Timeline

20.07.1941
Camp Establishment Order
During his visit to Lublin, the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler entrusted the local commander of the SS and police forces Odilo Globocnik the task of creating a camp for 25,000-50,000 prisoners, who were to be exploited as labourers for the SS and police workshops and construction sites.
Plans and documentation were compiled by the Zentralbauleitung der Waffen-SS und Polizei (central construction office), who acted as the investor and supervisor of all construction works. The organisational matters on behalf of the Concentration Camps Inspectorate were entrusted to Karl Otto Koch, then the commandant of KL Buchenwald and the future commandant of KL Lublin.
07.10.1941
First Camp Construction Works
The formal basis for starting the camp construction works was laid on 22 September 1941 by Hans Kammler, who was responsible for construction matters in the central SS command. The proper works were preceded by another order he gave on 27 September, which assumed the creation of POW camps in Lublin and Auschwitz on 1 October, which would have the capacity of admitting 50,000 POWs.
10.1941
First Deportations
The first large group of Majdanek prisoners were the Soviet POWs deported in October 1941. Shortly afterwards, interpreters, physicians, and functionary prisoners were transferred from other concentration camps including Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, and Sachsenhausen.
On 12 December the first 150 Jewish inmates from Lublin were detained, and then also several hundred farmers from the Lublin region arrested as hostages for violating occupational laws and not providing obligatory quotas for the German army.

29.03.1942
First Transport of Slovak Jews
On 29 March the transport of around 1,000 Slovak Jews arrived at Majdanek. It was the first mass deportations of Jews in the history of the camp. A total of around 8,000 Slovak Jews were then deported to Majdanek. Soon also Austrian, Czech, and German Jews followed. Polish Jews constituted a considerable group among the prisoners of KL Lublin.
09.1942
Gas Chambers Put into Operation
The construction of the gas chambers at Majdanek began in the summer of 1942. In July, an order was issued for the purchase of Zyklon B from the Tesch & Stabenow company in Hamburg. The first batch of poisonous gas was delivered in the last days of August, while the gas chambers became operational in September or October 1942. Carbon monoxide was also used in the extermination of prisoners.
The gas chambers were created in a concrete building called the bunker, which was located near the men’s bathhouse barracks. It was enclosed with additional barbed wire fences and a wooden wall. The bunker was covered with a huge canopy supported by wooden pillars mounted on concrete pedestals.
01.10.1942
Women’s Camp Established
Frauenkonzentrationslager (FKL) became operational on 1 October 1942. The first female prisoners were Poles from the Dziesiąta and Wieniawa quarters of Lublin, and the Goraj settlement. Nearly at the same time Jewish women were transferred there from the ghettos in Bełżyce and Bychawa.
The women’s camp was created at field V. Similarly to the male prisoners, females were fully subjected to the in-camp regime, though unlike others they were under the supervision of the female SS overseers rather than the regular SS-men.
14.12.1942
Heinrich Himmler’s Order on Deporting Polish Political Prisoners from Prisons in the General Government to Concentration Camps
Following Heinrich Himmler’s order, at least 35,000 inmates fit for labour were meant to be transferred from prisons to concentration camps including Majdanek. The first transport of this kind arrived in KL Lublin on 7 January 1943. It included mostly the political prisoners from Radom, Kielce, Piotrków, and Częstochowa. Similar groups of prisoners from Warsaw, Lviv and other cities followed shortly afterwards.

06.01.1943
Order on Deportations of Belarusians Arrested in Pacification Operations
From March 1943, transports of prisoners from Belarus – mostly women and children – were sent to Majdanek from the camps in Vitebsk and Mogilev. They continued until January 1944.
06.01.1943
Order on Creating a Lazaret for Soviet POW Invalids
On 6 January Himmler ordered the establishment of a lazaret for Soviet POW invalids at Majdanek. From 21 May, those former Red Army troops were quartered in the barracks of field II. These people became invalids or injured while fighting for or doing frontline fieldworks for Germany.
The lazaret was an autonomous entity within Majdanek’s structure, and was managed by the German Security Police in Lublin. Its aim was to demonstrate the supposedly humanitarian treatment of Soviet POWs by Germany, so they were treated slightly better than the remaining prisoners. They were not marked with numbers and did not wear striped uniforms. They were also not treated with violence or forced to perform exhausting labour. Nonetheless, invalids perished in large numbers due to their injuries and spreading diseases.
Physicians, interpreters, clerks, and kitchen staff were selected from among the prisoners of Majdanek and transferred to run the lazaret.
27.04.1943
First Deportation of Jews during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Transports of Jews deported during the final liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto were sent to KL Lublin in the last days of April.
On 19 April 1943, the Warsaw ghetto rising broke out, which – despite the bravery of the insurgents – was brutally crushed by the SS units under the command of Jürgen Stroop.
The last inhabitants of the ghetto were deported to the death camp in Treblinka, and to the camps around the Lublin region (Poniatowa, Trawniki, Majdanek). According to the report of Jürgen Stroop, 56,000 Jews were included in those transports, and it is estimated that around 20,000 of them were sent to Majdanek.
30.06.1943
First Transport of People Displaced from the Zamość Region
Thousands of inhabitants of the Biłgoraj, Tomaszów, Hrubieszów and Zamość counties were displaced from their homes as part of the Nazi campaign to cleanse the land from Poles and provide the “living space” to the German colonists. In the summer of 1943 these people were deported to Majdanek.
The pacification and displacement operation codenamed “Werwolf” was held between late June and mid-July 1943. Poles were arrested and sent to transit camps in Zamość and Zwierzyniec, and from there to Majdanek. The majority of those deportees were mothers with children. The number of people displaced from the Zamość region and deported to Majdanek between 30 June and 1 August 1943 r. reached approximately 9,000.
03.11.1943
Operation “Erntefest”: Execution of 18,000 Jewish Prisoners of Majdanek and Labour Camps in Lublin
On 3 November 1943, the largest mass execution in the history of all German concentration camps took place at Majdanek. It was held as part of operation “Erntefest” (Harvest Festival)and concluded the extermination of Jews in the Lublin district.
Large groups of prisoners were dispatched to the area in the back of the camp near the crematorium and field V. They were tasked with digging three trenches each measuring 100 metres in length and between 1.5 and 3 metres in depth.
The concentration point for the victims was designated at field V. There, they were forced to undress, and then were herded into the ditches. Forced to lie down inside, they were shot in the neck or the back of their heads. The executioners team was standing on the edge of the trench. In order to drown out the noise of the shots, loud music with marching and dance pieces was played during the entire duration of the executions.
14.12.1943
Deportation of 1,000 Sick and Emaciated Prisoners from KL Sachsenhausen
From late 1943, Majdanek received transports of sick prisoners transferred from concentration camps located in the Third Reich, primarily from Sachsenhausen, Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, and Neuengamme. Many of those deportees died en route or shortly upon arrival in Lublin. Within the course of the next few months, several thousand prisoners of such background were deported to Majdanek from the Third Reich.

Timeline

Camp Establishment Order

First Camp Construction Works

First Deportations

First Transport of Slovak Jews

Gas Chambers Put into Operation

Women’s Camp Established

Heinrich Himmler’s Order on Deporting Polish Political Prisoners from Prisons in the General Government to Concentration Camps

Order on Deportations of Belarusians Arrested in Pacification Operations

Order on Creating a Lazaret for Soviet POW Invalids

First Deportation of Jews during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

First Transport of People Displaced from the Zamość Region

Operation “Erntefest”: Execution of 18,000 Jewish Prisoners of Majdanek and Labour Camps in Lublin

Deportation of 1,000 Sick and Emaciated Prisoners from KL Sachsenhausen

KL Lublin Evacuation Begins

Last Evacuation and Transport and Liquidation of KL Lublin

20.07.1941

07.10.1941

10.1941

29.03.1942

09.1942

01.10.1942

14.12.1942

06.01.1943

06.01.1943

27.04.1943

30.06.1943

03.11.1943

14.12.1943

01.04.1944

22.07.1944

Camp Establishment Order

First Camp Construction Works

First Deportations

First Transport of Slovak Jews

Gas Chambers Put into Operation

Women’s Camp Established

Heinrich Himmler’s Order on Deporting Polish Political Prisoners from Prisons in the General Government to Concentration Camps

Order on Deportations of Belarusians Arrested in Pacification Operations

Order on Creating a Lazaret for Soviet POW Invalids

First Deportation of Jews during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

First Transport of People Displaced from the Zamość Region

Operation “Erntefest”: Execution of 18,000 Jewish Prisoners of Majdanek and Labour Camps in Lublin

Deportation of 1,000 Sick and Emaciated Prisoners from KL Sachsenhausen

KL Lublin Evacuation Begins

Last Evacuation and Transport and Liquidation of KL Lublin