History Forum / General / General Topics / July 2008

Archive-name: holocaust/reinhard/part02
Last-modified: 2000/12/14

      Operation Reinhard: A Layman's Guide to Belzec, Sobibor
                and Treblinka (Part Two of Two)

 4.0 Compiling estimates on numbers exterminated................10
 4.1   Deportation Statistics ..................................11
 4.1.1 Belzec...................................................11
 4.1.2 Sobibor..................................................11
 4.1.3 Treblinka................................................12
 5.0 Administration.............................................13
 5.1   Operation Reinhard Command Staff.........................14
 5.1.1   Belzec Staff...........................................14
 5.1.1.1   Wachmen..............................................14
 5.1.2   Sobibor Staff..........................................15
 5.1.2.1   Wachmen..............................................18
 5.1.3   Treblinka Staff........................................18
 5.1.3.1   Wachmen..............................................18
 5.2   Selection................................................19
 5.3   Financial Accounting.....................................19
 6.0 Research Sources & Other Useful Appendices.................20
 6.1   Recommended Reading......................................20
 6.2   Abbreviations Used in Citations..........................21
 6.3   Glossary.................................................22
 6.4   Work Cited...............................................23


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4.0 Compiling Estimates of the Numbers Exterminated

  "The exact number of Jews who were deported to the Operation Reinhard
  death camps is difficult to determine because of the prevailing
  conditions at the time and the method employed by the Nazi
  extermination machine in expelling the victims to Belzec, Sobibor and
  Treblinka.  The number of Jews who lived in the towns and townships
  of Poland before the war is known from the population census carried
  out there in 1931.  Some demographic changes took place during the
  years 1931-1939, but these did not basically alter the number of Jews
  living there on the eve of the German occupation.

  Substantial demographic changes did occur during the war, during the
  years 1939-1945, until the onset of the deportations to the death
  camps.  In these years, tens of thousands of Jews escaped from one
  place to seek refuge in another.  Hundreds of thousands of Jews were
  expelled and resettled, sent to labor camps, or concentrated in larger
  ghettos.  Thousands of Jews were murdered in shooting Aktionen in the
  vicinity of their homes -- before, during, and after the deportations
  to the death camps.  Thus, on the eve of the expulsions, there were
  many small localities in which Jews no longer lived and other
  localities in which the number of Jews was much higher than before
  the war.

  The deportation method, as carried out by the German authorities in
  the General Government, was 'en masse', without lists of names or
  even exact numbers.  Usually ghettos were totally liquidated, and
  only the killing capacity of the camps and the volume of the trains
  dictated the number of people who were deported.  In places where
  some Jews were temporarily left behind, the Germans counted the few
  who remained, while all the others were pushed into the trains.

  Documents of the German railway authorities, which were found after
  the war, provided some data on the number of trains and freight cars.
  If we take into account that each fully packed freight car carried
  100-150 people, we can arrive at an approximate indication of the
  number of Jews in each transport.

  Another source of information was the census of the ghetto
  inhabitants carried out by the Judenrats in some of these places.  A
  census of this type was usually taken by order of the German
  authorities for purposes of forced-labor requests or in preparation
  for the deportations.  Sometimes the Judenrats also took a census for
  their own purposes ...  food rationing or housing problems.
  Documents containing these data and sometimes even the number of Jews
  who were deported, as collected by the Judenrat, were found after the
  war.  Sometimes they were mentioned in diaries written by ghetto
  inmates and left behind.

  Numerous memoirs written by survivors, as well as the memorial books
  (Yizkor books, text from two are available from our server (see
  pub/holocaust/poland/wlodawa and ~/ostrow), contain important data
  about the deportations, including dates and the number of deported.
  Testimonies by survivors, statements by local people who witnessed
  the deportations, and evidence given by members of the German
  administration at the war crimes trials serve as significant sources
  of information.


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  Together, all these documents and sources enable us to arrive at an
  estimation that comes very close to the actual figures and dates of
  the deportations to the Operation Reinhard death camps." (Arad,
  381-382)

4.1 Deportation Statistics

  Yitzhak Arad's work (Belzec) has provided an extensive collection of
  deportation lists, most of which are available through our Holocaust
  archive sites. His comments regarding the sources for these statistics
  are found immediately above, in Section 4.0.  In addition, German
  court findings during post-war trials provides additional
  documentation, and we have transcribed the Operation
  Reinhard section of the Yad Vashem Studies XVI, and made it available
  by anonymous ftp and the World Wide Web. See Part 01, Page 1, for
  retrieval comments. Yad Vashem provides extensively documented
  material, of great value to researchers.

  It is important to note here that the figures provided below, from
  Arad (Belzec), do _not_ include Jews from outside the General Government
  area, i.e. Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, etc.

4.1.1 Belzec

  Arad (Belzec) lists 246,922 deportees from within the General
  Government area alone, and a total of 600,000 killed in all,
  primarily Jews, with perhaps a few hundred to a few thousand Gypsies
  as well. He adds,

     This figure was confirmed by the Glowna Komisja Badania Zbrodni
     Hitlerowskich w Polsce (Main Commission for Investigation of
     Nazi Crimes in Poland) and was accepted by the judical
     authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany. (Encyclopedia,
     Vol. I, 178)

  Deportations to Belzec ended in December, 1942, and the transports
  stopped. Most of the Jews in the General Government were already
  dead, and Sobibor and Treblinka would handle any that weren't.

  Information about Belzec is scarce, as very few escaped death there.
  One who did, Rudolf Reder, who escaped in November, 1942 after four
  months in the camp, recorded his testimony in Krakow, in 1946.
  (Reder, R. Belzec. Krakow, 1946; See also Tregenza, M. "Belzec
  Deathcamp," Wiener Library Bulletin 30, 1979, 8-25)

4.1.2 Sobibor

  Yitzhak Arad (Belzec) provides the following information regarding
  Sobibor:

     "...close to 100,000 Jews from the District of Lublin were
     deported to Sobibor.  Based on the number of Jews who lived in
     small townships and villages in these areas before the war, and
     considering the thousands of Jews who were expelled or fled from
     territories in western Poland, which was annexed to Germany, and
     who found refuge in the Lublin area, the actual number of those
     who were deported to Sobibor is much higher.  We may assume that
     the total number of Jews from the District of Lublin who were
     exterminated in Sobibor was about 130,000 to 140,000.

     About 15,000 to 25,000 Jews were deported from Lvov and the
     other ghettos in the District of Galicia to Sobibor in the
     period ...  after Belzec was closed." (Arad, Belzec)


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4.1.3 Treblinka

  The most accurate figures available regarding the numbers killed at
  the Treblinka camp are found in the judgements (URTEILSBEGRUNDUNG)
  from the first and second Treblinka trials, held in Dusseldorf in
  1965 and 1970:

     Passed on September 3, 1965 in the trial of Kurt Franz and nine
     others at the court of Assizes in Dusseldorf (First Treblinka
     Trial) (AZ-LG Dusseldorf: II 931638, p.  49 ff.), and the trial
     of Franz Stangl at the court of Assizes at Dusseldorf (Second
     Treblinka Trial) on December 22, 1970 (pp.  111 ff.,AZ-LG
     Dusseldorf, XI-148/69 S.)

     Number of Persons Killed at the Treblinka Extermination Camp:
     -------------------------------------------------------------

     At least 700,000 persons, predominantly Jews, but also a number
     of Gypsies, were killed at the Treblinka extermination camp.

     These findings are based on the expert opinion submitted to the
     Court of Assizes by Dr.  Helmut Krausnick, director of the
     Institute for Contemporary History (Institute fuer
     Zeitgeschichte) in Munich.  In formulating his opinion, Dr.
     Krausnick consulted all the German and foreign archival
     material accessible to him and customarily studied in historical
     research.  Among the documents he examined were the following:

     (1) The so-called Stroop report, a report by SS Brigadefuhrer
     [Brigadier] Jurgen Stroop, dealing with the destruction of the
     Warsaw ghetto.  This report consists of three parts: namely, an
     introduction, a compilation of daily reports and a collection of
     photographs.

     (2) The record of the trial of the major war criminals before
     the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.

     (3) The official transportation documents (train schedules,
     telegrams, and train inventories) relevant to the transports to
     Treblinka.

     The latter documents, of which only a part were recovered after
     the war, were the subject of the trial and were made available
     to Dr.  Krausnick by the Court of Assizes.

     Dr. Krausnick's report includes the following information:

     According to the Stroop report a total of approximately 310,000
     Jews were transported in freight trains from the Warsaw ghetto
     to Treblinka during the period from July 22, 1942 to October 3,
     1942.  Approximately another 19,000 Jews made the same journey
     during the period from January, 1943 to the middle of May, 1943.
     During the period from August 21, 1942 to August 23, 1943,
     additional transports of Jews arrived at the Treblinka
     extermination camp, likewise by freight train, from other Polish
     cities, including Kielce, Miedzyrec, Lukow, Wloszczowa,
     Sedzizzow, Czestochowa, Szydlowiec, Lochow, Kozienice,
     Bialystok, Tomaszow, Grodno and Radom.  Other Jews, who lived in

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     the vicinity of Treblinka, arrived at Treblinka in horse-drawn
     wagons and in trucks, as did Gypsies, including some from
     countries other than Poland.  In addition, Jews from Germany and
     from other European countries, including Austria,
     Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece were transported
     to Treblinka, predominantly in passenger trains.

     It has not been possible, of course, to establish the exact
     number of people transported to Treblinka in this fashion,
     because only a part of the transportation documents,
     particularly those relevant to the railroad transports, are
     available.  Still, assuming that each of the trains consisted of
     an average of 60 cars, with each freight car holding an average
     total of 100 persons and each passenger car an average total of
     50 (i.e., that each freight train might have carried an
     approximate total of 6,000, and each passenger train an
     approximate total of 3,000 Jews to Treblinka) the total number
     of people transported to Treblinka in freight trains and
     passenger trains might be estimated at approximately 271,000.
     This total would not include the 329,000 from Warsaw.  Actually,
     however, these figures in many instances were much larger than
     the ones cited above.  Besides, many additional thousands of
     Jews - and also Gypsies - arrived in Treblinka in horse-drawn
     wagons and on trucks.  Accordingly, it must be assumed that
     the total number of Jews from Warsaw, from other parts of
     Poland, from Germany and from other European countries, who were
     taken to Treblinka, plus the total of at least 1,000 Gypsies who
     shared the same fate, amounted to far more than 700,000, even if
     one considers that several thousands of people were subsequently
     moved from Treblinka to other camps and that several hundred
     inmates succeeded in escaping from the camp, especially during
     the revolt of August 2, 1943.  In view of the foregoing, it
     would be scientifically admissible to estimate the total number
     of persons killed in Treblinka at a minimum of 700,000.

     The court of Assizes sees no reason to question the opinion of
     this expert, who is known in the scholarly world for his studies
     on the National Socialist persecution of the Jews.  The expert
     opinion he has submitted is detailed, thorough and, therefore,
     convincing.

     In the fall of 1969 another expert, Dr.  Scheffler, submitted
     for the second Treblinka trial an opinion which was based on
     more recent research, estimating the total number of victims at
     about 900,000.

5.0 Administration

  All men joining Operation Reinhard were required to swear that they
  understood they were forbidden to pass on any form of information,
  verbally or in writing, on any facet of the work they undertook.  The
  written form, dated 18 July 1942, that the men were supposed to sign
  has survived and has been reprinted.  (Arad, Documents, 275-275, as
  cited in Breitman) The form used the phrase "..evacuation of the
  Jews.." to describe the nature of their work.  (Breitman, 237)

  "The commanders of Operation Reinhard, Globocnik, Wirth, and the SS
  men subordinate to them, succeeded in creating an efficient yet
  simple system of mass extermination by using relatively scanty

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  resources.  In each of the death camps -- in Belzec, in Sobibor, and
  in Treblinka -- a limited number of 20 to 35 Germans were stationed
  for purpose of command and supervision, and about 90 to 130
  Ukrainians were responsible for guard duties.  All the physical work
  of the extermination process was imposed on 700 to 1,000 Jewish
  prisoners who were kept in each camp." (Arad, Epilog)

  For an extensive examination of Reinhard staff, see
  http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/orgs/israeli/yad-vashem/yvs16.02.
  Pekka de Groot is gathering an extensive list of concentration
  camp staff, which may be viewed at
  http://www.helsinki.fi/~degroot/reinhard_personnel.htm.

5.1 Command Staff - Operation Reinhard (Aktion Reinhard & Einsatz Reinhard
                    also used)

  Globocnik, Odilo - Appointed by Himmler as SS- und Polizei-fuehrer of
  the Lublin District of the General Government, in late (Oct-Nov) of
  1941. Commanded Operation Reinhard.

  Ho"fle, Hans - (Hauptsturmfuehrer), appointed by Himmler as Globocnik's
  Chief of Operations, in charge of organization and manpower.

  Himmler assigned the following tasks to his new Reinhard commander:

    1. Overall planning of deportations
    2. Construction and operation of the death camps
    3. Co-ordination of the deportations from each of the five
          districts of the General Government (Warsaw, Lublin, Radom,
          Krakow, and Lvov.)

  Globocnik had a team of 450 Germans at his disposal - at their core
  was a group of 92 men, headed by Christian Wirth, who had been
  assigned to Globocnik for the euthanasia program.

  It was this group from which key staff were selected for Reinhard,
  including the camp commanders.  Each camp was allotted 20-30 German
  staff.  [Arad, who wrote the Reinhard section of the Encyclopedia,
  which is paraphrased here, used '20 to 35' in the epilog to his book
  on the subject, quoted earlier in this document.  knm]

  Also recruited was a special auxillary unit, consisting of Ukrainian
  volunteers, most of them Soviet POW's.  They were billetted in an SS
  training camp (Trawniki) where they were issued black uniforms and
  weapons.  They were organized into platoons and companies, and
  received brief training.  Their unit commanders were German.  Each
  camp was allotted from 90 - 120 of these "Trawniki's," who were also
  used in deportation and escort capacities.  (Encyclopedia, I, 14-15)

5.1.1 Command Staff - Belzec

  Oberhauser, Josef
  Schluch, SS-Unterscharfuehrer
  Wirth, SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Christian  (Camp Commandant)

5.1.1.1 Ukrainian & Russian Wachmans, Belzec

  Pavli, Nikolai.
  See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/p/pavli.nikolai.antonevitch
  for Soviet interrogation record of Nikolai Pavli.

  Werdenik, Ivan.
  See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/p/pavli.nikolai.antonevitch


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5.1.2 Command Staff - Sobibor

  Bauer, Erich
  Bolander, Karl (Kurt Balender? -
     Get http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/places/poland/wlodawa/wlodawa.015)
     Some confusion exists in my mind about Bolander - or Balender -
     since both names have appeared, they may be one and the same, or
     there may have been two men with similar names.. I do not know
     yet.
  Bredov, SS Sgt. Paul
  Frenzel, SS Sgt. Karl
     When the Germans learned of a planned revolt, they chose 72 men
     and sent them to the crematorium - Frenzel supervised this action,
     and "Returning from the scene of the murder he ordered the quick
     erection of a temporary stage out of some planks, called for the
     orchestra, gathered the women and told them to sing and
     dance."(Testimony from the Sobibor Trials, as related in
     Wlodawa.016) During the trials, Frenzel has also accused of
     shooting a young boy for the crime of eating sardines...

  Gomerski, SS Sgt. Hubert
  Groth, Paul (Sgt)
  Hering, SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Gottlied - Replaced Wirth as Camp
     Commandant after Wirth appointed Inspector of the Reinhard death
     camps in August, 1942.
  Lampert, Erwin
  Michel, SS Sgt. Hermann ("The Preacher")
  Neiman, Oberltnt. Designated as deputy commander by Razgonayev.
     See http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/r/razgonayev.mikhail.a 
     for Soviet interrogation of same.
  Poul, ?     SS Obersturmfuehrer (1st. Lt.)

  Rashke's work (Escape from Sobibor) provides some insight into the
  mentality of the German staff regarding their attitude towards their
  victims.  He notes that the flow of transports into the camp during
  the winter of 1942 had slowed to a trickle, primarily because most of
  the Polish Jews were already dead, and because the trains were needed
  to support the crumbling Eastern Front.  This, he comments, along
  with the isolation of the nearly snowbound camp, made them edgy and
  bored:  

     They took it out on the Jews.

     Sergeant Paul Groth made up little games.  He'd order four Jews
     to carry him around the yard like a king while he'd drop burning
     paper on their heads.  Or he'd make prisoners jump from roofs
     with umbrellas, or scale roof beams until they fell to the
     floor.  Those who sprained ankles and broke legs were shot in
     Camp III.  Or he'd organize a flogging party, forcing Jews to
     run the gauntlet past Ukrainians with whips.  Or he'd order a
     thin prisoner to gulp vodka and eat two pounds of sausage within
     minutes.  They he'd force open the Jew's mouth and urinate in
     it, roaring with laughter as the prisoner retched in the snow.


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     Groth softened briefly.  Three beautiful girls came to Sobibor
     on a transport from Vienna.  Groth took Ruth as his servant and
     mistress.  Seageant Poul, the drunk, smuggled the other two into
     the Merry Flea.  Groth fell in love with the dark-eyed teen-ager
     and, almost as a favor to her, or so it seemed, stopped beating
     the other Jews.  But the truce was short-lived.  It was against
     SS regulations to molest Jewesses - an insult to the master
     race.  Himmler was quite adamant on that point.  So while Groth
     and Poul were on leave, Kommandant Reichleitner transferred both
     of them.  Groth ended up at Belzec.

     The Sobibor Jews were delighted to see the two Nazis go, but
     Groth and Poul were easily replaced, and life went on as usual.
     The empty winter days also got to Kurt Bolander and Erich Bauer.
     Because there was little to do in Camp III without Jews to gas,
     Bauer turned to vodka.  He kept a private bar in his room in the
     Swallow's Nest, and there Jews would come to mix drinks or make
     eggnog.  The short Nazi - he was under five feet six inches -
     would sit in his armchair, facing a photograph of his wife and
     children and a portrait of the Fuehrer ...  and drink himself
     into oblivion.  If a prisoner spilled any liquor or broke a
     bottle, the former street-car conductor would make him wipe the
     floor with his tongue.

     Bolander took out his frustration on the ten Jews who carried
     the swill buckets from Camp I to the gate to Camp III.  Bolander
     would make them run, and if, as sometimes happened, the Jews in
     Camp III opened the gate before the Jews from Camp I had left,
     Bolander would shoot the swill carriers.  Somehow, the Nazis had
     deluded themselves into believing that the Camp I Jews didn't
     know what went on in Camp III.  And they wanted to keep it that
     way. (Rashke, 101-102)

  Reichsleitner, SS-Obersturmfuehrer Franz. Replaced Stangl as commander
     at the end of August, 1942. Stangl was transferred to Treblinka.

  Stangl, Franz, Oberleutnant (Camp Commandant)

     Franz Stangl, the commander of Sobibor and Treblinka, was
     stationed in northern Italy, in the areas of Fiume and Udine,
     from the autumn of 1943 and engaged in actions against partisans
     and local Jews.  After the war he escaped to Brazil; in 1967 he
     was discovered there, arrested, and extradited to the Federal
     Republic of Germany.  He was tried in Dusseldorf in 1970 and was
     sentenced to life imprisonment.  He died in prison a few months
     after the end of the trial. (Arad, Belzec)

  Stangl was sent to command Sobibor after construction fell behind
  schedule in the Spring of 1942.  His commanding officer sent him to
  meet with Wirtz at Belzec, and he described his visit thus:

     "I went there by car.  As one arrived, one first reached Belzec
     railway station...  Oh, God, the smell!  It was everywhere.
     Wirth wasn't 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 cannot tell you; not hundreds,
     thousands, thousands, thousands of corpses...  that's where
     Wirth told --- he said that was what Sobibor was for...


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     Wirth told me I should definitely become the commander of
     Sobibor.  I answered that I was not qualified for such a
     mission....  I received from Globocnik the task to erect the
     camp.  That it was not to be an ammunition camp but a camp for
     killing Jews I learned finally from Wirth.  ...  Actually, I was
     not relieved [of my post].  I stayed in Sobibor.  Transports
     arrived and were liquidated..."

     When asked during his trial how many people could be murdered in
     one day, Stangl answered:

     "Regarding the question of what was the optimum amount of people
     gassed in one day, I can state: according to my estimation a
     transport of thirty freight cars with 3,000 people was
     liquidated in three hours.  When the work lasted for about
     fourteen hours, 12,000 to 15,000 people were annihilated.  There
     were many days that the work lasted from the early morning until
     the evening." (Arad, Belzec)

  Thomalla, SS-Obersturmfuehrer Richard. SS Construction Office, Lublin
  Wagner, Gustav (Quartermaster-Sergeant) - the man who supervised
  the daily life at Sobibor. Moshe Bahir described him thus:

     He was a handsome man, tall and blonde -- a pure Aryan.  In
     civilian life he was, no doubt, a well-mannered man; at Sobibor
     he was a wild beast.  His lust to kill knew no bounds.  I saw
     such terrible scenes that they give me nightmares to this day.
     He would snatch babies from their mothers' arms and tear them to
     pieces in his hands.  I saw him beat two men to death with a
     rifle, because they did not carry out his instructions properly,
     since they did not understand German.  I remember that one night
     a group of youths aged fifteen or sixteen arrived in the camp.
     The head of this group was one Abraham.  After a long and
     arduous work day, this young man collapsed on his pallet and
     fell asleep.  Suddenly Wagner came into our barrack, and Abraham
     did not hear him call to stand up at once before him.  Furious,
     he pulled Abraham naked off his bed and began to beat him all
     over his body.  When Wagner grew weary of the blows, he took out
     his revolver and killed him on the spot.  This atrocious
     spectacle was carried out before all of us, including Abraham's
     younger brother.  (Museum, 37, as cited in Arad, Belzec)

  Wagner's ruthless behavior toward the Jews is mentioned in some other
  testimonies of Sobibor survivors.  Ada Lichtman writes that on the
  fast day of Yom Kippur, Wagner appeared at the roll call, took out
  some prisoners, gave them bread and ordered them to eat.  As the
  prisoners ate the bread, he laughed loudly; he enjoyed his joke
  because he knew the Jews he had forced to eat were pious.  (Lichtman,
  36-37, as cited in Arad, Belzec)

  Gustav Wagner escaped after the war to Brazil, where he lived openly.
  The Brazilian Supreme Court refused to extradite him.  In October
  1980 his attorney announced that Wagner had committed suicide. (Arad,
  Belzec)


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5.1.2.1 Ukrainian & Russian Wachmans - Sobibor

  Danil'chenko, Ignat Terent'yevich (See
  http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/d/danilchenko.ignat.t/ 
  for Soviet interrogation extracts)    

  Dem'yanyuk, Ivan - (Demjanjuk) placed in service at Sobibor by
  Danil'chenko and others. See above.

  Ivchenko, Ivan - named as cook by Danil'chenko

  Pankov, Vassily Nikolaievitch (See
  http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/p/pankov.vassily.n/pankov.001 
  for Soviet interrogation records)

  Razgonayev, Mikahil Affanaseiwitch.  See
  http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/r/razgonayev.mikhail.a for
  Soviet interrogation of same.

  Werdenik, Ivan. See
  http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/p/pavli.nikolai.antonevitch/

5.1.3 Command Staff - Treblinka

  Eberl, SS-Obersturmfuehrer Imfried - Commandant until replaced by Stangl

  Franz, Kurt (Deputy Commandant) - held command from September, 1942.

  Kuettner, Kurt - SS sergeant - shot by prisoners during escape attempt
  in which 750 participated and about 70 survived.
  Lampert, Erwin
  Stangl - see Sobibor

5.1.3.1 Russian and Ukrainian Wachmans - Treblinka

  Broft (or) Brovt - see MALAGON

  Dem'yanyuk, Ivan (Demjanjuk). Placed at Treblinka by Malagon.
  See Malagon interrogations, and
  http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/d/demjanjuk-john
  for a collection of citations and articles dealing with Demjanjuk's
  deportation from the United States and subsequent trials in Israel.
  See also DEMJANJUK.6COA, for the United States Court of Appeals for
  the Sixth Circuit, which disputes this claim.

  Fedorenko - See
  http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/k/korotkikh.yevstigneyev/korotkikh.001
  for testimony placing Fedorenko at Treblinka. Received police
  training at the SS Trawniki camp. Malagon is not certain if
  Fedorenko was assigned to Treblinka, or was simply there after
  escorting a train from somewhere else.
  See pub/people/m/malagon.nikolai.petrovich for the Malagon
  interrogations, and
  http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/s/shevchenko.ivan.semenovich/shevchenko.001, also in the Nizkor archives.

  Goncharov, Pyotr Nazarovich - Places Marchenko in Treblinka
  during his Soviet interrogations. See GONCHAROV.001 for details.

  Malagon, Nikolai Petrovich - see
  http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/m/malagon-nikolai/
  interrogation excerpts of Malagon. Trained at Trawniki.

  Marchenko, Nikolai. Named as working "near the diesels" at
  Treblinka, Marchenko was one of the men running the engines.
  See Malagon interrogations and Demjanuk Appeal judgement noted
  above, which names Marchenko as one of two operators of the gas
  chambers.


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  Rebeka - see Malagon interrogations.

  Shalayev, Nikolai. Identified by multiple sources (including his
  own 1950 statement) as one of two gas chamber operators (along
  with Ivan Marchenko. See also Demjanjuk.6coa.

  Shevchenko, Ivan Semenovich. See SHEVCHENKO.001 in the TREBLINKA
  archives for Soviet interrogation records.

  Yeger, Aleksandr Ivanovich - See YEGER.001/002 in the TREBLINKA
  archives for Soviet interrogation records. Platoon commander.

5.2 Selection

  The extermination process at all three camps was similar, and
  reflected the reality that the camps existed for the sole purpose of
  exterminating the Jews of the General Government.

  Transports would arrive, and those who had survived the journey were
  herded into a "reception area," where they were told to remove their
  clothing and surrender their valuables. A few, a very few, were
  sorted out if they claimed experience in trades needed to maintain
  the camp, and others survived for a time as workers in the
  extermination area.

  After cutting the hair off the women (it was reportedly utilized to
  manufacture felt boots for the Wehrmacht), the prisoners were told
  that they would be fed and assigned to work camps, but that they had
  to shower first. They were then driven (with whips and clubs) through
  the "tubes", which were enclosed pathways which led from the
  reception area directly to the gas chambers, where they were
  murdered.

  Those too weak to make the trek from the rail platform to the
  reception area were taken directly to the extermination camp by
  narrow-gauge railroad, and shot. (This proceedure varied at the three
  camps, but the result was always the same.)

  (For a comprehensive list of documentation regarding the killing
  process, see pub/camps/aktion.reinhard, and
  http://www.nizkor.org/hweb//orgs/israeli/yad-vashem.  Although our
  Yad Vashem material is limited, it offers extensive commentary on
  both Operation Reinhard, and the prisoner revolts as well. It is
  based upon personal and court testimonies for the most part, and
  extensively documented.)

5.3 Financial Accounting

  Arad's Encyclopedia article ends with the following, somewhat
  chilling information about the monies and valuables collected from
  the Reinhard victims:


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     On December 15, 1943, the Aktion Reinhard headquarters submitted
     an account of the moneys, gold, and valuables taken from the
     Jews in the extermination camps for which the Reinhard
     headquarters was responsible. The figures were quoted in German
     marks (the rate of exchange of the reichsmark against the United
     States dollar at the time was 2.5 to 1). The report contains the
     particulars of the various catagories: United States currency,
     about $1,100,000 in cash and $250,000 in gold coins; other
     foreign currency, from forty-eight countries; other gold coins,
     from thirty-four countries; 2910 kilograms (6,415 pounds) of
     gold bars; 18,734 kilograms (41,301 pounds) of silver bars;
     diamonds totalling 16,000 carats. The report ends with the sum
     totals of the value of all the Jewish possessions collected.

     Cash in Polish zlotys and German marks  RM  73,852,080.74
     Precious metals                              8,273,651.60
     Foreign currency, in cash                    4,521,224.13
     Foreign gold coins                           1,736,554.12
     Precious stones and other valuables         43,662,450.00
     Textiles                                    46,000,000.00
         Total                               RM 178,645,960.59

 6.0 Research Materials & Sources

  Vera Laska provided an extensive list of assets for those interested
  in Holocaust research, which was included in the Auschwitz FAQ.  I
  recommend it as an excellent starting point for anyone wishing to do
  serious research into the Reinhard camps.  

  We also recommend Yad Vashem Studies, and have the 1991 English
  Publications list available by mail-based server, along with a
  pricelist. (http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/bibliographies/biblio.05)
  The information is a bit dated, but it's helpful nonetheless. (We have
  no interest in the sale or distribution of these materials, we
  simply recommend them as one of the best sources for accurate
  information.)

  See
  http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/miscellany/curriculum/research-centers
  for a list of major Holocaust research centres worldwide.
 
6.1 Recommended Reading

  We have transcribed memorial books for inclusion in our archives, and
  call your attention to the Wlodawa series - the first to be included.
  Many of the stories deal with Sobibor.  For a list of the Wlodawa
  Yizkor files, try anonymous ftp via ftp.nizkor.org, in the
  directory pub/places/poland/wlodawa.

  Donat, A., ed.  The Death Camp Treblinka.  New York, 1979

  Wiernik, Y.A.  A Year in Treblinka.  New York, 1945


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  Yad Vashem Studies IV. Proceedings of the Fourth Yad Vashem International
  Historical Conference, Jerusalem, January, 1980. In particular, see
  "Jewish Prisoner Uprisings in the Treblinka and Sobibor Extermination
  Camps." An index of Yad Vashem Studies XVI, shown below, lists additional
  Yad Vashem material of interest to Operation Reinhard researchers:

                       YAD VASHEM STUDIES
                              XVI
                     Edited by Aharon Weiss

                           YAD VASHEM
            MARTYR'S AND HEROES' REMEMBRANCE AUTHORITY
                         JERUSALEM 1984

                      "Operation Reinhard":
         Extermination Camps of Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka

  yvs16.01: Background & Introduction
  yvs16.02: The Personnel of Operation Reinhard
  yvs16.03: The Construction of Belzec
  yvs16.04: The Construction of Sobibor
  yvs16.05: The Construction of Treblinka
  yvs16.06: Belzec, from March 17 til June 1942
  yvs16.07: Sobibor - from May to July 1942
  yvs16.08: Treblinka - from July 23 to August 28, 1942
  yvs16.09: The Construction of Larger Gas Chambers
  yvs16.10: The Attempt to Remove Traces
  yvs16.11: The Liquidation of the Camps

  The Fascism and Holocaust archives may be obtained via anonymous
  ftp from: ftp.nizkor.org, in the directory /pub, and from the
  World Wide Web (http://www.nizkor.org).

  Yad Vashem now maintains its own site on the World Wide Web.
  The URL is http://yvs.shani.net.

6.2 Abbreviations Used in Citations  

  The following abbreviations may be used throughout this document:

  IFZ.........Institut fuer Zeitgeschichte, Munich
  IRR.........Investigative Repository Records
  NA..........United States National Archives
  RG 59.......NA Diplomatic Records
  RG 84.......Washington National Records Center, Diplomatic Post Records
  RG 153......Washington National Records Center, Records of the
              Office of the (Army) Judge Advocate
  RG 165......Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs,
              Washington National Records Center
  RG 208......Office of War Information Records, Washington National
              Records Center


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  RG 226......Office of Strategic Services Records
  RG 238......War Crimes
    EC Series
    NG........Microfilm T-1139
    NI........Microfilm T-301
    NO Series
    NOKW Series
    PS Series
  RG 242......NA Record Group 242 - Captured German Records
  RG 319......Records of the Army Staff
  T...........NA Microfilm Series

  If you note any that are not explained above, please let me know,
  and I will try to run them down for you.

6.3 Glossary

  Einsatzgruppen: Battalion-sized, mobile, armed units of police,
    primarily Security Police and SD officials, which were used
    to attack and execute perceived enemies in conquered territories.
       (Breitman, 311)

  Einsatzkommando: Company-sized component of the Einsatzgruppen
      (Breitman, 311)

  Gauleiter: Supreme territorial or regional party authority(-ies)
    (The term is both singular and plural). The Nazi Party divided
    Germany and some annexed territories into geographical units
    called Gaue, headed by a Gauleiter. (Breitman, 311)

  General Government: The Nazi-ruled state in central and eastern
      Poland. Headed by Governor Hans Frank. (Breitman, 311)

  Final Solution: Euphemism for the extermination of European Jewry

  Judenrat: Jewish community authority, appointed by the Nazis for
       ghetto and village administration.

  Trawniki: Labor camp, established in the Fall of 1941, in Trawniki,
       S.E. of Lublin, Poland. Trawniki was part of a network of labor
       camps and death camps controlled by Globocnik. Trawniki was
       destroyed when Himmler ordered the death camps closed, and the
       ground plowed and converted to farm use. See Encyclopedia, Vol.
       IV, pp 1480-1481.

  SD (Sicherheitsdienst): The SS Security Service

  Sonderkommandos: Division of Einsatzgruppen, generally smaller than
    Einsatzkommando, but also a more general term for special
       commando units assigned particular functions. (Breitman, 311)


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  Military rank - here's a list from Breitman (314) which shows SS
  ranks and the Western military equivalent:

  Oberstgruppenfuehrer     General
  Obergruppenfuehrer        Lt. General
  Gruppenfuehrer            Major General
  Brigadefuehrer            Brigadier General
  Oberfuehrer                between Brigadier & Colonel
  Standartenfuehrer        Colonel
  Obersturmbannfuehrer        Lt. Colonel
  Sturmbannfuehrer         Major
  Hauptsturmfuehrer        Captain
  Obersturmfuehrer            1st. Lieutenant
  Unterscharfuehrer        Corporal
  Rottenfuehrer            Private, First Class
  Sturmann                   Private
  SS-Mann                   no equivalent

6.4 Works Cited

  Arad, Yitzhak. Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka - the Operation Reinhard
  Death Camps. Indiana University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-253-3429-7

  Arad, Yitzhak, Yisrael Gutman, and Abraham Margaliot, eds. Documents
  on the Holocaust: Selected Sources on the Destruction of the Jews of
  Germany, Austria, Poland, and the Soviet Union.  (Jerusalem, 1981)

  Breitman, Richard. The Architect of Genocide: Himmler and the Final
  Solution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991

  Encyclopedia - See Gutman

  Gutman, Israel, ed. in Chief, et al. Encyclopedia of the
  Holocaust. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1990. ISBN 0-02-
  896090-4 (set) (Referenced in this FAQ as "Encyclopedia")

  Just, Willy.  "Letter to SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Walter Rauff, June
  5, 1942." in: Nazism: A History in Documents and Eye Witness
  Accounts, 191-1945, vol.  2, document 913

  Kogon,Eugen. "Der SS-Staat" Bonn, 1974

  Lichtman, Ada. Yad Vashem Archives, L-11/5, testimony of Ada Lichtman,
  as cited in Arad.

  Lochner, Louis P., ed. The Goebbels Diaries. New York, 1948

  Museum. Publication of the Museum of the Combatants and Partisans,
  Tel Aviv, April, 1973, as cited in Arad

  Prattle et al. "The Toxicity of Fumes from a diesel Engine Under Four
  Different Running Conditions," British Journal of Industrial Medicine,
  1957, Vol 14


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  Rashke, Richard. Escape From Sobibor (Boston: Houghton
  Mifflin Company, 1982).

  Zabecki, Franziszek. Wspomnienia dawne i nowe. Warszawa,
  1977, as cited in Arad, Belzec

60+ years to make up garbage and lies about a "Holocaust" that never
happened.