Majdanek - German concentration death camp located on the outskirts of Lublin in Poland. Although initially camp was set up for forced labor, later used to kill people on a large scale during Operation Reinhard to destroy all the Jews in Poland. In the camp, killing more than 79,000 people (59,000 Jews) for the 34 months of work.

Majdanek was established October 1, 1941 and worked until 22 July 1944 when Lublin suddenly invaded by the Red Army. Currently the camp is considered one of the best preserved such institutions. Unlike other similar camps in Poland, Majdanek was not located in remote rural areas far from population centers, it was built not far from Lublin.

Decree on the establishment of the camp was received in July 1941, it stated the need to build a labor camp for 50 thousand prisoners. However, after a small amount of time was ordered to expand the camp to 125 thousand prisoners, and later up to 250 thousand. From the camp of 270 hectares, currently used by the museum okolo90 hectares. The whole camp was divided into five sections, one of which has been women. On the vast territory it functioned almost 230 shops. Since October 1942, the camp guards arrived - a woman trained in Ravensbrück.

In November 1943, it was held at Majdanek terrible operation called "Harvest Festival", when for one day in the camp were killed 18,400 Jews.

In late July 1944, when the Soviet troops quickly came to Lublin, the Germans hastily evacuated the camp. However, the staff hardly had time to destroy the Majdanek, making it one of the best preserved of the camps.

Currently the former camp memorial museum. In 1969, by sculptor Victor Tolkien at the entrance to the museum it was a monument struggle and martyrdom. On the former site of the crematorium was built a mausoleum in which the remains of the victims of Majdanek.