Stubbornoldandstupid

Rzuchow Forest, called a forest camp, is 4 km away from Chelmno. In Chelmno an  abandoned 19th century manor house was choosen to become the first stationary killing centre. Special air tight vans were designed in Berlin, that could hold 50-70 people, then a special hose was attached to the exhaust and run into the van. After people were murdered the van was driven to Rzuchow Forest where the bodies were dumped into mass graves and then the van returned to repeat. In November of 1939 56 Polish hostages were executed by firing squad in the "Policitical Clearing Grounds" of the Nazi's. Monument to the Holocaust victims. From the top the monument is sort of the star of David. It is 2500m3 with hidden chambers on the inside and placed on 5 irregularly space pyramids. On the front, the carving depicts the walk towards the Holocaust. In the centre is the outline of the gas van and the right side has the inscription "We Remem...

So on Sunday morning while the Craig's and team curled in the semi finals Ed and I went to a place called Chelmno where the Kulmhof Museum is. There were 6 "Death Camps", "Extermination Camps" or "Killing Centres" as they were called, in Nazi occupied Europe. Almost all of them are in Poland. One thing I learned was the difference between a concentration camp and extermination camp. The concentration camps were mostly in Germany and were forced labour camps to keep the German economy going while the men fought. Yes people died there as they were kept in a perpetual state of starvation, brutal treatment and disease. Extermination camps on the other hand were set up to murder people, particularly Jews. Chelmno, also known as Kulmhof was the first extermination camp built only for mass murder in conjunction with Operation Reinhard, the secret code name for Nazi's operation to annihilate the Jews. With the thought the Moscow was goi...