Treblinka is a concentration camp near Warsaw (Poland), where in the period from 1942 to 1943 the Nazis destroyed the Jewish population of the occupied country. Researchers believe that about eight hundred thousand people died here, and most of them were Jews. Now the memorial in memory of the innocent victims of the Holocaust reminds of those terrible events.
The executioners acted in a regime of extreme secrecy: around the perimeter, at a kilometer distance from the camp, guards were posted, opening fire on anyone who came closer than expected. Railroad workers and military personnel accompanying trains were not allowed into the camp on pain of death. Moreover, even Luftwaffe aircraft were forbidden to fly in these coordinates.
Jews of Poland
Poland is a country in which a huge Jewish diaspora was concentrated. By the beginning of the occupation by the Germans, its number was more than three million people. Among them were outstanding scientists, teachers, artists - Hitler's machine spared no one.
Some, sensing danger, moved to the territory of the USSR and Belarus in time, another part fled to Vilnius. Thus, underAs of September 1, 1939 (the date of the capture of Poland), 2 million Jews remained in the Nazi department. All of them were subjected to a "final decision". Already on September 21, a working group was meeting, which decided to create reservations where Jews from the occupied territories would be concentrated.
Thus, three ghettos are being created on the territory of Poland - special places where the Nazis place the Jewish population. Life in the ghetto is hunger, disease, deprivation and humiliation. But this did not solve the issue of destruction. This is how a monstrous plan arises - the so-called Operation Reinhard, at the peak of which places of destruction are created, including the Treblinka concentration camp. Jews were sent here mainly from the Warsaw ghetto. But we will talk about this later.
History of Creation
When was Treblinka built? The concentration camp, whose history is so sad, began to exist in 1942. By order of Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler dated April 17, the construction of an extermination camp began. Arpad Wiegand, the fascist governor of Warsaw, was appointed responsible.
After solving bureaucratic delays, construction began at the end of May, and already on July 22 of the same year, the Treblinka concentration camp received the first Warsaw Jews. Initially, the unfortunate were not exterminated in such horrendous numbers, but soon, by October 1942, after the construction of additional gas chambers and crematoria, the infernal extermination machine was in full operation.
Treblinka (concentration camp) existed until 1943. The turning point was the uprising of the prisoners of the workercamp, after which this terrible place was liquidated.
Infrastructure
How did this place function? How did the Nazis manage to destroy thousands of people at a time: women, the elderly and children? Compositions of twenty wagons, crowded with people, went straight to the destruction in the gas chambers. By the way, the film “Treblinka Concentration Camp” describes these moments well, allowing you to plunge into the horror of what is happening.
Let's consider the structure of Treblinka. So, 80 km from Warsaw on the field, four kilometers from the village of the same name, there was a place where Polish Jews were brought for reprisal. A large clearing of 24 hectares was fenced with a three-meter barbed wire fence, to which high voltage was applied.
In addition, there was a three-meter ditch - an additional means of protection against shoots. The territory itself was in the ring of the forest. A branch of the railway approached the camp, along which the doomed were delivered.
The camp itself was divided into two. In the first (Treblinka 1) prisoners were concentrated, providing some of the infrastructure of the camp. Of course, for the most part, the so-called "labor camp" was a place of slow death for the unfortunate. The second - Treblinka 2 - was intended exclusively for the murder of Jews. On its territory were barracks for undressing, gas chambers, crematoria and ditches for burial. In addition, the so-called Sonderkommandos lived here - Jews selected to serve the slaughter. At certain intervals they changed (the "old" Sonderkommandoskilled).
Treblinka is a concentration camp, which was served by 30 SS soldiers, in addition, Ukrainians and prisoners of war who went over to the side of the enemy were involved. Franz Stengel was appointed commandant. After the war, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Known prisoners: J. Korczak
Treblinka claimed many human lives. The concentration camp deprived the world of outstanding people. The great Polish teacher Janusz Korczak, author of the book King Matt the First, died there. He also wrote many books on pedagogy, in which he explained how to properly love a child, focused on children's rights to respect. His whole life was in the children, and when the Nazis came to power, Korczak took care of his pupils in every possible way - the children from the Orphanage. First in the ghetto, and then in Treblinka.
They wanted to save him, take him out of the ghetto, then there was another chance - they were ready to remove Korczak from the car leaving Warsaw for the last refuge - Treblinka. He refused. Heroically, Korczak entered the gas chamber with the children, comforting the little ones, encouraging the elders.
S. Pullman: Tormented Musician
Simon Pullman, an outstanding musician and teacher, is another one whose life was cut short by Treblinka. The concentration camp was the last station for him after living in the Warsaw ghetto. There he created a symphony orchestra, and then, together with fellow musicians, died in a gas chamber. The true date of the death of the musician is unknown, as well as the events preceding it.
1943 uprising
In 1943, the death camps and the ghetto are gripped by a wave of uprisings. More likely,the impetus was the brutally suppressed rebellion in the Warsaw ghetto. Although the prisoners understood their weakness compared to the German war machine, they preferred to die fighting for freedom.
The Treblinka uprising was doomed from the start. Indeed, what can people, exhausted by labor and hunger, armed only with picks and shovels, do against camp employees with machine guns in their hands? However, the prisoners deliberately went for it.
The reason was the so-called "Operation 1005". After the deportation of the last train with Jews from Warsaw, the Nazis needed to cover up the traces of crimes as carefully as possible. The remaining 1,000 prisoners were forced to dig ditches with buried victims and burn half-decomposed corpses.
Gradually, the unfortunate come to realize that as soon as they finish their work, they will be killed. And so the idea of rebellion was born. During the rebellion, the camp was almost completely burned down. Most of the prisoners were shot while trying to escape, others were caught in the forests, forced to finish their work and also shot. Only a few managed to escape. Among them was Samuel Willenberg.
Samuel Willenberg is one of the survivors
Luckily did not take the life of Samuil Willenberg Treblinka. The concentration camp (you can see a photo of it in the article), where he arrived on one of the trains, immediately seemed strange to Samuel. Therefore, he heeded the advice of one of those who met him to call himself a bricklayer. Thus, he became the sole survivor of the thousands doomed from hiscomposition.
He lived in Treblinka, doing a variety of jobs: from sorting things to a member of the Sonderkommando. Willenberg's escape was successful - he was wounded in the leg, but managed to escape. Moreover, Samuel found his father alive and joined the underground. He died at the end of February 2016. After himself, Willenberg left a book of memoirs "The Uprising in Treblinka".
Memorial
What is Treblinka (concentration camp) now? The memorial at the site of the horrendous murders makes everyone remember the horrors of the Holocaust. It was opened in 1964. It is a monument, and around 17 thousand stones are symbolic. That is how many people were destroyed in the camp at one time.
The place that evokes especially strong emotions, where the corpses were burned in 1943, is a few rails burned and covered with a black layer of soot.
In the same 1964, the Museum of the Memory of the Victims of Nazism was opened in Treblinka.
