Erntefest refers to the so-called “harvest festival,” which was a 1943 massacre of about 43,000 Jews in the Majdanek, Poniatowa, and Trawniki concentration camps. The massacre was the largest German killing operation targeting Jewish people in the entire war, and Reserve Police Battalion 101 took an active part in it. This was the final action in a series of massacres perpetrated in order to make the Polish district of Lublin judenfrei.
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Erntefest Term Timeline in Ordinary Men
The timeline below shows where the term Erntefest appears in Ordinary Men. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 15: The Last Massacres: “Harvest Festival”
...part of the battalion in November 1943 when it is called to participate in the Erntefest (“harvest festival”), the largest German killing operation against the Jews in World War II, during...
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Erntefest is the climax of Himmler’s mission to obliterate the Polish Jewry. After the ghetto deportations...
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...of the district meets with the commanders of the units that will help with the Erntefest, including Reserve Police Battalion 101. The men from the battalion take part in nearly every...
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After Erntefest, the district of Lublin is essentially judenfrei and Reserve Police Battalion 101’s participation in the...
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