Majdanek Death Camp

Majdanek is one of the six death camps built by the German/Nazi occupation forces and the SS in occupied Poland. Today the camp actually is in the city limits of Lublin, Poland. Originally a POW camp, it was converted into a death camp in February 1943 and served that purpose until it was liberated by the Soviet army in July 1944. Among all the camps, it is the best preserved as it was captured almost in tact. After Fall 1944, the USSR used it as a place for detention of anti-Soviet forces among the Polish resistance.

The numbers of victims at Majdanek has fluctuated because of different representations of numbers at trials and recent recalculation due to more Nazi records materializing, especially from the former USSR. Number of victims is now estimated to be 78,000, including 61,000 Jews. 12,000 Poles were killed in Najdanek as well as 5,000 Soviet prisoners of war.

Photos below indicate a very curious artistic monument in the camp providing other national groups who were camp victims. This memorial is shown partially below but may be incorrect in identifying groups.

Signage indicating entrance to Majdanek State Museum with topographical map of camp	Detailed map	Details of buildings and grounds (in Polish and English)	View of guard tower and inner fence
Guard towers	Undressing barracks shower room	Detail of roof interior architecture of barracks	Shower heads in actual shower (not gas chamber)
Shower heads in shower room	Shower heads in shower room	Experimental Gas Chamber. Vent in ceiling recalls the square vents at Auschwitz Crematorium II used for access to gassing columns. Zyklon B and carbon monoxide were used at Majdanek.	Experimental Gas Chamber sign
Zyklon B canisters	SS gassing area using carbon monoxide	Carbon monoxide gassing chamber	Carbon monoxide gassing chamber. Note blue discoloration on walls
Door to gas chamber with peep hole	Zyklon B gas chamber with description	Storage barracks and warehouses	Typical Majdanek barracks
Line of barracks	Barracks	Prisoners' shoes in warehouses	Prisoners' shoes in warehouses
Prisoners' shoes in warehouses	Prisoners' shoes in warehouses	Appellplatz--roll call area in front of main prisoners' barracks	Fence with Lublin in background
Barracks with sleeping shelves removed	Sign	Plank beds--reconstructed	Plank beds--reconstructed
Sign describing 500 people per barracks	Barracks on Appellplatz	Monument on Field III at Majdanek, designed by one of the prisoners, Albin Maria Boniecki	Double fence
Appellplatz with view of Lublin suburbs in background	Mausoleum contains the ashes of victims. Designed by Wictor Tolkin, 1969	Ashes under dome of mausoleum	Crematorium
Crematorium	Dissection table	Memorial room with symbolic crypt	Crematoria built by Topf and Sons, Erfurt
Crematoria built by Topf and Sons, Erfurt	Crematoria built by Topf and Sons, Erfurt	Ash pans crematoria	Memorials to victims of different nationalities
Memorials to victims of different nationalities	Memorials to victims of different nationalities	Memorials to victims of different nationalities	Memorials to victims of different nationalities
Majdanek Momument to Struggle and Martyrdom. Architect: Wiktor Tolkin, built in 1969	Majdanek Momument to Struggle and Martyrdom. Architect: Wiktor Tolkin, built in 1969	Majdanek Momument to Struggle and Martyrdom. Architect: Wiktor Tolkin, built in 1969	Majdanek Momument to Struggle and Martyrdom. Architect: Wiktor Tolkin, built in 1969
Majdanek Momument to Struggle and Martyrdom. Architect: Wiktor Tolkin, built in 1969	Majdanek Momument to Struggle and Martyrdom. Architect: Wiktor Tolkin, built in 1969	Majdanek Momument to Struggle and Martyrdom. Architect: Wiktor Tolkin, built in 1969	Majdanek Momument to Struggle and Martyrdom. Architect: Wiktor Tolkin, built in 1969
Majdanek Momument to Struggle and Martyrdom. Architect: Wiktor Tolkin, built in 1969