Sonderaktion 1005
Encyclopedia
The Sonderaktion 1005, also called Aktion 1005, or Enterdungsaktion (Exhumation action) was conducted during World War II
to hide any evidence that millions of people had been murdered by Nazi Germany
in Aktion Reinhard in occupied Poland
.
As the war progressed, it was later used to conceal the evidence of massacres committed by SS-Einsatzgruppen
Nazi death squads that murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews
, Roma and Russian civilians in Eastern Europe.
; inmates were often put in chains in order to prevent escape. The Aktion was overseen by selected squads from the Sicherheitsdienst
and Ordnungspolizei
.
Reinhard Heydrich
placed SS-Standartenführer
Paul Blobel
in charge of Aktion 1005. However its start was delayed after Heydrich was assassinated in June 1942 by Czech SOE agents
in Operation Anthropoid
. It was after the end of June that SS-Gruppenführer
Heinrich Müller, head of the Gestapo
finally gave Blobel his orders. While the principal effort was to erase evidence of Jewish exterminations, the Aktion would also include non-Jewish victims of Nazi Einsatzgruppen
.
Blobel began his work experimenting at Chełmno. Attempts to use incendiary bombs to destroy exhumed bodies was unsuccessful as the weapons set fire to nearby forests. The most effective way was eventually found to be giant pyre
s on iron grills. The method involved building alternating layers of corpses and firewood on railway tracks. Afterwards remaining bone fragments could be crushed in a grinding machine and then re-buried in pits.
The operation officially began at Sobibor extermination camp
. The Leichenkommando exhumed the bodies from mass graves around the camp and then burned them, after which task the workers were executed. The process then moved to Belzec
in December 1942. As Auschwitz and Belsen
had crematoria facilities on site to dispose of bodies, the Aktion 1005 groups were not needed. Work continued at Belzec
and Treblinka.
The operation also returned to the scenes of earlier mass killings such as Babi Yar
, Ponary
and the Ninth Fort
. By 1944, with Soviet armies advancing, SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Koppe
, head of the Reichsgau Wartheland
ordered that each of the General Government
's five districts set up its own Aktion 1005 group to begin "cleaning" mass graves. The operations were not entirely successful as advancing Soviet
troops reached sites before they could be cleared.
At the Nuremberg Trials
after World War II, a deputy of Adolf Eichmann
named, SS-Hauptsturmführer
Dieter Wisliceny
, gave the following testimony regarding Aktion 1005:
Blobel was sentenced to death by the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunal in the Einsatzgruppen Trial
. He was hanged at Landsberg Prison
on June 8, 1951. Nearly 60,000 deaths are attributable to Blobel though during testimony at Nuremberg he alleged he only killed between 10,000-15,000 people.
War and Remembrance
. It also plays a central role in Daniel Silva's 2005 novel A Death in Vienna
.
Schindler's List
also depicts Aktion 1005 when Jewish prisoners were forced to exhume corpses for burning on open pyres.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to hide any evidence that millions of people had been murdered by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in Aktion Reinhard in occupied Poland
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
.
As the war progressed, it was later used to conceal the evidence of massacres committed by SS-Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
Nazi death squads that murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, Roma and Russian civilians in Eastern Europe.
Overview
The operation, which was conducted in strict secrecy from 1942-1944, used concentration camps’ prisoners to exhume mass graves and burn the bodies. These work groups were officially called Leichenkommandos ("corpse units") and were all part of Sonderkommando 1005Sonderkommando
Sonderkommandos were work units of Nazi death camp prisoners, composed almost entirely of Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber victims during The Holocaust...
; inmates were often put in chains in order to prevent escape. The Aktion was overseen by selected squads from the Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
and Ordnungspolizei
Ordnungspolizei
The Ordnungspolizei or Orpo were the uniformed regular police force in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1945. It was increasingly absorbed into the Nazi police system. Owing to their green uniforms, they were also referred to as Grüne Polizei...
.
History
In March 1942, SS-ObergruppenführerObergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
placed SS-Standartenführer
Standartenführer
Standartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in the so-called Nazi combat-organisations: SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK...
Paul Blobel
Paul Blobel
Paul Blobel was a German Nazi war criminal, an SS-Standartenführer and a member of the SD. Born in the city of Potsdam, he participated in the First World War, where by all accounts he served well and was decorated with the Iron Cross first class...
in charge of Aktion 1005. However its start was delayed after Heydrich was assassinated in June 1942 by Czech SOE agents
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
in Operation Anthropoid
Operation Anthropoid
Operation Anthropoid was the code name for the targeted killing of top German SS leader Reinhard Heydrich. He was the chief of the Reich Main Security Office , the acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and a chief planner of the Final Solution, the Nazi German programme for the genocide of the...
. It was after the end of June that SS-Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
Heinrich Müller, head of the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
finally gave Blobel his orders. While the principal effort was to erase evidence of Jewish exterminations, the Aktion would also include non-Jewish victims of Nazi Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
.
Blobel began his work experimenting at Chełmno. Attempts to use incendiary bombs to destroy exhumed bodies was unsuccessful as the weapons set fire to nearby forests. The most effective way was eventually found to be giant pyre
Pyre
A pyre , also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite...
s on iron grills. The method involved building alternating layers of corpses and firewood on railway tracks. Afterwards remaining bone fragments could be crushed in a grinding machine and then re-buried in pits.
The operation officially began at Sobibor extermination camp
Sobibór extermination camp
Sobibor was a Nazi German extermination camp located on the outskirts of the town of Sobibór, Lublin Voivodeship of occupied Poland as part of Operation Reinhard; the official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor...
. The Leichenkommando exhumed the bodies from mass graves around the camp and then burned them, after which task the workers were executed. The process then moved to Belzec
Belzec extermination camp
Belzec, Polish spelling Bełżec , was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust...
in December 1942. As Auschwitz and Belsen
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
had crematoria facilities on site to dispose of bodies, the Aktion 1005 groups were not needed. Work continued at Belzec
Belzec extermination camp
Belzec, Polish spelling Bełżec , was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust...
and Treblinka.
The operation also returned to the scenes of earlier mass killings such as Babi Yar
Babi Yar
Babi Yar is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and a site of a series of massacres carried out by the Nazis during their campaign against the Soviet Union. The most notorious and the best documented of these massacres took place on September 29–30, 1941, wherein 33,771 Jews were killed in a...
, Ponary
Ponary massacre
The Ponary massacre was the mass-murder of 100,000 people, mostly Polish Jews, by German SD and SS and Lithuanian Nazi collaborators Sonderkommando collaborators...
and the Ninth Fort
Ninth Fort
The Ninth Fort is a stronghold in the northern part of Šilainiai elderate, Kaunas, Lithuania. It is a part of the Kaunas Fortress, which was constructed in the late 19th century. During the occupation of Kaunas and the rest of Lithuania by the Soviet Union, the fort was used as a prison and...
. By 1944, with Soviet armies advancing, SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Koppe
Wilhelm Koppe
Wilhelm Koppe was a German Nazi commander who was responsible for numerous atrocities against Poles and Jews in Reichsgau Wartheland and the General Government during the German occupation of Poland in World War II.-Biography:Born in Hildesheim, he fought in the First World War...
, head of the Reichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau formed from Polish territory annexed in 1939. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas, and only in part matched the area of the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen...
ordered that each of the General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
's five districts set up its own Aktion 1005 group to begin "cleaning" mass graves. The operations were not entirely successful as advancing Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
troops reached sites before they could be cleared.
Aftermath
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
after World War II, a deputy of Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
named, SS-Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
Dieter Wisliceny
Dieter Wisliceny
Dieter Wisliceny was a member of the Nazi SS, and a key executioner in the final phase of the Holocaust.Wisliceny studied theology without obtaining a degree...
, gave the following testimony regarding Aktion 1005:
Blobel was sentenced to death by the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunal in the Einsatzgruppen Trial
Einsatzgruppen Trial
The Einsatzgruppen Trial was the ninth of the twelve trials for war crimes the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II. These twelve trials were all held before U.S...
. He was hanged at Landsberg Prison
Landsberg Prison
Landsberg Prison is a penal facility located in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west of Munich and south of Augsburg....
on June 8, 1951. Nearly 60,000 deaths are attributable to Blobel though during testimony at Nuremberg he alleged he only killed between 10,000-15,000 people.
Dramatizations
Aktion 1005 was depicted in the 1988 TV miniseriesMiniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
War and Remembrance
War and Remembrance
War and Remembrance is a novel by Herman Wouk, published in 1978, which is the sequel to The Winds of War. It continues the story of the extended Henry family and the Jastrow family starting on 15 December 1941 and ending on 6 August 1945. This novel was adapted into a mini-series presented on...
. It also plays a central role in Daniel Silva's 2005 novel A Death in Vienna
A Death in Vienna
Published in 2004, A Death in Vienna is the fourth spy novel in the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva.-Plot summary:An Israeli-run Holocaust research office in Vienna is bombed, resulting in the death of the two female staff and serious injury to the Director...
.
Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
also depicts Aktion 1005 when Jewish prisoners were forced to exhume corpses for burning on open pyres.