When the prisoners first arrived at extermination camps, what was done to them leading up to their deaths?
Here’s one account: Belzec—from March 17 till June 1942 Organized mass extermination began with the deportation of the Jews of Lublin on March 17,1942. This date marks the actual onset of Operation Reinhard. When the train entered Belzec station, its 40-60 freight cars were rearranged into several separate transports because the reception capacity inside the camp was 20 cars at the most. Only after a set of cars had been unloaded and sent back empty was another section of the transport driven into the camp. The accompanying security guards as well as the German and Polish railroad personnel were forbidden to enter the camp. (See note 6 ) The train was brought into the camp by a specially selected and reliable team of railroad workers. According to the concept of the extermination process, the procedure was as follows: The camp looked “peaceful.” The victims were unable to discern either graves, ditches or gas chambers. They were led to believe that they had arrived at a transit camp. A
