by Germany. It was located on the border of three new districts of the General Government of Poland created by Nazi Germany: Lublin District, Kraków District and District of Galicia (created on 1 September 1941 soon after Operation Barbarossa) with the capital in Lwów. Some 1 million Polish Jews lived there during the Holocaust in occupied Poland in the so-called Lublin reservation. In 1940, the Germans established two forced labour camps: for Jews, and for the Romani and Sinti. Polish people were also deported to forced labour in Bełżec. In 1941, the occupiers began the construction of the Bełżec extermination camp on the Kozielsk Hill some 500 metres (1,600 ft) from the railway station, at the site of the former forced labour camp for Jews. The first stationary gas chambers of the Final Solution were built there. Between 430,000 and 500,000 people are believed to have been murdered at the camp between March and December 1942. The victims were mostly Jews from various German-occupied countries, but also Romani people and Poles. In 1943, the Germans used Jewish forced laborers to dismantle the camp, and then deported them to the Sobibor extermination camp. During the operation of the camp, the Germans tried to hide its real purpose, and after it was liquidated, they planted a forest in its place. On June 16, 1944, near Bełżec, Ukrainian nationalists of the UPA carried out an attack on a train that left the local station for Lwów. In the attack, the Ukrainians massacred several dozen Polish men, women and children. A few people survived. The Polish underground Home Army was able to document the crime shortly after it happened. The Bełżec station was bombed by a Soviet warplane on July 4, 1944, setting fire to munitions and explosives from the German military cargo train. The ensuing explosions and fires consumed over 50 nearby buildings along with the train station itself. Several railway workers were killed. The historic train station was never rebuilt. A new station was erected half a kilometre away in postwar Poland. On July 21, 1944, the village was liberated by the Polish Home Army. Post-war period In 1971, Bełżec was visited by Primate of Poland Stefan Wyszyński and Cardinal Karol Wojtyła (future Pope John Paul II). Transport The Polish National road 17 and Voivodeship road 865 run through the village, and there is also a train station. Sights There are several