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Lublin in the war

8 articles · 1939–1944

In the autumn of 1939 Lublin was to be the capital of a 'reservation' to which the Germans planned to send Jews from all over the Reich. In March 1941 they shut Lublin's Jews in a ghetto, and from 17 March 1942 they deported them to the Bełżec extermination camp. Odilo Globocnik directed Operation Reinhard from Lublin, and on the edge of the city the SS built the Majdanek camp. Soviet troops took the city on 24 July 1944, and at the end of July the PKWN moved here.

1939

  1. 18 October 1939EventThe Nisko PlanOn 18 October 1939 the first transport of Jews left Ostrava for Nisko on the San, the first wartime deportation of Jews from the Reich, run by Eichmann.

1941

  1. 20 July 1941EventHimmler in LublinOn 20 July 1941 in Lublin Himmler ordered Globocnik to build a concentration camp for 25,000–50,000 prisoners. The history of Majdanek begins with this order.
  2. 1 October 1941EventThe camp at MajdanekFrom 1 October 1941 the SS was to build a camp near Lublin for 50,000 Soviet prisoners of war. So began Majdanek, where nearly 80,000 people died.

1942

  1. 17 March 1942EventKilling begins at BełżecOn 17 March 1942 the first transports of Jews from Lublin and Lwów reached the Bełżec camp. They were murdered in the gas chambers soon after arrival.

1943

  1. 3 November 1943EventOperation Harvest FestivalOn 3–4 November 1943 the SS and police shot about 42,000 Jews at Majdanek, Trawniki and Poniatowa – the last forced labourers of the Lublin region.

1944

  1. 15 January – 26 October 1944BattleOperation TempestFrom January to October 1944 the Home Army struck the retreating Germans and greeted the Red Army as hosts. The Soviets disarmed its units.
  2. 22 June – 29 August 1944BattleOperation BagrationFrom 22 June to 29 August 1944 four Soviet fronts destroyed Army Group Centre in Belarus and reached the Vistula, the Narew and East Prussia.
  3. 24 July 1944EventThe liberation of MajdanekDuring the fighting for Lublin, Soviet soldiers entered the abandoned camp at Majdanek. Its gas chambers and crematorium were left almost intact.