Treblinka was a Nazi death camp during World War II. It was open from July 23, 1942 to October 19, 1943, during Operation Reinhard, the deadliest part of The Holocaust. The camp was located in a forest northeast of Warsaw in Poland (which was controlled by Nazi Germany at the time).
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The Nazis committed genocide at Treblinka as part of Adolf Hitler's Final Solution. They killed around 925,000 Jewish people; at least 2,000 Roma people; and an unknown number of Poles and Soviet prisoners of war at the camp.[1] In fact, the Nazis killed more Jews at Treblinka than at any death camp other than Auschwitz.[1]
Treblinka I: Labor camp
Nazi officials opened Treblinka in November 1941 as a forced labor camp. The Nazis sent two groups of people to Treblinka to work as slaves:[2]
- Jewish people; and
- Non-Jewish Polish people who had gotten into trouble
However, they kept the Jews and Poles in separate parts of the camp.[2]
Most of the prisoners at Treblinka worked in a gravel pit; in an irrigation area; or in the forest, where they cut wood to fuel the camp's cremation ovens.
Between 1941 and 1944, more than 20,000 people were prisoners at Treblinka I. More than half of them died from hunger, disease, mistreatment, and summary executions (executions without a trial).[3][4]
Treblinka II: Death camp
In July 1942, the Nazis finished building Treblinka II, a death camp, about a mile from Treblinka I. At this time, the Nazis were already murdering people at two other death camps: Belzec and Sobibor.[1]
At Treblinka II, the Nazis used carbon monoxide gas chambers and other methods to kill 927,000 people or more. These victims included at least 925,000 Jews; at least 2,000 Roma people; and an unknown number of Poles and Soviet prisoners of war.[1]
Sonderkommando
Most Jewish men who were sent to Treblinka were killed right away. However, a few were chosen to work in the camp's slave-labor units, called Sonderkommando.[5] When the Nazis murdered people in the gas chambers, they forced the Sonderkommando 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.[6]
In early August 1943, the Sonderkommando revolted. Several Nazi guards were killed and about 200 prisoners escaped from the camp.[7][8] Almost a hundred survived the chase that followed.[9][10] Because of this, in October 1943, the Nazis stopped killing prisoners in Treblinka's gas chambers.
Destruction
In late July 1944, the Soviet Red Army was getting close to Treblinka. Between 300 and 700 Jewish prisoners were left at the camp. The Nazi guards shot them all. The Nazis then quickly destroyed the camp. Before running away, they built a farmhouse for a watchman and sloughed over the ground to try to hide the evidence of their genocide.[11] Then they ran away from the camp.[2]
During the last week of July 1944, Soviet troops arrived at Treblinka.[1]
Related pages
References
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