Bełżec extermination camp
| Bełżec | |
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| Nazi Extermination Camp | |
Belzec extermination camp memorial
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 Bełżec
Location of Bełżec in present-day Poland
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| Coordinates | 50°22′18″N 23°27′27″E / 50.37167°N 23.45750°ECoordinates: 50°22′18″N 23°27′27″E / 50.37167°N 23.45750°E |
| Known for | Annihilation of Europe's Jews in the Holocaust |
| Location | Near Bełżec, General Government (German-occupied Poland) |
| Built by |
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| Operated by | SS-Totenkopfverbände |
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| Original use | Extermination camp |
| First built | 1 November 1941 – March 1942 |
| Operational | 17 March 1942 – end of June 1943 |
| Number of gas chambers | 3 (later 6) |
| Inmates | Polish, German, and Austrian Jews |
| Killed | Est. 434,508–600,000 |
| Liberated by | Closed before end of war |
| Notable inmates | Rudolf Reder, Chaim Hirszman, Mina Astman, Sara Beer, Salomea Beer, Jozef Sand |
Bełżec (pronounced [ˈbɛu̯ʐɛt͡s], in German: Belzec) was a Nazi German extermination camp built by the SS for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to eradicate Polish Jewry, a key part of the "Final Solution" which entailed the murder of some 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. The camp operated from 17 March 1942 to the end of December 1942. It was situated about 0.5 km (0.31 mi) south of the local railroad station of Bełżec, in the new Distrikt Lublin of the semi-colonial General Government territory of German-occupied Poland. The burning of exhumed corpses on five open-air grids and bone crushing continued until March 1943.
Between 430,000 and 500,000 Jews are believed to have been murdered by the SS at Bełżec. Only seven Jews performing slave labour with the camp's Sonderkommando survived World War II; and only one of them became known, thanks to his postwar testimony submitted officially. The lack of viable witnesses who could testify about the camp's operation is the primary reason why Bełżec is so little known despite the enormous number of victims.
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