Other+Camps

Belzec extermination camp was first used as a labor camp in April of 1940. It is located in the Lublin District right between the Jewish populations of Southeast Poland. The camp began construction on November 1st, 1941. It was a very small camp, with an area of 1,220 sq yards. Belzec was divided into two sections. Both sections had barbed wire surrounding the section. The smaller area had administration buildings and the barracks. The second, larger area, contained the spur line which brought the rail cars into the camp, an expanse where prisoners were separated and undressed. Plus, storerooms for their clothes and personal belongings. During operations from March 1942 to May 1942, the camp had three gas chambers. The chambers were lined with tin and two air-tight doors. One for entry and one for the removal of the bodies. The carbon monoxide gas was produced by a diesel engine outside the chamber. The killing process took 30 minutes. Selected Jewish laborers then dragged the bodies to burial pits. But not before golden teeth and other valuables were removed from the corpses. In May of 1942, the transports stopped arriving at Belzec. This was due to the construction of a larger building housing more gas chambers. There were six new gas chambers, each one measured 13 by 16 feet. Around 1,200 Jews were killed at a single time. However, around 1,000 Jews were kept alive. Due to the larger amount of prisoners and larger trains, more men were needed to be on the various work teams. Those who remained after the cam ceased to function were transported to Sobibor death camp and killed. Around 600,000 Jews were killed at Belzec. Many came from the ghettos of Lublin, Lvov, and other areas in Eastern Galicia. In the first months of 1943, the corpses of dead Jews were burned in open air pits. The camp was soon ploughed over and turned into a farm. A Ukrainian security guard of the camp was made the farmer.