Editing Belzec extermination camp (section)

==Camp operation==
[[File:Belzec aerial photo (1944).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|Aerial photograph of Bełżec camp perimeter taken in 1944 by the [[Luftwaffe]] (a common practice with murder factories after clean-up, making sure that it is safe to abandon). Known structures are gone except for the brick-and-mortar garage and auto-shop for the SS, whose foundations still exist today (lower left). Across the fence (left), separated from the main camp, the [[Trawnikis|Hiwi guards']] accommodations with kitchen as well as sorting and packing yard for victims possessions. Dismantled barracks can still be seen surrounded by walking sand. The railway unloading platform, with two parallel ramps, marked with red arrow. A smaller arrow shows the holding pen for Jews still waiting to be "processed". Location of gas chambers marked with a cross. Undressing and hair-cropping area marked with rectangle, with fenced-out "Sluice" into the woods, obstructing the view of the surroundings. Cremation pyres and ash pits (yellow), upper half.]]

The history of Bełżec can be divided into two (or three) periods of operation. The first phase, from 17 March to the end of June 1942, was marked by the existence of smaller gas chambers housed in barracks constructed of planks and insulated with sand and rubber. Bełżec was the first killing centre of Operation Reinhard.<ref name="ushmm-belzec"/> There were many technical difficulties with the early attempts at mass extermination. The gassing installation was imperfect and usually only one or two rooms were working, causing a backlog. In the first three months, 80,000 people were murdered and buried in pits covered with a shallow layer of earth. The victims were Jews deported from the [[Lublin Ghetto]] and its vicinity. The original three gas chambers were found insufficient for completing their purpose.<ref name="M/MPwB"/>

The second phase of extermination began in July 1942, when new gas chambers were built of brick and mortar on a lightweight foundation,<ref name="bay/kola"/> thus enabling the facility to "process" Jews of the two largest agglomerations nearby including the [[Kraków Ghetto|Kraków]] and [[Lwów Ghetto]]s. The wooden gas chambers were dismantled. The new building was 24 meters long and 10 meters wide and had six gas chambers, insulated with cement walls.<ref name="Reder"/> It could handle over 1,000 victims at a time. The design was soon replicated by the other two Operation Reinhard extermination camps: [[Sobibor extermination camp|Sobibor]] and [[Treblinka extermination camp|Treblinka]].<ref name="M/MPwB"/>

There was a hand-painted sign on the new building that read ''Stiftung Hackenholt'' or Hackenholt Foundation named after the SS man who designed it.<ref name = Klee_242>[[Kurt Gerstein|Gerstein, Kurt]], "Report" dated 4 May 1945, excerpted, translated, and reprinted in Klee, ''The Good Old Days'', page 242</ref> Until December 1942, at least 350,000 to 400,000 Jews were murdered in the new gas chambers.<ref name="M/MPwB"/> One Wehrmacht sergeant at the train station in [[Rzeszów]], [[Wilhelm Cornides]], recorded in his diary a conversation with a German policeman on 30 August 1942. The ''[[Ordnungspolizei#Special police|Bahnschutzpolizei]]'' told him: "trains filled with Jews pass almost daily through the railway yards and leave immediately on the way to the camp. They return swept clean most often the same evening."<ref name="heart-cornides">{{cite web |title=Belzec Death Camp: Eyewitness Report – Wilhelm Cornides |year=2007 |url=http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ar/belzec/Belzec%20Eyewitness/Belzeceywitness.html |access-date=8 May 2015 |author=SJ H.E.A.R.T |website=HolocaustResearchProject.org |quote=''Sources:'' Martin Gilbert, Peter Longerich, Max Freiherr Du Prel.}}</ref> The last transport of Jews arrived at Bełżec on 11 December 1942.<ref name="M/MPwB"/> The buried remains often swelled in the heat as a result of [[putrefaction]] and the escape of gases. The surface layer of soil split. In October 1942, the exhumation and burning of all corpses was ordered to cover up the crime on direct orders from ''[[SS-Obergruppenführer]]'' [[Odilo Globocnik]], the deputy of ''[[Reichsführer-SS]]'' [[Heinrich Himmler]] in Berlin. The bodies were placed on [[Pyre#Secular|pyres]] made from rail tracks, splashed with petrol and burned over wood. The bones were collected and crushed. The last period of camp's operation continued until June 1943 when the area was ploughed over, and disguised as a farm.<ref name="ushmm-belzec"/>