Majdanek Memorial and Museum

The Majdanek concentration and extermination camp is among the most sobering sites in Poland, and for a specific reason: unlike Auschwitz, Treblinka, or Sobibor, it was not significantly demolished before liberation. The Soviet advance in July 1944 was so fast that the SS had time to burn only some of the records. The gas chambers, the crematoria, the wooden barracks where prisoners slept on three-tier bunks, the watchtowers, and the wire remain largely as they were.

The camp sits about 4 kilometres from central Lublin, on the edge of the city. A visit takes 2–3 hours and includes the museum, the preserved camp structures, and the mausoleum containing the ashes of victims. The experience is appropriately difficult. Photography is permitted but should be treated with restraint. It is one of the most important Holocaust sites in Europe and should not be skipped by anyone visiting Lublin.

things to do museum sight
A story
Majdanek is unusual among Nazi extermination camps in being almost entirely intact. Because the Red Army advanced faster than expected in July 1944, the SS had only days rather than weeks to destroy the evidence. The gas chambers, crematoria, barracks, and guard towers were left standing. A huge stone dome covers 7 tonnes of the victims' ashes. The camp operated within city limits; Lublin residents could see and smell what was happening.

Other places in Things to Do