The preparations for extermination of Jews living in the
Generalgouvernement
already started months before the
Wannsee-Konferenz (
20 January 1942).
A special organization, called
Aktion Reinhard, was established in Lublin.
Radio messages shed light on the close connection between the Lublin
headquarters, led by
SS- und Polizeiführer of the Lublin district,
Odilo Globocnik, and the SS central office in
Berlin. Today the decoded messages are kept in the Public Record Office
in
Kew, England.
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| Odilo Globocnik |
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| New Years Card from Globocnik |
Globocnik was born in
Trieste in
1904. In
1931 he joined the NS party
of Austria, and
1934 the SS. In
1936 appointed
Gauleiter of Kärnten (Austria), in
March 1938 promoted
SS-Standartenführer, in May appointed
Gauleiter of
Wien.
Himmler appointed him
SS- und Polizeiführer für den
Distrikt Lublin in
November 1939.
His connections with
Himmler and the SS headquarters in
Berlin enabled
him to use Lublin as a base for anti-Jewish plans from the beginning of the German occupation. The
Lublin district was to be turned into a Jewish reservation (
Judenreservat).
Jews from the
Reich and its incorporated territories should
be resettled there. This was the case until
Hans Frank made representations to
Göring, and they were stopped. But the Lublin district remained in the Nazi
mind, as a place highly suited for the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question".
Through
Globocnik's initiative the Lublin district also became a
centre of the SS economic enterprises and a base for future SS colonization plans in Eastern Europe.
In
March 1940, the entire Jewish population of
Wieniawa was resettled in the
Lublin Ghetto. According to the plans drawn up by
Odilo Globocnik, the suburb was designated to be an area for the building of
recreational facilities for the SS and the general German population of Lublin. Therefore the SS built a large
recreation facility in
Wieniawa, including two sports fields. A forced labour camp,
called
"
Sportplatz Camp", (Sports Field camp) was established there.
A branch of the German supply works (
DAW) was established in Lublin in
December 1940. Over five thousand
Jewish prisoners were employed as slave workers in the
DAW enterprises at
Lipowa Street Camp,
Airfield Camp (near Chelmska Street) and in
Pulawy.
In
March 1941 the
Lublin Ghetto was officially established.
On
20/21 July 1941 Himmler
visited
Globocnik
in Lublin and decided to enlarge and extend the SS economic enterprises in Lublin.
A concentration camp was planned for up to 50,000 prisoners. This was the initial reason for the construction of the
concentration camp Lublin, better known as
Majdanek.
A training camp for the SS Ukrainian volunteers at
Trawniki was also part of the
Aktion Reinhard structure.
As plans for
Aktion Reinhard took shape, the choice of Lublin served as a cover for Jews being transported
east. Their disappearance after their extermination in the death camps could be explained by saying they had been
sent eastward for forced labour in the vast expenses of the Nazi-occupied areas of the Soviet-Union.
The main tasks imposed on
Globocnik and his staff within the
framework of
Aktion Reinhard were:
- the overall planning of the deportations and extermination activities of the entire operation.
- building the death camps.
- co-ordinating the deportations of Jews from the different districts to the death camps.
- killing the Jews there.
- seizing the assets and valuables of the victims and handing them over to the appropriate
Reich authorities.
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| Chopin Street 27 |
The
Aktion Reinhard headquarters was located in Lublin at
Pieradzkiego 17,
in the former Stefan Batory college
(
Lublin 1942 Map).
Globocnik's headquarters as
SS- und Polizeiführer of the Lublin
district was located separately from the
Aktion Reinhard headquarters.
See Globocnik's and Sporrenberg's Staff in Lublin!
A special depot was set up in Lublin to deal with the vast amounts of loot now piling up in the death camps. Known
officially as the
Erfassungslager für beschlagnahmtes Feindvermögen, it was located in a large
five-storey building which occupied a complete city block at
Chopin Street 27
near the city centre. The Chopin Street Depot came under the administration of the
SS-Standortverwaltung Lublin,
headed by
SS-Sturmbannführer
Georg Wippern.
Poem by
Johannes R. Becher (in German):
Kinderschuhe aus Lublin.
Sources:
Arad, Yitzak:
Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka
Tregenza, Michael:
Aktion Reinhard
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| Globocnik's Villa 2002 |
Aktion Reinhard HQ 2002 |
Gestapo HQ 2002 |
© ARC 2005
