Is the concept of architecture relevant with regards to the German Nazi extermination camps – places where the SS-men destroyed nearly the entire infrastructure used in the mass extermination of Jews persecuted by the Third Reich? Were there any differences between the spatial organisation of concentration and extermination camps? Should historical objects in sites like Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka, or Majdanek be subjected to reconstruction?

We are going to seek to answers to these and other questions regarding architecture with a group of experts during a special panel held at the Lublin University of Technology on 26 January. The discussion is going to begin at 4 p.m. in the Lecture Hall no. 2 at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture.

In the panel moderated by Aleksandra Skrabek, the concepts of architecture and spatial organisation of the extermination camps shall be analysed by experts: Hubert Trammer – architect, urbanist, academic lecturer, associate at many institutes and foundations engaged in the field of architecture; Krzysztof Tarkowski – topography expert working in the Archives of the State Museum at Majdanek; and Tomasz Oleksy-Zborowski – the Head of the Museum and Memorial in Sobibór.

The discussion is organised around the recent premiere of The Architecture of the Nazi extermination camps in Bełżec, Sobibór, and Treblinka – a book recently released by the Memorial, written by a German art historian, Annika Wienert. The publication results from the author’s pioneering research on topography, spatial organisation, and construction patterns at the Nazi death camps. An important aspect analysed in the book regards a reflection on the significance and influence of the visual media on the collective perception of the Holocaust.

During the debate, the interested readers will be able to buy the new publication released by the State Museum at Majdanek at a discount price.

The panel organised on the eve of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day is another event held on the 80th anniversary of operation “Reinhardt.”