Aktion Erntefest (Operation Harvest festival) was the mass murder of 42000 Jews in only two days in November 1943. 

The Nazis always used euphemisms to name special operations, round-ups or other occasions. Aktion Erntefest was one of the special operations. In Majdanek, a concentration camp close to the city of Lublin in east-Poland, the Nazis held enormous numbers of prisoners. Most of them were Jews and used for forced labor in factories, roadworks or other heavy duty tasks.

In Sobibor and Treblinka, both extermination camps belonging to Aktion Reinhardt (the mass murder of the Polish Jews in the General-Government 1942-1943), uprisings took place. First at Treblinka on August 2th 1943 and later in Sobibor on October 14th 1943. The Nazis were always suspicious of the Jews. In Belzec (the first extermination camp of Aktion Reinhardt) Christian Wirth (later more about him in a new blog, but consider him as the most devilish beast of the Nazi regime) decided to open the traindoors of the incoming transports by forced labor Jews. It sometimes happens that Jews, still fit after transport, attacked the SS (Schutzstaffel, or protectionsquad, an elite part of Hitlers organisation) and Ukrainian guards at the platform. 

So, two uprisings took place in two extermination camps. But also a major uprising in the ghetto of Warsaw in April 1943. Heinrich Himmler, the Reichsfuhrer SS and second most powerful man in the Third Reich, became afraid of the Jews and the tension. He ordered the murder of all remaining imprisoned Jews in the Lublin area. That meant Lublin (Majdanek), Trawniki and Poniatowa concentration camps.

In Majdanek, in late October, the Nazis forced the Jews to dig enormous ditches. The ditches were dug in zigzag form, a strange method but the Nazis told the Jews that this was necessary for the defense of Majdanek. On the early morning of November 3 the Nazis started Aktion Erntefest. The usual round-up was done in the morning, but the Jews were forced to row up in lines of five and had to walk to Field V where the shootings took place. The Nazis always, everywhere, in every condition let their victims run. They made sure that people were not able to think because they were constantly running and afraid of being beaten. This method worked in the extermination camps, with forced labor and also this day. 

The shootings were abducted with loud music on to hide the screaming of the victims. A testimony of Henryk Niescior says: "lively melodies". Fully naked they had to walk into the ditches and they were shot by the Nazis.

The brutality of the murders was even smart and efficient. To save bullets and space Friedrich Jeckeln (a Higher SS and Police Leader in Russia) invented the Sardinenpackung during the mass shootings by the Einsatzgruppen in 1941.

Sardinenpackung means sardine packing. Jews who were shot as the first one had to lay down in the ditch with their face down. The new victims had to lay on top of them with their face down between the feet of the first victims. This continued until the ditch was full. The shooters (often drunk because of consuming vodka) simply walked on top of the new victims and shot them in the back of their head. Reports of Aktion Erntefest but also from mass shootings the Soviet Union and (current) Ukraine were that they missed often. That did not matter, it saved bullets and the Jews were buried alive between other victims. The victims in Majdanek were burned in the ditches. At Majdanek the killing site is still visible and recognizable by a small memorial. 

We visited Majdanek a couple of times. Nowadays the concentration camp is situated directly to Lublin. The city simply growed towards Majdanek the last 80 years. Majdanek is also a very unknown place in the history of the Holocaust.

Auschwitz-Birkenau is the most common one, but Majdanek also has a very interesting history.

The last time we visited Majdanek it was cold, a lot of snow and we only saw a couple of visitors and some very curious rooks. 

My personal opinion (Gideon's) is that the Nazis again succeeded in their mission. If you can kill 42000 people in two days without leaving any, or some, traces, the job is done very successfully.  Again an example of the efficient, brutal and ruthless killing machine invented by the Nazis. Majdanek is a place worth visiting. But you have to inform yourself before you visit this place. Like other historical places in Poland you won't find much explanation, tour guides or big museums. For example: Auschwitz-Birkenau receives more than a million visitors a year. At Majdanek we saw only four visitors and Treblinka not even one.

Take a look at the foto’s and if you want more information feel free to ask.

References:

Testimonials found at Museum Majdanek. Henryk Niescior, political prisoner. 

USHMM encyclopedia.

Raul Hilberg. De vernietiging van de Europese Joden, deel 1.
Globus en de Holocaust. By Roelof Manssen.

Heinrich Himmler. By Richard Breitman.

Yadvashem.org

Own visit at Majdanek Museum 2023.