Dieter Pohl on origin of name "Einsatz Reinhardt"

[michael mills]

The book by Dieter Pohl "Von der 'Judenpolitik' zum Judenmord" provides some information on the origin of the term "Einsatz Reinhardt" as the code-name for the extermination actions carried out by Globocnik in the Lublin District from March 1942 onward. The information is in a footnote on page 130. I will quote the footnote, together with a translation.

94. ..........: eine fruehe Erwaehnung in Schreiben Wippern an "SS-u. Polizeifuehrer - Reinhardt", 6.6.42, Kermisz, "Akcie" i "Wysiedlenia" S. 182; ein Formular gab es spaetestens seit dem 15.6.42, IfZ Fb 95/23, Bl.576. Die Entstehungsgeschichte des Namens "Aktion Reinhard" ist vermutlich darauf zurueckzufuehren, dass ein Stichwort fuer die auswaertigen Materialanforderungen nach Eigentum ermordeter Juden benoetigt wurde. Zunaechst war dies "katholische Aktion", da sich das Materiallager in einem Bibiotheksmagazin der Katholischen Universitaet Lublin befand. Mit dem Anschlag auf Heydrich wurde dieser Name in "Aktion Reinhard" umbenannt; vgl. Empfangsbestaetigung DAW Lublin, 24.5.42, IfZ Fb 95/23, Bl. 566; Rajca, Lubelska filia S.269. Abwegig erscheint die Theorie von Uwe Dietrich Adam: The Gas Chambers, in: Francois Furet (Hg), Unanswered Questions. Nazi Germany and the Genocide of the Jews. 1989, S. 134-154, der Name ginge auf den StS. im Reichsfinanzministerium Reinhardt zurueck; vgl. Richard Breitman/Shlomo Aronson: Eine unbekannte Himmler-Rede vom Januar 1943, in : VfZ 38 (1990) S. 337-348.

My translation:

....an early mention in a note by Wippern to "SS and Police Leader - Reinhardt", on 6 June 1942, "Akcie" I "Wysiedlenia" p. 182; a formula existed at the latest since 15 June 1942, IfZ Fb 95/23, folio 576. The history of the origin of the name "Aktion Reinhard" is probably to be traced to the fact that a key-word was needed for the external orders for items from property of the murdered Jews. At first this was called "Catholic Operation", because the stock of material was located in a library store-room of the Lublin Catholic University. With the attack on Heydrich this name was changed to "Operation Reinhard"; see confirmation of receipt from the DAW [German Armaments Works] Lublin, 24 May 1942, IfZ Fb 95/23, folio 566; Rajca, Lubelska filia p. 269. The theory of Uwe Dietrich Adam, in "The Gas Chambers" ( in Francois Furet (ed) "Unanswered Questions: Nazi Germany and the Genocide of the Jews", 1989, pp. 134-154), that the name goes back to the State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Finance, Reinhardt, seems incorrect; see Richard Breitman / Shlomo Aronson, "An Unknown Himmler Speech of January 1943", in VfZ 38 (1990), pp. 337-348.

The above footnote claims that the code-name for the store of Jewish property held at Lublin was changed from "Catholic Operation" to "Operation Reinhardt" as a result of the attack on Heydrich in Prague, which occurred on 27 May 1942, and refers to a receipt from the German Armament Works in Lublin, presumably for items sourced from the store of Jewish property held in the library of the Catholic University, dated three days before that attack, ie 24 May. It is not clear from Pohl's reference whether that DAW receipt was still using the code-name "Catholic Operation"; presumably it was, if the change of code-name to "Operation Reinhardt" occurred only after 27 May.

I have not read the IfZ article by Breitman and Aronson referred to in the footnote, but presumably the "unknown" Himmler speech on January 1943 was the one in which he claimed (incorrectly) that Heydrich used the unusual spelling "Reinhardt" for his given name (unusual because that spelling is generally used only in surnames, which was the basis for the Uwe Dietrich Adam theory referred to).

[steve248]

This page (if pasted here properly) has some additional information:
The paper it comes from can be downloaded from www.academia.com

[steve248]

Let's have another go ...

[steve248]

Seemed easier now just to post the link (see pages 475-476):

https://www.academia.edu/3763621/A_New_ ... hardt_1942

[Sergey Romanov]

Aside from a testimony saying that the action was named after Heydrich, it is obvious that it couldn't have been named after Fritz Reinhardt.
FR's name could be written only as Reinhardt. Heydrich's name could be written both as Reinhard and Reinhardt.
In the official correspondence (incl. very late letters) both Reinhard and Reinhardt appear, which makes it compatible with Heydrich and incompatible with Fritz.

See this post and the surrounding ones: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=203339&p=2061889#p2061889

[michael mills]

The point of my post was not the hoary old issue of the person after whom "Einsatz Reinhardt" was named, but rather to inform readers of the information provided by Pohl on how and why the name came into existence. According to that information, the sequence seems to have been as follows:

1. An accounting code was needed for the property taken from the Jews killed in the three extermination camps under the command of Globocnik as SSPF-Lublin, so that other German agencies could put in orders for material from that property. Since the property was stored at the Lublin Catholic University, the code name "Katholische Aktion" was used. That accounting-code can only have referred to the Jewish property stored at the Catholic University, and not to any other property seized from deported Jews.

2. At some time after 24 May 1942 (the date of the receipt from the German Armaments Works in Lublin) and before 6 June of that year (the date of Wippern's letter to Globocnik as manager of "Reinhardt", the accounting code-name was changed to "Aktion Reinhard(t)". Probably that code-name still denoted the store of seized Jewish property held at the Lublin Catholic University, but its usage was quickly widened to include the killing operations themselves and the camps where the killing was carried out.

3. At some stage the term "Reinhardt" began to be used by the WVHA and the Reich Ministry of Finance as an accounting code to identify all property seized from deported Jews and the financial assets derived from the disposal of that property. Possibly that shift in usage occurred after the WVHA took over control of the property stored in Lublin in 1943, as a result of Globocnik and his men being sent to fight partisans in Slovenia and the Trieste region. That was the sense in which Hoess used the term "Aktion Reinhardt" in November 1946, in answer to a question from Judge Sehn, when he limited its application to the process of collecting, storing and processing the property seized from the convoys of Jews that had been destroyed, ie not for the destruction process itself.

[GregSingh]

There seem to be some serious inconsistencies in that story.

To start with "Lublin Catholic University" did not exist in 1942 as it was closed down in October 1939.

It's library was located in the other part of the town and that building was under control of Staatsbibliothek in 1942. It is unlikely any stolen Jewish property was stored there.

Most likely they meant building at Chopinstrasse 27 - Erfassungslager für beschlagnahmtes Feindvermögen - which was under control of SS-Standortverwaltung Lublin.

That building hosts University library today, but DID NOT in 1942. (Move occurred sometime in 1949/50).

From Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team:
"In 1942 the robbing of the Jewish victims was also referred to as “Catholic Action” in some quarters in Lublin because the main depot for the plundered loot was stored in a building that had been erected before the war by the Catholic Action organisation, at 27 Chopin Strasse."

[Sergey Romanov]

HEART is not a credible source for anything.

[history1]

The book by Dieter Pohl "Von der 'Judenpolitik' zum Judenmord" provides some information [...] I will quote the footnote, together with a translation.

94. ..........: eine fruehe Erwaehnung in Schreiben Wippern an "SS-u. Polizeifuehrer - Reinhardt", 6.6.42, Kermisz, "Akcie" i "Wysiedlenia" S. 182; ein Formular gab es spaetestens seit dem 15.6.42, IfZ Fb 95/23, Bl.576[...]

My translation:

....an early mention in a note by Wippern to "SS and Police Leader - Reinhardt", on 6 June 1942, "Akcie" I "Wysiedlenia" p. 182; a formula existed at the latest since 15 June 1942, IfZ Fb 95/23, folio 576. [...]

It´s " Akcje i wysiedlenia, oprac. Józef Kermisz [Łódź 1946]", the second volume in the serial "Dokumenty i materiały do dziejów Żydów w Polsce”.
Translation " Actions and resettlings, editor Józef Kermisz [Łódź 1946]" in "Documents and material to the Jewish history in Poland".

[GregSingh]

HEART is not a credible source for anything.

There are several original documents from the construction of the building before the war, stating ownership, purpose, etc.
A progress report from July 1939 among other things stated that a shell of a conference hall has been completed.