CHEŁMNO

A village in the county of Koło, located about 14 kilometres south of Koło.

The Museum of the former concentration camp in Chełmno

After the german agression in September 1939 in occupied Poland the Nazi started to create the concetration camps. In Greater Poland from 8th of December 1941 to April 1943 and shortly in in half of 1944 was active one camp – Kulmhof an der Nehr. Jewish people of Polish descent, Romanies, Soviet captives and Polish people were exterminated here. The bodies of the killed priosners were buried in the Lasy Rzuchowskie, next to the road from Koło to Dąb and from 1942 burned in the crematorium. In total about 310 000 people were tortured and murdered. Only few of the captives were able to escape.

Today we have in that place the Museum wchich memorialize those who died, it is division of the County Museum in Konin. It includes the former concentation camp, ruins of a palace and the area of archeological research about Chełmno. In a pavilion there is an exhibition about the history of the camp and a lapodaire of graves from Jewish cementaries from the Konin area.

In the wood next to Chełmno where are the traces of the crematorium a monument was built in order to celebrate the memory of the victims.