The implementation of the Holocaust was systematic and brutal, seeking the extermination of the Jewish population of Europe. Belzec, established in 1940 in southeastern Poland, became a focal point for the mass killings of Jews. On this occasion, particularly targeted were Jews transported from the Lvov Ghetto, part of a larger operation to rid Poland of its Jewish inhabitants. The camp utilized gas chambers disguised as showers to deceive the victims before killing them with poisonous gas, a method that would come to define many extermination camps established during World War II.

The decision to utilize gas chambers was part of the Nazis' attempt to increase the efficiency of mass killings. The implementation was overseen by SS officials and involved complex logistics, including establishing deception operations to convince victims they were being relocated for labor. Upon arrival at Belzec, the victims were stripped of their belongings, separated from family members, and led to their deaths in a highly mechanized murder process.

The use of Belzec in exterminating Jews marked a significant moment in the Holocaust. As mass deportations occurred from ghettos across occupied Poland, the death toll mounted dramatically. The methods employed at Belzec served as a model for subsequent camps, revealing the shocking efficiency of the Nazi genocide machinery. Within a year, over 600,000 Jews were killed at Belzec, emphasizing the horrific scale of the Holocaust and setting a precedent for the genocide to come in other camps throughout the Eastern European theaters of war.