In their pilot extermination camp, beyond the imagination of the rest of the world, the Germans gassed 340,000 human beings at Chelmno. Among the dead, 99 percent were Jews. Hoping to cover their inhumane deed, the Germans destroyed all traces of Chelmno. The buried corpses were excavated and burned. The bones were crushed and mixed with the ashes dumped into the river.
Chelmno marked the beginning of the gas chamber era. In late 1941, Himmler ordered for the creation of a death factory. The mobile
killing units turned into stationary extermination camps and gas replaced bullet. With the addition of three gas vans, Chelmno opened
as the first Nazi killing center.
Chelmno's primary goal was the elimination of the 450,000 Jews living in the Warthegau area. Besides Jews, the dead included 5,000
Gypsies and 1,000 Polish and Russian POWs. To reduce chaos, the Germans lied to the Jews that they were being taken for work
in the east or for resettlement in Ukraine. Chelmno, as other camps, was not far from the railroad. After unloading the train, the soldiers
marched the prisoners down to a large mill building in Zawadki and spent a night there. Then on the next morning, the trucks would
come to transport the victims. 1,000 victims could be disposed of by early afternoon.
As the prisoners stepped off the truck, an officer explained that they must take a bath to be disinfected. After the Jews undressed,
they walked down a corridor with signs directing them to "the bath." A van would be ready at the end of the corridor to transport the
prisoners. The door of the van clanged shut with the victims trapped inside. The van drove away while the people inside would be
gassed. The victims died in fifteen minutes. The van would then drive to the wood, where the corpses were unloaded and buried.
Three gas vans had been used, each capable of holding about 100 persons. In the woods a selected Jews threw the dead victim
into the graves after they had removed their valuables.
Out of the expectation of the SS officials, the corpses seen to recur typhus epidemics. Commander Blobel invented an efficient
method of body disposal. He constructed a pyre of iron rails and wooden sleepers deep in the ground. The pyre was built in the form
of furnace. A channel to the pit below facilitated the removal of ashes and bones. Wood and corpses were alternated to facilitate
combustion. The furnace could hold 100 corpses at a time, but fresh ones could be added as they burnt down.
The SS extracted profit out of the prisoners in every possible way. Gold from the mouths of millions certainly added money to the
Reich bank. Soon the removal of dental gold became a normal first step in all camp body-salvage operation.
Chelmno was closed by an order from Himmler in 1943. However, it was reopened in April 1944 and increased its death toll with
10,000.