by Gregory Downs

Created on: September 22, 2011   Last Updated: September 23, 2011

In an example demonstrated to the world as one of man’s atrocities against mankind, Operation Reinhard, or Aktion Reinhard was designed for the total annihilation of the Jewish people in Poland, and it was to be done in the shortest amount of time possible.

The personal property of the Jewish people, including possessions and wealth were confiscated by Nazi Party officials. The Jewish people were then rounded up and placed in box – cars or stock – cars of trains or wagons, and transported to one of the three death camps designed as the culmination of

Operation Reinhard.

Operation Reinhard was worked out with organization and efficiency. As the Nazis conquered new areas they would concentrate the Jews together, sending the most able bodied to concentration camps, or work camps and the rest were sent for the most part to Poland. With most of conquered Europe’s Jews concentrated in Poland, it was then the plan to execute Operation Reinhard.

Though Chelmno , which opened in December 1941, was the first of the Nazi death camps, it was not part of Operation Reinhard. The three death camps that were a part of this operation were Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka, and depending on where the Jews were concentrated determined which death camp they were sent to.

Belzec was the first of Operation Reinhard’s death camps to open. The area for this death camp was located in the south east part of Poland and was chosen strictly because it was located directly off a railway spur.

The Jewish people were herded through Belzec as if on a conveyor belt. First they were taken through reception, then to one of two undressing huts, one for the men and the other for the women, then to the “showers” where they were gassed with carbon monoxide and then buried. This was followed by the next group of people.

Belzec was in operation from March 1942 until the last transport on December 11, 1942. It is estimated that 434,508 were killed here during these months.

Sobibor was the second of Operation Reinhard’s death camps, and like Belzec before it, the sight was chosen because the area was sparsely populated. This camp had three gas chambers intended for Jewish extermination that measured approximately 12’x12’.

From May 1942 to July of the same year there were approximately 100,000 Jewish people exterminated. Up to this time, Sobibor processed 20 wagons at one time. The people were unloaded onto platforms and divided between gender

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