A number of former high ranking SS men , camp officials , camp guards , and SS staff were arraigned before the courts on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed at Majdanek in the period between October 1 , 1941 , and July 22 , 1944 . Notably , only 170 Nazis who served at Majdanek had been prosecuted at all , of the 1,037 camp personnel known by name . Half of the defendants charged by the West German justice system were set free after complaining of aches and pains in detention , acquitted of killing . By contrast , those tried earlier by Poland were usually found guilty . During the 34 months of camp operation , more than 79,000 people were murdered at Majdanek main camp alone ( 59,000 of them Polish Jews ) and between 95,000 and 130,000 people in the entire Majdanek , system including several subcamps . Some 18,000 Jews were killed at Majdanek on November 3 , 1943 , during the largest single-day , single-camp massacre of the Holocaust , named Harvest Festival ( totalling 43,000 with 2 subcamps )
Harvest Festival
Aktion Erntefest
Majdanek trials