8 December 1941 | The first group of Jews were deported & murdered in mobile gas chambers in Kulmhof (Chełmno).

 8 December 1941 | The first group of Jews were deported & murdered in mobile gas chambers in Kulmhof (Chełmno). 


The first German extermination camp began its operation.  

The first period lasted until 11 April 1943. The killing was done in mobile gas chambers – converted trucks, using exhaust gases.

 The bodies of the victims were taken to Rzuchowski Forest, some 4 km away. They were buried in graves between 60 and 230 metres long. 

The first Jewish victims were deported  from the local  ghettos in  Koło, Kowale Pańskie, Kłodawa, Izbica Kujawska.

 In January 1942, the Sinti and Roma people from the Litzmannstadt ghetto were also deported,, followed by Jews from this ghetto.

The second period lasted between the spring-summer of 1944 and 18 January 1945.

 Extermination took place in Rzuchowski Forest, where huts had been built and the site adapted to receiving further transports of victims.

 Between 23 June and 14 July 1944, ten transports with 7,196 Jews arrived from Litzmannstadt ghetto. After that the extermination was stopped. 

Part of the Sonderkommando and the last group of Jewish prisoners (probably 47) were left in the village.

 They were kept in a granary next to the demolished palace. During the night of 17/18 January 1945, during the evacuation, the SS carried out the last execution. 

The lowest estimate of the victims of Kulmhof is 152,000. The most probable number of those exterminated is some 200,000.

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