TIERGARTEN 4 ASSOCIATION e.V.

Members of the Association have been researching the Nazi Mercy killing program implemented in Germany and some occupied European countries between 1939 and 1945 since the early 2000s. One of our particular interests is the national socialist program of extermination of psychiatric patients in occupied Poland as it enables us to tackle several key questions surrounding Nazi extermination and occupation policies at once. Members of the Association have spoken at a number of conferences about this topic and have published several articles, papers and books. We seek international cooperation in order to popularize knowledge and to further research in a much understudied field of Nazi policies.

While researching Kulmhof (Chełmno in Polish), the Association has obtained a detailed knowledge of the operation of the gas vans in Kulmhof. To date no book has been written on the full operations of the gas vans. The Association is currently collecting material on the history of the gas vans and their operations in: the euthanasia program in the Warthegau, Kulmhof, Mauthausen, Riga, Minsk, Bełżec, Russia by the Einsatzgruppe, and Serbia. Also other possible smaller scale use of gas vans in Auschwitz, Ravensbrück, Sachsenhausen, Lublin, Soldau and other sites. The aim is to produce a detailed history of the operations of the gas vans.

Drawing of Gas Van (Source: IPN)

This Sonderkommando set up in 1942 and led by Paul Blobel was responsible for organising the disposal of bodies of Nazi victims that had been buried in mass graves all across Eastern Europe from September 1939 to mid 1942. The Sonderkommando undertook its tests on the disposal of bodies in Kulmhof in June and July 1942. There is currently no serious publication covering the operations of Sonderkommando 1005. In addition to the research we have undertaken on the operations of the Sonderkommando 1005 in Kulmhof, we are now collating source materials on the operations of Sonderkommando 1005 in Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania with the Einsatzgruppe, Poland, Aktion Reinhardt camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau and other sites. The aim is in the future to produce a detailed history of the operations of Sonderkommando 1005.

Paul Blobel Head of Sonderkommando 1005. (Source: NARA)

Members of the Association have spent significant time in Archives across the world researching and copying source material for our research topics. Since there is no single database of Nazi war crimes trials and investigations across the world we have and continue to put together our own database. We have a complete list of British and American war crimes trials and investigations. We also source such information for our research topics in archives in Poland, Germany and Austria. In itself we have an interest in the policies, procedures and politics of the war crimes trial programs in Poland, Britain, France, Russia and the US from 1945 to 1948 and in German and Austrian trials from 1946 to the present day.

Defendant Wilhelm Witteler SS chief physician in Dachau concentration camp gives evidence at the US Dachau main concentration camp trial 1946 (source NARA).

Association members have been researching the operation of the concentration camps for well over 30 years. We have a particular interest in the history and use of crematoria in the concentration camps and the links between the camps and the euthanasia program (14f13). Members have undertaken many projects over the years for example spending 6 months in Poland researching, re-finding, documenting, and photographing the sub camps of Auschwitz. We have collected a vast amount of original documentation, especially from war crimes trials and investigations and also a large collection of books and journals covering the main concentration camps and their sub camps in: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Dachau, Flossenbürg, Gross Rosen, Kaiserwald, Mauthausen, Mittelbau-Dora, Natzweiler, Niederhagen, Plaszow, Ravensbrück, Sachsenhausen and Stutthof.