The ‘Disappearance’ of SS-Hauptscharführer Lorenz Hackenholt A Report on the 1959-63 West German Police Search for Lorenz Hackenholt, the Gas Chamber Expert of the Aktion Reinhard Extermination Camps © Michael Tregenza (Page 14) On the days when no transports of Jews arrived at the camp Hackenholt was assigned to various duties, which included the management of the valuables of the victims and driving a lorry to Lublin to fetch building materials for the camp which was continually being altered and expanded. One of the more gruesome tasks in which he participated in Belzec has been described by SS-NCO Franz Suchomel, assigned to the Treblinka extermination camp where he later met Hackenholt: A grave overflowed and the cesspool seeped out in front of the SS dining hall. It stank in front of the dining hall, in front of the barracks. Wirth, together with Oberhauser (Wirth's aide and bodyguard 1942-44 - MT), Hackenholt and Franz had to clear up the mess and put the corpses back into the grave. Franz and Hackenholt at first refused, but Wirth beat them across the face with his whip. [44] After a one month break in the gassing operation at Belzec in the spring of 1942, the original gassing shed was torn down and a bigger, solid installation of brick and concrete was constructed which contained six chambers, three on either side of a central corridor. [45] Two Soviet tank engines, each one serving three chambers, were installed in a machine room at the rear of the building. [46] According to SS-NCO Dubois, 'To my knowledge, the plans for the solid gassing building came from Hackenholt. The construction of the building itself was carried out by 'work Jews'. [47] Hackenholt supervised the work personally and when the installation was completed a sign was placed on the wall next to the entrance Stiftung Hackenholt (Hackenholt Foundation) in honour of its creator. Once again he supervised the running and maintenance of the gassing engines, assisted as before by Ukrainian guards and Jewish prisoners. In September 1942, Hackenholt and a small Kommando of German and Ukrainian guards was transferred to the Treblinka camp by Wirth, who in the meantime had been appointed Inspector of the SS-Sonderkommandos operating in the Aktion Reinhard extermination camps at Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. Wirth's post as commandant at Belzec was taken by Kriminalinspektor Gottlieb Hering, who had served with Wirth in the Stuttgart Kriminalpolizei for over 20 years. [48] _______________ [44] Franz Suchomel, Christian Wirth, genannt 'Christian der Grausame' oder 'Stuka' (Ukr.), Altotting 1972 (private report). [45] According to unfinished archeological excavations at the presumed site of the new gas chambers in October 1999, the new gassing building could have contained four chambers on either side of the central corridor, each chamber measuring 4 m. x 4 m. [46] National Archives, Washington DC. Statement by Kurt Franz on 30.12.1959 in Dusseldorf. Franz mentions 'engines' and 'engine rooms' in the new gassing building; it would have been logical and efficient to have two engines in operation, each one serving the chambers on either side of the central corridor. [47] Generalstaatanwaltschaft beim Landgericht Munich I !!5 Ks 3/71: The Case Against Werner Dubois, p. 2029. Statement by Werner Dubois on 15 September 1971 in Munich. [48] Gottlieb Hering: b. 2.6.1887 in Warmbronn, Wurttemberg. After military service in Ulm 1907-1912, served with the Schutzpolizei in Heilbronn. 1915-1919 active service on the Western Front with a machine gun company of Grenadier Regiment 119. 1919-1939 Kriminalpolizei in Schwenningen, Goppingen and    Back Page 14 Forward
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