The Chełmno killing center in German-occupied Poland was the first stationary facility where the Nazis used poisonous gas for the mass murder of Jews. The SS and police began killing operations at Chełmno on December 8, 1941. At least 152,000 Jews and 4,300 Roma were killed there between December 1941–April 1943 and June 1944–January 1945.
In fall 1941, Nazi German authorities took over a number of buildings in the Polish village of Chełmno nad Nerem. These buildings included a church (the tallest building visible here); a run-down manor house; the village’s community administration building (gmina); the village fire station; and several private homes. Beginning in December 1941, the manor house (visible here to the left of the church) became part of the Chełmno killing center. The other buildings were mostly used for housing and feeding the SS and police staff and guards. Chełmno nad Nerem, Poland, 1939–1943.
Item View![Postwar photograph of a building in Dabie where the possessions of Jews killed at the nearby Chelmno camp were stored. [LCID: 51702]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/934b480d-9fce-4a8b-9f82-c63732da3c21.jpg "Postwar photograph of a building in Dabie where the possessions of Jews killed at the nearby Chelmno camp were stored. [LCID: 51702]")
Postwar photograph of a building in the town of Dąbie where the possessions of Jews killed at the nearby Chełmno killing center were stored. Dąbie, Poland, June 1945.
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![Site at which the SS shot and burned the last 45 of 48 prisoners at Chelmno. [LCID: 43201b]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/b8ec77ad-f5ca-4034-8496-f62473449bf7.jpg "Site at which the SS shot and burned the last 45 of 48 prisoners at Chelmno. [LCID: 43201b]")
In 1944, Nazi German authorities reopened the Chełmno killing center. During this period, the Nazis used the granary building (seen here) to house Jewish forced laborers. On January 17, 1945, as the SS abandoned and destroyed the camp, the SS carried out a massacre of Jewish forced laborers outside the granary. Of the 47 remaining forced laborers, 45 were killed. Szymon Srebrnik survived his wounds. Mieczysław Żurawski attacked the guards with a knife and fled. The granary building was set on fire. Chełmno nad Nerem, Poland, 1945.
Item View![SS personnel stand guard while Lodz ghetto police board Jews onto a deportation train bound for Chelmno or Auschwitz. [LCID: 30037]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/3dbfbe4c-746d-486e-96ab-20ce81d50710.jpeg "SS personnel stand guard while Lodz ghetto police board Jews onto a deportation train bound for Chelmno or Auschwitz. [LCID: 30037]")
Jewish prisoner Henryk Ross, who worked as an official photographer in the ghetto, secretly took this photo of Jews being deported from the Łódź ghetto to a killing center in summer 1944.
In summer 1944, Nazi German authorities liquidated the Łódź ghetto, destroying the ghetto’s infrastructure and murdering most of its remaining inhabitants at killing centers. In June–July, the Nazis sent about 7,000 Jews to the Chełmno killing center. Then, in August, they sent about 67,000 Jews to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center. Łódź, Poland, between May and August 1944.
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Family members say goodbye to a child through a fence at the ghetto's central prison where children, the sick, and the elderly were held before deportation to the Chełmno killing center. Łódź, Poland, September 1942.
In September 1942, German authorities rounded up and deported about 15,000 Jews from the Łódź ghetto to the Chełmno killing center. During this action, they specifically targeted the sick, the elderly, and young children under age ten. On September 4, Chaim Rumkowski, head of the Łódź Jewish Council, called on ghetto residents to cooperate and give up their young children. The following day, the Germans imposed a curfew that confined Jews to their homes while the roundup took place. This roundup became known as the Gehsperre action, named for the German phrase "allgemeine Gehsperre," meaning "general curfew."
Item View![Jews carrying their possessions during deportation to the Chelmno killing center. [LCID: 10047]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/82cbdfa5-e49f-4de8-8a2d-47d55228a9c3.jpg "Jews carrying their possessions during deportation to the Chelmno killing center. [LCID: 10047]")
Jews carrying their possessions during deportation from the Łódź ghetto to the Chełmno killing center. Jewish prisoner Mendel Grossman, who worked as an official photographer in the ghetto, took this photo. Łódź, Poland.
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Jews from the Łódź ghetto en route to the Chełmno killing center are forced to transfer from one train to another in the Polish town of Koło. Koło, Poland, probably 1942.
Item View![View of the manor house in Chelmno that became the site of the Chelmno killing center. [LCID: 43097]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/28f42d5e-4560-483c-aa13-1aaa56f6c29d.jpg "View of the manor house in Chelmno that became the site of the Chelmno killing center. [LCID: 43097]")
In fall 1941, Nazi German officials requisitioned a manor house in the Polish village of Chełmno nad Nerem. This manor house (which had previously been converted to apartments) became part of the Chełmno killing center. Chełmno nad Nerem, Poland, 1939.
Item View![Young German soldiers assist in the deportation of Jews from the Zychlin ghetto to the Chelmno camp. [LCID: 18876]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/c2088b68-613c-4fce-8705-01d9761c6e60.jpg "Young German soldiers assist in the deportation of Jews from the Zychlin ghetto to the Chelmno camp. [LCID: 18876]")
Young German policemen assist in the roundup and deportation of Jews from the Żychlin ghetto in German-occupied Poland. Jews from Żychlin were transported to the Chełmno killing center, where they were murdered in gas vans. This brutal roundup took place on Jewish holiday of Purim. Poland, March 3, 1942.
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