Extermination Camps
Chelmno
Operations began on December 8, 1941.
The killing center was located in Schlosslager a manorial estate in the town of Chelmno. The SS also used Waldlager a forest clearing approximately 2.5 miles to the northwest. The estate consisted of a large manor house, which contained reception offices, rooms for prisoner undressing and for relinquishing their valuables.
Jews from Kolo, Dabie, Sompolno, Klodowa, Babiak, and Kowale Panskie were murdered there from December 1941 until January 1942.
The SS deported Jews in crowded freight trains from the Lodz ghetto starting in January 1942. These freight trains included Jews deported to Lodz from Germany, Austria, Bohemia and Moravia, and Luxemburg. Jews from Wartheland district were also deported to Chelmno. Other victims murdered included several hundred Poles and Soviet prisoners of war and most of the 5,000 Roma (Gypsies) deported from Austria to the Lodz ghetto in 1941.
September 1944, a group of Jewish prisoners was forced to exhume and cremate any remaining corpses from the mass graves at Chelmno to obliterate any evidence of the mass murder operations. About half of the 80-man detachment were shot after this work was done in November 1944 by the SS.
Total Murdered at Chelmno between December 8, 1941 - March 1943 and in June/July 1944 152,000
The killing center was located in Schlosslager a manorial estate in the town of Chelmno. The SS also used Waldlager a forest clearing approximately 2.5 miles to the northwest. The estate consisted of a large manor house, which contained reception offices, rooms for prisoner undressing and for relinquishing their valuables.
Jews from Kolo, Dabie, Sompolno, Klodowa, Babiak, and Kowale Panskie were murdered there from December 1941 until January 1942.
The SS deported Jews in crowded freight trains from the Lodz ghetto starting in January 1942. These freight trains included Jews deported to Lodz from Germany, Austria, Bohemia and Moravia, and Luxemburg. Jews from Wartheland district were also deported to Chelmno. Other victims murdered included several hundred Poles and Soviet prisoners of war and most of the 5,000 Roma (Gypsies) deported from Austria to the Lodz ghetto in 1941.
September 1944, a group of Jewish prisoners was forced to exhume and cremate any remaining corpses from the mass graves at Chelmno to obliterate any evidence of the mass murder operations. About half of the 80-man detachment were shot after this work was done in November 1944 by the SS.
Total Murdered at Chelmno between December 8, 1941 - March 1943 and in June/July 1944 152,000
Belzek
Belzek Extermination Camp
The Belzek killing center was the first Reinhard killing center to become operational. The gas chambers were constructed in a wooden building and operated with carbon monoxide gas.
The first gassing begin in 1941, gassing is suspended in June 1942 to build larger more efficient gas chambers. Gassing resumes in July 1942.
The Operation Reinhard authorities halt deportations to Belzec, carbon monoxide gas is not efficient enough
Total Murdered at Belzec between 1941 - 1942 434,500 Jews
The Belzek killing center was the first Reinhard killing center to become operational. The gas chambers were constructed in a wooden building and operated with carbon monoxide gas.
The first gassing begin in 1941, gassing is suspended in June 1942 to build larger more efficient gas chambers. Gassing resumes in July 1942.
The Operation Reinhard authorities halt deportations to Belzec, carbon monoxide gas is not efficient enough
Total Murdered at Belzec between 1941 - 1942 434,500 Jews
Sobibor
The Sobibor killing center was the second Reinhard killing center to become operative.
Operation began in May 1942.
October 14, 1943 300 male and female prisoners escaped after they revolted and fought the camp guards.
There is very little known about Sobibor, the information about the camp relates to the uprising of the prisoners and the escape.
Total murdered at Sobibor between May 1942 - October 14, 1943 167,000 Jews
Operation began in May 1942.
October 14, 1943 300 male and female prisoners escaped after they revolted and fought the camp guards.
There is very little known about Sobibor, the information about the camp relates to the uprising of the prisoners and the escape.
Total murdered at Sobibor between May 1942 - October 14, 1943 167,000 Jews
Trablinka II
The Treblinka killing center was the third Reinhard killing center to become operational
Operation began In July 1942.
The camp was divided into three sections. The barracks section housed Jewish prisoners selected from incoming transports to provide forced labor to support the camp’s function, extermination.
Incoming trains of about 50 or 60 cars bound for Treblinka first stopped at the Malkinia station. Twenty cars at a time were detached from the train and brought into the camp. The guards ordered the victims to disembark in the reception area, where they were split up men separated from women and children. The victims were made to strip and run down a path to the gas chambers.
On August 2, 1943, the prisoners revolted, quietly seized weapons from the camp armory, but were discovered before they could take over the camp. Hundreds of prisoners stormed the main gate in an attempt to escape. Many were killed by machine-gun fire.
More than 300 did escape two thirds of the escapees were eventually tracked down and killed by German SS and police as well as military units. Treblinka II was dismantled in the fall of 1943.
Total murdered at Treblinka II between July 1942 - November 1943 870,000 and 925,000 Jews
Operation began In July 1942.
The camp was divided into three sections. The barracks section housed Jewish prisoners selected from incoming transports to provide forced labor to support the camp’s function, extermination.
Incoming trains of about 50 or 60 cars bound for Treblinka first stopped at the Malkinia station. Twenty cars at a time were detached from the train and brought into the camp. The guards ordered the victims to disembark in the reception area, where they were split up men separated from women and children. The victims were made to strip and run down a path to the gas chambers.
On August 2, 1943, the prisoners revolted, quietly seized weapons from the camp armory, but were discovered before they could take over the camp. Hundreds of prisoners stormed the main gate in an attempt to escape. Many were killed by machine-gun fire.
More than 300 did escape two thirds of the escapees were eventually tracked down and killed by German SS and police as well as military units. Treblinka II was dismantled in the fall of 1943.
Total murdered at Treblinka II between July 1942 - November 1943 870,000 and 925,000 Jews
Majdanek
The Majdanek killing center was the fourth Reinhard killing center to become operational
Operations began in October 1942.
There were three gas chambers, two were shower rooms reconfigured for use of Zyklon B gas and the third gas chamber used carbon monoxide gas.
Majdanek also served another key Operation Reinhard function. Storage facilities for clothing and personal items stolen from the Jews before their deaths in the Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka II killing centers were housed there. A large clothing depot was located in Lublin city where prisoner were sent to work as forced labor.
On November 3, 1943 as a result of the revolt at Treblinka II special SS and police units dispatched to Lublin specifically for the purpose of shooting Jews just outside the camp. 18,000 Jews were shot, at least 8,000 were Majdanek prisoners.
The SS killed tens of thousands of Jews at Majdanek. The majority of them arrived in Majdanek as forced laborers and either died as a result of the brutally inhumane living conditions or were killed in the gas chambers after the Germans determined that they could no longer work.
The total murdered is undetermined between October 1942 - July 24, 1944.
Operations began in October 1942.
There were three gas chambers, two were shower rooms reconfigured for use of Zyklon B gas and the third gas chamber used carbon monoxide gas.
Majdanek also served another key Operation Reinhard function. Storage facilities for clothing and personal items stolen from the Jews before their deaths in the Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka II killing centers were housed there. A large clothing depot was located in Lublin city where prisoner were sent to work as forced labor.
On November 3, 1943 as a result of the revolt at Treblinka II special SS and police units dispatched to Lublin specifically for the purpose of shooting Jews just outside the camp. 18,000 Jews were shot, at least 8,000 were Majdanek prisoners.
The SS killed tens of thousands of Jews at Majdanek. The majority of them arrived in Majdanek as forced laborers and either died as a result of the brutally inhumane living conditions or were killed in the gas chambers after the Germans determined that they could no longer work.
The total murdered is undetermined between October 1942 - July 24, 1944.
Auschwitz
Auschwitz - Berchenau Extermination Camp
The Largest of all Extermination Camps. Opened in 1940 as a forced labor camp, converted to an extermination camp in 1942. The first gassings of prisoners occur in Auschwitz I. The SS tests Zyklon B gas by killing 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 other ill or weak prisoners.
Total murdered at Auschwitz between 1940 - 1945
The Largest of all Extermination Camps. Opened in 1940 as a forced labor camp, converted to an extermination camp in 1942. The first gassings of prisoners occur in Auschwitz I. The SS tests Zyklon B gas by killing 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 other ill or weak prisoners.
Total murdered at Auschwitz between 1940 - 1945
- 1 Million Jews from across Europe
- 74,000 Poles
- 21,000 Roma Gypsies
- 15,000 Soviet POW's