Belzec

Following the Wannsee Conference in January 1942, the annihilation of the Jews of Europe (an action that had been decided upon the previous year) proceeded apace. Aktion Reinhard, named for Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of the Reich Security Main Office, was the operation designed to kill the more than 2,000,000 Jews living in what the Nazis called the General Government, which comprises most of present-day Poland. Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka were constructed to achieve this end. These camps, which operated from mid-1942 through 1943 before being destroyed by the Nazi’s, were killing centers rather than concentration camps. The vast majority of those sent there were Jews who were murdered within hours of their arrival by carbon monoxide gas. It is estimated that 600,000 were killed at Belzec; 250,000 at Sobibor; and more than 800,000 at Treblinka. Belzec is located just a few hundred yards from the small town of Belzec. Today it is a largely forgotten camp, largely because there were only a handful of survivors. Infrequently visited, Belzec has no information center and its monuments are deteriorating.

The pictures below were taken on June 12, 2000.


Main monument at Belzec erected near the site of the gas chambers

		Mass grave markers in the wooded area behind the main monument.
More Images of Belzec