Key Points
Location
Treblinka is located in northeastern Poland, about 80 kilometers (approximately 50 miles) northeast of Warsaw, near the village of Treblinka.
Establishment
The camp was established in 1942 as part of Operation Reinhard, the Nazi plan for the systematic extermination of Jews in occupied Poland. It became operational on July 23, 1942. Managed by the German SS with assistance from Trawniki guards, whom the SS recruited from among Soviet POWs.
Mass Extermination
Treblinka was designed primarily for the mass murder of Jews. An estimated 800,000 to 1 million people were killed at the camp, mostly Jews from Poland and surrounding countries. The mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto began on July 22, 1942, with the first transportation of 6,000 people. The gas chambers began to be operated the following morning. For the next two months, deportations from Warsaw continued daily, via two shuttle trains, each carrying about 4,000 to 7,000 people crying for water. The first daily trains came in the early morning, often after an overnight wait, and the second, in mid-afternoon. All new arrivals were sent immediately to the undressing area by the Bahnhofskommando squad that managed the arrival platform, and from there to the gas chambers, where they were murdered using carbon monoxide gas. The camp was designed for rapid extermination, with a system that allowed for the killing of thousands in a single day.. According to German records, including the official report by SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop, 265,000 Jews were transported in freight trains from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka during the period July 22, 1942 to 12 September 12, 1942. German SS and police authorities deported Jews to Treblinka from the Bulgarian-occupied zones in Thrace and Macedonia. They also deported approximately 8,000 Jews from Theresienstadt in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Living Conditions
The camp was characterized by brutal conditions. In addition to the mass killings, those who were not immediately killed faced starvation, forced labor, and violence.
Prisoner Revolt
A small number of Jewish men who were not murdered immediately upon arrival became members of its Sonderkommando whose jobs included being forced to bury the victims' bodies in mass graves. These bodies were exhumed in 1943 and cremated on large open-air pyres along with the bodies of new victims. The Sonderkommando organized a resistance group in early 1943. When camp operations neared completion, the prisoners feared they would be killed and the camp dismantled. During the late spring and summer of 1943, the resistance leaders decided to revolt. On August 2, 1943, prisoners quietly seized weapons from the camp armory. However, they were discovered before they could take over the camp. Hundreds of prisoners stormed the main gate in an attempt to escape. Many were killed by machine-gun fire. More than 300 did escape, though two-thirds of them were eventually tracked down and killed by German SS and police, as well as by military units. Gassing operations at Treblinka II ended in October 1943. Although it ultimately failed, the uprising demonstrated the courage and resistance of those held in the camp.
Destruction of Evidence
During late July 1944, with Soviet troops moving into the area, camp authorities and Trawniki guards shot the 300-700 remaining Jewish prisoners. They buried bodies in mass graves and destroyed many buildings to erase evidence of the atrocities committed there. The camp was hastily dismantled and evacuated. All traces of it were destroyed. The ground was plowed over in an attempt to hide the evidence of genocide. Lupine flowers were sown on the grounds, and an ethnic German farmer was installed on the property to camouflage the reality of what had occurred at this site.
