Treblnka

Next to Auschwitz, Treblinka is believed to be an extermination camp where the largest number of people were murdered by the Nazis; between 700,000 and 900000. However, unlike Auschwitz, Treblinka formed part of Operation Reinhard.

Since I first visited Poland in 2009, which first ignited my interest in the Holocaust, I have always wanted to visit the former site of the Treblinka Extermination Camp. I finally made it in 2016.

Although the former camp site is similar to Belzec and Sobibor, in that most of the camp has now gone, it was by far the highlight of all the trips I have made to the various former camp sites.

Treblinka - Treblinka I was formed of two distinct areas, separated by approximately 1.5km. The labour camp was in operation between June 1941 and August 1944 and the extermination part of the camp performed as part of the Operation Reinhard from the end of July 1942 and the middle of August 1943. Approximately 20000 people passed through the labour camp with approximately half of them dying from disease, exhaustion and hunger. There were between 1- 2000 prisoners who lived in wooden barracks, mainly Polish but also included some Jews. The prisoners from the labour camp were forced to work in an open gravel pit, producing road material for use by the Germany military and part of a strategic road building programme in the Soviet Union. And the forest cutting wood, which was used as fuel for the open-air crematorium.

From April to June 1942 some of these prisoners dug the foundations for the extermination part of the camp. The extermination part of the camp, Treblinka II,  was located in a forest approximately 4km from Treblinka station and approximately 50km from Warsaw (the proximity relevant to its role; extermination of the Warsaw Jews hold-up in the ghetto. The camp was surrounded by a double row of barbed wire with a patrol area between the two fences.

Treblinka II was divided into 3 parts, Camp 1 was the administrative part and where the guards lived, Camp 2 was the receiving area which included the railway unloading ramp that extended from the Treblinka line that entered the camp where incoming prisoners were off-loaded and Camp 3 where the gas chambers were located. This camp was surrounded by barbed wire and was camouflaged by spruce branched.

Sobibor Construction work has begun in March 2017

I have just noted that work has finally began on the new museum a the former site of the Sobibor Extermination camp ( March 2017). I am glad that I have visited the former site at Sobibor before the work begins in case the authorities create another concrete megastructure as they did at Belzec.  When you visit Belzec you are amazed by the size of the concrete structure rather than thinking about what used to be there, an extermination camp. When I visited Sobibor last year, in its current form, I could feel the isolation of the location of the camp and the desolation from where the Nazis had tried to erase their crimes. I have looked at the plans of what the authorities are building at the former extermination camp, and I feel that this may be spoilt, as they have done ay Belzec and Treblinka 2. I can understand the need for memorials to commemorate all those that died in these camps, however the size of the memorials have changed the character of these sites. I feel this will now happen in Sobibor.


The red sculpture of a woman holding
a child at Sobibor



The memorial structure a Belzec




The memorial at Treblinka 2

As I mentioned in the blog, at Sobibor I found a sculpture of a woman holding a child. This was as striking a sculpture as any of the larger monuments I saw at any of the camps.  By building these large memorial structures I feel that something has been lost from these camps, and Sobibor is heading that way, its a shame.

Treblinka - The Labour Camp - Overview

I drove into the area where the labour camp was located. The remains of the labour camp is situated in a large clearing surrounded by tall trees. I started by taking a video and a few pictures showing the whole area showing a panoramic view of the area. It was quite windy on the day that I visited (evident from the video) and the trees creaked and made odd noises that put a shiver down my back.  I have visited several camps, but my visit to the labour camp made me feel very uncomfortable.

Shows the area where section 3 of the
labour camp would have been located.
Foundations of the a storeroom in the
foreground.











Shows the area of Section 1.
The foundations in the foreground are
the former barracks for Jewish men
and the tailor barracks behind.

Apparently this area was segregated from the rest of the camp and surrounded by a double fence of barbed wire that enclosed a patrol corridor where the guards would patrol the perimeter, presumably with dogs. Interestingly there was an undisturbed ploughed strip in this controlled region that would show footprints if anyone entered it. None of this remains.

The area containing the prisoners was divided into three sections: Section 1 contained the kitchen and sewing shops (where I took the pictures above), Section 2 is where Jews lived that were used for forced labour (in the middle of the area) and finally section 3 is where the Polish prisoners lived (furthest part of the clearing). The photographs I took while visiting the labour camp concentrate on Section 1 and 2, as there did seem to be much left in the furthest part where section 3 would have been located.

Sobibor - The location of the Gas Chambers

Following extensive archaeological works in the past few years at Sobibor it is now thought' that the foundations of up to eight chambers have been found on the ground in front of the Polish monument. After Sobibor had been lost to history following its obliteration by the Germans in 1943, could the recent discoveries finally begin to reveal exactly what happened at the Sobibor extermination camp?

As these excavations have been re-buried I have included an aerial photograph produced as a result of the archaeological work in 2014 led by Yoram Haimi that shows where the foundations to several buildings had been discovered, thought to be gas chambers, with the crematorium laying somewhere behind.

The area around the Polish Monument was cordoned off by large metal fences on both of my visits.

During my first trip to Sobibor back in January 2016 the area that had been excavated in 2014 where building foundations that are thought to represent the gas chambers were covered in snow.

The area cordoned off by the security
fence with the Sobibór extermination
camp memorial in the distance

Polish Monument surrounded by the
security fence, Jan 2016.

The metal fences contain an area of loosely scattered sandy soil that covers the area where excavations had been carried out in 2014. Although it was covered in snow I took several photographs of the area contained by the security fences.

Area in front of the Polish Memorial
thought to contain the foundations of
the gas chambers.

Area to the left of the Polish Memorial
thought to contain the foundations with
the crematorium in the distance

Area directly in front of the Polish Memorial
thought to contain the foundations of
the gas chambers

Area to the right of the Polish Memorial.
The gap in the trees in the distance leads
back to the railway amp
 

Area in front of the Polish Memorial taken
next to the memorial.

Returning in October I managed to get some photographs of the area contained within the security fencing without the snow.

 

There is decent in the camp amongst the experts concerning the significance of the foundations found in 2014. Apparently it has been pointed out that the foundations unearthed by the excavations and dimensions revealed contradict all earlier eye witness reports from survivors and former guards. Apparently the shape of the walls and the building do not match the buildings described by eye witnesses. While the foundations uncovered in 2014 showed several irregular shaped and different sized rooms, the eye witness accounts talk about rooms of the same size.

Historian Peter Winters pointed out that there was no evidence that the foundations uncovered were actually those of the gas chambers. Therefore to finish this section which is one of the most important as it represents 'the gas chambers location', the existence of which have become synomonous across the various extermination camps of Operation Reinhard, I note that the foundations unearthed are 'thought' to be those of gas chambers in Lager III of the Sobibor extermination camp and I am sure the arguments will continue.

Personally I feel that these people are transfixed on finding any solid foundations that they can claim are gas chambers without, as far as I can see, any firm evidence.

Sobibor - Lager III, Polish Monument and the Sobibór extermination camp memorial

There are two monuments currently positioned in the grounds of the former extermination camp, located in an area that was formally Lager III. The first is a cuboid block that for the purposes of this blog will be called the 'Polish Monument' and the other is a large spherical dome that this blog will call the Sobibór extermination camp memorial, located towards the back of the site.

The Polish Monument

The cuboid block represents where a brick building with gas chambers once stood. Previously there was a red stone sculpture in front of the cuboid structure that represents a woman, looking up at the sky, holding a small child in her arms. I have seen this in photographs taken by other people. There has been a huge amount of archaeological work all across the site over he past 7 years, especially around the area previously occupied by the two monuments. I can only assume that the red stone sculpture was removed during this work, while it was deemed too big to move the cuboid block. I did not see this sculpture during my visit in January, but in October I found it tied to a pallet behind the temporary museum building. It is a breath-taking sculpture and I am glad I saw I in the flesh, finally.



Red stone sculpture represents a woman
looking up at he sky holding a small child

Red stone sculpture at the former grounds
of the Sobibor Extermination camp

In January: The large spherical dome I have called the Sobibór extermination camp memorial is apparently a mound of the sand mixed with ashes and bone fragments of the Jewish victims surrounded by a wall. In January we walked to the memorial. The area around the  Sobibór extermination camp memorial and the pathway is thought to contain several mass graves.

The relative position of the Cuboid block and the Sobibór
extermination camp memorial

The large spherical dome at Sobibor



When we returned in October the whole area leading to the Sobibór extermination camp memorial was cordoned off and access forbidden. I can only assume that the archaeological work continues. The photographs below show where several mass graves are thought to be located around the Sobibór extermination camp memorial.


No entry to the pathway or area around
the Sobibor ExterminationCamp
Memorial in October 2016.



The pathway to the  Sobibor Extermination
Camp Memorial and surrounding area
cordoned off.



 

The Sobibor Extermination Camp Memorial.
In the foreground is the suspected location
 of the various mass graves.
The area had been cordoned off.

The area of ground to the right of the
pathway leading to the Sobibor
Extermination Camp Memorial thought
to contain mass graves..
The area had been cordoned off.






Sobibor - The Road to Heaven 'Himmelfahrtstrasse' or 'the tube' leading to Lager III

Once the victims had been stripped of everything they were driven along the 'Road to Heaven' which lead directly to the gas chambers. During operation of the extermination camp the path would have been lined with barbed wire and camouflaged to prevent those outside from seeing what was happening.

The barb wire and camouflage was removed along time ago and replaced by a neat and well manicured 'Lane of Remembrance' lined with stones inscribed with the names of villages and towns where victims came from (similar to those towns displayed at Belzec and Treblinka). At the far end of the path is a small monument remembering those that were murdered at Sobibor.

The Lane of Remembrance

The Lane of Remembrance

The Lane of Remembrance. The proposed position of the 'Road to Heaven'.

The Lane of Remembrance

The monument at the end of the Lane
of Remembrance that contains an
inscription.

The plaque at the end of the Road to Heaven.

The road to heaven is not straight so that people coming from behind could not see what was happening to the people in front.





I have noted from my reading on the Sobibor extermination camp that some people feel that the position of what now represents the path of the Road to Heaven should be further to the right.

Although it is now suggested that the remains of the gas chamber have been found near the Polish memorial, I took a series of pictures in an ark from left to right at the end of the Road to Heaven near the memorial. Within this series of photos, the area of woodland in front of the Road to Heaven includes the area where Lager III is thought to have been located which contained the gas chambers. No one will ever know the pain and torture people went through on their way to certain death.



The area of Lager III No. 1

The area of Lager III No. 2

The area of Lager III No. 3

The area of Lager III No. 4

The area of Lager III No. 5

The area of Lager III No. 6.
The monument can be seen in the distance

The area of Lager III No. 7

The area of Lager III No. 8

I took the same series of photographs back in January 2016 with my Niece standing near the small monument at the end of the Lane of Remembrance as it is represented today.

The last photograph of the series panned round further to the right and shows the distance to the Polish monument where it is suspected the gas chambers were located



The view of the Polish Monument from the end of the Lane
of Remembrance.