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CHAPTER 3 Extermination: The Second Period (1944--1945) Re-Establishing the Camp Between the closure of Chelmno in April 1943 and its re-establishment a year later, Germany faced a number of defeats on the battlefield. German forces had already surrendered at Stalingrad, the Red Army’s long march to Berlin had begun and Allied bombing over the Reich intensified. In May 1943, German and Italian forces surrendered in North Africa. By the end of 1943, the Allies were pressing up the Italian boot and the Russians had retaken Kiev. Gauleiter Arthur Greiser was also under pressure. Himmler opposed the idea of employing Jews in ghettos for the manufacturing industry, particularly with respect to war materiel. Following the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April-May 1943, the Reichsführer was intent on closing all ghettos and labor camps or at least placing them under control of the SS. By the end of 1943, numerous labor camps had closed and the Jewish laborers were deported to Auschwitz. As a result, Greiser lost substantial income from the terminated projects. Himmler also had his eye on the Lódź ghetto. In June 1943, he declared the ghetto was to be reclassified as a concentration camp and placed under the authority of Gruppenführer Odilo Globocnik, the SS and Police Leader in Lublin, and recommended transferring the ghetto’s skilled labor and machinery to concentration camps under his control. Greiser found allies to maintain control of the ghetto with the Wehrmacht’s Weapons Inspectorate and the Ministry of Armament and War Production (Albert Speer). The issue remained unresolved until the end of the year when Himmler again stated the ghetto would become a concentration camp administered by Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl’s Economic and Administrative Main Office [Wirtschafts Verwaltungshauptamt, WVHA], responsible for the concentration camps. Both sides of the conflict pushed their positions on the ghetto’s profitability or lack thereof. At a meeting on February 9, 1944, Greiser’s representatives demanded some RM 20 million for the ghetto’s machinery and a portion of future profits should the ghetto transfer to 150 CHELMNO AND THE HOLOCAUST SS control. Three days later, Himmler was in Poznań discussing the issue personally with Greiser. As a result of this meeting, Greiser maintained control over the ghetto but, in exchange, he agreed to begin closing the Jewish enclave. The meeting also led to reactivating SS Sonderkommando Kulmhof. Details have been preserved in the following document, a letter by Greiser to his adversary in the matter, Oswald Pohl. Posen, February 14, 1944 Top Secret! Dear Party Comrade Pohl, On the occasion of the Reichsführer’s visit to Posen yesterday and today, I had the opportunity to discuss and clear up two issues concerning your sphere of activity. The first issue is this: The ghetto in Litzmannstadt is not to be transformed into a concentration camp, as was pointed out by Oberführer Beier and Hauptsturmführer Dr. Volk, who were sent to my Gau by your office. Their discussions took place in my office, in the Reichsstatthalter in Posen, on the 5th of February. The decree issued by the Reichsführer on June 11, 1943, will therefore not be carried out. I have arranged the following with the Reichsführer: (a) The ghetto’s manpower will be reduced to a minimum and retain only as many Jews as are essential to the war economy. (b) The ghetto therefore remains a Gau ghetto of the Wartheland. (c) The reduction will be carried out by Hauptsturmführer Bothmann’s special Sonderkommando, which has already had prior experience in the Gau. The Reichsführer will give orders to withdraw Hauptsturmführer Bothmann and his Sonderkommando from his mission in Croatia and again place him at the disposal of the Wartheland. (d) The utilization and administration of the contents of the ghetto remains in the hands of the Wartheland. (e) After all Jews are removed from the ghetto and it is liquidated, the entire grounds of the ghetto are to go to the town of Litzmannstadt. The Reichsführer will then give appropriate instructions to the Main Trustee Office East [Haupttreuhandstelle Ost]. May I ask you to send me your suggestions in this matter as soon as possible. With comradely greetings and Heil Hitler Yours Greiser1 According to point (c) of the above letter, it was Himmler who ordered Bothmann to return to Chelmno. In Croatia, Bothmann assembled most of the members...

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