Operation Reinhard | Yad Vashem

Operation Reinhard was a codename for the Nazi scheme to exterminate the 2,284,000 Jews living in the five districts of the Generalgouvernement. The scheme was named after Reinhard Heydrich, the main coordinator of the "Final Solution" in Europe, who had been assassinated by Czech resistance fighters. Three extermination camps were established for its implementation: Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka.

The extermination process at Belzec began in March 194; Sobibor was opened for operations in early May 1942; and Treblinka began functioning in July 1942. In the framework of Operation Reinhard the Germans confiscated huge amounts of Jewish property, worth more than 178 million Reichsmarks.

Operation Reinhard continued until early November 1943. In total, over two million Jews in the Generalgouvernement were murdered in the course of its execution.

Treblinka Extermination Camp - Testimony of Eliahu Rozenberg

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah 1942, Rosenberg was deported with his mother and three sisters to the Treblinka extermination camp. Upon their arrival, he was separated from his mother and sisters, who were sent to the gas chambers. In Treblinka, he was forced to work with a group of prisoners removing the bodies of the murdered from the gas chambers and burning the corpses. On 2 August 1943, he participated in the revolt and was one of the few who succeeded in escaping. Rosenberg testified at the Eichmann and Demjanjuk trials.

Online Database

The Deportations of Jews Research Project and Digital Database

The Holocaust (Shoah) Deportation Database reconstructs the transports that took place during the Holocaust from territories of the Third Reich, from countries under German occupation, from the Axis states and from the satellite states.

This Month in Holocaust History

Deportation of Jews from Zamosc, Poland to the Belzec extermination camp, April 1942

In 1931,10,265 Jews lived in Zamosc. The Germans occupied the city on 7 October 1939. In April 1941 the Jews were confined to a ghetto, and deportations began on 11 April 1942, when some 3,000 Jews were sent to the Belzec extermination camp. Deportations continued until the final liquidation of the ghetto on 16 October 1942.

Spotlight

A group of survivors of the Sobibor death camp who took part in the revolt in Sobibor on October 14, 1943

Post-war meeting of survivors of the Sobibor extermination camp who took part in the revolt in Sobibor on 14 October 1943

Woman and child being deported from Thrace, March 1943

Woman and child being deported from Thrace to the Treblinka extermination camp, March 1943

Jews being deported from Macedonia to the Treblinka Death Camp, March 1943

Jews being deported from Macedonia to the Treblinka extermination camp, March 1943

Reading Corner

Academic article

The Origins of “Operation Reinhard”: The Decision-Making Process for the Mass Murder of the Jews in the Generalgouvernement

Bogdan Musial

60 min.

Academic article

"Operation Reinhard": Extermintation Camps of Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka

Yitzhak Arad

60 min.

Holocaust Lexicon

Treblinka

6 min.

Holocaust Lexicon

Sobibor

6 min.

Holocaust Lexicon

Belzec

4 min.

On the Holocaust - a Yad Vashem Podcast

Operation Reinhard

In this episode, we'll be hearing about Operation Reinhard from Dr. David Silberklang, senior historian at the International Institute for Holocaust Research. Over the course of two years, millions of Jews were sent to their deaths on a scale never before seen in history. What exactly happened? Who was responsible for the operation? And how can we begin to make sense of such horrors?

Listen Now

Educational Materials

Operation Reinhard

A brief animated overview of Operation Reinhard. The video presents what it was, when and where it took place, and the extent of the murder of Jews. Part of Yad Vashem's "Key Historical Concepts in Holocaust Education" video series.