This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this record.The centrality of deception and secrecy to the Nazi extermination of the Jews has long been
recognised, yet numerous questions remain regarding its significance for the ‘Final Solution’.
This article examines Nazi attempts to cover up the first extermination camp established by
the Third Reich at Chelmno. It demonstrates that in the Warthegau region of occupied
Poland, the Nazis played a shell game to deceive victims and bystanders by pretending that
deportees were transferred from the provinces to the Lodz ghetto, or from the Lodz ghetto to
the provinces and to Germany. The contradictory cover stories used by the Nazis to obfuscate
deportations to Chelmno succeeded for a while, but were eventually seen through. While
Nazi deception measures are more vividly recorded in postwar testimonies, this article also
shows that Nazi attempts to erase the physical evidence of mass murder through the
cremation of the corpses can be documented much more extensively than hitherto appreciated
using contemporary sources. Ultimately, both the attempted obfuscation and obliteration of
the evidence for extermination at Chelmno failed
