Deportations to the Extermination Camp in Bełżec

Operation “Reinhardt,” aimed at the systematic extermination of the Jewish population and the plunder of their property in the territory of the General Government, officially began on the night of 16–17 March 1942 with the liquidation of the Lublin ghetto. The operation relied on mass deportations to the newly established extermination camp in Bełżec, where those deemed unfit for work during brutal selections were sent first. At the same time, the extermination program expanded to other regions, including the Galicia District, where deportations of Jews from Lviv began in accordance with German directives.

Mila Sandberg-Mesner recalls:

My parents were determined to go to their deaths. They were exhausted from fleeing and hiding. Besides, they believed we would have a better chance of surviving without them. My mother sat in the corner of the wagon, sobbing. ‘How will I know my children won’t hurt themselves jumping from a moving train?’ My father tried to comfort her: ‘When our children jump, angels will spread their wings to soften the fall.’
Then my mother tore her handkerchief into strips to tie our shoes securely to our feet.
We gave them the last pieces of bread we had in our pockets. We embraced them one final time, as if in a trance. […] It felt like I was falling for a very long time before I felt gravel beneath my feet. I was unharmed. I lay still, watching the ghost of the train disappearing into the darkness. On that train there were my parents, on their way to their deaths.