"Aktion Reinhardt" began on the night of 16/17 March 1942 with the liquidation of the ghetto in Podzamcze and the deportation of Jews to the death camp in Bełżec. It was a large-scale operation designed to exterminate the Jewish population, carried out as part of the plan for the so-called "final solution of the Jewish question" outlined by Nazi Germany.

"Aktion Reinhardt" intended not only to exterminate Jews, but also to plunder their property. In its first stage, the operation covered the territory of the General Government.

Jakub Chmielewski from the Scientific Department of the State Museum at Majdanek talks about the preparations for this criminal undertaking and how it was implemented in the first months.