Majdanek concentration camp (Poland)

A Nazi concentration camp and killing center located in the Lublin District of the Generalgouvernement in eastern Poland. Soviet prisoners of war began construction on Majdanek in October 1941. From December 1941, Majdanek was a transit camp for Jews deemed capable of work, many of whom were transported to killing centers and selected for labor. Gas chambers were constructed in 1942. Some 200,000 people (around 125,000 of them were Jews) were murdered in gas chambers and shooting operations at Majdanek, including between 15,000-20,000 prisoners who were killed on November 3-4, 1943 during Operation “Harvest Festival,” in what was the largest massacre on a single day during the Holocaust. The camp was evacuated in July 1944, just days before it was liberated by Soviet forces.