The Katzmann Report (or the Final Report by Katzmann) is one of the most important testimonies relating to the

Holocaust in Poland The Holocaust in Poland was part of the European-wide Holocaust organized by Nazi Germany and took place in German-occupied Poland. During the genocide, three million Polish Jews were murdered, half of all Jews murdered during the Holocaust. ...

and the extermination of

Polish Jews The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the l ...

during World War II. It was used as evidence in the

Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...

(USA No. L-18, Exhibit-277) and numerous other proceedings against war criminals abroad. It is a leather-bound report by '' SS-Gruppenführer''

Fritz Katzmann Fritz Katzmann, also known as Friedrich Katzmann, (6 May 1906 – 19 September 1957) was a German SS and Police Leader during the Nazi era. He perpetrated genocide in the cities of Kattowitz (today, Katowice), Radom, Lemberg (today, Lviv), Da ...

, German SS and Police Leader (SSPF) in the

District of Galicia The District of Galicia (german: Distrikt Galizien, pl, Dystrykt Galicja, ua, Дистрикт Галичина) was a World War II administrative unit of the General Government created by Nazi Germany on 1 August 1941 after the start of O ...

, entitled "Lösung der Judenfrage im Distrikt Galizien" (The Solution of the Jewish Question in the District of Galicia), submitted on June 30, 1943 to his superior officer, the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) "Ost" (East), '' SS-Obergruppenführer'' Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger. It describes part of Operation Reinhard. The Katzmann Report was published in German and illustrated with photographs of the systems of persecution. A Polish translation of the report was published in the 1950s, but was subject to communist censorship and it did not have an accompanying scholarly analysis; that came with a more recent edition by the

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation ( pl, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state resea ...

. A full uncensored text of the report was published in 2009.

Report as an artifact

Modern historians consider the report to be of limited value in terms of evidence because of its intentional distortion of some facts, meant to cover up the wholesale theft of gold and money by various German officials. The 62-page book attempts to present the extermination of Jews as an orderly operation. It begins with a photo collection titled "The Solution of the Jewish Problem in East Galicia", which is followed by a

cost–benefit analysis Cost–benefit analysis (CBA), sometimes also called benefit–cost analysis, is a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives. It is used to determine options which provide the best approach to achieving benefits ...

. The report provides only a window into the scale of plunder. The totals are never rounded off. They are meant to lead the reader into believing in their authenticity. The Katzmann Report was written not in the occupied territories but in Berlin after Katzmann's tour of duty in the

where he personally directed the murder of between 55,000 and 65,000 Jews during 1941-1942 around Lemberg. In the following months, his "Jew hunts" coupled with roundups for mass deportations to death camps produced a death toll of 143,000 people. In all, the report described the murder of 434,329 Jews, implementing a thoroughly sanitized and approved language based on popular "racial science" of Adolf Hitler and his "experts", so as to help Katzmann advance his career.Koonz 2005, pp. 2-8.

References

* Fritz Katzmann, "Rozwiązanie kwestii żydowskiej w dystrykcie Galicja",

Instytut Pamięci Narodowej The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation ( pl, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state resea ...

2009, * Dariusz Libionka "AKCJA REINHARDT -Zagłada Żydów w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie", Warszawa, 2004, wydanie I, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, {{ISBN, 83-89078-68-6 *

Extermination of Jews by Nazis in the Polish Territories Research Programme
last accessed on 25 April 2007 * Institute of National Remembrance
Solving the Jewish Question in the District of Galicia publication
last accessed on 25 April 2007

YadVashem.org * Sara Neshamith

JewishGen.org Holocaust historical documents Jewish Polish history 1943 in Europe Operation Reinhard 1943 documents

Report as an artifact

See also

References