Photos from Chelmno

	The camp at Chelmno exists in two places. The first is the site of the Castle in the little village of Chelmno-on-Ner, where the victims were greeted by the commandant, who posed as a noble landowner. He promised them work in his fields. They were then herded through the basement of the castle, through the "corridor of death" to the gas vans, where the victims were killed by exhaust. Then they were driven six kilometers away to the forest where they were dumped in mass graves. These items have recently been unearthed by Zdzslaw Lorek, the archaeologist of the cite, who began excavating it in 1997.
	Since 1944, the area of the Castle had been operating as a state farm. Zdzslaw has unearthed many items such as these religious artifacts from the Jewish victims in mass trash piles around the Castle, which the Nazis dynamited in 1943.
	All manner of items have been found in the trash piles, such as these false teeth.

	This the edge of the Castle ruins as it exists today. The castle itself was only a few hundred meters from the local cathedral, which the commandant used as his personal house. He turned one of the chapels into a garage for his automobile.
	These are the steps from the entryway of the castle that lead down into the Corridor of Death.
	On the edge of the castle remains, are these two pots, recently uncovered by Zdzslaw. His excavations continue today.
	This is a view from the far end of the castle, where the victims were herded in the gas vans, which were basically large, hermetically sealed busses. When the doors were shut, the exhaust pipe was routed into the cabin, where the victims were suffocated. You can see the Cathedral in the background.
	These sewing machines were unearthed in the trash piles.

	This is a close-up of one of the excavated trash piles, the contents of which now fill the small museum nearby, where Zdzslaw works.
	This is a partially excavated trash pile. You can see the sorts of household items, that have been unearthed.
	This is Zdzslaw locking the barn exhibit after we left. It was closing time.
	This is an overview of the ruins of the Castle.
	This is a small monument near the Castle, where mourners often leave stones of remembrance.
	The inscription on the stone.

	This is the view from beside the museum, where you can easily see the cathedral through the trees.
	Many of the camp sites were often built with the looted headstones from local Jewish cemeteries. They were most often used as the cobblestones on which the victims had to march to their deaths.
	With nothing else to do with them, now that the cemetery is long gone, the remnants of the headstones that were used to pave Chelmno lie behind the museum in a rubble pile.
	This is a close-up of the old headstones.
	This is the monument to the Chelmno victims six kilometers from the Castle, in the woods outside the town. No two monuments in Poland are the same. This one is a large, Star-of-David-shaped monolith, supported by four large columns. On this side are images of the dead being lead to the gas vans. Chelmno was the first death camp set up by the Nazis, where they experimented with various ways of executing victims. After various methods were tried, they settled on the gas vans.
	This is a small monument at the entrance to he forest site. You can see the crucifix in its design.
	This is a close-up of the reliefs in the monument.
	This is the view as you begin to move under the monument. At Belzec, one felt swallowed by the monument. At Treblinka, the monument allows one to wonder and contemplate freely with no direction or reason. But at Chelmno, the monument oppresses you. You feel squashed underneath this massive slab of stone.
	This is a small display of broken stones and a brazier under the stone slab. Above this is a triangular opening to the sun.
	This is a view up through the triangular opening through the top of the monument.
	Beside the stone monument is a reconstructed cemetery of more of the looted and destroyed stones from the original Jewish cemetery.
	This plaque is on the central headstone of the reconstructed cemetery.
	Some of the stones have been reconstructed from the many fragments that remained.
	Behind the cemetery are longer head stones, laid prone, facing the sky.
	This is the inscription on the back side of the monument facing away from the entrance.
	This is a close up of the words on the monument. As Wladek translated, he was taken aback at the use of the Polish word "Ukarali" (seen here), which means revenge. Unlike the other monuments, which employ more politically correct language, this monument pulls no punches. On many of the monuments all over the former Warsaw Pact countries, the language is employed to minimize the Jewishness of those who suffered and died. For example, the Soviets were fond of referring to the Jewish victims as "the victims of fascism." On this monument, the nameless spokesman call for "revenge" on those who committed such perverse acts against humanity.
	This is a close-up of a small bush that is common in the Chelmno camp. It is a very dangerous little plant, with dozens of tiny, sharp thorns. These plants help to keep tourists off of the sensitive areas of the camp, like the mass graves.
	These stone tracings outline the areas Zdzslaw has identified as mass graves in the area. He has also published detailed, surveyor quality maps of the camp at Chelmno based on all of his research.
	While one of the mass graves bears a crucifix, this one actually bears a Star of David--fitting since almost 100% of the Chelmno victims were Jews and not Christians.
	A close-up of one of the mass graves to show how long these graves were.
	This is one of many individual monuments that communities and individuals have been allowed to erect at Chelmno.
	Zdzslaw told us to stay off of the areas with plastic over them.
	These are sites currently under excavation.
	At the end of the Chelmno park, lies a reconstruction of the former wall the Nazis erected to keep the locals out. The ruins in the foreground are the remnants of this original wall.
	This is a wide view of the wall, with all the various plaques. What I liked about Chelmno is that the mourning is individualized and not just prescribed the way it is at a place like Birkenau, for instance. The mourning site is not one set up and maintained by the museum, but rather is constantly added to by various groups of survivors and mourners.
	Another close-up of the original wall.
	This is a close-up of some of the plaques groups have placed at Chelmno.
	Another plaque.
	This was a very touching plaque (only 3 inches square), placed here by a now aged brother, whose sister was murdered at Chelmno. Even individuals are allowed to place their own commemorations here.
	More signs of new life springing forth from this forest of murder.
	In this shot, I tried to capture a family who was biking through the park. Like Majdanek, Chelmno is a local park as well as museum and cemetery. At first, I was appalled at the thought of locals enjoying themselves in such a place, as it seemed utterly disrespectful. However, as I though more about it, I decided it was important that the Nazis not win even sixty years later. The locals taking back their land that the Nazis turned into a killing field is symbolic, I think, of them refusing to let the Nazis win. This forest could remain the mass murder site it is (thus commemorating the Nazis act), or it could be used to commemorate this act, while at the same time providing families (so viciously destroyed by the Nazis as they were separated after being unloaded on the platforms of these camps) the opportunity to grow and flourish in spite of the horrific act committed here. This is quite in contrast to what I found in Plaszow, outside the old Krakow Ghetto.

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