Grounds and historical structures

On the partly preserved grounds of the former concentration camp there are 70 historical buildings from the years 1941-1944. They are situated in the former administrative part of the camp (3 buildings: the prisoner department office, the house for the head of the prisoner camp, the female overssers’ quarter); in the area of the prisoner fields (49 buildings: the prisoner barracks, watchtowers and sentry boxes, the old crematorium, 2 sculptures made by the prisoners); in the economic sector (17 buildings: warehouses, workshops, bathhouse barracks, gas chambers) and the new crematorium.

“A window of time” is a steel construction which enables the visitors to see a fragment of the original road built by the prisoners at Majdanek. They used matzevot from the Jewish cemeteries in Lublin. There is also a plaque with a short historical comment in three languages: Polish, English and Hebrew.

FIND THE STRUCTURES ON THE MUSEUM MAP

Historical Route

The historical route called “Konzentrationslager Lublin 1941–1944” documents the most important structures and places related to the camp history. It starts at the foot of the Gate Monument, goes along the border of the prisoner camp, and ends near the Mausoleum. It comprises 17 glass panels with information in three languages (Polish, English and Hebrew). They provide historical facts and archival photographs showing given places at the time of the camp existence or shortly after its liquidation.

Exhibitions

Barracks no. 43 (former warehouse for prisoner belongings)

• Exhibition “Majdanek. The past and the present” – archival photographs taken on the grounds of the camp during the occupation and contemporary photographs of the same locations
• KL Lublin timeline
• Large-format aerial photograph and plan of the camp from 1944.

Barracks no. 44 (former warehouse for prisoner belongings)

• Exhibition “Lublin during the German Occupation” – information about the occupied city illustrated with historical large-format photographs and contemporary photographs of the same locations
• Maps of transports
• Board illustrating the so-called general construction plan of the Majdanek camp, which reflects the ambitions of the German occupation authorities related to the expansion of Konzentrationslager Lublin

Barracks no. 47 (former food warehouse) - open from April to October

• “Shrine” – multimedia artistic installation combining sculptural, artistic and musical elements. It is a tribute to all anonymous victims of KL Lublin

Barracks no. 62 (former camp shoemaker's shop)

• The historical exhibition “The Prisoners of Majdanek” evokes the memory of the camp's inmates – victims of the Nazi persecution and extermination policy. Their individual fates make up the history of KL Lublin. Apart from many original artefacts and documents that had never been shown before, the exhibition includes a collection of testimonies given by the former prisoners of Majdanek.

Barracks no. 52 (warehouse for camp tools and equipment)

• Exposition of shoes confiscated from Majdanek's prisoners and the Jews exterminated in the course of "Aktion Reinhardt"

Barracks no. 55 (former electrical workshop)

• Exhibition "They Arrived at the Ghetto... And Went into the Unknown..." – aspects and circumstances of the mass murder on Polish and foreign Jews committed in the course of "Aktion Reinhardt"

Barracks nos. 14 and 15 (prisoner field III)

• Exhibition “Living Conditions of the prisoners” recreating the interior of prisoner barracks from the time when the camp was operational.

Commemorations

Column of Three Eagles
Monument-Gate
Mausoleum
Monument commemorating the victims of “Aktion Erntefest”
Commemorative stone with a tablet dedicated to the organizers of aid to the prisoners of Majdanek
Commemorative stone with a tablet bearing the message of the Blessed Emilian Kowcz

Aid for visitors

The panels with accounts are related to the most important aspects of the camp existence and landmarks in Majdanek's history. They include descriptions concerning e.g. admission of newly arrived prisoners, plunder of property, selections, labour, extermination in gas chambers, or mass murder of Jews on November 3, 1943. 17 panels include testimonies given by the former prisoners and members of the SS staff (in Polish, English and Hebrew). The panels stand in places to which their content alludes.

Illuminated panels with historical comments have been installed in the bathhouse barracks, near the gas chambers, inside the prisoners’ barracks at Field III, and inside the crematorium. They are made of glass so as not to interfere with their historical surroundings.

Finding the way on the grounds of the Museum (90 ha) and between the historical objects has been facilitated with information boards. They include maps with the topography of the Museum and direction arrows. The most important objects and the current visitor’s location have also been marked.