Life in the Camp

With construction commencing around October 1941, the initial conditions for the workers were barely survivable. Around 2000 Soviet POWs were the first prisoners to arrive and commence construction at Majdanek although most were too weak to work such that barely any were still alive by February 1942 (USHMM). This was likely exacerbated by the severe winter of 1941-1942 since the SS barely made an attempt to house these POWs; there were only 9 barracks during the initial construction phase and with plans to build more being hindered by a lack of materials there was only housing for less than half the number of inmates in the camp (Mailänder, 29). As a result of this rapidly decreasing labour force, in December 1941 the SS carried out raids in the streets of Lublin as well as in the ghetto to provide a supply of Polish and Jewish workers for the construction, with the result that slowly the role of Majdanek changed from a camp primarily for the exploitation of POWs to one focused on exploiting Jews (and later exterminating them). What this shift says about the role of Majdanek within the wider context of Himmler’s plans and the Holocaust is debatable. Historians have argued that it was never Himmler and Globocnik’s intention for Majdanek’s purpose to be a POW camp, and that Jewish forced labour was planned from the start due to the inevitable deterioration in POW workforce over the winter. Conversely, it could be the case that it was this high death rate of POWs that triggered the shift in role to exploiting Jews. Either way, by the summer of 1942 the mass detention of Jews and Polish citizens had led the number of inmates to increase over 10,000, although technically Majdanek remained under construction (Mailänder, 30).

Indeed, Majdanek was never fully completed to its initial planned extent, which was to house up to 50,000 prisoners at one time. By the fall of 1943 its layout consisted of six compounds each with a different purpose and function. Compound I was the women's camp; Compound II was a field hospital for Russian collaborators with the German army; Compound III was a men's camp for Polish political prisoners, and Jews from Warsaw and Bialystok; Compound IV was a men’s camp, mainly Soviet POWs, civilian hostages, and political prisoners; Compound V served as a men's hospital camp; and Compound VI was a mostly undeveloped compound intended for additional barracks, crematoria, gas chambers, and factories (USHMM). Work conditions within the camp were miserable, with the official workday lasting from 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. between April and November, and from 6:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M otherwise (USHMM). Indeed, when not performing specific SS-related tasks workers were subjected to menial and arduous tasks with the primary purpose of inflicting pain. In his survivor testimony Andrew Lewent detailed how such tasks included breaking up and moving stones, as well as continuously digging and re-filling ditches, with the result that the experience combined with the lack of food and water could only be described as “annihilation” (USHMM). Descriptions such as these are reflective of Majdanek’s shift from forced-labour camp to a place of “annihilation”, since they indicate how the exploitation of Jews for labour, which came as a result Operation Reinhard and the “final solution” in  Lublin, was so extensive that they even carried out pointless labour for the sake of pain. Indeed, the fact that they had a surplus of prisoners to the number of SS-related work details supports the idea that Majdanek was used as a temporary stop for workers to be exploited in terms of labour before being exterminated either at Majdanek or other killing centres.

            The living conditions at Majdanek are worth examining for what they reveal about the intended purpose of the camp within the Holocaust. During its time as a labour-camp the barracks were plagued with diseases, particularly typhoid, due to the scarcity of food as well as lack of clean water and washing facilities (Mailänder, 42). In combination with the brutality of the SS guards, this led to a death rate high enough to significantly affect the levels of production at Majdanek. Indeed, despite WVHA attempts to reduce the mortality rate in 1942, the fact that the SS camp administration controlled the distribution of food, water and medicine meant that little was achieved while they employed ruses to mask the high mortality rate to higher authorities (Mailänder, 42). In fact, the camp administration fostered an attitude of sadism and brutality among the guards such that they would make life unnecessarily hard for the prisoners by providing them with ridiculous clothes such as ballroom dresses, children’s clothes and high heeled shoes, which could be fatal in the severe living conditions (Mailander, 42). Furthermore, this attitude of the SS camp administration was one fostered during its time as a labour camp despite WVHA attempts to reduce the mortality rate, foreshadowing the true intent of Majdanek which was to function within the framework of Operation Reinhard to help carry out the mass extermination of Jews in line with the “final solution”.