Painted composition board sign from Belzec railroad station

Painted composition board sign used to identify the railroad station in Belzec, Poland, before and during World War II. In early 1941, German authorities began preparations for Operation Reinhard, the systematic extermination of all Jews living in German occupied Poland. In November, SS and police authorities began construction of Belzec killing center. The center was built near the town of Belzec, along a siding of the existing Lublin-Lvov rail line. In March 1942, regular train transports of Jewish people from German occupied regions began arriving at the center. The prisoners were herded off the trains and into a receiving area where they were stripped of their posessions, forced to undress, and pushed into rooms labeled as showers where they were killed with poison gas. In spring 1943, Belzec was decommissioned and dismantled. The authorities planted trees and flowers to camouflage the area. A farm house was constructed for a local family to serve as wardens and prevent scavenging locals from unearthing the mass graves. It is estimated that between 500,000 and 600,000, mostly Jews, were murdered at Belzec.