Operation Reinhard

Operation Reinhard was a Nazi campaign that aimed to systematically murder approximately 2 million Jewish Poles. This operation was part of the broader "Final Solution," the Nazi plan to eliminate Europe's Jewish population during World War II.1

Extermination camps, including Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor, were established in early 1942 specifically for this purpose. Victims were transported to these camps and killed using carbon monoxide gas, with their bodies then cremated. These three sites alone are estimated to have killed about 1.7 million people between 1942 and 1943. Other camps like Chelmno, Majdanek, and Auschwitz-Birkenau also contributed to the genocide, with Auschwitz-Birkenau being particularly infamous for its use of Zyklon B gas chambers. The Nazis' "Final Solution" resulted in the murder of 6 million Jews across 21 countries.1