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The true story behind The World Will Tremble
how Jews escaped from a concentration camp and warned the world about the Holocaust
Los Angeles-based director Lior Geller wasn’t planning on making a Holocaust film. But when he was researching his own family history, he came across an incredible true story: at the Chelmno death camp, the Nazis pioneered the use of poisoned gas to kill Jews and others. In three years, about 320,000 Jews were murdered at Chelmno
a small handful of Jews escaped and went on to warn the world about the horrors taking place there
“When I first learnt about it I was thinking, ‘How has this not been told before? There must at least be a book,’” Geller explained
“But there was none.” Determined to tell this remarkable story
Geller worked with researchers at Yad Vashem for ten years and created a major new film
based on the true story of Michael (Mordechai) Podchlebnik and Solomon Weiner
Jews who escaped from Chelmno and told the world what they’d seen
As the world marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Chelmno
it’s time the story of the brave Jews who escaped from this murderous hell was finally known
one of the first acts of the Nazis was to confine Jews to ghettos
They established about 1,000 ghettos in cities and towns across Europe: the two largest in Poland were in the cities of Warsaw and Lodz
Before World War II, the population in Lodz was about a third Jewish
all Jews were moved to a small area within the city with no electricity and no running water
surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by Nazi guards
tens of thousands more Jews were transported to Lodz from other towns and cities and imprisoned there too
rendering the ghetto even more crowded and wretched
Non-Jewish residents of Lodz were well aware of what was going on: a major road transverse the ghetto
and Lodz city trams travelled through the ghetto all day long
passengers watched the Jews slowly starve to death and become ravaged by disease
(A separate area of the ghetto was built later to house approximately 5,000 Roma and Sinti people
who were also targeted for death by the Nazis.)
the Nazis were looking for ways to hasten the death of the ghetto’s Jews and others
as a site to pioneer their evil plans of mass murder
They took over an old palace in the village
Nazi guards enjoyed a luxurious life in the palace rooms; prisoners were held in the dungeon
Three large trucks were parked on the palace grounds and were outfitted to pump exhaust into sealed containers in the back
This was the Nazis’ first experiments with gassing Jews to death
The Nazis built a second site in the forest two and half miles outside of Chelmno where the bodies of dead Jews and others were burned in massive crematoria and burned in mass graves
Members of a war crimes commission examine a mobile killing van in which Jews were gassed while being transported to the crematoria at Chelmno extermination camp
Jews arrived at the Chelmno palace on December 7
They were held in the dungeon for a night
First the Nazi guards told them they had to go get cleaned up
The Jewish prisoners were forced to undress; Nazis collected all their belongings and made a show of labelling them with their owners’ names
as if they were going to return the prisoners’ belongings to them
prisoners’ belongings were given to Germans living in the area.)
Jewish prisoners were then forced to walk through a narrow 75-foot long fenced passageway
they were forced into the back of trucks and sealed inside reinforced containers
A hole in the bottom of the floor was connected to a hose leading to the van’s exhaust pipe
the Jews inside each truck slowly suffocated as carbon monoxide filled the van
Jewish prisoners were forced to unload and clean the vans
transport the dead through the forest to the crematoria
Chelmno operated with incredible efficiency
Between 1941 and 1945 at least 172,000 Jews and others - including about 5,000 Gypsies - were murdered there
The village’s rural location made escape difficult
Throughout the four years that Chelmno was operated as a mass murder site
Four managed to escape in the confusion of fighting in the last days of the war as Soviet troops closed in on the town
Five other Jews escaped earlier and told the world about the horrors that were unfolding inside
The World Will Tremble tells the story of Michael Podchlebnik and Solomon Weiner
they escaped from Chelmno by jumping off a truck transporting Jewish slave laborers to dig mass graves in the forest
Michael was 30 years old when he was brought to Chelmno in January of 1942
He later described his ordeal to the acclaimed documentary maker Claus Landsmann in his landmark documentary Shoah
so he knew exactly when he was when he was brought to the courtyard of the palace
Michael described hearing rumors that Nazis were killing Jews on a massive scale
but he - like most other Polish Jews - couldn’t believe this was possible
Yet as he stood in front of Schlass Chelmno - the name of the Palace - he realized that the Nazis’ sadism knew no bounds
The courtyard was filled with clothes and shoes and he immediately realized that the owners of these items were nowhere to be seen
Michael’s parents had recently been sent to Chelmno
and he understood at once that they were dead
Michael - along with nearly two dozen other Jews - was assigned to duty as a slave laborer
Michael’s translator describes conditions in the dungeon where he and four other Jewish slaves lived
‘from here no one leaves alive,’ and he thought that it was the (Jewish) people from the little villages around Chelmno
There were inscriptions” of the names of Jews who’d been kept there on the walls
Michael described the first time he witnessed Nazis gassing a group of Jews at Chelmno:
The people exited the truck and entered the castle’s first floor where there was a ‘bathroom’; the men
but the Germans deceived the people and told them that they must go to the ‘bathroom’
They made them cross this room and exit to the other side
where they were put…where they got into trucks
(Michael) heard the trucks turning (on) and the people crying
Nazis forced Michael and other Jewish slave laborers to open the doors to the trucks
Nazi troops from Ukraine then went through all the dead bodies
Michael recalls that whenever the soldiers saw a ring on the hand of a dead Jew
they’d cut off the entire finger to remove the ring more easily
On his third day unloading a truck of murdered Jews
Michael saw the bodies of his wife and children among the dead and broke down in agony
“He put down his wife in the grave and he asked to be killed,” his translation explained in Shoah
“The Germans told him that he still had energy to work and would not kill him now.”
Michael witnessed other horrors too: German guards forced Jews to balance bottles on their heads
then shot at the bottles for target practice
Nazis regularly pulled young women off of transports to Chelmno to rape before sending them to be gassed along with other Jews
Guards forced Jewish musicians to play music in a grotesque band while they watched their co-religionists being murdered
Michael befriended a fellow Jewish slave laborer named Solomon Weiner
They wanted to tell the world about the unimaginable horrors going on inside Chelmno
Solomon and Michael depicted in the film The World Will Tremble
About two weeks after he arrived in Chelmno
Michael and Solomon were inside a truck crammed with fellow Jews
heading towards the nearby crematoria and mass graves where they’d have to bury yet another group of murdered Jews
going to work” Michael’s translator later explained in the film Shoah
“And the SS (guards) pointed their weapons
and at a given moment (Michael) got up and asked if he could have a cigarette and one of the SS gave him a cigarette and a light
and that this moment…he asked the other people who were going with him to work to get up and also ask for cigarettes and during this time he took out his knife (all the prisoners had a knife for mealtimes)
he cut the tarp and thought that he had to jump even if he must die….”
Michael and Solomon jumped from the moving truck and ran
It was snowing and bitter cold and the two Jews were wearing inadequate clothes for the weather
they each made their way to the nearby town of Grabow
whose Jews had not yet been deported to death camps
Michael Podchlebnik testifying in Jerusalem at the Eichmann trial
Michael later made his way to the Polish town of Rzeszow (Reichshof in German) where he had family
He was interred in the ghetto there and survived until the end of the war
Michael appeared as a witness in trials of Nazis
In 1961 in Israel he appeared as a witness at the trial of Adolf Eichmann
one of the architects of the murder of Europe’s Jews and the highest-ranking Nazi to be brought to trial
Michael’s testimony - along with others - helped convict Eichmann
The same winter that Michael Podchlebnik and Solomon Weiner escaped from a work duty in Chelmno
Yakov Grojanowski - who also used the pseudonyms Szalamek Bajler and Szlama Ber Winer - was forced to dig mass graves in Chelmno along with Michael and Solomon
he witnessed the murder of nearly all of the 1,600 Jews from his hometown of Izbica Kujawska
and was forced to burn and bury their corpses
after learning that he and other slave laborers were about to be murdered
Yakov escaped through the tiny window in the back of a truck that brought him and other Jews to Chelmno’s forest location
Yakov also made his way to Grabow and told the town’s Jews what he’d seen in Chelmno
Rabbi Jakub Szulman wrote a letter to his relatives who were imprisoned in the Jewish Ghetto in Lodz
describing what was happening to Polish Jews:
I have not yet replied to your letters since I had not known exactly what (was occurring)
An eyewitness who by chance was able to escape from hell has been to see me… I learned everything from him
The place where everyone is being put to death is called Chelmno
not far from Dabie; people are kept in the nearby forest of Lochow
People are killed in one of two ways: either by shooting or by poison gas…
Do not think that a madman is writing; unfortunately
Yakov later made his way to the Warsaw Ghetto
where he warned Jews about the fate of those sent to Chelmno
a group of Jews ran what they called the “Oneg Shabbos” group
recording daily life in the ghetto and providing a written document about what Polish Jews were enduring
Yakov dictated a formal testimony about what he’d seen in Chelmno to Hersz and Bluma Wasser
They titled their report “The Events in Chelmno,” translated it into Polish and German
an underground Polish group which transferred information to Poland’s Government in Exile in London
this landmark document is known as the Grojanowski Report
Yakov described the horrors he and Michel Podchlebnik had witnessed
describing waiting for Jews near the crematoria and mass graves just outside of Chelmno:
At midday I received the sad news that my brother and parents had just been buried
I tried to get closer to the corpses to take a last look at my nearest and dearest
Once I had a clod of frozen earth tossed at me
The second time ‘Big Whip’ (one Nazi guard’s nickname) shot at me…
Michael Podklebnik followed my example and we said the prayer of the mourners together
Before leaving the ditch five of the eight (Jewish slave laborers who’d buried the dead) were shot…
The testimonies of the few Jews who managed to escape from Chelmno about the torture and mass killings there made it to the West
Filmmaker Lior Geller titled his powerful new movie The World Will Tremble after the line that one of the Jewish prisoners says in his film: those who escape want to warn the world about what was taking place so that people become shocked and do all they can to put a stop to the Nazis’ activities in Chelmno and elsewhere
Yet in reality, despite the wrenching testimony of Michael Podchlebnik, Solomon Weiner, Yakov Grojanowski and others, the world just shrugged. The BBC did air a special report on June 26
1943 about the new intelligence on Chelmno
describing Jews being killed en masse by poisonous gas then buried in mass graves
the New York Times carried an item about the mass murders in Chelmno
but it was hardly front-page news; the paper carried it on page 6
it’s more important than ever to remember our people’s history and the incredible bravery of the men who escaped from Chelmno and warned the world about what was taking place
which describes the lives of 40 remarkable women who inhabited different eras and lands
giving readers a sense of the vast diversity of Jewish history and experience
My father’s entire family were murdered in Chelmno
Parents ( Toba and Herschel) ,two younger sisters (Paula and Chana)
aunts and cousins were taken from Belchatov in 1942
His older brother Mozeck was shot during roundup
Zelda and Hinda and older brother Jankiel were taken to Lodz in 1942 and then to Chelmno in 1944
My father spent 5 years in various camps and the last 2.5 years in Auschwitz - Furstengrubber
and younger brother ( went on Kiddush Hashem) was murdered in Chlemno
my mother( obm) used to say nobody knows about Chlemno
and after all these years everyone hears the story what my mother told me
there were 3 escapees from Chlemno originally but I am not sure what happened to the 3rd escapees I wish my mother( obm) was alive to hear that now that people talk about Chlemno the first killing places there was
I think after they they did it in concentration camps and it turned into mass murder unfortunately nobody stopped the cold blooded murder of 6 million Jews and 5 million non Jews it is mind boggling that a so called civilizated country did this evil
One of the escapees from Chlemno was from my mother's( obm) town of Kolo I think my mother( obm) was there at the Rabbi's house when Michael P
what is going on in Chlemno my mom's( obm) were murdered there
my mother'( obm) ran from town to town to tell the Rabbi's and others what is going
unfortunately nobody believed her( obm) also I heard Polish Jews escaped from a ghetto or a concentration camp I am not sure which one and ran to Hungrian Jews to tell them what is going on
but they don't believe the Polish Jews until they personally had the Nazis( may their name be erased)) in front of them
and nobody believed the Germans turned so evil
Can't help but remind myself how Palestinian refugees came to be
Count on Islamic and Arab leaders to blame Israel
the Jews for the fate of their Fakestinian "brethren'
They exiled around 800,000 Jews from Arab countries and did they become "refugees"
has condemned Israel for no other reason other than they're Jews living there
the others want to steal the Jews identity these fake people came about in 1967 before that they were known as Muslim Arabs
000 Jews from Arab countries that were absorbed by Israel and the Jewsvthat escaped Syria came to America and other Syrian Jews helped them
Yakov Grojanowski is the same Solomon Wiener portrayed in the film
He used the pseudonym Grojanowski after his escape
Victor Frankel that survived in a concentration camp did research in the camps and wrote a book I don't remember the name of the book even though he wasn't religious anymore the Chabad rabbi ( obm) told him it was important to write his book I think it had to do with G_ d and man
You're right Judy - Frankel's book is called Man's Search for Meaning and it's an incredibly profound meditation on how we all need a feeling of purpose in our lives
I highly recommend reading this masterpiece
”Man’s Search for Meaning” by Victor Frankl
Some people are very excited to convert to Judaism
also my mother( obm) went through the Holocaust and always was proud to be a Jew
and not G_ d forbid a Nazi ( may their name be erased)
so who is person anyway a self hating Jew or a anti semitic/ anti Israel person what is there problem
when someone wants to convert to Judaism they tell you it won't be easy
whoever this character is they are a wimp sometimes life is like being in a boxing ring you have to be a fighter
the people that survived the concentration camps had a lot of spiritual strength and a lot believed in Hashem too
My mother( obm) told about Chlemno and the escapees from Chlemno
she( obm) told me this killing places was 11 miles from her( obm) town in Poland
after the escapees they chained the people hands and feet like they did recently to hostages in Gaza
my mom( obm) was a Holocaust Survivor from Auschwitz-Birneau and spoke in schools and colleges about the Holocaust this was a promise or pledge to the Jews that went for Kiddush Hashem tell the world and whoever survived will be a witness to what happened from hate against any one that does fit into the so called Aryan race mold they were 11 million victims of mass murder 6 million Jews and 5 million non Jews
There was fellow came to a rabbi and said he does not believe in God
He said ‘because if there is a God – a loving
“The God that you believe in – that He did something incorrect and inconsistent with love and caring
it is our job to study the mechanics of this world – How He created things and runs the world
and we should certainly study regular day-to-day life to understand it
but even that has a purpose (one reason is a test)
honest people who are accomplishing much all along
Being a Jew means being part of God’s chosen Nation – and striving to live that way by studying the Bible and hearing lectures from rabbis and being able to consult with them
by the time the majority of the people of the USA were aware of the mass termination of Jews
the USA had declared war on The Third Reich and Imperial Japan
When certain Jewish leaders complained to the USA government the government said "We are in a war with the Germans
the way to save the Jews is to win the War"
Of course it took four years to "win the war" as the USA was not prepared to fully engage in War due to the isolationist movement of the 1930's
The failure to nip the Nazi horror in the bud not only resulted in the destruction of Jews but caused direct harm to the USA because again the War lasted much longer than it should have
It is not clear at all that the USA has learned its lesson
Roosevelt REFUSED to bomb railroad tracks to Auschwitz
This has ZERO to do the length of duration of the war
We have only one "Friend" we can rely on; how long do we have to suffer before we wake up to that fact
Again People are not affected until they are
Our isolationist attitude did not get the USA out of World War II
it just caused the War to last longer which also hurt the USA
if it was another minority and not Jews the world would of saved them
I think there was a some type of project to ransom jews from being murdered
Louis ship to save Jews but Cuba didn't let in the Jews
and most Jews went to their death unfortunately and so very sad
so Israel and Jews should ignore what the world says about what Jews and Israel they lost the right when the world let 6 million Jews be murdered in cold blood " Never Again"
Man's inhumanity to man knows no bounds; cruel actions to one are cruel actions to all
How sad that the man never seems to learn
A very important book to read as a follow up to this film would be "Abandonment of the Jews" by David S
unfortunately the Jews have to revise the story of the Holocaust to gain the attention of the younger generations
The story of the Holocaust/reason for Israel is getting "lost" or perverted by the media/Muslins to great success
More effective "propaganda"by Jewish leaders
There were horrible things done to defenseless women and children that is not "proper" to talk about/display..........but maybe this is the time to bring it out
If we regard the Holocaust as "the cause" and the State of Israel as "the result," we're entirely overlooking the fact that Israel is the ancient homeland of the Jewish people; this must not be overshadowed by modern history
there were 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust
and 5 million non Jews and there is a whole list written in Yad Vashem who was targeted to be murdered
for example my mom( obm) told me there were Romas( better known as Gypsies) in Auschwitz-Birneau with my mom( obm)
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On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel
the film premiered in New York The World Will Tremble
a moving production directed by Israeli filmmaker Lior Geller.
the first eyewitness account of the Holocaust
That makes it more relevant than ever at a time when antisemitism is once again on the rise at a worrying rate," Geller explained.
The film tells the true story of two Jewish prisoners who escaped from the Nazi extermination camp at Chelmno
Their bravery allowed the world to hear for the first time about the Nazi plan to annihilate the Jewish people
starring Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Jeremy Neumark Jones as Solomon Wiener and Michael Podchlebnik
from what was the first Nazi extermination camp
hundreds of thousands of Jews were murdered in gas vans and buried in mass graves
With a cinematic rhythm that blends tension
the film follows Solomon and Michael as they escape from their captors
and face skepticism even within their own Jewish community
before managing to bear witness to a rabbi named Schulman
The film not only captures the heroic deeds of these two men
but also the fundamental role of the secret Oneg Shabat archive in the Warsaw ghetto
where Solomon was able to deliver his testimony before being captured and murdered in Belzec
and testified against the Nazis who had enslaved him
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the first of six extermination camps established by the Nazis
located in Poland about 300 miles from Majdanek
the camp seen in Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain
Is that a reference to The Great Escape with the motorcycle scene
Or was that movie borrowing from this real story
Here's the official trailer for Lior Geller's film The World Will Tremble, direct from Vertical's YouTube:
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John Nathan
4 min readNext month sees the release of The World Will Tremble
a new film based on a true story about the first escape from a Nazi extermination camp
resulted in the first testimony of the Holocaust to reach the wider world
which in turn led to the BBC broadcasting the first news report about the mass extermination of Jews
To some the film’s title will have a whiff of irony given that the world did not tremble enough to stop or even hamper the murder of millions more
this does not diminish the harrowing story of Michael Podchlebnik and Solomon Weiner
who escaped from Chelmno in Poland while being transported to the zone where they were to be made to dig mass graves for the latest batch of gassed Jews
I didn’t set out to make a film about the Holocaust
I came across this story while researching my own family’s history in the Shoah
“I didn’t set out to make a film about the Holocaust,” says the movie’s Israeli director Lior Geller
who is speaking via video call from his office just outside Los Angeles where he is based
“I came across this story while researching my own family’s history in the Shoah,” he explains
But first there is the matter of the term “Holocaust film”
“It’s reductive and is not respectful to individuals
I don’t think the words should be next to each other,” says the director
“But when you make a film that takes place in the Holocaust you must bring something new to the filmic discourse of roughly 500 or so feature films that have been made since 1945 and today.”
which is the result of ten years of research
is the first movie to reveal Podchlebnik and Weiner’s remarkable story
Perhaps it was inevitable that the Holocaust would figure in Geller’s filmography
which began with the 2008 short Roads about a traumatised former Israeli soldier who buys drugs from an Israeli Arab boy
It won a place in The Guinness Book of Records for the most awards won by a student film
The 43-year-old is from a generation who remembers when Holocaust survivors were much more visible than they are now
Geller remembers survivors visiting his schools
or if he walked down his Tel Aviv street to the local market he might see someone with a number on his arm
Yet the story about how the first Holocaust testimony came about was completely unknown to him
“When I first learnt about it I was thinking
There must at least be a book.’ But there was none.”
The first half of the film is a tough watch
Chelmno pioneered the first use of gas as a method of mass murder on an industrial scale
Podchlebnik and Weiner were two of only four who survived
Gas chambers were not yet in use so Jews were packed into modified vans with a carefully engineered inlet built into the back door through which the vehicle’s exhaust fumes were fed as the vehicle beetled through the Polish countryside
Yet without ever allowing the viewer to forget the depravity and sadism of the Nazis
the film embraces another tradition of cinema
Solomon and Michael (who are played by British Jewish actors Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Jeremy Neumark Jones) even use a motorcycle – somewhat like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape – in their attempt to reach the rabbi
It was important that the horrors were 100 per cent accurate
Projects that fictionalise are fodder for Holocaust distorters or deniers
“It was important that the horrors were 100 per cent accurate,” says Geller
“When people from the Holocaust educational community saw the film
I did not: not the bottles on the heads [where German guards force prisoners to hold bottles for target practice]
not how the Nazis pulled out young Jewish women from the transports to keep in their villa before sending them to their death
not the fact that anyone surviving the gassings inside the van would be shot; not that musicians were forced to play music while prisoners danced for the SS.”
Geller takes a dim view of works about the Holocaust where historical accuracy has not been a priority
“Projects that fictionalise the horrors of the camps are fodder for Holocaust distorters or deniers,” he says
“because when they see a scene in a film which the creators openly say didn’t happen
‘Well if that didn’t happen then maybe the six million didn’t.’”
“Anybody can say something on social media and it is portrayed as true
the story of the escape from the first Nazi death camp and the creation of the first eyewitness account of the Holocaust is more important than ever.” Geller resisted pressure from some in the film industry to glamourise or distort his film’s narrative
“When I was looking for financing I had opportunities to make the film for a lot more money and with bigger names but which I felt were not right for the film,” he says
Others wanted Solomon and Michael to be seen killing Nazis with their bare hands a la Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds
“These were literally some of the conversations I had,” says Geller
The responsibility he felt to the people depicted in his film extended to the surviving members of their families
“I had a lot of conversations with him after I tracked him down
He was so grateful that finally somebody was telling his father’s story
I would ask him what kind of person Michael was
things that I couldn’t find in my research
I wanted him to meet Jeremy who plays his father but two weeks before he was supposed to visit us on location he passed away
It took almost 80 years from the end of the Holocaust to tell his father’s story
I only wished we had done it sooner so he could have been there.”
The World Will Tremble is released on March 14
The JC hosts an exclusive screening of the film followed by a Q&A on March 4: go.thejc.com/theworldwilltremble
shoah
Film
Jewish film
Szlama Ber Winer was born in 1911 in Izbica Kujawska
from where he was transported by the Germans to Chełmno on 5 January 1942
in a village called by the Germans Kulmhof an der Nehr
and in Las Rzuchowski several kilometres away
the first stationary location of extermination of Jews was established
The extermination camp was functioning from 7 December 1941 until 7 April 1943
The number of victims of the Chełmno camp remains unknown – it is estimated that about 200,000 people had been killed there
people had been murdered on a mass scale using car exhaust fumes
Prisoners who arrived at the camp were told to take their clothes off and rushed to cars
The cars with prisoners were driven onto a forest glade in Las Rzuchowski
The exhaust pipes were redirected inside the cars so that within 15–20 minutes
they would cause death of asphyxiation
Szlama Ber Winer’s loved ones had lost their lives this way
written down after his arrival to the Warsaw Ghetto
I’ve received the sad news: my dear parents and my brother were in their graves
I was trying to move closer to the dead ones
to see my loved ones for the last time
I was hit with a frozen lump of soil by the good-natured German with a pipe
and the „Whip man” fired a shot at me
I’m not sure if he wanted to miss
or if it was by accident
I was working very fast in order to forget about my horrible loss even for a while
I was left alone in this world now
Out of my family of about 60 people
Szlama had a chance to escape because in Chełmno
he was assigned to the forest commando (Waldkommando)
whose responsibility was to buried the bodies of the murdered Jews
They were held in the basement of the former palace
and even after several days of digging graves
they became aware that they’d be killed as well
and that escape was the only chance for survival
he managed to escape through a small window of a truck
was to let the world know about what was happening in Chełmno
I was calling to God and my parents to help me save the Jewish nation
he found shelter at the rabbi’s house in Grabów: The servant (the rabbi is a widower)
A wound on my right hand began to hurt
and I told them in detail about the horrible events
he managed to reach the Warsaw Ghetto
where he received help from Hersz Wasser (secretary of Oneg Shabbat and employee of the Central Refugee Commission) and his wife Bluma
who in February 1942 wrote down Szlama’s detailed report about the mass extermination in gas vans in Chełmno
he was writing do Hersz Wasser in indirect words that in the Lublin region
the same things as he witnessed in Chełmno were taking place:
I have received greetings from a cousin from Lublin
and from my family in Izbica Lubelska as well
They wrote that the entire family have found themselves at the cemetery
in the same way as in Chełmno
This is prrobably the last letter I’m writing to you
(…) The cemetery is located in Bełżec
It is the same death as in Chełmno
After the liquidation of the Zamość Ghetto on 11th or 12th April
he was transported to the Bełżec extermination camp
sent a letter to Bluma and Hersz Wasser
informing about the deaths of his mother and uncle Szlamek
Basing on Szlama Ber Winer’s testimony (and other sources
the Oneg Shabbat group wrote a report „The events in Chełmno” (25 March 1942)
which informed about the mass extermination of Jews
The report was passed to the Home Army in March
As Maria Ferenc Piotrowska and Franciszek Zakrzewski emphasised in their introduction to the 22th volume of the complete edition of the Ringelblum Archive – The press in the Warsaw Ghetto: news from the radio monitoring
information about the extermination camp in Chełmno had reached London in early June 1942 through a letter sent by the Bund leadership (11 May 1942) and delivered by Sven Norrman
a representative of a Swedish company in Warsaw
Some of the information was sourced by Bund from Oneg Shabbat’s „The events in Chełmno” report – in this sense
Ringelblum’s group was the primary source of part of the information delivered by Bund to London in May
Szlama Ber Winer’s testimony and Oneg Shabbat’s „The events in Chełmno” report were hidden in the first part of the Ringelblum Archive and discovered on 18 September 1946
[1] Przemysław Nowicki, Obóz zagłady w Chełmnie nad Nerem, https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/miejscowosci/c/469-chelmno-nad-nerem/116-miejsca-martyrologii/139763-oboz-z...
Ostatnim etapem przesiedlenia jest śmierć
Wstęp do: Pełna edycja Archiwum Ringelbluma
Prasa z getta warszawskiego: wiadomości z nasłuchu radiowego
The publication is a part of the Oneg Szabat Program
established by the Jewish Historical Institute and the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland. The aim of the Program is to share and to popularize the Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto (the Ringelblum Archive) and to commemorate the members of the Oneg Shabbat group
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The Chełmno Land has a rich and interesting history
from which today the municipalities of Chełmno County draw handfuls
Cultural heritage is a defining element of the local government’s identity and an important branch of local business
Chełmno County has received a financial injection from the Regional Operational Program (ROP) 2014-2020 (2023)
which allows an optimistic view of the future
It is worth doing them to know what we have already accomplished together
And to be aware of the challenges still ahead of us
The support from ROP 2014-2020 (2023) that Chełmno County received amounted to PLN 220 million
Unislaw and Kijewo Królewskie have regained their former splendor
We restored the splendor of Chełmno’s century-old Rondo cinema
We also completed the construction of provincial road 548
which connects Chełmno and Wąbrzezno counties
With the support of our ROP 2014-2020 (23)
the renovation of wards and the operating theater in the Health Care Complex in Chełmno was carried out
and modern medical equipment was purchased for this facility
which in this year’s nationwide ranking of the best-managed public hospitals took fourth place in its category
Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship’s Regional Operational Program for Chełmno County 2012-2020 (2023) in numbers
Spokesperson for the Marshal’s Office
Marshal's Office of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region
RAMAPO — He likely thought it was just dirt
When the Holocaust survivor went to the Chelmno extermination camp in Poland after World War II
he wanted to take a piece of the land where his family had been killed
historians with the Rockland Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education said Tuesday
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he took the ashy remains of those murdered at Chelmno
the first camp set up specifically as an extermination site
who museum officials decided not to name to protect his family’s privacy
lived in the Lodz Ghetto before being sent to work in Auschwitz
Many residents of the Lodz Ghetto were murdered in Chelmno
It wasn’t until June that museum officials realized that this box
which was about the size of a small loaf of bread and labeled with the donor’s name and “earth/ashes
from Chelmno,” indeed carried the remains of some of the 172,000 people who perished in the death camp
Six million Jews were among those killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust
“He just thought it was a keepsake from this place,” said Andrea Winograd
“He didn't think it was ashes.”
The museum’s historian-in-residence Abigail Miller was sifting through the archives to determine what will go in the museum’s permanent collection
while simultaneously cataloging collections and updating artifact inventory
when she discovered the Plexiglass box as part of a larger collection of items donated in 2006
The archival work was being done as the museum
located in the Rockland Community College library
is being rebuilt and redesigned by the Layman Design team
who also worked on the 9/11 Memorial and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The artifacts in the collection came from the Warsaw Ghetto and Auschwitz
but it was this box from Chelmno that drew Miller's attention
She decided to investigate to see if it was actually a box of earth or something more
“The box was discovered and identified and we began to really understand
“We knew we needed to do our due diligence to determine whether these were human remains or whether it was simply the case of a survivor who had returned to this camp and dug up some earth to bring back.”
She said the first step was opening the box
something that hadn’t been done in years
“It’s a very emotionally charged subject,” she said
“It could be difficult and frightening.”
museum officials took the box to a local crematorium
which confirmed they were human remains
as well as determined the type of cremation used
Since Chelmno was the first extermination camp
the crematorium was more rudimentary than later death camps
“It was sort of a double verification that these were remains and that these would have certainly been from Chelmno
Miller said taking earth from a death camp might seem morbid
but to a recent survivor of the war who lost everything
about to embark on a new life in a new home
it is understandable why he would take a piece of the land that marked his past
"It's a bit surprising,” Miller said
I think everybody recognizes this great responsibility ..
to do what is right here for these victims."
museum officials discovered a similar situation at the Imperial War Museum in London
which recently buried the remains of six people that had been held in its archives
After consulting with local rabbinical authorities and human rights lawyers
Winograd decided the remains should be given a proper burial
The box was removed from the museum and the ashes were moved into an urn for burial in Monsey Sept
“The burial of human remains is required by Jewish Law,” museum curator Julie Golding said
“For the past 70-plus years these individuals suffered in both their life and death
We now have the unique opportunity to give them a proper and dignified Jewish burial amongst their people.”
They also consulted with the Chelmno museum
the Polish general consul in New York and the chief rabbi of Poland to determine that it would be appropriate to bury the remains in Rockland
“It’s really been a lot of coordinating on very many levels
who of course have a tremendous amount of work to do in determining the most appropriate methods for burial and what the burial service should be comprised of
but also on these legal levels and on the ethical levels as well,” Miller said
The survivor’s family has been notified of the burial and invited to attend
Miller said the different agencies have shown gratitude and respect for this undertaking
have said and remarked on just how significant this kind of occasion is,” Miller said
“To come across remains from the Holocaust and to determine that we have an obligation and the honor to do one final act of dignity and justice and respect for these people
But the bronze jewelry in an ancient lake bed may have been offered in the stead of humans
2024Get email notification for articles from Ruth Schuster FollowFeb 7
2024No less than 550 pieces of ancient bronze jewelry have been discovered on a farm built on a drained lakebed in Poland
a prehistoric people hitherto thought not to use metal
The Chełmno lived in central European areas now in Poland starting about 3,200 years ago and persisted for about 750 years
They were among the northernmost communities of a broader Lusatian culture
which emerged in the Nordic Bronze Age and persisted until the Early Iron Age
The Lusatian peoples were accustomed to cremating their dead and disposing of the burned remains in urns
while metal hoards had been found in the context of other Lusatian cultures to the south
they were hitherto unknown among the Chełmno culture
"Metal does not appear to have featured prominently in the social and ritual activities of the Chełmno community," the authors wrote in a statement
Yet here we have the discovery of human remains
which do not seem to have undergone the usual Lusitanian mortuary practices
in conjunction with collections of precious metal pieces
Together this suggests the swampy site was a place of ritual
Open gallery viewSpiraled heads with a Scythian flairCredit: A
including strange pins with exquisitely spiraled heads
were placed in woven baskets and bedded on moss
it seems the human remains may date to somewhat earlier than the bronze artifacts
the team reports based on radiocarbon dating the bones
Based on comparison with the broader culture in prehistoric central Europe and the treatment of the human remains
the archaeologists suggest these may have been human sacrifices – the first example found in that area
no other accompanying artifacts were found with the human bones," they add
Open gallery viewAmong the over 550 bronze artifacts found at the site of a dried-out lake bed in Poland.Credit: A
We just note that the Bronze Age in the Near East is considered to have begun over 5,000 years ago
The Nordic Bronze Age is thought to have begun about 4,000 years ago
The objects were found in plowed fields on a farm built on swampland that had been drained for agriculture in the 19th century and again a few decades ago
Excavation of the beautifully fertile lake bed-turned-farmland ensued after metal detectorists from the Kujawsko-Pomorska Grupa Poszukiwaczy Historii got a signal from the dried lake bed
A salvage excavation ensued before the tractors could ruin everything and the archaeologists also found other artifacts
Open gallery viewA large necklace found at the Lusatian site.Credit: Adam FiszThe human remains include babies
adolescents and adults but nobody over 50 years of age
They were found disarticulated - remains lying any which way
at least some seem to have been packaged in baskets made of birchbark lined with moss
and the objects were (according to leaves found in the context) deposited during the fen's seasonal soggy season
The necklace with the bead was found in association with four large metal pins and other fripperies including nail-like earrings that likely originated in nearby Ukraine
One theory is that at some point possibly the community adopted mores from nearby Lusitanian cultures and either switched to votive deposits in the lake made of bronze
The archaeological record of the greater region does not indicate that "human bog sacrifice" continued into the Iron Age
metal was very precious when it first emerged
and its ritual sacrifice is known in the area
It is also possible that the Chełmno community began depositing the sacrifices when adorned
Open gallery viewThe team's impressive recreation of a Chełmno woman buried in bronze jewelry
Great fun.Credit: Adam FiszWhy might the people of Chełmno have been sacrificing humans and later
This was a time of large-scale human migrations and probably invasions from the central Eurasian steppe
possibly sacrificed to appease or wheedle the gods
And although the pieces may not have been grave goods but gifts for the gods
the team created a reconstruction of what a deceased woman wearing the beautiful things might have looked like
Transcription of a program broadcast by the BBC from a radio watch conducted by "Oneg Szabat"
“Everything that we know well was told: Słonim and Vilnius
For many months we felt sorry that the world was deaf and mute in the face of our tragedy
We had a grudge against the Polish public opinion
against the agents in contact with the Polish government
that they did not provide [information] about the slaughter of Polish Jews
We accused Polish factors of deliberately ignoring our tragedy
All [our] interventions have, apparently, finally reached their end. In recent weeks, the English radio has constantly broadcast news about the cruel abuse of Polish Jews: Chełmno, Vilnius, Bełżec, etc. Today, an abbreviated report on the situation of Polish Jews was given and it was said that 700,000 Jews were murdered in Poland. At the same time, revenge was announced and brought to justice for the violence committed”. [1]
members of Oneg Shabbat learned from Szlama Ber Winer about the mass murders of Jews in Chełmno on the Ner (Kulmhof)
carried out with the use of trucks equipped with a system for pumping exhaust fumes into a trailer
almost unbelievable story of Szlama confirmed the worst assumptions of Ringelblum's associates: the Germans began the systematic destruction of the European Jewish population
was to inform the world about the tragedy taking place far behind the front lines
London was also informed about German crimes in Poland by Bund party activists – the broadcast was probably based mainly on Bund materials
the members of the group listened to a broadcast (the transcription was in the Ringelblum Archive)
which spoke about the mass murders in Ponary near Vilnius
about the extermination of Jews from Stanisławów and many smaller towns beyond the Bug and San
“Jews were murdered here with the help of poisonous gases
The center of the action was the village of Chełmno
Special cars – gas chambers – were used to poison the Jews
The victims were buried in a clearing in the Luborodzkie forest by gravediggers selected from among them
Bugaj and other nearby towns were poisoned in Chełmno
Governorate." The number of 700,000 murdered Jews was given – the estimate of the Oneg Shabbat group at that time
The program was also attended by Szmul Zygielbojm
member of the National Council at the Polish government-in-exile in London: “I am speaking to you (...) comrades and brothers
terrified by the cruelties you are a victim
The world knows the enormity of your suffering
it knows the poverty of the ghettos – these death traps
it knows about the processions of funerals constantly dragging along the streets
it knows about tens of thousands of innocently murdered children and old people
All these crimes are burning wounds felt by every honest person”
“A very sensational news has reached the ghetto today,” wrote Eliasz Gutkowski
the second secretary of the Ringelblum Archive
who helped to prepare the most important reports of Oneg Szabat
the London radio broadcast a special program about the disappearance of Jews in Polish and Russian territories
Hancewicze and many others) are given with numbers that amount to tens of thousands of victims
The broadcast ended with a call to Jewish society [no text] and a deep faith that the moment of deliverance and revenge is near
This means that at last our excruciating sufferings and pains
as well as [information] about our countless victims
Can we hope that our situation will change a little for the better now
Will the slaughter and the sending of thousands of our brothers and sisters "in an unknown direction" be stopped
It's also possible that it also has an [illegible] effect
but anyway we are a toy in the hands of murderers!.” [2]
Project co-financed by Taube Philanthropies
on the mound of dirt and the covered coffin
Hundreds huddled together around the gray stone memorial Thursday evening in the Jewish Cemetery in Monsey
women and children from all backgrounds had come together to pay their respects – not to a beloved grandparent or community leader – but to unknown victims of the Holocaust who died nearly 80 years ago in the Chelmno Death Camp
“It means a lot to me,” Chana Dolgin said at the gravesite
who is named after her two grandmothers who died in Chelmno
who is named after one of her two aunts that also were killed in the extermination camp during World War II
the crowd moved forward to place dirt on the coffin
considered one of the highest good deeds in Jewish law
Dirt from Israel was also sprinkled on top of the gravesite
was the first Nazi death camp to use gas instead of bullets
An estimated 172,000 people were killed there
Six million Jews were among those killed by Nazis during the Holocaust
Among them were the victims whose ashes were buried Thursday
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“Though we could not know their names
they have gained a sense of identity as we take responsibility for their burial,” said Paul Galan
the president of the Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education in Suffern. “Today we restore these dignities which were so lacking in the place and time where they lost their lives
the sun shone briefly through the clouds and glistened on the droplets covering the array of umbrellas around the grave.
Discovery of the remainsThe details behind the funeral are unusual
Last winter, historians at the Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education found a small Plexiglass box
that was believed to contain dirt from the Chelmno camp
they discovered that the box held the ashes and bone fragments of people killed at Chelmno
then busy preparing for their permanent exhibit in the Rockland Community College library
the director of litigation for The LawFare Project
a civil rights litigation fund and think tank that battles anti-Semitism
after making sure they were not stolen property
Museum officials reached out to local rabbinical authorities and human rights lawyers
They coordinated with the Chelmno Holocaust museum
the Polish general consul in New York and the chief rabbi of Poland
This was believed to be only the second time that Holocaust remains were discovered in a library archive
Remains discovered at the Imperial War Museum in London were buried in January
The discovery in Rockland actually came at an opportune time
museum board member Paul Adler said before the funeral
"This is not a late burial,” he said
this is the souls of the Holocaust reminding us that our work for tolerance and education is not over."
Museum curator Julie Golding spoke about the blowing of the ram’s horn on the Jewish New Year as a reminder of the biblical story about Abraham and the sacrifice of his son Isaac
Although Isaac was not sacrificed in the end
“There's a beautiful idea in Jewish thought that explains that the ashes that we speak about are not actually the ashes of Isaac
who were murdered throughout the millennia,” she said
“They are holy ashes and they are the ashes that we just buried a very short while ago.”
She said it was special to see the community come together for an important moment in history
“What I witnessed were people of all backgrounds
Jews of all backgrounds … coming together for the sole purpose of giving these people a dignified burial,” she said
The memorial included a candle lighting ceremony
reminiscent of the ones held annually on Holocaust Remembrance Day
Each candle was lit by a community member representing those groups of people who were killed in the Holocaust
The individual candles stood for the victims
"I always call Alan my hero because if it wasn’t for people like Alan I probably wouldn’t be here,” Galan said
Twitter: @ReporterRox
The Holocaust saw the deaths of six million Jewish individuals
The majority of them lost their lives at German-run concentration and extermination camps
with four documented as having gotten away from the horrors of Chełmno
Two of them were Solomon Weiner and Michał Podchlebnik
whose bravery will be depicted in the upcoming World War II-era film
Geller spent over a decade researching the film. With the help of historians, Yad Vashem and the men’s families
he was able to collect enough information to put together a cohesive retelling of their efforts amid the trials and death of war
“The film will focus on a moment of bravery
proving that one’s will to live and tell others
can overcome insurmountable odds and the most indescribable of human conditions.”
Located 31 miles from the Polish city of Łódź
Chełmno was one of six extermination camps operated by Germany during WWII
these were established with only one purpose in mind: mass murder
Of the 320,000 Jewish individuals who were sent to Chełmno, only four were known to survive
British actors Oliver Jackson-Cohen, best known for his roles in The Invisible Man (2020) and Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House (2018), and Jeremy Neumark Jones have been announced as playing the lead roles. Jones’ grandparents were German Jews who moved to England to escape the growing power of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party
Radiancy Pictures and Black Sheep Films will be producing the project
Julian Bird and Ed Barratt serving as executive producers
there will be no more living survivors who would be able to provide first-hand accounts of the atrocities carried out in the [German] camps,” Geller told Variety
“In an age of rising antisemitism and Holocaust denial
it is our duty as storytellers to keep alive the memory of the six million lost and of those who actively resisted
“I was blown away by Solomon and Michael’s incredible act of bravery and I am honoured to create the first narrative adaptation of this untold true story together with Lorton and UFO Films.”
“Our aim at Lorton has always been to produce powerful
socially relevant content and there’s nothing more powerful or socially relevant at this time than Michael and Solomon’s story
hoping for a unique script like this to kickstart our venture into scripted
More from us: World War II-Era Mystery Solved 80 Years After Aircraft, Pilot Went Missing
no release date has been revealed for The World Will Tremble
Clare Fitzgerald is a Writer and Editor with eight years of experience in the online content sphere
Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from King’s University College at Western University
her portfolio includes coverage of digital media
Among her accomplishments are being the Founder of the true crime blog, Stories of the Unsolved, which garners between 400,000 and 500,000 views annually, and a contributor for John Lordan’s Seriously Mysterious podcast
she also served as the Head of Content for UK YouTube publication
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2024 2:00 PMThough the lake near Papowo Biskupie is now drained and dry
nearby lakes (including Lake Starogrodzkie in Poland’s Chełmno County) provide a picture of what the ancient waters could’ve looked like when bodies and bronze treasures were deposited beneath the surface
(Credit: Mrugas PHOTOgraphy/Shutterstock)NewsletterSign up for our email newsletter for the latest science newsSign Up There’s no better place to put bodies and bronze treasures than in the bed of a small
that’s what the Bronze Age people of Poland believed
Published in the journal in January, the article reports that researchers recently found a stash of Bronze Age remains and relics that trace as far back as 1000 B.C.E. Recovered from an ancient
long-lost lake in an archaeological area near Papowo Biskupie in Poland
the stash challenges common conceptions about Poland’s past and suggests that the site possessed some sort of ancient
Read More: Why Did Stone and Bronze Age People Crack the Bones of Their Dead?
Around 3,200 years ago, the Chełmno community of the Lusatian culture
a complex archaeological culture from the Central European Bronze and Iron Ages
Occupying an archaeological area in north-central Poland
the Chełmno community flourished for approximately 750 years
the same sort of clues are scarce for the Chełmno
who were concentrated further to the north
“Metal does not appear to have featured prominently in the social and ritual activities of the Chełmno community,” the Antiquity authors assert in their article
until the recent research at Papowo Biskupie
Read More: Who Were Scotland’s Mysterious ‘Bodies in the Bog’?
the article’s authors discovered several bunches of bronze in an ancient
subsequent excavations exposed over 550 bronze artifacts
as well as the bones of over 33 individuals
some of which were deposited as many as 3,000 years ago
Of the over 550 bronze artifacts discovered at the once-saturated site
the majority were adornments for the arms and the neck
typical of the trinkets worn by Chełmno women
some of the most stunning artifacts were a stacked necklace — made of ovular and tubular beads and strewn with swinging
swallow-tail pendants — and four spiral-shaped pins
Beyond the bronze artifacts were the bones of over 33 individuals
Though the bones were “disarticulated” — disconnected and dispersed at the joints — and separated from the bronze treasures
the authors believe that they were deposited in the then-bog-like lake as a “sacrifice,” making the site “one of the most eloquent testimonies of ritual activity from the Lusatian period.”
The sacrifice of both bodies and bronze were somewhat widespread during the Bronze Age in Europe
though the former seemed to diminish in Papowo Biskupie following the transition to the Iron Age
“The stratigraphic and geohistorical context of the site and comparison to mortuary treatment from the wider region provide evidence for linking the human remains with sacrificial practices,” the authors add in their article
Read More: What the Bog Bodies of Europe Tell Us About Ancient Cultures
According to their analysis, the metal deposits date back to sometime between 600 B.C.E. and 500 B.C.E., while the bones — bundled in “bog patina” and absent of any signs of trauma from blunt or sharp objects — date back to sometime between 1000 B.C.E. and 800 B.C.E. Determined with radiocarbon dating
the age of the bones may indicate a “temporal distinction” between the disposal of the bronze and the bodies
“Papowo Biskupie opens a new window for exploring the social and ritual practices of the Lusatian era in Poland
“Papowo Biskupie may thus reflect a shift from human sacrifice to metal offerings in the local wetland landscape.”
Additional digs in the area could clarify the connection between the bodies and the bronze
it’s probable that the Chełmno people were more interested in metal than previously thought
Read More: This Bronze Age Power Took Notes on Ancient Rituals, And We're Still Deciphering What They Say
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles
and our editors review them for accuracy and trustworthiness
Review the sources used below for this article:
Antiquity. The Sacred Lake Project: preliminary findings from the Lusatian site of Papowo Biskupie, Poland
Antiquity. The Lausitz Culture
Journal of Archaeological Science. Fire walk with me: Looking through the Lusatian mass grave at Wartosław (Poland, 1100–900 BCE)
Norwegian Archaeological Review. Who’s Afraid of the S-word? Deviants’ Burials and Human Sacrifice
Nature. Radiocarbon dating
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A hypothetical model of a Chełmno woman buried wearing some of the metal adornments found at the lake bed site in Poland
A collection of metal jewelry and human remains found at a dry lake-bed site in Poland were part of an ancient ritual
Archaeologists in Poland have discovered a collection of more than 550 pieces of Bronze Age jewelry that were once part of an ancient burial ritual
The Lusatians are best known for their ritual depositions of metal hoards in bodies of water
the Chełmno group was not known for engaging in this practice
"The scale of metal consumption at the site is extraordinary," study co-author Łukasz Kowalski
a postdoctoral researcher of archaeology at the AGH University of Science and Technology of Krakow
we thought that metal was a weak partner in the social and ritual strategies of the Chełmno group
in contrast with the metal-hoarding madness [practiced by the other Lusatians]."
Related: Stash of 'eye-catching' Bronze Age jewelry discovered by metal detectorist in Swiss carrot field
the discovery of this cache of metal jewelry — which includes a variety of arm and neck ornaments
as well as a multistrand necklace with oval and tubular beads surrounding a swallowtail-like pendant — has led researchers to change their viewpoint
Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox
"Our findings reflect the increasing role of metal in social and ritual life of [the Chełmno group]
resulting in a shift from the deposition of human remains to metal offerings in the local wetland landscape," Kowalski said
The researchers concluded that many of the metal artifacts were created by members of the local community
including one of the beads in the necklace
—Bronze Age girl buried with more than 150 animal ankle bones, potentially to help her to the next world
—'Eye-catching' gold hair ring and Britain's oldest wooden comb found in Bronze Age burial
—Ancient fortifications revealed underneath Bronze Age village on Italian island
the researchers created a hypothetical model of a Chełmno woman wearing some of the metal jewelry
"Our discovery opens a new window for exploring the social and ritual practices of the Chełmno group and reflects the complex interplay between deposition of human remains and metal objects in wetlands," Kowalski said
"This discovery may signal how metal and human depositions could be used to regulate social relations in the Chełmno group and to demonstrate their local identity."
Jennifer Nalewicki is former Live Science staff writer and Salt Lake City-based journalist whose work has been featured in The New York Times
She covers several science topics from planet Earth to paleontology and archaeology to health and culture
Jennifer has a bachelor's degree in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin
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Robyn joined Newsweek in 2022 having previously worked at environmental publication LetsRecycle
She has also worked on a range of consumer magazines at Damson Media focusing on pop culture
She is a journalism graduate of Kingston University
You can get in touch with Robyn by emailing r.white@newsweek.com
either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter
or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources
Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content
An excavation of a dried-out lake has unveiled 550 bronze artifacts and skeletal remains from over 3,000 years ago
The group was part of the Lusatian culture
which was widespread across what is now Poland
the Chelmno group were not thought to place much ritual significance on these kinds of metal artifacts
This most recent excavation has proved this theory wrong
The artifacts excavated alongside human remains suggests a link between burial and metal rituals
which were usually made in large bodies of water
the Chełmno group people are thought to have been largely unaffected by the social and economic developments of the Urnfield period and the subsequent Hallstatt culture," the authors wrote
"In contrast with the widespread metal-hoarding seen in more southerly Lusatian regions
metal does not appear to have featured prominently in the social and ritual activities of the Chełmno community."
Most of the artifacts uncovered appeared to be arm and neck jewelry
as well as what could have been a woman's outfit
The remains of 33 humans appeared to have been put in the lake before the metal was
suggesting that the dead were buried here before the metal rituals were made
it appears that while the Chelmno group differed in many ways from others in Lusatian culture
it seems the ritual practices and their belief system aligned later on
This new research has completely changed archeologists' perception of these ancient people
They have dubbed this finding "one of the most eloquent testimonies of ritual activity from the Lusatian period in Poland."
Papowo Biskupie opens a new window for exploring the social and ritual practices of the Lusatian era in Poland and demonstrates the potential of this place to offer a better understanding of the complex interplay between votive depositions and human sacrifice," the authors wrote
Discoveries from the Bronze and Iron age are being found all the time
Each new finding brings archeologists closer to discovering more about the way these ancient people lived
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering
Do you have a question about the Bronze Age
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Francine Wolfisz is the Features Editor for Jewish News.
Recent past winners of the prestigious award include Ali Durban and Sarah Sultman, founders of Gesher School for children with special educational needs, mental health campaigner Jonny Benjamin and Mavis Hyman, who set up a counter-extremism charity after her daughter, Miriam, was killed in the 7/7 London bombings.
Aronson was just 15-years-old when she was sent from her home town in Pabjanice, Poland, to Lodz ghetto.
She, her mother and brother were among a handful of 750 survivors of slave labour out of some 250,000 who entered the ghetto.
Her father, Motush, to whom she dedicated her award, volunteered to accompany the children of her town when the Nazis separated them from their parents and loaded them onto trucks bound for an unknown destination, which turned out to be Chelmno concentration camp.
Aronson said: “His unselfish action and lack of thought for his own safety, is the real definition of “heroism”. He is, and always will be, my “unsung hero”.”
A much-loved member of Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors Centre, which supports more than 500 survivors a year, Aronson never spoke about her experiences until 1992, when she felt compelled to give her first full oral testimony to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Since then, she has shared her story with audiences of all ages and appeared in films and documentaries about the Holocaust and the Lodz Ghetto.
She was recently named in the Queen’s Honours List and awarded the British Empire Medal for her services to Holocaust education.
Aronson added: “As long as I am able to do so, I will carry on speaking to young people about the Holocaust and I ask all of you here to speak up too.
“Tell everyone about the Holocaust and other genocides that have happened since then. It is vital that we all do everything in our power to ensure that these things never happen again, anywhere in the world.”
Daniel Carmel- Brown, chief executive of Jewish Care, said the charity was “honoured” to give this year’s award to Aronson, adding she has, “dedicated so much to Holocaust education, something that is so important not just to our community, but to the world.”
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DAN SNOW: The camp was run by Herbert Langer, a German commander, and the local Jewish population was among the first to suffer under his terrible plans, which saw the use of gas vans rather than the notorious gas chambers.
NARRATOR: The selected Jews were taken here, to Herbert Langer's new improvised extermination facility at Chelmno.
NARRATOR: Jews from the immediate area had been the first to die here a few weeks before.
NARRATOR: The Nazi's blew up the large house which was the centre of the killing operations in order to hide evidence of their crime.
NARRATOR: This is one of the few photos that remain of the house itself.
NARRATOR: But evidence gathered after the war allows a picture to be constructed of what the Nazi's did here.
NARRATOR: The Jews from Lodz were told to undress. They were then pushed down a corridor in the basement of the house, up a ramp and into a small windowless chamber.
NARRATOR: Doors were then slammed behind them. They'd been locked in the back of a van.
NARRATOR: These vans had been invented two years earlier to kill mentally ill people, by cramming them in the sealed rear cargo area and then gassing them with carbon monoxide.
NARRATOR: Now Langer and other Nazi's used their own initiative to adapt this killing method to murder Jews.
NARRATOR: They made gas vans central to the new killing operations here at Chelmno.
ZOFIA SZALEK: There was a lot of screaming, how terribly they screamed. It was impossible to bear.
ZOFIA SZALEK: We could hear the screams but we couldn't see the people.
ZOFIA SZALEK: They were loaded in and murdered there. It was hell. That's why we called these vans Hell Vans.
ZOFIA SZALEK: When I saw it going, I'd say, "The hell's going."
NARRATOR: The van's carrying the bodies of the Jews who had been gassed were driven two miles through remote country roads to a nearby forest and buried in a clearing.
NARRATOR: Many of the German's who worked here at Chelmno believed what they were doing was perfectly legal, as the post-war testimony of Kurt Mobius, one of the SS guards, reveals.
OFFICER: We were told by Captain Lange that the order for the extermination of the Jews came from Hitler and Himmler. And as police officers, we were drilled to regard any order from the government as lawful and correct. At the time, I believed the Jews were not innocent, but guilty. The propaganda had drilled it into us again and again that all Jews were criminals and sub-humans who were the cause of Germany's decline after the First World War.
NARRATOR: Motivated by such anti-Semitic delusions, the German's created here at Chelmno the first systematic process for the mass gassing of the Jews.
DAN SNOW: In all, it's thought that somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 people died in Chelmno, and according to records only seven people ever managed to escape.
Dan Snow introduces a report about the use of gas as a method of killing Jewish prisoners.
This started at Chelmno camp in Poland. Vans were used initially to kill mentally ill patients.
The vans were then used to murder Jewish prisoners, who were put in the back of the vans before being gassed by the exhaust fumes.
Bodies were then taken and buried in a forest clearing.
Between 200,000 - 300,000 Jews were murdered at Chelmno.
SS guards after the war continued to argue that what they had done was justified as they were motivated by anti-Semitic propaganda they had seen in Nazi Germany.
This short film is from the BBC series, World War Two with Dan Snow.
This short film contains scenes which viewers may find upsetting. The films are intended for classroom use but teacher review is recommended prior to watching with your pupils. You know best the limit of your pupils, and BBC Teach does not accept any responsibility for pupil distress.
Back to topTeacher NotesBefore watching this short film, students could be asked what they already know about the conditions Jews faced in Germany, ghettos and at camps like Auschwitz.
Students could then be questioned on what they already know about gas chambers.
After watching this short film, there could be discussions about why the gas vans might have been introduced by the Nazis.
The SS guard testimony could also be used to place concentration camps in context of the wider events of the Holocaust, about the impact of Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda and its effectiveness in convincing people that anti-Semitic laws and actions were justified.
This short film will be relevant for teaching KS3 and KS4/GCSE history in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 4/5 history in Scotland.
Back to topMore from this series:What does Rudolph Höss' evidence tell us about Auschwitz
videoWhat does Rudolph Höss' evidence tell us about Auschwitz
Dan Snow introduces a report about the role of Rudolph Höss
based on the testimony he wrote before his trial
How did Auschwitz expand
Dan Snow introduces a clip about the expansion of Auschwitz to deal with the number of Jewish people being transported to concentration camps
What were conditions like at Auschwitz
videoWhat were conditions like at Auschwitz
Dan Snow introduces a clip about the brutal conditions faced by people at Auschwitz
What happened in the gas chambers at Auschwitz
videoWhat happened in the gas chambers at Auschwitz
A report about the gas chambers at Auschwitz
including some of the testimony from Rudolph Höss
How did a pregnant woman survive the Holocaust
videoHow did a pregnant woman survive the Holocaust
who was pregnant when she arrived at Auschwitz
yet managed to survive and give birth to a daughter
The Israel-based Shem Olam Holocaust and Faith Institute on Thursday showcased items that may have been used for Passover rituals…
Location Of Chelmno Death Camp during the Holocaust
The Israel-based Shem Olam Holocaust and Faith Institute on Thursday showcased items that may have been used for Passover rituals at the Chelmno death camp in western Poland
The items were discovered during excavations of the site in pits containing prisoners’ belongings
One item is a worn out and partially torn Haggadah that was burned by the Nazis
Several portions dealing with the search for chametz (leavened bread) and other sentences managed to survive
Shem Olam was founded in 1996 by Avraham Krieger
One of the institute’s projects deals with how Jews coped with the day-to-day struggles during the Holocaust
“The Nazis told Jews who had been deported to Chelmno that they were being relocated to a village faraway in the east; they told them each person could bring only lightweight items with a combined weight of 3 to 4 kilograms (7 to 9 pounds),” Krieger said
“Because of the limited number of items they were allowed to carry
the Jews brought their most important items
but many brought with them things that belonged to their spiritual life and identity… The mere fact that they added these things shows that they were loyal to their faith
to the holiday and to tradition; they demonstrated that they did not let the Germans break their spirit,” he said
“Most of the death camps had no such items left behind
but since Chelmno was the first death camp on Polish soil
the Nazis had yet to have at their disposal a sophisticated apparatus and consequently
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The movie is based on the true story of prisoners who escaped from Chelmno
The ensemble cast also features Anton Lesser
Geller dedicated a decade to researching and writing the film
The film's producers include Ben Silverman of Propagate Content
Arthur Landon and Ed Barratt of Lorton Entertainment
and Saar Yogev and Naomi Levari of Black Sheep Films
I was invited to participate in two Mennonite history-related events in the Chelmno region of Poland
I was asked by the Parks Service of Poland and the Friends of the Lower Vistula Association to speak at a conference detailing the cultural history of the Vistula River Valley
I was also asked to attend and present at the Chrystkowo open-air museum “Weekend with Mennonites” festival
Mennonites began to settle in what is now Poland (part of which was known as Prussia) in the mid-1500s and lived there until 1945
Much of what is considered traditional about Russian-Mennonites has its origins in that area – including the housebarn architecture at the Mennonite Heritage Village
Mennonites are currently very popular as a topic in Poland
due in large part to the popularity of a certain Russian singer who claims Mennonite heritage
they are also acknowledged to have been a peaceful people who helped reclaim flood-prone land for agriculture that the Polish people still use
I was somewhat embarrassed when I heard it put like this: “A long time ago there were these angels who created this paradise.” What is generally ignored is the complicity with which many Mennonites lived with and even joined the Nazi party during the first half of the 20th Century
All Mennonites left the country at the end of World War II
and eventually settled in Germany or Canada
And it seems from my discussions there that Poles are still quite suspicious of German activities and motives
a number of Polish heritage groups have recently tried to re-educate the Polish population about Mennonite habitation in their country
and have had quite a bit of success accessing European Union funding for creating heritage sites
My trip to Poland was directly related to these efforts
who has researched and published about Mennonite settlements in Poland
Marchlewski took to me to numerous Mennonite architectural sites
I gave a presentation about Mennonite landscapes in the Vistula River Valley
landscape and architecture that extended into Russia and Canada
A version of the presentation has been published in Polish
scholars and international guests were invited to a watermill heritage site at Gruczno
The evening included a “Slow Food” night of multiple courses of local recipes
a forerunner of the Chelmno annual Slow Food event which draws over 15,000 people
June 15 was the first day of “Das Wochenende mit Mennoniten” at Chrystkowo
This open air museum features one large Mennonite style house built in 1770
Here I gave a Power Point presentation for the general public as part of a series throughout the afternoon about Mennonites around the world
I presented about Mennonites in Canada (historic and modern); others presented on Mennonites in Mexico
Demonstrations and exhibits at the event included cheese making
reconstructed 17th century wooden wheelbarrows and spades
ice-cream making and historic fishing in a pond
The highlight was a cooking contest between 3 groups of college students
who were tasked with cooking traditional Mennonite food by their professor
The judges included a restaurant critic from Warsaw
The students cooked throughout the day in the kitchen of the housebarn
I was partial to the Sommaborscht (which won the contest)
I attended a meeting of about 10 people (Friends of the Lower Vistula Association
Parks Service representatives) regarding the future of Chrystkowo and the direction of the heritage site
such as building for local community use (broader use as a cultural centre)
and developing a Mission Statement and initial policies and procedures
What struck me was the similarity in design of the rooms of the house with our own housebarns at the museum
although the Polish house was much larger.