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The majority of the camp work was performed on a forced basis by 700–800 Jewish prisoners, organised into specialised squads (''[[Sonderkommando]]s''). The blue squad was responsible for unloading the train, carrying the luggage and cleaning the wagons. The red squad had the task of undressing the passengers and taking their clothes to the storage areas. The ''Geldjuden'' ("money Jews") were in charge of handling the money, gold, stocks, and jewellery. They were forced to search the prisoners just before they went into the gas chamber. Another, the dentist, would open the mouths of the dead and pull out gold teeth. Another group, dubbed the ''Totenjuden'' ("the Jews of death"), lived in Treblinka II and were forced to carry the dead from the gas chamber to the furnaces, sift through the ashes of the dead, grind up recognisable parts, and bury the ashes in pits.<ref>{{cite book |title=What They Didn't Teach You About World War II |last=Wright |first=Michael |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2002 |publisher=I Books |location= |isbn=0-7434-4513-9 |page=310 | ref = harv}}</ref> Yet another group took care of the upkeep of the camp. Lastly, the camouflage Kommando went every day into the forest and gathered branches to camouflage the camp and the "funnel" by weaving branches in the barbed wires.{{sfn|Steiner|1967|pp=92–95}} Members of work squads were continuously whipped and beaten by the guards and were often killed. New workers (usually the most healthy people) were selected from the daily arrivals and pressed into the commandos. |
The majority of the camp work was performed on a forced basis by 700–800 Jewish prisoners, organised into specialised squads (''[[Sonderkommando]]s''). The blue squad was responsible for unloading the train, carrying the luggage and cleaning the wagons. The red squad had the task of undressing the passengers and taking their clothes to the storage areas. The ''Geldjuden'' ("money Jews") were in charge of handling the money, gold, stocks, and jewellery. They were forced to search the prisoners just before they went into the gas chamber. Another, the dentist, would open the mouths of the dead and pull out gold teeth. Another group, dubbed the ''Totenjuden'' ("the Jews of death"), lived in Treblinka II and were forced to carry the dead from the gas chamber to the furnaces, sift through the ashes of the dead, grind up recognisable parts, and bury the ashes in pits.<ref>{{cite book |title=What They Didn't Teach You About World War II |last=Wright |first=Michael |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2002 |publisher=I Books |location= |isbn=0-7434-4513-9 |page=310 | ref = harv}}</ref> Yet another group took care of the upkeep of the camp. Lastly, the camouflage Kommando went every day into the forest and gathered branches to camouflage the camp and the "funnel" by weaving branches in the barbed wires.{{sfn|Steiner|1967|pp=92–95}} Members of work squads were continuously whipped and beaten by the guards and were often killed. New workers (usually the most healthy people) were selected from the daily arrivals and pressed into the commandos. |
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There was a bruise rule: |
There was a bruise rule in effect.<ref name="Smedley">{{cite web | url=http://www.nizkor.com/ftp.cgi/people/ftp.cgi?people//m/mahan.christopher/Treblinka | title=Treblinka | publisher=The Nizkor Project | work=Shofar FTP Archive | date=12 January 1996 | accessdate=18 August 2013 | author=Prof. Smedley, Los Angeles Pierce College}}</ref> If a prisoner beaten on the face sustained black eyes, open wounds and severe swelling he would be called "clepsydra" (water clock) in the camp language (Max Bielas); and most likely shot that same evening at [[roll call]], or the next day if the bruised cheeks first began to swell up then.<ref name="Steiner">{{cite web | url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=Xtjsb5DLXLsC&q=%22black+eye,+bruised+cheek,+or+cut+face+was+an+indelible+stigma.+Every+evening+the+Technicians+sent+for+the+clepsydras.+Those+who+came+forward%22%22&dq=%22black+eye,+bruised+cheek,+or+cut+face+was+an+indelible+stigma.+Every+evening+the+Technicians+sent+for+the+clepsydras.+Those+who+came+forward%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Lu8QUs_cBcKjiQL3o4CwAg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA | title=Treblinka | publisher=New York, Simon and Schusters, Inc | date=1967 | accessdate=18 August 2013 | author=Jean-Francois Steiner | page=105 | quote=Those who were marked had a name in the language of the camp. They were called "clepsydras" (water clocks). | others=Trans. Helen Weaver}}</ref> Many prisoners, "in utter despair at the horrible deaths of their families and unwilling to go on living, committed suicide by hanging themselves in the sleeping barracks with their belts."<ref name="Smedley" />{{sfn|Steiner|1967|p=84}} Normally, the work crews were almost entirely replaced every 3–5 days, with the members of the old crew being sent to their deaths. 90% of the inmates sent to Treblinka died within the first two hours of arriving. |
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==Camp operational command== |
==Camp operational command== |
Revision as of 18:23, 18 August 2013
Treblinka | |
---|---|
Extermination camp | |
Symbolic concrete blocks mark the path of the former railway line at Treblinka | |
Known for | Genocide during the Holocaust |
Location | Near Treblinka, General Government (German-occupied Poland) |
Built by |
|
Operated by | ![]() |
Original use | Death |
First built | April 1942 — July 1942 |
Operational | 22 July 1942 — 19 October 1943[3] |
Number of gas chambers | 6 |
Inmates | mainly Jews |
Number of inmates | est. 1,200 |
Killed | est. 780,863 — 1,200,000[4][5] |
Liberated by | Closed in 1943 |
Notable inmates | |
Notable books |
Treblinka (Polish pronunciation: [trɛˈblʲinka]) was an extermination camp,[7] created by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II near the village of Treblinka in modern-day Masovian Voivodeship north-east of Warsaw. The camp, which was built as part of Operation Reinhard (most deadly phase of the Final Solution), operated between July 23, 1942 and October 19, 1943.[3] During this time, between 780,863 and 870,000 men, women, and children were murdered there.[4] This figure includes more than 800,000 Jews, as well as unknown numbers of Romani people.[8] Other estimates of the number killed at Treblinka exceed 1,000,000.[9]
The camp, managed by the German SS and the Eastern European Trawnikis (a.k.a. Hiwi guards), consisted of two separate zones, Treblinka I, and Treblinka II (Totenlager). The first camp was a forced labour Arbeitslager, whose prisoners worked in either the nearby gravel pit or irrigation area, and in the forest. Between June 1941 and July 23, 1944, more than half of its 20,000 inmates died from summary executions, hunger, disease,[10] and mistreatment.[11]
Treblinka II, was designed as a death factory only. The small number of Jews who were not killed immediately became its Sonderkommandos.[12] These labor units were forced to bury the victims' bodies in mass graves, and later also cremate corpses on massive open-air pyres. Killing operations at Treblinka II were ended on October 19, 1943, following a revolt by its Sonderkommando. Several German guards were killed and some 300 prisoners escaped.[13] The camp was then dismantled, and a farmhouse was built on it, in an attempt to hide the evidence of genocide.[14]
Prelude
Before Operation Reinhard, over half a million Jews had been killed by the Einsatzgruppen mobile extermination units in territories conquered by the German army. It became evident, however, that they could not handle the millions of Jews that they had concentrated in the ghettos of occupied countries. Treblinka, along with the other Operation Reinhard camps, was designed specifically for the rapid elimination of the Jews in ghettos. Treblinka was ready on 11 July 1942. It was one of five super-secret extermination camps of Operation Reinhard. The killing centre at Chełmno (Kulmhof) was built as first. It was a pilot project for the development of the next four death factories; the remaining three being Belzec, Sobibor, and Majdanek.[16] Chełmno was not a part of Reinhard; other death camps had faster methods of killing and incinerating people.[17] On top of that, similar but bigger mass killing facilities were developed at Auschwitz II-Birkenau within the already existing Auschwitz I concentration camp.[14]
The Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews from across General Government, codenamed Operation Reinhard, was overseen in occupied Poland by SS-Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik, as the deputy of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in Berlin. Unlike other Nazi concentration camps in Europe, the Operation Reinhard camps reported directly to the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), which in turn reported directly to Himmler. Himmler kept the control of the program close to him but delegated the work to Globocnik. The staff of Operation Reinhard used the Action T4 euthanasia program as a basic framework for the construction of facilities.[18]
The camp
The camp of Treblinka was located 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of the Polish capital Warsaw,[19] near the village of Małkinia Górna, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) from the Treblinka railroad station.[20] It was conveniently placed approximately halfway between some of the largest Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto and the Białystok Ghetto. Right from the start, the camp was split into separate zones. The German contractors that oversaw the construction of Treblinka I and Treblinka II were the Schoenbronn Company of Leipzig, and the Warsaw branch of Schmidt und Muenstermann.[1] Between 1942 and 1943 the camp was further redeveloped, trees cut and perimeter adjusted to fit the killing process.[21]
Treblinka I, founded officially on November 15, 1941,[13] was a forced labor camp (Arbeitslager) for Poles and Jews sent in from nearby locations. Treblinka I operated from June 1941 until July 23, 1944. In this time half of the 20,000 inmates died from execution, exhaustion, or mistreatment. Treblinka I inmates worked in either the nearby gravel pit or irrigation area, later supplying fuel also to open-air crematoria.[22]
Treblinka II
Treblinka II, the extermination camp located to the north of the work camp, was divided into three parts, covering an area measuring 600 by 400 metres (2,000 ft × 1,300 ft) in total. The first part was the administrative section, which included barracks for the SS-Totenkopfverbände and Ukrainian guards, the camp commanders' quarters, a bakery, a storage and barracks for up to 800 prisoners, who were used to operate the camp. A road left this part of the camp and rejoined the highway.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Treblinka_Concentration_Camp_sign_by_David_Shankbone.jpg/170px-Treblinka_Concentration_Camp_sign_by_David_Shankbone.jpg)
The second section of Treblinka II (lower camp) was the receiving area where the railroad extended from the Treblinka station into the camp. There were two barracks near the tracks that were used to store the belongings of prisoners; one was disguised to look like a railway station, complete with a wooden clock.[23] There were two other buildings about 100 metres (330 ft) from the track. All of the buildings were used to contain the clothing and belongings of the prisoners. One was used as an undressing room for the women, who were also shorn of all of their hair. There was a cashier's office, which collected money and jewellery for "safekeeping". There was also an "infirmary", where the sick, old, wounded, and already dead were taken. It was a small barracks, painted white with a red cross on it. There, the prisoners were led to the edge of a ditch where bodies were continuously burning. They had to strip naked and then sit in the edge of the pit before they were shot in the back of the head. Then they fell in the ditch and burned.
The third section of Treblinka II, the upper camp or death camp, was on a small hill. From the lower camp there was an uphill path, cynically called Himmelstraße ("the Road to Heaven") by the SS, which was lined with barbed wire fences — der Schlauch ("the tube") — and which led directly into the gas chambers. Behind this building there was a large pit, 1 metre wide by 20 metres long, inside which fires burned. Rails were laid across the pit and the bodies of gassed victims were placed on the rails to burn. There was also a barracks for the prisoners who operated the upper camp.
Organization of the camp
The camp was operated by 20–25 SS overseers (Germans and Austrians) and 80–120 Trawniki guards. The historical records show that the Treblinka camp guards were of varied ethnic groups and nationalities, comprising not only Germans (Volksdeutsche)[24][25] but also a number of Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Moldovans, Latvians, and representatives of Soviet Central Asia (including a number of collaborating Soviet prisoners of war). Among them served former Red Army soldiers Ivan Marchenko and Nikolay Shaleyev.[26]
The majority of the camp work was performed on a forced basis by 700–800 Jewish prisoners, organised into specialised squads (Sonderkommandos). The blue squad was responsible for unloading the train, carrying the luggage and cleaning the wagons. The red squad had the task of undressing the passengers and taking their clothes to the storage areas. The Geldjuden ("money Jews") were in charge of handling the money, gold, stocks, and jewellery. They were forced to search the prisoners just before they went into the gas chamber. Another, the dentist, would open the mouths of the dead and pull out gold teeth. Another group, dubbed the Totenjuden ("the Jews of death"), lived in Treblinka II and were forced to carry the dead from the gas chamber to the furnaces, sift through the ashes of the dead, grind up recognisable parts, and bury the ashes in pits.[27] Yet another group took care of the upkeep of the camp. Lastly, the camouflage Kommando went every day into the forest and gathered branches to camouflage the camp and the "funnel" by weaving branches in the barbed wires.[28] Members of work squads were continuously whipped and beaten by the guards and were often killed. New workers (usually the most healthy people) were selected from the daily arrivals and pressed into the commandos.
There was a bruise rule in effect.[29] If a prisoner beaten on the face sustained black eyes, open wounds and severe swelling he would be called "clepsydra" (water clock) in the camp language (Max Bielas); and most likely shot that same evening at roll call, or the next day if the bruised cheeks first began to swell up then.[30] Many prisoners, "in utter despair at the horrible deaths of their families and unwilling to go on living, committed suicide by hanging themselves in the sleeping barracks with their belts."[29][31] Normally, the work crews were almost entirely replaced every 3–5 days, with the members of the old crew being sent to their deaths. 90% of the inmates sent to Treblinka died within the first two hours of arriving.
Camp operational command
The deportation of the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto began on 22 July 1942, which was the 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av, according to the Jewish calendar: "According to the SS Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop report, a total of approximately 310,000 Jews were transported in freight trains from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka during the period from 22 July to 3 October 1942."[32]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Treblinka_graph_pt_1.png/220px-Treblinka_graph_pt_1.png)
The camp's first commandant appointed on July 11, 1942 was Irmfried Eberl, a psychiatrist, and the only physician ever to command an extermination camp. The camp received its first shipment of victims, 6,500 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, on July 22, 1942. The gas chambers became operational the following day, July 23, 1942. Shipments continued on a daily basis thereafter, usually ranging from about 4,000 to 7,000 victims per day, Jews from the ghettos of Poland, mainly Warsaw, most of whom were immediately sent to the gas chambers. Hundreds of the prisoners died from starvation, dehydration or suffocation while in transit to the camp in the overcrowded boxcars.[33]
Eberl's poor organizational skills soon caused the operation of Treblinka to turn disastrous. At the very beginning, the corpses were buried in mass graves, but within days the burial pits were overflowing with bodies, and corpses were instead piled up in camp II because the workers lacked sufficient time to bury them. At the same time, the gas chambers continually broke down. Therefore, the SS resorted to shooting incoming Jews in the arrival area of the camp and piling bodies throughout the camp.[13] According to testimony of first sergeant Hans Hingst, Eberl's ego and thirst for power grossly exceeded his grasp. "So many transports arrived that the disembarkation and gassing of the people could no longer be handled."[33][34]
The stench from the decomposing bodies could be smelled up to 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away, such as at the nearby village of Treblinka. It was evident that large scale killings were happening nearby, which caused panic among the villagers.[12] On incoming Holocaust trains to Treblinka, many of the soon-to-be-murdered Jews locked inside correctly guessed what would happen to them based upon the stench.[1]
Oskar Berger, a Jewish eyewitness, told of the camp's state in August 1942:
When we were unloaded, we noticed a paralyzing view - all over the place there were hundreds of human bodies. Piles of packages, clothes, suitcases, everything in a mess. German and Ukrainian SS men stood at the corners of the barracks and were shooting blindly into the crowd.
— Oskar Berger (in) Yitzhak Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka [35]
On August 26, 1942, Odilo Globocnik, the head of Operation Reinhard, visited Treblinka along with Christian Wirth and Josef Oberhauser. Commandant Irmfried Eberl was relieved of his duties. Among the reasons for his dismissal was the incompetence in disposing of the bodies of the tens of thousands of the dead, inefficient methods of killing, not properly concealing the mass murder; and finally, stealing valuables from those who had been "processed" and, secretly sending them back to cohorts at Hitler's Chancellery in Berlin. This last activity had been expressly forbidden by Heinrich Himmler, as he had wanted this property to be contributed to the German war effort.[12][36]
Christian Wirth was assigned to move into Treblinka to help clean up Eberl's mess. On August 28, Globocnik temporarily suspended deportations to Treblinka. Globocnik chose Franz Stangl, who had previously been the Commandant of Sobibor extermination camp, to assume command of Treblinka as Eberl's successor. Stangl had a reputation as a competent administrator with a good understanding of the project's objectives, and therefore Globocnik trusted that Stangl would be capable of resuming control.[1]
On September 1, Franz Stangl replaced Irmfried Eberl as commandant of Treblinka. He described Treblinka under Eberl's command when he first arrived at the death camp:
I drove there, with an SS driver ... We could smell it kilometers away. The road ran alongside the railway tracks. As we got nearer Treblinka but still perhaps fifteen, twenty minutes' drive away, we began to see corpses next to the rails, first just two or three, then more and as we drove into what was Treblinka station, there were hundreds of them – just lying there – they'd obviously been there for days, in the heat. In the station was a train full of Jews, some dead, some still alive – it looked as if it had been there for days.
— Franz Stangl [36]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-C0509-0049-012%2C_KZ%2C_Fahrplananordnung.jpg/170px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-C0509-0049-012%2C_KZ%2C_Fahrplananordnung.jpg)
Franz Stangl restored order in the camp, and the transports of Warsaw and Radom Jews began to arrive again on September 3, 1942.[13] Stangl wanted his camp to look attractive, so he ordered the paths paved and flowers planted along the sides of Seidel Street, near camp headquarters and SS living quarters.[37] The appearance of Treblinka concealed the deadly fate that awaited arriving prisoners.
Stangl liked to wear a white uniform and carry a whip, and so he was nicknamed "The White Death" by prisoners. Despite being directly responsible for the camp's operations, Stangl limited his contact with Jewish prisoners as much as possible. Stangl rarely interfered with unusually cruel acts perpetrated by his subordinate officers at the camp. He claimed that his dedication had nothing to do with ideology or hatred of Jews.[38] Stangl accepted and grew accustomed to the killings, perceiving prisoners not as humans but merely as "cargo" that must be destroyed. Stangl accepted the extermination of the Jews as a fact.[37] The man most responsible for day-to-day interactions with the prisoners was Kurt Franz.
The Treblinka song
As reported by lower-ranking SS officers and soldiers, Franz, one of the commanding officers of the camp, wrote lyrics to a song which celebrated the Treblinka extermination camp. This song was taught to the few newly arriving Jews who were not killed immediately, who were instead forced to work as slave laborers at the camp (known as Sonderkommandos). These Jews were forced to memorize the song by nightfall of their first day at the camp. The melody for the song came from an SS officer at Buchenwald concentration camp. The music was written in a happy way, as though the deaths at the camp were a joyful process rather than one of mourning, in the key of D major. Franz's lyrics for the song are listed below:
Looking squarely ahead, brave and joyous, at the world. The squads march to work. All that matters to us now is Treblinka. It is our destiny. That's why we've become one with Treblinka in no time at all. We know only the word of our Commander. We know only obedience and duty. We want to serve, to go on serving until little luck ends it all. Hurray!
These are from Unterscharführer Suchomel's memory, a Jewish survivor has a slightly different version which is probably more accurate—considering he himself probably had to sing it. His version has it begin "With firm steps we march.... " Considering that the song was called "Fester Schritte" and indeed Suchomel himself sings these words at the beginning, the Samuel Willenberg is more likely correct. Several camps had music and even orchestras of prisoners—Auschwitz being the most known example.
- Lyrics by Kurt Hubert Franz
- Testimony of SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal) Franz Suchomel, who worked at Treblinka.[39]
New gas chambers
In September 1942, Stangl supervised the building of new, larger gas chambers to augment the previously existing gas chambers. The new gas chambers became operational in early autumn 1942. It is believed that these death chambers were capable of killing 3,000 people in two hours, and 12,000 to 15,000 victims every day,[1] with a maximum capacity of 22,000 deaths in 24 hours.[40]
Extermination
Arriving by train, victims were pulled from the train, separated by sex, and ordered to strip naked. In winter, the temperature often dropped to −20 °C (−5 °F). The guards chose who would go to the "infirmary." Jews who were too resistant to the process were taken to the infirmary and shot. Women had their hair cut off before going into the gas chamber.[23][39] This hair was used "in the manufacture of hair-yarn socks for 'U'-boat crews and hair-felt foot-wear for the Reichs-railway", to quote from a directive sent to all concentration camp commanders in 1942.[41]
The newly arrived Jews, particularly the men, were beaten incessantly with whips in order to drive them towards the gas chambers. According to testimony of SS officers, men were always gassed first from the transports, while women and children waited outside the gas chamber for their turn. During this time, the women and children could hear the sounds of suffering from inside the gas chamber, and they became well aware of the fate that awaited them, which naturally caused panic and distress, and involuntary defecation.[39] An entire train transport of people could be killed in a matter of two or three hours.[39]
Gas chambers: exhaust instead of gas
The gas chamber had portholes through which it was possible to view the death of the victims.[23] The victims were gassed with carbon monoxide generated by diesel engines.[42] There is some historical debate over whether these engines were diesel or petrol. The engines were those of Soviet Red Army tanks that had been captured during the war, and subsequently transported to Treblinka by the Nazis.[citation needed] Most Red Army tanks from this period had diesel engines.
This killing process differed significantly from the process at Auschwitz and Majdanek, where the poisonous gas Zyklon B was used. At Sobibor and Belzec, exhaust fumes from petrol engines were used. The victims died from suffocation and carbon monoxide poisoning. This also means that, frequently, victims were not completely dead as a result of the exhaust. The few prisoners who had worked in the Sonderkommandos and survived the camp later testified that victims frequently let out a final gasp of breath from their lungs when they were extracted from the gas chambers.
After the suffocation of the victims in the gas chamber, when the doors of the gas chamber were opened, "the disfigured, bitten prisoners, with ears torn off, lay on top of each other in the most varied posture." The bodies were initially buried in large mass graves; in a later stage of the camp's operation, they were burned on open-air grids made of concrete pillars and railway tracks. Sometimes, the people were not dead and began to revive in the fresh air, especially pregnant women. They were shot by the guards and burned like the others. Some 800–1,000 bodies were burned at the same time, and would burn for five hours. The incinerator operated 24 hours a day.[43]
The killing centres had no other function, unlike concentration camps, in which prisoners were used as forced labour for the German war effort. In order to prevent incoming victims from realising their fate, the camp was disguised as a railway station, complete with train schedules, posters of destinations, and what appeared to be a working clock (in reality, a prisoner would move the hands to the approximate time before each convoy arrived).[44] The camp and the process of mass murder is described by Vasily Grossman, a military reporter serving in the Red Army, in his work A Hell Called Treblinka, which was used as evidence and distributed at the Nuremberg Trials.
Cremation pits
Within the compounds of the Treblinka extermination camp, there were two cremation pits used to incinerate bodies. The bodies were placed on grates and burned whole within the wood and ash. These pits were roughly located just east of the new gas chambers. The camp memorial has recreated a simulation of the "extermination pits" using melted basalt and stone which is placed on a concrete foundation. The bodies that were previously buried during the camp's operation were dug up and cremated according to the orders of Heinrich Himmler after he had visited the camp in 1943.[45]
Treblinka prisoner uprising
After a long period of preparation posing an immediate threat to life, on August 2, 1943 an armed revolt in Treblinka erupted. The combat unit was organized first, by former Jewish captain of the Polish Army, Dr. Julian Chorążycki (improperly, Chorazyski; a noble man, essential to taking action wrote Rajzman).[46] Chorążycki committed suicide on April 19, when faced with imminent capture.[47] His Organizing Committee included Zelomir Bloch, Rudolf Masaryk, Marceli Galewski, Samuel Rajman, Dr. Irena Lewkowska (infirmary),[10] Leon Haberman, and several others.[48] The next leader, Dr. Lecher from Wegrów (also former Polish Army officer, who arrived on May 1st), launched the uprising on a hot summer day when a group of Germans and Ukrainians drove off to the Bug river for a swim.[47]
On August 2nd (Monday), the door to the arsenal near the train tracks was silently unlocked and some 20-25 rifles, 20 hand grenades and a dozen pistols were stolen, and delivered in a cart to the gravel work detail. At 3:45 p.m. some 700 Jews launched the attack on the gates. They sprayed gasoline on all the buildings and set them ablaze. Several buildings were blown up. However, the machine-gun fire from the well-trained Germans (some 25 of them) and Ukrainian Trawnikis (numbering around 60) resulted in near slaughter. Most prisoners perished. Only 150–200 Jews succeeded in crossing over to the other side. Half were killed after a chase.[47] Some of those who escaped successfully, were transported across the river by the partisans of the Armia Krajowa hiding in the surrounding forest.[49] Only circa 70 Jews are known to have survived until the end of the war.[50] There was also a revolt at Sobibor two months later.
One year after the revolt, Treblinka ceased operation. Camp commander Kurt Franz recalled during his testimonies: "After the uprising in August 1943 I ran the camp single-handedly for a year; however, during that period no gassings were undertaken. It was during that period that the original camp was levelled off and lupins were planted."[51] The camp had been badly damaged during the uprising, and the murder of the Polish Jews was also largely complete. It was decided to shoot the last of the Jewish prisoners and shut down the camp.[52] Odilo Globocnik wrote to Himmler: "I have (on October 19, 1944), completed Operation Reinhard, and have dissolved all the camps."[53]
Death toll
It is difficult to assess exactly the total number of people killed at Treblinka before and after the camp's official closure in October 1943. The last transport of Jews, sent in from the Białystok Ghetto, arrived on August 19, 1943, but the mass shootings continued well beyond that date. The last work detail of up to 700 Jews were murdered by Trawnikis in July 1944.[54] Whatever remained of the surrounding villages (Poniatowo, Prostyń, Grądy) was destroyed (families killed) by departing Germans, along with all evidence of genocide.[55] By the time Soviets entered the area in late July 1944, everything was leveled out and plowed over.[54]
There are many estimates based on fragmentary data from a variety of sources. The only surviving non-German witness of all incoming transports, also present at the Treblinka railway station during the first ever Holocaust train arrival from Warsaw, was a Polish prewar station master Franciszek Ząbecki,[56] employed by Deutsche Reichsbahn as mere traffic controller at Treblinka village.[57] Ząbecki, who was a member of the Home Army, Polish resistance movement in World War II, kept a daily record of the extermination transports. He also took a clandestine photo of the burning Treblinka II perimeter during the prisoner uprising, aware of it. He published his findings in 1977 in Warsaw.[58][59] From these records, Ząbecki estimated that no fewer than 1,200,000 people were murdered at Treblinka.[9][57][verification needed]
In 1965, after a report by Dr. Helmut Krausnick, director of the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich, the Court of Assize in Düsseldorf concluded that the minimum number of people killed in Treblinka was 700,000.[60] In 1969, the same court, after new evidence revealed in a report by Dr. Wolfgang Scheffler, reassessed the number to be 900,000.[61]
According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the death toll in the gas chambers of Treblinka II (not including the deaths from forced labor in Camp I) falls in the range of 870,000 to 925,000.[13] The approximate number can also be estimated on the basis of Höfle's telegram (see next paragraph). Since 2010, the site is being examined with non-invasive archeological technology.[62]
Höfle Telegram
In 2001, a copy of a decrypted telegram sent by the deputy commander of Operation Reinhard was discovered among recently declassified information in Britain.[63] The Höfle Telegram indicates 713,555 Jews killed in Treblinka up to the end of December 1942. On the basis of the telegram and additional data for 1943, Jacek Andrzej Młynarczyk estimates the minimum death toll as 780,863.[4]
Treblinka Trials
The Austrian Franz Stangl was the commandant at Treblinka from the summer of 1942. In 1951, Stangl escaped to Brazil, where he found work at a Volkswagen factory in São Paulo. His role in the mass murder of men, women, and children was known to the Austrian authorities, but Austria did not issue a warrant for Stangl's arrest until 1961. In spite of his registration under his real name at the Austrian consulate in Brazil,[64] it took another six years before he was tracked down by Simon Wiesenthal and arrested in Brazil. After extradition to West Germany he was tried for the deaths of around 900,000 people. He admitted to these killings but argued: "My conscience is clear. I was simply doing my duty." Found guilty on 22 October 1970, Stangl was sentenced to life imprisonment. He died of heart failure in prison in Düsseldorf on 28 June 1971.
Individuals responsible
- Odilo Lotario Globocnik, SS-Hauptsturmführer (at the time) (Captain) and SS-Polizeiführer (SS Police Chief), Head of Operation Reinhard[1][65][66]
- Hermann Julius Höfle, SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain), coordinator of Operation Reinhard[66]
- Richard Wolfgang Thomalla, SS-Obersturmführer (at the time) (First Lieutenant), head of death camp construction during Operation Reinhard[1][65][66]
- Erwin Hermann Lambert, SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal), head of gas chamber construction during Operation Reinhard (large gas chambers)[66][67]
- Christian Wirth, SS-Hauptsturmführer (at the time) (Captain), Inspector of Operation Reinhard[1][66]
Commandants
- Dr. Irmfried Eberl, SS-Obersturmführer (First Lieutenant), July 11, 1942—August 26, 1942 (relieved of duty due to incompetence)[1][65]
- Franz Paul Stangl, SS-Obersturmführer (First Lieutenant), September 1, 1942—August 1943 (transferred from Sobibor extermination camp)[1][65]
- Kurt Hubert Franz, SS-Untersturmführer (Second Lieutenant), August 1943—October 19, 1943 (promoted from deputy commander after camp's revolt in August 1943)[1][65][67]
Deputy commanders
- Heinrich Arthur Matthes, SS-Scharführer (Sergeant), Deputy commandant, chief of the Totenlager (extermination area)[67][68][69]
- Karl Pötzinger, Deputy commandant, head of cremation[1][70]
- Theodor von Eupen, Commandant of Camp I (forced labor camp)[1]
Troops
- Fritz Schmidt, SS-Sturmbannführer (Major), operated gas chambers[1][68]
- Gustav Münzberger, SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal), operated gas chambers[1][67]
- Max Biala — on September 11, 1942 stabbed to death by inmate Meir Berliner.[71]
- Paul Bredow, SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal)[65]
- Herbert Floss, SS-Scharführer (Sergeant)[70]
- Erich Fritz Erhard Fuchs, SS-Scharführer (Sergeant)[43][72]
- Lorenz Hackenholt, SS-Hauptscharführer (First Sergeant)
- Hans Hingst[33][34]
- Josef Hirtreiter, SS-Scharführer (Sergeant)[65][67]
- Otto Richard Horn, SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal), corpse detail[67]
- Kurt Küttner, SS-Oberscharführer (Staff Sergeant), Lower Camp of Camp II[67][73]
- Karl Emil Ludwig[1][74]
- Willy Mätzig[43]
- Willi Mentz, SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal), Lazaret/Infirmary[1][65][67][68]
- August Wilhelm Miete, SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal), Lazaret/Infirmary[1][67][70]
- Max Möller[65]
- Willi Post, SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal), Head of Ukrainian Guard, Volksdeutsche/SS squad leaders[1]
- Albert Franz Rum, SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal), gas chambers[67]
- Karl Schiffer, SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal), command of twelve Ukrainians[75]
- Otto Stadie, SS-Stabsscharführer (Staff Squad Leader), camp administration[39][67]
- Ernst Stengelin, SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal) — killed in revolt on October 14, 1943[74]
- Franz Suchomel, SS-Unterscharführer (Corporal), "Goldjuden" supervisor[1][39][67]
- Ivan the Terrible (presumed Ukrainian)[76][77]
- Feodor Fedorenko[78]
- Ivan Ivanovich Marchenko[1][70]
- Other Volksdeutsche and former Soviet prisoners of war (90 to 120)[1]
Last survivors
In August 2012 the BBC broadcast Death Camp Treblinka: Survivors Stories, which told the story of the two then remaining Jewish survivors of the camp. As fit young 19-year-olds, Samuel Willenberg and Kalman Tagiman had both arrived at the camp in 1942 and had been required to work there. On 2 August 1943 Willenberg and Tagiman were among the 150 Jewish prisoners who escaped after setting fire to the camp. They both survived the war and emigrated to Israel.[79] In 2010 the Associated Press had highlighted the two men's story. Both Willenberg and Tagiman had devoted their last few years to highlighting the dreadful story of Treblinka. Taigman was quoted as saying "It was hell, absolutely hell. A normal man cannot imagine how a living person could have lived through it – killers, natural-born killers, who without a trace of remorse just murdered every little thing." [80]
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Treblinka Death Camp, with photographs, Ounsdale, PDF (2.2 MB). Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^ Arad 1987, p. 37.
- ^ a b Treblinka Death Camp Day-by-Day Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, H.E.A.R.T. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^ a b c Treblinka – ein Todeslager der "Aktion Reinhard", in: "Aktion Reinhard" – Die Vernichtung der Juden im Generalgouvernement, Bogdan Musial (ed.), Osnabrück 2004, pp. 257–281.
- ^ Ząbecki, Franciszek. Wspomnienia dawne i nowe, Pax publishig, Warsaw, 1977. [page needed]
- ^ Treblinka survivors stories Mirror.co.uk News.
- ^ Staff writer. "Previously hidden mass graves found at Treblinka". JPost.com. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
New evidence has been uncovered helping to prove that the World War II Nazi Treblinka camp was in fact a death camp, and not just a transit or a concentration camp. Mass graves at the site of the camp were uncovered by British forensic archeologist Caroline Sturdy Colls, who used ground-penetrating radar to search for human remains...
- ^ Niewyk, Donald L.; Nicosia, Francis R. (2000). The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust. Columbia University Press. p. 210. ISBN 0-231-11200-9.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - ^ a b Donat, Alexander, ed. The Death Camp Treblinka: A Documentary. New York: Holocaust Library, 1979. LOC 79-53471
- ^ a b Michał Maranda (2002). "Więźniowie obozu zagłady w Treblince" (PDF). Nazistowskie Obozy Zagłady. Opis i próba analizy zjawiska (in Polish). Uniwersytet Warszawski, Instytut Stosowanych Nauk Społecznych. pp. 160–161. ISBN 8391503666. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
{{cite web}}
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at position 3 (help) - ^ a b "Treblinka" Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Washington. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
- ^ a b c BBC History of World War II. Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State. Factories of Death: Episode 3. Directed by Laurence Rees. KCET, 2005. See also: Episode Guide. Overview. Treblinka (Start: 29:40; Length: 7:51) and Corruption: Episode 4.
- ^ a b c d e Holocaust Encyclopedia (June 10, 2013), Treblinka: Chronology United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
- ^ a b Vasily Grossman, "The Hell of Treblinka." Translation from The Road: Stories, Journalism, and Essays, by Vasily Grossman, Robert Chandler, Elizabeth Chandler, and Olga Mukovnikova.
- ^ Staff writer (12 May 2008). "The Memorial". E. Kopowka, Treblinka. Nigdy wiecej, Siedlce 2002, pp. 5-54. Muzeum Walki i Męczeństwa w Treblince. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ Höfle Telegram Public Record Office, Kew, England, HW 16/23, decode GPDD 355a distributed on January 15, 1943, radio telegrams nos 12 and 13/15, transmitted on 11 January 1943.
- ^ JVL (2013). "Chelmno (Kulmhof)". The Forgotten Camps. Jewish Virtual Library.org. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ CL & Robin O'Neil (2007). "The T-4 Program. Origins, Planning & Staff". Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
See also: Introduction to Aktion Reinhard
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- ^ Steiner 1967.
- ^ United States Department of Justice. Excerpts from Interrogation of Defendant Pavel Vladimirovitch Lelenko.
- ^ ARC (4 September 2006). "Mapping Treblinka". Treblinka Camp History. Death Camps.org. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ Crowe, David (2008). The Holocaust: Roots, History, and Aftermath. Westview Press. p. 247. ISBN 0786732423.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - ^ a b c Testimony of Alexsandr Yeger at the Nizkor Project
- ^ Procknow, Gregory (2011). Recruiting and Training Genocidal Soldiers. Francis & Bernard Publishing. p. 35. ISBN 0986837407.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - ^ Arad 1987, p. 21.
- ^ Willenberg 1989.
- ^ Wright, Michael (2002). What They Didn't Teach You About World War II. I Books. p. 310. ISBN 0-7434-4513-9.
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(help) - ^ Steiner 1967, pp. 92–95.
- ^ a b Prof. Smedley, Los Angeles Pierce College (12 January 1996). "Treblinka". Shofar FTP Archive. The Nizkor Project. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
- ^ Jean-Francois Steiner (1967). "Treblinka". Trans. Helen Weaver. New York, Simon and Schusters, Inc. p. 105. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
Those who were marked had a name in the language of the camp. They were called "clepsydras" (water clocks).
- ^ Steiner 1967, p. 84.
- ^ Court of Assizes in Düsseldorf, Germany. Excerpts From Judgments (Urteilsbegründung). AZ-LG Düsseldorf: II 931638.
- ^ a b c Saul Friedländer. The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945, p. 432. (Google Books preview).
- ^ a b Arad 1987, p. 87.
- ^ Chrostowski, Witold, Extermination Camp Treblinka, page 37, London, Vallentine Mitchell, 2004 ISBN 0-85303-456-7
- ^ a b Sereny, Gitta, The Healing Wound – Reflections on Germany 1938–2001, page 117, Norton, 2001 ISBN 0-393-04428-9
- ^ a b Arad 1987, p. 186.
- ^ Robert S. Wistrich. Who's Who in Nazi Germany, p. 295-296. Macmillan, 1982.
- ^ a b c d e f Claude Lanzmann, Shoah: An Oral History of the Holocaust. Para-documentary film, France (1985).
- ^ David E. Sumler, A history of Europe in the twentieth century. Dorsey Press, ISBN 0-256-01421-3.
- ^ Concentration Camp Dachau 1933–1945, ISBN 3-87490-528-4, p. 137; Plate 282 with translation.
- ^ The Construction of the Treblinka Extermination Camp
- ^ a b c Klee, Ernst, Dressen, Willi, Riess, Volker The Good Old Days: The Holocaust as Seen by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders. ISBN 1-56852-133-2.
- ^ Lanzmann.
- ^ Gilbert, Martin (1987). The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War. Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-0348-7.
- ^ Edward Kopówka, ks. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik (2011). "Polacy z okolic Treblinki ratujący Żydów" (PDF). Dam im imię na wieki (Iz 56,5). Drohiczyńskie Towarzystwo Naukowe. pp. 98–99. ISBN 978-83-7257-496-1. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
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(help) - ^ a b c Samuel Rajzman, survivor of Treblinka (March 10, 2009). "Uprising in Treblinka". Uprising in Treblinka in U.S. Congress. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Punishment of war criminals, 120-125. 79th Cong., 1st sess. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1945. Holocaust History.org. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|accessdate=
(help) - ^ Staff (12 May 2008). "Defiance and Uprising". Treblinka. Muzeum Walki i Męczenstwa w Treblince. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|accessdate=
(help) - ^ Jerzy Śląski (1990). "VII. Pod Gwiazdą Dawida" (PDF). Polska Walcząca (in Polish). PAX Warszawa Wydanie II. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|accessdate=
(help) - ^ Adam Easton (4 August 2013), Treblinka survivor recalls suffering and resistance. BBC News, Treblinka, Poland.
- ^ Arad 1987, p. 247.
- ^ Arad 1987, p. 373.
- ^ The Nizkor Project. The Killing Centers.
- ^ a b "Treblinka". Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. June 10, 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
- ^ Edward Kopówka, ks. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik (2011). "Dam im imię na wieki. (Chapter) Treblinka i okolice" (PDF). Tabela 1. Zniszczenia wojenne. Wioski Gminy Prostyń sąsiadujące z obozami Treblinka I i Treblinka II. Drohiczyńskie Towarzystwo Naukowe. Kuria Diecezjalna w Drohiczynie. p. 30. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
Archiwum Państwowe w Siedlcach (APS), Akta Gminy Prostyń (AGP), t. 104, Budowa i odbudowa, 1946–1947, s. 35
- ^ S.J., C.L. (2007). "Franciszek Zabecki – The Station Master at Treblinka. Eyewitness to the Revolt – 2 August 1943". Holocaust Research Project.org. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|accessdate=
(help) - ^ a b Template:Pl icon Ząbecki, Franciszek (1977). Wspomnienia dawne i nowe. Warsaw: PAX. p. 148. PB 7495/77.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Tomasz Wiścicki (April 16, 2013). "Stacja tuż obok piekła. Treblinka w relacji Franciszka Ząbeckiego (Train station to hell. Treblinka retold by Franciszek Ząbecki)". Franciszek Ząbecki, „Wspomnienia dawne i nowe”, Pax publishig, Warsaw 1977. Muzeum Historii Polski (Museum of Polish history). Retrieved 14 August 2013.
- ^ Julian Grzesik (2011). "Holocaust - Zaglada Zydów (1939 - 1945)" (PDF). Franciszek Ząbecki „Wspomnienia dawne i nowe”, Warszawa 1977. s. 94-95. Liber Duo S.C. p. 13. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
- ^ Operation Reinhard: Treblinka Deportations
- ^ The Death Camp Treblinka: A Documentary, edited by Alexander Donat c. 1979, Holocaust Library, New York Library of Congress Card No. 79-53471p. 14
- ^ Treblinka: Revealing the hidden graves of the Holocaust, BBC, 2012-01-23
- ^ Public Record Office, Kew, England, HW 16/23, decode GPDD 355a distributed on January 15, 1943, radio telegrams nos 12 and 13/15, transmitted on January 11, 1943.
- ^ Sereny, Gitta Into That Darkness: from Mercy Killing to Mass Murder, a study of Franz Stangl, the commandant of Treblinka, 1974
- ^ a b c d e f g h i The Holocaust: Lest we forget: Extermination camp Treblinka
- ^ a b c d e Sobibor – The Forgotten Revolt
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l First Treblinka Trial
- ^ a b c Testimonies of Nazi SS-Men at Treblinka. Jewish Virtual Library.org.
- ^ Arad 1987, p. 121.
- ^ a b c d H.E.A.R.T. – Holocaust & Education Archive Research Team
- ^ "Meir Berliner – A Brave act of Resistance at Treblinka – Revolt & Resistance". www.HolocaustResearchProject.org. Retrieved 2013-01-06.
- ^ Arad 1987, p. 43.
- ^ Arad 1987, p. 191.
- ^ a b Sobibor Interviews: Biographies of SS-men
- ^ Arad 1987, p. 371.
- ^ Defining America: Through Immigration Policy by Bill Ong Hing, Temple University Press, 2003, ISBN 1592132332 (page 223)
- ^ Unsolved History: Investigating Mysteries of the Past by Joe Nickell, The University Press of Kentucky, 2005, ISBN 0813191378 (page 38)
- ^ Federenko trial
- ^ Roper, Matt (11 August 2012). "'I looked for him but God must have been on holiday': Last living survivors of Treblinka death camp speak of unimaginable horrors". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 23 April 2013.
- ^ "Only 2 survivors remain from Treblinka". Israel Jewish Scene. 11 February 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
References
- Court of Assizes in Düsseldorf, Germany. Excerpts From Judgments (Urteilsbegründung). AZ-LG Düsseldorf: II 931638, 1965. Online. ftp1.us.nizkor.org
- Arad, Yitzhak (1987). Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka. The Operation Reinhard Death Camps. Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34293-7.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - Glazar, Richard. Trap with a Green Fence. Northwestern University Press, Evanston, Illinois, 1999. ISBN 978-0-8101-1169-1
- Klee, Ernst., Dressen, W., Riess, V. The Good Old Days: the Holocaust as Seen by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders. New York: The Free Press, 1988. ISBN 1-56852-133-2
- Lanzmann, Claude, Shoah: An Oral History of the Holocaust. New York: Pantheon Books. 1985.
- The Nizkor Project. The Killing Centers. 1995. Online. Available: ftp1.us.nizkor.org
- Steiner, Jean-François (1967). Treblinka. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-452-01124-8.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - Rückerl, Adalbert, hrsq. NS-Prozesse. Karlsruhe, Germany: Verlag C F Muller, 1972.
- "Treblinka." Encyclopedia Americana. Ed. unknown.
- United States Department of Justice. Excerpts from Interrogation of Defendant Pavel Vladimirovitch Lelenko. Original source: Directorate of Counterintelligence of the 2nd Belorussian Front, USSR. 1978. Acquired by US in 1994. Available online: nizkor.com, nizkor.com
- Originally based on writing by Christopher Mahan as a Pierce College English 101 assignment: christophermahan.com
- Sereny, Gitta Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience, 1983
- Vassily Grossman's article The Treblinka Hell (1944) was disseminated at the Nuremberg Trials as a document for the prosecution. (The original in Russian: Треблинский ад)
- Gray, Martin; Gallo, Max (1984). For Those I Loved. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-32576-7.
{{cite book}}
:|format=
requires|url=
(help); Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Testimony of Treblinka survivor Ya'akov Wiernik during the Adolf Eichmann trial: nizkor.org
- Höfle Telegram, Public Record Office, Kew, England, HW 16/23, decode GPDD 355a distributed on January 15, 1943, radio telegrams nos 12 and 13/15, transmitted on January 11, 1943.
- Smith, Mark S. (2010). Treblinka Survivor: The Life and Death of Hershl Sperling. The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-5618-8.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - Willenberg, Samuel (1989). Surviving Treblinka. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-16261-2.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Rajchman, Chil; Beinfeld, Solon (2011). The Last Jew of Treblinka: a survivor's memory 1942–1943. New York: Pegasus. ISBN 978-1-605-98342-4.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Megargee, Geoffrey P., ed. (2012). Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945. in association with United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253355997.
External links
- The History of Treblinka on the Yad Vashem website
- Treblinka – About the Holocaust – Yad Vashem – Including Video Testimony of Treblinka Survivor Eliyahu Rosenberg
- Treblinka from Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Project: "Forget You Not"
- Zchor.org, A year in Treblinka, eye-witness report by an escaped prisoner of the camp, Yankel Wiernik.
- Frontline – Treblinka
- Treblinka
- Treblinka Death Camp History
- Template:Pl icon Treblinka II
- Template:Cs icon Josef Gross: Přežil jsem (I survived)
- Interview (video) with Franz Suchomel (SS guard at Treblinka)
- Yankel Wiernik (Tuesday, June 02, 2009). "Unimaginable horror of Treblinka death camp (No imagination could conceive of the horrors of murder, rapine, and genocide at the Nazi death camps. A survivor recounts his time in a hell on earth.)". Spero News: Crime Section. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - An Interview with Samuel Willenberg, Treblinka survivor.