Chronology of the Death Camps
1933 - 1941: Concentration Camps established
First camp established by Himmler and run by the SS: Dachau
Stone quarry at Mauthausen
Summer of 1941
Construction begins at Auschwitz and Majdanek
Fall - Winter 1941
Gas vans used at Chelmno, near Lodz ghetto
November: Construction of Belzec, a labor camp since 1940
1942
Belzec operational from March - December 1942, using carbon monoxide
Sobibor constructed in eastern Poland, operational May 1942 - Fall 1943
Treblinka, near Warsaw and Radom, operational July 1942 - May 1943
Majdanek, operational October 1942 - end of 1943 -- used both carbon monoxide and Zyklon B
Auschwitz, operational late 1942 - late 1944
Approximate death totals and numbers of survivors at the six extermination camps:
Camp |
Victims |
Survivors |
Chelmno |
152,000 |
0 |
Belzec |
600,000 |
2 |
Sobibor |
250,000 |
64 |
Majdanek |
125,000 |
0 |
Treblinka |
700,000 |
40 |
Auschwitz-Birkenau |
1,300,000 |
5,000? |
For further information, see the Holocaust Museum's Learning Center's section on Extermination Camps