Bełżec () is a village in Tomaszów Lubelski County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) of Gmina Bełżec. It lies approximately south of Tomaszów Lubelski and south-east of the regional capital Lublin. It is located in the Roztocze region. During World War II, the village was the site of the Nazi German Belzec extermination camp. History Bełżec was first mentioned in a document from 1515, after it was founded within territory of the village of Przeorsko, which in turn was founded in the 15th century by the Małdrzyk family. As of 1546, Bełżec was a private village of the Bełżecki noble family. Thanks to efforts of local nobleman Samuel Lipski, Bełżec was granted town rights by Polish King Sigismund III Vasa in 1607, however, it did not develop properly, and several decades later it was yet again referred to as a village. The King also established two annual fairs. The Grabie coat of arms of the Lipski family is the coat of arms of Bełżec. Administratively, the village was located in the Bełz County in the Bełz Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1648 it was destroyed by the Cossacks, and during the Swedish invasion of Poland of 1655–1660, known as the Deluge, a battle was fought nearby between Poles led by Hetman Stefan Czarniecki and the Swedes. The village was annexed by Austria in the First Partition of Poland in 1772. It was regained by Poles in the Austro-Polish War of 1809, and included within the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw. Following the duchy's dissolution in 1815, it fell again to the Austrian Partition of Poland, also known as Galicia, and was located on the border with the Russian Partition. In 1887, Bełżec was connected by rail to Lwów, one of the largest agglomerations in the region, via Rawa Ruska (now in western Ukraine). Bełżec became a full-fledged rail hub in 1916, with a new connection to Lublin via Rejowiec and a layover yard with a bigengine-house. Following World War I, in 1918, Poland regained independence and control of the village. In 1921, Bełżec was visited by Marshal of Poland Józef Piłsudski. World War II On September 19, 1939, during the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland which started World War II, it was the site of the between Poland and Germany. Afterwards, the village was occupied