Can you have facts about majdanek concentration camp?

Answer 1

Majdanek concentration and extermination camp was ordered to be built by Heinrich Himmler in August/September of 1941, in the outskirts of the Polish city Lublin. It was originally built to be a Soviet POW camp, and to destroy enemies of the Third Reich, though it also became a prison for Jews after the Final Solution was authorized.

The camp's first prisoners were Polish political prisoners, 2,000 Soviet POWs, and Polish Jews. The only ones who were sent into forced labor were young, strong men, while most women, children, the elderly and sick people were sent to be executed around the edges of the grounds, or in the near-by Krepiecki forest. There they were shot or cremated on fyres, in mass executions.

Majdanek was known for the sadistic guards, specifically SS Unterscharfuhrer Franz Josef Fritsche who killed prisoners with a rifle butt, a spade, whatever he had with him. SS-man Gossberg smashed inmates heads, usually killing them, sometimes leaving them 2 inches from death. The most infamous murderer that was ever at Majdanek was however Anton Thumann, who was extremely brutal and tortured prisoners with whips, killing over 400 of them. These guards only did these terrible things for their amusement.

Majdanek had gas chambers incorporated a little after it was built, which used Zyklon B and Carbon Monoxide.

Many people incarcerated at Majdanek died of starvation, temperature exposure, diseases, overwork, and exhaustion and fatigue. 60% died in ways listed above, while 40% were murdered.

In 1943, soon before Majdanek was liberated, an operation called "Erntefest" or "Harvest festival" took place, where extremely loud dance music was blared as the Germans shot down whatever remaining Jews there were. 18,000 Jews from Majdanek fell dead while the sounds of their screaming were wiped away, while 42,000 people ended up being murdered during this operation in other camps. It was absolutely terrible.

In July 1943, Majdanek was liberated by Soviet soldiers, but only a few hundred prisoners remained when they arrived. Around 1,000 people had been marched to Auschwitz, and the Germans had also taken care to burn all important documents and buildings, but many still remained.

It was found out that over 78,000 people were slaughtered at Majdanek, while many more were sent and imprisoned there.

Nowadays, many parts of Majdanek are still perfectly preserved, and are good examples of what concentration camps were like. There is also a museum, and a memorial.

The memorial is a huge, circular Mausoleum, and shrouds and protects ashes of some of the victims which were taken from Majdanek's crematorium. Encrypted upon this memorial, in bold letters, is the sentence "Let our fates be a warning to you."

This was very brief, I could have told you more, but I hope it's okay. Majdanek was a very horrible part of history, as were all concentration camps and the Holocaust overall. Do not forgot what happened all of those years ago, and hopefully nothing of the sort will ever take place again.