Transport from Belzec, Rawa Ruska, Lwow, Poland to Tomaszow Lubelski, Ghetto, Poland on 08/1942

Bełżec is a small town and gmina (municipality) seat in southeastern Poland, located 7 kilometers southeast of the larger town, Tomaszów Lubelski. The census of 1921 showed that the Bełżec municipality was home to 109 Jews, within a total population of 1,960.^[1] After the outbreak of WWII the townlet fell within the German-occupation zone. It was part of the Zamość County, within Lublin District in the General Government.

When the borders between the Soviet-controlled and the German-controlled parts of Poland were finalized, Bełżec was close to the border of the Soviet-controlled territory. Most of the local Jewish population of Bełżec seems to have crossed over into the Soviet territory.^[2] A Bełżec resident and the Director of the Tomaszów Hospital at the time, Dr. Janusz Peter, wrote in his memoirs that apart from Mojżesz Helman,^[3] all the local Jews escaped to the Soviet Union in 1939.^[4]  Survivor Rosa Shoshana Bly (née Ratcimor), on other hand, testified that some local Jews stayed in the townlet.^[5] Though very few local Jews may have remained, Jews from other locations arrived. A census of the Jewish population in Zamość County, conducted at the end of October 1940, showed 89 Jewish residents in Bełżec.^[6]

During 1940 there was a system of eight forced labor camps set up in and near Bełżec, under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Hermann Dolp. Four of these camps were in Bełżec itself, namely, the central camp at Bełżec; Bełżec-Dwór (at a stable); Bełżec-Młyn (at a mill); and Bełżec-Parowozownia (at an engine house).^[7] Most of the forced labor camps of the Belzec complex were closed by mid-December 1940....