Chelmno Concentration Camp

When, and why, was Chelmno created, and where was the concentration camp located? What was the treatment like for the Jewish people who resided at the camp, and for the workers who occupied the camp. Where is Chelmno at now, and what happened to the camp? These are all simple question to answer, In the beginning of the war, the Chelmno concentration camp was one of the Nazi’s, and Hitler’s, first concentration camps. Chelmno was also one of the first camps to use gas vans. The not-so-well-known camp was created in December of 1941. The camp was split into two parts. (“Chelmno Concentration Camp”Jewish Virtual Library) One part of the camp was the administration section and storage for goods, and the other part was the burial and cremation
In one gas van, there was about 50-70 Jews in there. In about ten minutes, they all dropped dead. How does a gas van work? Well, a gas van is basically train car sized, with tight sealed compartments which were lined with tin. The gas vans had air-tight double doors, and wood floors. Below the van was a pipe with a nozzle attached inside to release gas. This gas van technology was the same that first commandment Herbert Lange used in the T4 Program. After the Jewish were dead, the driver of the van drove them out 2.5 miles to outside a forest, where there were graves already built. Guess who built the graves. The Jewish. (“Chelmno”USHMM) Another group of Jewish people were brought there to haul the bodies out, and to dump, and bury, them in their graves. Another group of Jews collected items and clothing that was kept from those that were killed. No less than three hundred and seventy wagon loads of different items were sent to Germans in the Reich. (“Chelmno and the Holocaust”Patrick Montague) About 145,000 jews were killed in the first operated use of the gas van. The first deportees to Chelmno were from nearby communities and about 5,00 were Gypsies. About 10,000 Jews were deported from Lodz to Chelmno.
ONly around 70,000 of the Jewish people remained to be residents at Lodz Ghetto. Chelmno was wound up and the schloss was demolished. Chelmno reactivated in 1944 to assist Lodz again. During this time, 25,00 Lodz ghetto Jews were gassed at Chelmno. After these killings, german units labored and cleaned up the traces of any killings. That work group were to be shot, but there was a revolt of the Jews, and a handful escaped. (“Extermination Camp Chelmno”Pages) There are very few survivors of Chelmno. In Mid-January of 1942, an escapee made his way to Warsaw where he informed people what he’d witnessed at Chelmno. As a result of his telling, fairly accurate information about the mass murders at Chelmno was released and reached London in June. At the end of the war, all together, there was seven people who survived Chelmno. None remain alive, however. (“Chelmno Concentration Camp”Jewish Virtual