Sonderkommando Lange in German Documents: Euthanasia 1940/41

Mass Killing Unit of Warthegau

Sonderkommando Lange in German Documents:

 Euthanasia 1940/41

Sonderkommando Kulmhof in German Documents:

Part I: Origin and Foundation

Part II: The Extermination of 100,000 Jews

Part III: Body Disposal (Appendix)

Part IV: Pabianice Sorting Camp

Part V: Funding

Part VI: The Polish Working Detail

Part VII: Motor Pool and Fuel (Appendix)

Part VIII: Drinks and Tobacco (With Excursus on the Extermination of the Sinti and Roma)

Part IX: Farewell (1943)

Herbert Lange (source)

Herbert Lange, born 29 September 1909 in Menzlin in the Province of Pomerania, worked as criminal investigator at the Gestapo in Aachen before the war and took part in the Polish Campaign as member of Einsatzgruppe VI, which settled as Security Police headquarters in Poznan ^[1] (click or hover over footnotes to see references). For a short period of time until 16 October 1939, he was commandant of the Übergangslager (transition camp) Fort VII in Poznan ^[2]. Lange became the leader of a special detail (Sonderkommando) founded by and named after him, which specialized in the killing of mentally ill people with poison gas. In late 1941, he moved on to establish Chelmno (Kulmhof) extermination camp to wipe out the Jews of the Warthegau as well. He was replaced in Spring 1942 as commandant of the extermination camp by Hans Bothmann and employed as investigator in the RSHA. He supposedly died during the battle of Berlin at the end of the war.

Fort VII

Fort VII in Poznan; ref. 2, p. 13

The first Nazi gassings of people took place in Fort VII in Poznan in late 1939. Some experiments with the two most promising killing agents hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide may have been tried in casemates of the camp as early as October 1939. What seems like an experimental gassing with hydrogen cyanide soaked pellets (Degesch's "Zyklon") was mentioned en passant by the RSHA driver Wilhelm F. ^[3] :

"Right after the Polish Campaign I was sent with a group of officers to a town in Poland, I do not remember its name. There was a red haired Untersturmführer, who was called Becker as I now recall. This Becker made experiments with poison gas. A number of people were locked in a casemate and gas was introduced into the casemate through venting pipes. I remember exactly how Becker dropped something into the pipes."

"I have seen that Becker fetched a box with cans. He threw them [into the air shafts]."

From November 1939, mentally ill people were systematically killed with carbon monoxide gas in Fort VII ^[4]. Under the command of Lange the inmates of the asylums near Poznan were driven to the camp, locked in casemates and suffocated with carbon monoxide from pressurized steel bottles. The corpses were buried in mass graves in a forest near Oborniki, 30 km North of Poznan. The handling of the corpses was done by Polish prisoners of Fort VII assigned to Sonderkommando Lange, among those Henryk Mania and Henryk Maliczak, who testified on the killings after the war.

Henryk Mania: ^[5]

"The next stage of work under the command of the Sonderkommando Lange was the removal of the mentally ill. These people were brought with vehicles from asylums in Koscian, Dziekanka, Gniezno, Owinska. Patients were first administered an injection to calm them down, and they were then put into one bunker at Fort VII and were euthanized with gas introduced in special cylinders from Berlin. To seal the bunker, all the openings were pasted with clay."

Henryk Maliczak: ^[6]

"We were initially employed in transporting and burying the corpses of the mentally ill. The first victims came from the psychiatric hospital in [Owinska]. They were transported by truck to Fort VII and gassed in a bunker the door and window of which had been hermetically sealed. I saw how members of the camp staff and others, dressed in SS uniforms, observed the gassing through a window in the [door of the] bunker. A special group of approximately ten SS men, not Fort VII personnel, transported the mentally ill from the hospital in [Owinska] and gassed them. This group was commanded by an SS man named Lange [...]. The gassing occurred in this way two or three times over a period of several days. [...] The victims were calm; I suppose they had been tranquillized with injections. Our role in this activity consisted in carrying the corpses of the victims to trucks which transported them to forests near the town of Oborniki. Here we threw the corpses into previously dug pits."

On 12 or 13 December 1939, a demonstration gassing of mentally ill patients was conducted for Nazi leaders in Fort VII as described by Himmler's adjutant Joachim Peiper: ^[7]

"One day in Winter 1939/40 I accompanied Himmler on a trip. In course of this trip there was an Euthanasia action in Posen. The inmates of an asylum near Posen were killed with poison gas. This action took place with a number of invited guests. At that time, I had the impression that the audience should be shown that this was a painless death. The mentally ill were led into prepared casemates, the door of which was furnished with a plexiglas window. The mentally ill entered the casemates singing and laughing. After the doors were closed, the mentally ill were still laughing and conversing, and then they immediately sat down on the straw, and soon laid down under the influence of gas. They did not move any more. This ended the demonstration for the guests."

The method of carbon monoxide bottle gassings was subsequently implemented at the Euthanasia killing site Brandenburg in the Reich.^[8]

Mobile Mass Killing Unit

In January 1940, Lange moved on from the stationary gas chambers in Fort VII to a motorized mobile homicidal gas chamber. The vehicle and its operation was again described by the  Sonderkommando prisoners Mania and Maliczak.

Henryk Mania:^[8b]

"A special vehicle drove the ill near to the dug out pits. It was similiar to a moving van and hermitically closed. The driver's cabin was seperated. The van was lined with metal sheet in the inside I think. I don't remember an enscription. It was painted in dark color on the outside. There were benches inside. The capacity was corresponding to two trucks, so 50 to 60 persons, perhaps some more. The prisoners had to place the container next to the vehicle and they were connected with a hose (maybe two). The hose ended inside the vehicle under the bench. The container was operated by a SS man, who opened the valve. After 30 min the same SS man opened the back door of the  vehicle and ordered us to throw out the corpses."

According to this description referring to an early action, the gas bottle was either not yet mounted at the vehicle or empty, and it was more convenient just to place gas bottles next to the vehicle.

Henryk Maliczak: ^[9]

"This van was prepared especially for this purpose on the yard of the Soldier's Home (Gestapo in Poznan). 4 prisoners from our group...had to line the interior of the van with plywood. There was a gas bottle connected to the van, which was was opened when the van was loaded with the ill."

"The ill were brought to forest with a truck and sent into the moving van. Two full loads of a truck fit into the moving van. As soon as the moving van was filled, the gas bottles were opened. After 20 minutes, the vehicle drove to the pits, in which the corpses were thrown by the prisoners."

It seems that the Fort VII prisoners only reinforced the interior, but that the gassing mechanism as such was already in place. It stands to reason that August Becker, the red-haired gassing specialist mentioned by Wilhelm F. above performing the gassing experiment at Fort VII and who was also in charge of the technical issues of the Euthanasia gassings as well as the Kriminaltechnisches Institut der Sicherheitspolizei (Criminal Technical Institute of the Security Police) of the Reichskriminalhauptamt (RKPA) through which also the carbon monoxide bottles for the Euthanasia were ordered (see Contemporary German Documents on Carbon Monoxide Gas and Bottles Employed for the Nazi Euthanasia) were involved in construction and supply of the gassing device.

A tentative piece of evidence on the origin of the gas van is provided by the testimony of Gustav S., Arbeitsdienstführer of concentration camp Sachsenhausen, who testified that a gas van constructed in Sachsenhausen was sent to Stralsund in 1938 to kill mentally ill people (however, as far as it is known, the killings were made by the SS-Sturmbann Eimann in late 1939 by shooting ^[10]). According to Gustav S. gas vans were also sent to the "Umsiedlungsstab" (resettlement staff) and the "Bataillon Sauer" in Poznan until about June 1940 ^[11], which is a reference to the Umwandererzentralstelle (Central Emigration Office) in Poznan and its official Albert Sauer. As pointed out by historian Götz Aly, there was a close connection between the settlement of ethnic Germans from the Baltics and killing of mentally ill patients by SS-Sturmbann Eimann in Pomerania and West-Prussia and Sonderkommando Lange in the Wartheland in September 1939 - April 1940 ^[12]. There is no corroborative evidence for the construction of these gas vans in Sachsenhausen though (this is not to be confused with the much later experimental use of homicidal gas vans operating with engine exhaust in Autumn 1941 in Sachsenhausen).

"Kaiser's-Kaffee-Geschäft"

Exemplary Kaiser's-Kaffee-Geschäft 
trailer (source)

Albert Widmann of the Criminal Technical Institute testified that "I knew that Kaiser's Kaffee transport vehicles with carbon monoxide bottles were used in the East" ^[13]. The RKPA driver Alfred B. observed a "vehicle with a box with the inscription 'Kaisers Kaffegeschäft' in Poznan, and the vehicle was supposed to be a gassing van" ^[14]. According to Erich W. of the Gestapo Posen "I once saw on the yard of our Stapo building a closed truck of the company Kaiser...a member of our office told me the vehicle belonged to the Sonderkommando [Lange]" ^[15].

Several other witnesses of cleared asylums, which are cited further below - Hans-Hermann Renfranz, Gwidon L., Szczepan B., Bogdan O. -, recalled that the sides of the vehicle brought by the SS Sonderkommando bore the inscription "Kaiser's-Kaffee-Geschäft" (without or without the possessive suffix).

Kaiser's-Kaffee-Geschäft was one of the leading shop sellers of so-called colonial goods at the time. Hence, it appears that Lange obtained a trailer from the company and that the inscription was kept for camouflage reasons or only poorly painted over.

Some authors suppose that Sonderkommando Lange had two or three different gas vans ^[16]. Multiple gas vans are tentatively supported by the testimonies of Gustav S. and Albert Widmann, but the absence of eyewitnesses sightings of more than one gas van simultaneously at the various asylums sheds doubt on this interpretation.


What follows is not an exhaustive overview of the Euthanasia killings by Sonderkommando Lange, but it is limited to those on which the sources on the use of a gas van could be examined. For further actions see Volker Rieß, Die Anfänge der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens in Danzig und Wartheland 1939/40 (1995) & Patrick Montague, Chelmno and the Holocaust (2012).

Kosten

Lange's mobile gassing unit was reliably seen upon the clearing of the asylum in Kosten (Koscian) in mid-January 1940. The clearance of the facility is shown by contemporary German documents, such as a report entitled "take-over of the Provincial Asylum Koscian by the Wehrmacht" of 24 January 1940, where it reads that "it was ascertained that all buildings except for two in the old part of the asylum have been made available on the due date. The latter [two buildings] will be temporarily used for accommodating patient transports from Lauenberg and Treptow" ^[17].

According to the German male nurse Wilhelm H., the SS commando loaded the mentally ill - first the Kosten patients and after this clearing also those who had arrived since then from Lauenberg - on a vehicle "similar to a furniture truck, drawn by a tractor" and it was rumoured "that the engine exhaust is directed into the truck" ^[18]. The asylum doctor Gwidon L. remembered that "a pipe was mounted from the inside to the engine" ^[19]. The Polish male nurse Szczepan B. made the crucial observation that "the big vehicle was sheet metal plated without windows and a big iron door in the back. Below the vehicle it was mounted a container with pipes into the inside of the vehicle" ^[20].

Kochanowka

The State Psychiatric hospital Kochanowka near Lodz was cleared in March 1940 ^[20b]. The testimony of Waclaw Berlowski on the alleged repair carried out by him, and the connection to the engine is dubious, as pointed out by the historian Patrick Montague. More convincing is the testimony of the Sonderkommando prisoner Henryk Mania that "[t]hey were loaded onto trucks which transported them under armed SS escort to the forest. [...] We were ordered to take the patients from the truck to the dugout in which they were gassed. I believe gas from a cylinder was used, but I can't remember how it was introduced into the interior".

Warta

In March/April 1940, mentally ill people were killed with the gas van at the asylum in Warta. The asylum director Hans-Hermann Renfranz described the action as follows: ^[21]

"It was a vehicle with a tractor, the vehicle was jacked up to it. It was a grey vehicle. Each time the commando forced 60 patients into it and transported them away. The Kommando was a few days in Warta. I estimate that more than 200 patients were transported away. They told me that the patients are brought into the General Gouvernement....The time between the individual trips was not enough to travel to the General Gouvernement."

"I learnt from a member of the commando that the patients had been gassed. He had approached me as doctor, because he became crazy. He told me that he is hearing the sound of the gas all the time. It was the person who closed and opened the gas valve."

East-Prussia/Soldau

The unit was so successful with its clearings of asylums in the Warthegau that the Higher SS and Police Leader of East Prussia Wilhelm Rediess requested the men to liquidate asylums in his province as well.  From 21 May to 8 June 1940, Sonderkommando Lange "evacuated" 1,558 "burdensome persons" plus 250 to 300 mentally ill people from annexed Zichenau, who had been deported for that purpose to the so-called Durchgangslager Soldau (Dzialdowo). The Higher SS and Police Leader of the Warthegau Wilhelm Koppe charged the operation of Sonderkommando Lange with 10 RM per person and demanded 15,580 RM from his counterpart in East-Prussia (documents 2, 4 and 5).

These mentally ill people were not transited through Soldau but killed at the spot as it is borne out by the files of the later SS internal investigation against the Soldau commandant Hans Krause. According to the interrogation protocol of Friedrich Schlegel of the Inspecteur of the Security Police and SD in East Prussia of 3 June 1943, Soldau was established as camp for the "liquidation of these persons [Polish intelligentsia]" and "the mentally ill prisoners, who had been sent on special order, were liquidated by a special Kommando of the Inspector of Posen, under the constant supervision of SS-Obergruppenführer Redies[s]" (document 11). His superior Otto Rasch confirmed in his interrogation of 16 June 1943 that "in the winter, 1939/40, I had established the Soldau transit camp especially for the purpose of carrying out unostentatiously the liquidations [of Polish intelligentsia]" and that "insane persons were transferred to the camp on special order and shot" (document 12).

Along shooting, as mentioned by Rasch, one may suppose that Sonderkommando Lange also employed its special technique to kill the victims. According to the Soldau resident (?) Kurt H., the victims were brought away with a closed truck bearing the inscription "Kaisers Kaffee Geschäft" ^[30]. The Sonderkommando prisoner Henryk Mania confirmed the use of the gas van in Soldau: ^[30b]

"We dug pits in the forest that could be reached by crossing a small river near Dzialdowo. [...] I believe the patients had been taken from the hospitals to the camp in Dzialdowo, from where they were transported the next day to the execution site in the forest. Here the patients were led to the special vehicle and gassed. If I remember correctly, gas cylinders were also used in this instance."

Following the killing of the mentally ill people from East-Prussia, Sonderkommando Lange celebrated a "farewell and comrade's evening" in Soldau with the Higher SS and Police Leader Wilhelm Rediess, who donated small boxes made of amber with dedication of the Gauleiter of East-Prussia Erich Koch to the members of the Sonderkommando (document 1 on Wendelin Seith; Lange is known to have received such gift from Koch, too ^[29]).

The Netherlands

Around the turn of 1940/41, the Sonderkommando could recover from its murderous activity and was sent to the Netherlands "as requested by its men. I know that the Reichsführer-SS has placed particular emphasis on the care of these men assigned to this burdensome task" as the Higher SS and Police Leader Rediess wrote towards Himmler's adjutant Karl Wolff in October 1940 (document 3). Their stay in the Netherlands cost more than 3000 RM (document 5).

Srem

Another killing site of the mobile gas chamber was the asylum in Srem in June 1941. According to its clerk, Antoni H. the patients were loaded on a "big hermetically closed trailer made of steel. Some pipes were running from the tractor mounted with a big container, probably for the gas, to the trailer" ^[22]. The location of the "container" at the tractor explains why some witnesses assumed that engine exhaust was directed through the pipes.

Tiegenhof

In June/July 1941, the gassing vehicle was spotted at Tiegenhof in Gnesen (Dziekanka in Gniezno) (note that the earlier victims in December 1939 and January 1940 were gassed at Fort VII or driven to the gas van, respectively ^[23]).

The Polish male nurse of the asylum Bogdan O. testified on an "entirely closed vehicle...with a tractor...the pipe from the engine to the box caught our attention" ^[24]. The gas van was also mentioned by several German nurses:

• Maria L.: "a big vehicle with the SS men mentioned arrived...drawn by a small tractor. The vehicle was kind of a small furniture van" ^[25].

• Klara W.: "a kind of furniture van without windows, but small roof lights. This vehicle had a small trailer with a hose connected to the big van...inside the vehicle, there were benches where we placed the ill people. There was some straw on the floor...The SS men closed the double doors and left the asylum" ^[26] (note the opposite arrangement of the vehicle as described by other witnesses).

• Gertrud W.: the patients "were picked up with a big vehicle, inside it was dark, because there were no windows" ^[27].

The local SD man Georg U. noticed "a vehicle which appeared to me like a moving van" and was told from the asylum head that the ill were to be picked up by a "Kriminalkommissar...Lange or Langer" ^[28].

Baranoviche/Minsk

On 16 August 1941, Sonderkommando Lange was requested by the Higher Police and SS Leader Center Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski to his headquarter in Baranoviche in White Ruthenia (document 6). His follow-up message of 18 August 1941 "to get a personal demonstration of the L[ange]'s procedure...when he becomes available" (order of sentences reversed) suggests that the unit was busy at the time (document 7), possibly with killing uncurable Jews in the Warthegau ^[30b].

The day earlier, on 15 August 1941, Himmler attended a show shooting in Minsk and the visit the Novinki asylum near Minsk ^[31]. According to von dem Bach-Zelewski, Himmler ordered to clear the facility using a more human method than shooting^[32]. In the light of the intercepted radio messages and that Himmler had to approve the actions of Lange (see next section), it seems plausible that von dem Bach-Zewelski, Himmler and the Einsatzgruppen B and RKPA head Arthur Nebe had discussed in Minsk the use of Sonderkommando Lange.

In mid-September 1941, Nebe called his expert on explosives and toxicology Albert Widmann from the Criminal Technical Institute of the RKPA to apply explosive and engine exhaust on mentally ill people in Minsk and Mogilev, respectively (see also German Footage of a Homicidal Gassing with Engine Exhaust. Part 4: Responsibility (II)). A similar gassing with engine exhaust in a provisional stationary gas chamber - as done by Widmann's team in Mogilev - was also carried out around the same time in the Novinki asylum near Minsk visited by Himmler the month earlier ^[33]. Although it stands to reason that Widmann's team performed the gassing in Minsk as well, none of the participants testifying on the Mogilev experiment mentioned another such action in Minsk. Therefore, it cannot be entirely excluded that Sonderkommando Lange has to be accounted for the Minsk gassing.

Novgorod

Extract from EG A report, ref. 35

The next known and perhaps last action to kill (non-Jewish) mentally ill people by Sonderkommando Lange was requested in October 1941 on advice of the Euthanasia official Hans Hefelmann by the senior physician Freyberg of the Army High Command for three asylums near Novgorod in Russia (cf. Gassing of Mental Patients by Sonderkommando Lange in Novgorod).

On 21 September 1941, the Quartermaster in General Eduard Wagner talked about the "policy towards inmates of asylums in the occupied territories", on 26 September 1941 about "mental institutions [in the sector of the Army Group] North. Russians regard the feeble-minded as holy. Killing nevertheless necessary" and on 1 October 1941 on the "Novgorod mental institutions" ^[34]. As Einsatzgruppe A rejected to carry out "clearings" of asylums merely "needed as quarters" by the army ^[35], Freyberg requested Koppe on 3 October 1941 "to sent Sonderkommando Lange with suitable repair [means: apparatus] for the clearing of three of their asylums near Novgorod" with a JU 52 provided by the army (document 8 and 9). Himmler granted the request and ordered that "the Sonderkommando is to be sent immediately" (document 10).

It is unclear whether Sonderkommando Lange actually ended up in Novgorod and if so, how the killings were made. The limited capacity of a JU 52 renders it unlikely that a gas van was supposed to be sent to Novgorod, while the reference to "suitable apparatus" suggests a more sophisticated killing than shooting the patients. They were quite possibly meant to bring carbon monoxide bottles and pipes to prepare provisional gas chambers in the asylums near Novgorod.

Who?

The deputy head of the Gestapo in Poznan since March 1940 and Lange's tennis partner Alfred T. admitted that Lange was a part-time mass killer, who "travelled with his Sonderkommando and the gas van in the Warthegau in the second half of 1940 and probably also in 1941 to exterminate people", but denied that his employer was anyhow involved in Lange's special work in the field and that in "[a] letter from Gruppenführer Müller (as secret state affair) it was said that the chain of order goes from Sonderkommando Lange via the RSHA to the chief of the Security Police" ^[36]. The German documents indicate that Sonderkommando Lange was subordinated to the Higher SS and Police Leader of the Warthegau Wilhelm Koppe (documents 2, 4-10), who requested the permission for its operation directly from the Reichsführer-SS Himmler, in contrast to Koppe's vehement post-war denial of his own responsibility ^[37] only admitting some economic support to explain away documents 2, 4 and 5.

The actual members of Sonderkommando Lange have remained mostly unknown. Other than Lange himself only Wendelin Seith from the Gestapo Samter has been definitely identified so far (documents 1 and 14). The historian Michael Alberti has compiled a pool of 15 candidates from the Security Polices Poznan and Lodz based on their appearance on a proposal list for the war merit cross II of 20 January 1942, which features two members (Lohr and Plate) of the stationary Sonderkommando Kulmhof who Lange might have taken with him from his earlier mobile commando ^[38]. Future research might lead to further identification of the members of this mass murder unit.

Literature on Sonderkommando Lange

• Ernst Klee, "Euthanasie" im NS-Staat (2009, first edition 1983)

• Mathias Beer, Die Entwicklung der Gaswagen beim Mord an den Juden, Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 35 (1987), 3 (English translation)

• Zdzislaw Jaroszewski (ed.), Die Ermordung der Geisteskranken in Polen (1993)

• Volker Rieß, Die Anfänge der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens in Danzig und Wartheland 1939/40 (1995)

• Michael Alberti, Die Verfolgung und Vernichtung der Juden im Reichsgau Warthegau 1939 - 1945 (2006)

• Topp et al., Die Provinz Ostpreußen und die nationalsozialistische "Euthanasie" SS-"Aktion Lange" und "Aktion T4", Medizinhistorisches Journal, 43 (2008)

• Patrick Montague, Chelmno and the Holocaust (2012)

• Friedrich Leidinger, Das Schicksal der polnischen Psychiatrie unter deutscher Besatzung im Zweiten Weltkrieg, Psychatrische Praxis, 41 (2014), Supplement 1

• Enno Schwanke, Die Landesheil- und Pflegeanstalt Tiegenhof (2015)

Footnotes

^[1] Mallmann, Einsatzgruppen in Polen, p.28

^[2] Letter of Hans Weibrecht to Helmut Bischoff of 6 December 1939, quoted in Olszewski, Fort VII w Poznaniu, p. 21

^[3] Interrogation of Wilhelm F. of 29 September 1967, BArch B 162/18154, p. 77, cf. Rieß, Die Anfänge der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens in Danzig und Wartheland, p. 297 and cross examination of Wilhelm F. of 30 December 1968, BArch B 162/17919, p. 98; on the date early October 1939 see also Rieß, p. 298ff

^[4] Rieß, Die Anfänge der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens in Danzig und Wartheland, p. 305

^[5] Interview of Mania of 27 August 1962, Pawlicka-Nowak, Swiadectwa Zaglady, p. 114 ff.; see also another testimony of Mania of 1967 quoted in Montague, Chelmno and the Holocaust, p. 19f.

^[6] Testimony of Henryk Maliczak of 1967, quoted from Montague, Chelmno and the Holocaust, p. 20

^[7] Interrogation of Peiper of 2 September 1970, quoted in Westermeier, Himmlers Krieger, p. 152f., citing BArch B 162/16661; on the date see Rieß, Die Anfänge der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens in Danzig und Wartheland 1939/40 p. 306f.

^[8] Klee, Euthanasie im NS-Staat, p. 109f.

^[8b] Rieß, Die Anfänge der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens in Danzig und Wartheland, p. 342

^[9] Schwanke, Die Landesheil und Pflegeanstalt Tiegenhof, p. 75, citing BArch B 162/43459, p. 125

^[10] Grasberger, Der Totenwald, DIE ZEIT Nr. 4/2011)

^[11] Interrogation of Gustav S. 7 March 1962, BArch B 162/5066, p. 278

^[12] Aly, "Endlösung". Völkerverschiebung und der Mord an den europäischen Juden, p. 114 - 126

^[13] Interrogation of Albert Widmann of 15 January 1960, BArch B 162/5066, p. 139

^[14] Interrogation of Alfred B. 3 March 1961, BArch B 162/4339, p.72

^[15] Interrogation of Erich W. of 2 January 1962, BArch B 162/3249, p. 76

^[16] Schwanke, Die Landesheil und Pflegeanstalt Tiegenhof, p. 57, citing BArch B 162/43459, and Rieß, Die Anfänge der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens in Danzig und Wartheland, p. 318

^[17] BArch B162/15604, p. 78

^[18] Interrogation of Wilhelm H. of 25 September 1962, BArch B 162/15611, p. 64f.

^[19] Report of Gwidon L. of November 1945, BArch B 162/15604, p.57f.

^[20] Interrogation of Szczepan B. of 20 August 1945, BArch B162/15604, p. 65 f.

^[20b] Montague, Chelmno and the Holocaust, p. 25ff.

^[21] Interrogation of Hans-Hermann Renfranz of 10 October 1962, BArch B 162/15612, p. 19, cf, Refranz, Weil der Vater das Sagen hatte..., p. 66

^[22] Interrogation of Antoni H. of 22 September 1945, BArch B 162/15603, p. 13

^[23] Schwanke, Die Landesheil- und Pflegeanstalt Tiegenhof, p. 71-77; Rieß, Die Anfänge der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens in Danzig und Wartheland, p. 311-323

^[24] Interrogation of Bogdan O. 21 June 1971, BArch B 162/17388, p. 2074f.

^[25] Interrogation of Maria L. 24 September 1962, BArch B 162/15611, p. 151

^[26] Interrogation of Klara W. of 26 September 1962, in Schwanke, Die Landesheil und Pflegeanstalt Tiegenhof, p. 86, citing BArch B l62/17402, p. 3952

^[27] Interrogation of Gertrud W. of 24 April 1963, BArch B 162/15612, p. 152

^[28] Schwanke, Die Landesheil- und Pflegeanstalt Tiegenhof, p. 84, citing BArch B 162/17401

^[29] Interrogation of Alfred T. of 15 May 1961, BArch B 162/15612, p.116

^[30] Interrogation of Kurt H. of 17 March 1964, summarized in BArch B 162/27213, p. 43, cited with archivial reference in Topp et al., Die Provinz Ostpreußen und die nationalsozialistische "Euthanasie", p. 21

^[30b] Montague, Chelmno and the Holocaust, p. 29

^[30b] Alberti, Die Verfolgung und Vernichtung der Juden im Reichsgau Warthegau, p. 369f.

^[31] Der Dienstkalender Heinrich Himmlers, p. 195

^[32] YVA, O.18/90, p. 55, see also Aufbau, volume 12, issue 34, p. 2

^[33] Examination of N.N. Akimowa of 18 November 1946, quoted in Aly, Aussonderung und Tod, p. 88 f.

^[34] Jacobsen (ed.), Generaloberst Halder. Kriegstagebuch, volume 3, p. 243, 252, 262 (English: War Journal of Franz Halder, volume VII, p. 115, 124, 133); cf. Kilian, Wehrmacht und Besatzungsherrschaft im Russischen Nordwesten 1941 - 1944, p. 502; see also the related testimony of the army pastor Bernhard Bauerle in Pöpping, Kriegspfarrer an der Ostfront, p. 164

^[35] 1st Stahlecker report for the period up to 15 October 1941, RGVA, 500/4/93, p. 37, online available here via USHMM

^[36] Interrogation of Alfred T. of 15 May 1961, BArch B 162/15612, p. 117

^[37] Interrogation of Koppe of 2 February 1960, BArch B 162/3243, p. 143- 150

^[38] Alberti, Die Verfolgung und Vernichtung der Juden im Reichsgau Warthegau, p. 330

Contemporary German Documents

1.) Letter of Wendelin Seith to Wilhelm Rediess of 18 September 1940:

DOCUMENT

TRANSCRIPTION

Samter, den 18. September 1940

SS-Oscha. W. Seith

Samter/Warthegau

Gestapo.

An 

SS-Gruppenführer Redies[sic!]

Königsberg/Ostpr.

Betrifft: Sonderkommando Lange

Nach vielen Hindernissen erreichte mich nunmehr Ihr "als persönliches Andenken an Ostpreussen" gedachtes Bernsteinkästchen mit der Widmung des Gauleiters. Meine Freude darüber ist sehr gross, weil mir dieses Geschenk ausser dem unvergesslichen Kameradschafts- und Abschiedsabend in Soldau die einzige Anerkennung unseres Einsatzes ist und Sie nur einen Bruchteil desselben erlebten.

Der Einsatz wäre keiner gewesen, wenn er um einen Vorteils willen von uns geleistet worden wäre und dennoch wurde ich auf eine harte Probe gestellt als ich in Posen um 30 Tage (72 stehen zu i.Jhr.) bat und mir mit Entlassung gedroht wurde, falls ich auf den Urlaubsanspruch bestehen bleibe.

Sie werden verstehen, dass unter diesen Umständen Ihr Geschenk schon alleine des Gedankens willen mich doppelt freut.

Mein Dank soll es sein, dass ich auch weiterhin mehr als meine Pflicht tun werde.

Heil Hitler!
[Unterschrift]

Krim. Angestellter (Kraftfhr.)

TRANSLATION

Samter, 18 September 1940

SS-Oscha. W. Seith
Samter/Warthegau
Gestapo.

To
SS-Gruppenführer Redies [sic!]
Königsberg/East Prussia.

Subject: Sonderkommando Lange

After many obstacles, I have now received your small box of amber with the dedication of the Gauleiter meant as "little memory of East Prussia". My joy is very great, because this gift is the only acknowledgment of our mission, apart from the unforgettable farewell evening with the comrades, of which you have experienced only a fraction.

The mission would have been none if it had been done by us for the sake of an advantage, and yet I was put to a hard trial when I asked in Posen for 30 days (72 have to be granted per year) and I was threatened with dismissal, if I insist on my holiday claim.

You will understand that your gift makes me twice as happy under these circumstances.

My thanks will be that I will continue to do more than my duty.

Heil Hitler!
[signature]
Krim. Angestellter (driver)

(NARA/T175/R60, cf. BArch B 162/601, unpaginated)

2.) Letter of Wilhelm Koppe to Jakob Sporrenberg of 18 October 1940:

DOCUMENT

TRANSCRIPTION

Der Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer beim Reichsstatthalter in Posen im Wehrkreis XXI 

Posen, den 18. Oktober 1940 

L/Ho

Geheime Reichssache! 

An den Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer Nordost 

SS-Gruppenführer Sporrenberg

Königsberg

Betrifft: Kosten des Sonderkommandos Lange

Das mir für besondere Aufgaben unterstellte sogenannte Sonderkommando Lange war in der Zeit vom 21.5. bis 8.6.1940 gemäß der mit dem Reichssicherheitshauptamt getroffenen Absprache nach Soldau in Ostpreussen abkommandiert und hat während dieser Zeit vom Durchgangslager Soldau aus 1 558 Kranke evakuiert. 

Ich habe von hier aus mit SS-Gruppenführer Rediess damals vereinbart, dass für die Evakuierung eines jeden Kranken von dort ein Betrag von RM 10.- zu zahlen sei. Es würde sich demnach um eine Summe von RM 15 580.- handeln, die gemäß der getroffenen Absprache auf das Konto des SS-Oberabschnitts Warthe überwiesen werden sollte. 

Der Führer des Sonderkommandos Lange, Krim.-Kommissar Lange, hat nach seiner Mitteilung bei Beginn seiner Tätigkeit in Soldau von dem Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD in Königsberg, SS-Oberführer Dr. Rasch zur Bestreitung seiner laufenden Ausgaben einen Vorschuss von RM 2000,- genommen.

Ich darf daher bitten, diesen Betrag von RM 2 000.- unmittelbar an den Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD in Königsberg zu erstatten und den Restbetrag von RM 13 580.- an den SS-Oberabschnitt Warte zu überwiesen.

Der Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer

[Unterschrift]

SS-Gruppenführer

Der Höhere SS- und Polizei-Führer

beim Oberpräsidenen von Ostpreußen im Wehrkreis I. 

Königsberg (Pr), den 30. Oktober 1940

Tgb.Nr. A 60/40 - GRs.

Urschriftlich 

dem Höheren SS- und Polizei-Führer Nord 

SS-Gruppenführer Redieß 

in Oslo

mit der Bitte um Äußerung und Rückgabe übersandt. 

Heil Hitler! 

[Unterschrift]
SS-Gruppenführer

 

TRANSLATION

The Higher SS- and Police Leader with the Reich Gouvernor in Posen in the corps area XXI

Posen, 18 Oktober 1940 

L/Ho

Secret State Affair!

To the Higher SS and Police Leader Nordost

SS-Gruppenführer Sporrenberg

Königsberg

Subject: Costs of Sonderkommando Lange

The so called Sonderkommando Lange, which has been put under my command for special tasks, was ordered to Soldau in East Prussia from 21 May to 8 June 1940, according to the agreement made with the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, and during that time evacuated 1,558 patients from the Soldau transit camp.

At that time I arranged with SS-Gruppenführer Rediess that an amount of RM 10.- would have to be paid for the evacuation of each patient. There would, therefore be a sum of RM 15,480 to be paid into the account of the SS Oberabschnitt Warthe, according to the agreement.

The leader of the Sonderkommando Lange, Kriminalkommissar Lange, according to his statement, at the beginning of his duty in Soldau received an advance of RM 2,000.- from the Inspekteur of the Security Police and the SD in Königsberg, SS-Oberführer Rasch, in order to defray his current expenses.

May I, therefore, ask that this amount of RM 2,000.- be refunded directly to the Inspekteur of the Security Police and the SD in Königsberg and that the remaining amount of RM 13,580.- be paid to the SS Oberabschnitt Warthe as soon as possible.

The Higher SS and Police Leader
[signature]
SS-Gruppenführer

The Higher SS and Police Leader
with the Oberpräsident of East Prussia
in the corps area I

Königsberg (Prussia),
30 October 1940

Journal no. A/69/40 - Secret state affair

Original
to the Higher SS and Police Leader North
SS-Gruppenführer Rediess
in Oslo
please comment and return.

Heil Hitler!
[signature]
SS-Gruppenführer

 

(NARA/T175/R60, cf. BArch B 162/616, unpaginated; translation based on NO-2908

3.) Letter of Wilhelm Rediess to Karl Wolff of 22 October 1940:

DOCUMENT

TRANSCRIPTION

Auszug aus einem Brief des SS-Gruppenführers Rediess an SS-Obergruppenführer Wolff vom 22.10.1940 betr. Pferdesport und Pferdezucht (Das Schreiben ist an Jüttner weitergegeben)

Betr. Sonderkommando Lange

...In der Angelegenheit Sonderkomando Lange teiltest du mir s. Zt. mit, dass das Kommando dem Wunsche der Männer entsprechend in Holland eingesetzt wird. Ich weiss, dass der Reichsführer-SS auf die Betreuung der mit diesem schweren Auftrag betrauten Männer sehr grosses Gewicht legt.

TRANSLATION

Extract of a letter of SS-Gruppenfürer Rediess to SS-Obergruppenführer Wolff of 22 October 1940 concerning horse racing and horse breeding (the letter was passed on to Jüttner)

Subject: Sonderkommando Lange

...In the matter of Sonderkommando Lange you have told me on its day that the detachment will be deployed to Holland as requested by its men. I know that the Reichsführer-SS has placed particular emphasis on the care of these men assigned to this burdensome task.

 

(NARA/T175/R60, cf. BArch B 162/601, unpaginated)

4.) Letter of Wilhelm Rediess to Karl Wolff of 7 November 1940:

DOCUMENTS

TRANSCRIPTION

Oslo, den 7. November 1940

Der Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer
beim Reichskommissar für die besetzten
norwegischen Gebiete

Tgb.Nr. 38/40 - g.Rs.-

[GEHEIME REICHSSACHE]

An den
Chef des persönlichen Stabes Reichsführer-SS
- SS-Gruppenführer Wolff -

Berlin SW 11
Prinz-Albrecht-Str. 9

Lieber Wolff!

Beigefügt überreiche ich dir eine Forderung des SS-Gruppenführers Koppe - gerichtet an den Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer Nordost  - SS-Gruppenführer Sporrenberg -, die dieser mir zur Rückäusserung übersandt hat.

Es handelt sich dabei wie aus dem betreffenden Schreiben des Gruppenführers Koppe ersichtlich, um die Evakuierung von 1 558 Anstaltsinsassen der Ostpreussischen Provinzial-Anstalten. Hierzu kommen meines Wissens noch etwa 250 bis 300 Irre (Polen) aus dem Ostpreussen angegliederten Gebiet Zichenau.

Ich hatte in fraglicher Zeit gelegentlich eines Informationsbesuches bei SS-Gruppenführer Koppe - nach Einholung der Genehmigung des Reichsführers-SS - um zur Verfügungstellung des Kommandos Lange gebeten. In diesem Zusammenhang hatte Gruppenführer Koppe die Gegenleistung von RM 10.- für jeden Kranken erwähnt. Ich konnte diese Forderung nicht ernst nehmen, da die Einzahlung des Betrages auf Konto des SS-Oberabschnitts Warthe erbeten war.

Ich habe die Angelegenheit stets als eine im Interesse des Reiches liegende betrachtet, umsomehr als durch Absprache zwischen mir und dem Oberpräsidenten in Ostpreussen zum Ziel gesetzt war, die Anstalt Wehlau als Unterkunft der Waffen-SS zu erhalten und die Überlassung dieser Anstalt gewissermaßen als Gegenleistung der Provinzial-Verwaltung gelten sollte.

Der SS-Oberabschnitt Nordost und der Höhere SS- und Pol.-Führer Nordost hatten aus dieser Aktion keinerlei weitere Forderung an die Provinzial-Verwaltung gestellt.
Wenn der Reichsführer-SS im Sinne der Zuschrift des Gruppenführers Koppe entschieden hat, müsste die Forderung an die Provinzial-Verwaltung Ostpreussen gerichtet werden.

Der Vorschuss, den der Kriminal-Kommmissar Lange vom Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD - SS-Oberführer Dr. Rasch - erhielt, wurde meines Wissens aus Reichsmitteln entnommen. Schon dadurch erhielt die Angelegenheit für mich das Ansehen eines Reichsauftrages.

Wegen der Eigenartigkeit der Forderung, insbesondere mit Rücksicht auf die schwierige Postzustellung mit Norwegen leite ich die Angelegenheit über Dich, mit der Bitte, erforderlichenfalls die Entscheidung des Reichsführers-SS herbeizuführen und den Entscheid dem SS-Oberabschnitt Nordost zuleiten zu wollen.

Für Deine Bemühungen recht herzlichen Dank.

Heil Hitler!

Dein
[Unterschrift]
SS-Gruppenführer

TRANSLATION

Oslo, 7 November 1940

The Higher SS and Police Leader
with the Reichskommissar of the occupied Norwegian areas

Journal no. 38/40 - secret state affair

[SECRET STATE AFFAIR]

To the Chief of the personal staff Reichsführer-SS
- SS-Gruppenführer Wolff -

Berlin SW 11

Prinz-Albrecht-Str. 9

Dear Wolff!

I submit to you a demand of the SS-Gruppenführer Koppe - addressed to the Higher SS and Police Leader Northeast - SS-Gruppenführer Sporrenberg -, which he has sent me to reply.

As can be seen from the letter by SS-Gruppenführer Koppe, this is about the evacuation of 1,558 prisoners of the East Prussian provincial asylums. As far I know,  one has to add 250 to 300 mentally ill (Poles) from the East Prussian region of Zichenau.

At the time, I requested upon a visit to SS-Gruppenführer Koppe - after obtaining the permission from the Reichsführer-SS - that the Kommando Lange is made available to me. In this context, Gruppenführer Koppe had mentioned the consideration of RM 10.- for each patient. I could not take this demand seriously, as it was asked to make the payment to the account of the SS Main Section of Warthe.

I have always regarded the matter as in the interest of the Reich, even more so because by agreement between myself and the Oberpräsident of East Prussia it was meant to preserve the asylum Wehlau as an accommodation of the Waffen-SS, and providing this asylum as consideration to the Provincial administration. The SS Main Sector Northeast and the Higher SS and Police Leader Northeast had made no further demands to the provincial administration from this action.

If the Reichsführer-SS has decided in the sense of the letter of the Gruppenführer Koppe, the demand needs to be addressed to the provincial administration of East Prussia.

As far as I know, the advance payment to Kriminalkommissar Lange by the Inspecteur of the Security Police and of the SS - SS-Oberführer Dr. Rasch - was taken from means of the Reich. Already because of this, I had the view that the matter was an order of the Reich. Because of the peculiarity of the demand, especially with respect to the difficulty with delivering mail in Norway, I am going to sent the matter through you, with the request to get the decision of the Reichsführer SS, and if necessary to pass on the decision to the SS Main Sector Northeast.

Thank you very much for your efforts.

Heil Hitler!

Your
[signature]
SS-Gruppenführer

(NARA/T175/R60, cf. BArch B 162/616, unpaginated)


5.) Letter of Wilhelm Koppe to Karl Wolff of 22 February 1941:

DOCUMENT

TRANSCRIPTION

Posen, den 22. Februar 1941

Der Höhere SS u. Polizeiführer
beim Reichsstatthalter in Posen
im Wehrkreis XXI

[Eilt! Tel mit Obf. Brack]

L/Ho

An den
Chef des Persönlichen Stabes des Reichsführer-SS
SS-Gruppenführer Wolff

Berlin SW 11
Prinz-Albrecht-Str. 8

Im Juni 1940 habe ich dem Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer Nordost 1 558 lästige Personen zwecks anderweitiger Unterbringung abgenommen. Zur Durchführung dieser mit dem Gruppenführer Rediess getroffenen Vereinbarung war es erforderlich, dass ein Kommando meiner Dienststelle sich 17 Tage in Ostpreussen aufhielt.

Mein Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, SS-Standartenführer Damzog, vereinbarte mit dem Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD in Königsberg, SS-Brigadeführer Rasch, für Transportkosten und sonstige Unkosten für jede abzutransportierende Person RM 10.-. Soweit mir bekannt ist, hat sich der Gauleiter Koch bereit erklärt, sämtliche Unkosten aus diesem Auftrag zu übernehmen. Der in Frage kommende Betrag wird aber sicherlich bereits lange im Besitz des Höheren SS- und Polizeiführers Nordost sein. Trotz mehrfacher Anmahnungen ist es mir nun bis heute nicht gelungen, diese mir zustehende Summe von RM 15 580.- vom Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer Nordost zu erhalten.

SS-Gruppenführer Sporrenberg behauptet, er sei für die Bezahlung nicht zuständig, da der Gruppenführer Rediess den Auftrag für den Abtransport erteilt habe. In einer Unterredung sagte mir Gruppenführer Sporrenberg einmal, dass für den Oberabschnitt Nordost von dem ausgeworfenen Betrag auch etwas abfallen müsste. Vor einigen Monaten teilte mir nun SS-Gruppenführer Rediess aus Oslo mit, dass im Auftrage des Reichsführers-SS Sie die Entscheidung wegen der Bezahlung der Transportkosten treffen würden.

Ich wäre daher dankbar, wenn der Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer Nordost angewiesen würde, den mir auf Grund der getroffenen Vereinbarung zustehende Betrag von RM 15 580.- zu zahlen. Ich darf hierzu noch bemerken, dass ich für das Sonderkommando Lange ausserdem einen Teil der Kosten des vom Reichsführer-SS befohlenen Aufenthaltes in Holland mit über RM 3 000.- von obiger Summe zu bestreiten habe.

Der Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer
[Unterschrift]
SS-Gruppenführer

TRANSLATION

The Higher SS and Police Leader
with the Reich Governor in Posen
corps area XXI

L/Ho

Posen, 22 February 1941

Secret State Affair!

To the
Chief of the Personal Staff of the Reichsführer-SS
SS-Gruppenführer Wolff

Berlin SW 11
Prinz-Albrecht Str. 8

[urgent! telephone conversation with Obf. Brack]

In June 1940 I took over from the Higher SS and Police Leader Northeast 1,558 burdensome persons for the purpose of lodging them somwhere else. To carry out this agreement reached with Gruppenführer Rediess, a Kommando of my agency was obliged to stay for 17 days in East Prussia.

My Inspector of the Security Police and the SD, SS-Standartenführer Damzog, and the Inspector of the Security Police and the SD in Königsberg, SS-Brigadeführer Rasch, agreed upon RM 10.- for transportation costs and other expenses for each person to be transferred. As far as I know, Gauleiter Koch declared himself willing to assume all costs arising from this assignment. The amount in question has therefore no doubt long since been received by the Higher SS and Police Leader Northeast. In spite of repeated admonitions, I have not yet succeeded in getting from the Higher SS and Police Leader Northeast this sum of RM 15,580 due me.

SS-Gruppenführer Sporrenberg maintains that he is not competent for the payment, since Gruppenführer Rediess did give the order for the deportation. During a conversation, Gruppenführer Sporrenberg once told me that the Oberabschnitt Northeast might also got part of the sum spent for this purpose.

A few months ago SS-Gruppenführer Rediess informed me from Oslo that at the order of the Reichsführer-SS you would make the decision with regard to the payment of the costs of the transport.

I would therefore be obliged if the Higher SS and Police Leader Northeast could be instructed to pay the outstanding amount of RM 1,580 due me on the basis of the agreement made. I may add in this connection that out of the above mentioned sum I also have to defray part of the costs, amounting to more than 3,000 RM of the Sonderkommando Lange's stay in Holland, which was ordered by the Reichsführer-SS.

The Higher SS and Police Leader
[signature]
SS-Gruppenführer

(NARA/T175/R60, cf. BArch B 162/616, unpaginated, translation based on NO-2911)


6.) Intercepted radio signal from Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski to Wilhelm Koppe of 16 August 1941:

DOCUMENT

TRANSCRIPTION

DQH de SQF Nr. 17 1035 104 SQP 6900.
Höherer SS und Pol.führer POSEN.
Bitte um sofortige Inmarschsetzung von Hauptsturmführer LANGE, usw., nach BARANOWICZE.
Höherer SS und Pol.führer MITTE.

TRANSLATION

DQH de SQF Nr. 17 1035 104 SQP 6900.
Higher SS and Police Pleader Posen.
Please immeadiately sent Hauptsturmführer Lange etc. to Baranovice.
Higher SS and Police Leader Center.

 

(PRO HW 16/32, ZIP/GPD 325, traffic 16.8.41, item 20 [courtesy of TheBlackRabbitofInlé], cf. Witte et al., Der Dienstkalender Heinrich Himmlers 1941/42, p. 195)


7.) Intercepted radio signal from Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski to Wilhelm Koppe of 18 August 1941:

DOCUMENT

TRANSCRIPTION

5. DHQ de SQF Nr 2 0930 150 SQP 155.
Höherer SS und Pol.führer POSEN.
Ich bitte LANGE nach Freiwerden mir vorübergehend zur Verfügung zu stellen. Ich möchte mir das Verfahren von L persönlich vorführen lassen.
Höherer SS und Pol.führer Mitte.

TRANSLATION

5. DHQ de SQF Nr 2 0930 150 155 SQP
Higher SS und Police Leader Posen.
Please place Lange temporarily at my disposal when he becomes available. I would like to get a personal demonstration of L's procedure.
Higher SS and Police Leader Center.

 

(PRO HW 16/32, ZIP/GPD 326, traffic 18.8.41, item 5 [courtesy of TheBlackRabbitofInlé], cf. Witte et al., Der Dienstkalender Heinrich Himmlers 1941/42, p. 195)


8.) Intercepted radio signal from Konrad to Werner Grothmann of 3 October 1941:

DOCUMENT

TRANCRIPTION

An Hauptsturmführer GROTHMANN.
Auf Befehl Sturmbannführer BRANDT gebe ich folgendes Fs. zur Entscheidung Rf SS durch KONRAD, Scharführer. "SSD Posen B d O Nr 36. Geheim. An Rf SS, Sonderzug Heinrich; soeben rief mit dem Oberarzt FREYBERG vom Oberkdo des Heeres auf Veranlassung von Ltnt. HEFELMANN Kanzlei des Führers an, und bat darum zur Ausräumung von 3 Ihren Anstalten bei NOWGOROD an Ilmen-See ein Sonderkdo LANGE mit entsprechender Reparatur nach dort zu entsenden. Oberarzt FREYBERG erklärte sich bereit am 5. Oktober vormittags ein JU 52 nach Posen zu schicken, damit Krim.kommissar Lange mit etwa 5 Mitarbeitern seine Tätigkeit umgehend aufnimmt. Oberarzt FREYBERG wies auf die dringende Notwendigkeit des sofortigen Eintreffens hin, da die Insassen schwer Ruhrkrank sind und die Truppe die Anstalten als Quartiere dringend benötigt. Ich bitte um Entscheidung des RF SS, ob nach Lage der Dinge eine Entsendung des Sonderkommandos Lange nach NOWGOROD in Frage kommt. Fuer umgehende Mitteilung wäre ich dankbar, da gegebenenfalls noch einige Vorbereitungen für diese Aktion erforderlich sind. Höherer SS und Pol.führer. gezeichnet KOPPE, SS Gruppenführer."

TRANSLATION

To Hauptsturmführer GROTHMANN.

At the order of Sturmbannführer BRANDT I provide you with the following telex regarding decision Reichsführer SS KONRAD, Scharführer.

"SSD Posen commander of the order police number 36. Secret. To the Reichsführer SS, special train Heinrich; just now, the senior physician FREYBERG of the army high command has called at the instigation of lieutenant HEFELMANN [of] the Führer's chancellery and requests to sent Sonderkommando Lange with suitable repair [prob. means: apparatus] for the clearing of three of their asylums near NOWGOROD at lake Ilmen. The senior physician FREYBERG agreed to sent a JU 52 to Posen on the morning of 5 October, so that the chief inspector LANGE can immediately start working with about 5 staff members. The senior physician FREYBERG emphasized the urgent need of their immediate arrival, because the inmates are suffering from dysentery and the asylums are urgently needed for troop quarters. I request a decision of the Reichsführer SS if the dispatch of Sonderkommando Lange can be considered under the circumstances. I would be grateful for a prompt notification, since some preparations for this action may be necessary. The higher SS and police leader, signed KOPPE, SS Gruppenführer."

(PRO HW 16/32, ZIP/GPD 402, Traffic 3.10.41, item 22 [posted by TheBlackRabbitofInlé here]; cf. Gassing of Mental Patients by Sonderkommando Lange in Novgorod and Breitman, Official Secrets, p. 99)


9.) Intercepted radio signal from Konrad to Werner Grothmann of 3 October 1941:

DOCUMENT

TRANSCRIPTION

23 SRR de DSQ Nr 19 215 2 Tle 175 123 SRR 3742
Hauptsturmführer GROTHMANN.
Nachtrag Fs. 36. Gruppenführer KOPPE bittet mit weiterem Fs. um 2030 um beschleunigte Entscheidung des Rf SS, da er am 4.10.41 vormittags von Oberstarzt FREYBERG vom Oberkdo des Heeres angerufen wird, der XXXXXXXX erfahren möchet, ob mit Unterstützung durch Kommissar Lange gerechnet werden kann. Gez. KONRAD, SS Untersturmführer.

TRANSLATION

23 SRR de DSQ Nr 19 215 2 Tle 175 123 SRR 3742
Hauptsturmführer GROTHMANN.
Addition to telex 36. Gruppenführer Koppe requests in another telex of 8:30 pm for accelerated decision by the Reichsführer SS, since he will be phoned by Oberstarzt Freyberg from the Army High Command on the morning of 4 October 1941, who wants to know if he can rely on the support from Kommissar Lange. Signed KONRAD, SS Untersturmführer

 

(PRO HW 16/32, ZIP/GPD 402, traffic 3.10.41, item 23 [posted by TheBlackRabbitofInlé here]; cf. Gassing of Mental Patients by Sonderkommando Lange in Novgorod and Breitman, Official Secrets, p. 99)


10.) Intercepted radio signal from Heinrich Himmler to Wilhelm Koppe of 4 October 1941:

DOCUMENT

TRANSCRIPTION

20. DQH de DPJ SQM Nr. 7 1345 113 SQP 155.
An Höheren SS und Pol.führer Posen, Gruppenführer GOPPE [sic!].
Das Sonderkommando ist sofort zu entsenden. Dem Ersuchen ist stattzugeben.
Gez. H. Himmler.

TRANSLATION

20. DQH de DPJ SQM Nr. 7 1345 113 SQP 155.
To the Higher SS and Police Leader Posen, Gruppenführer Goppe [sic!].
The Sonderkommando is to be sent immediately. The request is granted.
Signed H. Himmler.

 

(PRO HW 16/32, ZIP/GPD 405, traffic 04.10.41, item 20 [posted by TheBlackRabbitofInlé here]; cf. Breitman, Official Secrets, p. 99)


11.) Interrogation protocol of Horst Schlegel of 3 June 1943:

DOCUMENT

  [...]

 

 [...]

TRANSCRIPTION

IV C 4   Berlin, den 3. Juni 1943

Verhandelt:

Bestellt erscheint

der SS-Hauptsturmführer und Regierungsassessor 

Dr. Friedrich Horst Schlegel,

geb. am 4.3.1912 in Leipzig, verh., gottgläubig, wohnhaft Berlin-Charlottenburg, Herderstrasse 12 und erklärt mit dem Gegenstand der Vernehmung vertraut gemacht folgendes:

[...]

Nach Abschluss des Polenfeldzuges wurden von den Einsatzkommandos in Ausführung eines gRs-Erlasses des Chefs der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD laufend Personen polnischer Volkstumzugehörigkeit der Staatspolizeileitstelle Königsberg überstellt. Mir ist erinnerlich, dass ein grosser Teil dieser Personen aus der Gegend von Leslau stammte, und zwar waren dies Angehörige der polnischen Intelligenz.

[...]

Nachdem der neue Inspekteur, SS-Brigadeführer Dr. Rasch, seine Tätigkeit aufgenommen hatte, teilte dieser mir mit, dass der Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, SS-Gruppenführer Heydrich, nach Vortrag entschieden habe, diese Angehörigen der polnischen Intelligenz als Vergeltungsmassnahme hinsichtlich der Ermordungen in Bromberg zu liquidieren. Aus diesem Grunde überprüfte Brigadeführer Dr. Rasch in meinem Beisein persönlich die einzelnen Häftlinge in den betreffenden Lagern. Aus Tarnungsgründen mussten die in die Frage kommenden Polen eine Erklärung des Inhalts unterschreiben, dass sie mit ihrer Abschiebung in das Generalgouvernement einverstanden seien.

[...]

Etwa Mitte Januar 1940 erklärte mir SS-Brigadeführer Dr. Rasch, dass die polnischen Militärkasernen in Soldawa, jetzt Soldau, hierfür geeignet seien. Etwa zur gleichen Zeit erklärte mir SS-Brigadeführer Rasch weiterhin, dass SS-Gruppenführer Heydrich mit einer Liquidierung dieser Personen im Lager Soldau einverstanden sei.

[...]

Die auf besondere Anweisung eingelieferten geisteskranken Häftlinge wurden durch ein besonderes Kommando des Inspekteurs Posen liquidiert unter ständiger Aufsicht von SS-Obergruppenführer Redies [sic!]. Nach meiner Schätzung sind im Lager rund 600 Häftlinge verstorben und liquidiert worden. Ausgenommen hiervon sind die geisteskranken Häftlinge.

[...]

Senst[sic!] gelesen, genehmigt, unterschrieben:

[Unterschrift]

Geschlossen:

[Unterschrift]

TRANSLATION

IV C 4    Berlin, 3 June 1943

Hearing

As ordered appeared

SS-Hauptsturmführer and Regierungsassessor

Dr. Friedrich Horst Schlegel,

born 4 March 1912 in Leipzig, married, deistic, living Berlin-Charlottenburg, Herderstrasse 12 and after being informed about the matter of the interrogation states as follows:

[...]

After the Polish campaign ended, the commander of the security police and the SD has continuously transferred persons of Polish nationality by the Einsatzkommandos to the state police headquarters Königsberg. I remember that a large part of these people came from the Leslau area, they were members of Polish intelligentsia.

[...]

After the new Inspekteur, SS-Brigadeführer Dr. Rasch, had commenced his activities, he informed me that the Chief of the Security Police and the SD, SS-Gruppenführer Heydrich, has decided after the issue was presented to him to liquidate these members of the Polish intelligentsia as retaliation for the murderers in Bromberg. For this reason, SS-Gruppenführer Dr. Rasch personally examined the individual prisoners in the camps in question. For the sake of camouflaging, the Poles in question had to sign a declaration of the content that they agreed with their deportation to the Generalgouvernement.

[...]

In mid-January 1940, SS-Brigadeführer Dr. Rasch told me that the Polish military barracks in Soldawa, now Soldau, were suitable for this purpose. At about the same time SS-Brigadeführer Rasch also explained to me that SS-Gruppenführer Heydrich agreed with the liquidation of these persons in the camp of Soldau.

[...]

The mentally ill prisoners, who had been sent on special order, were liquidated by a special Kommando of the Inspekteur of Posen, under the constant supervision of SS-Obergruppenführer Redies [sic!]. In my opinion, around 600 prisoners died and were liquidated in the camp. Excluded from this are the mentally ill prisoners.

Personally dictated, approved and signed:

[signature]

Closed by:

[signature]

 

(NARA RG 238, NO-1074; cf. BArch B 162/619, unpaginated and - according to Bialas, Ideologie und Moral im Nationalsozialismus, p. 339 - BArch NS 7/1187, unpaginated)

12.) Interrogation protocol of Otto Rasch of 16 June 1943:

DOCUMENT

TRANSCRIPTION

- IV C 4 -    Berlin, den 16. Juni 1943.

Verhandelt.

Es erscheint SS-Brigadeführer 

Dr. Dr. Otto Rasch,

geb. am 7.12.1891 in Friedrichsruh, wohnhaft Berlin-Charlottenburg, Sendsburger Allee 23, und erklärt:

Ich bin im November 1939 bis November 1941 Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD in Königsberg gewesen. Als ich die Dienststelle übernahm, fand ich dort einen grösseren Kreis politischer Häftlinge vor, die im wesentlichen aus Festnahmen durch die Einsatzkommandos der noch vor meiner Zeit aufgelösten Einsatzgruppe der Sicherheitspolizei herrührten. Die Häftlinge lagen verstreut in mehreren Lagern und wurden zur Abwicklung der gesamten Angelegenheit von mir bezw. über die Staatspolizeistellen einzeln überprüft. Dabei stellte sich heraus, daß ein Teil entlassen werden konnte, währendwegen eines Teiles die Verbringung ins Konzentrationslager beantragt werden musste und ein letzter Teil, der aus politischen Aktivisten bestand, am besten zu liquidieren wäre. Ich trug diesen Sachverhalt damals dem Chef der Sicherheitspolizei, SS-Gruppenführer Heydrich, vor, der damit einverstanden war, aber zur Bedingung machte, dass die Liquidation unaufällig vor sich gehen müsse.

Das Durchgangslager Soldau wurde von mir im Winter 1949/40 zunächst aus zu dem Zweck geschaffen, die notwendig werdenden Liquidationen unaufällig zu bewirken.

[...]

Außer den bisher umschriebenen Personenkreisen wurden auch auf besondere Weisung Geisteskranke in das Lager eingeliefert und erschossen.

[...]

Selbst diktiert, genehmigt, unterschrieben:

[Unterschrift]

Geschlossen:

[Unterschrift]

SS-Sturmbannführer.

Li.

TRANSLATION:

-IV C 4 -    Berlin, 16 June 1943

Hearing

SS-Brigadeführer

Dr. Dr. Otto Rasch

born 7 December 1891 in Friedrichsruh, living Berlin-Charlottenburg, Sendsburger Allee 23, appears and states as follows:

I was inspector of the Security Police and of the Security Service in Königsberg from November 1939 until November 1941. When I took over the office I found there a large number of political prisoners, the greater part of which were arrested by the detachments of the Group of the Security Police which was disbanded before my time. The prisoners were dispersed in several camps, and were examined by me, that is through the State Police Offices, in order to settle the whole matter. Thereby it was discovered that some could be released, while for others transfer to a concentration camp had to be applied, and that it would be best to liquidate the remainder, who consisted of political activists of Polish movements. At that time I reported these facts to the Chief of the Security Police, SS-Gruppenführer Heydrich, who concurred but made it a condition that the liquidation must be carried out unostentatiously.

In Winter 1939/40, I had established the Soldau transit camp especially for the purpose of carrying out unostentatiously the necessary liquidations.

[...]

In addition to the above described circles of people, insane persons were transferred to the camp on special order and shot.

[...]

Personally dictated, approved and signed:

[signature]

Closed by:

[signature]

SS-Sturmbannführer

(NARA RG 238, NO-1073; cf. nuremberg.law.harvard.edu, BArch B 162/619, unpaginated and - according to Bialas, Ideologie und Moral im Nationalsozialismus, p. 339 - BArch NS 7/1187, unpaginated)

13.) Memorandum for the files of the SS central Office for Personell (undated):

DOCUMENT

TRANSCRIPTION

Lange, Herbert
geb. 29.9.09 (Alter 35 Jahre)
Eintritt in die SS: 1.3.33  SS-Nr.: 93 501
Letzte Beförderung: 1.9.41  Pg.Nr.: 1159 583
Dienststellung: Krim.Rat im RSiHA
gedient: 1937 und 1938 je eine Übung für das RSiHA uk-gestellt
erreichter Dienstgead: Gefr. d.R. u.ROA
Fronteinsatz: Sipo-Einsatz seit 1939 Poleneinsatz, anschließend bis 1942 in Posen.

Auszeichnungen KVK II. und I.Kl.m.Schw.
verwundet: nein
verheirate: ja - seit: 27.9.35
Alter der Ehefrau: 32 Jahre
Zahl der Kinder: 2
Alter d.jüngst. Kindes: 6 Jahre
Konfession: ggl.
Tauglichkeitsgrad: kv.

Beurteilen durch:
Reichssicherheitshauptamt.

SS-Hauptsturmführer Lange, der seit 1932 der NSDAP angehört, hat sich bereits vor der Machtübernahme aktiv für die Bewegung eingesetzt. SS-Hauptsturmführer Lange wird als fachlich gut qualifizierter Beamter geschildert, der sich besonders während des Poleneinsatzes bewährt hat.

Der Chef des Reichssicherheitshauptamt teilt mit, dass der Reichsführer-SS gelegentlich eines Vortrages über den Einsatz von Sicherheitspolizei und SD im Verfahren 20.7.1944 die Beförderung des SS-Hauptsturmführers Lange zum SS-Sturmbannführer genehmigt hat.

Der Chef des Reichssicherheitshauptamt bittet daher, die Beförderung nicht erst zum 9.11.1944, sondern mit sofortiger Wirkung ausgesprochen.

Es wird daher eine Beförderung zum 1.10.1944 vorgeschlagen.

TRANSLATION

Lange, Herbert
born 29 September 1909 (35 years old)
member of the SS since: 1 March 1933  SS no.: 93,501
last promotion: 1 September 1941  Party comrade no.: 1159 583
position: Krim.Rat in the RSiHA
served: 1937 and 1938 each a training for the RSiHA put in a reserved occupation rank reached: private of the reserve and candidate for officer of the reserve
front duty: Securiy Police service since 1939 in Poland, afterwards until 1942 in Posen.

Awards: War merit cross II and I with swords
injured: no
married: yes - since: 27 September 1935
age of the wife: 32 years
number of chilren: 2
Age of the youngest child: 6 years
confession: deistic
degree of fitness: for war

Evaluation by:
Reichssicherheitshauptamt.

SS-Hauptsturmführer Lange, who belongs to the NSDAP since 1932, was already actively engaged in the movement before the takeover of power. SS Hauptsturmführer Lange is described as a well-qualified official, who has proved himself particularly well during the service in Poland.

The chief of the Reichsicherheitshauptamt informs that the Reichsführer-SS has approved the promotion of SS-Hauptsturmführer Lange to SS-Sturmbannführer on occasion of a talk on the use of the Security Police and SD in course of action "20.7.1944".

The Chief of the Reichsicherheitshauptamt therefore requests the promotion not to begin on 9 November 1944, but with immediate effect.

The promotion is therefore proposed for 1 Octobter 1944.

(Archives of the Holocaust, volume 11 Berlin Document Center, part 2, p. 51)

14.) Curriculum vitae of Wendelin Seith of December 1944:

TRANSCRIPTION:

"Als Angehöriger des Sonderkommandos Lange machte ich nach den Evakuierungen die Standgerichte, deren Vollzug usw. sowie die Verlegung von Heilanstalten mit."

TRANSLATION:

"As member of Sonderkommando Lange, after the evacuations I took part in the drumhead court martials, their executions etc. as well as the transfer of asylums."

(BArch B 162/3251, p. 103)

_________

changelog:

23/12/2018: linguistic corrections, corrections of references