Metal spoon recovered from Belzec killing center

One of two silver-colored metal spoons recovered from the site of Belzec killing center, and presented to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in 1998 by the Polish Government. In 1995, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and the Polish government arranged for American donors to contribute half the funds for the creation of a memorial on the site of the camp. Prior to construction, archaeologists conducted excavations at the site between 1997 and 1999. In 1941, construction of the killing center began on the site of a former labor camp in southeastern German-occupied Poland. Construction was completed in the winter of 1942 and operations commenced on March 17, 1942. The killing center, and two others, Sobibor and Treblinka II were built for Operation Reinhard, a code name for the plan to kill the two million Jews who resided in specific areas of German-occupied Poland. Prisoners arrived by train and were forced to hand over their possessions, which were sorted and transported back to Germany for redistribution. With the exception of the few selected for labor, incoming prisoners were gassed upon arrival. In October 1942, Jewish laborers were forced to exhume the mass graves and burn the bodies in the open-air on top of old railroad tracks. By June of 1943, the camp was dismantled. Approximately 450,000 Jews were killed from March to December 1942.