Belzec extermination camp

"Belzec" redirects here. For the nearby village, see Bełżec (village).

Belzec
Nazi extermination camp
Jews from Lublin District during deportation to Belzec
Location of Bełżec (lower centre) on the map of German extermination camps marked with black and white skulls. Borders of the Second Polish Republic before World War II
Coordinates50°22′18″N 23°27′27″E / 50.37167°N 23.45750°E / 50.37167; 23.45750
Known forAnnihilation of Europe's Jews in the Holocaust
LocationNear Bełżec, General Government (German-occupied Poland)
Built by
Operated bySS-Totenkopfverbände
Commandant
First built1 November 1941 – March 1942
Operational17 March 1942 – end of June 1943
Number of gas chambers3 (later 6)[1]
InmatesPolish, German, Czech, Ukrainian and Austrian Jews
Killed434,508–600,000
Notable inmatesRudolf Reder

Belzec (English: /ˈbɛl.zɛk/ or /ˈbɛl.ʒɛts/, Polish: [ˈbɛu̯ʐɛt͡s]) was a Nazi German extermination camp in occupied Poland. It was built by the SS for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to murder all Polish Jews, a major part of the "Final Solution", the overall Nazi effort to complete the genocide of all European Jews. Before Germany's defeat put an end to this project more than six million Jews had been murdered in the Holocaust.[2] The camp operated from 17 March 1942 to the end of June 1943.[3] It was situated about 500 m (1,600 ft) south of the local railroad station of Bełżec, in the new Lublin District of the General Government territory of German-occupied Poland.[4] The burning of exhumed corpses on five open-air grids and bone crushing continued until March 1943.[5]

Between 430,000 and 500,000 Jews are believed to have been murdered by the SS at Bełżec.[3][6] It was the third-deadliest extermination camp, exceeded only by Treblinka and Auschwitz.[7] Only seven Jews performing slave labour with the camp's Sonderkommando survived World War II;[5] and only Rudolf Reder became known,[8] thanks to his official postwar testimony.[9] The lack of viable witnesses able to testify about the camp's operation is the primary reason why Bełżec is little known, despite the victim number count.[9] Israeli historian David Silberklang writes that Belzec "was perhaps the place most representative of the totality and finality of the Nazi plans for Jews".[10]

  1. ^ Arad 1999, p. 73.
  2. ^ Yad Vashem. "Aktion Reinhard" (PDF). Shoah Resource Center. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  3. ^ a b The Holocaust Encyclopedia. "Belzec". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original (Internet Archive) on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  4. ^ MMPwB, Decyzja o podjęciu akcji 'Reinhardt', Muzeum-Miejsce Pamięci w Bełżcu, Oddział Państwowego Muzeum na Majdanku, archived from the original on 20 August 2009
  5. ^ a b ARC (26 August 2006). "Belzec Camp History". Aktion Reinhard. Archived from the original on 25 December 2005. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  6. ^ "Belzec Death Camp Memorial, Poland". Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies : University of Minnesota. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  7. ^ Snyder, Timothy (16 July 2009). "Holocaust: The Ignored Reality". The New York Review. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  8. ^ Bergen, Doris (2009). War & Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust. Critical Issues in World and International History (2nd ed.). Plymouth, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 185. ISBN 9780742557161.
  9. ^ a b "Belzec Death Camp: Remember Me". Alphabetical Listing. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  10. ^ Silberklang, David (2013). Gates of Tears: The Holocaust in the Lublin District. Yad Vashem. p. 16. ISBN 978-9653084643.