Belzec

Today began with a two-hour bus ride to Belzec.  This was not a concentration camp – it was a killing center.  The camp itself is very small and had no barracks at all.  The only prisoners kept alive were those they needed to operate the gas chambers, gather valuables from the victims (where they were sent to Mjdanek for processing), and burn the bodies in pyres. 

The camp was built in late 1941 and began killing individuals in February, 1942.  The camp was only in existence until December of 1942 when the gas chambers were torn down, the ground was plowed up and wheat was planted in an attempt to erase all evidence.  

Part of the memorial - at the entrance to the camp

The gas chambers were equipped with a large diesel engine which produced he exhaust (carbon monoxide) that was used to murder the prisoners.  Only two individuals were known to have survived Belzec.  Both had been selected to be workers rather than being gassed upon arrival.  Rudolf Reder told his story and wrote a book about his experiences in the camp and how he escaped.  I’ve borrowed the book from a friend who went on this tour last year and hope to find my own copy while in Poland.  It’s an awful read, but an important historical record.

The memorial today is the size of the original camp.  It is a massive field of what I think are lava rocks.  I see this as an extension of the Jewish tradition of bringing a stone and leaving it on a person’s grave.  This is where 435,000 people were murdered – mostly Jews from Poland.  It is a very powerful memorial. 

Panorama view of the entire camp

Around the perimeter of the “lava rocks” is a concrete walkway with the names of all the Polish towns were Jews were taken and sent to die in this camp.  They are organized alphabetically, but by month as well, so you can see when each town was cleared of Jews.

Town names in Hebrew and Polish - along with a dividing line for a change in months (June to July, 1942)

At the back end of the camp there is a large “cut” in the ground where there is a wall with nothing but first names.  Again I was able to find the names of all my children, myself, and this time – my wife too.  It reminds me of the universal nature of the “selection.”  Jews of any age, occupation, background, gender were selected to die. 

The memorial also has a small museum which is very informative.  It has some great information – some of which I didn’t know before.  It says that 90% of the SS guards at Belzec had been guards at T-4 killing operations in Germany.  That’s where the killings began – with mentally and physically handicapped “Aryans” in Germany. 

I was also reminded of a quote from Christopher Browning’s book “Ordinary Men” which essentially states that in March 1942, 75% to 80% of all the victims of the Holocaust were still alive while 20% to 25% had been murdered.  Just 11 months later – by February, 1943 – those percentages were exactly reversed. 

However, there are two things that hit me the hardest at this museum.  First, were a collection of small concrete numbered tags.  These were presumably given to the prisoners when they arrived as a receipt to pick up their belongings after processing.  The Nazi’s kept deceiving the victims until the very last.  Even the gas chamber buildings were labeled “bath and disinfection” huts.  They did anything to play on the hopes of the victims that they would be kept alive as workers.  Why would they give me a tag for my belongings if they are going to kill me?  I understand that in Auschwitz, they even handed out bars of soap to the people being moved into gas chambers telling they were showers (but without the shower heads in the ceiling).

Concrete tag "receipts"

The second was a photograph of the Jewish Council in one town in Poland.  The Nazi’s had hanged them all on the day the Jews were rounded up and sent to a killing center.  As a bishop, I’ve already thought a lot about what happened to the men on the Judenrat (Jewish Council) and the “choiceless choices” (thanks Elaine – a much better phrase that I’ve previously used) they made.  Now, in one picture I see what they often received for their work. 

Well, now I’m back on the bus with the rest of the group and we’re traveling to Krakow for the next 4 days.  That will be our “base of operations” as we go out and visit more camps, one being Auschwitz-Birkenau, and ghettos.

Finally, I have to admit – I’m about ready to go home.  I have been on an emotional roller-coaster for the whole trip, but the last few days have been the worst.  I’ve been away for a long time.  I miss my family, I miss my ward, I miss my home.  But, it seems there are a few more things I’m destined to see before I go back.  I’ve loved the experience, but it’s been a series of emotionally draining experiences in a very short period of time.  I’m going to need to decompress for a while. . . . .