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Aktion 1005: Himmler's Secret Operation at Belzec

69K views · Sep 4, 2026 · Education

Avalon

3.4K subscribers

Comments · 119

@Avalon-2000 · 2 months ago (edited) · pinned
Bibliography: Primary Sources: “Excerpt from Heinrich Himmler’s Letter to Heinrich Muller on November 20th 1942 - Concerning Allied Intel on Nazi Atrocities” in ‘Aktion 1005 - Effacing The Murder of Millions’ in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Volume 5, Issue 2, 158. “Polish Investigation Committee’s Report on Aktion 1005 in Belzec’ in Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka. The Operation Reinhard Death Camps, 173. Reder, R. (1946). ‘Belzec’ in Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 13: Focusing on the Holocaust and Its Aftermath. Edited by Antony Polonsky, 268-289. Liverpool University Press. Notes “SS-Oberscharfuher Heinrich Gley on Aktion 1005 in Belzec” in Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka. The Operation Reinhard Death Camps, 172. “SS-Oberscharfuhrer Heinrich Gley on Hackenholt Operating the Excavator in Belzec” in Belzec: Stepping Stone to Genocide, 180. JewishgenInc. “Testimony of Maria Daniel: Belzec Local on the Fires of Belzec” in The Belzec Death Camp: History, Biographies, Remembrance, 83. Ibidem. “Testimony of Pola Hirszman on Chaim Hirszman’s Experience at Belzec - April 1946” in Obóz zagłady w Bełżcu: W Relacjach Ocalonych I Zeznaniach Polskich Świadków, 183-188. Prószyński Media. Secondary Readings: Angrick, A. (2015). ‘Operation 1005: The Nazi Regime’s Attempt to Erase Traces of Mass Murder’ in Killing Sites: Research and Remembrance, 47-61. Berlin. Arad, Y. (2018). ‘The Erasure of the Crimes’ in Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka. The Operation Reinhard Death Camps, 170-178. Indiana University Press. Harrison, J; Muehlenkamp, R; Myers, J; Romanov, S; Terry, N. (2011). ‘Burning of the Corpses’ in Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka. Holocaust Denial and Operation Reinhard: A Critique of the Falsehoods of Mattogno, Graf and Kues, 440-442. Kuwałek, R. (2013). Belzec: Le Premier Centre De Mise à Mort, 286. Calmann-Levy. O’Neil, R. (2008).’Final Stage of the Journey to Belzec’ in Belzec: Stepping Stone to Genocide, 175-308. JewishgenInc. Spector, S. (1990). ‘Aktion 1005 - Effacing The Murder of Millions’ in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Volume 5, Issue 2, 157-173. Tregenza, M. (1989). ‘Belzec Death Camp’ in The Nazi Holocaust: Volume 2, 1098. Edited by Michael Robert Marrus. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Saur. Webb, C. (2016). The Belzec Death Camp: History, Biographies, Remembrance, 79-87. Ibidem.
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@Avalon-2000 · 2 months ago
NOTE: Hi all! Two things: - Firstly, YouTube has been doing this weird thing recently (not just on my channel), where it stacks Ads in ludicrously short succession, even after I manually removed them. I have fixed the issue, but if you're watching this early, and you are getting too many ads, refresh the browser and it should resolve itself. - Secondly, for all of my non-native English speakers, this video should have full subtitles! Thank you all for watching.
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@jetdude787 · 2 months ago
Min. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgnz2HIykEY&t=2344">39:04</a>, in Kyiv, at the War Museum under the statue of Mother Ukraina, one of the exhibits is one of those bone crushing machines used by the SS, where after milling the bones the dust would be bagged in sacks and sent to farmers in the Reich to be used as fertilizer.
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@RocknRollAddicts · 2 months ago
Great video, you earned a new sub from me. I’ll check out your other videos too! I really appreciate history videos put together like this, it kept my attention and I appreciate when someone shows their sources like you have.
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@robertschneck8583 · 2 months ago (edited)
Hi Avalon, I really appreciate your videos and have learned a lot from them. The "Holocaust", is difficult to absorb, but segmenting it, breaking it down into individual decisions, orders, and the practical aspects of conducting a genocide, make it more comprehensible. Also, my family comes from  Pechenizhyn, a village outside Kolomea. Now I know what happened to those who stayed, and even some of the people they must have encountered.
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@Schlipperschlopper · 8 days ago (edited)
Proszę udać się do Wilamowice, położonych 20 km od Auschwitz. W dniach 27–28 października 1944 roku Niemcy zrzucili „Sonderwaffe” (broń specjalną) na niewielki obóz, w którym przebywało 20 000 więźniów – byli to Żydzi z Węgier. „Sonderwaffe” wyparowała ludzi i zniszczyła całą zabudowę. Był to test urządzenia opartego na uranie, skonstruowanego w pobliżu, w Monowicach.
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@max_hill_9254 · 2 months ago
A well-researched and narrated documentary of Aktion 1005. I always thought that this action was taken because the Third Reich was losing the war and thus attempting to hide its crimes. It was interesting to learn that this obfuscation action started before the war turned bad for Germany and what the probable reasons were. @Avalon: The pronunciation of German words was alright 👍
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@waffen555 · 2 months ago
Great map
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@pannevermore7760 · 2 months ago
To what extent are there reports on what happened to the hundreds of thousands of items of clothing belonging to the victims immediately after their murder—who collected them and what was done with them afterward? As I heard from my family, were specific Wehrmacht units involved in this, which, as I was told firsthand, were specifically tasked with ensuring that all the clothing was reused for the Reich or by the fighting forces?
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@ba-gg6jo · 2 months ago
I have always believed Chelmno was the first extermination location in the Reinhard camps?
@Badvibesdude · 2 months ago (edited)
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgnz2HIykEY&t=1125">18:45</a> Not to be nitpicky and it's not that important, but I always thought the significance of that series of photos is that they showed the ovens couldn't keep up with pace of the murder at the height of the Hungarian action. As a result, they dug cremation trenches to deal with the overflow of victims. They did bury some of the victims of the gassings at the Little Red House and Little White House if I remember correctly, but I think they exhumed those bodies and cremated them in late 1942 or early 1943. I'm probably just splitting hairs. Cremation in Birkenau was motivated by the same concerns Aktion 1005 was meant to address. I don't know that it matters all that much whether the person was buried first before being cremated. Anyway, excellent work as always.
@Daniel-kx8ub · 1 month ago
Can you do a video on Semlin (Sajmište) ?