Belzec: The Forgotten Camp

Virtual Jerusalem ^ | 12/9/2013 | Rabbi Shaul Rosenblatt

[Former Fetus]

I wanted to go to Belzec (pronounced Biwzhets) because no one really does. One million Jews died there in the span of nine months - and hardly anyone knows about it. I felt it was a pilgrimage to a holy site: the second largest (after Treblinka) Jewish graveyard in history.

Mike Tregenza was my guide. He is a non-Jewish, English historian who lectures at Lublin university. According to Sir Martin Gilbert, he is the world expert on Belzec.

Belzec is a sleepy little hamlet in southeast Poland. A few thousand people live there. All seem to be related in some way. We stopped for a drink in a bar and the natives seemed unfriendly enough. All in all, it's a pretty innocuous place. One would never guess that of the million Jews who arrived there in 1942, only two survived.

Mike told me that he interviewed the station-master who worked at Belzec during the war. On every cattle car that arrived, there was written a number; the number of "pieces" (as the Germans would say) contained therein. He kept a tally. When he reached seven figures, he could no longer continue.

Belzec was a part of "Operation Reinhardt." Its purpose, which was accomplished, was to destroy the Jewish communities of Eastern Poland - specifically the main centers of Warsaw, Lublin, Cracow and Lvov.

Operation Reinhardt began in March 1942 with the construction of Belzec and ended in August 1943 with the destruction of Treblinka. It utilised three camps: Treblinka in the north, Sobibor and Belzec in the south. It was masterminded by Sturmbahnfuhrer Christian Wirth and Belzec was his prototype " his baby.

[Former Fetus]

How can people remember what they don't know?

[Travis McGee]

I highly recommend the book “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” and the film “Escape from Sobibor.”

[quadrant]

The lack of knowledge about Belzec stems from the lack of survivors. Very few survived Belzec.

[Billthedrill]

Even Rudolf Hoess (the erstwhile criminal who became kommondant of Auschwitz) was horrified by the methods used. It was, in his words, "inhumane."

Not the Rudolf Hess that went to England. This one was worse. Thanks for posting, Belzec was just a dot on a very evil map to me before this.

[Star Traveler]

Yeah, I thought about Sobibor, when reading this ...

Sobibor Extermination Camp: History & Overview
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Sobibor.html

[VR-21]

+1 to your recommendation of Hitler's Willing Executioners. I would add Tim Snyder's Bloodlands - Europe Between Hitler and Stalin.

[Fiji Hill]

Bełżec may be lesser known in the West because it was closed in 1943 and razed, unlike Auschwitz, much of which survived the war.

[MacNaughton]

2 I highly recommend the book “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” and the film “Escape from Sobibor.”

"EfS" was excellent. Below is an incomplete list of drama films with Holocaust themes. The ones I've seen which I consider worthwhile are highlighted in bold.

1946 USA The Stranger
1948 USA The Search
1953 USA The Juggler
1956 USA Singing in the Dark
1959 USA The Diary of Anne Frank
1960 USA Exodus
1961 USA Judgment at Nuremberg
1964 USA The Pawnbroker
1967 USA The Diary of Anne Frank (TV)
1974 UK QB VII (TV minseries)
1974 UK/ West Germany The Odessa File
1975 USA The Hiding Place
1975 USA The Man in the Glass Booth
1976 USA Marathon Man
1978 USA Holocaust (TV miniseries)
1979 USA The House On Garibaldi Street
1980 USA The Diary of Anne Frank (TV)
1980 USA Playing For Time (TV)
1982 USA Remembrance of Love (TV)
1982 USA Sophie's Choice
1982 USA The Wall
1985 USA Wallenberg: A Hero's Story
1987 UK/ Yugoslavia Escape from Sobibor
1988 USA The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank (TV)
1988 USA Hanna's War
1988 USA War and Remembrance (TV miniseries)
1989 USA Enemies, a Love Story
1989 USA Pursuit
1989 USA Music Box
1989 USA Triumph of the Spirit
1990 UK/ USA Max and Helen (TV)
1991 USA Never Forget (TV)
1992 USA Alan and Naomi
1992 USA The Witness (TV)
1993 USA Schindler's List
1994 USA Leni (TV)
1995 USA And Many Happy Returns
1996 USA Voices of the Children
1996 USA The Empty Mirror
1996 USA The Man Who Captured Eichmann
1996 USA Mother Night
1996 USA The Ring (TV)
1996 USA The Substance of Fire
1996 USA Warsaw Story
1997 USA A Call to Remember (TV)
1998 USA Apt Pupil
1998 USA Miracle at Midnight (TV)
1998 USA Pola's March
1999 USA The Devil's Arithmetic
1999 USA Jakob the Liar
1999 USA The March
2000 USA/ Poland Edges of the Lord
2000 USA Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness
2001 USA Anne Frank: The Whole Story (TV
2001 USA/ UK Conspiracy (TV)
2001 USA The Grey Zone
2001 USA Uprising (TV)
2002 France/ Germany/ UK/ Poland The Pianist
2003 USA The Singing Forest
2003 USA Hitler: The Rise of Evil (TV)
2005 USA Everything is Illuminated
2006 USA Forgiving Dr. Mengele
2008 UK/ USA The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
2008 USA Defiance
2008 UK/ USA The Reader
2009 USA/ Poland/ Canada The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (TV)
2010 USA/ Poland Esther's Diary

[Jack Hammer]

As the current administration proceeds into its sixth year of destruction and the creation of chaos, this historical evidence of horror visited on one of the world’s peoples becomes increasingly relevant.

Specifically, what happens when they come knocking on the door at midnight...?

[SkyDancer]

And Treblinka.

[Star Traveler]

Likewise with Sobibor in 1943.

[GladesGuru]

“Specifically, what happens when they come knocking on the door at midnight...?”

Specifically, remember the military considers guns for killing on the retail level. Wholesale killing requires explosives, incendiaries, gas, etc.

Propane works.

[ClearCase_guy]

And Chelmno.

[Gay State Conservative]

One of my most troubling,other-worldly experiences I’ve ever had was my visit to the Dachau museum on a cold,rainy day.The images are etched in my mind almost 40 years later.

[Arthur McGowan]

http://virtualjerusalem.com/judaism.php?Itemid=11510

At Belzec, twelve SS men killed a million Jews.

For every million babies killed in America, there are two million parents, four million grandparents, several million close friends who knew, and encouraged.

Americans have killed 58 million of their babies.

Hitler’s camps were constructed outside Germany, hidden away. America’s killing locations are in shopping malls, listed in big, gaudy ads in the Yellow Pages.

So which population has been corrupted more by the crimes committed: the Germans? or the American?

Which population has more moral imbeciles, ready to approve more killing, of more kinds of people?

How many of Germany’s Catholics (laity, priests, bishops) were Nazis? How many American Catholics (laity, priests, bishops) (1972-2013) were/are Democrats?

[Arthur McGowan]

http://virtualjerusalem.com/judaism.php?Itemid=11510

At Belzec, twelve SS men killed a million Jews.

For every million babies killed in America, there are two million parents, four million grandparents, several million close friends who knew, and encouraged.

Americans have killed 58 million of their babies.

Hitler’s camps were constructed outside Germany, hidden away. America’s killing locations are in shopping malls, listed in big, gaudy ads in the Yellow Pages.

So which population has been corrupted more by the crimes committed: the Germans? or the American?

Which population has more moral imbeciles, ready to approve more killing, of more kinds of people?

How many of Germany’s Catholics (laity, priests, bishops) were Nazis? How many American Catholics (laity, priests, bishops) (1972-2013) were/are Democrats?

[Arthur McGowan]

Which Rudolph Hoess/Hess got up at the trial in Nuremberg, and instead of “not guilty,” just said “Nein!”?

[SunkenCiv]

One million Jews died there in the span of nine months... the second largest (after Treblinka) Jewish graveyard in history... One would never guess that of the million Jews who arrived there in 1942, only two survived... the station-master who worked at Belzec during the war. On every cattle car that arrived, there was written a number; the number of "pieces" (as the Germans would say) contained therein. He kept a tally. When he reached seven figures, he could no longer continue... Operation Reinhardt began in March 1942 with the construction of Belzec and ended in August 1943 with the destruction of Treblinka. It utilised three camps: Treblinka in the north, Sobibor and Belzec in the south. It was masterminded by Sturmbahnfuhrer Christian Wirth and Belzec was his prototype " his baby.

Thanks Former Fetus.

[Billthedrill]

I found it HERE

I think that's the flyboy but it's a little hard to tell. Anyone know?

[SgtHooper]

“All seem to be related in some way.”

Heh, yeh, they ran the whole process and are what’s left.