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Treblinka Extermination Camp
Konzentrationslager (Concentration Camp) Treblinka (Polish pronunciation: [trɛˈbʎinka]) was a Nazi extermination camp in occupied Poland during World War II near the village of Treblinka in the modern-day Masovian Voivodeship of Poland.
The camp, which was constructed as part of Operation Reinhard, operated between July 23, 1942 and October 19, 1943. During this time, approximately 850,000 men, women and children were killed at Treblinka. This figure includes more than 800,000 Jews, as well as an undetermined number of Romani people.
The camp, which was operated by the SS and Eastern European Trawnikis, consisted of Treblinka I and II. The first camp was a forced-labour center. Inmates worked in either the nearby gravel pit or irrigation area. Between June 1941 and July 23, 1944, more than half of its 20,000 inmates died from execution, exhaustion, or mistreatment.
Treblinka II was designed as a death factory. More than 99% of all arrivals at this site were sent immediately to its gas chambers where they were killed by exhaust fumes from captured Soviet tank engines. The small number who were not killed immediately became Sonderkommandos. These slave labor groups were forced to bury the victims' bodies in mass graves. Later corpses were burned on massive open-air pyres.
Killing operations at Treblinka II were ended on October 19, 1943, following a revolt by its Sonderkommandos. Several German guards were killed when 300 prisoners escaped. The camp was then dismantled and a farmhouse was built in an attempt to hide the evidence of genocide.
—————— Ten testemonies to the Polish investigation commission 1945:
- Oskar Strawshinski, who also made a testamony to Yad Washam Institute
- Schiek Warshawski
- Eugen Turowski
- Henryk Poswolski
- Meir Reichmann, who also made a testamony to Yad Washam Institute
- Aron Tchechowitch, who also made a testamony to Yad Washam Institute
- Alexander Kudlik, who also made a testamony to Yad Washam Institute and was interviewd by J-F Steiner
- Abe Kon
- Hennoch Brenner
- Samuel Reiseman[n], who also made a testamony to Yad Washam Institute
Further did the following surviving persons gave testamonies to Yad Washam Institute :
- Kalman Tajgman, who also was interviewd by J-F Steiner
- Yankel Wiernik
- Samuel Willenberg, who also was interviewd by J-F Steiner
- Schalom Kohn, who also was interviewd by J-F Steiner
- Tanchum Grinberg, who also was interviewd by J-F Steiner
- Simon Golberg
- Aron Scheideman
- Dudek Lewkowitch
- Eliahu Rosenberg, who also was interviewd by J-F Steiner
Jean-François Steiner also made interviews with the survivors, priro to his book about Treblinka.
- Sonja Grabinski
- Avraham Lindwasser
- Haim Schmoulovitch
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References:
Steiner, Jean-François Treblinka, la Revolte d'un Camp d'Extermination, Paris 1966, Libraire Artheme Fayard.
Translated into english, polish and swedish 1967. Translated into swedish 2002 Treblinka. Revolt i ett utrotningsläger. Albert Bonniers Förlag ISBN 91-0-057808-8.