On Saturday, July 16, 2022, participants of the preparatory and qualification course of the John Paul II Foundation in Lublin visited the German concentration camp at Majdanek. The guide was a graduate of the John Paul II Foundation, Anton Blazheev from Ukraine.
The State Museum at Majdanek is the oldest museum institution in Europe commemorating the victims of World War II. In the Museum covering 90 ha there are about 70 historical objects. Among them, places directly related to the mass extermination of the population are of particular importance: gas chambers, crematorium and execution ditches. About 59,000 Jews and 19,000 citizens of other nationalities, mainly Poles and Belarusians, were killed in the camp.
In 1969, the Monument to the Struggle and Martyrdom of the Polish Nation and Other Nations was erected – one of the most recognizable objects in Lublin. It consists of two main elements – the Gate and the Mausoleum, connected with each other by the so-called Way of Homage and Remembrance. The inscription “Our Fate as a Warning to You” on the Mausoleum prompts all visitors not only to pay homage and remember the victims of the German camp at Majdanek, but also to pray for peace in the world.
Daria Koval
Photo: Viktoria Rudkovskaya
