Bełżec (pronounced [ˈbɛu̯ʐɛt͡s]) is a village in Tomaszów Lubelski County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland.

[2] Thanks to efforts of local nobleman Samuel Lipski, Bełżec was granted town rights by Polish King Sigismund III Vasa in 1607,[2] however, it did not develop properly, and several decades later it was yet again referred to as a village.

In 1648 it was destroyed by the Cossacks, and during the Swedish invasion of Poland of 1655–1660, known as the Deluge, a battle was fought nearby between Poles led by Hetman Stefan Czarniecki and the Swedes.

In 1887, Bełżec was connected by rail to Lwów, one of the largest agglomerations in the region, via Rawa Ruska (now in western Ukraine).

Approximately one million Polish Jews lived there during the Holocaust in occupied Poland in the so-called Lublin reservation.

[3] On 16 June 1944, near Bełżec, Ukrainian nationalists of the UPA carried out an attack on a train that left the local station for Lwów.

[10] The Bełżec station was bombed by a Soviet warplane on 4 July 1944, setting fire to munitions and explosives from the German military cargo train.

In 1971, Bełżec was visited by Primate of Poland Stefan Wyszyński and Cardinal Karol Wojtyła (future Pope John Paul II).

Cultural heritage sites include the historic churches of Our Lady Queen of Poland and of Saint Basil.