Editing Belzec extermination camp (section)

==Post-war==
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 217
| image1            = PL Belzec extermination camp 9.jpg
| caption1          = Symbolic "death road" (portion of the memorial in Bełżec). Underground passage built in place of former "Sluice" into the gas chambers, evokes the feelings of no escape.<ref name="Małczyński-42"/>
| image2            = PL Belzec extermination camp 5.jpg
| caption2          = Belzec extermination camp memorial. During the construction of the Mausoleum trees planted by the ''SS'' were removed and only the oaks, that ''witnessed'' the genocide, were retained.<ref name="Małczyński-42"/>
| image3            = Bełżec extermination camp 2010 001.JPG
| caption3          = The [[Ohel (grave)|ohel]] of the Belzec mausoleum
| image4            = PL Belzec extermination camp 2.jpg
| caption4          = [[Bełżec Museum and Memorial Site|Belzec extermination camp museum]]
}}

Grave robbing at the site resumed after the German guard fled for the approaching [[Red Army]].<ref name="GoldenHarvest22_26"/> In 1945, the Lublin District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes conducted an investigation into the crimes in Bełżec. The mass graves at the site were dug up by graverobbers seeking gold and valuables.<ref name="belzec.org-0">{{cite web |url=http://belzec.org.pl/upamietnienie.php?site=dawne&id=1 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131085454/http://belzec.org.pl/upamietnienie.php?site=dawne&id=1 | archivedate=2009-01-31 | title=Dawne upamiętnienie: pół wieku zapomnienia (Half-a-century of forgetting) | work=Camp history and photographs | publisher=Obóz Zagłady w Bełżcu (Belzec extermination camp museum) | year=2005 | accessdate=February 9, 2013 | format=Internet Archive 2009 capture}}</ref> In 1945 provincial authorities and the [[Tomaszów Lubelski]] Jewish Committee discussed the continuing plunder of the site. In 1945 Szmul Pelc, the chair of the committee of the Jewish Committee, was murdered by local graverobbers.<ref>Kopciowski, A. "Anti-Jewish Incidents in the Lublin Region in the Early Years after World War II." Zaglada Zydów. Studia i Materialy (Holocaust. Studies and Materials) 3 (2007): 188"</ref> Investigations of grave digging continued through the late 1950s. While Lublin District Commission published the results of their investigation in 1947, the site itself continued to be neglected and memory of the site was suppressed as very few of the camp's victims were Polish, and few of the camp's primarily Jewish victims survived.<ref name="belzec.org-0"/> Beginning in the second half of the 1950s the pursuit by Germany itself of the German perpetrators revived interest in the site. The Soviet trials of Russian camp personnel, held in [[Kiev]] and [[Krasnodar]] in the early 1960s soon followed.<ref name="belzec.org-1">{{cite web | url=http://belzec.org.pl/upamietnienie.php?site=dawne&id=2 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202163013/http://belzec.org.pl/upamietnienie.php?site=dawne&id=2 | archive-date=2 February 2009 | title=Dawne upamiętnienie: pół wieku zapomnienia (Half-a-century of forgetting) | work=Camp history and photographs | publisher=Obóz Zagłady w Bełżcu (Belzec extermination camp museum) | year=2005 | access-date=9 February 2013 | format=Internet Archive 2009 capture}}</ref>

In the 1960s, the grounds of the former Bełżec camp were fenced off. The first monuments were erected, although the area did not correspond to the actual size of the camp during its operation due to lack of proper evidence and modern forensic research. Some commercial development took place in areas formerly belonging to it. Also, its remote location on the Polish–Soviet border meant that few people visited the site before the [[revolutions of 1989]] and the return of democracy. It was largely forgotten and poorly maintained.<ref name="belzec.org-1"/>

Following the collapse of the Communist dictatorship in 1989, the situation began to change. As the number of visitors to Poland interested in Holocaust sites increased, more of them came to Bełżec. In the 1990s the camp appeared badly neglected, even though it was cleaned by students from Bełżec school.<ref name="belzec.org-1"/> In the late 1990s extensive investigations were carried out on the camp grounds to determine precisely the camp's extent and provide greater understanding of its operation. Buildings constructed after the war on the camp grounds were removed. In 2004, Bełżec became a new branch of the [[Majdanek State Museum]]. New official monuments commemorating the camp's victims were unveiled.<ref name="majdanek.eu-Kalendarium">{{cite web | url=http://www.majdanek.eu/articles.php?acid=186 | title=Kalendarium | work=Powstanie Państwowego Muzeum (Creation of the Museum) | publisher=Państwowe Muzeum na Majdanku | access-date=9 April 2013 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110213052322/http://www.majdanek.eu/articles.php?acid=186 | archive-date=13 February 2011 }}</ref>

One of the prime benefactors behind the new memorial at Bełżec was [[Miles Lerman]], an American Holocaust survivor whose own parents were murdered in Bełżec, raising approximately 5 million dollars with the help of the Polish government and the American Jewish Committee. Another prominent Holocaust survivor with a connection to Bełżec is philanthropist Anita Ekstein, former national chair of [[March of the Living]] Canada. Anita Ekstein was born in the [[Lviv]] area and was hidden as a child by [[Righteous Poles]] during [[the Holocaust]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://motl.org/?p=63|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140611045634/http://motl.org/?p=63|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 June 2014|title=March of the Living}}</ref> Her mother, Ethel Helfgott, was among the victims in Bełżec.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=3582903&language=en|title=Yad Vashem}}</ref> Anita Ekstein has led many groups of students on educational trips to Poland where she shares her Holocaust story. She first visited Bełżec in 2005, a year after the new memorial opened, and discovered her mother's name inscribed on the memorial wall on Mother's Day.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://marchoftheliving.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/CJN-Hitler-Did-Not-Win-April-8-2010.pdf|title=March of the Living}}</ref>