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Chelmno was the first of Nazi-Germanys six extermination-camps. It received its first prisoners the 7th December 1941. The camp was situated close to the river Ner, about 60 km from the city Lodz. The Germans called the camp Kulmhof. Lodz is the second largest city in Poland, and in 1939 it lived over 200 000 Jews there. The camp was built to exterminate Jews from the Western Polish province that the Germans had occupied, especially those imprisoned in the Lodz ghetto. Chelmnowas built near the railway-station Powiercie. It was divided in to parts: Schlosslager and Waldlager. Schlosslager housed the camps check-in point, the prisoners barracks and the guards quarters. It was also in this part of the camp that the gassing took place. Waldlager lay 2,5 miles from Schlosslager. It was here the prisoners was cremated or buried in huge mass-graves. Highest authority in Chelmno was Hauptsturmfhrer Herbert Lange. Chelmno didnÕt have any gas chambers. Instead they had isolated trucks with a hose between the exhaust pipe and the cargo-room. The cars could gas between 50 and 70 persons at the time. The prisoners, who mainly consisted of Jews, were forced unto the trucks, the engine was started and the deadly carbon monoxide oozed into the room. After 10 to 15 minutes they were all dead. The corpses was driven to the outskirts of the camp were prisoners unloaded them into large mass-graves. From the summer off 1942 the bodies were cremated instead of buried. This to prevent outbursts of desises. There is allot of opinions about how many that were killed in Chelmno. The numbers varies from 170 000 to 360 000 killed, but most of the experts has agreed that the highest number is closest to the truth. In 1943 the camp was closed down, but it was reopened April 1944. In late 1944 there was made plans to shot down the camp again, but before the plans were put to life news of Soviet troops advancing came. When the troops reached the camp was all of the remaining prisoners killed.
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