Upfall

Projekt Reinhardt was named for Reinhard Heydrich, a handsome and dashing young SS officer who, as head of the Reichsicherheitamt (Reich Main Security Office) or RSHA as it was more commonly known, was second only to Heinrich Himmler in the SS hierarchy. Many believed, that the "Aryan" and aggressive Heydrich must inevitably eclipse the wan bookish-looking Himmler the eyes of the Fuehrer. Heydrich had established the eastern Polish death camps under his personal moniker in the wake of the Wahnsee conference earlier that year, wherein the "Endloesung" or final solution to the Jewish problem had been formally detailed.

Heydrich had too many tasks and titles to attend to the day-to-day operations of the death camps, though they were dear to his heart. Even before the construction and initial operations in the newly constructed camps, Heydrich had seen to the murder by shooting or starvation of well over" a million Polish and Russian Jews via SS Einheitsgruppen, police execution details, and disease—ridden and overcrowded Polish ghettos. In recognition of this accomplishment, the Fuehrer had awarded Heydrich the title of Deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia (both formerly parts of Czechoslovakia). Heydrich attended to his numerous responsibilities frorn a luxurious Prague office or his fine country house just outside that baroque city, both of which were far from the wastes of eastern Poland.

With so much to do, Heydrich entrusted the vast murder operation bearing his name to an Austrian policeman named Otto Globocnik, nicknamed "Globo" by his pal Himmler. Globocnik held the rank of Lieutenant General in the SS and the Police, and controlled SS operations in the Lubin district of occupied Poland, which encompassed the death camps. Projekt Reinhard was officially run out of Globocnik's headquarters in Lubin. It was Globo's office that got the report about the missing Sobibor transport on the morning of May 26, not too long after Yatom and his men departed Sobibor.

Initially, Globo had a hard time crediting the the report. Who would attack a death transport? Most Poles, including partisans, were anti-Semites. They were more likely to cheer a death train than to attack it. The possibility that Jewish partisans had struck the train was laughable. There were a few groups of Jews hiding in the woods here and there, but they had problems enough just surviving, and had few arms or explosives. Nonetheless, the report demanded an immediate and energetic response. Heydrich would demand no less.

An equal mystery was why Commandant Stangl hadn‘t reported the missing transport? Stangl was a competent officer, unlike that clown Dr. Irmfried Eberl at Treblinka, and not one to hold his tongue. Communication problems with the isolated death camps were not uncommon, but the situation was certainly worrisome. Globo directed his aide, Untersturmfizehrer Christian Wirth, to contact Commandant Stangl at Sobibor.

Wirth returned moments later. He had been unable to raise Sobibor by telephone or radio. Not only that, he'd checked the communication logs, and there had been no report from Sobibor in over twelve hours.

"That's not terribly unusual though" said the SS Lieutenant.

"Communications with the eastern camps is often spotty."

"Yes. But missing transports are not" shot back Globo nervously.

"Take a detail out to Sobibor immediately. Bring a radio and a spare."

Wirth saluted and departed. Globo looked at the clock. It was seven in the morning. Too early to awake Heydrich he rationalized, In reality, he hoped Wirth would reach Sobibor and report that all was well without involving Heydrich. No need to worry the Reich Protector unnecessarily. Globo called in his secretary and ordered breakfast.

Four hours later, as Globocnik was finishing his third cup of coffee and sixth cigarette an SS communications sergeant deferentially entered his office. Wirth was reporting in on the radio. Globo strode purposefully into the radio room down the hallway, choking back his unease. He put on a pair of headphones.

The radio reception was scratchy and full of static but Globocnik could hear Wirth clearly enough to feel sick. "....Sobibor Camp...annihilated.. .Stangl dead." Globocnik spoke as best he could with Wirth for another few minutes, and finally ordered the communications sergeant to have Wirth dictate a full report, transcribe and deliver it immediately.

Back in his office Globocnik pondered his predicament. Wir-th's report, even broken by static, was far worse than the SS Obergruppenfuchrer could ever have imagined. The entire camp annihilated—Stangl and all his officers dead? Inconceivable, and yet evidently truer Wirth was a serious and reliable officer.