From the contents of Richter’s drawings, we learn that during the occupation he was employed as a railway worker on the modernization of the Dorohusk – Chełm – Lublin railway line. It is perhaps due to the nature of his work that he could observe places related to the extermination of Jews. All scenes illustrated by Richter occurred in places located along or on the branches of the aforementioned railway line. The knowledge of the surrounding topography, in particular towns situated in the northern part of the Chełm land, may testify that he originates from these areas.
The nature of Richter’s work and places he frequented, suggests that he could have belonged to the Baudienst - the German Construction Service that employed Poles on forced labour. Workers of this group were quartered in barracks in Chełm. Upon liquidation of the extermination camp in Sobibór, depicted in Richter’s works, they were housed in the territory of Chełm and exploited, among others, for construction works related to the repair of railway lines.
Before the Second World War, the surname Richter could be found in the Chełm region both among Poles and Jews, as well as people of German descent. The Jews, however, were not employed in the Baudienst, while the Germans and Volksdeutsche usually held managerial positions. In everyday life, Richter spoke Polish, in which he described his works on the reverse side. If he was a Jew, he most likely used false documents, the so-called “Aryan papers”, enabling him to avoid the tragic fate of members of Jewish communities in the region. Regardless of his real identity and activities in the places depicted in his sketches of events, his drawings are characterized by compassion and understanding for the tragic fate of the victims of the Holocaust.
Drawing presenting prisoners of the Sobibor extermination camp. Caption: "Jews waiting for a parcel from Chełm under the supervision of a Ukrainian SS. Sobibór, 1943"
Drawing with the caption:
"Train from the Netherlands. They know nothing. Pullman coaches, comfort, they will die in an hour, Uhrusk".