The Jews of KL Lublin thought that nothing worse could possibly happen because their labour was urgently needed . Towards the end of October , the entire slave-labour workforce of KL Lublin/Majdanek including Jewish prisoners of the Trawniki concentration camp were ordered to begin the construction of anti-tank trenches . They remained unaware of their true purpose . The massacres , later assumed to have been revenge for German defeat at Stalingrad , were set by Christian Wirth for November 3 , 1943 under the codename '' Aktion Erntefest '' , simultaneously at Majdanek , Trawniki , Poniatowa , Budzyn , Kraśnik , Puławy and Lipowa subcamps . The bodies of Jews shot in the pits one-by-one by Trawniki men aided by Battalion 101 were later incinerated by a '' Sonderkommando '' from Milejów which was executed on site upon the completion of their task by the end of 1943
Aktion Erntefest
Aktion Erntefest
Trawniki concentration camp