Figure 1.-- There are no images we know of depicting the killing process at Treblinka. There are numerous images transports being loaded destined for Treblinka at the warsaw Ghetto or other concentration points. This photograph was taken by Austrian soldier Hubert Pfoch on a train headed to the Eastern Front (August 22 1942). Jews here from Siedlce, a town in eastern Poland (at the time occupied central Poland) are being laoded on a train for transport to nearby Trblinka. Notice how gaunt the women are, after being starved for 3 years by the Germans. They obviously had been giving part og their meager rations to their children.

Treblinka was one of the most terrible death camps in terms of the number of Jews killed. There were two camps. Treblinka I was a forced labor camp used to manufacture gravel and support the killing operatioin at mearby Terblinka II. The camps were located about 100 km northeast of Warsaw, close to the village of Małkinia Górna. Treblinks was designed and built for the sole purpose of killing people. It was a very small camp as the victims were not to be housed there--only killed. It was one of the four secret camps of Aktion Reinhardt The NAZIs killed more than 0.75 million Jews at Teblinka. Some estimates are as high as 0.9 million Jews. This was a horredous death toll given that the camp only operated for 16 months. Treblinka is often seen as the most efficent of the NAZI industrial killing facilities. Thhis was all accomplished with an amazingly small German staff. Almost all of the victims were Jews. A small number of Gypseys (Roma) were also killed here. The Jews killed at Treblinka were primarily Polish Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto and smaller ghettoes like Random.. The killing began as soon as the gas chamber was completed (July 1942). Other Polish victims came from the more than a hundred villages in the area around Warsaw. But not just Polish Jews were killed at Trblinka. Jews from as far as Greece were murdered there. The victims were told that they were being taken to a transit camp before being transported to a new life in the East. As part of the deception, a fake train station was nuilt with a ticket counter nd clock. There was even music. The whole idea was tokeep the victims cal, for as long as possible to fvilitate the killing process. The killing occurrd in gas chambers. The killing agent was carbon monoxide (MO) produced by tank engines. Jews stage a revolt at Treblinka (August 2, 1943). They killed a few Germans and a few of the Jews managed to escape. Most were subsequently executed. The gassings at the camp, however, stopped (October 1943).

Aktion Reinhard Death Camp Backgrojund Background

Nisko or Lublin Plan (September 1939)

The Nisko Plan or Lublin Lublin Plan was an early SS effort to address the what they saw as their Jewish problem after the invasion of Poland. The NAZI's initial ppolicy toward the Jews was to isolate them from German society and encourage them to emigrate after first stealing their property. Here they made considerable progress, bu as aesult of the Austrian Anschluss (April 1938) and the seizure of the Sudehntlad (October 19138, and Czechoslovakia (March 1939), they found that they had more Jews than when they began. The partition of Poland with the Siviets brough eben larger numbes of Jew with in the expanding NAZI empire. Arange of groups began studing options for dealing with this problem. One of the vest known wasafter the fall of France to deport them to Madagascar. An early effort became one of Hitler's per programs. An early SS iniitiative drawn ip even as fighting was still underway in Poland was the Nisko-Lublin Plan (September 1939). This was described as the 'territorial solution to the Jewish Question' (September 1939). Initioal steps to implement it began immediately (October 1939). The idea was to create a kind of Jewish reservation, the Nisko Reservation. This was in the Lublin District of the General Government, the area of occupied Poland not annexed to the Reuch. It was tobe aiant concentration camp complx. Lublin and Nisko were cities in the area. The SS began by setting up forced labor camps next to the reservation. Labor for the campswas to be obtained in the reservation. The first camps were part of the Burggraben project devised to fortify the Molotiov-Ribbentrop Line demrking the new NAZI-Soviet border. Much of the NAZI leadership supported the effort, including Adolf Hitler and self-procclimed NAZI ideologist Alfred Rosenberg. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler assumed resonsibility for the project and began the planning process. Individuals involved in aspects of the planning included SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann; General Governor Hans Frank Arthur Seyss-Inquart also working in the General Government, and Gestapo Chief Heinrich Müller. Odilo Globocnik, the former Gauleiter of Vienna, wasappointed ti be the SS and Police Leader of the Lublin district. He worked closely with Himmler and was given charge of the reservation and camps. Himmler had about 95,000 Polish Jews Jews deported to the Reservation. The largest camp was Belzac which was part of the SS Burggraben project. In the end, however, the plan proved unworkable and was discontinued (April 1940). The Burggraben camps were temporarily closed after Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union (late-1940). Defensive works were no longer needed. The SS began e reactivate them in in 1941. The main camp was Belzac which would the first death camp, Two other death camps, Sobibor and Majdanek, were lsubsequently opened in the Lublin District. The Lipowa Camp became a Majdanek subcamp (1943).

Labor Camp

Belzec was the first labor camp in the General Government (NAZI-occupied central Poland).

Gassing

The first gassing operations in the Reich were conducted on handicapped children and the mentally retarded and ill--the T4 Program. After Barbarossa, there were gassing experiments on Soviet POWs. Carbon-monoxide was used as it was readily available as gasoline exhausts. Gassing had many advantages for the Germans. This was essentially amatter of efficency. The Einsatzgruppen in the Soviet Union with the onset of Barbarosa proved tht small groups could kill large numbers of people. But the killing squads spent most of theretime traveling and iounding up Jews. There actions were also very public and there was also the problem of disposing of the bodies. Gassing in purpoe designed facilities mean that the Jews could be bought to the killers, greatkly increasing the number of people who could be killed in a guven ime period nd rducing the number of Germans involved to a handfull. Tis solved the problm of the limited staff available to SS-Obergruppenführer Odilio Globocnik. [Musial, p. 31.]

Operation Barbarossa (June 1941)

Hitler launched his long awaited Barbarossa invasion of the Soviet Union (Jue 1941). It was the latgest military opetation in human history. The early results were stunning (June). The Luftwaffe obliterated thecRed Air Force. A stunned Stalin withdrew into seclusion. The Panzers drove rapidly drove deep into Soviet territory. Whole Soviet Armies were destroyed. The prioners taken ran into the millions. Hitler and his generals were sure that they had won the War. More stunning victories fillowed in July and August. Gradually Soviet resistahnce stiffened and aided by the T-34 tank and the weather slowed the German advance. The Soviet winter offensive (December 1941) threatened the whole unfolding process of the Holocaust. The Wehrmacht succeeded, however, in sabilizing the front (mid-April 1942), but only after massive losses. The NAZIs had been denied victory, but they still controlled Poland and areas of the western Soviet Union.

Operation Reinhard

The failure of Barbarossa undid Generalplan Ost. It had to be delyed so as not to disrupt Brbarossa. Now the Germans had no where in whoch to move the Poles and other Slavs. And they still had the Polish Jews on their hands. The decesion was made to delay dealing with the Poles, but simply murder the Jews. NAZI policy was already moving in tht dotection. It began with the Holocausr by bullets with rhe Einstazgruppen in the Soviet Union. Now the Holocausr by gas in Poland began. Work on Belzec and the other death camps were rushed to completion. These were small camps physically with minimal staffs, with one purpoise only--to kill. And they proved chillingly efficebt at murder. It was one of the four secret camps of the Aktion Reinhard killing operatiom s. [Arad] The others were Belzec, Sobibór and Majdanek).

Two Camps

Treblinka was one of the most terrible death camps in terms of the number of Jews killed. There were two camps. Treblinka I was a forced labor camp used to manufacture gravel. It was opened (1941). It was used as a punishment cmp for those arrested viloations of the draconian regilations issued by NAZI occupation authorities in the General Government. fter the decesion was taken to murder the Polish Jews, a second camp was erected nearby. It was a small camp and did not take long to build. Treblinka II was located mearby, designed and constructed by German companies using Polish and Jewish slave labor. Both labor and even materials were sources from the Warsaw Ghetto. [Hilberg] Treblinka I would be used to support the killing operatioin at Terblinka II. The two camps were located about 100 km northeast of Warsaw, close to the village of Małkinia Górna.

Design

Treblinka II was designed and built for the sole purpose of killing people. It was a very small camp as the victims were not to be housed there--only killed. The perimeter of the camp was surrounded by two barbed wire fences. The inner fence was kept covered with tree branches so as to hide what occurred inside the camp. All the Aktion Reihard camps were had similar designs based on the purose of killing large numbers of people as quickly as possible, To accomplish this the victims had to ne kept as calm as posible. Thus the purpose of the camps had to be desguised. If the vicyims saw what was going to happen, they would be difficult to handle and thus slow the killing process. Thus the design incorporate the lie of life and resettlement. This began with the Star of David on the front wall of Treblinka's gas house. A Hebrew script on curtains hung at the entrance read, "This is the gate through which the righteous pass." As part of the deception, a fake train station complete with a ticket counter and clock. It had the look of a familar train stantion. There was no crematorium. Instead the camp had a heavy excavator to dig burial pits.

Chronology

The killing at Treblinka began as soon as the gas chamber was completed (July 23, 1942). Jews stage a revolt at Treblinka (August 2, 1943). They killed a few Germans and a few of the Jews managed to escape. Most were subsequently executed. The gassings at the camp stopped (October 1943). By this time, most of the Polish Jews had been killed abd the Red Army ws approaching frim the East.

German staff

The first camp commandant was SS-Obersturmfuhrer Imfried Eberl. SS-Obersturmfuhrer. Franz Stangl replaced him (August 1942). The camp was run by SS officers and men. They used Ukrainian guards. The work was done by 700-1,000 Jewish prisoners. Some 2--30 SS men were the core of the camp staff. Security was largely provided by 90-120 Ukrainians guards. The Germans did not use Poles who they saw as unrelile. In adition to their role in the killing process, the Jews had to perform personal duties for the German and Ukrainian staff such as cooling, cleaning, tailoring, and laundry. [Gutman]

Arrival Process

The killing process of Treblinka was disheartingly efficent. The killing was accomplished with an amazingly small German staff. The same ruse was used at all the Aktion Reinhard camps. The ruse and process were identical. It only only varied as was necessary to accommodate the physical feature of the site and camp design. Treblinka was, for example, unable to accomodate lengthy trains because it had short ramps. Thus only a few rail cars at a time could be backed in to the camp compound and unloaded. Each train transport arriving carried 5,000-7,000 Jews. There was even an orcestra playingsoothing music to create an atmosphere of calm.. After they detrained and lined up, a SS officer informed them announced that they had arrived at a transit camp on the way to a new life in the East. This was the same cover story used at all the Aktion Reinhard death camps. The whole idea was to keep the victims quiet and compliant for as long as possible. This was necesary to facilitate the killing process and complete it as quickly as possible so the next train could be processed. The sick and elderly unable to were carted away by worker Jews for special attention at an informary. There away from the others they were shot an dumped inyo a pit. The rest of the transport was moved to a barracks where their hair was shorn. Often they were allowed to write postcards which were latter maled back to the larger gettoes. The Germans hoped that this would help perpetuate the resettlment ruse and encourage friends and relatives to cooperate in further transports.

Gas Chambers

The actual killing occurred in the gas chambers. Treblinka had three gas chambers when it opened. The Germans soon added more to increase the killing capcity. [Hilberg] It is believed that were six gas chambersm but historians are not positive. The gas chambers wre built in an inoculous-looking brick building. The chambers thenselves were designed to look like large public showers. After being shaved and writing post cards, the SS moved the victims toward the desguised gas chambers. The victims were told they were going to be 'deloused'. They then separated their victim into two groups, one of men and the other of women and children. This again was crefully thoughbout and designed to facilitate calm. Upon arriving at the gas chambers They were ordered to undress and if the groups were mixed this would have disrupted the whole process. Stripping the Jews was important to the Germans because many Jews had hidden valuables. The victims were then directed from the undressing area into the gas chamber. Often some held back. Surely some suspected what was happening. Others may have hesitated as they chamber was already filled. These people had tonbe driven into the chambers. The gas chambers had two large doors, a frontbinside door and a rear outside door. The Jews entered trough the froint door. The door was then sealed which of course would not have happened if they were showers. Each chamber could accomodate about 1,000 victims. The Germans made maximum use f the chambers and packed themntighly. Tthere was no room to move about. The killing agent was carbon monoxide (MO) produced by tank engines. Pipes attached to the ceiling led to what looked like shower heads. Actually they would bring the carbon moxoxide fumes into the chamber. Once the Jews were inside the chambers and the doors sealed, the SS officer overseeing the killing barked the order, "Ivan, water!" A Ukrainian guard would start the tank engines, begining the gassing. Death did not occur immediately. MO is inot a nerve agent. The gassing took about 20-40 minutes until everyone was dead. In this way some 5,000 pople were killed in just half an hour.

Final Steps

After there were no longer any sounds from he chamber and the victims were dea, the back doors were opened and the chamber venhilsted. Wirker Jews removed the bodies. They had to search body cavities for hidden valuables. The bodies were then carted to mass graves pit. There ws no crematoria. At first the bodies were just dumped in to open pits. Soon the mass graves became a problem. The Germans decided that they needed to incinerate the bodies. The worker Jews had to stack the corpses on a grid of old railway ties so they could be cremated. [Hilberg] Once the gas chambers were emtied, wirker Jews would clean to prepare them for the next transport. And even as the gassing ws in progress, some of the male Jews selected by the Germans wre set to work carrying bout the corpses of Jews who had died i the transport cars. And then cleaned the cars of the dirt and flh resulting from people croded togetger and being cooped up for days without any sanitary facilities. The transport cars could then be pulled out to make way for the next transport. Some Jews weredrivven on to the transport cars. Other were loaded in a miotre corgabized manner and brought luggage. Worker jews gathered the personal belongings and clothes. This was all searched, sorted, and stored in wearouses, eventuslly to be shipped bavk to the Reich. [Gutman]

Victims

Almost all of the victims were Jews. A small number of Gypseys (Roma) were also killed here. The Jews killed at Treblinka were primarily Polish Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto and smaller ghettoes like Random.. A typical smaller ghetto was the Rzeszów Ghetto. Other Polish victims came from the more than a hundred villages in the area around Warsaw. But not just Polish Jews were killed at Trblinka. Jews from as far as Greece were murdered there.

Worker Jews

Not all the Jews arriving in the transports were immediately killed. The vast majority were, but a small numbr were sekected to work at the camp. This would be only a temprary reprive. The worker Jews were perodically killed as well The Germns wanted no survivirs to testig=fy as to what occurred.

Death Toll

The NAZIs killed more than 0.75 million Jews at Teblinka. Some estimates are as high as 0.9 million Jews. This was a horredous death toll given that the camp only operated for 16 months.

Rebellion (August 1943)

Resistance was virtually impossible. The S men and Uktanian guards were heavily armed. There were, howver, someorganized resistance. Several incidents occurred with the incoming transports. A few SS men and Ukrainians were killedcor injured. An underground resistance movement was organized among the workers Jes at both Treblinka I and II. The most important act of resistance was aebellion at Treblinka II (August 1943). Some 50-70 worker Jews planned to seize weapons from the camp armory and destroy the gas chambers and then free the other worker Jews so they could escape into the surrounding forests. They expected mny others to join once the uprising was launched. The rebellion began well, but an alert SS man, Kurt Kuttner, noticed something suspesion. This forced the group to act sooner than planned and before they were all armed. The rebel Jews shot Kutner amd other guards. They set some camp buildings on fire. Masses of unarmed Jewish workers prisoners tried to storm the fence and escape. They were fired upon by guards who had autimatic weapons in the warchbtowers as well as alerted guards on the ground. Most of the Jews were killed are later hunted down. Some 70 Jews survived the War. [Gutman]

Cover Up

SS planners as the Einsatzgruppen intially thought that simply dumping bodies in mass graves would be the easiest sollution to disposing with the bodies. They had no doubt ht they were going to win the War. Even the dusaster before MOscow (December 1941). And thus the men, wome, and children murdered at Treblinkaere simplly dumped into mass graves. After all, after they won the War, no one would ask awkward questions. And after all, they believed no one would care about the Jews. Stalingrad came as a wake up call. Suddenly it ws clear that Grmany was not winning the War. And subsequent defeats made it incresingly clear that Germany might not only not in the War, but loe it and lose it decisively. Thus the SS decided to begin destroying the evidence of their crimes. The only problem was that their were mass graves all over the western Soviet Union and Poland. Finding the work of the Einsarzgruppen was a virtually impossible task, but some information was available as to the loction of many sites. Aktion 1005 was the SS effort to cover up the physical evidence of the Holocaust--2-3 million bodies burried in thosands of locations throughout Eastern Europe. The necesity was brought to bear with an intermatiinal furor arose over the bodies of Polish officers were discovered in the Katyn Forrest. They werev killed by the Soviet NKVD. Goebbels used the attrocity in his propaganda broadcasts (April 1943). But it was clear that if Germany lost the War, more than propaganda would be involved. NAZI officials might have to answer for the mass killijgs they had committed. THe SS assembled teans of Jewish slave laborers to open the graves and cremate the bodies on enormous pyres. And as part of this process, it was decied to destroy all physical evudence that the death camps had ever existed. . As the Red Army approached, the SS began to evacuaye the camp (fall 1943). After leveking the area, the SS builta farm over whatvhaf been the camp. A Ukrainian farmer was hired to begin farming.

Sources

Arad, Yitzhak. Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps.

Breitman, Richard. Official Secrets: What the Nazis Planned, What the British and Americans Knew.

Gilbert, Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century Vol. 2 1933-54 (William Morrow and Company, Inc.: New York, 1998), 1050p.

Gutman, Israel. Unequal Victims: Poles and Jews in World War Two (Yad Vashem - International Center for Holocaust Studies, 1996).

Hilberg, Raul. The Destruction of the European Jews.

Musial, Bogdan. "Przypadek modelowy dotycacy eksterminacji Zydów': Poczatki 'akcji Reinhardt'--planowanie masowego mordu Zydów w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie," Dariusz Libionka, ed., Akcja Rinhardt: Zaglada Zydów w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie (Warsaw: IPN, 2004), pp. 15-38.

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Created: 4:59 AM 5/25/2011
Last updated: 5:46 AM 1/7/2015