Majdanek Concentration camp

  • Today marks the 83rd anniversary of Aktion Erntefest. (German: for Operation Harvest Festival) a mass murder by the SS conducted at the Majdanek concentration camp and its subcamps, Poniatowa and Trawniki. The purpose was to liquidate the remaining Polish Jews in the Lublin reservation and the Lublin Ghetto, including its entire slave-labour camp workforce. After…

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  • The title Last Letters—The Final Thoughts does not entirely reflect historical reality. Letters sent or received were frequently censored and edited by Nazi authorities, particularly those coming from the camps. Although the Red Cross distributed the mail, the written words may not always represent the writers’ unfiltered final thoughts—yet they were often the last words…

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  • Zyklon B, a cyanide-based pesticide, became an instrument of genocide during the Holocaust, marking one of the darkest chapters in human history. Originally developed for benign purposes, its transformation into a tool for mass murder within Nazi gas chambers represents the convergence of industrial efficiency, scientific innovation, and the deliberate, systematic extermination of millions of…

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  • During the Holocaust, several Nazi concentration camps had orchestras composed of prisoners. These orchestras were used for propaganda, forced to play during appalling situations such as executions, roll calls, and as prisoners were marched to forced labor or gas chambers. Below are some of the most notable orchestras formed in concentration camps. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Women’s…

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  • It is often said that the “Holocaust by bullets” is the forgotten Holocaust, and I agree. However, in my opinion, it is not the only forgotten aspect of the Holocaust. I believe the deportations themselves also belong in that category. While we know a great deal about what happened after the transports arrived at the…

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  • The letter above is dated 18 December 1943. However, it is in direct connection with a program that started eight years earlier. On 12 December 1935, the Lebensborn program began as a campaign to encourage so-called “racially valuable” Germans to have more children. Lebensborn initially focused on giving financial assistance to members of the SS…

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  • Letter to Henio

    The “Letters to Henio” project began in the city of Lublin in 2005 as part of an activity to preserve and reconstruct the city’s Jewish heritage. A local cultural center, Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre, organizes this educational activity. According to the center’s director, Tomasz Pietrasiewicz, the main idea of the project is as follows:…

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