The camp on the edge of Lublin was built on Himmler's order of July 1941; from October Soviet prisoners of war built it, and four months later none of them was still alive. Gas chambers operated there from the autumn of 1942, and on 3 November 1943, in Operation Harvest Festival, about 18,000 Jews were shot here. According to the museum, nearly 80,000 people died in the camp, about 60,000 of them Jews. In July 1944 the Red Army took it almost intact.
1941
- 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.
- 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.