![Major deportations to killing centers, 1942-1944 [LCID: eur78940]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/7bbc2613-3771-45d9-b906-a740cc398124.gif "Major deportations to killing centers, 1942-1944 [LCID: eur78940]")
At the Wannsee Conference in Berlin in January 1942, the SS (the elite guard of the Nazi state) and representatives of German government ministries estimated that the "Final Solution," the Nazi plan to kill the Jews of Europe, would involve 11 million European Jews, including those from non-occupied countries such as Ireland, Sweden, Turkey, and Great Britain. Jews from Germany and German-occupied Europe were deported by rail to the killing centers (sometimes referred to as "extermination camps”) in occupied Poland, where they were killed. The Germans attempted to disguise their intentions, referring to deportations as "resettlement to the east." The victims were told they were to be taken to labor camps, but in reality, from 1942 onward, deportation for most Jews meant transit to killing centers and then death.
On this map, the Majdanek camp is marked as a killing center. In the past, many scholars counted the Majdanek camp (located just outside the city of Lublin) as a sixth killing center. However, based on newer research, Lublin-Majdanek is usually classified as a concentration camp. According to this research, German authorities used Majdanek primarily as a place to concentrate Jews who were being temporarily spared for use as forced laborers. Occasionally, especially after Belzec ceased operating in late 1942, Jews were sent to Majdanek as part of Operation Reinhard to undergo selection. Jews selected as unfit for labor were murdered at Lublin-Majdanek either by shooting or in the camp's gas chambers.
![Major deportations to Auschwitz, 1941-1944 [LCID: auc78060]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/c9ec53c0-5a86-46de-872f-2489ebc9feda.gif "Major deportations to Auschwitz, 1941-1944 [LCID: auc78060]")
![Deportations from ghettos in Poland to Auschwitz [LCID: auc78130]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/262edfdd-3163-49f3-b750-a5e72d5e643e.gif "Deportations from ghettos in Poland to Auschwitz [LCID: auc78130]")
![Major deportations to Belzec, 1942 [LCID: bez78040]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/6d8f9e8b-5804-4aa9-83d8-708af9b6fd29.gif "Major deportations to Belzec, 1942 [LCID: bez78040]")
![Major deportations to Treblinka, 1942-1943 [LCID: tre78040]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/1d2041b8-f8a5-4a0e-82b0-c24aa3218d7d.gif "Major deportations to Treblinka, 1942-1943 [LCID: tre78040]")
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![Jews carrying their possessions during deportation to the Chelmno killing center. [LCID: 10047]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/db07cf54-0dbe-4e18-89de-e672c1201ae7.jpg)