A German extermination camp operating in 1942. Today the Bełżec Memorial — a monument, fields of memory and a museum. There are no ruins, because the camp was dismantled and erased.
Bełżec was the first extermination camp of Operation Reinhardt. It operated briefly, from March to December 1942, and according to museum figures around 450,000 people were murdered there. For years after the war the site was not commemorated — today it is one of the most affecting memorials in Poland.
What to see
The memorial consists of fields, a monument and a wall bearing the names of towns from which people were deported. In the museum you can see the exhibition and learn how the camp functioned.
How to visit
Visiting is individual and silent. Allow about one to two hours. This place works differently from camps with surviving buildings: without ruins you must read and imagine — and that is its strength.
Getting there
Bełżec lies by the road and railway near Tomaszów Lubelski. Trains reach Bełżec, and the site is well signposted by car.
