Anna Wisniewska

Czeslaw Rajca

MAJDANEK
The Concentration Camp of Lublin
PANSTWOWE MUZEUM NA MAJDANKU
 Anna Wisniewska
Czeslaw Rajca

MAJDANEK
The Concentration Camp of Lublin

Translated from the Polish

by Anna Zagdrska

LUBLIN 2002
PANSTWOWE MUZEUM NA MAJDANKU
 Cover and front page.* design
Jerzy Durakietvicz

CVH photograph:
Eduxird Hartwig

Published with the financial support

of Rada Ochrony Pami^ci Walk i Myczeristwa

Photographs and plan from th e collection

of th e S tate Museum at M ^danck

Plan* draw n and d e ig n e d by:

Krzysztof A. Tarkou ski

Copyright by
Panstw owe M uzeum na M ajdanku
Tbwarzyatw Opiekt nad M ajdankiem
Lublin 2002

Second printing

ISBN 83-916500-1-4

ta m a n te . d ru k i oprawa: PETIT .C.

P rinted m Poland
 Nazi Camps

When they began work on the camp in Lublin the authori

ties of the Third Reich already had eight years experience in
this field.
The origins and the growth of camps are closely connected
with nazi policy. The first concentration camp in Germany was
set up after Hitler seized power as Chancellor in 1933. It was
located in Dachau near Munich to become a place of detention
for opponents of nazi ideology confined there without trial. Its
creator was SS Reichsfuhrer and Police Chief Heinrich Him
mler. As opposition to the system grew, so the number of camps,
modelled on Dachau increased. Before the outbreak of World
War II there were the following camps in operation: Sachsen-
hausen, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Flossenburg, Neuengamme
and Ravensbruck.
The 1939-1945 war on many fronts, whose course, subsequent
stages and other crucial events are shown on the maps in the
main hall for visitors, led to the building of more concentration
camps and their branches in the occupied territories. They re
flected the nationality of the subjugated nations and economic
policy of the Reich. Thus more camps were set up: Stutthof,
Auschwitz, GroB-Rosen, Bergen-Belsen, Majdanek, Dora and
Kovno. Their function was widened, to make them an instrument
of a ruthless racial policy. Thus some of them also functioned as
extermination camps for Europes Jews and the citizens of the
occupied states. Death camps, such as Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka
and Chelmno, were set up as Jewish mass extermination centres.
In the early stages of the war, with their military successes,
the Germans organized camps for POWs. Some of these, espe-
6 The Building o f the Camp in Majdanek

dally those where Soviet POWs were kept, became the places
where the prisoners perished.
The problem of a broad and rational utilization of manpower
outside of concentration camps was solved through the setting
up of numerous labour camps connected with various branches
of industry. Mass resettlement actions and eviction campaigns
required the setting up of transit camps. Camps for children
designed to degrade and destroy the subjugated nations came
into being.
In all, there were over 7,000 different kinds of camps in
operation in the Reich and the countries under nazi occupation.
The location of the more important ones is shown on a poster in
the exhibition in barrack no. 43.

The B uilding o f the Camp in Majdanek

It was Heinrich Himmler, during his visit at the end of July

1941, who decided on the foundation of a concentration camp in
Lublin. Odilo Globocnik, chief of the SS and the Police in the
district of Lublin, was made responsible for the realization of
this undertaking. In a memorandum after the inspection,
a document which is part of the exhibition, we read: The
deputy of the SS Reichsfiihrer will organize a concentration
camp for 25,000-50,000 prisoners to be employed in SS and
Police workshops and construction jobs. Additional camps will
be set up when required by the situation in the main camp. The
new concentration camp, commonly called Majdanek, was lo
cated in the south-eastern suburbs of Lublin, in the vicinity of
the road out to Zamosc and Lvov. The location reflected the
political and economic plans of Germany in relation to the
Lublin region. It was the easternmost camp. The early plans
The Building o f the Camp in Majdanek 7

( . I M R A 1 HI II I>1N(. .
I III C O N C E N T R A T IO N < AMI* A I . K
F R O M 23 M A R C H l42

Section ac lu a lh co n stru c ted

8 The Building o f the Camp in Majdanek

1. Construction of barracks for the SS

2. Construction of gas chambers

The Building o f the Camp in Majdanek 9
----------------------------------------- 1------

ALIEH ARTEN
EMMTTKEN
PUMH-N u KLAP4HIAREN
t .tirl nu i

f L RECHKEMMER

3. Advertisement poster of the L.Rechkammer firm involved in building the camp

4. General view of the camp

10 The Building of the Camp in Majdanek

which envisaged the area of the camp as covering 270 hectares

were changed so as to have 516 hectares on which barracks
could be raised to house 250,000 prisoners at a time. In addi
tion, there were to be put up administration and service build
ings and workshops. However, German war difficulties led to a
decision to curtail these plans. As a result, only about 1/5 of the
plans were realized in the years 1941-1944.
The SS Central Construction Board in Lublin was obliged to
carry out all the work starting with the preparation of the tech
nical documentation. The direct investor responsible for the con
struction, labour force, building materials and supervision was
the Camp Construction Board (Bauleitung Kriegsgefangenen-
lager Lublin, later - Bauleitung Konzentrationslager Lublin).
Its chiefs were SS-Untersturmfuhrer Fischer and SS-Unter-
sturmfuhrer Muller.

ACHTUNG! UWAGA!
lagergeianne! T;rnn n b o / u !
Sleheioliibr' R I n c !
loiogiajiete I iilnii t uluw.inip
bote-
::r ./
bed/ M ast telony ____
, I

5. A fragment of the fence: warning sign

The Building o f the Camp in Majdanek 11

In a relatively short time 280 structures of different kinds

were raised in the camp. These were: prisoner barracks, admin
istration and services workshops, mass murder installations -
gas chambers and crematoria, security-fencing, watchtowers
and sentry boxes. In addition, 25,418m of sewers and water
mains, and 4,050m of paved road were put in.
Prisoner barracks divided into so-called fields constituted
the central part of the camp. Each field was a rectangle, and
their overall area was 6 hectares. They were surrounded by
a double line of a barbed wire fence equipped with high voltage
installations. Around the 6 fields there were raised 18 watch-
towers where the SS were on duty all day and night. Every field
had 24 barracks in two rows with a roll call square and
a gallows in the middle. Outside the rectangle of the prisoner
fields there were erected mass
murder installations, service
barracks used as workshops
and storage, the SS living
quarters and commandants
lodgings. All the structures
were built of wood except the
house of the commandant and
a one-storey brick building in
the fore-field, called the white
house.
In the prisoner section of
the former camp there are pre
served until present day the
barracks in Field III, fencing
of five fields and the watch-
towers. There are also in exist
ence, by the side of the bar
bers, gas chambers situated
next to Field I. and the crema 6. A fragment of the fence:
torium beyond Field V whose watchtower
12 The Building o f the Camp in Majdanek

7. Main road into the camp

wooden walls have been reconstructed after they were put on

fire by the Germans upon abandoning the camp. Also most of
the workshops built by the side of the road along prisoner fields
are still retained and used now as exhibition area. Of the SS
living quarters only the women overseers and the administra
tion barracks are preserved (no. 39) as well as the white house
that was mentioned above. The layout of the roads and paths
was marked out while the camp was already functioning, and
special mention is due to the black path, as they called the road
from the present-day monument towards the gas chambers,
along which prisoners from transports were driven into the
camp. It was made with broken tomb stones from Jewish cem
eteries. From the same period of time come the mains and sew
ers of the present-day museum.
The model of the camp, part of the exposition in barrack no.
45, shows the topography and the spacial arrangement of the
camp as they were towards the end of its functioning.
The Organization o f the Camp 13

The area of the former camp, by the decision of the Commit

tee of National Liberation given to the State Museum at
Majdanek which was established in 1944, and also all that re
mained of the former camp are to be preserved for all times as
the Monument to Martyrdom as it was envisaged in the notion
passed on 2 July, 1947, by the Seym of the Republic of Poland.

The O rganization o f th e Camp

Initially, the detention camp in Lublin was called a concen

tration camp to be followed by a change in the name which, till
February 1943, read a camp for POWs; then, the original name
was reinstated. Its common name, in use throughout the func
tioning of the place, was Msydanek relating to the name of the
suburb - Mqjdan Tatarski.
Majdanek was subordinated to the chief authorities of the
SS and its local counterparts, but most of the problems of its
operation were the responsibility of the Inspectorate for Concen
tration Camps which, as section D, was part of the SS Eco
nomic-Administrative Main Office (WVHA) under Oswald Pohl.
The highest authority rested with the Commandant responsible
for the functioning of the entire camp. Higher SS officers, all
with previous experience in organizing and running other
camps, were entrusted with this post, and so Karl Otto Koch,
directed to Lublin from Buchenwald, became the first comman
dant. He was in office from mid September 1941, to early Au
gust 1942. After he was recalled from his post, the successive
Majdanek commandants were: Max Koegel, formerly in charge
of Ravensbruck, for two months; then, for a year, Hermann Flor-
stedt, former chief of the prisoners department at Buchenwald.
He was followed by Martin Weiss, until then commandant of
14 The Organization o f the Camp

Dachau, to be finally replaced

by Arthur Liebehenschel from
Auschwitz.
Subordinated to the camp
commandant were six officers
of lower rank who managed
the work of six organizational
units, the component parts
of the administration of the
camp. The basic divisions in
cluded:
I. The Camp Command. This
coordinated the work of the
remaining units as well as
looking after the correspon
dence, and concerned itself
with SS personnel affairs. 1. Karl Otto Koch - commandant
The garrison of guards,
made up of several companies, was directly under the camp
command. The commandants adjutant was the chief of the
camp command.
II. The Political Division. This was responsible for prisoners
personal affairs. Here persons suspected of conspirational
activities were questioned and decisions were taken as to
their future fate. Its functionaries attended the executions
and gained confidants and collaborators among inmates.
Otto Kloppman, appointed by the Reich Main Security Office
(RSHA) in Berlin, was Chief of this division.
III. The Prisoners Camp. The Division was responsible for all
aspects of labour and living conditions in the camp. Here
decisions were taken relating to housing, clothing and food,
and disciplinary punishments were determined. Contracts
with firms that employed camp labour were signed and labour
detachments were organized. Also here files were kept on
prisoners deaths. Heads of this section were the following
The Organization o f the Camp 15

Marlin Weiss - commandant Arthur Liebehenschel - commandant

16 The Organization o f the Camp

functionaries: Hermann
Hackmann, Westel Wimmer,
Anton Thumann and Wal
ter Strippel. The inmates
most bloody memories were
connected with Anton Thu
mann, notorious for his cru
elty. They all executed their
power through SS staff who
held the positions of prison
ers office chief, leaders of
fields and barracks, and
leaders of labour detach
ments in the camp and the
separate fields.
IV. Administration. This han
dled all matters concerning 6. Elsa Ehrich
living conditions for SS-men - main overseer of womens camp
and prisoners. It ran the
kitchens and baths, and supervised all workplaces. It was re
sponsible for the functioning of mass murder facilities and sup
plying lethal gases for the camp. It also managed the opera
tions connected with the pillage of prisoners property. Heinrich
Worster and Michael Guth were the two heads of this Division.
V. The Camp Medical Unit. This was responsible for the medical
care and prevention of epidemics among prisoners. SS medi
cal staff took decisions about placing sick inmates in hospital
barracks, and at the selections the physically unfit for labour
were directed to death in the gas chambers, manned by
a specially trained orderly. Division V was directed in turn
by the following physicians: Josef Tschebinsky, Franz
Bodman, Max Blanke, Heinrich Rindfleisch and Karl Fischer.
VI. Propaganda and Education. This Division was concerned
with ideological and political education for the camps
SS-men. It organized meetings, lectures, film shows, theatre
The Organization o f the Camp 17

performances and various fes

tivities. It also set up and ran
the library with the appropri
ate stock of books. This sur
vived the war and is now re
tained as part of the Museum.
This section was run, among
others, by Langerbein.
Like other concentration
camps, Majdanek had its
branch and subsidiary camps,
and labour detachments for
work outside the camp. They
were set up to better utilise
the available manpower in
businesses and enterprises
7. Anton Thumann and various types of jobs out
- deputy commandant, side the main camp. Tb begin
chief of Division 111
with, the subcamps functioned
independently; later they came under the commandant of
Mtydanek, whilst the labour detachments were all the time
managed by the camp. The subcamps of Majdanek worked for
German Supplies Works of the SS (Lublin, Pulawy, Blizyn and
Radom), with the SS Clothing Works (Lublin), Heinkel Aircraft
Works (Budzyn), and some were employed in dismantling and
levelling the site of the ghetto (Warsaw). Prisoners in the work
gangs, commonly called Kommandos, were employed in the con
struction work on a sports stadium (Lublin), a bridge (Traw-
niki), they worked in a saw-mill in Piaski and in general clean
up jobs in Lublin, as well as in the SS and Police companies.
A large staff was needed to ensure proper functioning of the
organizational structures of these camps. Figures from May
1944 show there were 1,200 staff employed in the main camp
and its branches, including over 30 women who were not for
mally members of the SS. Under Elsa Ehrich as head they
18 The Organization o f the Camp

supervised female prisoners and children housed in one of the

fields in Majdanek. Guards made up the most numerous group
among the staff. In the early stages of the camps existence SS-
men were sent here with a lot of experience gained in other
concentration camps or from participation in large-scale
exterminations carried out by the SS. As the camp grew and the
military situation of the Germans deteriorated, young persons
from the occupied territories, especially those claiming German
nationality, were incorporated in the camp service. Also in
Majdanek the staff came to comprise an ever growing number of
ethnic Germans from Romania and Jugoslavia. This group, as
a rule, occupied the lowest position in the camps hierarchy,
mainly joining the ranks of the guard garrison. For a while
guarding prisoners in the camp in Lublin was the responsibility
of a company of Lithuanians and a division made up of
Byelorussians, Ukrainians and Russians.
No one criterion may serve to evaluate the SS-men. Who
were the people who decided to take on this form of employ
ment? The most appropriate characterisation of the SS-men
seems to come from the commandant of Auschwitz - Rudolf
Hoess. He divided them into three categories: the first was
made up of vicious, deeply primitive and base creatures who see
in the inmates only objects on which they can give vent,
unrestraintedly, to their deviant impulses, dejected moods and
inferiority complexes. The second group were indifferent indi
viduals, who are obtuse in performing their duties and who
carry out their responsibility either well or carelessly. For them
prisoners are objects they have to guard. The last category are
people kind by nature (...) who strictly and severely respect the
rules, do not tolerate any offences committed by prisoners but
try as far as they can to ease their lot or, at least, not to make
their situation any worse. As prisoners reminescences suggest,
this last group was a rarity at Majdanek, but an orderly Willy
Reinartz is remembered by inmates as the one who tried to help
ease the existence of the camp population.
The Organization o f the Camp 19

Prisoner functionaries had an important position in the or

ganizational structure. Nominated by the authorities of the
camp, barracks leaders and their helpers saw to it that the
blocks were clean, they dished out and divided the food, and the
kapos and vorarbeiters supervised prisoners while at work.
Their position in the camp community was marked out by the
easily distinguishable civilian clothes they wore and colourful
arm-bands inscribed with their function. They were an exten
sion of the power of the SS over inmates; the block leader and
the kapo being often - as ex-prisoners say - lords of life and
death in the camp. It was with them that prisoners had direct
contact. In the reminiscences they are negatively evaluated in
the majority of cases. This is especially true about the early
stages of the camps existence. These positions were assigned, as
a rule, to criminals brought in from Germany who spread terror
in the camp. They engaged in physical and psychological mal
treatment of prisoners. The worst reputation was gained by
Karl Galka, Peter Wyderka, Fritz Illert, Boleslaw Reich, August
Schmuck, Henryk Silberspitz, Edmund Pohlman, Nowakowski
and others. In Majdanek, as in other camps, such degenerate
functionaries could be met amongst various national groups.
The conditions of camp life provided unique opportunity for
such behaviour, and the camp officials provoked, approved of
and rewarded it. Thankfully, not all functionaries were as de
praved.
There were among them people who not only did not torture
prisoners hut pmt ^ * ^ thnm or their go^h
were the attitudes represented by Stanislaw Zelent, Stefania
Perzanowska, Krzysztof Radziwill, Edward Karabanik, Helena
Kurcyusz, Hanna Mierzejewska, Jerzy Kwiatkowski, Janina
Wroblewska, Romuald Sztaba, Albin Boniecki, Otto Hett,
Ludwig Einicke, Georg Groner, Otto Weissert, Ladyslav Lukesz.
20 Incoming Transports

Incom ing Transports

The first prisoners were Russian POWs who were brought to

Mqjdanek from a camp in Chehn. Subsequent transports with
POWs came in throughout the camps functioning. Considering
this group of prisoners it is worth mentioning the setting up in
1943 in Field II, of a hospital meant predominantly for Russian
war invalids who, after being captured, joined the enemy side
and were disabled serving in troops that collaborated with the
Germans.
At the turn of 1941/1942 Majdanek became the centre of
detention for Jews from Lublin and its environs. Then trans
ports of Jews on a massive scale started in April 1942, first from
Slovakia and the Czech Republic to be followed by more trans-

1 Transport of deportees from the area of Zamosc on their way into the camp
Incoming TYansports 21

ports from other countries: Austria, Germany, France, Belgium

and Holland. From mid 1942 to mid 1943 transports from Po
land predominated - from the ghettos in Lublin and the region,
from Warsaw and Bialystok. Majdanek was a concentration and
death camp for them. They were subjected to selection directly
on arriving in the camp, and all those pronounced incapable of
work, especially the sick, children and old persons, were di
rected to gas chambers without their details even being regis
tered in the files. The remaining persons were put into the
barracks.
The transports of Jews from the General Government were
in direct connection with Action Reinhard whose aim was mass
extermination of Jews and plunder of Jewish property. The
headquarters of this action, managed by O. Globocnik, was in
Lublin.
The character of Majdanek was defined by the large percent
age of rural people. These were transports of hostages and vic
tims of ejection campaigns from Poland and Byelorussia. Hos
tages, brought to Majdanek in small groups from as early as
January, 1942 were detained in the camp for failing to supply
obligatory quotas of agricultural produce. For them, Majdanek
was a transit camp from which they were released after a few
months. Also, whole peasant families from the Zamosc region
ejected in large numbers in mid 1943 as part of the colonization
plan were detained at Mqjdanek for several months. From the
spring of 1943, Byelorussian rural detainees, especially women
and children, were put inside the barbed wire of Majdanek in
reprisal for partisan actions. The last group in this category
were peasants from Bilgoraj area arrested in June 1944 for the
resistance activities they organized as the front moved West. To
ensure reserves of manpower, from January 1943 there came
into Majdanek on a massive scale transports from overcrowded
Gestapo prisons in Poland. Prisoners were transferred from
Czestochowa, Kielce, Piotrkow Trybunalski, Radom, Skarzysko
Kamienna, but mostly from the Pawiak in Warsaw, from Lublin
22 Incoming Transports

Castle, Bialystok, Lvov and other locations in eastern Poland.

Although these were transports of Polish nationals, mainly po
litical prisoners, one could find among them Jewish persons who
had so-called Aryan papers, and Ukrainians in transports from
Lvov. One of the Warsaw transports included people from
a street round-up which took place a few days before the trans
port was formed. This was not a new thing as in autumn 1942
there were prisoners detained at Majdanek, adults and children,
who were arrested in trains coming into Lublin, at the local
railway stations and in the streets of Lublin, in the suburbs of
Dziesi^ta and Wieniawa.
From the early days of Majdanek transports were coming in
of prisoners from other camps - from Auschwitz, Dachau,
Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Dora, Ravensbruck, Flossenburg
and Neuengamme. Up till the autumn of 1943 those groups
were small, consisting, in the early stages, of prisoners who
could be helpful in the setting up of the camp, among them
a group of physicians, translators and those who became func
tionaries at Majdanek. In the mass transports which started
coming in from December 1943, men and women of various
nationalities, mainly from Western Europe, arrived at Maj
danek. The majority of these inmates were persons seriously ill,
maimed, exhausted to the extreme with hard labour in other
camps. The plan was to set up a hospital for the sick, but it
turned out to be~a fiction. While travelling they were gwen~no
.food, nor were medical care or medicines provided. Many of
them died in the transports. Only a fraction of those brought to
Lublin were in good health. They represented various profes
sions and were to be employed in the DAW - SS Works in
Lipowa Street in Lublin. The last groups of inmates coming in
were called death transports of political prisoners from Lublin
Castle. They were sent to the camp to be executed there imme-
after arrival
Prisoners 23

P risoners

There were about 300 thousand prisoners brought to

Majdanek of over 50 nationalities. Among them were: Albani
ans, Americans, Armenians, Austrians, Azers, Belgians, Byelo
russians, Chinese, Croates, Czechs, Danes, Dutchmen, Estoni
ans, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Georgians, Germans, Greeks,
Gypsies, Hungarians, Italians, Jews, Karelians, Kazakhs, Kir-
gis, Latvians, Lithuanians, Luxembourgers, Macedonians, Ma
ris, Norwegians, Ossetians, Poles, Romanians, Serbs, Slovaks,
Slovens, Spaniards, Swiss, Tadzhiks, Tatars, Turkmens, Turks,
Ukrainians, Uzbeks.
There are plaques placed in the crematorium building to
commemorate their imprisonment in the camp. Jews constituted
the most numerous group among the inmates (41%) Polish pris
oners coming second (35%). Then, there were large numbers of
Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Russians, Germans, Austrians,
Frenchmen, Italians and the Dutch. The age-range of inmates
was very wide, with prisoners in their best years, from 20 to 50,
predominating (70%). There were also much older persons, ado
lescents and children. Children below 15 years of age consti
tuted 6% of the total, and 1_1% of them wore hahies This was
most striking as in no other camp were there so many small
babies. The children at Majdanek were brought in together with
whole families of Polish Jews, Poles from the Zamosc area and
Byelorussians.
The prisoners were people of various religions and denomi
nations, different political views, social positions and profes
sions. There is no way to know all their names. Among Russian
POWs there were many high-ranking officers. Within the camps
barbed wire were kept three generals: an outstanding military
theoretician Dymitr Karbyshev, Timofiej Novikov and Georgy
Zusmanowicz. There were doctors: Suren Barutczev, Larik
Michalovski, Nadia Pavlenko, Wlodimir Diegtiariev - hero of
24 Prisoners

a book by another prisoner, Igor Neverly. In the Jewish trans

ports from Warsaw ghetto there arrived at Majdanek Andrzej
Marek - theatre director and actor, dr. Ignacy Schipper - histo
rian and an M.P., Golbicz - a banker, Himelsztab - an industri
alist, Pinkus Szerman - cantor in the synagogue in Warsaw,
Pola Braun - a poet, Jerzy Pfeifer - tradesman. There was
a group of doctors with Landau, Solowiejczyk, Borkowski,
Leviner, Goldberg, Josef Flancman - communist activist, and
female doctors from the hospital in Czyste: Braulle-Herman,
Alina Brewda, Irena Grodzinska, Maria Marder, Najburzanka.
Przeworska, Irena Rubin, Wolinska. There were two doctors
from the ghetto in Bialystok: Garczyc and Kramarz. Nearly all
of them perished in the execution on 3 November, 1943.
Among Slovak and Czech Jews there were Heberfeld - can
tor from Brezno, Rudolf Krauss - merchant from Prague, Reich
Otto and Landesman - medical doctors, Julius Kohn - grapho
logist from Trencin, Samuel Antman - jeweller from Nitra with
family to mention a few whose names are known.
Considering Polish prisoners, many well-known personages
were brought into Majdanek in transports from Gestapo prisons.
There were among them: Rev. Roman Archutowski - professor
and regent of the Theological Seminary in Warsaw, prof.
Mieczyslaw Michalowicz - world-famous paediatrician and socio
political activist, rector of Warsaw University, prof. Stanislaw
Poniatowski - ethnologist, prof. Kazimierz Drewnowski - rector
of Warsaw Politechnic, prof. Kazimierz Kolbuszewski and Leon
Pomirowski - historians of literature, Onufry Kopczynski - com
poser, Jan Nosek - solicitor and an M.P., Zofia Prauss - an M.P.,
Krzysztof Radziwill - member of landed gentry, Eufemia Nowotko
- communist activist, Zofia Pawlowska - teacher, Hieronim
Wierzynski - journalist, Janina Dawidowska - engineer (her son,
Alek, was one of boy-scouts in Gray Ranks underground organi
zation) and several dozen doctors, among whom there were
Stefania Perzanowska, Romuald Sztaba. Henryk Wieliczanski
and Wanda Ossowska - a nurse.
Prisoners 25

Roman Archutowskl Samuel Antmann

Hallna Hlrenbaum Leon Denis

26 Prisoners

Clement Cognache Otto Hett

Dymttr Karbyszew Kmilian Kowcz

Prisoners 27

Marcus Leopold Leblang Roger Mercler

Mlec/yslaw Mtchalowtc* Ja n Nosek

28 Prisoners

In the prisoner transports from other camps there were,

among others, the following inmates directed to Mjydanek: Ger
man doctor Otto Hett, a musician Markus Eckstein and Rudolf
Wikelmann - an engineer; Czech doctors Rudolf Gliickner,
Johann Riha and Zdenek Wiezner. There was a Spanish chemist
Janne Colet and a Greek labourer Nikluras Sotirius, Swiss so
licitor Hendrik Zanoli, Dutch clerk Bastiaen van der Eyk, Bel
gian teacher Josef Bracops, Norwegian student Erling Bauck,
Italian cook Raimond Croce, and two communists, a German -
Ludwig Einicke, and an Italian - Theodor Dewoto.
Prisoners were brought to Lublin railway station in freight
trains, in overcrowded cattle carriages with no sanitary facili
ties. From there they were driven to the camp escorted by the
SS where, if the newly arrived were Jews, they were halted in
the so-called rose-field for an initial selection^ Families were
divided. Halina Birenbaum remembered this moment thus: We
kept retreating, to postpone the moment of separation from
Hilek. Other families were doing the same. Sons, fathers, broth
ers and husbands, hastily said good-bye to their womenfolk.
People embraced and kissed. The SS brutally pushed them,
fired at those retreating, beating people blindly. We must have
been harder than iron for our hearts did not break with the
pain! The new arrivals had to surrender all their property, they
lost their documents, clothes, personal belongings, as well as
jewellery and money. Only those with a great deal of luck were
able to smuggle in something if they caught the camp function
aries off guard. Deprived of everything that might remind them
of their life outside the camp, naked inmates were driven into
the barbers and bath-house. After a hurried haircut and bath,
disinfected with lysol solution, they were registered and admit
ted into the camp. Then their camp clothing was given to them
- striped camp uniforms or civilian clothes with marks in oil
paint, and shoes that did not fit, or wooden clogs.
The next step was entering the^ internees in the files and
marking them with numbers which determined their camp iden-
Prisoners 29

tity. In Majdanek there was no continuous numeration as in

other camps, but rotation of numbers. When the figure reached
20,000, the newcomers received the numbers left vacant by the
dead or those released from the camp. Separate files were kept
for male and female prisoners, and children were given the
same numbers as their mothers. In addition, markings were
used to show the reason of imprisonment and the nationality.
This was accomplished by triangles of different colours. And
thus: political prisoners wore red triangles; cijiinnaJs, green;
antisocial individuals, black; J ehovas Witnesses and other reli
gious sects, violet; homosexuals, pink. On the triangle there was
a letter indicating the inmates nationality, transcribed in Ger
man. The triangles of the Third Reich citizens had the point
turned up. Prisoners of Jewish origin wore a six-pointed star of
two triangles, red and yellow. Hostages, a numerous group at
Majdanek, had a red triangle, and Soviet POWs the letters SU
in oil paint inscribed directly on their clothes. These markings,
and the numbers written on pieces of cloth, were put on the
trousers and the jackets. Numbers engraved on metal sheet had
to be worn by prisoners on a piece of string round the neck or on
the wrist. What followed is remembered by Edward Karabanik,.
a former prisoner, as follows: lone] ceased being a man and1
became a number; at this moment his mere existence stripped tol
the basics. Out of every corner, death gaped at him; every d eta il\
the whole condition of the camp participated in the annihila- I
tion, breaking down, destroying every individual, both his psyy
chic and biological existence. '
Conditions of life in the camp led to blunting the feelings
and reactions of prisoners to the suffering of others. Everybody
concentrated on himself alone. Norms of morality that applied
in the world outside were no longer respected. Isolated and
debased, hungry most of the time, often sick, exposed to cold
and dirt, often persecuted, made to undertake work beyond
human endurance, under the pressure of constant threat, driven
to dispair and living with the feeling of helplessness, they were)
30 Prisoners

Krzysztof Radzlwltt Wasyl Raktttn

Prisoners 31
32 The Living Conditions

not only unable to oppose evil

but passively participated in
it, becoming an unwilling tool
in the hands of the torturers.
To defy the evil was only possi
ble for those of exceptionally
strong character and personal
ity, and of unbending princi
ples. These were mostly politi
cal prisoners who not only sup
ported themselves but helped
other inmates by creating in
formal groups, the example of
which were the 'families from
the female field. Of the around
300,000 prisoners that were
Stanistaw Zelent put at Majdanek, the camp
claimed the lives of some
235.000 victims. To other camps were transferred 45,000 and
20.000 were released, 500 escaped and 1,500 were liberated.
The figures above represent estimative counts.

The Living C onditions

The conditions prisoners encountered in the camp, especially

in the early stages, were very austere and primitive. The clothes,
thin poor quality cotton striped uniform, or civilian clothes, given
out at random, could in no way protect against the cold and rain.
Severe penalties were incurred for obtaining additional clothing,
not mentioned in the camps regulations, or for attempted hiding
of even paper or straw under the clothes. There was no way to
dry the clothes that were soaked in the rain.
The Living Conditions 33

Wooden barracks, with tar-board roofs, built of one layer of

wooden planks, gave no adequate protection against weather
conditions. Both extremes, temperatures below freezing point
and heat, were just as hard to stand. In the early stages prison
ers were driven into empty barracks where they slept on straw
spread on bare beaten ground. Subsequently, floors were put in
and three-tier plank beds and bunk beds were provided fitted
out with mattresses filled with straw and wood shavings. The
capacity of the bunks in one barrack was 250 but many more
inmates were crammed in when there was an increase in the
number of transports. Tb cover themselves they were issued one
blanket, dirty and with lice. Small iron stoves put into the bar
racks could in no way heat their large area. Sewers were laid in
the fields only in the spring of 1943. Until that time prisoners
used latrines or just open areas during the day, and at night
when it was forbidden to leave the barracks, wooden containers
were in use. Washing also constituted a serious problem: they
could use baths very rarely, usually once a month. Dirt, so dif
ficult to combat and so common, encouraged vermin the plague
of which was especially dangerous and arduous to fightT~This
was often the cause of typhoid epidemics.
The barracks in Field III recreate the living conditions of
Majdanek inmates.
A day in the camp started very early. Block leaders ordered
prisoners up at 5 or 6 a.m. depending on the season of the year.
Inmates, rushed and beaten, got dressed quickly, carefully made
the bunks and cleaned the barracks. After breakfast, consisting
of 1/2 litre of some weed brew, all were driven out into the roll
call yard. Those who died in the night had to be taken out and
laid on the ground along the walls of the barracks. In the yard
prisoners stood in fives to await the arrival of the SS who
checked their number. Sometimes they had to stand in the
square for many hours. Then they formed work gangs and left
for work. This lasted until dusk, with a short break for a mid
day meal. This consisted of about a litre of soup made of vegeta
34 The Living Conditions

bles with a trace of fat, whilst the evening meal was 1/2 litre of
corn coffee with 300 gms of bread or potatoes. Additionally,
twice a week they were given 50 gms of sausage, margarine, jam
or cheese. The daily diet provided one with less than 1,000
kalories, which was a starvation ration for persons working so
hard. Meals were prepared in the kitchens in separate fields.
The food was brought to the barracks in special containers to be
distributed among inmates by the functionaries, not always
justly. After supper - if no extra tasks were announced - they
had time off. Prisoners could move around the fields, see their
acquaintances in other barracks but it was forbidden to come
close to the barbed wire or a five-metre-wide zone between the
inner fence and the barracks which was called the death zone.
Tresspassing involved the risk of death by shooting without
warning. After evening roll call and lights out it was forbidden

I. Prisoner Field III

The Living Conditions 35

to leave the barracks. Whoever broke the order would be shot by

the SS up on the guard towers.
To make detainees observe all the regulations by camp auth
orities, a wide range of penalties and reprisals were imposed on
them. Due to the eagerness of many SS-men and also some of
the functionaries, the regulations were greatly over-applied. The
most frequent penalty was whipping, done in pubjic on a special
table, and it was beating on naked buttocks, the number of
lashes varying from 25 to 100. Just as dangerous was maltreat
ing prisoners on the slightest pretext, often without any reason,
just depending on mood and whim, and to make a show of
power. Inmates were made to perform murderous penal exer
cises, they were to stand for hours between the live wires of the
fencing, or were raised above ground with wrists tied behind
their backs. Some other punishments were immersion in excre
ment, keeping them endlessly at roll calls or withholding meals.
The conditions of camp life resulted in general weakening
and emaciation. This favoured the spreading of diseases and led
to epidemics. The most frequent complaints were famine, hun
ger-induced diarrhoea, tuberculosis, dysentery, typhus and ty
phoid, scurvy, scabies and mental disorders. The increase in the
number of the sick carried the danger of epidemics, which was
dangerous not only for the inmates themselves. Therefore, the
camp authorities decided to set up a hospital for men and
women, commonly called a Revier. Tb organize it doctors - in
mates from other camps - were brought in. Later, their number
increased when also prisoner doctors were included in the staff,
Poles and Jews, Russians, Czechs and a German. Subsidiary
staff were also prisoners. In spite of their efforts and devotion
the wards of the camp hospital could in no way serve their
function. Constant lack of medicines, of instruments and equip
ment, scandalous sanitation, terrible overcrowding and hunger
all conspired against the staff. I%> effort by the doctors could
stop the mortality rate which made Majdanek notorious com
pared with other emps. Living conditions at Majdanek. most
36 The Living Conditions

tragic in 1942, somewhat improved starting in spring of 1943.

Tb maintain their productivity, the officials of the Third Reich
allowed for some aid to be offered prisoners. Both the families of
inmates and organizations like the Main Board of Assistance
and the Polish Red Cross were allowed to send into the camp a
restricted amount of food parcels and medicines, just as badly
needed. There was illegal help also, offered by charity organiza
tions connected with the Home Army, like OPUS, the Central
Underground Welfare Organization; with the Delegation of the
Polish Government in Exile - International Prison Agreement
and the Prison Unit; with the peasant movement - the Rural
Union of Women; the Catholic Church - Caritas; also girl-
guides, Spolem Consumer Cooperative and the Fire Brigade.
The assistance offered by these organizations was only pos
sible due to the efforts of many devoted individuals and the
financial backing they obtained from the society. Mention is due
to some outstanding efforts in providing aid to prisoners under
taken by such people as Henryk Woroniecki, Tadeusz D^b-
rowski, Janina Suchodolska - all from the Main Welfare Coun
cil, and Ludwik Christians, to mention but a few.
The earliest aid offered to prisoners dates back to the camps
origins. The first people who were engaged in assisting prison
ers - risking their lives and the lives of their families - were the
workers employed by construction firms. Some of them did it
without any gain, whilst some others treated smuggling food for
inmates as a source of supplementary income.
After some time, the inhabitants from the environs and from
Lublin itself joined in, setting up assistance units in their own
homes. The home of Antonina Gryga should be mentioned first,
as well as those of Saturnina Malm, Waleria Lauber and her
daughter Elzbieta Krzyzewska, and Kazimiera Jarosinska. Of
great importance was the help offered by doctors and chemists,
by Teodor Lipecki, Cyprian Chrominski, Witold Lobarzewski,
Jozef Skrycki. Workplaces for outside work gangs (like gardens,
the farm at Felin, the laundry, brickworks, etc) offered a good
The Living Conditions 37

2. Inside a barrack
38 The Living Conditions

3. A girl from the Zamosc area lAnia Kempa; died in a hospital in Lublin
one month after her release from Majdaneki
Labour 39

chance for contacting prisoners. This deeply humanitarian atti

tude on the part of the Lubliners, though it could not satisfy the
needs of prisoners, is an example of wonderful solidarity with
the detainees.
On the 52,wl anniversary of liberation, ex-prisoner members
of the Society for the Preservation of Mqjdanek, by commission
ing a commemorative plaque to be placed in the Museum ex
pressed their gratitude to those inhabitants of Lublin and its
region whose names are known and equally to those who are not
known by name.

Labour

All prisoners were made to work and labour was often heavy
and exhausting. The basic unit in the organization of prisoner
labour in the camp was a work gang called a kommando. Their
names depended on type of labour or place of employment.
There were over 300 kommandos, the number of prisoners in
one being fluid, from a small number to several hundred. This
was connected with the kind of work to be done. The gangs were
the responsibility of their chiefs - SS-men who in most cases
were guards watching over the kommandos. They had kapos to
help, and the kapos had from one to several vorarbeiters, de
pending on the size of a gang.
Camp administration divided the gangs into internal and
external, working inside or outside the camp. According to the
type of work they were engaged in there were three groups
found among the kommandos:
1) working at the construction of camp
2 (connected with its functioning
3(engaged by outside institutions and organizations.
 40 Labour

In the first year of its functioning construction work in the

_uuup itself was a priority. In mid 1942 nearly 50' of inmates
were thus employed. In the following year, more prisoners were
directed to jobs in connection with camp maintenance, in its
workshops and storehouses, in gardening, running the farm and
servicing mass murder facitities. In autumn 1943, over 60%
were engaged in that work. Throughout the functioning of
Majdanek some 40% of its manpower were hired out to produc
tion firms outside. Prisoner manpower was the sole source of
labour in the SS institutions like Deutsche Ausrustungswerke
(DAW), Ostindustrie (OSTI) and Bekleidungswerke (BKW). Be
sides, this labour was utilized by the Agricultural Centre, the
Tbbacco Works, the town laundry, tannery, dairy plant, gendar
merie and railways. The camp authorities charged firms for
hiring out labour, but the labour was cheap; each work-day
earned the camp from 0,30 to 4 marks per head.

I. Prisoners at work
Labour 41

The kind and conditions of work had a decisive influence on

the fate and the life of a prisoner. Being incorporated in a good
or bad work gang determined ones future. The greatest chance
for survival was for those employed in gangs when inmates
were treated humanely and where there was a chance of secur
ing additional food, the work was done indoors and was not
above physical capability. These conditions, however, wen- never
to be found in kommandos which, because of the character of
the job, were destined for extinction. Their fate was foredoomed.
These were the gangs employed in serving gas chambers and/
the crematorium and those working outside the camp to erase
the traces of crime on the sites of mass executions. In MnjdaneK
these jobs as a rule were done by Jews and Russian POWs.

2. Prisoners at work
 42 Extermination

The conditions of existence inside the camp were a form of

extermination commonly used by the nazis as they caused - as
has been mentioned above - mass deaths among inmates ema
ciated by their imprisonment at Majdanek. Not all the prisoners
could face up to camp reality. There were cases of suicide among
mentally weaker inmates, and this mostiy^appTtPd to Jews. In
the statements issued by Polish resistance movement it was
often noted that mortality in the Lublin camp was appalling.
Prisoners were exposed not only to accelerated natural death.
Endlessly they had the experience of direct genocide, whose
most frequent form were executions and gassings on a mass
scale. The earliest victims of mass executions were Soviet POWs
ill with typhus, and local peasants. This w-as also the manner of
death of prisoners seriously ill, selected in hospital barracks,
and those Jews who were pronounced unfit for labour.
The largest execution took place on 3 November, 1943 when
some , Jewish inmates were
the final stage of the liquidation of Jews in the district of
Lublin. Before it started, three rows of deep ditches were dug
close by the crematorium. On the night of 2 November members
of the German police arrived at the camp and surrounded pris
oner fields. After the morning roll call all Jewish inmates were
driven onto Field V. Soon, more Jews arrived from other camps
in Lublin and the prison at the Castle. They were all herded in
the field and, group by group, were directed into one block near
the crematorium to strip naked. Then they were driven towards
the ditches and, according to an eye-witness testimony by Erich
Muhsfeldt, chief of the crematorium, the course of events was as
follows: They had to lie down and the SS from Sonder-
kommando, standing at the top of the ditch, machine-gunned
i them. Consecutively, other batches were run along the bottom of
\ the ditch to its wry end, where they had to lie down on the
Extermination 43

corpses of those already shot, so that the ditch would b<? filling
up, section by section, to its very brink. Men were executed in
groups separate from women. The action lasted without any
break till 5 p.m. The SS-men shooting the victims changed, they
left for meals in the barracks in town, but the execution contin
ued incessantly. Throughout the day, music was played from
two cars specially equipped with loudspeakers.
Also in Majdanek executions took place of political prisoners,
mainly Poles, from the Castle Jail in Lublin. These became
more numerous in the ealy months of 1944, and the last weeks
before liberation. Such executions were carried out in the cre
matorium enclosure by SS-men from the camp. The last one
took place on the very eve of the liberation of Lublin.
From mid 1942, gas chambers became the place of direct
extermination of prisoners. Gassings were carried out in spe
cially built chambers of which two adjoined to the bath-house
were in most frequent use. Over the entrance door there was
a sign reading Bath and Disinfection to lull the vigilance of
those condemned to death.
Built of brick, they had reinforced concrete ceilings, concrete
floors and thick metal doors with a peep-hole hermetically
sealed. In one chamber the process of killing could he w a tch ed
through a small window in the wall of the adjacent room for the
^S^man. Cyclone B and carbon monoxide were most commonly
used in gas chambers. Cyclone B (lumps of silicate earth satu
rated with hydrocyanide) was introduced into the chamber
through an opening in the ceiling, and condensed carbon monox
ide came from bottles. Some 7,700 kg of Cyclone B were deliv
ered. Tb drown the cries of the dying tractor engines were run
near the gas chambers. The victims were maily Jews selected
for death directly upon arrival in Mjydanek. There were also
cases of other nationals dying in that manner, old and sick,
pronounced unit for work. Decisions as to which prisoners had
to be liquidated were taken by SS camp doctors in the course of
special reviews called selections. The persons destined to be
 44
Extermination

. The interior of a gas chamber

Extermination 45

/i
/ irl i

2. Cyclone B
46 Extermination

gassed were either put to death directly after a selection, or

placed for a time in the so-called rose-field near gas chambers or
in separate barracks called gamelblocks. Gomel was a term
given in Majdanek to prisoners in the final stage of physical and
mental exhaustion. Beside mass executions and gassings there
were other methods of extermination: prisoners were hanged on
gallows put in each field, clubbed to death, strangled and
drowned in water reservoirs by fire-plugs and in cesspits.
Of the 235,00 victims of Majdanek 48% were Jews, 31% -
Poles, 16% - citizens of the ~J5U and 5% - all the remaining
nationalities.
There was not even the elementary respect for the corpses of
the dead. When the corpses were brought nearer to the cart -
recollects Stefania Perzanowska - one of the Leichentragers
would get hold of the Ixxiy by the hands, another by the legs
and swinging it they dropped it, like a log, onto the cart. When
this was filled with dead bodies, prisoners would summon all
Extermination 47

5. Funeral pyre in the forest at Krypiec

48 Extermination

their strength to push it over to the crematorium. Standing by

the gate, the guard would cross off the names from the list of the
living.
At first the corpses were buried in collective graves, and
from mid 1942 they were burned in the crematorium and on
pyres. In the first crematorium, two furnaces burning crude oil
had a capacity of about 200 bodies per day. The limited capacity
and the shortage of fuel decided the construction of a new cre
matorium, with five stoves and running on coke. Designed by
the Berlin firm of K. Kori, it was situated behind Field V and
came into operation in the autumn of 1943. Earlier, corpses
were incinerated on pyres made on the iron chassis of old lor
ries. In November, 1943, in this manner the bodies of the 18,000
Jewish victims killed on bloody Wednesday were cremated.
Human ashes that remained were mixed with kitchen scraps
and earth to make compost. This was used as fertilizer in the
fields and gardens of the camp. After liberation there still re
mained in Majdanek 1,300 ms of compost.
The mass murder installations constitute the most impor
tant remains of the camp. They are the baths and gas chambers,
the crematorium with its stoves for incinerating bodies, the re
tort from the earliest crematorium, the cart platform used to
transport the corpses, ditches made before executions with the
chassis on which bodies were burned and the compost contain
ing human ashes placed in the Mausoleum.
Plunder 49

Plunder

As has been mentioned, upon entering the camp the new

arrivals were stripped of everything they had brought in. This
was not only jewellery and money, but clothes and personal
belongings, often in great quantities. The most precious were
Jewish transports as those nationals, believing they would be
resettled in new areas, took with them all that was valuable.
When on 15 August, 1942 there was a transport from the ghetto
in Warsaw, the camp deposit gained 129,000 zl. In May 1942,
there were 5 chests with money, 4 chests with jewels and
5 chests with money and jewels transferred to the storehouse for
Jewish property in Chopin Street. Not to overlook anything,
even corpses were searched for valuables, and gold or silver
teeth were pulled out on a specially fitted table installed within
the crematorium. The camp gained considerable financial

1. Storehouses with clothes

50 Plunder

2. Collection of victims' shoes

Plunder 51

3. Dissection table

profits from the exploitation of the labour capacity of its prison

ers. Even human corpses were utilized. The ashes of burnt
bones were used as soil fertilizer. Victims hair turned out to~6e
a useful raw material. It was sent to the Paul Reimanns firm to
be put to industrial use. Majdanek camp thus despatched
730 kg of hair. Shoes that remained after their owners were
killed were the responsibility of a kommando of cobblers who
repaired them, and leather for making cloggs was obtained from
those that were too worn out to be mended. The demand for
such leather was so great that under Reinhard Action Majdanek
camp was getting shoes left behind after mass executions in
other towns. The fact that after liberation there were 800,000
pairs of shoes left in Majdanek may bear witness to the scale of
the operation. They are on display in two barracks that make up
the exhibition.
The spoils gathered in Majdanek created an opportunity for
embezzlement for the SS employed there. This was a common
52 Manifestations o f Religious Life

occurrence, and even functionaries holding main positions in the

camp were involved in it, including commandants themselves.
Two of them, K.O. Koch and H. Florstedt, were put on trial by
SS court for appropriation of valuables, and sentenced to death.

M anifestations o f R eligious Life

Maintaining their moral values and cherishing the belief

that their fate was in the hands of a God who would not aban
don them were important factors which gave prisoners the
strength to survive the detention and preserve their dignity.
Through ardent prayers and religious practices they were look
ing for a possible answer about the sense of life so cruelly ill-
used in the camp, and the suffering that went beyond the limits
of human endurance. Cantor Heberfeld from Brezno commenced
the prayers. He prayed as if it could free us from captivity, as
if G<xl ivere looking at us - remembers Dionys Lenard. Prayers
were said in all languages by people of various religions. Danuta
Brzosko-Mydryk thus described the reaction of women prisoners
to the execution of 3 November, 1943: Barbara bursts out cry
ing, Regina joins in. Someone starts the prayer for the dying. We
all kneel down. Poles, Jews, Russians. We pray for those whove
died in torture. It is the memory of those exceptional moments
that is the reason why the surviving prisoners have for years
been engaged in a campaign to build an ecumenical chapel in
Majdanek.
Among inmates the highest number was of Jews and Chris
tians (Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestants and
Baptists). There were also some Muslims and Buddhists. What
ever their faith, they all tried to bring into the camp some
prayer books and devotional articles. That is the reason why the
Manifestations o f Religious Life 53

1. Christmas card, woodcut made by Jan Sowinski

54 Manifestations o f Religious Life

Museum collection comprises prayer books and also books on

religion - Jewish, Polish and Russian, Holy Writ on the scrolls
of the Torah as well as rosaries, holy pictures, crosses, holy
medals, miniature matzerahs and menorahs.
Tbgether with devotional objects brought in, there are those
made in the camp.
The most common manifestations of religious life were
prayers said daily, group singing of religious songs, common
celebrations of feasts,"and behaving in accordance with religions
doctrine. All these religious bonds were helpful in shaping pris
oner solidarity and self-sacrifice towards inmates, they tamed
down conflicts, prevented prejudice and gave hope of survival.
Religious life in the camp was encouraged by the clergy of differ
ent faiths. Only two of the rabbies have been identified. They
were: Ekstein from Sered in Slovakia and Talmud from the
Yeshivat Hachmei in Lublin. Among the Roman Catholic priests
there were Rev. Roman Archutowski whose name appears ear
lier, Romuald Chlopecki, prefect from Lvov; J. Chruscicki, par
ish priest from Wlochy near Warsaw; Edward Dolecki, prefect
from Hrubieszow; Witold Kiedrowski (under an assumed name
Kolodko), catechist from Wqbrzezno; Ludwik Peciak from
Kotomyja; Leopold Kascinski, parish priest from Sniatyn;
Emilian Kowcz, Greek Catholic parish priest from Przemyslany
and Protestant minister Jozef Niedorostek.
Detention at Majdanek did not in all cases result in
strengthening of religious feelings. In some prisoners camp ex
periences led to doubting religious ideals, or even to loss of
faith. They thought that if God existed, he would not allow such
enormity of crime in the camp, which was like hell on earth.
Cultural Life 55

Cultural Life

Various manifestations of prisoners cultural activity played

an important part in the struggle for survival and preservation
of human dignity. Such preoccupations could in no way change
the camp reality, but at least they changed the way it was
experienced. Similarly to religious practices, in some way they
helped prevent mental breakdows and loss of morale, and were
a barrier of self-defence against camp debasement. Camp songs,
both the ones brought in from the outside and those that were
born in the camp, were the most common tie integrating the
community. Memorizing the words for community singing,
matching melodies to lyrics helped bring the inmates closer to
gether, fostered the experience of different cultures, and rein
forced the solidarity of the
groups. So did the discussions,
talks and lectures. These were
offered by those inmates who
wanted to serve others with
their knowledge and experi
ence, like prof. M. Michalowicz
on medical themes or prof.
L. Pomirowski on literature.
A separate form of cultural
activity was literary creation.
The works, mainly poetry, cre
ated in the camp and here cir
culated, expressed longing for
freedom. The poetry of Pola
Braun from the Warsaw ghet
to, of Elzbieta Popowska or
Zofia Karpinska was known
beyond the field for women. i. Column o f T W E n ta .
Some other writers were Krys- designed by a M. Boniecki
56 Cultural Life

tyna Tarasiewicz, Slawomir Cieslikowski, Tadeusz Czajka, and

others.
Poetry made up the programme of illicit concerts, often given
by the camp actors. Ajzyk Samberg, Regina Cukier and her
husband, Zajdenman were famous Jewish actors who performed
for the inmates. Polish women prisoners remember the soirees
given by Malina Bielicka, a singer from Warsaw operetta,
Stefania Blonska from Warsaw theatres, Pola Braun, and Greek
Jews singing in chorus. Worth mentioning is also a barbershop
choir whose members were Jewish boys, and a band of instru
mentalists made up of Polish captives of Jewish origin.
Of more spectacular character was the fine art work in the
camp, partly accepted by the camp authorities, sometimes even
inspired by them. Taking advantage of that, some artists tried
to impart a symbolic meaning to their works. Among the many
works of art that were created in Majdanek of special signifi
cance are two: the turtle which can be seen at the exposition,

2. The turtle designed by A. M. Boniecki

Cultural Life 57

3. Swietlana Saczyiowa from Byelorussia, 4. Wasia Kozlow from Byelorussia,

drawing by H. Kurcyusz drawing by H. Kurcyusz

and the Column of Three Eagles, until today preserved in Field

III. The eagles, soaring into flight, gave hope of escaping from
the camp. At the same time, as it had in its base an urn with
ashes of the victims, it became a monument to the murdered
prisoners. Xhe turtle placed at the exit of Field LLLexpressedjhe
common maxim of the occupied territnrme: - <lnW
sculptor who made them was a Warsaw artist, Albin Maria
Boniecki. Beside the official art there was illicit art produced.
And so portraits of inmates, presented at the exhibition, were
made by Helena Kurcyusz, Zygmunt Wazniewski and Boguslaw
Maliszewski. Works of occasional character and useful objects
were made, like picture cards, devotional objects, rings, brace
lets, playing cards.
Books and newspapers were of great value for the cultural
life in the camp. They reached M^jdanek thanks to contacts
with Lubliners. Every scrap of a printed page is valued as
58 Conspiratory Activity

highly as gold by us, said Stefan Bargielski in a letter smuggled

out of the camp.

C onspiratory A ctivity

Conspiratory political activity started on a large scale at the

moment when Polish political prisoners were directed to the
camp, from the beginning of 1943. Members of different
orientations, often politically opposed when at large, notwith
standing the differences, were all united in the camp by the
same fate. So they put aside the ideologies and concentrated
their attention on investigating the situation in the camp and
providing care to rescue the inmates. The activists represented
the main parties: the Polish Socialist Party, the Peasant Party,
the National Party, the Polish Workers Party. Through contacts
with their parent organizations they had current information on
the situation in the fronts, which was circulated among inmates.
They also informed the outside world about the situation in the
camp to secure help in the form of food parcels and medicines.
Most efficient in this respect were members of the parties that
made up the Polish Government-in-Exile who set up the Home
Army conspiratory network operating in the camp. Its head
quarters, with several members, was headed by Col. Wladyslaw
Smereczynski, before his arrest head of the Home Army in the
district of Lvov. Subordinated to him were senior prisoners in
the separate fields: Wanda Orlos, Stanislaw Poniatowski,
Stanislaw Zelent, Michal Gancarz and Henryk Wieliczahski.
Constant liaison with the Headquarters in Lublin was main
tained through its agent, the Main Board of Assistance for the
Underground, OPUS, which set up a separate section for this
purpose, codenamed Sahara. It was run by Wanda Szupenko.
Conspiratory Activity 59

1. A draft by J. Siczysniewski showing the crematorium

and smuggled out of the camp

As was stated in the information report the aim of the under

ground Home Army organization in Majdanek was keeping
watch on the course of camp life, establishing the presence of
certain persons in Majdanek, directing information on prisoners
needs to district Headquarters, giving instruction and advice,
affording moral and material assistance to inmates (sending
parcels with food, money in cash, correspondence), and uniting
potentially useful individuals. Information on the situation in
the camp, passed on by the Office of the Delegate reached Gov-
ernment-in-Exile in London and was published in Dziennik
Polski. Thus world opinion had access to the role that Majdanek
played in German extermination policy.
Apart from the Home Army there were other political groups
active in the camp on a smaller scale. A cell of the Polish Work
ers Party was set up by two doctors - Jozef Flancman and
Goldberg who took part in the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto.
60 Conspirotory Activity

On the initiative of prisoners connected with this party and

with the National Party the Eagle Association was set up, under
Pawel Dqbek, Kazimierz Malinski and Nlieczyslaw Osinski. Po
litical activity was also undertaken by Soviet POWs from the
circle of Gen. Karbyszew and Slovak Jews, but the details of
their efforts are scanty.
Escapes as one of the ways of saving ones life took place
throughout the operation of the Nhydanek camp. They were
inspired by political groups or undertaken single-handedly by
individual prisoners, or small groups of inmates. Those involved
were predominantly Soviet POWs, Poles and Jews. There are
two cases recorded of Germans fleeing the camp. In this way
some 500 prisoners escaped, about 200 from the camp and work
places outside it, and 300 from the transports directed to other
camps. This required great courage and taking risks. There
were police warrants of arrest sent against escapees, and when
caught they were tortured and sentenced to death.
Among the most notorious was a flight of Russian POWs in
July 1942 during which some of those involved perished but
many gained freedom. Worth mentioning are also spectacular
escapes in March 1944 through a sewage conduit in the garden,
by cutting through wire fencing near watchtower of Field IV,
and in May in the car of the camp commandant.

I
Evacuation Transports Liberation 61

Evacuation Transports

Since May 1942 prisoner transports from Mqjdanek com

menced to those camps inside the Reich where there were felt to
be shortages of manpower. As well as those, also labour camps
in the G.G. and big farms in Germany employed prisoner labour.
Between 1942-1943 such transports with 30,000 inmates, Poles
and Jews in the main, left the camp. They were replaced at
Mrydanek by new prisoners.
The final evacuation of the camp - fearing the expected
Soviet offensive - started in March and April 1944. In ten trans
ports by rail over 15,000 prisoners were deported, heading west.
They were sent to camps in Auschwitz, GroB-Rosen, Ravens-
bruck, Natzweiler, Mauthausen, Lodz and Cracow-Plaszow. The
last evacuation transport, of over 1,000 inmates, left Majdanek
on foot on 22 July 1944, the eve of the liberation. They were
heading towards the Vistula via Krasnik where, helped by the
locals, several dozens of inmates managed to escape. When they
reached Cmielow, some 60km west, the remaining group were
put into carriages and taken to Auschwitz which was reached by
800 persons.
Abandoning the camp in Lublin the SS left behind about
1,500 inmates. They were peasants from the south of Lublin
district and Russian POWs.

Liberation

When the last evacuation transport was leaving Majdanek,

the main forces of Gen. Siemion Bogdanow's Second Armoured
Army and the 7<h Corps of Cavalry of Gen. Konstantinow were
62 Liberation

1. Prisoners after liberation

at the outskirts of Lublin. In the night of 22/23 July the battle

for the town commenced. The Russian troops were joined by the
units of the Home Army. Fighting continued until 24 July and
ended with Gen. Moser surrendering the German garrison.
Whilst the Fighting went on, Polish prisoners left Majdanek.
Crippled Russin POWs were taken to the camps in their home
land. As the offensive continued several Mftjdanek functionaries
were captured. They were: Anton Themes, deputy head of ad
ministration; Hermann Vogel, head of clothing storage; Wilhelm
Gerstenmeier, administrative clerk; Theodor Schollen, guard;
Heinrich Stalp and Edmund Pohlmann, both kapos. They were
put on trial in November 1944 in the first trial of war criminals
which took place in the Special Penal Court in Lublin, and
sentenced to death.
When the war was over, three of the commandants of
Majdanek were tried. In 1946 Max Koegel received the death
sentence from a British court. Such was also the verdict passed
After Liberation 63

on Martin Weiss by an American court in 1946. The following

year, at the trial of former SS functionaries from Auschwitz,
death sentences were passed on Arthur Liebehenschel and
Erich Muhsfeldt - head of the crematorium. Among the higher
functionaries of Majdanek those sentenced to death were: Anton
Thumann, Elsa Ehrich, Josef Tschebinsky and Hermann
Hackmann. The verdict was not carried out only in the case of
the last accused; he was released from prison in 1955. However,
he was tried again, together with some other Mqjdanek staff, in
Diisseldorf in 1975, in one of the more notorious and longest
trials of war criminals.

After Liberation

After Lublin was liberated the area of the camp was first
taken over by the Russian army. Subsequently, Fields I and II
were given to the 2nd Polish Army which was just forming, and
Fields IV and V were left to be used by the Soviet Army. As soon
as fighting in Lublin stopped, German POWs were put in the
last two fields to be sent, soon, into the depths of the Soviet
Union. Field III was taken over by NKWD, Stalins secret police,
and from mid-August 1944 it became a transit camp for Poles.
Those imprisoned there were the officers and NCOs of the Home
Army and the Peasant Battalions regarded as enemies of the
new political system. After a few weeks at Majdanek they were
taken to camps in the Gulag in the Soviet Union. In the admin
istration and service barracks and the installations of mass
murder a special Polish-Soviet body established by the Polish
Commmittee of National Liberation set to securing the surviv
ing evidence of German crime at Majdanek, documents and
other material evidence like prisoners belongings. The majority
64 After Liberation

2. Foreign journalists at Majdanek

After Liberation 65

3. The first trial of camp functionaries; Lublin 1944

of the files were taken into the Soviet Union after the work of
the commission ended.
The decision to set up a museum at Majdanek was taken as
early as the autumn of 1944 and it was begun in November
1944 as the first museum to operate on the site of a former
camp. The activities of the Museum are supported by a 1945
founded organization called the Society for the Preservation of
Majdanek.

The main aims of the Museum are as follows:

- maintain and manage the area of the former camp, with
its buildings and installations;
- collect and research the relics of the camp and archive
materials documenting its history;
- research the problems that refer to the camp;
- disseminate knowledge on Majdanek by means of exhibi
tions, publications and educational projects;
66 The Monument

- collect art on anti-war themes and exhibit it;

- ulilize the tragic experiences of the past for education in
the spirit of unity between nations.

The M em orials

In 1969 on the initiative of the Council for Protection of War

Memorials and the Society for the Preservation of Majdanek to
commemorate the victims of the camp two monumental struc
tures were erected that make up the Monument of Struggle and
Martyrdom and the Mausoleum. They were designed by Wiktor
Tblkin, an architect and sculptor.

4. Monument to Struggle and Martyrdom

The Monument 67

5. Mausoleum

The monument in the shape of a gigantic gate has manifold

symbolic meaning. It can mean tragedy, but also be an expres
sion of hope and victory.
The Mausoleum, situated at the end of the axis of the Road
of Homage, is circular in shape, with a dome resting on columns.
Inside this urn are contained ashes of the murdered prisoners.
On the frieze of the dome an inscription reads: Let our fate be
a warning for you.
Mixed media art installation Shrine devoted to the victims
is presented in barrack no. 47. Tadeusz Myslowski is the author
of the design, and Zbigniew Bagielski provided the music to
accompany the composition.
68 Visitor Information

Visitor Information

The Museum is open daily from

8:00-18:00 (April to October) and
8:00-15:00 (November to March).
The historical exposition (barracks 43-44) is open from
8:00-16:00 (except Mondays, state and religious holidays)
from April to November. During the remaining months it can
be open upon prior notification.
> Art installation Shrine can be visited from April to Novem
ber.
> Entry is free. A fee is charged for the car-park.
> In accordance with the ruling of Ministry of Education the
Museum is open to visitors who are above 14 years of age.
> Having notified the Museum groups of visitors, from Poland
or foreign countries, can book a guided tour in Polish, Eng
lish, German or Russian. A fee is charged for the guide. The
full tour of Majdanek takes about 2 hours.
In the Museum theatre it is possibile to see some documen
tary films. A ticket for these is required.
The Museum kiosk offers the following publications:
- information booklet - guide to the exposition (in Polish,
English and German),
- popular and scientific literature
- memoirs by the former prisoners,
- Majdanek Notebooks (periodical), a folio of graphics
Against War,
- video films,
- postcards.
Written or telephone requests re. visits to the Museum, or
ganization of museum lessons, talks, meetings with former
prisoners, loan of films should be directed to:
Visitor Information 69

M ajdanek State Museum

Droga M ^czennikow M ajdanka 67
20-325 Lublin
tel. +48 (81) 744 26 40, 744 26 47, 744 26 48 ext. 56
fax +48 (81) 744 05 26; e-mail: dyr@majdanek.pl

Persons who own documents that refer to the camp at

Majdanek are requested to lend or donate them to the Museum.
Information about prisoners stay at Mqjdanek is provided
by the Department of Archives.
The Museum is greatly appreciative of all the funds that
come from persons who wish to support our activities.

Donations can be transferred to:

Pabstw ow e Muzeum na Majdanku

Bank Przem yslow o-H andlow y
PBK S A . IV O/Lublin
Nr 10601480-320000184673
 Multimedia Installation Shrinc ihc Memorial Siu*
for Anonymous Victim, designed by T. Myslowski j
from New York (barrack 47). A symbolic artist J
composition (50 spheres made of barbed wire,
a memorial book of 50 nations) accompanied by
a tape-recorded oratorio consisting of extracts from I
Majdanek former prisoners memories and Poles,:
Jews, Russians and Gypsies prayers.
Inhibition T hc Prim er dedicated to children,
designed by T. Pictrasicwicz from Osrodck Brama i
* Grodzka - Teatr NN (barrack 53). It consists of two
parts illustrating pre-war and post-war childs world.
The first one is symbolized by primers: Polish, White
Russian, Hebrew, the other a carriage, wells from
which childrens voices are heard. The exhibition
is enriched wida documents, photos and prisoners j
memoirs.
E xhibition can be visited only with a tour guide
9 am 4 pm April - O ctober
M em orial ceremonies:
The anniversary of Majdanek liberadon
(the 23rd of July)
The Days of Majdanek Memory (September)
Ceremonies dedicated to the memory of Jews
executed at Majdanek in 1943
(the 3rd of November)
Tourist Sendee Pavilion:
8 am - 4 pm April - October
8 am 3 pm November - March
Informadon desk, visitors registradon, cinema
and book shop are situated here.
Children under 14 are not admitted.
Admission is free.
A fee is charged for following offers:
parking: cars 5 zt, microbuses 10 zt, coaches -
20 zi
documentary film shows (Polish, English,
German French and Russian language version):
deket - 2 zi, special price ticket - 1 zt
a special charge for travel agencies that bring
organized groups and do not use the museums
tour guide - 50 zt
after the official working hours 100 zt
guided tours in Polish 60 zt
in English, German, Russian 100 zt
lectures - 30 zt
thematic museum lessons and historical
workshops 60 zt
Tours, lessons and workshops booking by Museums
Education Department tel/fax: (081) 744-19-55
1%!.i
? t
S A
J%
PANSTW OW E M U ZE U M NA MAJDANKU
D r o g a c z c n i k w M a j cl a n k a 67
20-325 L u b l i n , tel/fax: (0-81)744-05-26
e-mail: cdukaejalphnnidanek.pl
http://www.maidanek.pl
The Majdanek State Museum was founded
in autumn 1944 as the first memorial-museum in the
world.
It occupies 90 ha, i.e. one third of the fonner
camps area, where 70 objects have remained.
Permanent exhibition instructs visitors in the history
of the camp, popularly called Majdanek.
Majdanek was one of the largest Nazi camps
in Europe. It is estimated that some 300 000 people
were imprisoned here. As a consequence of
inhumane living conditions and direct extermination
(gassing, executing, hanging) 235 000 perished,
mainly Jews, Poles and citizens of the Soviet Union.
When German army withdrew from Lublin region,
special troops of NKW D arranged here a camp for
the Home Army and Peasant Battalions soldiers who
were later deported to Soviet camps.
In 1969 the Monument o f Fight and Martyrdom
and Mausoleum were erected to commemorate those
who were imprisoned and perished at Majdanek.
 V

The museum is open daily except for Mondays,

national and religious holidays (New Years Day, T H E LAY O U T O F T H E M USEUM
Easter, the I s' and 3rd o f May, Corpus Chnsti, the 15th
of August, the I s' of November, the 11th of - E xhibitions
November, 25th - 26th o f December). Z - A sculpture T he Castle (1943)
- T he C olum n of T hree Eagles (1943)
The exhibition is situated in 11 post-camp 62 - Summer Gallery (V - IX)
buildings.

The following objects: baths and gas chambers

(41), the barrack with the model of the camp (45),
/ \
The visiting route starts at the Tourist Service \
the barrack with prisoners shoes (52), barracks on
the 3rd field (13, 14, 15) and the crematorium can be Pavilion, where you can see illustrations of l
\ L
visited daily: the military operations in Europe. Then it goes past MAUSOLEUM (Fm ^ r
CREMATORY
--------------------
8 am - 6 pm April - October the Monument of Fight and Martyrdom, along Ja y ..........................................

8 am - 3 pm November - March the prisoners transports road to barrack with baths '
and gas chambers (nr 41). Next it leads to the u n i ' '
TOILETS
barracks where exhibitions have been arranged I & . t i OOOOOOOODf l O
(nr 43, 44, 45, 47, 52, 53). On the 2nd field you can *
see the castle made by Majdanek prisoners, and on i 1*
1 ft
die 3rd field the interiors of the barracks (nr 13, 14, i FOOGOOGOOUOtT
15) and a monument called the Column of Three
Eagles dating from 1943. The rout ends at |
L D D D O D D 0 0 DU Q .
the Mausoleum where the ashes o f killed prisoners I

are deposited. There is a crematorium and execution n i i m i m i

ODDIIDDDOIOIII
ditches nearby. ! f H U 1 I I I ^ 5^

The rout is 5km long and it takes 2 hours to cover. 1 L i m i m m c

Parking lots for drivers are available close to the
i foqooooooooo *
museum. M i l 1) tl *
H istorical exhibition M ajdanek designed by i
C. Rajca and A. Wisniewska (barracks 43, 44) is open:
I b OQQD OOOOf l OO
9 am - 4 pm April - October !
ft
From November to March the exhibition can be
i PDflODOOUDODlr
visited between H am and 3 pm by prior arrangement.
i
The exhibition shows the history of the camp and I 0 = 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 00 0 ,/
GAS |
the lives of the prisoners by means o f maps, archive r r - t # ' CHAMBERS
material and exhibits. Numerous photographs
and documents, camp numbers and prisoners r f f i r 1
ADMINISTRATION
clothes, tools and instruments o f torture, collection | OF THE MUSEUM f /
of art works and objects o f daily use made I fra g m en t o f th e e x h ib itio n in b a rra ck 4 3 MONI M L N T
by prisoners or taken away from them after their OF STRUGGLE AND MARTYRDOM
imivrtl lo lltc i amp ate prcst'iiletl llirrr.

I________ ___ I