Loading the cars to Belzec with begging children

Cattle cars loading human freight at the Kleparow train station for their journey to gas chambers at Belzec. Kleparow was on the outside edge of Janowska. The harsh black lines surrounded by the skulls which were the Nazi symbols of death, cast a horrifying and frightening shadow over these images. Before the cars were loaded for Belzec the Jews were stripped naked and would often spend a day and night standing in the cold waiting for their orders. Note the pregnant women already standing in the freight car and the young child attempting to climb in. Pregnant women and children were despatched to their deaths early in the Holocaust. Note also the young child clasping her hands beseeching the guard for mercy. This child would most likely have been shot or beaten to death for not obeying orders. The Jews here are sketched as docile, passive shadows, led to their death without any show of resistance. The Nazi soldiers on the other hand are figures of strength and power. They wield their guns and are threatening from all sides. The skulls of death are insurmountable. When the Jews climbed into the cars, they were often whipped and beaten for not getting on board fast enough. When the transports were first introduced the Jews were allowed to remain clothed. This was part of the Nazi guise to dupe the Jews that they were being transported to a better place and that they had nothing to worry about. But, when Jews were seen to be jumping off the cars the SS realised that they needed to make escape more difficult. Thus, the Jews were forced to remove their clothes and anything else on their bodies which may have assisted their escape. The trucks here are seen as having small windows with divided panes. These windows were later covered with barbed wire and boarded up. Throughout the whole transport process the SS men stood guard. The airless transport often continued for days without food or water. Many people died in the cars.