Treblinka Research Paper

“From door to door in forty-five minutes” was a common term heard around Treblinka, one of the most terrifying places on earth from July 1942 to November 1943. Forty-five minutes was the expected time to process and kill the prisoners coming off the trains from all parts of Poland. Treblinka, and many other camps, served as the final destination for many people, most notably the Jewish people. Stories of survival from Treblinka are rare, as there are only seventy known survivors, all but one, Samuel Willenberg, have since passed on. His story along with Kalman Taigman, are two of the most famous from Treblinka, but both have very different stories from one another. The residing Commandants of Treblinka took no mercy from their prisoners as
they were lucky to survive a full day, if that, as soon as they exited their train cars.
The stories of death and the mere chance of survival for 70 prisoners makes this camp one of the more infamous for all it has taken part in.
Treblinka operated officially between July 1942 and October 1943 during which Operation Reinhard was be taking place, the deadliest part of the Final Solution. 800,000 Jews as well as an unknown amount of Romani people died in its gas chambers or by execution. All of the victims were men, women, and children. At the end of it all, it was estimated that over 1,000,000 people perished in this execution camp.1 Treblinka was split up into two different parts, Treblinka I and Treblinka II. Treblinka I was a forced labor camp and would typically have 1,000-2,000 forced laborers at any given time. It was also said that during its existence, about 20,000 prisoners walked through there. Treblinka II was a much different camp. Set up into 3 different camps, Camp 1, 2, and 3. Camp 1 was the administrative and living compound for the Nazis. Camp 2, or Auffanglager, was the reception area for the prisoners coming in. From here,
prisoners would make their way down to two barracks where they would undress and give their possessions away for “safe keeping.” Those who were to sick, old, or difficult were sent to the Lazaret where they would be taken to the back, and then killed as they fell into a pit with other fellow Jews. One man, Willi Mentz, and his aid executed thousands of Jews. Camp 3, or Totelager, was also dubbed the “Camp of the Dead.” It was sealed off behind a myriad of camouflaged fences wrapped with barbed wire, which was a common theme throughout each camp. It had no crematorium, but five large pits where the bodies and belongings of the deceased were put in as they were buried or burned. Slave laborers who worked in Camp 3 never had to do any of the killing, just the hauling of dead bodies and cleaning out the gas chambers so the next round of Jews could come be executed. Deportations to Treblinka occurred far to frequently, most coming from the Warsaw Ghetto and Radom District.
“Between late July and September 1942, the Germans deported around 265,000 Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka. Between August and November 1942, SS and police authorities deported around 346,000 Jews to Treblinka II from the Radom District. From October 1942 until February 1943, the Germans deported more than 110,000 Jews from the Bialystok District (a section of German-occupied Poland that was attached administratively to German East Prussia) to Treblinka II.”2
More than half a million Jews were taken from these ghettos and forced to ride in crammed cattle cars where survival was not all too great in there either. Upon arrival at the Treblinka, there would be instances where full cars of people had perished.
Residing over Treblinka II killing center were “SS 2nd Lieutenant Dr. Irmfried Eberl from July until August 1942, SS Captain Franz Stangl from August 1942 until August 1943, and SS 2nd Lieutenant Kurt Franz from August 1943 until November 1943.”3 Franz Stangl, nicknamed, “The White Death,” took over Treblinka at a chaotic time and was given the task to reorganize the efficiency of mass murders.

"He proved to be a highly efficient and dedicated organizer of mass murder, even receiving an official commendation as the 'best camp commander in Poland'. Always impeccably dressed (he attended the unloading of transports at Treblinka dressed in white riding clothes), soft-voiced, polite and friendly, Stangl was no sadist, but took pride and pleasure in his 'work', running the death camp like clockwork.”4

Stangl always wanted to make a good impression amongst his peers and had a fine schedule that he ever so ritually abided by. Waking up early he would have his breakfast at 7, afterwards, he would process an incoming train of prisoners then would go to eat lunch. By the time he had sat down already, about 6,000 Jews would have died at Treblinka already. This occurred form September to November of 1942 where 438,000 Polish Jews would meet their final fate. More people died in Treblinka in 1942 than at any time in one place in the history of mankind.5 Many atrocities like this have taken place, but none as extreme as what was going on in this death camp for those three dark, abysmal months. Franz Stangl conditioned his men to kill. The humiliation and dehumanization was done “to condition those who actually had to carry out the policies,” and “to make it possible for them to do what they did.”6
Franz Kurt, who worked his way through the ranks as a cook and to finally ending up as the camp’s commandant until it’s liquidation in November of 1943. Kurt, nicknamed “the Doll,” for his begrudgingly good looks, made it clear to the prisoners that they were under his control. Upon entering the execution camp, the prisoners were to memorize the camp song if they had not yet been killed. These prisoners would eventually become the slave laborers. If they failed to memorize the song by nightfall, they were to be killed. Franz also liked to walk around with his dog, Barry, and have him bite someone’s crotch or buttocks for pleasure. Franz loved to torture. In fact, there would be a day that didn’t go by that he would physically hurt or kill someone. Franz was also a fan of boxing and would routinely use Jews as his personal punching bags, one for each day. Kicking and killing babies was also another one of his favorite things to while stationed at Treblinka. This man was undoubtedly the most feared man in all of Treblinka.7
Of the seventy survivors, two men, Sameul Willenberg of Częstochowa, Poland, and Kalman Taigman are notably the most famous. Their chances of surviving Treblinka were virtually none. Both have their own different story of how they survived and how they managed to keep safe after they fled from Treblinka. Backtrack a year or so earlier and we have two young men, from two separate towns in Poland separated from their families. Samuel was taken from his mother and sisters and was sent to Treblinka. Kalman, was sent with his mother from the Warsaw Ghetto and were quickly split up as his mother was sent straight to the shower. Kalman said about Treblinka is that, “There were flowers planted on the ground, and of course people couldn't imagine where they were. They [the SS] painted the huts and put up all sorts of signs as if it was a real railway station. I remember that once one of them said these words – I'll never forget these words – he said it in German, "Come quickly because the water is getting cold!" That's how far they went. The manner in which it worked was macabre, and it was a horrible thing to see.”8 The Germans went so far that they wanted to make the concentration camp seem like a destination. The prisoners will soon know what lies underneath the disguise though. Sam, when getting off the train, was approached by a man from his hometown of Częstochowa and told him to be a “brick layer,” so that he wouldn’t get killed. At the time, Samuel was unaware of what this meant and why he was doing it, but later he would realize that this man probably saved his life in one way or another. His father was a painter so he put on his uniform and when the SS Officer asked where the bricklayer was, he stepped up. He would work in Camp 2 where everyday he would see friends shot down next to him while he was forcibly being worked to death. Over his time at Treblinka, Samuel worked various jobs throughout the camp. One day, he had the task of being a barber. It was here where he met Ruth Dorfman, a young Jewish teen who couldn’t be any older than 19. She stripped down naked and sat down so Samuel could shave her head. Afterwards as she stood up and said farewell, Samuel knew he wasn’t the only person she was saying goodbye too. He notes that she was “saying farewell to the world” because right after she would be sent to the gas chamber. It was a surreal moment for him and is a memory that would stick for a lifetime. Samuel endured another harship while at Treblinka. One day he was assigned to take the clothes from the cattle cars where the prisoners were still in. He had entered a car where his two little sisters, Itta and Tamara, had been because he had recognized Tamara’s coat because it had gotten too small for her and his other sister’s skirt. He couldn’t do anything about it. By the time he had entered the car it was too late, they were already en route to the gas chamber where they awaited their fate. Later, when Samuel would meet up with his father, he would have to tell him of the news. Kalman and Samuel would both escape during the Treblinka Prison Revolt.
The Treblinka Prison Revolt came about when the tides were turning for Germany during WWII.
“News of the German defeats filled the Jewish prisoners with both hope and trepidation. Many feared that the SS would soon liquidate the camp and its remaining prisoners so that all evidence of their heinous crimes would be destroyed.”9 Those who were in the camp wanted a way to escape and tell someone of the war crimes that the German’s were committing. The revolt was staged by the “Organizing Committee,” which consisted of Dr. Julian Chorazycki, “camp elder” Marceli Galewski, former Czech army officer Zelo Bloch, Zev Kurland, and Jankiel Wiernik, a carpenter who worked in the extermination area.”10 Samuel was unaware that the staging of a revolt was about to occur. How Samuel found out was in a truly remarkable way. While he was stationed with an Austrian guard, and elderly man walks into the room he is in, already stripped down and about to be executed, pleaded out that there is a conspiracy being planned to escape, but the Austrian guard couldn’t understand him and proceeded to shoot the man in the head. Leading up the revolt, the committee was faced with a major setback. Chorazycki, who was charged with the task of acquiring arms from outside was caught by the deputy commandant and would eventually commit suicide to prevent any other information from escaping. After hearing news of a revolt in the Warsaw Ghetto from prisoners coming off the trains, their morale’s and
strengthened their attack. The revolt would finally take place on August 2, 1943. Kalman and Samuel each escaped their own way. Samuel first raided, with other prisoners, the armory to acquire weapons. On his way out, Samuel and a priest were fleeing together, the priest had been shot and asked Samuel to finish him off so the German’s wouldn’t torture him to death. Samuel proceeded and fled to Warsaw where he joined a resistance to fend off the Germans. Kalman’s plan was much different. Fleeing with a group of prisoners, they found shelter in a barn and began to dig a makeshift bunker where they would live in for an extended period of time.
Later on, Sam and Kalman would go on to live their lives as friends, both eeventually making Aliyah, a pilgrimage to Israel to become citizens. Samuel would meet his wife in Poland, who escaped the Warsaw Ghetto. Kalman and three others were asked to appear in the trial of Adolf Eichmann, who had been kidnapped in Argentina by Israelis. He would appear before Eichmann and testify the war crimes the German’s committed at Treblinka. Their stories have been shared throughout the world. Sadly, as of 2012, Kalman passed away from a brain tumor leaving behind his wife, son and two grandchildren to keep his story alive.11 Now, only Samuel is the last survivor from Treblinka at 91 years old. With great enthusiasm and emotion, he speaks, gives tours, and has written a novel. Samuel has also turned his memories into artwork that has been showcased worldwide in galleries.
Surviving the Holocaust in general was no easy feat and was mainly based off of luck and determination. Surviving Treblinka though was harder than getting into Fort Knox without getting caught. Eyes on you like a hawk and a guard always willing to unleash a fury of pain on a prisoner. Not only was this one of the most feared places, but, Treblinka served as a message to the world. More people died in one year here, 1942, than any other place in the history of Earth. “Here is death, only death,” were Samuel Willenberg’s words describing Treblinka, and it is exactly what this place was, death. Today, the camp is now marked with memorials to symbolize a cemetery as well as a large stone memorial for all of Treblinka. “The great monument in Treblinka is a homage of the Polish people to those ashes lie under the concrete plates of the symbolic cemetery. It is one of the most tragic monuments of martyrdom in Poland.”12 To those who passed, we will never forget.