COMMEMORATIVE CEREMONY IN BEŁŻEC ON THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE BEGINNING OF OPERATION “REINHARDT”
Today we gather in a place that 80 years ago, and within the span of merely ten months – between March and December 1942 – was transformed into the third largest cemetery of the Holocaust victims in Europe.
SS-Sonderkommando Belzec was the first extermination camp that was established and launched within the course of “Einsatz Reinhardt” – such was the codename of the mass extermination of Jews conducted in the General Government by the German and Austrian Nazis. A total of approx. 435,000 men, women, and children were murdered here. They were mostly the Jews from the south-eastern Poland, the pre-war Lublin, Kraków, Lwów, Stanisławów, and Tarnopol voivodeships Only two inmates of Bełżec survived the war.
Five years ago, during a ceremony honouring the memory of the victims who perished in the Bełżec extermination camp, which just like today’s event inaugurated the nationwide commemoration to the anniversary of operation “Reinhardt,” I said something that I would like to repeat today: “We are all here to show that we all remember, but also to face the horrors of that tragedy. In reality, we face the unimaginable. It is not an easy duty, but a necessary one, because only then the memory of the victims who perished in the Holocaust will not be merely an empty ritual, but it will be filled with content that each and every of us will find normative. It can become an element that could shape our identity, our sensibility, and our responsibility. That is the fundamental principle of what we define as the empathic recollecting or working on remembrance.
Today as we bow our heads to the victims, I am absolutely certain that the memory about the mass extermination of Jews perpetrated by the German Reich during World War II will remain a fundamental basis of Europe for many years to come. I believe that those words, though uttered in the past, are still valid today. We all realise that in the present circumstances our “identity, sensitivity, and responsibility” bear new significance that drive us towards facing new and extremely difficult challenges of the present. Because today is different. Today a war is waged. The Russian invaders slaughter Ukrainian civilians and raze their homes to the ground. Ukraine is merely 17 kilometres from here. – emphasised Tomasz Kranz, the Director of the State Museum at Majdanek.
The commemorative ceremony organised jointly by the Institute of National Remembrance was attended by the delegates of the central government, diplomatic corps, Lublin Voivodeship authorities, local government administration, and numerous institutions and entities that commemorate the victims of World War II. The representatives of several religions made prayers during the ceremony, including the Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich. The testimonies of witnesses and Bełżec survivors were also read out during the event.
In the letter addressed to the attendees of the ceremony, the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, remarked that: The Memory of the Holocaust of Jews prevails and stands as a warning to every next generation. It warns about the aftermath of any totalitarian regime that is based on the imperialistic ideology and racist contempt for other nations. We honour the victims of the Holocaust and put every effort so that those who were bestially murdered can rest in places treated with dignity and respect. […] The currently waged war reminds us that the memory of the victims of Aktion Reinhardt is a warning to us, today. We must prevent any imperialistic designs, we must condemn any calls for hatred, we must take decisive measures against any hostility and aggression. I firmly believe that the free world will never exhaust their strength nor consistency in this endeavour. We carry this obligation entrusted within the memory of the murdered fellow Jewish citizens and neighbours.
The attendees were also addressed by the Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki. In the letter read out during the ceremony he remarked that: Today’s ceremony constitutes an homage to the victims murdered here, in Bełżec, between March and December 1942. Homage to all the victims of operation “Reinhardt” – the shameful implementation of the mass extermination of European Jews. Today we wish to manifest our enduring memory of the victims of the Holocaust. A crime that shall forever be a warning to the mankind, a warning about the aftermath of an ideology that any race or ethnicity of any peoples contradicts their humanity.
The ceremony was the first event held in recognition of the the 80th anniversary of operation “Reinhardt”, co-organised by the State Museum at Majdanek.
Further commemorative projects and events are going to be organised between March 2022 and November 2023.
The first transports of Jewish deportees from the Lublin and Lwów ghettos arrived at the Bełżec extermination camp in Bełżec 80 years ago. These events marked the beginning of operation “Reinhardt.” Within its course the Germans murdered approx. 2,000,000 Jews between the March 1942 and November 1943. We commemorated all the victims of that mass extermination programme during a ceremony held in the Museum and Memorial in Bełżec on March 15.
State Museum at Majdanek