Deception techniques & operating procedures by the Nazis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chełmno_trials
In July or August 1944... I was assigned to the Sonderkommando Kulmhof... I took part in the escorting of the transports. When Jews asked where they were being taken, I answered... they were going to work. The Jews generally believed it and behaved peacefully... They were given soap, unless they had their own. They were told they would get towels at the bath-house. Then all of them, both men and women were herded into a corral at the exit of which there was a Sonderwagen (the van)... The dead bodies were thrown into one of the [Waldlager] crematoriums. The furnaces were about 10 meters wide and about 5-6 meters long. They did not stick out above the ground level. They had no chimneys.
(…)
Bothmann issued an order forbidding to maltreat Jews. This was to keep up appearances and make the Jews uncertain of their fate. If the Jews had known what fate they could expect, our job would have been much harder. For instance, the whole transport from Kolo to Chelmno was escorted by only 6 gendarmes. If the Jews had known what was going to happen, they could have dispersed easily.
(…)
The transported Jews were addressed by Bothmann, who told them that they would go to work in Munich or Leipzig and he would lead them there. He presented himself as harsh but reliable and added that no harm would be done to them. He also said that the elderly would do service inside, while the younger ones outside. Then he announced they had to take a bath. The Jews had to undress in the barrack – men separately from women. Each person had to put his or her clothes and underwear on a shelf, while rings and other valuables on a shelf above their clothes. Then all of them, both men and women were herded into a corral at the exit of which there was a Sonderwagen (the van). The Jews were violently rushed into the van. Then screaming and lamenting could be heard. I cannot remember the names of the gendarmes who herded the Jews into the van. There were three of them. (…) Also the SS-men helped to rush the Jews into the vehicles. The Jews were told that they would be taken to the bath-house by van. They were given soap, unless they had their own. They were told they would get towels at the bathhouse. The Jews sometimes remained calm even when inside the van, Laabs locked the van’s door and started the engine.
(…)
At the execution site in the Chelmno forest two barracks had been built, one bearing the inscription “Durchgangslager,” in which the Jews undressed, and the other was a small barrack where the clothes and underwear were stored.
(…)
Additionally I wish to explain that the Jews before being gassed, wrote letters to their families informing about their departure to the Reich. For this reason, 10-15 Jews were separated from each transport in order to write such letters. How they were later killed, I do not know. The purpose of writing the letter was to comfort other Jews working in the ghetto, thus making our future work easier. In order to conceal our real intentions towards the Jews, such inscriptions as “Arzt” and “Baderaum” were made in the barracks where they undressed before being gassed. I would like to point out that the Jews were so much misled that after Bothmann’s speech that they shouted out words praising Germany.
(…)
Taking photographers and even possession of photo cameras was forbidden. In spite of the regulation, gendarme Ruwenach had a camera and took photographs. The prints were made in Kolo in a studio whose name is unknown to me.
(…)
Old underwear was torn into pieces with the use of a purpose-brought machine called “wolf.” I would like to point out that Jews had to strip naked before the execution. Only in a few cases women were allowed to keep their panties on.
(…)
The bones were separated from the ash and crushed with special pestles on a cement slab. Then the bones and ash were put into sacks and at night dumped into the Warta River, next to the mill in Zawadki. The crushed bones looked like the bone fragments shown to me (the defendant was shown the bone fragments described in examination protocols sheets 405, 406, 407). The ash and bones were driven away by Laabs, Runge and Kretschmer.
-the yellow star was removed from the stolen clothes-
— Oberwachtmeister B. Israel, Chelmno Defendant Testimony.[19]
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https://www.ushmm.org/online/film/display/detail.php?file_num=5780
JEAN PICTET - RED CROSS
Pictet describes the trouble the ICRC faced regarding lodging a public protest. The ICRC was either not permitted to visit camps, or shown only what the Germans wanted them to see. On June 26, 1944 the ICRC visited Theresienstadt, which had been completely remodeled and "beautified" so as to trick the ICRC into believing the Jews were being treated well. Pictet claims that while the delegate wrote a positive report on the camp, neither he nor the ICRC were taken in by the propaganda. Pictet affirms the importance of the ICRC remaining neutral in favor of providing aid. Pictet and Lanzmann discuss how the logo of the Red Cross was widely used by the Nazis. It was on the trucks which transported Zyklon B to Auschwitz and on the hospital, the "Lazarett," in Treblinka which hid the true purpose of the building: to exterminate prisoners.
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Many more examples in Claude Lanzmann's outtakes:
JAN PIWONSKI
FILM ID 3344 -- Camera Rolls #20-21 -- 06:00:08 to 06:16:06
Piwonski, Barbara, and Lanzmann are seated in front of a giant woodpile. Piwonski tells that not all of the Jews arrived in cattle cars, but that some of the richer Jews travelled in Pullmans [ME:Pullman trains in Great Britain were mainline luxury railway services that operated with first-class coaches and a steward service]. The Germans tried to make it so that the victims never knew what their fate would be, making it much easier to relocate them. (…) Piwonski recalls what was heard from the camp <b>after a convoy arrived. He describes a gathering in the camp, followed by a speech in German explaining that the Jews were to be washed and then put to work. The Jews often cheered this good news. It wasn't until later that one heard the screams of horror, followed by the silence and the sound of the diesel motor. </b>
https://www.ushmm.org/online/film/display/detail.php?file_num=5131
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https://www.ushmm.org/online/film/display/detail.php?file_num=5133
Czeslaw Borowi is a Polish peasant who lived his entire life in Treblinka. He describes the transports and the experience of living in the shadow of the camp. When the Germans were shooting at Jews, his family slept on the floor to avoid stray bullets. He repeats some of the common refrains about how rich Jews arrived in fancy trains and the Jews offered no resistance. Borowi makes the throat-slitting sign in "Shoah." See Lanzmann's memoir The Patagonian Hare for his reflections on Borowi and his role in the film.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_T4share
In addition, technology that was developed under Action T4, particularly the use of lethal gas to commit mass murder, was subsequently taken over by the medical division of the Reich Interior Ministry, along with transfer of personnel who had participated in the development of the technology and later served with Operation Reinhard.[18] This technology, the personnel and the techniques developed to deceive victims were used in the implementation of industrial killings in mobile death vans, and in established extermination camps with gas chambers for mass murder during the Holocaust.[19]