Majdanek (KL Lublin), German concentration camp, Lublin, Poland
Part 1 of 3: Establishment and Beginnings of the Camp

The city of Lublin was occupied by the Wehrmacht in 1939. During the German occupation, it became a place of intense Germanization and repressive policies.

The Majdanek concentration camp (officially KL Lublin) was established by the decision of Heinrich Himmler (the Supreme Commander of the SS) during his visit to Lublin in July 1941. Construction of the camp began in the autumn of 1941, with command given to Odilo Globocnik, the SS and Police Leader in the Lublin district. Majdanek was intended to be a forced labor camp for 25,000 to 50,000 prisoners, employed in the expansion of the Third Reich and local SS projects. The construction plan was repeatedly expanded; ultimately, in March 1942, a plan for a camp capable of holding up to 150,000 prisoners and captives was approved, which would make it the largest camp in occupied Europe. The first prisoners were mainly Soviet POWs who arrived in cattle cars under harsh conditions, without food or water, causing enormous mortality from the very beginning of the camp’s operation.

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