Lodz Ghetto transpots to?

nickterry · Post by **nickterry** » 11 Apr 2006 11:46

This is a selective citation of the Korherr report, robota.

Same section on Arbeitseinsatz contains the entries

3) im Inspekteur-Bereich Posten im Ghetto- und Lager-
einsatz 95 112 hauptsächlich polnische Juden.

4) im Rahmen der Organisation Schmelt (Breslau)
50 570 Juden, davon 42 382 Staatenlose und 8 188
Ausländer.

and earlier, on Jews in ghettos:

2. Das Ghetto Litzmannstadt zählt Anfang 1943
87 180 Juden,
davon 83 133 mit ehem.polnischer Staatsangehörigkeit.

So we have a discrepancy of 7932, who would be the kernel of the labour force in those Zwangsarbeitslager fuer Juden still extant in the Warthegau at the start of 1943. Most such labour camps were actually very small; other sources indicate many 'camps' with just 20 workers.

You can track the numbers of labour camps here: http://www.keom.de/denkmal/auswert.php?tabelle=Zal

There was only one extermination camp that was camouflaged as a 'transit' or 'evacuation' camp in the Warthegau.

To recap:

4. Transportierung von Juden aus den
Ostprovinzen nach dem russischen
Osten: ............................ 1 449 692 "
Es wurden durchgeschleust
durch die Lager im General-
gouvernement..................... 1 274 166 Juden
durch die Lager im Warthegau..... 145 301 Juden

145,301 evacuated + 95,112 still in Arbeitseinsatz = 240,413

In 1942, 18,046 died in the Lodz ghetto alone = 258,459

thus, a discrepancy of 5737 with Golczewski's calculation of 264,196 Jews in the Warthegau as of the start of 1942

To break down Golczewski further:

162,681 inside Lodz ghetto as of 1.1.42

101,515 in surrounding Kreise and Kreishauptstaedte like Kalisz, Kutno, Wieuln, Turek, Sieradz, Leczyca, Lask, Ciechocinek, Gostynin, Wloclawek

Let us run the percentages:

18,046 of 162,681 initial population in Lodz = 11.09% death-rate inside large ghetto

5,737 of 101,515 initial population not in Lodz = 5.6% death-rate inside smaller ghettos

Which, given greater access to black-markets in provincial towns, versus terror methods used during evacuations in smaller towns, makes quite logical sense.

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 11 Apr 2006 14:33

For interested readers who may not be familiar with the subject, see:

The Korherr Report
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=397

michael mills · Post by **michael mills** » 12 Apr 2006 02:38

I would suggest that the use of the plural 'die' is semantic camouflage. There was only one camp in the Warthegau, Chelmno.

One would ideally want a comprehensive chronology of transports, at least in the fashion that is available for the AR camps in Arad, but such a list is not easily available; probably there is a Polish publication which might give such a breakdown. Only by establishing how many communities were deported to Chelmno in the first part of 1943 would one be able to establish a higher death toll.

The smaller Jewish ghettos in the Reichsgau Wartheland, ie all except the Lodz Ghetto, were liquidated in the first half of 1942.

The Jews assessed as fit for labour were resettled in the Lodz Ghetto, where space was created for them by progressively removing the unfit Jews from that location and taking them to the killing centre at Chelmno.

The Jews from the smaller ghettos assessed as unfit for labour were likewise taken to the killing centre at Chelmno.

According to surviving Gestapo documents, about 50% of the Jews from the liquidated smaller ghettos were assessed as fit for labour and 50% as unfit. Applying those percentages to the number of Jews in the smaller Wartheland ghettos as at the beginning of 1942 given by Golczewski, we get just over 50,000 Jews from those locations sent to the Chelmno killing centre during that year. I do not have any data for the percentage of Jews selected from the Lodz Ghetto for killing in 1942.

The killing of unfit Jews at the Chelmno extermination centre took place under an authorisation that Reichsstatthalter Greiser received from Himmler and Heydrich to submit 100,000 Jews of Reichsgau Wartheland to "Sonderbehandlung". That authorisation is known from a letter from Greiser to Himmler at the end of May 1942, in which Greiser refers.

The application from Greiser for the "Sonderbehandlung" of a specified number of defined persons was in accordance with the regulations for "Sonderbehandlung", the techncal term for execution of the death sentence without a foregoing judicial procedure, issued by Heydrich as head of the RSHA in October 1939. According to those regulations, only the head of the RSHA could authorise "Sonderbehandlung", and all applications had to be made to him.

Unfortunately, Greiser's letter does not state when he made the application and when it was granted, but it was most probably in October 1941, at the time of the beginning of the deportation of Reich Jews to the Lodz Ghetto.

It should be borne in mind that Jews fit for labour were sent to various labour camps from the Lodz Ghetto, for example to work on road construction. The number of these was certainly a lot smaller than the number of unfit Jews sent to the Chelmno killing centre. Whether they were captured in Korherr's aggregate figures is something that cannot be known with absolute certainty.

If the 145,301 Jews recorded by Korherr as "durchgeschleust durch die Lager im Warthegau" ("Durchschleusung" was technical term for personnel processing, the reception and discharge of persons into and from an organisation or place; Organisation Todt had a section called "Durchschleusung" which issued discharge certificates) were all sent to the Chelmno killing centre, then their number greatly exceeded the authorised number of 100,000. It may that after Greiser wrote to Himmler at the end of May 1942, he received a second authorisation for the "Sonderbehandlung" of an additional number of Jews.

nickterry · Post by **nickterry** » 12 Apr 2006 09:34

Hey Michael,

long time no see

If the 145,301 Jews recorded by Korherr as "durchgeschleust durch die Lager im Warthegau" ("Durchschleusung" was technical term for personnel processing, the reception and discharge of persons into and from an organisation or place; Organisation Todt had a section called "Durchschleusung" which issued discharge certificates) were all sent to the Chelmno killing centre, then their number greatly exceeded the authorised number of 100,000. It may that after Greiser wrote to Himmler at the end of May 1942, he received a second authorisation for the "Sonderbehandlung" of an additional number of Jews.

Stakhanovite overfulfilment of quotas is always a possibility; equally plausible is that the Warthegau was subjected to the same 'evacuation' of arbeitsunfaehige as elsewhere in occupied Poland; or that the particularist tendencies of Greiser were eventually overridden and the Warthegau incorporated into the Europe-wide program.

The district does share many of the same characteristics as Ostoberschlesien, i.e. a high rate of labour utilisation and a prolonged survival window.

Data for the Lodz ghetto deportations in 1942 is available on the shtetlinks/jewishgen link posted above.