Majdanek – German concentration camp from II World War.

The Majdanek concentration camp was in operation on the south-eastern outskirts of Lublin between autumn 1941 and July 1944. It was officially designated as a »Prisoner of War Camp of the Waffen SS in Lublin«. After the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, the camp was to become a production site for the SS.

In the approximately 30 months of its existence, the »Lublin concentration camp«, as it was officially called from February 1943 on, fulfilled various functions and was subordinate to different entities within the National Socialist concentration camp system. The SS used it as a forced labor camp and partially as an extermination and transit camp.

The memorial, which was established on the former camp premises after the war, was one of the first memorials in Europe to honor the victims of National Socialist crimes at the historic site. Today, the museum comprises a total of 70 original buildings.