80: Majdanek

80 years ago today (July 24, 1944) the first German Death Camp, Majdanek, was liberated.

(The Crematorium at Majdanek.)

The Majdanek Death Camp, located near Lublin in German-Occupied Poland was opened on October 1, 1941.

It was 1 of 6 Death Camps (Chełmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau) created by the Germans for the sole purpose of murdering Innocent Men, Women and Children from across Europe.

Majdanek had 7 Gas Chambers and 2 Wooden Gallows.

Of the 150,000 Inmates at Majdanek 78,000 (59,000 of them Jews) were murdered.

Majdanek was liberated nearly 6 months before the Auschwitz Death Camp was liberated.

The Crematorium Ovens and Gas Chambers at Majdanek were largely intact (unlike those at Auschwitz), serving as some of the best evidence of the Germans’ Holocaust.

The Majdanek State Museum was created in the Fall of 1944 and enshrined into Polish Law in 1947.