• Museum - Memorial Site in Bełżec
Bełżec was the first extermination camp of »Aktion Reinhardt«, an operation with the aim of murdering all Jews in occupied Poland. A monument was erected on the former camp premises in 1963; in 2004, a new memorial was dedicated.
Image: Bełżec, undated, Camp premises in the post-war period, Muzeum Regionalne im. Janusza Petera
Bełżec, undated, Camp premises in the post-war period, Muzeum Regionalne im. Janusza Petera

Image: Bełżec, 2004, The new memorial complex, Wojciech Kryński
Bełżec, 2004, The new memorial complex, Wojciech Kryński
Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, systematic mass shootings of hundreds of thousands of Jews marked the transition to the genocide of European Jewry. In the face of this radicalisation, German authorities began planning the murder of the Jews in Poland.
SS and police leader Odilo Globocnik was responsible for organising this in the Generalgouvernement (General Government). The extermination camps Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka were under his command as part of »Aktion Reinhardt«. They were built for the sole purpose of murdering as many people as possible. Established according to the same design, they were located in regions that were far-off yet well-connected to the railway network. The perpetrators drew on the experiences of »Aktion T4«, during which doctors and medical staff murdered about 120,000 ill and mentally disabled patients by poison gas under SS supervision between 1939 and 1941. Members of the »T4« staff were also involved in the implementation of »Aktion Reinhardt«: for instance Christian Wirth, the first commandant of the Bełżec camp, had served as an inspector in »Euthanasia« institutions in the German Reich.
Bełżec, located between Cracow, Lwów and Lublin, was the first death camp with stationary gas chambers and served as a prototype for later extermination sites. Beginning March 1942, the SS murdered almost all of the Jews from the region. The first gas chambers were wood barracks almost completely lacking insulation. In mid-May 1942, the barracks were torn down and replaced by a building housing six gas chambers. The victims were asphyxiated by exhaust fumes of engines from captured Russian tanks. The camp personnel consisted of a few SS men, about 120 Trawniki - mostly Ukrainian guards - and members of the »Sonderkommando«. The Jewish prisoners of the »Sonderkommando« had to sort the victims' clothes, search body cavities for hidden valuables and remove gold teeth from the corpses.
Image: Bełżec, undated, Camp premises in the post-war period, Muzeum Regionalne im. Janusza Petera
Bełżec, undated, Camp premises in the post-war period, Muzeum Regionalne im. Janusza Petera

Image: Bełżec, 2004, The new memorial complex, Wojciech Kryński
Bełżec, 2004, The new memorial complex, Wojciech Kryński
From December 1942 on, the »Sonderkommando« had to exhume victims' bodies from the mass graves and burn them; the smell of the rotting corpses had become unbearable, and any traces of the mass murder were to be erased. The fire, which could be smelled up to 9 kilometres away, raged for 3 months. The camp was dismantled by July 1943, and the last Jewish prisoners were deported to the Sobibór extermination camp.
Within a few months, between March and December 1942, the SS murdered about 500,000 Jews in Bełżec. The victims primarily came from the Generalgouvernement: the districts of Lublin, Cracow and Galicia. Many also came from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Image: Bełżec, undated, Camp premises in the post-war period, Muzeum Regionalne im. Janusza Petera
Bełżec, undated, Camp premises in the post-war period, Muzeum Regionalne im. Janusza Petera

Image: Bełżec, 2009, Victims' ashes are buried on this field, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Bełżec, 2009, Victims' ashes are buried on this field, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
After the war, little attention was paid to the history of the Bełżec death camp, also because there were virtually no survivors of the camp. The premises attracted many locals, who searched the area for valuables. The first monument was erected in 1963, yet it could hardly convey the dimension of the crimes committed at the site.
A new memorial was opened in Bełżec in 2004. It was established by the American Jewish Committee in cooperation with the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites (Polish: Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa). A memorial complex designed by Andrzej Sołyga, Zdisław Pidek, Marcin Roszczyk and Monika Chylińska now covers the entire premises of the former extermination camp. The field under which the ashes of the victims were buried is crossed by a straight path carved 9 metres into the ground. The side walls uncover the hidden elevation of the ground. The path leads towards a granite wall inscribed with a religious quote. In addition, there are two niches bearing thousands of names. Other elements of the complex refer to Jewish communities annihilated in Bełżec. A museum is also part of the memorial complex. The exhibition, which deals with the historical context and the history of the death camp, was developed by an international research team. Artefacts discovered on the premises are part of the exhibition. The museum is run by the Majdanek State Museum (Polish: Państwowe Muzeum na Majdanku) in Lublin.
Image: Bełżec, 2009, Sculpture by Andrzej Sołyga, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Bełżec, 2009, Sculpture by Andrzej Sołyga, Thorbjörn Hoverberg

Image: Bełżec, 2009, Entrance area to the memorial site, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Bełżec, 2009, Entrance area to the memorial site, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Image: Bełżec, 2009, Dedication at the entrance to the memorial site, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Bełżec, 2009, Dedication at the entrance to the memorial site, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Image: Bełżec, 2009, Space in the shape of a Star of David, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Bełżec, 2009, Space in the shape of a Star of David, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Image: Bełżec, 2009, Path through the memorial, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Bełżec, 2009, Path through the memorial, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Image: Bełżec, 2009, Names of annihilated Jewish communities at the field of ashes, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Bełżec, 2009, Names of annihilated Jewish communities at the field of ashes, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Image: Bełżec, 2009, View of the exhibition, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Bełżec, 2009, View of the exhibition, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Image: Bełżec, 2009, Exhibition object, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Bełżec, 2009, Exhibition object, Thorbjörn Hoverberg
Name
Muzeum-Miejsce Pamięci w Bełżcu
Address
ul. Ofiar obozu 4
22-670 Bełżec
Phone
+48 (0)84 665 25 10
Fax
+48 (0)84 665 25 11
Web
http://www.belzec.eu
E-Mail
muzeum@belzec.eu
Open
Premises: April to October daily 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., November to March daily 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Historical exhibition: April to October Tuesday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., November to March Tuesday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Closed on holidays
Possibilities
Permanent exhibition, guided tours in Polish and in English, publications, seminars, educational offer to pupils aged 14 and up