On this day in 1942, the Nazis began deporting Jews from the Lublin Ghetto to Belzec, a death camp located in German-occupied Poland. Before the Nazis came to power, 40,000 Jews had lived in the Polish town of Lublin, comprising approximately one-third of its population. By the time Germany had fully taken over Poland, approximately 30,000 Jews from Lublin had been murdered.German troops first entered Lublin in September of 1939, when local Jews had already attempted to flee to the parts of Poland occupied by the Soviets. The Nazis forced Jews from Poland and Germany into the city, though it was not until 1941 that a ghetto was officially established in Lublin.In late 1941, the Nazis started increasing efforts to register the Jewish population in preparation for their expulsion. The ghetto was divided into two parts, with the smaller section designated primarily for Jews who worked for the Germans. As of March 1942, Jewish people not in those roles were deported to Belzec at a rate of 1,500 people per day, as mandated by SS commanders.Jewish citizens from nearby Lviv were also deported to Belzec along with Jews from elsewhere in Europe. By the end of 1942, over 400,000 Jews and an indeterminate number of Poles and Roma had been killed at Belzec. The initial killings were performed through experimental gassings as Nazis attempted to determine the most efficient method of murder.In an attempt to disguise the cruelty that had taken place in Belzec, the Nazis set up a farm over the site. In early 1943, Belzec began to be dismantled. Most of the labor was performed by Jewish forced laborers who would later be shot or gassed at a different killing site.