SOBIBÓR - Holocaust Handbooks

J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR 247
He then mentions the presence of an engineer Holzheimer from the
water company at Che�m, and drainage projects using Jewish labor in
the area of Krychow. 720
Let us return to Aktion Reinhardt. As far as the name is concerned,
Peter Witte and Stephen Tyas affirm that “the well-known hypothesis of
Robert L. Koehl, Uwe Dietrich Adam, Wolfgang Benz, the Institut für
Zeitgeschichte in Munich, et al. that Einsatz or Aktion Reinhardt was
named after State Secretary of Finance Fritz Reinhardt is highly questionable.”
721 They underline that Heydrich’s given name was, in fact,
“Reinhardt” (and not “Reinhard”) and that “the codename Reinhardt for
the mass murder first appeared immediately after Heydrich’s death in
June 1942.” 722 But this document – a letter from “Waffen-SS Standortverwaltung”
of Lublin “an den SS- u. Polizeiführer – Reinhardt –
Lublin” – is only a request for “50 empty suitcases stemming from the
known action,” 723 without the slightest reference to any “mass murder”
of Jews.
Aside from this arbitrary interpretation, the hypothesis concerning
the name of Heydrich appears plausible. Globocnik wrote in an undated
report: 724
“The whole of Aktion Reinhardt can be split up into 4 areas:
A) the deportation itself
B) the use of the manpower
C) the use of objects
D) the securing of hidden values and real estate.”
Here, the deportation was to be the major aspect, which brings us
back to Heydrich.
All surviving documents about “Aktion Reinhardt” refer exclusively
to the economic aspect. Even at Auschwitz was a “disinfestation and
storage chamber Aktion Reinhard” (Entwesungs- u. Effektenkammer
Aktion Reinhard), which was called “Kanada I,” i.e. Bauwerk 28, officially
called “delousing and storage barracks” (Entlausungs- und Effektenbaracken),
and a “Station 2 der Aktion Reinhardt.” 725 As late as
May-June of 1944, a “Sonderkommando Reinhardt” (special detail
720
Ibid., p. 211, 213.
721
P. Witte, S. Tyas, op. cit. (note 18), note 34 on p. 483.
722
Ibid., p. 475.
723
Józef Kermisz (ed.), Dokumenty i materia�y do dziejów ocupacji niemieckiej w Polsce,
vol. II, “Akcje” i “Wysiedlenia,” Warszawa/�ód�/Kraków 1946, p. 182.
724
NO-057.
725
“Besichtigung des SS-Obergruppenführers Pohl am 23.9.1942.” GARF, 502-1-19, p. 86.