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Treblinka Death Camp

+The Beginning Treblinka I was established in June 1942. Started forced labor camp for those accused of

crimes by officials. Treblinka II was established in July 1942. Treblinka II was a strict death camp, and a

successful one at that. Located 50 miles northeast of Warsaw, Poland.

+The Dreadful Routine Trainloads of five to seven thousand people arrived at

the camp… Most people did NOT survive the miserable and jam packed train ride.

Upon arrival the deportees would hear a speech by an S.S. officer that told them they had arrived at a transit camp.

Prisoners were then moved through a selection process in which women and children were separated from the men. Those too sick to walk on their own were taken to a pit near the infirmary and shot.

All of the victims were then taken to a barracks where their hair was cut off.

From there they would be directed to the gas chambers.

+The Layout of Treblinka

+The Awful Gas Chambers Treblinka opened with three gas chambers in operation

but quickly expanded to fifteen (never reaching their goal of twenty-five.

In a brick building, the chambers appeared at first sight to be showers. Pipes attached to the ceiling brought the gas in to the death chambers through what looked like shower heads.

Prisoners were told that they were going in to a bath house to be cleansed. They would enter through one door.

Once the prisoners were inside the chambers, the order "Ivan, water!" shouted from a German to a Ukrainian guard would begin the gassing.

+Gas Chambers Continued… The gassing did not always happen quickly. Because the

victims were packed in to the room tightly, there was no room to move around. Consequently, the victims might stand for thirty to forty minutes before they actually died.

After death, the bodies would be removed through a door opposite the entrance of the chamber where all the body cavities would be searched for hidden valuables.

After this search the bodies would be dragged to mass graves for burial. When the mass graves became a problem, the Germans ordered the graves to be excavated and that the bodies be disposed of in a more efficient way. Starting in the Fall of 1942, this meant dragging the bodies and stacking them on a grid of old railway tracks for burning.

Once emptied of the bodies, the chambers would be cleaned and made ready for the next group of prisoners.

+The Deceitfulness of Treblinka Treblinka was set up as a train station and was referred

to as a “transit camp”. As prisoners arrived they were fooled in believing there

was hope, when really there only destination was death. S.S. Officials used phrases like “transport to the east”

when directing the prisoners; this was code for “to the gas chambers”.

The path to the gas chambers was referred to as “the tube” and that’s exactly what it was.

Jews and other prisoners would walk down the long tube with not even the slightest clue of where they were headed.

+The Sketchy Setting… Treblinka was a 60 acre piece of land. It was located in a heavily wooded area. Branches were woven into the barbed-wire fences and

trees were planted around the perimeter to serve as camouflage.

S.S. Guards and survivors from Treblinka have said that you could not see a single THING.. Just NOTHING beyond the fences.

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The Jerks “In Charge”

SS Captain Franz Stangl from August 1942 until August 1943

SS 2nd Lieutenant Dr. Irmfried Eberl from July 1942

until August 1942

SS 2nd Lieuten

ant Kurt

Franz from

August 1943

to Novem

ber 1943

+An Uprising at TreblinkaJewish inmates organized a resistance

group in early 1943.In the late Spring of 1943 the resistance

group leaders decided to revolt.Prisoners managed to seized weapons

from the armory, but were caught before they could take over the camp.

More than 300 did escape.. . However, most were tracked down and shot.

+The Devastating Death Toll At first the minimum number of people killed in Treblinka was

700,000. In 1969, however, after new evidence revealed in a report

reassessed to be the number to be 900,000. According to the Germans and the guards who were stationed in

Treblinka, the figure ranges from 1,000,000 to 1,400,000. It is somewhat difficult to assess exactly the number of those

killed, but the approximate number can be established on the basis of the Höfle telegram and surviving transport documentation.

Generally, it’s between 850,000 and 925,000.

+My Final WordsThis death camp DID exist. Hundreds of thousands were brutally

murdered and they should not be forgottenThis, and many other camps, have had a huge

impact on where we are today and who we are today… don’t take life for granted.

Remember those who were murdered… Remember Treblinka.