Himmler (Peter Padfield's Second World War)

by Peter Padfield

Five killing factories had been established by this date – not counting the smaller, earlier ones like Chelmno and Maly Trostenets which used or had used gas vans, or training camps such as Trawniki; they were Treblinka, Sobibor, Majdanek, Belzec – which had been closed down permanently in December 1942 – and Auschwitz–Birkenau. Birkenau was designed as the largest, but only gradually attained full capacity through that spring and summer of 1943. The first two of the new complexes of underground changing room/gas chamber/electric lift/crematorium ovens – the ultimate in production-line murder – came into operation in late March, the third in April and the fourth towards the end of June. Korherr submitted his first report on 23 March. It showed that up to the end of 1942 almost 2 million Jews had been ‘evacuated’ and/or submitted to ‘special treatment’. Since the figures for occupied Russian areas were incomplete, the true number was probably greatly in excess of this.