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<p>Jews are forced into boxcars for deportation to the <a href="/narrative/3769/en">Belzec</a> killing center. Lublin, Poland, 1942.</p>

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<p>Jews are forced into boxcars for deportation to the <a href="/narrative/3769/en">Belzec</a> killing center. Lublin, Poland, 1942.</p>
Article Belzec
Map Belzec camp plan, winter 1942
Map Belzec environs, winter 1942
<p>Jews are forced into boxcars for deportation to the <a href="/narrative/3769/en">Belzec</a> killing center. Lublin, Poland, 1942.</p>
Article Belzec: Key Dates
<p>Blimcia's parents were religious Jews. Her father, Shaya David, and her mother, Malcia Saleschtz, had settled in Kolbuszowa, where Blimcia's mother had been raised. There, Malcia's father bought the newlyweds a home and started his new son-in-law in the wholesale flour business.</p> <p>1933-39: Blimcia was born in 1938, and was raised among many aunts, uncles and cousins. Around Blimcia's first birthday, Germany <a href="/narrative/2103/en">invaded Poland</a> and soon reached Kolbuszowa. Polish soldiers on horses tried to fight against the German army, but they were no match for tanks. After a short battle, there were many dead horses in the streets. Blimcia's town came under German rule.</p> <p>1940-42: The <a href="/narrative/2562/en">children</a> in town feared Hafenbier, the vicious German police commander who was posted in Kolbuszowa. Hafenbier terrorized and killed many of the town's Jews. Blimcia often played a game in which her 3-year-old cousin <a href="/narrative/2575/en">Henoch</a> would portray Hafenbier, asking her and their friends, "Are you a Jew?" "Yes," they would answer. "If you are a Jew," mimicked Henoch, "you are dead." With his rifle fashioned from wood, Henoch would "shoot" Blimcia and the others. They would fall over, pretending they had been killed.</p> <p>Blimcia and her family were deported to the Rzeszow ghetto on June 25, 1942, and then to the <a href="/narrative/3769/en">Belzec</a> killing center on July 7 where they were gassed. Blimcia was 3 and a half years old.</p>
ID Card Blimcia Lische
<p>David was one of eight children born to observant Jewish parents living in the small town of Delyatin. During World War I, David served in the Austrian army. Following the war, he married Frieda Gaenger and moved to Stanislav [Stanislawow]. There, David worked in his father-in-law's lumber business.</p> <p>1933-39: David had a post as vice-director of the forestry ministry's regional office. His three daughters attended private schools. David was an ardent Zionist, and looked forward to moving his family to Palestine soon. In August 1939 his oldest daughter married a man from Palestine; just before Soviet forces occupied Stanislav on September 18, 1939, the couple left for Palestine.</p> <p>1940-45: The Germans occupied Stanislav in July 1941. Before year's end, they had killed David's wife and youngest daughter, leaving David and his middle daughter, <a href="/narrative/8569/en">Amalie</a>. In 1942 he was deported on a train headed to the <a href="/narrative/3769/en">Belzec</a> killing center. He pried boards from the car floor and escaped by lowering himself from the moving train onto the tracks. He ran to a farmhouse where a Ukrainian peasant agreed to keep him if he worked on her farm. Though safe, he felt he had to look for Amalie. He boarded a train for Stanislav.</p> <p>En route, David was betrayed, turned over to police, and executed. Unknown to him, Amalie had already escaped from Stanislav and was living near the farm where he worked.</p>
ID Card David Mendel Petranker
Map Europe 1943-1944, Belzec indicated
<p>Henoch's religious Jewish parents married in 1937. His father, Moishe Kornfeld, and his mother, Liba Saleschutz, had settled in Kolbuszowa, where Henoch's mother was raised. There, Liba's father bought the newlyweds a home and started his new son-in-law in the wholesale textile business.</p> <p>1938-39: Henoch was born in late 1938, and was raised among many aunts, uncles and cousins. Around Henoch's first birthday, Germany <a href="/narrative/2103/en">invaded Poland</a> and soon reached Kolbuszowa. Polish soldiers on horses tried to fight against the German army, but they were no match for tanks. After a short battle, there were many dead horses in the streets. Henoch's town came under German rule.</p> <p>1940-42: Everyone in town, including the children, knew of Hafenbier, the vicious German police commander with the face of a bulldog who was posted in Kolbuszowa. Hafenbier terrorized and killed many of the town's Jews. Henoch often played a game with the other children in town in which he would portray Hafenbier, saying to his friends, "If you are a Jew, you are dead." Then, with a rifle made from a piece of wood, Henoch would "shoot" his playmates. They, in turn, would fall over, pretending they had been killed.</p> <p>Henoch and his family were deported to the Rzeszow ghetto on June 25, 1942, and then to the <a href="/narrative/3769/en">Belzec</a> killing center on July 7 where they were gassed. Henoch was 3 and a half years old.</p>
ID Card Henoch Kornfeld
<p>The son of Moses and Sarah Litwak, Josef was born in Dolina, a town in southeastern Poland. Josef came from a religious Jewish family. When he was in his early twenties, he married <a href="/narrative/3152/en">Mina Schaerf</a> from the nearby town of Vinnitsa just across the Polish border. The couple settled in the industrial city of Lvov, where Josef worked in the family-owned bank. Josef and Mina raised five children.</p> <p>1933-39: The Litwaks' two youngest children, <a href="/narrative/8923/en">Fryda</a> and <a href="/narrative/3090/en">Adela</a>, had finished secondary school and were planning to attend university, but were unable to because the Polish government was enforcing quotas that limited Jewish admissions to the universities. On September 1, 1939, the Germans <a href="/narrative/2103/en">invaded Poland</a> from the west, and the Soviets invaded from the east 16 days later, splitting the country in two. Lvov was in the Soviet sector.</p> <p>1940-42: On June 30, 1941, eight days after Germany <a href="/narrative/2972/en">invaded the Soviet Union</a>, German forces <a href="/narrative/3119/en">occupied Lvov</a>. Towards the end of the year, most of Lvov's Jews were concentrated in a ghetto. Food in the ghetto was scarce, but Josef refused to eat anything that was not prepared according to Jewish dietary laws, and he became increasingly weaker. In late August 1942, during the biggest deportation roundup in the ghetto, the Germans came for Josef's wife, Mina. Josef insisted on going with her.</p> <p>Josef and his wife were placed on a transport to the <a href="/narrative/3769/en">Belzec</a> killing center. Josef died in Belzec. He was 61 years old.</p>
ID Card Josef Litwak
<p>Kaethe was the fifth of nine children born to Jewish parents. After graduating from secondary school, Kaethe worked with her father in his bakery. In 1918 she married <a href="/narrative/8583/en">Samson Reichstein</a>, and the couple settled in Hanover, where Samson was based as a salesman. Their son Herbert was born in 1920. As his wife, Kaethe was officially required to take on her husband's citizenship.</p> <p>1933-39: In 1938 Kaethe and her husband succeeded in obtaining an exit visa for the United States for their 18-year-old son Herbert as part of the U.S. immigration quota for Poland. Herbert sailed to America in October. Later that same year, Kaethe and Samson were expelled "home" to Poland with 1,000 other Polish Jews from Hanover. The Reichsteins made their way to Samson's hometown of Tarnopol.</p> <p>1940-44: Three months after the Germans overran the Soviets in Tarnopol in June 1941, the Germans established a ghetto. At 4:30 a.m. on August 31, 1942, Kaethe and Samson were awakened by screaming outside. People in the ghetto were being rounded up and herded into a public square. Samson pleaded with Kaethe to run with him to hide in a bunker, but she refused, more terrified of what would happen if she hid and were discovered. She decided to remain alone in the house. Ten minutes later, she was rounded up.</p> <p>Kaethe Reichstein was deported to the <a href="/narrative/3769/en">Belzec</a> killing center in Poland. She perished there in September 1942.</p>
ID Card Kathe Ert Reichstein
<p>Jews are forced into boxcars for deportation to the <a href="/narrative/3769/en">Belzec</a> killing center. Lublin, Poland, 1942.</p>
Media Gallery Killing Centers
Map Killing centers, Belzec indicated
Map Major deportations to Belzec, 1942
<p>Mina was the daughter of Chaim and Scheindel Schaerf. They lived in the multi-ethnic town of Vinnitsa. Mina came from a religious Jewish family. At 19 she married <a href="/narrative/3788/en">Josef Litwak</a>, a banker from the nearby town of Dolina, Poland. The couple settled in the industrial city of Lvov, where they raised five children. Four languages were spoken in their household--Polish, Russian, German and Yiddish.</p> <p>1933-39: The Litwak's two youngest children, <a href="/narrative/8923/en">Fryda</a> and <a href="/narrative/3090/en">Adela</a>, had finished secondary school and were planning to attend university, but were unable to because the Polish government was enforcing quotas limiting Jewish admissions to universities. On September 1, 1939, the Germans <a href="/narrative/2103/en">invaded Poland</a> from the west, and the Soviets invaded from the east 16 days later, splitting the country in two. Lvov was in the Soviet sector.</p> <p>1940-42: On June 30, 1941, eight days after Germany <a href="/narrative/2972/en">invaded the Soviet Union</a>, German forces <a href="/narrative/3119/en">occupied Lvov</a>. Towards the end of the year, most of Lvov's Jews were concentrated in a Jewish ghetto. Food in the ghetto was scarce, and the population was subjected to repeated roundups and deportations. In late August 1942, during the biggest deportation roundup in the ghetto, the Germans came for Mina. Her husband insisted on going with her.</p> <p>Mina and her husband were put on a transport to the <a href="/narrative/3769/en">Belzec</a> killing center, where she perished in August 1942. She was 59 years old.</p>
ID Card Mina Schaerf Litwak
<p>View after the obliteration of the <a href="/narrative/3769/en">Belzec</a> killing center showing a railway shed where victims' belongings were stored. Belzec, Poland, 1944.</p>
Article Operation Reinhard (Einsatz Reinhard)
<p>A column of prisoners arrives at the Belzec killing center. Belzec, Poland, ca. 1942.</p> <p>In early 1940 the Germans set up a forced-labor camp for Jewish prisoners in Belzec. The inmates were forced to build fortifications and dig anti-tank ditches along the demarcation line between Germany and Soviet-occupied Poland. The camp was closed down at the end of 1940. The following year, in November 1941, construction began on the Belzec <a href="/narrative/2746/en">killing center</a>.</p>
Photo Prisoners arriving at the Belzec killing center