Chelmno Death Camp History of the Chelmno Camp After World War
II ended in Europe with the surrender of the German Army on May
7, 1945, the provisional Polish government set up the Central
Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland. The
purpose was to gather evidence for the Nuremberg International
Military Tribunal which was set to begin on November 20, 1945,
and for the planned trials of Germans who had committed war
crimes in Poland. The main report by the Central Commission was
entitled GERMAN CRIMES IN POLAND; it was originally published in
two volumes in 1946 and 1947. The report included an overview of
the main Nazi concentration camps and death camps in Poland. Two
of the death camps, Auschwitz and Chelmno, had been in Greater
Germany while they were in operation but now they are located in
Poland. The Chapter on Chelmno in the report is reprinted below.
Report of the Central Commission for Investigation of German
Crimes in Poland GERMAN CRIMES IN POLAND (Warsaw, 1946, The
exterminati