The Prisoners of Belzec: Forced to Work the Gas Chambers

On Prisoner Life and Experiences at the Belzec Death Camp, during Operation Reinhard. Part 8 of the Belzec Documentary. Part of the 'Forgotten Nazi Death Camps' Series. Link to the Full Playlist is here:    • Forgotten Nazi Death Camps - Belzec   Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 1:51 On a Lack of Primary Sources for Belzec 2:37 Extrapolative Techniques to Learn of Prisoners During Belzec's First Phase 5:08 Christian Wirth expands Belzec's Inmate Population in advance of Operation Reinhard's Acceleration 6:55 Bahnhofkommando Workers During Belzec's Second Phase 8:27 Sorting Shed Workers During Belzec's Second Phase and Female Inmates 9:03 Waldkommando Workers During Belzec's Second Phase 9:50 Cooks and Cleaners for the Belzec SS and Inmates 11:50 Treatment of Women at Belzec 12:36 The 'Barbers' During Belzec's Second Phase 15:59 Reder and Hirszman's Roles in the Extermination Area 16:19 Rudolf Reder on his work as a Corpse Dragger/Burial Team 20:33 Chaim Hirszman on his work as a Gas Chamber Assistant 22:50 Reder's and Hirszman's Convergence on Heni Schmidt/Trawnikis. 26:20 Pola Hirszman on Chaim's Recollections of the Extermination Area and Aktion 1005 28:50 On the 'Orchestra' Workers Present in Camp II 30:02 On the 'Dentists' Workers in Camp II Bibliography: Primary Sources: Reder, R. (1946). ‘Belzec’ in Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 13: Focusing on the Holocaust and Its Aftermath. Edited by Antony Polonsky, 268-289. Liverpool University Press. “Testimony of Chaim Hirszman - 1945: Lublin - Recorded by David Kupferberg" in Obóz zagłady w Bełżcu: W Relacjach Ocalonych I Zeznaniach Polskich Świadków, 174-178. Prószyński Media. “Testimony of Chaim Hirszman Before The Provincial Jewish Historical Commission in Lublin - March 19th 1946 - " in Obóz zagłady w Bełżcu: W Relacjach Ocalonych I Zeznaniach Polskich Świadków, 179-183. Prószyński Media. “Testimony of Pola Hirszman on Chaim’s Experience at Belzec - April 1946” in Obóz zagłady w Bełżcu: W Relacjach Ocalonych I Zeznaniach Polskich Świadków, 183-188. Prószyński Media. “Testimony of Sanio Ferber on a Dentist Escapee from Belzec” from Collection of the Testimonies of Jewish Survivors, Instytut Historyczny, Warsaw, File no. 4732. Secondary Readings. Kuwałek, R. (2013). ‘Les détenus’ in Belzec : Le Premier Centre De Mise à Mort. Calmann-Levy. Kuwałek, R., Libionka, D. (2025). ‘On Chaim Hirszman’ in Obóz zagłady w Bełżcu: W Relacjach Ocalonych I Zeznaniach Polskich Swiadków, 160-172. Prószyński Media. Tregenza, M. (1989). ‘Belzec Death Camp’ in The Nazi Holocaust: Volume 2, 1085-1114. Edited by Michael Robert Marrus. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Saur. Webb, C. (2016). ‘Jewish Worker Brigades’ in The Belzec Death Camp: Histories, Biographies, Remembrance, 61-67. Ibidem. #ww2 #ww2history #warcrime #belzec #operationreinhard #documentary #concentrationcamps #gaschamber #history #nazi #ss