greece, Yugoslavia, France, Holland, and the Soviet Union. *Approximately 135,000 Jews from outside of Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union were killed in the Operation Reinhard death camps. Operation Reinhard was the largest single extermination action of the Holocaust. TOTAL DEATHS IN OPERATION REINHARD CAMPS: 1.7 MILLION JEWS |