Footsteps of WWII · Poland
Bełżec Museum and memorial
Camp memorial · 17 Mar 1942 – Jun 1943
The story
Bełżec was the first of the three Operation Reinhard death camps, opening on 17 March 1942 beside the Lublin–Lwów railway. Transports brought Jews from the Lublin district, Galicia and Kraków. Within ten months the camp killed some 430,000 to 500,000 people, and the last transport arrived on 11 December 1942. The SS then dug up and burned the bodies and dismantled the camp by mid-1943. Only a handful of prisoners survived; of them only Rudolf Reder, who escaped in late 1942, left a full testimony. The memorial was opened in 2004 as a branch of the Majdanek museum.
What to look for
The whole camp area is covered with dark industrial slag, marking the mass graves. A path cuts down through it in a narrowing ravine to a wall inscribed with victims' first names. The names of the towns from which transports came line the perimeter. A museum building stands at the entrance.
Plan your visit
Branch of the State Museum at Majdanek. Guided tours can be booked through rezerwacje@belzec.eu. Check opening hours and admission on the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
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Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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