Kurt Gerstein's Insights on Belzec Camp

May 12, 2025

Lecture Notes: Kurt Gerstein's Observations on the Extermination Camp at Belzec

Introduction

  • Presenter: Kurt Gerstein, an engineer working for the SS
  • Date of Observations: August 17, 1942
  • Purpose: Gerstein's account provides a detailed observation of the extermination processes in Nazi camps.

Overview of Extermination Camps

  • Lublin: SS Gruppenfuehrer Globocnik's remarks emphasize secrecy; those who breach it face death.
  • Camps Described:
    1. Belzec: Capacity of 15,000 persons per day.
    2. Sobibor: Mentioned with a capacity of 20,000 persons per day.
    3. Treblinka: Capacity of 25,000 per day.
    4. Majdanek: Under construction during Gerstein’s visit.

Instructions to Gerstein

  • Tasked with disinfecting large quantities of clothes.
  • Conversion of gas chambers from Diesel exhaust to cyanide.
  • Fuehrer and Himmler's visit highlighted the need for faster operations.

Discussion on Disposal of Bodies

  • Ministerial Director Dr. Herbert Lindner's Suggestion: Incineration versus burial.
  • Globocnik's Response: Emphasizes the ideological duty and importance of the work.
  • Hitler's Agreement: Supports Globocnik's stance.

Belzec Camp Details

  • Location: North of Lublin-Lvov road, near a small station.
  • Initial Observations: Presence of a vile stench, "Dressing Room" barrack, and "Barber's Chairs".
  • Infrastructures: Passage with barbed wire leading to "Baths and Inhalation Installations"; flower pots deceptively decorate the area.

Arrival of Trains

  • Details:
    • Train from Lvov with 6,700 people, with 1,450 already dead.
    • Ukrainians forcibly unload passengers.

Process for New Arrivals

  • Instructions: Remove clothes, hand in valuables.
  • Hair Removal: Women's hair cut for use in submarines.
  • March to Death Chambers: Led under false pretenses of disinfection.
  • Deception: SS soldiers provide false hope to maintain order.

Tragic Reality

  • Death Chambers:
    • Infants, children, families enter without resistance.
    • Many realize their fate due to the smell.
  • Resistance: Example of a Jewish woman protesting and being brutally silenced by SS Captain Wirth.

Conclusion

  • Date of Documentation: Gerstein documented his witness account on May 26, 1945.
  • Source: Yad Vashem's "Documents on the Holocaust".