The Franke-Gricksch Report was written by SS officer Alfred Franke-Gricksch following his visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp in May 1943. It describes in detail the processes involved in the mass extermination of Jews, including the use of gas chambers and crematoria.
The letter dated 28 August 1942 discusses the transfer of furs confiscated from those murdered in Kulmhof (Chelmno) to the Waffen-SS, a branch of the Nazi military forces. According to the Higher SS and Police Leader in Posen, Wilhelm Koppe, a wagonload of “high-quality furs” had been delivered to Berlin for the benefit of the SS, with expectations of more to follow.
The following document, dated August 13, 1942, is SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff’s response to an earlier letter from Albert Ganzenmüller, Deputy Director General of the German Reichsbahn, regarding the deportation of Jews to the Treblinka extermination camp. In his reply, Wolff expressed his appreciation that “for the past 14 days a train with 5,000 members of the chosen people has been traveling daily to Treblinka and that we are thus able to carry out this population movement at an accelerated pace”.
Odilo Globocnik’s report, enclosed in his January 5, 1944 letter to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, details the “administrative processing of Operation Reinhardt”. Globocnik highlighted that “all assets accrued from this operation were centrally recorded, organized, and booked by an administration set up by me.” These assets included large quantities of Reichsmarks, Zloty, jewelry, and clothing, which were primarily transferred to the state institutions. Globocnik estimated the total value of these assets to be minimum “approximately 180,000,000 Reichsmarks,” with “over 1,900 wagons delivered to the German industry alone.” As most Jews deported during Operation Reinhardt were murdered in the death camps at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka, even “their food, transported with them, was used to supply Jewish camps.
Deposition in Yiddish in February 1942 in the Warszaw Ghetto by Szlama Winer aka Jakub Grojnowski. In his account titled “Gvies-eydes funem tsvang-kabren . . .” (Testimony of a forced gravedigger), Winer reports his experiences in the Jewish working detail at the Chełmno (Kulmhof) extermination camp . Winer was deported from Izbica Kujawska to Chełmno on January 5, 1942 but managed to escape the camp on January 19, 1942.
Report by Odilo Globocnik on the “economic part of Operation Reinhardt” enclosed in his letter of January 5, 1944 to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. The report is divided into four sections: the “resettlement” of Jewish populations, the exploitation of forced labor, the utilization material assets, and the acquisition of hidden values, including real estate. Regarding the extermination camps Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor the report notes that “the facilities built for this operation from accruing funds … have been entirely removed. For monitoring reasons, a small farm has been established in each camp, manned by a specialist”.
On April 16, 1962, Adele Freigang, former resident of the village Chełmno nad Nerem (Kulmhof), provided a detailed testimony to West-German investigators . In autumn 1941, Freigang heard rumors of a Gestapo commando in Kulmhof, which later seized several key buildings. Reports surfaced about transports of Jewish people, initially believed to be going through a transit camp but later revealed to be destined for extermination. The victims were killed in gas vans, and their bodies disposed of in the nearby forest.
In a letter dated January 5, 1944, the Higher SS and Police Leader Odilo Globocnik, addressed Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler regarding the economic settlement of Operation Reinhardt (Aktion Reinhard). The letter was submitted in response to Himmler’s order from September 22, 1943, which requested its completion by December 31, 1943. He outlined the two-part structure of the accounting of the “economic part of Operation Reinhardt… a) accounting and delivery of confiscated valuables and b) accounting of values generated from labor”. Globocnik also stressed that “With the entire accounting of Reinhardt, it must also be noted that their documents must be destroyed as soon as possible since the documents of all other works in this matter have already been destroyed.”
In this letter dated 30 November 1943, Heinrich Himmler replied to Odilo Globocnik letter of 4 November 1943 and acknowleged “the completion of Operation Reinhardt”. Himmler expresses his gratitude and appreciation for Globocnik’s role in what he describes as “great and unique services” to the German people. This operation was responsible for the mass extermination of Jews in the General Government.
Interrogation protocol of Josef Peham, dated December 12, 1962, on his experiences in Kulmhof (Chelmno) extermination camp.