Das Konzentrations- und Vernichtungslager Majdanek : Funktionswandel im Kontext der "Endlösung"

Author:Barbara Schwindt

Summary:Majdanek was established in 1941 near Lublin; it served, in turn, as a labor, concentration, transit, and extermination camp. Examines the camp's functions during three stages of development. Between fall 1941-summer 1942 it served as a camp for forced labor. Most of the prisoners who were employed in building the camp died within a short period due to the dreadful conditions. In the framework of the first phase of "Aktion Reinhardt", 1,000 Jewish women interned in Majdanek were shot. Between summer 1942-spring 1943 Majdanek became an extermination camp; by October 1942 three gas chambers were installed there. In the second phase of "Aktion Reinhardt", Majdanek became an extermination camp; by October 1942 three gas chambers were installed and disabled Jews from the Lublin region were gassed there. The third phase began with deportations to Majdanek of survivors of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Families from the Lublin district and the Białystok ghetto were sent to Majdanek; elderly persons and children were gassed immediately. On 3-4 November 1943, 42,000 Jews were murdered in Majdanek, Trawniki, and Poniatów as part of the "Aktion Erntefest". Majdanek's role as an extermination camp ended then. Notes that 90% of the ca. 80,000 Jews who were deported to Majdanek died or were murdered. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism)