Michal Chocholatý, Chris Webb: The Treblinka Death Camp by ibidem Press

Chris Webb & Michal Chocholatý

The Treblinka Death Camp History, Biographies, Remembrance

Chris Webb & Michal Chocholatý

THE TREBLINKA DEATH CAMP History, Biographies, Remembrance

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. Cover design: Tom Nixon

Second, revised and updated edition ISBN-13: 978-3-8382-1546-4 © ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart 2021 Alle Rechte vorbehalten Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulässig und strafbar. Dies gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und elektronische Speicherformen sowie die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Printed in the EU

For Artur Hojan and Robert Kuwalek

Dedicated to the memory of Richard Glazar, Shmuel Goldberg, Eliahu Rosenberg, Kalman Teigman, Samuel Willenberg and all the victims of Treblinka And to a special arrivals Genevieve-Arden and Amelia Rae

Foreword

The Holocaust was a set of events that engulfed an entire continent. The Nazi occupation of Europe pursued Jews from Greece to the Soviet Union. The survivors have been scattered around the globe. In recent years the memory of these events has become a global discourse—there is a UN mandated Remembrance Day and the Holocaust has become a kind of moral touchstone which is held up as the central event of the twentieth century. As a consequence, whenever one thinks of the Holocaust, one inevitably thinks in terms of scale—of six million dead, of journeys of thousands of miles. The rhetoric of Holocaust studies—as attempts to understand the Holocaust have become defined—also emphasize the enormity of the events with which we are grappling. We are constantly reminded of the idea that the Holocaust is both unrepresentable and unimaginable. Part of this rhetoric is the idea that the Final Solution operated on an industrial scale, and that the concentration camps need to be understood as factories of death. Within this epic memory it is the camp at Auschwitz that provides much of the iconography both through contemporary images (the unmistakable tower at the entrance of Auschwitz-Birkenau for example) and the images bequeathed by the memorial museum, the apparently endless stacks of human hair, or the piles of shoes and suitcases. Reading Chris Webb and Michal Chocholatý’s book on Treblinka one is somewhat paradoxically struck by the essential truth of that epic memory, but at the same time of some of its inherent distortions—by the degree to which Treblinka in some ways conforms and in some ways denies this epic memory. In Treblinka a meticulously constructed factory of death did emerge, where killing ultimately was the only function of the facility. This factory consumed, according to the numbers collected here, some 885 thousand lives. Such an observation is scarcely credible and one is tempted to simply throw up one's arms in despair and declare such events unimaginable. vii

Yet the detail brought together here, some of it for the first time in the English language, also provides a timely warning about surrendering to such rhetoric. This is not an unrepresentable or more precisely unimaginable horror. As Alan Confino argues in his recent Foundational Pasts, the Final Solution was and is imaginable—precisely because it was imagined by its perpetrators. Chris Webb's reconstruction of Treblinka reminds us of this over and over again. This was a camp in which the technology of death was continuously refined and made more efficient. While the end result might have been a cleaner process, it was not one in which the perpetrators were distanced from their crimes because the means of carrying out those crimes had been considered, reconsidered; imagined and re-imagined, over and over again. One is also reminded in Webb and Chocholatý’s book of another, at times neglected reality of the Holocaust. Despite the implications of the epic memory I described, the Final Solution did not take place on another planet. Despite the desires of the perpetrators to keep their crimes secret—the building of an imaginary train station at Treblinka being the most obvious indicator of that—they were not. Although the reality of what was occurring in the death camps might have been obscured, these places were public spaces with which local populations engaged in a variety of ways—some of which are testified to here. And despite the scale of the death toll, one is also reminded by Webb's book just how small places like Treblinka were and as such that the seismic events of the Holocaust were in many ways rather intimate too. Covering just a few hundred square meters, and with a largely identifiable staff, Treblinka was a place in which victims and perpetrators confronted one another repeatedly. This intimacy is reconstructed here and as such Treblinka emerges as very much representable. These are epic events, but they took place in spaces that are only too conceivable in the human imagination. And it was of course because Treblinka was constructed on a small scale that in the aftermath of Aktion Reinhardt the camp could be dismantled and disguised. One of the consequences of this is that to visit Treblinka today is to visit a space in which there are no visible remains from the camp itself. Treblinka therefore stands, viii

perhaps more than any other place, as representative of the void which the Final Solution represents. Yet it is thanks to works like Webb's and the scholarship that he and his co-author represent here that we can know something of what happened there. We can hear the voices of surviving victims, and of course of the perpetrators themselves. We can in that sense win a small victory over the Nazis' efforts to destroy and to expunge Jews and Judaism from this world, and of course to expunge the memory of their own destructiveness. We can, thanks to collections of material like this, continue to proclaim that, in the words of Primo Levi, it has been. We can, however imperfectly, see into the void. Professor Tom Lawson Northumbria University

A mightly important book, one sure to contribute to both scholarly and popular understandings of this human inferno—highly relevant for those wanting to better understand the Nazis’ unprecedented industrialized mass-murder that formed such a horrifically integral part of the Holocaust. Professor Matthew Feldman, Director Centre For Analysis of the Radical Right (CARR)

Chris Webb has been studying the Holocaust for over forty-five years. He has had five books published by ibidem-Verlag on Adolf Hitler’s extermination camps. He has also given lectures and presentations at a number of universities, on Aktion Reinhardt and other aspects of the Holocaust. He has founded and co-founded a number of Holocaust websites, such as the Holocaust Historical Society, and has acted as an advisor to the Imperial War Museum and the BBC. He is a member of the Tiergartenstrasse4 Association and a Senior Fellow of CARR. He is also a member of The Treblinka Extermination Camp Group online-resource.

Michal Chocholatý is a historian who focuses on Treblinka and Sobibor. He hails from Pilsen, Czech Republic. He has interviewed a number of the Treblinka and Sobibor death camp survivors, and has published a book of these interviews during 2019, in his native Czech language.

Authors' Introduction for the revised editon

Chris Webb at the Treblinka Death Camp—July 23, 2002 This is a revised and updated version, incorporating new information and providing sources for the Jewish Roll of Remembrance. A significant number of new entries have been added and incorrect entries have been removed. I am extremely grateful to ibidem-Verlag for allowing the printing of a second edition. I must thank Valerie Lange of ibidem for her expertise and support. The Roll of Remembrance has also been greatly expanded to include the names of Jews deported from Germany to Treblinka. In addition, more names have been added to the Perpetrators biographies, and other entries have also been enhanced with additional information. I have also taken the opportunity to include in this version some of the contents of my private correspondence with Treblinka survivors Kalman Teigman and Eliahu Rosenberg to further increase the xi

reader’s knowledge of Treblinka. I have to pay tribute here to Yaniv Teigman, the grandson of Kalman Teigman, who helped in a number of ways to strengthen our relationship with numerous correspondences, photographs, and drawings throughout our long association. This modern day contact with the past has now sadly ended with the death of Kalman in July 2012, and with the passing of Samuel Willenberg, in February 2016. There are no more living survivors of Treblinka to question. However, one should not underestimate the contribution of relatives of Treblinka survivors and victims and I must thank Mary Ziegler who contacted me in July 2015, to say that I had omitted to include Adek Bulkowstein, in the list of Treblinka survivors. That has now been rectified. My thanks also go to Dr. Dov Rotenberg, who provided me with the moving account of Rose Rotenberg, whose parents Beryl and Riva Epelbaum, and other relatives tragically perished in Treblinka during 1943. She sadly passed away on May 10, 2019. I must also thank Karen I. Treiger, from Seattle, Washington, USA, the daughter-in-law of Shmuel Goldberg, who supplied me with his biography and photograph in June 2017. These new additions mean so much, for the relatives of survivors, and the wider public at large and deserve to be added. I am indebted to a number of people from the Treblinka Exterination Camp Group online resource, which is managed by the excellent Jerry Steinberg, and I am proud to be a member of this group. Members of this group including Linda Mayer, Malka Silver, Cindy Halpern and Warren Grynberg, have all contributed to this edition, and I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart. Linda Mayer provided me with details of her late father Abraham Kolski, who escaped from Treblinka death camp during the revolt in August 1943. She also provided me with information about the Kramarski family from Tarczyn, who perished in the camp. I am very grateful to Malka Silver, who also made contact with me, and provided me with information about her father Chaim Sztajer, from Częstochowa, and a photograph to enrich the book. I xii

have provided her with information from my private archive, to assist her with her family research. Also Cindy Halpern provided me with information about her relatives. Lastly another member who has made contact with me is Warren Grynberg. Some of his family members were deported from Łosice, near Siedlce in August 1942, to Treblinka. He has provided me with information regarding his father, Herschel, who fought in the British Army and saw Germany defeated. Warren has also provided me with photographs and other material, for which I am most grateful. I have met Warren in London, and this is living proof that the Nazis failed in their mission to wipe out the Jewish race in Europe. The history of the death camp has been told in comprehensive detail in the first edition published in 2014, and that has largely been untouched, but important additions have been included. The interviews conducted by Michal Chocholatý, are unchanged. Michal has kindly supported me with answers to a number of questions, on a range of issues, for the second edition and that has been most appreciated. We have discovered a major find concerning Želo Bloch, who served as a Lieutenant in the Czech National Army. With further research, it appears that his first name was Zoltan. Firstly the deportation list of Jewish deportees from Presov in Slovakia, to the Lublin District dated May 12, 1942, contained the name Zoltan Bloch,who was born on August 5, 1912. Further research indicated that the profession of Zoltan Bloch, was that of a photographer in Presov, and we knew from previous survivor testimony that’ Zhelo’ Bloch had been a photographer. Both Michal and I had previously contacted the Czech Army Archives, but they could find no trace of Zhelomir. However, the Military History Archive in Bratislava have confirmed that Zoltan Bloch from Presov did serve in the Military between 1934–1936 and in 1938. This is a major find, and literally does re-write the history of the death camp. On another positive note Michal has uncovered the first name of Professor Mering from Częstochowa, the history teacher of Samuel Willenberg. These small finds are important to the history and fabric of Treblinka, in keeping the victims memory alive. xiii

The illustration and document sections have been completely revised, with the inclusion of new documents and more modern day photographs. Also extensive use has been made of a number of online websites such as the Bundesarchiv Memorial Gedenkbuch, the holocaust cz, website, the Warsaw ghettopl.website and the Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah victims. One major improvement on the original Roll of Remembrance, the sources have been credited, which has allowed for a more accurate record to be produced. Another chapter that has been enhanced is the biographies of the perpetrators, in no small measure to the excellent book written by Sara Berger, Experten der Vernichtung: das T4 Reinhardt—Netwerk in den Lagern Bełżec, Sobibór und Treblinka. This book has filled in many gaps from my previous research and has proved invaluable. I am indebted to Robert Parzer and Cameron Munro from the Tiergarten4 Association in Berlin, for their help with this chapter. Robert Parzer has also been of incredible help in obtaining documents regarding the erection of barracks at the Treblinka penal camp and for assisting me with great patience and skill, in tracking down the full names of the Schmidt and Munstermann construction firm that helped build the two Treblinka camps and the Warsaw Ghetto wall. This was one search I thought would never end, but it ended thanks to Kevin Morrow, historical researcher, who found the firms entry in the Warsaw District Telephone Directory for 1942, in the USHMM Archives. In addition to thanking all of the people who helped with the first edition, this revised version has benefitted from the efforts of Tania Mühlberger, who has expertly copy edited this edition. Tania has now performed this role on three of my previous books, and I cannot thank her enough. It is thanks to Professor Matthew Feldman, who put me in touch with Tania. He is truly a friend for all seasons, and I value his friendship and support very much indeed. A strong link to Teesside University is the design of the cover. I am extremely grateful to Tom Nixon from the University for his excellent cover design for the revised edition, using one of my own photographs taken on a visit to the death camp. He too is a jewel in xiv

the crown, and has provided three covers now, and I must thank him publically, for his undoubted talents. I would like to thank Dr. Jörg Müller of the Staatsarchiv Chemnitz for the Astrawerke Warschauer Ghetto documents that included the roster with Kalman Teigman’s name on it, which has been included in this book. Also from Germany the support of Lutz Moser from the Bundesarchiv in Berlin, who has provided documents from their extensive archive, which have been included in this updated version. Also of great assistance has been Emmanuelle Moscovitz from Yad Vashem, who provided a number of documents and testimony from their extensive archives, some of which have been included. I closed the original introduction by mentioning the sad death of Artur Hojan in December 2013. Some six months later another dear friend in our Holocaust circle, Robert Kuwalek passed away unexpectedly on June 5, 2014 on a visit to Lvov. Robert was a giant in Holocaust research and provided much information, particularly for the Jewish Roll of Remembrance. He will be greatly missed. In terms of paying respects, I must also thank the late Sir Martin Gilbert CBE, who kindly allowed me to use his expert maps and drawings in my published works. He passed away on February 3, 2015, and he too has left a difficult void to fill. Lastly I must thank my wife Shirley, and all of my family, for their continued love and support. Chris Webb Whitehill, UK August 2, 2019

xvi

CONTENTS

Foreword ......................................................................................... vii Authors' Introduction for the revised editon ............................... xi Abbreviations (used in the footnotes) ......................................... xix Preface: Aktion Reinhardt. An Overview..........................................1 PART I: The Hell Called Treblinka ............................................ 9 Chapter 1: Penal Labor Camp: Treblinka I..................................... 11 Chapter 2: Construction of the Death Camp: Treblinka II .......... 20 Chapter 3: Initial Phase under Dr. Eberl: July–August 1942 ....... 34 Chapter 4: Chaos and Reorganization ........................................... 51 Chapter 5: Industrialized Mass Murder: September–December 1942............................................................64 Chapter 6: Deceptions and Diversions: Late 1942–early 1943 ...... 74 Chapter 7: Visit by the Reichsführer‐SS: Orders to Erase Evidence of Crimes .............................................. 84 Chapter 8: Jewish Work Brigades .................................................90 Chapter 9: The Camp Revolt: August 2, 1943............................. 109 Chapter 10: The End of Treblinka and Aktion Reinhardt: August–November 1943 ................................................................ 127 Part II: Survivors, Victims and Perpetrators ........................ 140 Chapter 11: Interviews with Treblinka survivors .......................... 142 Chapter 12: Wartime Reports about the Death Camp ................197 Chapter 13: Transports and Death Toll ....................................... 207 Chapter 14: Treblinka War Crimes Trials.................................... 225 Chapter 15: From Trawniki to Treblinka ..................................... 243 xvii

Chapter 16: The Real “Ivan the Terrible” ..................................... 253 Chapter 17: Roll of Remembrance: Jewish survivors and victims ........................................................ 264 Chapter 18: The Perpetrators ....................................................... 416 Postscriptum: Lublin Concentration Camp (Majdanek). A part of Aktion Reinhardt? ......................................................... 473 Supplementary Documents ......................................................... 479 Appendix 1 ..................................................................................... 483 Appendix 2 .................................................................................... 485 Appendix 3 ....................................................................................490 Appendix 4 .................................................................................... 492 IIustrations and Sources ..............................................................494 Maps, Documents and Drawings ................................................. 517 Selected Bibliography ............................................................. 541 Acknowledgements ...................................................................... 550 Index of Names ............................................................................. 553

xviii

Abbreviations (used in the footnotes)

Abt.

Abteilung (Section)

Auß.

Außenstelle (Branch Office)

Bd.

Band (Volume)

Bundesarchiv (Federal Archive)

Coll.

Collection

GFH

Ghetto Fighters' House

HHS

Holocaust Historical Society, United Kingdom

HStA

Hauptstaatsarchiv (Main State Archive)

HStA(H)

Hauptstaatsarchiv (Hessen)—Main State Archive (Hesse)

IPN Izba

Pamięci Narodowej (Institute of National Memory)

National Archives Kew, United Kingdom

NARA

National Archives, Washington DC, USA

NIOD

Institute of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam, Holland

OSI/DJ

Office for Special Investigations at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC, USA.

Record Group

USHMM

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

YVA

Yad Vashem Archive

ZIH

Żydowski Instytut Historyczny (Jewish Historical Institute)

xix

PREFACE Aktion Reinhardt An Overview

Aktion Reinhardt—also known as Einsatz Reinhardt—was the code name for the extermination of primarily Polish Jewry from the socalled Generalgouvernement and the Białystok area. The term was used in remembrance of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, Head of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) and co-ordinator of the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” (Endlösung der Judenfrage)—the extermination of the Jews living in the European countries occupied by German troops during the Second World War. On May 27, 1942, in a suburb of Prague, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš, members of the Czech resistance, ambushed Heydrich in his car while he was en—route from his home in Panenské Březany to his office in Prague. Heydrich died from his wounds at Bulovka Hospital on June 4, 1942.1 Four days after his death, about 1,000 Jews left Prague in a single train that was designated AaH (Attentat auf Heydrich— Assassination of Heydrich). This transport was officially destined for Ujazdów in the Lublin district, Poland, but the deportees were gassed at the Bełżec death camp in the far south-eastern corner of the Lublin District. The members of Odilo Globocnik's resettlement staff henceforward dedicated the murder program to Heydrich's memory under the code name Einsatz Reinhardt.2 The head of Aktion Reinhardt was SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik, the SS and Police Chief of the Lublin District, appointed to this task by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. At the Führer's Headquarters in Rastenburg, East Prussia (Kętrzyn in present day Poland) on October 13, 1941, Heinrich Himmler, Friedrich-Wilhelm 1

R. Cowdery, P. Vodenka, Reinhard Heydrich Assassination. University of Southern Maine Press, Lakeville 1994, pp. 49, 63. G. Reitlinger, The Final Solution. Valentine, Mitchell, London 1953, pp. 105–106.

Krüger, Higher SS and Police Leader East in the Generalgouvernement and Odilo Globocnik, met at a conference during which Globocnik was authorized to build a death camp at Bełżec in the far south-eastern corner of the Lublin District of the Generalgouvernement. This was to be the first death camp constructed with static gas chambers, although the first mass extermination camp in the east, at Kulmhof in the Reichsgau Wartheland (today, Chełmno nad Nerem in Poland) used gas vans from early December 1941.3 On January 20, 1942, at a villa in the Wannsee suburb of Berlin, Heydrich organized a conference on the Final Solution of the Jewish Question in Europe. The conference had been postponed from December 8, 1941, as Heydrich wrote to one of the participants, Otto Hoffman, on account of events in which some of the invited gentlemen were concerned, which was an allusion to the massacres that had taken place in the East. Dr. Fritz Lange, for example had overseen the murder of Jews at Riga; these executions were notable as this was the first time German Jews from the Reich had been executed en masse. These Jews came from Berlin.4 Those who attended the Wannsee Conference included the leading officials of the relevant ministries, senior representatives of the German authorities in the occupied countries, and senior members of the SS, including Heinrich Müller, head of the Gestapo, and Adolf Eichmann, head of Department IV B4, the sub-section of the Gestapo concerned with Jewish affairs. Dr Josef Buhler, Staatssekretär who was representing Dr Hans Frank from the Generalgouvernement, demanded that the ‘Final Solution’ should be first applied to the Jews of the Generalgouvernement. This request was granted thus setting in train the mass murder program, which was later to be known as Aktion Reinhardt. * Odilo Lothario Globocnik was born on April 21, 1904 in Trieste, the son of an Austro-Slovene family, and a construction engineer by trade. In 1930, he joined the Nazi party in Carinthia, Austria, and after the banning of the Nazi Party in Austria in 1934, earned a 3

P. Longerich, The Unwritten Order—Hitler's Role in the Final Solution. Tempus, Stroud 2001, p. 85. Reitlinger, The Final Solution …, op. cit., p. 101.

reputation as one of the most radical leaders of its underground cells. In 1933, Globocnik joined the SS, which was also a prohibited organization in Austria since 1934, and was appointed Deputy Party District Leader (Stellvertretender Gauleiter).5 After serving several short terms of imprisonment for illegal activities on behalf of the Nazis, he emerged as a central figure in the pre-Anschluss plans for Austria, serving as a key liaison figure between Adolf Hitler and the leading pro-Nazi Austrians.6 After the Anschluss of March 1938, Globocnik's star continued to rise and on May 24, 1938, he was appointed to the coveted key position of Party District Leader (Gauleiter) of Vienna. His tenure was short-lived, however, and on January 30, 1939 he was dismissed from this lofty position for corruption, illegal speculation in foreign exchange and tax evasion—all on a grand scale.7 After demotion to a lowly SS rank and undergoing basic military training with an SS-Standarte, he took part with his unit in the invasion of Poland. Eventually Globocnik was pardoned by Himmler, who needed such unscrupulous characters for future “unsavory plans”. Globocnik was appointed to the post of SS and Police Leader (SS- und Polizeiführer) of the Lublin District in the Generalgouvernement on November 9, 1939. In Lublin, Globocnik surrounded himself with a number of his fellow Austrians, SS-officers like Herman Julius Höfle, born in Salzburg on June 19, 1911. Höfle became Globocnik's Deputy in Aktion Reinhardt, responsible for personnel and the organization of Jewish deportations, the extermination camps and the re-utilization of the victim's possessions and valuables. Höfle was later to play a significant role in the mass deportation Aktionen in Warsaw and Białystok. Ernst Lerch from Klagenfurt became Globocnik's closest confidante and adjutant. Georg Michalsen, a Silesian from Oppeln, was another adjutant and he too, participated with Höfle in the deportation of Jews from the ghettos in Warsaw and Białystok. Another, early member of this group was Amon Göth who cleared the Kraków, Tarnów, and Zamość ghettos, and later became

6 7

J. Poprzeczny, Hitler's Man in the East—Odilo Globocnik. McFarland, Jefferson 2004, p. 10. Reitlinger, The Final Solution …, op. cit., p. 262. Poprzeczny, Hitler's Man …, op. cit., p. 76.

notorious as Commandant of the Płaszów labor camp, which was located in a suburb of Kraków.8 The headquarters of Aktion Reinhardt was located in the “Julius Schreck Barracks” (Julius-Schreck-Kaserne) at Litauer-Straße 11, a former Polish school close to the city center in Lublin, where Höfle not only worked but also lived in a small apartment. Also located in Lublin were the buildings in which the belongings and valuables seized from the Jews were stored: the former Catholic Action (Katholische Aktion) building on Chopin-Straße, and in the pre-war aircraft hangers on the Old Airfield (Alter Flugplatz) on the southeastern outskirts of Lublin.9 The most notorious member of Aktion Reinhardt was SSObersturmführer/Kriminalinspektor Christian Wirth, the first commandant of the Bełżec death camp and later Inspector of the SS-Sonderkommando of Aktion Reinhardt. Before his transfer to Poland, Wirth had been a leading figure in Aktion T4, the extermination of the mentally and physically disabled in six socalled “euthanasia” killing centers in the Reich. The role of the “T4” euthanasia program was fundamental to the execution of Aktion Reinhardt because the great majority of the staff in the death camps served their “apprenticeships” in mass murder at the euthanasia institutes of Bernburg, Brandenburg, Grafeneck, Hadamar, Hartheim and Pirna-Sonnenstein where the victims had been murdered in gas chambers using CO gas from steel cylinders. The senior officers in both Aktion T4 and Aktion Reinhardt were all police officers with equivalent SS ranks, and with Himmler's approval SS-NCO's had emptied the gas chambers and cremated the bodies of the victims in portable furnaces. The SS-men performed this work wearing civilian clothes because Himmler did not want the possibility to arise of the public becoming aware of the participation of the SS in the killing. During Aktion Reinhardt the SS authorities also supplemented the forces guarding the death camps by employing former Red Army troops who had been captured or had surrendered to the Germans, mostly ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) from the Ukraine, the Baltic States and the Volga region of Russia who were trained 8 9

Ibid., p. 95. Reitlinger, The Final Solution …, op. cit., p. 314.

in an SS camp in the village of Trawniki, 25 kilometers south-east of Lublin. The majority of these individuals were already antiSemitic (equating Bolsheviks with Jews) and were ideally suited to the persecution and extermination of Jews. On November 1, 1941, construction of the first Aktion Reinhardt death camp began near the village of Bełżec, 125 kilometers southeast of Lublin, and became operational in mid-March 1942. Construction of the second camp, at Sobibór, between the town of Włodawa and the city of Chełm on the River Bug, north-east of Lublin, came into operation at the end of April 1942. The third and last of these camps was located near the railroad station of Treblinka,10 about 100 kilometers north-east of Warsaw. All three camps shared some common vital facts: they were all situated on or close to main railway lines for the speedy delivery of the victims to their deaths, and they were located in sparsely-populated regions. The true fate of the Jews was initially hidden from them by announcing that they were being “transported to the east for resettlement and work”. The Aktion Reinhardt death camps were very similar in layout, each camp being an improvement on its predecessor, and the “conveyor-belt” extermination process developed at Bełżec by Christian Wirth was implemented, improved and refined at the other two camps. On March 27, 1942, Dr. Josef Goebbels, Minister for Propaganda in the Reich, wrote the following entry in his diary concerning the deportations of Jews from Lublin, which marked the commencement of Aktion Reinhardt: “Beginning with Lublin, the Jews in the Generalgouvernement are now being evacuated Eastward. The procedure is pretty barbaric and is not to be described here more definitely. Not much will remain of the Jews. About sixty per cent of them will have to be liquidated. Only about forty per cent can be used for forced labor. The former Gauleiter of Vienna (Globocnik), who is to carry out this measure, is doing it with considerable circumspection and in a way that does not attract much attention… the ghettos that will be emptied in the cities of the Generalgouvernement will now be re-filled

The nearest village to the death camp was not Treblinka village but the village of Poniatowo; not to be confused with the village and forced labor camp at Poniatowa in Lublin District.

with Jews thrown out of the Reich. The process will be repeated from time to time.11

The personnel assigned to Aktion Reinhardt came from a number of sources, SS and policemen who served under Globocnik's command in the Lublin district, other SS men and civilians drafted into the Aktion, and members of the “T4” euthanasia program.12 Yitzhak Arad quotes in his book Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka that a total of 450 men were assigned to Aktion Reinhardt, including 92 from “T4”,13 more recent research by the authors, however, has identified a slightly higher total of 105 men, of whom 64 are known to have served in Treblinka at one time or another. (See chapter 18: members of the SS-garrison). The Old Lublin Airfield was also used throughout Aktion Reinhardt as a mustering center for personnel transferred from the T4 “euthanasia” institutions in the Reich, to the extermination of the Jews in the Generalgouvernement. The SS-men, police and civilians thus transferred were usually met at the airfield by Wirth personally, on occasions accompanied by Reichleitner from Sobibór and Stangl from Treblinka. According to witnesses, at these selections of personnel, all three officers wore Schutzpolizei uniforms and none of them mentioned anything about their future employment or where they would be based. At the airfield depot the newcomers received Waffen-SS uniforms, provided by the SSGarrison Administration (SS-Standortverwaltung) in Lublin, but without the SS runes on the right hand collar patches. The civilian employees from “T4”, especially the male psychiatric nurses among them, were sent first to the SS training camp at Trawniki for a twoweek basic military training course.14 The men selected in Lublin and distributed to the three Aktion Reinhardt death camps were augmented by a company-sized unit of about 120 black-uniformed auxiliary guards who had also been trained at the SS training camp in Trawniki—the so-called

11 12

13 14

G. Reitlinger, The Final Solution …, op. cit., pp. 267-268. Y. Arad, Belzec, Sobibór, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhardt Death Camps. Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987, p. 17. Ibid., p. 17. F. Suchomel, Christian Wirth. Altötting 1972, (private typewritten report), Michael Tregenza Collection, Lublin, Poland.

“Trawnikimen” (Trawnikimänner), usually referred to as “Ukrainians” because they were the majority. Those who spoke fluent German were appointed platoon or senior platoon leaders—Zugführer or Oberzugführer.15 The rest were known as Wachmänner (lit. guardsmen). A select few of the Trawnikimänner were given other, special duties, including the maintenance and operation of the engines that pumped their poisonous exhaust fumes into the gas chambers. Among them were the infamous Ivan Marchenko (“Ivan the Terrible”), Nikolay Shalayev, Fedor Fedorenko at the Treblinka death camp, and Ivan Demjanjuk at the Sobibór death camp. * In the course of Aktion Reinhardt approximately 1.6 million Jews were murdered in the death camps at Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka. Jewish property to the value of 178,045,960 Reichsmark (RM) was seized by the SS, which represents the minimum known amount. Through the theft of large amounts of cash and valuables by SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik, SS-men, policemen and guards, the true total will never be known. The Aktion Reinhardt extermination operation ended officially in November 1943 and Himmler ordered Globocnik, who was by then the Higher SS and Police Leader (Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer) for the Adriatic Coastal Region (Adriatisches Küstenland), based in Trieste, to produce a detailed “Balance Sheet” for the murder program. Globocnik produced the requested financial accounts and suggested that certain SS-officers should be suitably rewarded for their “invaluable contribution” to Aktion Reinhardt. Globocnik received Himmler's thanks for his “services to the German people”, but made no mention of medals for any of Globocnik's subordinates.16 After completion of the extermination work in the Generalgouvernement, most of the men who had served in Aktion Reinhardt were transferred to northern Italy where their headquarters was in a disused rice mill in the San Sabba suburb of the Adriatic port of Trieste (Risiera di San Sabba). Divided into three SS-units: R-I, R-II and R-III, they operated under the code 15 16

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 22. Ibid., p. 375.

designation “Operation R” (Einsatz R), still under the command of SS-Obersturmführer Christian Wirth. Their primary task was the round-up and deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau of the surviving Italian Jews, and confiscation of their property and valuables. Einsatz R was simply a smaller version of Aktion Reinhardt. Additionally, Italian-Jewish mental patients were removed from their hospitals and sent to the T4 “euthanasia” institution at Schloss Hartheim in Austria for gassing. The units not engaged in these operations were assigned to security and anti-partisan patrols on the Istrian peninsula. Wirth turned San Sabba into an interrogation and execution center where not only Jews but also Italian and Yugoslavian partisans were tortured, beaten to death, or simply shot and their bodies cremated in a specially installed furnace in the courtyard.17 The human ashes were dumped in the Adriatic Sea. There is also evidence that a gas van was used in San Sabba. * The key members of Aktion Reinhardt mostly escaped justice. Christian Wirth and Franz Reichleitner (the second Commandant of Sobibór death camp) were killed by partisans in northern Italy in 1944. Amon Göth was tried and sentenced to death in Kraków in September 1946 for crimes committed in the forced labor camp in Płaszów (today a suburb of Kraków). Dr. Irmfried Eberl, the first Commandant of Treblinka, committed suicide in a West German prison in 1948 while awaiting trial. Only Franz Stangl (the first Commandant of Sobibór and second Commandant of Treblinka)18 and Kurt Franz, the last Commandant of Treblinka, were brought to trial in Düsseldorf. Both were found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. Other key figures who served in Treblinka, were also tried in Düsseldorf, including Heinrich Matthes, August Miete and Willy Mentz who were given life sentences. Other members of the SS garrison were also brought to justice, such as Otto Horn, Gustav Munzberger, Franz Suchomel and others, but they received much lesser sentences.19

17 18

Ibid., p. 399. It is a significant fact that Eberl, Reichleitner, and Stangl, as well as many other key members of Aktion Reinhardt were Austrian nationals. A. Donat, The Death Camp Treblinka. Holocaust Library, New York 1979, p. 278.

PART I The Hell Called Treblinka

Chapter 1 Penal Labor Camp: Treblinka I

The village of Treblinka is located approximately 100 kilometers north-east of Warsaw and approximately 4 kilometers from the important railway junction of Małkinia Górna, which is mentioned in the Karl Baedeker Das Generalgouvernment–Reisehandbuch as an important rail junction and former border station with the Soviet Union.20 In the book by Vasily Grossman, The Treblinka Hell, the description of the countryside is very apt: The terrain to the east of Warsaw along the Western Bug is an expanse of alternating sands and swamps, interspersed with evergreen and deciduous forests. The landscape is dreary and villages are rare. The narrow sandy roads where wheels sink up to the axle and walking is difficult are something for the traveler to avoid. In the midst of this desolate country stands the small out-of-theway station of Treblinka on the Siedlce railroad branch line. It is some one hundred kilometers from Warsaw and not far from Małkinia station where tracks from Warsaw, Białystok, Siedlce and Łomża meet. Many of those who were brought to Treblinka in 1942 may have had occasion to travel this way before the war. Staring out over the desolate landscape of pines, sand, more sand and again pines, scrubland, heather, unattractive station buildings and railroad crossings, the pre-war passenger might have allowed his bored gaze to pause for a moment on a single-track spur running from the station into the forest to disappear amid the dense pines. The spur led to a gravel pit where white sand was extracted for industrial purposes.21

In preparation for the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 the German authorities took over the gravel pit, near Treblinka and 20

K. Baedeker, Das Generalgouvernement—Reisehandbuch. Verlag Karl Baedeker, Leipzig 1943, p. 102. V. Grossman, The Treblinka Hell. Gershon Aharoni, Tel Aviv 1984, p. 13.

used the raw material for fortifications and other military purposes. After the gravel pit had been abandoned by the Wehrmacht, the Kreishauptmann in Sokołów Podlaski, Ernst Gramms, established a company for concrete products and the need arose for a cheap labor force to work in the gravel pit. Thus, the idea for creating a penal labor camp was born, with the approval of Dr. Ludwig Fischer, the civilian governor of Warsaw District. Later, this camp received the name of “Labor Camp Treblinka” (Arbeitslager Treblinka). In the early phase the camp was designed exclusively as a place of incarceration for “stubborn elements” from the whole Sokołowski-Węgrowski district, then for the farmers unwilling to deliver their quotas of agricultural supplies demanded by the German authorities, persons evading forced labor, or involved in anti-German activity. At first, the camp held only several scores of prisoners who were accommodated in the buildings formerly belonging to the gravel works, and came under the jurisdiction of the local Kreishauptmann in Sokołów. The German authorities published various notices, such as in the Official Gazette for the Warsaw District (Amtsblatt für den Distrikt Warschau) on December 16, 1941, announcing that Arbeitslager Treblinka had been set up under the jurisdiction of the SS and Police Leader of Warsaw. The Commandant of the camp was SS-Hauptsturmführer Theodor van Eupen, who was born on April 24, 1907, in Düsseldorf. He had previously been in charge of the Main Accommodation Administration Office) (Heersunterkunftsverwaltung in Sokołów. The camp staff consisted of approximately twenty SS men and one detachment of Ukrainian Trawnikimänner who served as guards. One of those guards was Alexey Kolgushkin from the Trawniki training camp who provided this statement on September 24, 1980, in the city of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast (Province) in the USSR, providing a description of the camp in which he served: Near the entrance to the work camp where I served there was a barrier and guard tower. The portion of the camp that contained the prisoners was isolated from the camp in general. This area that contained the prisoners was surrounded by a double barbed-wire fence, which in turn contained a patrolled region between the two

fences. This controlled region consisted of a strip of ploughed earth where the footprints of anyone who crossed it would be left. The entire camp was surrounded by a single barbed-wire fence, there were buildings situated in the camp that held clothing, there were also warehouses and stables. There were barracks where the guards lived and there were barracks where the Germans from the camp administration lived. None of the guards were permitted to enter the area where the prisoners were kept, and the guards were forbidden from entering the controlled area. The area containing the prisoners was divided into three sections. One section contained a kitchen, stoves and sewing shops. The Jewish prisoners who were artisans lived there along with Jewish tailors, barbers, stove workers and drivers. They were dressed in civilian clothes, each wore their own clothes. In the next section lived the Jews who were used for forced labor. They were dressed in striped uniform and they wore wooden clogs on their feet. I do not know if there were skilled laborers among these Jews, who had a specialty. They were sent to work in the sand pit where they hauled sand; they were also taken to work in the forest removing tree stumps. The sand from the sand pit was sent off in the direction of Małkinia station. In the third section of the camp were kept the Polish prisoners. As a rule, the Poles were used for auxiliary work in the camp—they were dressed in civilian clothes, like the Jewish skilled workers. I do not know if their food was on the same level as that of other prisoners. The guards were divided into sections, platoons and companies. The camps administration was made up of Germans only—they occupied the supervisory positions. The guards were divided into four sections, each containing 12–15 men. Besides providing security for the camp the guards took the prisoners to work by convoy and they guarded them during work. I do not know who shot prisoners on the way to work. I personally had occasion to take prisoners by convoy to the sand pit and accompany them into the forest to remove tree stumps and to auxiliary jobs—in general wherever they went to work. I also led prisoners by convoy to Małkinia railroad station where they worked at unloading and stacking.22

OSI/DJ, Washington, DC: Aleksey Nikolaevich Kolgushkin, September 24, 1980.

The history of the penal labor camp was closely connected with the history of the death camp—Polish and Jewish prisoners from the labor camp participated in the construction of the death camp. The penal labor camp at Treblinka therefore served not only as a concentration camp “for criminal elements”, it also served the function of a reservoir of manpower for the construction of the Treblinka extermination camp. Jan Sułkowski, a Polish bricklayer by profession, had been sent to the labor camp on May 19, 1942 for evading forced labor for the German authorities. He was released in the summer of 1942, after helping with the construction of the death camp. This was a typical term of imprisonment which usually lasted from two to six months, after which time the prisoners were either released or sent to a concentration camp. During the weeks of Sułkowski's incarceration and construction of the death camp, Jews began arriving in the camp. He personally witnessed the brutality and murderous behavior of the camp guards towards these Jews: Germans killed Jews at work by shooting them or beating them to death with sticks. I saw two such cases in which SS-men, during the grubbing-out jobs, forced Jews to walk under the falling tree by which they were crushed. In both cases several (two, three or four) Jews were killed. It also happened that SS-men would often rush into the barracks where, drunk or sober, they went on shooting at the Jews who were inside.23

Richard Glazar, a prisoner from the Treblinka death camp, visited the penal labor camp on one occasion. He recounted this experience in a post-war interview: There's one thing to say that's not so well known, there was another Treblinka camp (…) not very far away from Treblinka extermination camp. It was a forced labor camp. A small camp, it was just a quarry. Once I was taken there with my Kommando just to bring sand and stones to Treblinka. So I saw how it looked. It was a normal concentration camp. And one can imagine the Germans, the Nazis, 23

W. Chrostowski, Extermination Camp Treblinka. Vallentine, Mitchell, London 2004, p. 27.

they camouflaged it, with the existence of this labor camp, the existence of the extermination camp.24

Israel Cymlich, a Polish Jew, a baker by profession, was deported from the Falencia ghetto on August 20, 1942 and he described in his memoirs his journey and arrival at the labor camp: Our car was the last in the transport and started moving only toward evening. We kept looking out of the window and through all the cracks with great curiosity. And there we were, passing through the Treblinka railroad station, through the woods, until all of a sudden, we beheld a sight straight out of Dante’s Inferno…. a huge mountain of clothes, naked people running all around it, throwing more clotheshigher and higher, black smoke billowing from huge pits. We didn’t have much time to observe everything that was happening there, because our car was shunted and the remaining cars moved on inside. We barely had the time to make out the number of barracks, machine-guns mounted on the roofs, firing frequently. Then we saw only a fence of young pine trees, and smelled the terrible odor of burning bodies…. We were puzzled why a different treatment was extended to us, and asked the guard who stood by the gates about our destination, “You are going to do forced labor,” he replied. Our car pulled up at the Treblinka labor camp. A tall SS-man accompanied by guards, came over, and we were escorted to the camp. Above the entrance we saw an innocent-sounding sign: Arbeitslager Treblinka. Noticing double barbed-wire and elevated platforms in the four corners of the camp, I realized we were in for hard times. We were told to form a column of three persons abreast, and under threat of being sent to the “forest”, to hand over money and valuables. We realized that executions took place in the forest. Most people handed over everything they had on their person and I, too, parted with 600 złotys. We were terribly thirsty and could barely stand on our feet. Finally, some black coffee and water was brought in. (…) Each of us got 200 grams of bread, half a spoonful of marmalade and sugar. In the evening, together with others, we lined up for a roll call. The SS-men counted us, and we went inside the barracks. It was a fairly long barrack, lined on both sides with two-tiered rows

Richard Glazar interview with Bonnie Gurewitsch-Brooklyn, USHMM Council Conference of Liberators, USHMM Washington, DC, 26 October 1981.

of bunk beds, so that people slept beneath and above. The floor was made of asphalt (sic). Most of the residents of this barracks (C) were German and Czech Jews.25

Saul Kuperhand, another prisoner of the penal labor camp, recalled in his book Shadows of Treblinka how he was incarcerated in the same barracks: “we were herded to the barracks marked with the letter C. We slept on double-decker bunks made of raw wood: we did not have even a single sheet or piece of straw. The bottom level of each bunk held 13 men, the top level 12.”26 The average number of prisoners in the penal labor camp amounted to about 1,000–1,200 people, Poles and Jews, who were all forced to work under brutal conditions, with very low rations. Between 800 and 900 prisoners toiled from dawn to dusk, either in the gravel pit, where the work was exhausting, digging out gravel and sand or loading railroad trucks.27 Another group of prisoners were employed at Małkinia railroad station where they too, loaded railroad trucks. Female prisoners were employed at the farm attached to the camp, while another group consisting of 250 Jewish skilled artisans worked in the camp's workshops. Throughout the long day's labor, the prisoners were brutally treated, beaten, tortured or simply shot for the slightest misdemeanor, with only a brief respite from the back-breaking work at noon each day.28 The camp diet consisted of half a liter of watery soup or ersatz coffee in the morning, one liter of the same soup at noon, and a cup of ersatz coffee without sugar, with 20 dkg of black bread in the evening. On such a diet bereft of any nourishment, the prisoners succumbed to diseases; epidemics spread throughout the camp resulting in a high mortality rate.29 25

28 29

I. Cymlich, O. Strawczyński, Escaping Hell in Treblinka. Yad Vashem/The Holocaust Survivors' Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, pp. 31–32. M. Kuperhand, S. Kuperhand, Shadows of Treblinka. University of Illinois Press, Champaign 1998, p. 110. Treblinka, Council for the Protection of Combat and Martyrdom Monuments, Warsaw 1963 (no pagination). Ibid., Ibid.,

The key members of the penal labor camp garrison, including their characteristics, are described by the former prisoner Israel Cymlich in his memoirs: The chief of the entire camp was a Hauptsturmführer, some kind of Baron [Theodor van Eupen, authors' note] who had his headquarters in Ostrów Mazowiecki. He hardly ever came into direct contact with the Jews, and was responsible only for the Treblinka camp. (…) The camp Commandant was Untersturmführer Prefi, a madman and a thug, a great fan of shooting people to death at every opportunity. He often carried out massacres single-handedly, by shooting from a hand-held machine-gun at a group of Jews assembled for roll call. (…) The labor-force Commandant in the camp was Untersturmführer Einbuch,30 known as the “thug in white gloves”. He was gifted with a phenomenal memory; recognized people well, did not cause a mess like others, granted favors to some, and surrounded himself with Jewish informers. (…) Probably the correct name for this member of the camp staff was Hans Heinbuch, who originated from Frankfurt am Main. The Commandant of the guards was Unterscharführer Stumpe. He always carried his knout, and very much enjoyed hitting everyone over the head with it, including the guards. He was especially fond of urging people to work harder by calling out, “Tempo, tempo, cali, cali!” which earned him the nickname of “Cali” among the guards. Unterscharführer Lindeke was the manager (…) his Deputy was Hagen (…) who left for Warsaw after some time. He often visited the camp to attend drinking bouts. After getting drunk, he liked to play cat-and-mouse with the Jews, and would kill at least a dozen of them. (…) The supervisor of the workshops was Unterscharführer Lanz, a boxing fan. I have no words to describe his humiliating treatment of people. He didn't treat his own people badly, but woe to anyone who became his target. Rottenführer Werhan was in charge of the stable and the farm, he treated his own people fairly. (…) Finally, there was the notorious henchman of the camp, head of the group (of prisoners) working in Małkinia, Unterscharführer 30

This is most likely to be Hans Heinbuch, born February 10, 1907, Frankfurt am Main. SS Personnel File.

Schwarz (allegedly a butcher by trade). (…) He derived sadistic satisfaction from tormenting, torturing and killing. He usually killed with a club, a hammer, or some other blunt instrument. Małkinia was the worst place to work in the entire camp. Every day, more than a dozen corpses of people whom he had tortured to death were brought in from Małkinia.31

The penal labor camp existed from December 1941 to August 1944 when it was liquidated. The camp guard Alexey Nikolaevich Kolgushkin, whose platoon was on patrol duty on the day the camp was liquidated, has stated: Supplementary patrols were deployed next to ours in order to guard the area where prisoners were being held. (…) in the morning camp security (…) strengthened. At approximately 8 or 9 a.m. the prisoners began to be led out of the barracks. They were led out by the Germans and assembled in the yard, the guards who were not on patrol also participated in this. After they were all assembled, they began to beat them in groups of five and forced them to the ground. After counting out a certain number of prisoners they made them stand up and made them pull their pants down to their knees, so they could not run, to dig holes, they were all shot. (…) Approximately 500–600 prisoners were executed in these holes in all. The figure is an approximate one since I did not count the number of people condemned to death. I only remember that when I walked up to these holes on the second day, I saw they were filled up with bodies and dirt. After the liquidation of the camp the Germans and the guards fled together, since Soviet troops were already advancing on Treblinka.32

Post-war investigations by the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland revealed that at least forty mass graves containing the remains of 6,500 prisoners lie within half-a-kilometer of the penal labor camp. Throughout the existence of the camp at least 10,000 people passed through its gate.33

31 32 33

Cymlich, Strawczyński, Escaping Hell ..., op. cit., pp. 33–35. OSI/DJ, Washington, DC, Alexey Nikolaevich Kolgushkin, 24 September 1980. Treblinka, Council for the Protection of Combat …, op. cit. (no pagination).

Chapter 2 Construction of the Death Camp: Treblinka II

The death camp in Treblinka was situated in the north-eastern region of the Generalgouvernement. The camp was erected in a sparsely populated area near Małkinia-Górna, an important railway junction on the Warsaw-Białystok railway line, four kilometers north-west of Treblinka village and its railroad halt.34 The site chosen was in an open, sandy area dotted with copses of trees and small woods. A patch of forest separated the site from the village of Wółka Okrąglik, which was just over a kilometer from the extermination area with its gas chambers and mass graves.35 Franciszek Ząbecki was the Polish stationmaster at Treblinka village station, and a member of the Polish Underground. He had been placed at Treblinka by the AK (Armia Krajowa–Home Army), the biggest Polish Underground movement, originally to report on the movement of German troops and equipment. He was therefore the only trained observer on the spot throughout the entire existence of the Treblinka extermination camp. He recalled: The first inkling we had that something more was being planned in Treblinka was in May 1942 when some SS-men arrived with a man called Ernst Grauss36 who—we found out from the German railroad workers—was the chief surveyor at the German HQ. They spent the day looking around and the very next day all fit male Jews in the neighborhood—about a hundred of them—were brought in and started work on clearing the land. At the same time they shipped in a first lot of Ukrainian guards. It was said that it was to be another labor camp, a camp for Jews who would work on damming the River Bug, a military installation, a staging or control area for a new secret military weapon. And

34 35 36

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 37. M. Chocholatý interview with Samuel Willenberg, Warsaw, March 2011. This may be Ernst Gramms, the Kreishauptmann for Sokołów Podlaski.

finally, German railway workers said it was going to be an extermination camp. But nobody believed them—except me.37

The extermination camp was the third and final camp built as part of Aktion Reinhardt, and was constructed along similar lines to Bełżec and Sobibór, although on a bigger scale. Work commenced at the beginning of April 1942. The contractors were the German construction firms Robert Schönbrunn, with their Warsaw office in Dreikreuzplatz 13 (Plac Trzech Krzyży—Three Crosses Square) and Hans Schmidt and Heinrich Münstermann,38 who also had offices in Warsaw at Mars Straße 8/3.39 Schmidt and Münstermann were also responsible for the construction of the ghetto wall in Warsaw, the Treblinka Penal Camp and the erection of the barracks at the Jewish Labor Camp at Poniatowa. Jews from the Warsaw ghetto, and neighboring towns, as well as inmates from Treblinka I, the penal labor camp, were used to complete the building work. One of them, Israel Cymlich states “they had worked for a long time at constructing the other camp, without a clue as to what they were building. The contingent that used to go to work there was called the ‘T-Group’”.40 Another prisoner from the penal labor camp, Lucjan Puchała, recalled the initial phase of the construction of the death camp: Initially we did not know the purpose of building the branch track, and it was only at the end of the job that I found out from the conversations among Germans that the track was to lead to a camp for Jews. The work took two weeks, and it was completed on 15 June 1942. Parallel to the construction of the track, earthworks continued. The works were supervised by a German, an SS-Hauptsturmführer. At the beginning, Polish workers from the labor camp, which had already been operating in Treblinka, were used as the workforce. Subsequently, Jews from Węgrów and Stoczek Węgrowski started to be brought in by trucks. There were 2–3 trucks full of Jews that were daily brought into the camp. The SS37

38 39 40

G. Sereny, Into That Darkness—From Mercy Killing to Mass Murder. Pimlico, London 1995, pp. 150–151. RG15.038M –Warsaw District Telephone Directory –USHMM. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 37. Cymlich, Strawczyński, Escaping Hell …, op. cit., p. 32.

men and Ukrainians supervising the work killed a few dozen people from those brought in to work every day. So that when I looked from the place where I worked to the place where the Jews worked the field was covered with corpses. The imported workers were used to dig deep ditches and to build various barracks. In particular, I know that a building was built of bricks and concrete, which as I learned later, contained people-extermination chambers.41

Jan Sułkowski also worked on the construction of the death camp and he noted a strange building with a hermetically sealed door: SS-men said it was to be a bath. Only later on when the building was almost completed, I realized it was to be a gas chamber. What was indicative of it was a special door of thick steel insulated with rubber, twisted with a bolt and placed in an iron frame and also the fact that an engine was placed in one of the building's compartments, from which three iron pipes led through the roof to the remaining three parts of the building. (…) A specialist from Berlin came to lay tiles inside and he told me that he had already built such chambers elsewhere.42

Wolf Sznajdman was one of the Jews brought to Treblinka from Stoczek, to build the death camp. He represents an almost unique exception refuting the theory that none of the Jews who built Treblinka survived throughout the entire history of the death camp. Sznajdman managed to survive the thirteen months from June 1942 until the camp revolt on August 2, 1943. Indeed another death camp survivor Shmuel Goldberg, also from Stoczek, was another survivor from these early days. Wolf recalled very well the early summer of 1942 when he was brought to the penal labor camp in Treblinka to participate in the construction of the death camp: Construction of a new camp had started. A spur railroad line had already been started we have to finish the job. We were erecting the barracks, we dug the first pit. It measured 10 meters deep. It was dug in levels, step-like. It was a pit for bodies in the Totenlager (death camp), in the second camp. There was no fence there then. We walked all around. They treated us very badly. They beat us on the way, while working, they 41 42

Chrostowski, Extermination Camp…, op. cit., pp. 25–26. Ibid., p. 31.

put bicycles on our heads, and they burn with cigarettes on the head. We lived in the barracks which were built for us by the people from Polish Penal Camp Treblinka. Working hard! It was hard work: to dig the pits, to build the spur line, to eradicate the forest, to prepare the timber for building purposes. We were working here for six weeks.43

Shmuel Goldberg recalled his arrival at Treblinka in June 1942: I was in Stoczek, there were Germans and Ukrainians, they surrounded the Shetl. So they put us on a truck, 135 people and they took us to Treblinka, and they took us off the truck…… they put us in groups of five…. So they took me to make a roof from bundles of straw and to bind them together and to make the roof from that. When I finished the roof, they asked, “Can you wash laundry?” I said, “Yes.” So they brought me a basin with a board, and they said I should wash clothes. I wasn’t alone, there were five or six. Two people from Stoczek were killed right away because they didn’t want to work.44

The construction of the Treblinka death camp was supervised by SS-Hauptsturmführer Richard Thomalla from the Construction Office of the Waffen-SS and Police (Bauleitung der Waffen-SS und Polizei) in Zamość in Lublin District. Thomalla was attached to the staff of SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik in Lublin. Thomalla had previously also supervised the construction of the other Aktion Reinhardt camp at Sobibór and had been involved at Bełżec, in the construction of border defences, known as the “Otto Line”. He was serving in Russia at the time, on the SS Strongpoints in the East project, when work commenced on the Bełżec death camp in November 1941, although it was probable that he was involved in the later stages, but it is by no means certain.45 The camp at Treblinka was laid out as an irregular rectangle approximately 400 meters wide by approximately 600 meters long, surrounded by a barbed-wire fence about three or four meters high, camouflaged with brushwood.46 In 1943, an additional outer barrier 43 44

45 46

YVA, Jerusalem, A 03/1560: Wolf Sznajdman, (Wolf Shneidman). Shmuel Goldberg Interview with Fay Nicoll, Shoah Foundation, July 13, 1997, in Miami Beach. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka…, op. cit., p. 37. A. Donat, The Death Camp Treblinka. Holocaust Library, New York 1979, p. 298.

of “Spanish horses” anti-tank obstacles was installed, given to the SS by the army after the defeat at Stalingrad.47 At each of the four corners of the camp were watchtowers approximately eight meters high. Some had searchlights and all of them were manned by Trawnikimänner, primarily Ukrainians, day and night. An additional watchtower was set up at the southern edge of the camp, midway between the two corner towers, but this structure was subsequently moved to the center of the extermination area (Camp II).48 The camp was divided into three zones of nearly equal size: the SS and Ukrainian Trawnikimänner living area, the reception area (Auffanglager) and the extermination area (Totenlager). The living and reception areas were called the “Lower Camp”or Camp I, while the extermination area was known as the “Upper Camp” or Camp II. To help readers fully understand the physical layout of the death camp, this will be explained in more detail, starting at the camp’s main entrance: The main road entrance gate to the camp was in the north-west corner, built in the spring of 1943 by the Jewish prisoner Jankiel Wiernik. It consisted of two wooden pillars, each decorated with a metal flower and crowned by a small roof, which rested on the pillars, in true old-fashioned Polish country style. At night, the entrance was lit by floodlights. On top of the gate was a beautiful iron decoration, a globe with SS runes. According to Oskar Strawczynski, this was fashioned by master-smith Herschel Jablkowski, who hailed from Stoczek.49 Trawnikimänner and SS-men were posted at the gate and at the guardhouse.50 At the entrance, positioned to the left of the main gate, a sign read: Sonderkommando Treblinka.51

47 48 49 50 51

M. Chocholatý interview with Samuel Willenberg, Warsaw, March 2011. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 298. Cymlich, Strawczyński, Escaping Hell ..., op. cit., p. 168. Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 41. Samuel Willenberg in correspondence with Peter Laponder in Cape Town, South Africa, January 23, 2001.

Close to the main gate was a guardhouse built in a Tyrolean style, sometime during the spring of 1943. This was built by Jankiel Wiernik, who was rewarded when this project was completed with liquor and sausages.52 Near the new guardhouse there was a parking area for an armored car, which was used to convey valuables to the Aktion Reinhardt headquarters in Lublin. Adjacent to the main gate, was the Commandants’ living quarters which contained his bedroom, a guest room, his office and the offices of his two senior administrative officers, the orderly Otto Stadie and the book-keeper Willi Matzig.53 Along the western perimeter fence was the SS barracks, a clinic for the SS, and a dentist and a barber, as well as quarters for the Polish and Ukrainian domestic staff. The barrack that housed the Goldjuden’who sorted the plundered gold and valuables was located behind the SS service barracks, just off the Kurt Seidel Strasse, which was a two-lane cement road built in the spring of 1943, and named after Kurt Seidel, the camp guard in charge of its construction.54 Amongst the SS barracks already mentioned, the Germans built an armoury in the spring of 1943, in between two SS barracks, as recalled by Samuel Willenberg: At that time in 1943, a small addition was erected between two German barracks, which connected the structure by a sort of corridor…. And in due time we saw that it really would be an arsenal. It was planned to put a water tank above the arsenal. Its iron door was brought in from the outside, but unfortunately for the Germans it did not have a lock. The task of making a lock was assigned to our locksmiths.55 The armory was a small 5-meter wide, stone storeroom with a sloping cast concrete roof, with a high small window in the back, which was barred, and a large heavy metal door in the front. 52 53

54 55

Donat, p. 176. G. Sereny, Into That Darkness—From Mercy Killing to Mass Murder. Pimlico, London 1995, p. 166. Ibid., p. 166. Donat, p. 199.

At the southern end of the Kurt Seidel Strasse, there was a gasoline depot and a garage, for the SS to service their vehicles. The gasoline depot consisted of a group of 50 liter drums, a pump and large fuel tanks were situated close to the SS barracks. The garage, a simple barrack-like structure was built on an embankment, complete with flowerbeds and a paved area. On the back of the garage building was painted a door and a sign with the words Guterabfertigung (dispatching of goods).56 The barracks for the Ukrainian guards were situated close to the northern fence, and these consisted of five barracks, with three sleeping quarters, a doctor’s room, barber’s room, a kitchen, mess, and day room. In the same area, opposite the Goldjuden barracks, there was a zoo, which contained foxes and deer. The zoo was a hexagon– shaped structure enclosed with wire mesh which housed the animals. It was constructed in the spring of 1943, by Yankiel Wiernik, who recalled constructing a birchwood enclosure, a low fence around the flower garden, where domesticated animals and birds were also kept. It was a quiet, pretty spot. Wooden benches had been placed there for the convenience of the Germans and Ukrainians.57 The so-called Wohnlager was a rather large area of approximately 100 meters by 100 meters, completely fenced off, and containing the so-called “Ghetto” barracks, a makeshift latrine, well and a Roll-Call Square. The Roll-Call Square also contained three barracks in a U shape, where the Jewish prisoners worked and lived. The Roll-Call area was approximately 30 meters wide and this was the place where punishments, usually whipping, was carried out at the evening Roll-Call. In the center of the Roll-Call Square a gallows was built. It was also here where selections of prisoners, who were no longer fit to work, were taken to the Lazarett and murdered, with a shot in the back of the head. Within the so-called “Ghetto” area there were a number of workshops and other buildings, such as a kitchen for the Jewish 56

Richard Glazar in correspondence with Michael Peters, who collaborated with Glazar on a model of the Treblinka Death Camp. Shared with author. Donat, p. 182.

prisoners, Laundry for the SS, an Infirmary for the Jewish prisoners, a barrack for the Kapo’s, and Hofjuden, Saddlery and Shoemakers Shops, Barracks for Jewish women prisoners, Carpenters Shop, Blacksmith Shops, a Tool Storehouse, two barracks for Jewish male prisoners and a washroom.58 The transports of Jews arrived at the reception area in the southwest section of the camp. This area included the railroad track—a 300-meter long spur, a 200-meter long platform, known in the camp jargon as the “Ramp”, and a barrack that was later to be disguised as a railroad station. At the rail entrance to the camp there was a wooden gate covered with barbed-wire intertwined with tree branches. The far end of the railroad spur was blocked by a sand bank.59 Behind the Ramp and the barrack that later became the fake station there was a big, open square. After disembarking, the Jews would be hurried across this square, through a gate to another enclosed space, the so-called “Undressing Square” (Entkleidungsplatz), to the left of which there was the women's undressing barrack. To the right, there was a barrack of similar size, a part of which served later on as the male undressing barrack and the rest as a warehouse. Situated between this area and the southern boundary of the camp was the so-called “Sorting Square” (Sortierungsplatz), where the clothes removed by the Jews upon their arrival, and their baggage was sorted according to type and quality. Initially, in the south-west corner of the camp, behind the sorting barrack, there was a set of a few big ditches60 in which the bodies of the Jews who had died during the journey to the camp would be cremated, together with the garbage from the transport. The Sorting Barracks, next to the barrack that was dressed up to resemble a station, was known in the camp as the Pferdstall or

58 59

Peter Laponder, Re-Constructing Treblinka, self-published work in 2000. Kalman Teigman claimed that there was a second gate at the far end of the railroad spur inside the camp and provided a sketch. (Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb, dated December 15, 2001), Samuel Willenberg, however vehemently denied the existence of such a second gate. (M. Chocholatý interview with Samuel Willenberg, Warsaw, March 2011). Arad also mentions a second gate (Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 41). No plans of the camp exist that show a second gate. M. Chocholatý interview with Edi Weinstein. Prague, August 2008.

stables. Samuel Willenberg recalled watching SS –Unterscharführer August Miete, on his rounds: Now he marched toward the hut known as the Pferdstall or stable. This was actually a pair of abutting huts without a dividing wall, and it served as a giant storeroom. The stalls of the former stable were still in place, as were a few of the posts to which the beasts had been tied. Now the double hut housed valuables left behind by victims of the gas chambers.61

Some 150 meters from the Pferdstall barracks, at the edge of the sorting yard, right against the sourthern fence and the earthern mound separating the Lower Camp from the Upper Camp stood the so-called “Infirmary”, known in the camp jargon as the Lazarett (lit. military hospital or sick bay).62 The Lazarett was surrounded by a tall barbed-wire fence, camouflaged with brushwood to screen it from view. Within this area, which could be reached by way of an entrance on the side facing the Ramp, was a big ditch which served as a mass grave. The soil excavated from this ditch was piled up to form a mound approximately one meter high. A fire burned permanently at the bottom of the ditch. The Lazarett area also contained a small booth that served as a shelter for the SS and Trawnikimänner in bad weather, and a bench. It was here that the Jews who were too ill, disabled, or the very young or unaccompanied children were killed by a bullet in the back of the neck (Genickschuss). The three Jewish prisoners who worked at the Lazarett wore Red Cross armbands and the Jewish Kapo, Zvi Kurland, wore a white surgical gown to make him look like a doctor. A Red Cross flag was prominently displayed on the above-mentioned booth. Leading from the women's undressing barracks in the Undressing Square to the Upper Camp (Camp II) there was a path called the Himmelfahrtstraße (lit. Ascension Road or Road to Heaven), generally referred to in the camp as the “Tube” (der Schlauch). This path was approximately 350 meters long63 and 61 62 63

S. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka, Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1989, p. 82. Ibid., The original “Tube” was 350 meters in length whereas the new one was only 125 meters long. This modification is confirmed by the statement of SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel on September 14, 1967, in Düsseldorf.

approximately five meters wide. At the entrance to the “Tube”. near the women's undressing barracks, there was a sign: “To the Showers” (Zum Baden). Beyond, the “Tube” was enclosed on either side with barbed-wire fencing over two meters high and intertwined with tree branches so that it was impossible to see in or out. The “Tube” ran for about 30 meters towards the east side of the camp, passed through a thin copse of trees, and then made an almost 90-degree turn and terminated in front of the steps leading up to central corridor of the new gas chamber building in the Upper Camp.64 In the early stages, the women's hair was cut off in the gas chambers,65 but this was later carried out in the undressing barracks while the men undressed in the open air between the two barracks.66 The Jewish survivor Avraham Bomba recalled: In the gas chamber we were working as a barber between two (...) little more than two weeks. And then they decided that the barbers will not go in anymore to the gas chamber to cut off the hair of the women over there, but in the undressing barrack. The gas chamber. How it looked? Very simple. Was all concrete. Was no windows. There was nothing in it. Besides on top of you, there was wires (pipes) and you know, the water going to come out from it. Had two doors. Steel doors. From one side and from the other side. The people went into the gas chamber from the one side. And they pushed in as many as they could. It was not allowed to have the people standing up with their hands down because there is not enough room, but when the people raised their hand like that, there was more room to each other. And on top of that they throw in kids, 2, 3, 4-year-old kids on top of them.67

64 65

66 67

Donat, The Death Camp…, op. cit., p. 299. GFH, Israel, File 28646: L. Bewerunge, „Mit Peitsche und Revolver an der Rampe“. Franz im Treblinka-Prozess des heimtückischen Mordes beschuldigt/Den Baumeister der Gaskammern wiederkannt? Bericht unseres Korrespondenten Lothar Bewerunge: Hairdresser Gustav Boraks from Israel belonged in Treblinka to the group of 25 hairdressers who had to cut the womens hairs inside of a gas chamber. S. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka, Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1989, p. 40. USHMM, Washington, DC, RG-50.030.0033: Interview with Avraham Bomba, August 28, 1990.

The third largest area of the camp, the “Upper Camp”—Camp II, or officially, the “death camp” (Totenlager)—occupied the southeastern area of the camp. This is where the mass murders were carried out daily. The area was completely isolated from the rest of the camp by barbed-wire fences camouflaged with branches, as well as high earth ramparts which prevented observation from outside. The entrance was hidden by a special screen. This part of Treblinka, the “Upper Camp”, measured approximately 200 meters by 250 meters.68 When the mass killings first began, there were initially three gas chambers located at the heart of the Upper Camp, inside a brick building constructed on concrete foundations. Each gas chamber measured approximately 4 meters by 4 meters, and approximately 2.6 meters high. Several steps at the front led up to a corridor, from which three doors approximately 1.80 meters high and approximately 90 centimeters wide led into the three gas chambers.69 The chambers were constructed much like air raid shelters with hermetically sealed doors. Inside, the walls were lined with tiles up to a certain height and on the ceiling of each chamber there were pipes and shower-heads to create the illusion that the chambers were normal shower rooms. According to the Jewish survivor Eli Rosenberg, there was also a small observation window made of unbreakable glass in the ceiling of each chamber.70

68 69 70

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 41. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 300. Eliahu Rosenberg telephone conversation with M. Chocholatý, 2003. In orig: “Okienko z nietłukącego szkła”. There was also a similar observation window on the roof of a gas chamber in Sobibór: “When Himmler asked to inspect the gas chambers, the Nazis marched the naked girls down the Road to Heaven. Bademeister Bauer was waiting for them on his usual perch, the roof of the “showers”, where he had peepholes into the chambers. The Berliner (SS-Oberscharführer Bauer) usually wore coveralls like a mechanic when he supervised the gassings, but in honor of Himmler, he donned his best SS uniform.” (R. Rashke, Escape from Sobibor. University of Illinois Press, 1995, p. 105). There is another statement concerning the Sobibór chambers, where the construction of the old chambers was probably the same as in Treblinka: Bauer told his colleagues about an event, when a naked woman asked an SS-man who was closing the door of the gas chamber: “What is the officer doing behind the window on the roof? How can we take a bath when he is watching us?” (T. Blatt, Sobibór:

On the wall opposite the entry door of each chamber were the unloading doors, each one approximately 2.50 meters wide and approximately 1.80 meters high, made of thick wooden planks.71 These doors could be opened only from the outside and opened like modern garage doors—outwards and upwards—and fastened open by upright wooden (or iron) supports while the interiors of gas chambers were being cleaned. Each unloading door opened onto a 70–80-centimeter-high concrete ramp made of enlargement of a platform which completely encircled the building.72 The floors of the gas chambers were also tiled and slanted towards this platform. At the rear of the building there was a machine room (Maschinenraum) which housed a Russian tank engine which pumped its exhaust fumes into the gas chambers through the pipes and shower heads on the ceilings. The engine room also contained a generator which supplied the Upper and Lower Camps with electric current.73 Jankiel Wiernik, deported to Treblinka on August 23, 1942, was a skilled craftsman and selected for work by the SS on arrival in the camp. He was employed as the camp carpenter, and has provided the following description of the original gas chambers, known by the prisoners as the “small gas chambers”.74 When I arrived at the camp, three gas chambers were already in operation. (…) The outlet on the roof had a hermetic cap. Each chamber was equipped with a gas inlet pipe and a baked tile floor slanting towards the platform. The brick building which housed the gas chambers was separated from Camp I by a wooden wall. This wooden wall and the brick wall of the building together formed a corridor which was 80 centimeters higher than the building. The chambers were connected with the corridor by a hermetically-fitted iron door leading into each of the chambers. On the side of Camp II, the chambers were connected by a platform four meters wide, which ran alongside all three chambers. The platform was about 80

71 72 73 74

Zapomniane powstanie. Muzeum Pojezerza Łęczyńsko-Włodawskiego we Włodawie, Włodawa, p. 59. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 300. See Wiernik's model of Treblinka displayed in GHF! Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 157. Eliahu Rosenberg also often called them the “small gas chambers.” (M. Chocholatý telephone conversation with Rosenberg in 2003).

centimeters above ground level. There was also a hermeticallyfitted wooden door on this side. Each chamber had a door facing Camp II (1.80 meters by 2.50 meters), which could be opened only from the outside by lifting it with iron supports, and was closed by iron hooks set into the sash frames, and by wooden beams. The victims were led into the chambers through the doors leading from the corridor, while the remains of the gassed victims were dragged out through the doors facing Camp II. The power plant operated alongside these chambers, supplying Camps I and II with electric current. An engine taken from a dismantled Soviet tank stood in the power plant. This engine was used to pump the gas which was let into the chambers by connecting the engine with the inflow pipes.75

Abraham Krzepicki, who was deported from Warsaw to Treblinka on August 25, 1942, has described the original, small gas chamber building as: A longish, not too large brick building standing in the middle of the death camp (…) this building was surrounded by a wooded area (…) spread over the flat roof of the building there was a green wire net whose edges extended slightly beyond the buildings walls. These may have been for protection against air attacks. Beneath the net, on top of the roof, I could see a tangle of pipes. The walls of the building were covered with concrete. The gas chamber had not been operating for a week. I was able to look inside through one of the two strong, white-washed iron exits, which happened to be open. I saw before me a room, which was not too large. It looked like a regular shower room with all the accoutrements of a public bathhouse. The walls of the room were covered with small orange terracotta tiles. Nickel-plated metal faucets were set into the ceiling. That was all. A comfortable neat little bathhouse set in the middle of a wooded area.76

Eliahu Rosenberg, employed as a grave-digger in the Upper Camp, has given this description of the small gas chambers: The first thing which appeared before our eyes was a barn-like building built of rough bricks. As I found out later, these were the gas chambers in which a large number of people died. There were 75 76

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., pp. 157–159. Ibid., p. 105.

three sections there, the size of a regular dining room. The ground (floor) and a half of the wall was covered with red tiles in order to camouflage the blood sticking to the walls. In the ceiling there was a small sealed window which was never opened, and through which the gassing procedure could be watched. The ceiling had been equipped with showers through which water did not run. Due to the dark inside the chambers, it could not be seen that along the walls ran pipes some five centimeters in diameter through which flowed the gas—it was the exhaust gas produced by an engine placed in the cabin. There were pushed some four hundred people into each chamber. Because of the lack of space, nobody could even move and nobody could fall down or to sit somewhere. The Ukrainians were interested in pushing into the chamber in the course of one “batch” as many people as possible in order to use less gas and to cause a faster death. The gas was introduced usually for circa 20 minutes and there was approximately a quarter of an hour waiting until the last hoarse cries of the dying ended.77

* Erwin Hermann Lambert from Berlin, a master mason who worked for the “T4” euthanasia program and had laid tiles in gas chambers in the “T4” institutions, was ordered to Treblinka while the camp was still under construction: I and Hengst—euthanasia man—went to Treblinka by car. SSHauptsturmführer (sic!) Richard Thomalla was the camp Commander. The Treblinka camp was still in the process of construction. I was attached to a building team there. Thomalla was there for a limited time only and conducted the construction work of the extermination camp. During this time no extermination operations were carried out. Thomalla was in Treblinka for about four to eight weeks. Then Dr. Eberl arrived as camp Commander.78

Under the direction of Dr. Irmfried Eberl the extermination Aktionen of the Jews began.79

78 79

GFH, Israel, 3562/4494: Jewish Historical Documentation, First-hand account, recording with Elias Rosenberg on December 24, 1947, in Vienna, Austria, p. 4–5. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 40. Erwin Lambert has stated that technically the first Commandant at Treblinka was Richard Thomalla, as he supervised the construction work (Ibid., p. 40), but that is a view not generally held.

Chapter 3 Initial Phase under Dr. Eberl: July–August 1942

When construction of the camp had been completed, the Austrian SS-Untersturmführer Dr. med. Irmfried Georg Rolf Eberl took command at Treblinka. Previously, Eberl had served as Medical Director at the Brandenburg and Bernburg T4 euthanasia institutions after, according to Nurse Pauline Kneissler, he had first learnt the correct technique for administering carbon monoxide (CO) gas to kill people at the first “T4” institution at Grafeneck castle in Württemberg.80 In April 1942, before assuming command at Treblinka, Eberl was temporarily stationed in the Sobibór death camp, after which he spent a few weeks in Warsaw dealing with administrative tasks connected with the Treblinka death camp, including the ordering of building materials. He wrote to Heinz Auerswald, the Commissioner for the Jewish District (Kommissar für den Jüdischen Wohnbezirk) notifying him that the Treblinka camp would be ready to start operations on July 11, 1942,81 and shortly afterwards—on July 23, 1942—the first mass transport from the Warsaw ghetto arrived at the death camp. During his stay in Warsaw and later tenure as Treblinka Commandant, Eberl corresponded regularly with his wife, Ruth, who was also a doctor of medicine. In one of his last letters from Warsaw, Eberl wrote about Treblinka that although everything was in “a mad rush” (tolle Hetzjagd) as construction work at the camp neared its end, he would still not be able to keep the July 1 deadline due to various incidents—vehicle breakdowns, accidents, and not 80

E. Klee, Was sie taten—Was sie wurden: Ärzte, Juristen und andere Beteiligte am Kranken- oder Judenmord, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt-am-Main 1986, p. 97. Letter reproduced in: R. Glazar, Treblinka, slovo jak z dětské říkanky. G plus G, Prague 2007, p. 378.

least the paper work involved. He also gave his wife his new address where he expected to be within a week: SS-Untersturmführer Dr. Eberl, Treblinka n/Małkinia, SS-Sonderkommando.82 Eberl arrived in Treblinka a few days later and wrote to his wife about his first impressions, that in the camp “a breathtaking pace had been established”, and that even if he was “in four parts and each day was 100 hours long, it would still not be enough to carry out everything that was necessary.” The result was lack of sleep, only three or four hours a night while being plagued by lice and fleas. The last sentence about thinking of his “nice home” in Berlin indicates a modicum of homesickness.83 Although many sources, particularly Franciszek Ząbecki, the station-master at Treblinka, have written that the first transport arrived at Treblinka on July 23, 1942, there are a few statements that contradict this claim. A former inmate of the Treblinka penal labor camp, Ryszard Czarkowski, wrote in 1989 that the extermination of the Jews at the Treblinka death camp began as early as June 1942. He claimed that: As a former prisoner of Treblinka penal labor camp, I can with absolute certainty, claim that the date of the first transport of July 22, 1942 is not correct. When we were being taken to the railway platforms for work in Małkinia, or on the so-called Siedlce bridge on the River Bug, I could see the Jews being brought in cars. I am absolutely sure that in June 1942 the transports of Jews were arriving at Treblinka in latticed freight wagons. It is possible that on July 22, 1942, the first transport of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto arrived at

HHStA Wiesbaden, III/683/5, 147, 631a, 1631: Eberl letter from Warsaw, dated June 29, 1942. Many of Eberl's letters have been published in: M. Grabher, Irmfried Eberl—Euthanasie-Arzt und Kommandant von Treblinka. Peter Lang, Frankfurt/Main 2006. U. Hoffmann, D. Schulze, Gedenkstätte Bernburg. Dessau 1997, pp. 156–167. Ibid., III/683/6, 149–150, 631a, 1631: Letter from Treblinka, dated July 30, 1942. Letter reproduced in full in Supplementary Documents.

Treblinka, but earlier transports were surely brought from other towns.84

Czarkowski also refers in his book to the crown witness Jan Sułkowski who supports his claim that transports arrived at the death camp before July 23, 1942: Fortunately, there is alive today (1989) a crown witness who can support my conclusions which deal with the above-mentioned claims. His name is Jan Sułkowski, who testified during the War Crimes trial of Ludwig Fischer on January 20, 1945. Jan Sułkowski was imprisoned in the Treblinka labor camp (Treblinka I) on May 19, 1942, and within two days of his arrival was appointed to the work group, consisting of Poles, which was constructing the extermination centre. Sułkowski testified that about May 22, 1942, the first Jewish transport arrived holding nearly 800 persons. (...) I wonder why such facts are not mentioned by the chief of station traffic Franciszek Ząbecki, who wrote in his book that the extermination camp was operational for the first time on July 23, 1942.85

However, it is difficult to imagine how any Jews were gassed in Treblinka while the camp was still under construction. If Jews were delivered at such early dates they were doubtless engaged in construction work. Jerzy Krolikowski, a Polish engineer who was working on the construction of a bridge on the railway near Treblinka, recalled: On July 23—dates like that are not easily forgotten—while we were working on the railroad bridge between Małkinia and Siedlce, a rather strange train passed, with closed freight cars whose air apertures were covered with barbed–wire. Between the bunched wires, one could make out pale and hunger-stricken faces….. One day in late July or early August 1942, I heard groaning voices from a train crossing the bridge; they wanted water….. the people packed into those freight cars had been there for hours. They were simply dying of thirst.86

* 84

85 86

R. Czarkowski, Cieniom Treblinki, Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, Warsaw 1989, p. 21. Ibid., pp. 191–192. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 64-65.

Oskar Strawczyński, who together with his brother was a prisoner in the death camp, gave a very detailed description of the particular areas in the camp, including the Upper Camp. Although he never entered this most feared compound, he received a first-hand account about it from two men who worked there. One of them was Hershel Jabłkowski, whom Strawczyński described as: A solid and decent man with whom I worked for many months in the workshop: he as a (black) smith and I as a tinsmith. He arrived at Treblinka on June 18, 1942, a considerable time before the first transports. According to him, the first transport arrived on Tisha B'Av87 in 1942 (23 July). He participated in digging the first mass grave. At that time there was no bulldozer. Later, as a smith, he was employed in building the “bath.” It was all one camp then. The day before the first transport arrived, Camp I and Camp II were divided. As a skilled tradesman, Jabłkowski was sent to Camp I.88

It is known that in the other two Aktion Reinhardt camps at Bełżec and Sobibór test gassings were carried out on local Jews. It is therefore possible that some transports did in fact arrive at earlier dates on which the first gas chambers were tested. Franciszek Ząbecki, however, was in a key position to state exactly when the transports actually began arriving, and this book supports that assumption, that the first mass transport took place on July 23, 1942. Ząbecki has recalled his curiosity about what was happening in the nearby camp: I rode my bicycle in order to find out what was going on there. The concrete road on which I rode was a straight distance of about 200 meters from the camp. I got off my bicycle as if I were fixing it. I fixed it for more than 10 minutes. From the camp I heard screams of desperation and crying that pierced the air, and songs and psalms, and prayers of supplication in Yiddish and Polish reached my ears. Above all, there was a constant rat-a-tat-tat of firing from machine guns. The news of the tragedy in Treblinka was passed on

Should be Tisza b'Aw—regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calender, commemorating primarily the destruction of the two temples in Jerusalem and other tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people. Cymlich, Strawczyński, Escaping Hell ..., op. cit., p. 171.

to the world, but they could not prevent it. The fate of the Jews was sealed.89

On July 22, 1942, Ząbecki recalled receiving a telegram stating that the running of a shuttle service from Warsaw to Treblinka with settlers was to commence. The trains would be made up of 60 covered freight wagons; after unloading, the trains were to be sent back to Warsaw. Ząbecki recalled that first transport: The first train to arrive on July 23, 1942, made its presence known from a long way off, not only by the rumble of the wheels on the bridge over the River Bug, but by the frequent shots from the rifles and automatic weapons of the train guards. The train was made up of sixty covered wagons, crammed with people. There were old people, young people, men, women, children and infants in quilts. The doors of the wagons were bolted, the air gaps had a grating of barbed-wire. Several SS-men, with automatic weapons, ready to shoot, stood on the foot-boards of the wagons on both sides of the train and even lay on the roofs. It was a hot day; people in the wagons were fainting. The SS guards with rolled-up sleeves looked like butchers, who after murdering their victims washed their blood-stained hands and got ready for more killing. Without a word, we understood the tragedy, since “settling” people coming to work would not have required such a strict guard, whereas these people were being transported like dangerous criminals. After the transport arrived, some fiendish spirit got into the SSmen, they drew their pistols, put them away, and took them out again, as if they wanted to shoot and kill straight away; they approached the wagons, silencing those who were shrieking and wailing, and again they swore and screamed. (…) On the wagons we could see chalk marks giving the number of people in the wagon, viz: 120, 150, 180 and 200 people. We worked out later that the total number of people in the train must have been about eight to ten thousand. The “settlers” were strangely huddled together in the wagons. All of them had to stand, without sufficient air and without access to toilet facilities. It was like travelling in hot ovens. (…) Through some air gaps terrified people looked out, asking hopefully: “How far is it to the agricultural estates where we're going to work?”

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 352.

Twenty wagons were uncoupled from the train, and a shunting locomotive began to push them along the spur-line into the camp. A short while later it returned empty. This procedure was repeated twice more, until all sixty wagons had been shunted into the camp and out again. Empty, they returned to Warsaw for more “settlers.”90

Wolf Sznajdman also remembered the transport of July 23: I can remember the date, Tiszebuw, near the end of July, the first transport had come. We did not know who has come. We saw the women with children there. They have parted us from the transport. They took the workers into the Upper Camp and they ended up as corpses, and we were finishing the building works. We did not know at all, that they have brought those people for execution. They have at first allowed (them) to enter the barracks on the yard they ordered (them) to undress there. From the barracks led the road to the “bath” this means into the gas chamber. At the beginning, for two weeks, everything was happening during the night. We thought over the few first days, that in the night the wagons are coming to take the transports further, to the East. We were not allowed to enter the Upper Camp. If anybody looked in this direction, they took him to work (there) and he never came back, we saw the clothes, through the opened barracks doors, where the piles of clothes laid. We were then working close to this, in the carpenter shop, everything was clear to us suddenly. After this, all of the barracks were overfilled with the rags, so the people were ordered to undress on the yard, the heaps of those clothes and shoes piled up in the way you see straw on the yards next to barns. We also noticed that machine guns were placed on the roofs of the wagons carrying the deportees. They fired into the transports. There was a meter high layer of bodies on the yard. Ukrainians shot people on that scale. It could be seen that the process in the gas chambers went too slowly. It was impossible to sleep during the night as such shootings were all around, like at the front. There was always something to build, always something new, we were building ‘till the very end, ’till the uprising, without a break in order not to think about anything else. They did not allow us to talk to anybody from those transports.91

90 91

F. Ząbecki, Wspomnienia dawne i nowe. PAX, Warsaw 1977, pp. 45–48. YVA, Jerusalem, 03/1560: Wolf Sznajdman (Wolf Schneidman).

The transports of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto were organized by SS-Hauptsturmführer Herman Höfle, the Deputy Head of Aktion Reinhardt in Lublin. Höfle, along with Georg Michalsen, and Hermann Worthoff, arrived in Warsaw about a week before the fateful deportations started. By September 21, 1942, the Einsatz Reinhardt resettlement Kommando had dispatched to the Treblinka death camp 254,000 Jews from Warsaw itself and another 112,000 Jews from other locations in the Warsaw District.92 At the beginning of the second week of August 1942, Ząbecki witnessed the following incident at Treblinka railway station: A Polish partisan, Trzciński, from a nearby village, had reached the station after being forced to flee across the River Bug. He was on his way south, armed, in search of another partisan group, and intended to travel south on the regular train to Sokołów. At an adjoining platform were carriages waiting to be shunted on to the death camp spur. Trzciński went up to a wagon, suddenly unfastened his coat, and gave a young Jew a grenade, asking him to throw it among the Germans. The Jew took the grenade and Trzciński jumped into the moving passenger train and departed.93

Ząbecki learned later that the Jew had thrown the grenade at a group of Ukrainian Trawnikimänner standing beside the Germans on the Ramp in Camp I. One Trawnikimann was seriously wounded. The Germans wreaked their revenge by beating the young men to death with sticks.94 Trawnikimann Nikolay Petrovich Malagon was on duty on the Ramp and a witness to this incident; he confirmed that one of the guards was killed, but that the Jews responsible were shot on the spot and not beaten to death95 Oskar Berger, a businessman from Katowice, Upper Silesia, who was deported from Kielce with his wife and child on August 22, 1942, recalls seeing hundreds of bodies lying all around on arrival in Treblinka: “Piles of bundles, clothes, suitcases, everything mixed 92

94 95

Y. Gutman, The Jews of Warsaw 1939–43. The Harvester Press, Brighton 1982, pp. 203 and 216. M. Gilbert, The Holocaust—The Jewish Tragedy. William Collins, London 1987, pp. 407–408. Ibid., p. 408. OSI/DJ, Washington, DC: Nikolay Petrovich Malagon, March 18, 1978.

together. SS soldiers, Germans and Ukrainians, were standing on the roofs of barracks and firing indiscriminately into the crowd. Men, women and children fell bleeding. The air was filled with screaming and weeping.”96 Jankiel Wiernik was rounded up in Warsaw on August 23, 1942, and he makes an important claim, that Kurt Franz was involved in the round-up Aktion in Warsaw. He recalled: I looked at him. He was the vilest of them all. Human life meant nothing to him, and to inflict death and untold torture was his supreme delight. Because of his “heroic deeds,” he was subsequently promoted to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer. His name was Franz.97 He had a dog named Barry.98

Abraham Krzepicki recounted his arrival at the death camp. He escaped eighteen days later and his testimony was recorded by Rachel Auerbach during December 1942–January 1943 in the Warsaw Ghetto: After passing Treblinka station, the train went on a few hundred meters to the camp. In the camp there was a platform to which the train ran through a separate gate guarded by a Ukrainian. He opened the gate for us. After the train had entered, the gate was closed again. As I was later able to note, this gate was made of wooden slats, interwoven with barbed-wire, camouflaged by green branches. When the train stopped, the doors of all the cars were suddenly flung open. We were now on the grounds of the charnel house that is Treblinka.99

Krzepicki's statement is a very important source for reconstructing the events during the initial phase of the history of the camp. He states that during this time, on arrival in the camp, the deportees were informed about the purpose for their deportation by placards with large printed letters which began with the words: “Jews of Warsaw, Attention (…)”, followed by detailed instructions. The

96 97

98 99

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 84. Franz claimed that he arrived in Treblinka during mid-summer or early autumn 1942. The account by Wiernik places Franz in Treblinka during August 1942. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 149. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 82.

Jews were told that they had arrived at a labor camp; that they must hand over their clothes for disinfection, and promised their money and valuables would be returned to them: An SS-man arrived and selected 10 young men out of our group; he didn't want older men. A while later, another SS-man demanded 60 men; I was among that group. They marched us two-by-two through the square we had traversed when we left the freight cars, then to the right, to a larger square, where we were confronted by a staggering sight; a large number of corpses lying one next to the other. I estimated there were 20,000 corpses there, most of whom had suffocated in the freight cars. Their mouths remained open, as if they were gasping for another breath of air. Hundreds of meters away, a scoop-shovel dug large quantities of earth from the ditches. We saw a lot of Jews busy carrying the bodies to these huge ditches. Some of them transported the bodies in handcarts to the ditches at the edge of the square. These Jews did everything at a run. The bodies were laid in the ditches, row upon row. A group of laborers were pouring chlorine (sic!) on the corpses.100 I should mention that those buried at this square were not gas chamber victims, but rather the bodies removed from the transports and those who had been shot at Treblinka. Often we heard pistols shooting and bullets whistling. We didn't hear the screams of those shot; the Germans fired at the nape of the neck, and the victim never even moaned. At night, another transport arrived at the camp. We ran towards the cars. I was shocked. All the cars were filled only with the dead— asphyxiated. They were lying on top of one another in layers, up to the ceiling of the freight car. The sight was so awful it is difficult to describe. I asked where the transport had come from; it turned out to be from Międzyrzec.101

Abraham Goldfarb was deported from Białystok with his wife and four children and they arrived in Treblinka on August 25, 1942. His wife and children were murdered on arrival in the camp. He described the “Tube” thus: On the way to the gas chambers, on both sides of the fence, stood Germans with dogs. The Germans beat the people with whips and 100

101

Chlorine is a gas. Krzepicki must have meant chloride of lime which slows down the process of decomposition by drying the tissues. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 85.

iron bars, so they would run and push to get into the “showers” quickly. The women's screams could be heard far off in other sections of the camp. The Germans urged the running victims on with yells of “Faster, faster, the water's getting cold, and others have to use the showers, too!”102

From the “Tube” the Jews were brutally pushed and beaten into the gas chambers. The women and children were gassed before the men.103 Abraham Krzepicki, deported from Warsaw to Treblinka on the same day as Goldfarb, has described those chaotic early days in the camp: At seven in the evening there was a roll call; they counted us—we were about 500. They appointed a Jewish commander—a Kapo, the engineer Galewski. That day, like every day, the roll call lasted two hours. The next morning there was another roll call. Since first counting us they had instituted some order, and the roll calls were held three times a day. Food distribution was also organized. A field kitchen was set up near the well, and there they gave us half a liter of soup three times a day. We received no bread, but there was no lack of food, since we could take it from the bundles left behind by the Jews brought for extermination. The kitchen food also came from these bundles. After roll call we were taken to work at the big square where there were mass graves. (…) I worked at transferring corpses to the big ditch near the fence. After a few days, the scoop-shovel stopped working. A new system was instituted—burning the corpses in the ditches. All kinds of articles were used to light the fires, including empty suitcases and the junk which was collected in the course of cleaning the square. The body burning continued day and night, and the entire camp was filled with smoke and the stench of burned and burning bodies. Still there were endless quantities of bodies. It was necessary to clean the area fully of the remains of the last transports. (...) bodies, dozens of bodies, hundreds, thousands of men, women and children, who had been murdered. (…) A factory of horror whose sole product was bodies. (…) I didn't get used to the sight of corpses until the end. The quantity of the bodies in the large square gradually decreased until one day the 102 103

Ibid., p. 86. Eliahu Rosenberg via Kalman Teigman in a letter to Chris Webb, November 21, 2004.

entire field was clear. What will happen to us now? New transports aren't arriving. Our hearts tell us that our last hour has arrived (...) but a miracle happened (...) they selected 80 of our group and shot them, while the rest, several hundred, were directed to other jobs.104

Kurt Gerstein, an SS-Oberscharführer in the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen-SS in Berlin was in charge of disinfection and drinking water systems in military camps, concentration camps and prisoner-ofwar camps.105 On August 18, 1942, together with Professor Dr. Wilhelm Pfannenstiel, who held the Chair of Hygiene at the university of Marburg-an-der-Lahn, Gerstein visited Lublin and the Bełżec death camp after which they travelled to Treblinka. They accompanied Christian Wirth who on August 1, 1942, had been appointed Inspector of the SS-Sonderkommandos operating in the camps at Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka (Inspektor der SS-Sonderkommandos Aktion Reinhardt). Gerstein recalled the visit: The next day—August 19, 1942—we went in Hauptmann Wirth's car to Treblinka, 120 km NNE of Warsaw. The installation was somewhat similar to that in Bełżec except that it was larger. Eight gas chambers and veritable mountains of cases, textiles and underclothes. A banquet in the dining-hall was laid on in our honor in typical Himmlerite Old German style. The meal was simple, but there was plenty of everything. Himmler himself had ordered that the men of these Kommandos should receive as much meat, butter and other things, particularly alcohol, as they wanted.106

The Gerstein visit may be problematical, in terms of dates. On August 19, 1942, there were only three gas chambers in operation, the larger eight or ten gassing facilities were not constructed until after Dr. Eberl was dismissed and Wirth and Stangl set about reorganizing the camp. Either Kurt Gerstein has incorrectly recalled

104 105

106

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 94. S. Friedländer, Counterfeit Nazi. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1969, p. 90. J. Schäfer, Kurt Gerstein—Zeuge des Holocaust: Ein Leben zwischen Bibelkreisen und SS. Luther-Verlag, Bielefeld 1999, p. 156. G. Schoenberner, The Yellow Star. Corgi Books, London 1978, p. 135. That Gerstein visited the Treblinka death camp is not in doubt, only the date may be problematic. There is documentary evidence placing Dr. Pfanenstiel in Lublin, on September 14, 1942, where Ernst Lerch, the adjutant of Globocnik, on requesting a car for him, was intercepted by British Intelligence at Bletchley Park.

the date of his visit, or he visited Treblinka more than once, possibly in September or October 1942. SS-Oberscharführer Josef Oberhauser, Wirth's aide, accompanied him on August 19, 1942, on an inspection of Treblinka. He testified after the War, about what he witnessed that day: In Treblinka everything was in a state of collapse. The camp was overstocked. Outside the camp, a train with deportees was unable to be unloaded as there was simply no more room. Many corpses of Jews were lying inside the camp. These corpses were already bloated. I can particularly remember seeing many corpses in the vicinity of the fence. These people had been shot from the guard towers.107

SS-Unterscharführer Willy Mentz, who had been posted to Treblinka the previous month, has given a similar statement about the mounting chaos in the camp: When I came to Treblinka the camp Commandant was a doctor named Eberl. He was very ambitious. It was said that he ordered more transports that could be “processed” in the camp. That meant that trains had to wait outside the camp because the occupants of the previous transport had not yet all been killed. At the time it was very hot and as a result of the long wait inside the transport trains in the intense heat many people died. At that time whole mountains of bodies lay on the platform.108

SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel, who arrived in Treblinka on August 20, 1942, also recalls the chaos in Treblinka and lack of capacity of the gas chambers to deal with the incoming Jews: “More people kept coming, always more, whom we hadn’t the facilities to kill. The brass was in a rush to clean out the Warsaw ghetto. The gas chambers couldn't handle the load. The small gas chambers: The Jews had to wait their turn for a day, two days, three days.”109 In the meantime, Wirth and Oberhauser had returned to Warsaw and convened a conference at the Brühl Palace on Adolf

107 108

109

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 89. E. Klee, W. Dressen, V. Riess (eds.), The Good Old Days—The Holocaust as Seen by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders. William S. Konecky, New York 1996, p. 245. C. Lanzmann, Shoah—An Oral History of the Holocaust. Pantheon Books, New York 1985, p. 55.

Hitler Platz, the headquarters of the Warsaw Civilian Administration and the SS and Police Leader for the Warsaw District, SS-Oberführer Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg, another Austrian. Also in attendance were SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik and two unidentified men in civilian clothes.110 After the conference, Globocnik, Wirth and Oberhauser, went to Treblinka, accompanied by the two unidentified men. In Treblinka, Globocnik saw for himself the serious bottleneck that had occurred. Oberhauser was a witness to the subsequent discussion between Globocnik and Wirth: I heard then in Treblinka how Globocnik and Wirth summed-up the following: Dr. Eberl would be dismissed immediately; in his place, Stangl would come to Treblinka from Sobibór as Commander. Globocnik said in this conversation that if Dr. Eberl were not his fellow countryman (i.e. Austrian), he would have him arrested and brought before an SS and police court.111 (...) Globocnik said to the two civilians that all the transports from Warsaw to Treblinka had to be stopped. Wirth was ordered to enlarge the camp and to report when transports could be dealt with again. I then travelled back to Warsaw with Globocnik and the two gentlemen in civilian clothes. We were then in Warsaw for two or three days. I know that Dr. Eberl also showed up there about a day later. I learned then in Warsaw that Dr. Eberl would be sent back to Berlin, and everything would be further controlled from there by the Führer's Chancellery.112

According to a statement by SS-Unterscharführer Willi Mentz, Wirth “kicked up a terrific row” and then one day Dr. Eberl was no longer there.113 Franz Stangl was taken to Treblinka by an SS-driver and long before their arrival the smell from the camp was perceptible. The road ran parallel to the railway, and about 15–20 minutes drive from the camp, corpses could be seen lying alongside the track. Stangl: “first just two or three, then more, and as we drove into 110

111 112 113

M. Tregenza, Christian Wirth: Inspektor der SS-Sonderkommandos Aktion Reinhard, in: Zeszyty Majdanka, vol. XXVI, Lublin 1992, p. 3. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 89 and 92. Tregenza, Christian Wirth … , op. cit., p. 4. Klee, et al., (eds.), The Good Old Days …, op. cit., p. 245.

Treblinka station, there were what looked like hundreds of them— just lying there—they'd obviously been there for days, in the heat.”114 At Treblinka station a trainload of Jews waited to enter the camp, and to Stangl it looked as if it had been there for days.115 Stangl has described the sight on arrival inside Treblinka death camp as “the most awful thing he saw during the Third Reich”. It was Dantés Inferno: When I entered the camp and got out of the car on the square, I stepped knee-deep into money; I didn't know which way to turn, where to go. I waded in notes, currency, precious stones, jewellery, clothes. They were everywhere, strewn all over the square. (…) Across the square, in the woods, just a few hundred yards away on the other side of the barbed-wire fence and all around the perimeter of the camp, there were tents and open fires with groups of Ukrainian guards and girls—whores, I found out later, from all over the countryside—weaving drunk, dancing, singing, playing music.116

Stangl described the conditions and behavior that ruled inside the camp at this time: We went into a long meeting with Eberl as soon as we arrived. I went to the mess for some coffee and talked to some of the officers. They said they had great fun; shooting was “sport.” There was more money and stuff around than one could dream of, all there for the taking; all one had to do was help oneself. In the evening, they said, Eberl had naked Jewesses dance for them, on the tables. Disgusting—it was all disgusting.117

According to SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel, however, the latter story was an exaggeration: There were never nude Jewesses dancing on tables, that's untrue. What is true is that once Eberl, when he was drunk, made a dancer dance naked in the kitchen. He ordered her to undress—which she did most unwillingly. When Wirth heard of this later, he had the

114 115 116 117

Sereny, Into that Darkness …, op. cit., p. 157. Ibid., p. 157. Ibid., p. 157. Ibid., p. 160.

poor girl shot. August Hengst had played the pimp on that occasion.118

Wirth had been alerted to problems with the delivery of money and valuables and the unrestricted opportunities for the SS staff to help themselves to whatever they wanted. A certain amount of the Jewish loot, instead of being sent first to Lublin for sorting and distribution, was suspected to have been “siphoned off” and sent by Eberl directly to the Führer's Chancellery and to “T4” in Berlin.119 Stangl, too, suspected that there was some kind of conspiracy between Eberl and Wirth, as he mentioned in an interview with Gitta Sereny: I'd got a funny feeling that something fishy had been going on between Wirth and Eberl (…) It seemed to me, the chaos—the complete breakdown in security—might almost have been deliberate, so as to make control impossible and enable somebody (i.e. Eberl and Wirth) to by-pass Chancellery in Berlin.120

For a period of several weeks in September–early October 1942, SSOberscharführer Ernst Schemmel from the Aktion Reinhardt death camp at Bełżec replaced Stangl for a short time. This is confirmed by SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel who arrived at Treblinka on August 20. He has stated that when he returned to Treblinka from a two-week leave on October 1, 1942, Schemmel was in command. Suchomel assumed that Stangl had either returned to Sobibór, or more likely, had himself gone on leave.121 In the interim, Schemmel had been transferred to Treblinka as acting Commandant until Stangl returned.122 A transport deported from the Kielce ghetto on August 24, 1942, an act of resistance was witnessed by Izak Helfing (Isador Helfing): 118

119 120 121

122

Ibid., pp. 160―161. Hengst was a professional chef, commandeered first to “T4” as a cook and then to Treblinka as a cook for the SS-garrison. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 88. Sereny, Into that Darkness …, op. cit., p. 162. Archives of the Holocaust, Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen Ludwigsburg. Garland Publishing Inc, New York/London 1993, p. 423. Raul Hilberg mentions Schemmel in his book as the second Commandant of Treblinka, after Eberl and before Stangl. (Hilberg, Die Vernichtung der europäischen Juden, volume 2. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt/Main 1990, p. 959. Ernst Schemmel died in Dresden in 1943 while home on leave.

At Treblinka, the women were the first to be sent to the gas chambers, then “a certain Friedman” cut a Ukrainian in his throat with a razor blade. The guards at once opened fire, and many were killed or wounded. The shooting went on for a long time. By the time it was finished, eighty percent of the men and boys were dead. For an entire day I employed myself by dragging the corpses away from the train cars. When nightfall came, I hid myself straightaway among the dead. Thus did I evade the gas oven for four days on end.123

Franciszek Ząbecki, wrote in his memoirs, of a particular brutal murder of a Jewess in the Treblinka village station: There was an SS man from the camp in Klinzmann’s flat. A frightened, battered Jewess who had managed to get out of a wagon came into the station building. She probably thought she would be safe here. Crossing the threshold of the dark corridor close by the door of the German railway men’s quarters, she uttered a loud groan and a sigh. Willi rushed out into the corridor, and seeing the woman he shouted: Bist du Judin? “Are you a Jewess?” The SS man rushed out after Willi. The frightened Jewess exclaimed: Ach, mein Gott! “Oh, my God!” and escaped to the waiting-room next to the traffic supervisor’s office and fell down exhausted near the wall. Both the Germans grabbed the woman lying there; they wanted her to get up and go out with them. The Jewess lay motionless. It was already late evening. As I went out to see a military transport passing through the station, I shone my lamp on the woman lying there; I noticed that she was pregnant, and in the last months of pregnancy at that. The Jewess did not react to the German’s calls, uttering groans as if in labor. Then Klinzmann and the SS man from the camp began to take turns at kicking the Jewess at random and laughing. After dispatching the train, I had to go into the office again through the waiting-room, but I could not do it. In the waiting room a human being, helpless, defenceless—a sick pregnant woman— had been murdered. The impact from the hobnailed boots was so relentless that one of the Germans, aiming at her head, had hit too high, right into the wall. I had to go into the office and pass close to the murderers, since the departure of a train to Wolka Okraglik station had to be attended to, my entrance made the criminals stop. In their frenzy 123

Gilbert, The Holocaust …, op. cit., p. 434.

they had forgotten where they were, and somebody plucked up courage to break in and stop them in their “duty” of liquidating “an enemy of Hitlerism.” They reached for their pistols. Willi drunk, mumbled Fahrdienstleiter, “Traffic Supervisor.” I closed the door behind me. The butchers re-newed the kicking. The Jewess was no longer groaning. She was no longer alive.124

124

Gilbert, The Holocaust …, op. cit., p. 399-400.

Chapter 4 Chaos and Reorganization

Christian Wirth stayed in Treblinka to supervise the reorganization of the camp and had the transports suspended until the reorganization was completed. He also arranged for a number of key personnel to be transferred from Bełżec to Treblinka; the most senior was SS-Oberscharführer Kurt Franz, who had served for several months at Bełżec, where he was in charge of the Ukrainian guards: It was mid-summer or early autumn 1942 when I arrived at Treblinka from Bełżec. I left Małkinia station on foot and it was already dark by the time I reached Treblinka. In the camp there were bodies lying everywhere. I seemed to recall that they were all swollen. These bodies were dragged through the camp to the upper section by Jews. (...) The work-Jews were forced to keep moving by the Ukrainian guards, also by the Germans. I also saw them being beaten, what they were beaten with I can no longer say. There was tremendous confusion and a horrible din. That evening I went walking around the camp. During my walk I established that some of the guard squads were with girls and had put down their rifles. Then, as far as I could, I established order. I reported to Wirth in the dining room, as I remember, Wirth, Stangl, and Oberhauser were there.125

Very early the next morning, Franz walked around the camp to discover that the bodies had been removed. At around 9 o’clock in the morning, the first transport arrived and by the time Franz arrived on the Ramp, the men were already standing naked in the Reception Yard.126 Stangl recalls one of the first changes made in Treblinka by Wirth:

125 126

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 92. Klee, et al., (eds.), The Good Old Days …, op. cit., p. 244.

When I arrived in Treblinka for the first time, a large board was located in Reception Square. As I remember, on this board were noted ten clauses. These clauses stressed how the arriving Jews should behave. It is clear that in this written announcement the mission of this camp, in some way, was disguised. (…)

These written instructions for the incoming Jews were dispensed with by Wirth, as explained by Stangl: “In the framework of the reorganization, Wirth ordered the signboard to be removed. In its place, the SS-men would verbally announce to the deportees the directions which were until then written on the board. These short announcements were translated by work-Jews.”127 Christian Wirth wasted no time upon his arrival, as recalled by SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel. On his first night Wirth tackled the discontented staff members: We woke up, as he was separated from us only by a thin partition wall, as he laid into a man called Wengler in the next room. On that occasion I experienced the full force of his usual expressions and threats. I find it impossible today to recount all the horrible words and threats Wirth used on this occasion.128

SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel also recalled how Wirth dealt with the chaos in the camp and completed the reorganization: I remember that in the time when the whole camp was entirely disorganized, Wirth conducted talks with the German staff, mainly at 11 o'clock in the evening. These talks took place in the presence of Stangl. Wirth gave detailed instructions as to the liquidation of the transports and to the incorporation of the Jewish work Kommandos in this process. His instructions were detailed. For example, they described how to open the doors of the freight cars, the disembarking of the Jews, the passage through the “Tube” to the upper part of the camp. Wirth personally gave an order that when the Jews took off their shoes they had to tie them together (…) Wirth's instructions were carried out even after he left Treblinka.129

Suchomel recalled how Wirth terrorized the camp garrison while the reorganization was taking place: 127 128 129

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, p. 92. Tregenza, Christian Wirth … , op. cit., p. 46.. Ibid., p. 96.

He (Wirth) began to demonstrate his power to us. One morning, through the Kapos, he arrested about 10 people, mostly so-called “speculators,” but also local peasants straight from the fields— among them a 10-year-old boy. He sent them to the Lazarett, said his piece, and had them shot. Thus, Wirth did everything to frighten us and to prove his power. His constant success was not in doubt. It has to be taken into account that we were novices then and we had to take his threats seriously.130

Suchomel also recalled how Wirth set about clearing up the dead bodies which had accumulated around the old gas chamber building during Dr. Eberl's reign: Because there were so many dead that couldn't be gotten rid of, the bodies piled up around the gas chambers and stayed there for days. Under this pile of bodies was a cesspool three inches deep, full of blood, worms and shit. No one wanted to clean it out. The Jews preferred to be shot rather than work there. It was awful. Burying their own people, seeing it all. The dead flesh came off in their hands.131

Wirth ordered SS-man Erwin Kaina to round-up some Jews and clean up the ghastly mess, or face the consequences. But no one would comply. The Jews preferred to kill themselves. Kaina had already served a few weeks imprisonment in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, sent there by Wirth during the “T4” duty for openly speaking about the work in the Hadamar euthanasia institution. He was so fearful of Wirth's wrath that he shot himself, but bungled the attempt. Kaina died later in the local Military Reserve Hospital in Ostrów Mazowiecki.132 Wirth next ordered the SS-men Kurt Franz and Lorenz Hackenholt, recently transferred from Bełżec, to clear away the corpses. They, too, refused at first and Wirth beat Hackenholt with a whip. Finally, Wirth had to do the job himself, assisted by Franz

130 131 132

Suchomel, Christian Wirth ..., op. cit., p. 9. Lanzmann, Shoah …, op. cit., p. 56. Suchomel, Christian Wirth ..., op. cit., p. 9.

and Hackenholt, by wrapping leather belts around the arms of the corpses and dragging them to a mass grave.133 SS-Unterscharführer Willi Mentz describes the new deception procedure introduced by Wirth for “processing” the victims: Following the arrival of a transport, six to eight cars would be shunted into the camp, coming to a halt at the platform there. The Commandant, his Deputy Franz, Küttner and Stadie or Mätzig would be there waiting as the transport came in. Other SS members were also present to supervise the unloading, for example, Genz and Bölitz had to make absolutely sure that there was no one left in the cars after the occupants had been ordered to get out. When the Jews had got off, Stadie or Mätzig would have a short word with them. They were told something to the effect that they were a resettlement transport, that they would be given a bath and that they would receive new clothes. They were also instructed to maintain quiet and discipline. They would continue their journey the following day.134

Mentz continues: Then the Jews/deportees were taken to the so-called “transfer” area, the women had to undress in huts and the men out in the open. The women were then led through a passageway, known as the “Tube”, to the gas chambers. On the way, they had to pass a hut where they had to hand in their jewelery and valuables. The hut was manned by two work-Jews and a member of the SS. The SS member was Suchomel. After they had undressed, the men had to put their clothes and the women's clothes in an orderly pile in a designated place. That only happened in the early days after the reorganization. Later on, there were special work brigades who would immediately sort the clothes removed by the deportees from the transports.135

On the incoming transports there were always some Jews who were ill, frail, and the elderly, as well as small children. There were also those who had been wounded by gunshots from the escort guards while attempting to escape. None of them were capable of going through the extermination procedure unaided, and would hinder 133 134 135

Ibid. Klee, et al., (eds.), The Good Old Days …, op. cit., p. 246. Ibid., pp. 246–247.

the killing process. On arrival they were taken to the Lazarett and killed by one of the Ukrainian guards with a rifle shot to the head or the back of the neck. Aleksandr Kudlik, a Jewish prisoner who arrived in Treblinka in October 1942, explained about the Lazarett: Its purpose was the liquidation of those from each transport who were ill, or weak and small children without mothers, as well as for workers who fell sick. I can remember once I was asked to lead the sick ones from a Czech Jewish transport to the Lazarett. Those who were sick were convinced that they would be placed in a hospital, and they did not want to believe that they were being led to their death. In the Lazarett, which was fenced-off by a high fence, there was a pit, above which they were killed with a shot in the neck.136

Wolf Sznajdman testified about the Lazarett: I had once the opportunity to see the Lazarett. There was a small barrack there for Kapo Kurland. He was an ordinary man. He wore an armband with the Red Cross on it. At the beginning, against the pit, there was only a fence of pine branches. Kurland used to say: “Undress, a doctor will make an examination.” Afterwards, they sat above the pit, and then a Ukrainian approached and shot them. They went there to have a chance to convince themselves, they are good at shooting. They led there the elderly who could hardly walk, they were led by the arm; they brought the children (...)137

SS-Unterscharführer Willi Mentz was assigned by Wirth to take charge of the Lazarett: In this area there was a large mass grave. This grave was dug by an excavator and must have been about seven meters deep. Next to the mass grave there was a small wooden hut which was used by the two members of the Jewish work brigade who were on duty in the Lazarett. These Jews wore armbands marked with a Red Cross.138

The idea of the Jews wearing Red Cross armbands apparently originated from SS-NCO Fritz Küttner who was in charge of the Lower Camp.

136 137 138

YVA, Jerusalem, 03/550: Aleksandr Kudlik. YVA, Jerusalem, 03/1560: Wolf Sznajdman (Wolf Shneidman). Klee, et al., (eds.), The Good Old Days …, op. cit., p. 245.

Mentz recalled that Wirth himself demonstrated to him how to shoot the adults and children in the Lazarett by shooting several Jews. Then, under Wirth's supervision, Mentz had to kill even more Jews by shooting them in the neck. This method was then adhered to on Wirth's orders.139 These ill, frail and wounded people were brought to the Lazarett by a special work brigade. These people were taken to the “hospital” area and stood or laid down at the edge of the grave. When no more ill or wounded were expected it was my job to shoot these people. I did this by shooting them in the neck with a 9 mm pistol. They then collapsed or fell to one side and were carried down into the grave by the two “hospital” work-Jews. The bodies were sprinkled with chloride of lime. Later, on Wirth's instructions, they were burnt in the grave itself. The number of people I shot after the transports arrived varied. Sometimes it was two or three but sometimes it was as many as 20 or perhaps even more.140

* At the end of August 1942, Wirth ordered the construction of a new and larger gassing facility near the old gas chamber building. It was to contain more and larger gas chambers than the original building. He ordered that the death chambers had to be ready for use within one month, and to conceal all activity in the Upper Camp. It was now completely segregated from the rest of the camp. According to SS-Unterscharführer Willi Mentz: The two parts of the camp were separated by barbed-wire fences. Pine branches were used so that you could not see through the fences. The same thing was done along the route from the “transfer” area to the gas chambers. The work-Jews who worked in the upper part of the camp also lived there from then on. Finally, new and larger gas chambers were built. I think that there were now five or six large gas chambers.141

139

140 141

M. Tregenza, Christian Wirth and the First Phase of Einsatz Reinhard, in: Zeszyty Majdanka, vol. XIV, Lublin 1992, p. 8. Klee, et al., (eds.), The Good Old Days …, op. cit., pp. 245–247. Ibid., p. 245.

Erwin Lambert, the former “flying mason” for “T4” who had installed gas chambers in five of the six “euthanasia” institutions, recalled how he constructed the larger gas chambers at Treblinka in the late summer/early autumn of 1942: At Treblinka I laid the foundations for the large gas chambers. I had some Jewish prisoners and some Ukrainians in my work force. The Ukrainians were guards, but there they worked as masons and carpenters. We never officially spoke of gas chambers but of shower rooms. We must have worked for six to eight weeks on that job. In addition to building the large gas chambers, I also did other construction jobs. I remember that a baker's oven was built, a stable, and a detention block for the guards. I got the building material from ruined buildings near the camp. I was given Jewish prisoners for this work.142

Like its older counterpart, this building, which was located a few meters in front of the old gas chambers, was a massive brick structure set on concrete foundations. Five wide stone steps, lined with tubs of flowers, led up to the front entrance of the building. Inside, there was a wide corridor, on either side of which there were doors leading directly into the gas chambers. The capacity of the new gas chambers was approximately double that of the chambers in the old gassing building. The new gas chambers measured about 8 meters by 4 meters and 2 meters high. Jankiel Wiernik, who had been assigned as the camp carpenter and builder, participated on the construction of the new gas chambers: The new construction job between Camp I and Camp II, on which I had been working, was completed in a very short time. It turned out that we were building 10 additional gas chambers, more spacious than the old ones, 7 meters by 7 meters or about 50 square meters. As many as 1,000–1,200 persons could be crowded into one gas chamber.143 The building was laid out according to the corridor 142

143

E. Kogon, H. Langbein, A Rückerl (eds.), Nazi Mass Murder—A History of the Use of Poison Gas. Yale University Press, New Haven 1993, p. 132. The figures of 1,000–1,200 are grossly exaggerated. SS-Scharführer Heinrich Matthes testified that the 10 new chambers could hold a total of 3,800 people, whereas the three old chambers could hold only 600. (Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 120). Other sources, however, double the capacity of the old

system, with five chambers on each side of the corridor. Each chamber had two doors, one door leading from the corridor through which the victims were admitted; the other door, facing the camp, was used for the removal of the corpses. The construction of both doors was the same as that of the doors in the old chambers. The building when viewed from Camp I, showed five wide concrete steps with bowls of flowers on either side. Next came a long corridor. There was a Star of David on top of the roof facing the camp, so that the building looked like an old-fashioned synagogue. When the construction was finished, the SS-Hauptsturmführer (Wirth) said to his subordinates: “The Jew-town has been completed at last!”144

Oskar Strawczyński received information about the arrangements and procedures in the Upper Camp (Camp II) mainly from fellow prisoner Hershel Jabłkowski, because Strawczyński, as a prisoner in the Lower Camp, was strictly forbidden to enter the other part of the death camp. Another of his sources was Shimon Goldberg, a carpenter from Radomsko in the Łódź province of Poland, who had worked for four months in the Upper Camp: Over in Camp II there was also the “bath” (…) It was a large, concrete building standing on a cement platform. On its roof, visible from a distance, was a wooden Star of David. Running through the middle of the building was a corridor. The entrance was covered with a red curtain. Off the corridor were doors leading to small cubicles into which the arrivals from the transport were introduced. Outside, over the platform, were large openings covered by panels hinged at the top and fastened with steel bands. Inside the cubicles, smooth tiles covered the slightly slanted floors and halfway up the walls. On the ceiling were mounted a few shower-heads. There was also a small window in the middle of the ceiling (of each cubicle).145

144

145

gas chambers to about 1,200 victims. SS-Unterscharführer Willy Mentz has stated: “I cannot say exactly how many people these large gas chambers held. If the small gas chambers could hold 80–100 people (each), the large ones could probably hold twice that number”. (Klee, et al., (eds.), The Good Old Days …, op. cit., p. 245). Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., pp. 161, 162. Wirth did not receive promotion to SS-Hauptsturmführer until 1943. Cymlich, Strawczyński, Escaping Hell ..., op. cit., pp. 169–170.

Abraham Krzepicki was one of the builders who had participated earlier in the construction of the new gas chambers: The next morning, 15 men, including myself, were taken out of our group and escorted once again to the gas chambers area. This time we were given a different job, we were ordered to help put up the walls of a new building. Some said this would be a crematorium for the bodies of those who had been asphyxiated in the gas chambers, because burying took up too much space. (…) Most of the buildings in the camp were made of wood. The gas chambers and the new building—which was in the process of being built at the time and to which we were assigned as construction helpers—were made of brick.146

During the Treblinka trial in the mid-1960's, former SS-Scharführer Heinrich Arthur Matthes, the Chief of the Upper Camp, stated that there were six chambers in the new building, while his comrade, Franz Suchomel, believed that there were eight.147 Erwin Lambert, who had supervised the construction of the new gas chambers, stated that in the new building there was a central corridor with three chambers on the right side and another three on the left.148 Pavel Leleko, one of the Ukrainian guards, however, in agreement with Suchomel, also believed that there were eight chambers, with two more chambers at the rear housing the engines, whereas Dimitry Korotkikh believed that there were only six. As previously mentioned Kurt Gerstein stated that there were eight gas chambers. On the other hand, the Jewish survivors who worked in the Upper Camp testified that there were ten chambers. One of them was Jankiel Wiernik. Eliahu Rosenberg also stated in post-war testimony that there were 10 gas chambers.149

146 147 148

149

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., pp. 102–104. Lanzmann, Shoah …, op. cit., p. 61. GFH, Israel, 28646: L. Bewerunge, „Euthanasie und Treblinka.“ Vernehmung der Angeklagten—“Wir tranken sehr viel,” October 23, 1964. Lambert is confusing the first gas chambers in Bełżec and Sobibór, both of which had only three chambers. In correspondence with Chris Webb, via Kalman Teigman, dated September 15, 2002, Treblinka survivor Eliahu Rosenberg confirmed the number as 10 gas chambers.

Lambert claims that the arrangement and fittings on the new gas chambers, including the entrance and exit doors, largely corresponded to those in the chambers of the old gassing facility. An inscription on the front wall declared it to be an “Inhalation Facility” (Inhalationsanstalt).150 At the end of the corridor which ran straight from the front to the rear of the building, there was the engine room containing the two diesel engines that produced the gas. The gable on the front wall of the building bore a large Star of David. The entrance was screened by a heavy, dark red colored curtain,151 which apparently had been taken from a synagogue and bore the following legend in Hebrew script: “This is the gate through which the righteous shall enter”.152 The bricks for the new gas chambers were obtained from a number of sources, including the chimney of an abandoned glass factory in Małkinia. SS-Oberscharführer Kurt Franz took a number of photographs of the demolition of the chimney, and testified after the War that the bricks had been used in the construction of the new gas chambers. Other bricks were delivered from Warsaw, as witnessed by Jews at the Umschlagplatz (lit. Collection or Transfer Square) in Warsaw in August 1942. They have testified that bricks for the new gas chambers were loaded by Jews in wagons, which were attached to the rear of each transport train bound for Treblinka.153 SS-Scharführer Heinrich Matthes who was responsible for the Upper Camp had this to say about the new gas chambers: Later in summer 1942, the new gas chambers were built. I think that they became operational only in the autumn. Altogether, six gas chambers were operational. According to my estimate, about 300 150

151

152 153

Although the Bełżec gassing building had a similar inscription on the front wall, there is no evidence that Lambert visited that camp. There was no such inscription on either the first or second gas chamber at Treblinka. M. Chocholatý interview with Pinchas Epstein, Petah Tikva, Israel, March 2008). Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., pp. 300–301. J. Kermish (ed.), To Live With Honour and To Die With Honour! Selected Documents from the Warsaw Ghetto Underground “O. S.” (Oneg Shabbath). Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1986, p. 44.

people could enter each gas chamber. The people went into the gas chambers without resistance. Those who were at the end, the Ukrainian guards had to push inside. I personally saw how the Ukrainians pushed the people with their rifle butts. The gas chambers were closed for about 30 minutes. Then Schmidt stopped the gassing, and the two Ukrainians who were in the engine room opened the gas chambers from the other side. (…) These two Ukrainians who lived in the Upper Camp served in the gas chambers. They also took care of the engine room when Fritz Schmidt was absent. Usually this Schmidt was in charge of the engine room. In my opinion, as a civilian, he was either a mechanic or driver. He came from Pirna.154

Chil Rajchman remarked that: “People were stuffed into them like herrings. When one chamber was full, the second was opened, and so on. Small transports were brought to the smaller structure, which had three gas chambers (…) In that structure the gassing would last 20 minutes, while in the more recent structure it would last about three quarters of an hour.”155 Rajchman then gives a detailed description of the appearance of the corpses after their removal from the new chambers: There was a difference in the appearance of the dead from the small and from the large gas chambers. In the small chambers death was easier and quicker. The faces often looked as if the people had fallen asleep, their eyes closed. Only some of the mouths of some of the gassed victims were distorted, with bloody foam visible on their lips. The bodies were covered in sweat. Before dying, people had urinated and defecated. (...) The corpses in the larger gas chambers, where death took longer, were horribly deformed, their faces all black as if burned, the bodies swollen and blue, the teeth so tightly clenched that it was literally impossible to open them, and to get to the gold crowns we had sometimes to pull out the natural teeth—otherwise the mouth would not open.156

154

155

156

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 121. Pirna on the river Elbe in Saxony. Schmidt had previously been employed by “T4” at the Sonnenstein euthanasia institution in Pirna, Saxony. C. Rajchman, Treblinka: A Survivor's Memory. Maclehose Press, London 2011, p. 57. Ibid., p. 59.

Initially, the corpses were transported to the mass graves in narrow-gauge railway trucks, but this was soon abandoned. Wooden stretchers were favored157 and teams of two Jewish prisoners loaded one or two corpses at a time on them. Then, at the double, they took the corpses on the stretchers to a mass grave, where, after being inspected by the “dentists” and any gold dental work extracted, the bodies were laid out in rows by another work brigade.158 The mass graves—ditches 50 meters long, 25 meters wide and 10 meters deep—were located to the east of the gas chambers. They were dug by an excavator brought from the quarry at Treblinka I, the penal labor camp, and by prisoners. South of the gas chambers, a barrack was erected for the prisoners employed in the Upper Camp. This barrack and a small surrounding yard were fenced with barbed-wire, with the entrance gate facing the gas chambers. The barracks served as living quarters for the prisoners and included a kitchen and a toilet. In the center of the extermination area, the Upper Camp, a watchtower, and a guardroom were erected159 In the northern part of the camp, SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel stated that: “Wirth had excavators digging long, deep pits. The excavated earth was used as a rampart to obstruct the view of these pits. At the bottom of the pits he stacked the thousands of corpses which were lying around the camp, covered them with chloride of lime, and closed the pits.”160 The construction of this high earth rampart between the Lower Camp and the Upper Camp hid from view the events in the area of the gas chambers and mass graves. The reorganization that took place in Treblinka also influenced events outside the death camp, especially at Treblinka station. Franciszek Ząbecki, the Treblinka station-master, has stated that the scenes witnessed in the earlier phase at the station were so 157

158 159 160

GFH, Israel, File 28646: L. Bewerunge, „Mitangeklagte belasten Franz: Mentz und Miete gestehen Beteiligung an Erschiessungen“. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 301. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 42. Suchomel, Christian Wirth ..., op. cit., p. 9.

terrible that from September 1942 normal passenger trains no longer stopped there. Military trains were the only traffic from then on, and the Jewish deportation trains, which stopped there to be divided up and shunted into the death camp.161

161

Gilbert, The Holocaust …, op. cit., p. 439.

Chapter 5 Industrialized Mass Murder: September–December 1942

In September 1942, SS-Obersturmführer Franz Stangl, the new Commandant, introduced the system of permanent work brigades of Jewish prisoners who were to perform specific tasks at designated places in the camp. Stangl, however, at the time did not realize that this stability was the catalyst that helped sow the seeds of resistance. The camp had changed; the killing process was perfected along the “conveyor belt” lines of industrialized mass murder developed by Wirth at Bełżec. The chaos that had ensued during Dr. Eberl's short tenure as Commandant was consigned to the past. Gone were the ghastly sights of decomposing corpses strewn around the camp, and huge mounds of clothing and belongings left behind by the victims. Although the conditions for the in-coming deportees were improved, at least from the visual point of view, nothing could alleviate for the Jews their traumatic arrival in the death camp. The improvements introduced by Wirth and Stangl, however, did little to reassure the work-Jews in the camp about their eventual fate, especially as their brutal treatment at the hands of the SS continued unabated. They knew they were destined to die and therefore took whatever opportunity they could to exact whatever revenge they could on the SS. Sometime in mid-September 1942, Rudolf Höss, the Commandant of Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Upper Silesia, undertook a fact—finding trip on the disposal of corpses using experimental field-ovens in the Chełmno death camp. Various methods of corpse disposal had been tried by SS-Standartenführer Paul Blobel, at Chełmno, and the most successful were the use of “roasts,” where the bodies were burned in pits on iron rails, after being sprayed by petrol. 63

Rudolf Höss, in a post-war statement made on March 16, 1946, mentioned his visit to Treblinka as part of the same trip, though he stated that he visited the death camp in the spring of 1942, which is incorrect as the camp was still under construction. He recalled that:162 “I visited the Camp Treblinka in spring 1942, to inform myself about the conditions. The following method was used in the process of extermination: Small chambers were used equipped with pipes to induce the exhaust gas from car engines. This method was unreliable as the engines, coming from old captured transport vehicles and tanks, very often failed to work. Because of that the intakes could not be dealt with according to the plan, which meant to clear the Warsaw Ghetto. According to the Camp Commandant of Treblinka, 80,000 people have been gassed in the course of half a year”.163

Franciszek Ząbecki, the station-master at Treblinka, recalled an incident that took place on September 1, 1942, at the Treblinka village station: One of the SS men who had arrived at the station that day—He was Kurt Franz, Deputy Commandant of the camp—came out with his dog along the road. The dog, scenting something, pulled the SS man after it into the thicket. A Jewess was lying there with a baby; probably she was already dead. The baby, a few months old, was crying, and nestling against its mother’s bosom. The dog, let off the lead, tracked them down, but at a certain distance it crouched on the ground. It looked as it was getting ready to jump, to bite them and tear them to pieces. However, after a time it began to cringe and whimper dolefully, and approached the people lying on the ground; crouching, it licked the baby on its hands, face and head. The SS man came up to the scene with his gun in his hand. He sensed the dog’s weakness. The dog began to wag its tail, turning its head towards the boots of the SS man. The German swore violently and flogged the dog with his stick. The dog looked up and fled. Several times the German kicked the dead woman, and then

162 163

National Archives Kew WO 309/217- WVHA File. By September 1942, Treblinka had murdered a far larger number than 80,000 and it is thought that Höss had deliberately understated the efficiciency of Treblinka, to boost his claims about Auschwitz.

began to kick the baby, and trample on its head. Later he walked through the bushes, whistling for his dog. The dog did not seem to hear, although it was not far away; it ran through the bushes whimpering softly; it appeared to be looking for the people. After a time the SS man came out on to road, and the dog ran up to its “master.” The German then began to beat it mercilessly with a whip. The dog howled, barked, even jumped up to the German’s chest, as if it were rabid, but the blows with the whip got the better of it. On the “master’s” command it lay down. The German went a few paces away, and ordered the dog to stand. The dog obeyed the order perfectly. It carefully licked the boots, undoubtedly spattered with the baby’s blood, under its muzzle. Satisfied, the SS man began to shoot and set the dog on other Jews who were still escaping from the wagons standing in the station.164

On September 11, 1942, shortly after the reorganization of the camp, the sadistic behavior of the SS resulted in a desperate act by a member of a work brigade, as recalled by Boris (“Kazik”) Weinberg: When we had formed up at the evening roll call, the German in charge ordered all those who had arrived in the camp that same day to form up separately. The men hesitated as to where to stand— were the Germans going to eliminate the new arrivals, or the veterans. At first, no one moved, then a few left the ranks. The Germans began beating the men brutally. At that moment, a man jumped out of the ranks, ran toward the German Max Biela with a drawn knife, and stabbed him in the back. He did the deed—then stood by, hesitating. One of the Ukrainians, Corporal Manchuk, saw what happened, and ran over and hit the assailant on the head with a shovel he was holding. With Biela lying on the ground bleeding from his wound, the Ukrainians began hitting and shooting into the crowd. Dozens were killed and wounded.165

The Deputy Camp Commandant, SS-Oberscharführer Kurt Franz, nicknamed “The Doll” (Lalka in Polish) by the prisoners because of his good looks, arrived on the scene. Franz had the wounded Biela removed from where he fell, stopped the wild shooting, and ordered the Jews to form up again. He ordered the “camp elder”

164 165

Gilbert, The Holocaust …, op. cit., p. 439-440. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 98.

(Lagerälteste), Galewski, to stand in front of the roll call, beat him with a whip, and announced that if such an event occurred again, he, Galewski, would be executed. SS-Obersturmführer Christian Wirth, who was still in Treblinka, was summoned. He ordered 10 men to be selected and shot. Kurt Franz chose them, and they were shot in front of the roll call. The others were locked all night inside their barrack. The next day there was no usual 6 o’clock morning roll call. The Jews locked in their barrack feared the worst. At half past seven they were summoned to the roll call which was held under a heavy guard of SS and Ukrainian guards. One hundred and fifty men were selected, taken to the ditches and shot as punishment for the killing of Max Biela.166 Max Biela had died of his wounds in the Reserve Lazarett in Ostrow Mazowiecki, located some 13 miles from the death camp. SS-Unterscharführer August Miete, one of the most feared SSmen in the camp, added about the killing of his comrade by Berliner: “He jumped out of the line and stabbed Biela with a knife, and said, “I could not do it any other way.” We took the knife from Biela's back. The prisoner was consequently beaten to death by the Ukrainian guards.”167 Kalman Teigman, who arrived in Treblinka in early September 1942, has stressed that this event persuaded the SS to arrange better conditions and accommodation for the work-Jews in order to avoid any further acts of rebellion.168 Pinchas Epstein, deported to the death camp just after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, on September 22, 1942, from Częstochowa in southern Poland, recalled the round up and the journey to Treblinka: That night, German and Ukrainian guards came into my street and rang all of the bells at the courtyard of each apartment and house and forced everyone to leave immediately. 166 167

168

Ibid., p. 98. GFH, Israel, 28646: L. Bewerunge, “Die Vergeltungsaktion für den SS-Mann Biela. Mehr als hundert Juden getötet/Der Hauptangeklagte Franz bestreitet die Teilnahme/Der Treblinka-Prozess.” M. Chocholatý interview with Kalman Teigman, Bat-Yam, Israel, March 2008.

First we were all assembled on the block and then we were marched to the old bus station as a group. I was together with my family until we boarded the train. That first night on the way to Treblinka, two Jews succeeded in breaking open the bars that were on the window at the top part of the railroad cattle car. Apparently, the guards sensed what was up. The train stopped and the door was opened. They started screaming at us and threatening us and at that point I saw Ukrainian guards. They threatened us by saying: “if someone—if anyone among us tries to flee or to break out, we will all be shot dead.”169

Pinchas Epstein explained what happened when the transport reached Treblinka death camp: I saw two bodies with their heads split open and their brains lying out on the ground. I saw Ukrainians, SS-men and barracks. They were screaming at us, “Get out of the trains!!” commanded us, ordered us to be seated, to sit down.170

Pinchas Epstein explained, how they were ordered to sit on the ground. He recalled that they saw a bathtub of water. This was a trap. Whoever took a drink received a blow to the head from a German's rifle butt. An SS-man pointed at Epstein and said: “You come this way”, motioning him out of the group. I moved over to the side, then my younger brother, David, spotted me, and he got up and approached me. An SS-man saw him doing so. He turned to him and with the butt of his gun, cracked open his skull. I became dizzy for a moment and when I looked, this young boy had disappeared. I never saw him again.171

Oskar Strawczyński who arrived in Treblinka on October 5, 1942, recalls the treatment the Jews received on the Ramp: We run out as fast as we can to avoid the whips lashing over our heads and find ourselves on a long, narrow platform, crowded to capacity. All familiar faces—neighbors and acquaintances. The dust is so tremendous, it obscures the sunlight. A smell of charred flesh stifles the breath. Unwittingly, I catch a glimpse of the mountains of 169

170

171

Fedorenko Denaturalization Hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA in 1978: Statement by Pinchas Epstein, Wiener Library London. Fedorenko Denaturalization Hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA in 1978: Statement by Pinchas Epstein, Wiener Library London. T. Teicholz, The Trial of Ivan the Terrible. Macdonald, London 1990, p. 134.

clothing, shoes, bedding and all kinds of wares that can be seen over the fence. But there is no time to think. (...) The dense mass of people is pushed forward and jammed through a gate.172

Eugen Turowski was also deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka on the same day as Strawczyński, but he was not deported with the bulk of his family, just his young son, as he testified at the Fedorenko Denaturalization Trial in Fort Lauderdale: We were asked to leave our apartments and houses and the Germans put us all together in one of the main squares of the City of Częstochowa, and then the whole transport—the whole group of people had to march to the railroad station. In the same transport marching to the railroad station, I had my wife, my mother–in-law and two sisters-in-law. Since I was a professional mechanic, on the square, where we all met, I was collected by a German officer who knew that I was a professional man and he put me aside from the rest of the people who were going with the transport. The rest of my family, apart from me and my son, went with the first transport, with the original transport.173

Eugen Turowski and his 3-year old son were deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka 8 days later, following the first transport: The cars were cattle cars. They were so crowded with people that one couldn’t move or sit. We found some corpses when we arrived. Originally, the train stopped in a railway station of Małkinia, then a few cars were pushed by special locomotive to Treblinka. The doors of the car were opened, Ukrainians and German Soldier’s meeting us, asked us to leave the cars, then we had to march to the big square, where we were asked to undress. The women had to go to the left side and the men on the right side of the square where there was a large barracks. The women undressed in the barracks, the men in front of the barracks A few of my students from Częstochowa saw me arriving with the transport, asked one of the German commanders for my release, because they told him that I am a qualified mechanic. The German officer came to me, took the child away from me and sent me to the

172 173

Cymlich, Strawczyński, Escaping Hell ..., op. cit., p. 130. Fedorenko Denaturalization Hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA in 1978: Statement by Eugen Turowski, Wiener Library London.

working area. As I was told, my child was shot down already on the square.174

Richard Glazar, one of only two known Czech survivors of Treblinka, was deported to the camp from the Theresienstadt ghetto, northwest of Prague, on transport “Bu” on October 10, 1942. He described his arrival at the Ramp in Camp I: “All out, everybody out!” All this shouting, the uproar, the tumult. “Out, Get Out! Leave the luggage!” We got out, stepping on each other. We saw men wearing blue armbands. Some carried whips. We saw some SS-men. Green uniforms, black uniforms ... We were a mass, and the mass swept us along. It was irresistible. We had to move to another place. I saw the others undressing. And I heard: “Get Undressed! You're to be disinfected!” As I waited, already naked, I noticed the SS-men separating out some people. They were told to get dressed. A passing SS-man suddenly stopped in front of me, looked me over, and said: “Yes, you too, quick, join the others, get dressed. You're going to work here, and if you're good, you can be a Kapo—a brigade leader.”175

Aleksandr Kudlik, another deportee from Częstochowa, arrived in Treblinka on October 12, 1942, two days after Glazar: The transport consisted of 60 wagons, each of them held approximately 120 men, women and children. (…) we were all driven to a place between the barracks where we were told to undress after the separation of women and children from the men. The small children and infants were separated from their mothers. It was often usual for the infants to be killed on the spot by holding their little legs and banging their heads against a fence. I myself saw this a few times later on while working, how SS-Scharführer Sepp (Hirtreiter) from the camp garrison killed children in that way. Before the men undressed, a commander of the camp chose 30 workers, I was then already half-naked, but I took advantage of an inattentive German and moved to the group of those selected, and I succeeded in staying there. I was taken immediately to sort clothes. (...) the men, who were naked, carried the clothes on the run and placed them in heaps behind the barrack.176

174

175 176

Fedorenko Denaturalization Hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA in 1978: Statement by Eugen Turowski, Wiener Library London. Lanzmann, Shoah ..., op. cit., p. 44. YVA 03/550: Aleksandr Kudlik.

Samuel Willenberg, deported to Treblinka on October 20, 1942, wrote in his book Surviving Treblinka about his arrival in the camp: The train stopped. The doors opened with a crash. Black uniforms pounced upon us, and shouting wildly in Russian and Ukrainian, ordered us out of the train. The platform filled with a mob of human beings—families carrying their meagre possessions on their backs, mothers embracing sobbing children, crying people seeking out one another. We were herded to an open gate in the middle of the fence, prodded with rifle butts and cries of “Schnell! Schnell! Get a move on!” An armed Ukrainian stood at the gate; inside stood a man with a red band around his forearm. He looked Jewish to me. He ordered the men to walk to the right, and the women to the left. I found myself in a yard about 30 meters wide, with huts on either side. In front of the hut, to the right, was a well. The yard was enclosed by a fence camouflaged by dry, brown-green branches. I stood within a crowd of men alongside the hut. A group of some 15 Jews, all with red armbands, ordered us to sit on the ground, take off our shoes and tie them together with the laces. We were then ordered to strip: “Everything off!”177

Chil Rajchman who worked in Camp II as a corpse carrier, was ordered to join the “dentist” work brigade. In his book Treblinka— A Survivor's Memoir he recalled his arrival in October 1942: I no longer have any doubts about our fate. We are helpless. I notice that in the barracks opposite us, the women and children are undressing, and we can hear their pitiful screams. We are ordered to line up in rows. We stand as we are ordered to. Those who are still undressing are beaten mercilessly. When nearly all of us are lined up, the guards approach and choose some hundred men, only young ones, and have us stand to one side. The others are led away. Where, no one knows. We stand for a few minutes, until all the other men have been led away, and then we are led back to the luggage that the Jews brought with them.178

Sonia Lewkowicz, one of only a few female survivors of Treblinka, was deported from Dombrowa, near Grodno, in Poland during December 1942. She recalled her arrival in the death camp:

177 178

Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka ..., op. cit., pp. 39–40. Rajchman, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 21.

When the train stopped, we were chased from the cars to a big square where we were separated, women and children on one side, the men on the other side. We went to a barrack where we had to undress. There were other women and children, Germans, Ukrainians and Jewish prisoners, men with some kind of blue armbands on their sleeves. I wouldn't undress completely, one of those Jewish prisoners suggested that I should say that I am a laundress. Then he ran to an SS-man—told him that I am a laundress, and pushed myself onto him—to this officer—told him I am a laundress. At this moment he pushed me aside.179

The major changes to the Lazarett, euphemistically known as the “Infirmary”, its new and better camouflaged configuration, and the fate of new arrivals in the camp who were unable to proceed unaided to the undressing barracks, have been described by Kalman Teigman. He testified at the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1961: All those people who were killed on the Ramp, or those who fainted, or who still showed signs of life but were unable to walk, we had to carry to the Lazarett. There was a pit, and we had to throw all these bodies into the pit. Those who were still alive were shot at the edge of the pit and were thrown inside.180

Richard Glazar elaborates on Teigman's description: The Lazarett was a narrow site very close to the Ramp, to which the aged were led. I, too, had to do this. The execution site was not covered, just an open place with no roof, but screened by a fence so that no one could see in. The entrance was a narrow passage, very short, but somewhat similar to the “Tube”. A sort of small labyrinth. In the middle of it there was a pit, and to the left as one came in, there was a small booth with a kind of wooden plank in it, like a springboard. If people were too weak to stand on it, they had to sit on it, and then, as the saying went in Treblinka jargon, SS-man Miete would “cure each one with a single pill”—a shot in the back of the neck. In the peak period, that happened daily. In those days, the pit—and it was at least ten to twelve feet deep—was full of 179

180

Fedorenko Denaturalization Hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA in 1978: Statement by Sonia Lewkowicz. (Copy in: Wiener Library, London, UK). Kalman Teigman testimony at the Adolf Eichmann Trial, Jerusalem, June 6, 1961. (See: www.nizkor.org).

corpses. There were also cases of children who for some reason arrived alone, or became separated from their parents. These children were led to the Lazarett and shot there.181

The work-Jews of Treblinka knew that for them the Lazarett was the last stop, not the gas chambers. They, too, always ended up in the Lazarett with its permanently burning fire at the bottom—with a bullet in the back of the head.182

181 182

Lanzmann, Shoah …, op. cit., pp. 120–121. Ibid.

Chapter 6 Deceptions and Diversions: Late 1942–early 1943

In the second week of December 1942, during the evening hours, a transport of approximately 2,000 Jews arrived in the Treblinka death camp from the Kielbasin Sammellager near Grodno. Only the “Blues” and “Reds” along with the SS and the Ukrainians waited on the platform and in the Transport Square, ready to receive the deportees. The new arrivals were unloaded from the freight cars, and brought to the Transport Square and were ordered to undress and proceed to the “baths.” Some obeyed the order and were taken through the “Tube” to the gas chambers. A few dozen youths hung back and did not get undressed, as they guessed the real truth about the showers in Treblinka, and one of the prisoners who was dealing with this transport, Kalman Teigman, recalled what happened next: There were still many youths there. Some of them began calling out, not to listen to the Germans and not to undress. A great riot began. The Germans opened fire on the crowd. The SS men, with Kurt Franz at the head, cruelly beat the men, women, and elderly indiscriminately. We stood at the side and witnessed the scene. Germans and Ukrainians were stationed on the roofs, and they also began firing into the crowd. We heard an explosion. It seems that a Jew threw a grenade in the direction of the shooting, and we saw how a seriously wounded Ukrainian was evacuated from the yard.183

Dozens of the youths began attacking the Germans and Ukrainans with their fists and with knives they had brought with them. Some of the Jews managed to seek cover in the living barracks of the

183

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 254-255.

Jewish inmates. These were removed by the Kapo’s and escorted out of the barracks. Some were shot on the spot, others taken to the gas chambers. In the corridor of the gas chambers they continued to resist and refused to enter the gas chambers. The Germans and the Ukrainians shot into the corridor killing many of the resisters. Those still alive were forced into the gas chambers. Jankiel Wiernik also recalled the brutal reaction of the SS, to this act of resistance by the Jews from Grodno: We were locked in the barracks. The Germans and the Ukrainians handled the victims without us. Suddenly, we heard a noise, yells and shots. Many shots. We didn't move from our places. We waited impatiently for the morning light. We wanted to know what had happened. The next day, the area was full of murdered people. During work, the Ukrainians told us that the people from the transport had refused to be taken to the gas chambers. A tragic struggle had developed. They destroyed everything in sight and broke the crates with gold that stood in the corridor of the gas chambers. They grabbed sticks and anything they could lay their hands on and began resisting. But bullets cut them down. In the morning, the yard was still full of the dead and the tools they had used to defend themselves. They fell in battle. The rest were thrown into the gas chambers, by dawn, the whole thing was over.184

During Christmas 1942, Commandant Franz Stangl ordered the construction of a fake railway station on the area of the Ramp which was carried out during December 1942 and January 1943. Samuel Willenberg recalled that an artist among the prisoners was ordered to paint a sign reading: To Białystok and Wółkowysk in black letters against a white background, with a directional arrow.185 The front of the northern barrack, which was adjacent to the platform and served as a storage shed for the belongings of the Jewish victims, was altered significantly. Fake doors and windows 184 185

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 255. Wółkowysk: a city with a complicated history. From 1801–1916 it was in the Grodno District of Imperial Russia; from 1916 in the Białystok District of NorthEast Poland. During World War II it came first under German occupation, then for a short time under Soviet rule, and then once again a part of the Białystok District of North-East Poland. Since the War, in western Belarus.

were installed, along with signs that the artist had created which read: First Class, Second Class, Third Class, Waiting Room, and Cashier, which were all designed to deceive the Jewish deportees that this was a normal railway station. An incoming and outgoing train schedule was posted at the station, and trees and flower-beds were also planted. SS-Oberscharführer Kurt Franz ordered a big, round fake clock to be made which would be placed in a prominent position on the Ramp. The time was permanently set at six o'clock. Finally, the artist painted a big sign, three meters long and eighty centimeters high with the inscription Obermajdan, again in black letters on a white background. Samuel Willenberg recalled: Several days later, the Germans ordered us to hang the Obermajdan sign over the gate to the transport yard, the sign pointing to Białystok and Wółkowysk on the pillar at the gate, with the arrow pointing towards the entrance; and the clock on the wall of the hut alongside the platform. Now we understood, the Ramp was being dressed up as an ordinary railway station.186

Oskar Strawczyński in his memoirs also described in detail the transformation of the camp in the chapter appropriately entitled “Beautifying the Camp”: The entire entrance square was decorated with special purpose. For example, a large sign was hung at the entrance, which read: Obermajdan Station—not Treblinka. A big arrow pointed towards the gate of the Transport Square, indicating Connections to Białystok and Wółkowysk. The doors and windows of the barracks which lined the Ramp and served as storehouses for the clothing and other goods from the transports were decorated with signs reading: FirstClass Waiting Room, Second Class, Third Class. Over one of the larger windows was a sign that read Tickets. On the side (of the barracks) there was a large plan of Obermajdan Station. On other windows appeared signs such as: Information and Station Manager. On the walls, big arrows pointed To the Washrooms, To the Parking Garage. A false door was hammered to the wall, and on the door there was a sign indicating Station Master. In a prominent spot, a fake clock, with a 70-centimeter diameter, was hung. All this decoration understandably served to disorient the new arrivals, to give them 186

Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 107.

the momentary impression that they had simply arrived at a transit station.187

However, for Lalka−Kurt Franz—all this deception was still not enough. He constantly searched among the new arrivals for engravers, until in January he finally found two in a transport from Warsaw. One in particular was a very talented craftsman. Strawczyński continues: His first assignment was to create illustrated signposts which were erected on the streets and roads of Treblinka. On the street leading to the Ramp there was a signpost, To the Station, engraved with a picture of Jews, bearded and bespectacled, dragging their belongings to the station. On the road to the animal pens there was a signpost with cows, hens and a shepherd, which read, To the Livestock. The signpost Barracks (Kaserne) depicted marching soldiers. On the road leading to our quarters, the signpost To the Ghetto was decorated with a picture of Jews carrying tools, such as shovels, hammers, and pickaxes. All the signs on the main camp street were decorated with finely crafted emblems in medieval style. For example, in front of the bakery, recently built and equipped with care and luxury, dangled a big crescent roll. It was made of wood and finished so as to create the impression that it was the real thing. In front of the German barbers' shop were three beautifully polished copper plates; At the dentist's, with a large sculptured molar, and so on. At the entrance to the poultry enclosure stood a beautifully carved wooden rooster. Now our sculptor is working on a stone frog to be placed in the middle of the pond in the zoo, with a fountain spraying from the frog's mouth.188

The Treblinka extermination camp existed for only one winter, a winter that brought many special events. Among them, first of all, was a decrease in the transports, followed by their complete cessation. Chil Rajchman wrote about one of the few transports to arrive in January 1943: Around January 10, transports began arriving from the borderlands of eastern Poland, from Białystok and Grodno and the surrounding areas. It was a hard winter with freezing temperatures. Now the 187 188

Cymlich, Strawczyński, Escaping Hell ..., op. cit., pp. 167–168. Ibid., p. 167.

sadists thought up a new form of entertainment. At a temperature of -20 Celsius they would keep rows of naked young women outdoors, not allowing them to enter the gas chambers. The rows of young women, half-frozen, stood barefoot in the snow and ice, trembling, weeping, clinging to one another and begging in vain to finally be allowed into the “warmth” where death awaited them.189

The lack of transports meant the absence of extra food brought by the deportees, this resulted in starvation which in turn led in the spring of 1943 to an outbreak of typhus in the Lower Camp. The illness became known simply as “Treblinka” among the prisoners,190 as Samuel Willenberg recalls: A typhus epidemic was raging in the camp at the time, and anyone who even looked ill was taken by Miete to the Lazarett for instant death by shooting, with either Miete himself or one of the servile Ukrainians administering the bullet. 300 prisoners were killed in this fashion. There was not a day when Miete failed to order the “Reds” to take sick prisoners, previously anaesthetized by the camp doctors, from the clinic to the Lazarett. He would often make the selection himself, yanking prisoners from the line-up as they tried to face-out the crisis. He would personally take them to the Lazarett and shoot them.191

In particular, Samuel Willenberg recalled the tragic fate of a Jew called Kronenberg, a journalist who had worked for Chwila (“Moment”), a Polish-language Zionist daily published in pre-war Lwów. Kronenberg was suffering from typhus and had hidden himself in a pile of furs: Miete approached the hut with his cat-like steps. Kronenberg chose that moment to climb down from the mountain of furs. Without seeing the German, he took a shaky step towards a foreman. The stunned foreman knew it was too late to warn Kronenberg to return to his hiding place. The big hut plunged into silence, everyone went about his work very busily, eyes down. Miete went up to Kronenberg, “Are you sick, by chance?” he sneered. The very sound

189 190

191

Rajchman, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 66. Glazar: “Among ourselves we did not call it typhus, but that somone's got infected with “Treblinka”” R. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence—Surviving Treblinka, Northwestern University Press, Evanston 1999, p. 72. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 82.

of his own joke moved him to raucous laughter; pleased with himself, he began to propel Kronenberg in his customary way towards the exit from the hut and, from there, across the yard to the Lazarett.192

Engineer Galewski knew immediate action was needed. Willenberg recalls the tense moment: At that moment, Galewski burst into the hut, sized-up the situation and shouted at me, “Katzap, follow him!”193 I grabbed a sheet full of rubbish, added a few bits of paper, hoisted it on my shoulders and raced towards the Lazarett by the “back way”, avoiding the corridor and the room to which the victims were brought. (...) Miete and Kronenberg came through the entrance to the Lazarett (…) Kronenberg was pushed to the edge of the bank. (...) Suddenly, Kronenberg threw himself at Miete's legs and began to scream in German: “I want to live! I'll help you. I'll tell you everything! There's an underground here—an underground of a hundred prisoners!” Miete stopped. Despite his raised pistol, he did not shoot; he simply gazed at Kronenberg, who was clutching his legs with all his might. (…) The Ukrainian guard, who did not understand German, shot Kronenberg in the head to free Miete of his embrace. Kronenberg's body rolled into the pit, his blood staining the mixture of sand and human ash that covered the ground, and came to a stop at the foot of the heap of burning corpses.194

In January 1943, Abraham Bomba escaped from Treblinka, along with two other prisoners, and he gave a detailed account of their brave attempt: On Saturday, during the entire workday, Yechiel Berkowicz, Yechezekel Cooperman, and I prepared a “bunker”—a nickname for a hiding place under the piles of clothing—in a way that by the evening roll call it would be ready. Before the roll call we noticed that someone was loitering in the vicinity of our “bunker.” We decided to put off hiding in the “bunker” till the next day. On Sunday we worked all day and at night we hid in the “bunker.”

192 193

194

Ibid., p. 83. “Katzap” (Polish: “kacap”—a colloquial Polish word for a Russian) was Willenberg's nickname in Treblinka. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 83–84.

After the roll call the Ukrainians and the SS began searching for prisoners and, from our hiding place, we could see how they stabbed at the piles of clothing with their bayonets to see whether anyone was hiding there. After a while they left the yard, and we breathed a small sigh of relief. We lay in the hiding place another few hours until we decided to get out. The direction of escape was through the Lazarett; the fire in the pit lit up everything around it. On the other side was the watchtower with the searchlight. We reached the barbed-wire. The first to go over was Berkowicz. I went after him, and Cooperman last. We crawled several hundred meters and then we got up and started running. After a few hours of running, we suddenly heard a conversation in Ukrainian. We realized that we were still near the camp, near the Ukrainian barracks. It seems that for hours we had run in a semicircle and had made no distance from the camp. We began running in the opposite direction and after a while we reached the Bug River. We were about six kilometers from the camp. The time was five in the morning and soon the day would begin. Abraham Bomba received help form Polish farmers and returned to Częstochowa, and survived to see the Germans driven out.195

Richard Glazar provided a very detailed description of the prisoner infirmary, in his memoirs: The sick bay is about five meters wide and is located between the Jewish mess and a sleeping and living area. It shares an entrance with these barracks. The actual entrance is nothing more than a curtain made of blankets. There is a table with medical instruments off to the side of the small window, and beyond the table there is an alcove made of rough boards, simply nailed together. In this alcove there is a sofa sprouting horsehair, and on the walls are two shelves. This is the doctor’s office. Above it is something that looks like a kind of chicken coop and serves as Doctor Rybak’s living quarters. The alcove is lined horizontally with boards, which form both the ceiling of the office and the floor of Rybak’s room. The carpenters have also hammered together a ladder so that the good doctor can climb up into his sitting room and to his bed. Looking away from the window, through the full length of the building there is a narrow passageway between the two rows of 195

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 260.

double bunks. My face and chest are suffused with the odor of feverish bodies, smells from the nearby kitchen and the musty scent of wood. There is very little light coming through the small window, barely enough to distinguish the remains of food and vomit, bloody smudges from squashed fleas and lice on blankets that were once red, yellow or green.196

Richard Glazar recalled in an interview with Claude Lanzmann in the film Shoah: The “dead season”, as it was called, began in February 1943, after the big trainloads came in from Grodno and Białystok. Absolute quiet. It had quieted down in late January, February, and into March. Nothing. Not one trainload. The whole camp was empty, and suddenly, everywhere, there was hunger. It kept increasing. And one day, when the famine was at its peak, SS-Oberscharführer Kurt Franz appeared before us and told us: “The trains will be arriving again, starting tomorrow”. We didn't say anything. We just looked at each other, and each of us thought: “Tomorrow the hunger will end.”197

Glazar also recalled in an interview with Gitta Sereny that after the severe hardships of the winter, camp Commandant Stangl decided during the spring of 1943, to introduce some new and unusual innovations into the death camp. He ordered the construction of a small zoo, a guardhouse, a main gate, a beer garden in which the SS-men could relax in their off-duty hours, and a new main street in the Lower Camp, which was named Kurt-Seidel-Straße.198 Kurt Franz—Lalka—selected the site for the zoo and stipulated what type of animals and birds it was to contain: The carpenters and cabinetmakers were ordered to build a camp zoo beyond the fence in the vicinity of our kitchen, at the point where a path leads off to the Ukrainian barracks. (…) Lalka had two foxes, a few squirrels and pigeons, and a variety of other small animals delivered to Treblinka. Pigeon lofts were built on the roofs of both the SS barracks and the headquarters building. Lalka assigned our Rudi (Rudolf Masárek) the task of overseeing all of Treblinka's animal population. In this capacity, Rudi suggested that 196 197 198

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 74. Lanzmann, Shoah …, op. cit., p. 147. Sereny, Into That Darkness …, op cit., p. 219.

some of the feed—pigeon seed and the like—should be stored in the small dry cellar adjoining the munitions depot. This habitat, also known as “Zoo Corner”, was not the only innovation at Treblinka: a stable, a pig-sty and a small chicken coop were also added.199

During April–May 1943, after the start of the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto, members of the Warsaw ghetto Underground organization that had been captured by the Germans began to arrive in Treblinka. These deportees, among whom were many now experienced in the art of guerilla warfare in the streets, played a very important part in the planning of the revolt in Treblinka. Hershl Sperling wrote about the arrival of one of the last transports after the ghetto revolt: Determined to die with dignity, they had smuggled grenades and pistols beneath their clothing. When the transport was brought into the Reception Square and ordered to remove their clothing, one of them pulled out a grenade and threw it into the middle of the yard. According to the testimonies, the grenade killed a Ukrainian guard and wounded one SS-man, as well as three Jews from the “Red” Group. A number of Jews who had arrived on the same transport were also injured. Nonetheless, around 100 men and a few women were pulled from the transport to replace some of those who had died in the typhus epidemic. The details of what had occurred on the streets of the Warsaw ghetto when, for the first time, Jews had openly attacked and killed SS-men and Ukrainian guards, instilled in the prisoners of Treblinka the will to organize and stage their own revolt in the camp, and the resolve to escape.200

199 200

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 117. M. S. Smith, Treblinka Survivor—The Life and Death of Hershl Sperling, The History Press, Stroud 2010, p. 123.

Chapter 7 Visit by the Reichsführer-SS: Orders to Erase Evidence of Crimes

In late February or early March 1943, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, together with other SS and army officers, visited the Treblinka death camp. The inmate Aleksandr Kudlik, recalled that although there were frequent visitors to Treblinka, “it is absolutely certain that Himmler visited the camp, he was recognized by Jewish workers, they knew him from newspaper photographs.”201 This visit by the Reichsführer-SS has been described by Tanhum Grinberg, deported from the Warsaw ghetto to the camp in 1942: One day, we received orders that someone extremely important was about to arrive for a visit. We were not told who the man was, but we had to clean the camp thoroughly. They ran us and beat us to make us clean quickly. There was a great commotion. Then they locked us in a hut, and we could only see through a window. Seven cars arrived, with Himmler in one of them. His entourage comprised about 20 people. The “Doll” (i.e. Lalka—Kurt Franz) and Obersturmführer Stangl showed them the camp. They passed by the huts quickly on their way to the Lazarett. Then they went to the extermination area where they stayed for half-an-hour. Later they got into their cars and drove off.202

Although Himmler was impressed with the efficiency of Aktion Reinhardt being carried out in Treblinka, he was concerned that the bodies had been buried, not burnt, and issued the order for all of the corpses to be cremated. The exhumation of the corpses had already started in Sobibór the previous autumn and in Bełżec in November 1942. The main reason for this drastic order was the recent defeat of the 6th Army under General Friedrich von Paulus by the Russians 201 202

YVA, Jerusalem, 03/550: Aleksandr Kudlik. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, pp. 166–167.

at Stalingrad, as well as other setbacks on the Eastern Front. Himmler had to face the fact that the tide of the War had changed to Germany's disadvantage; there was now even the possibility that Germany could lose the War. It would therefore be prudent to destroy all traces of the mass murder committed in Treblinka. In Treblinka, the SS had also been concerned about pollution from the decomposing corpses in the mass graves causing outbreaks of epidemics. In accordance with Himmler's order, the mass graves were opened, the corpses exhumed, stacked on big grids constructed from railroad lines and cremated.203 Samuel Willenberg recalled the consequences of Himmler's visit and the first stage of carrying out his orders: Several days later, peering over the 5-meter high sandbank, we saw the top of the excavator that had previously been used to dig pits and build up the sand bank between ourselves and the Upper Camp. Now it was digging up corpses and scattering them. As its scoop rose in the air, we saw corpses fall from between its serrated edges. We did not see where they landed because the bank blocked our view. Then a tongue of fire thrust upwards, accompanied by a plume of smoke dozens of meters high.204

The SS set about this task with great zeal, a special work brigade was established and additional workers were sent to the Upper Camp to speed up the work. Jankiel Wiernik has described the first attempt at cremation in the Upper Camp: Once the Germans threw some burning object into one of the opened graves just to see what would happen. Clouds of black smoke began to pour out at once and the fire thus started, glimmered all day long. Some of the graves contained corpses which had been thrown into them directly after being gassed. The bodies had had no chance to cool off. They were so tightly packed that when the graves were opened on a scorching hot day, steam belched forth from them as if from a boiler.205

203 204 205

Ibid., p. 167. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 108. Donat, The Death Camp ..., op. cit., p. 181.

Franz Stangl recalled the first attempt at cremation: “When the cremation grates were there, fire was kindled in the corpse pits to cremate the corpses on top (…) such a fire in one grave resulted from the gas from the corpses. Big, tall flames shot up and there was an enormous mushroom cloud.”206 Two more excavators were brought in and their scoops too plunged into the mass of corpses in the opened mass graves. They removed the corpses, many of them mutilated by the serrated scoops, and dumped them at the edge of the mass graves. Eliahu Rosenberg worked in the Upper Camp: In the second month of 1943 there came an order to dig up all of the bodies in order to burn them. They brought in three excavators, which bit their shovels into the pits and their teeth caught the pieces of flesh and bones and returned to the surface with it. The boys standing alongside laid with forks those pieces of flesh and bones onto stretchers, and they transferred them into the fire, burning some 8,000 people a day.207

Franz Stangl has also explained the corpse-burning operation in the Upper Camp: It must have been at the beginning of 1943. That's when the excavators were brought in. Using these excavators, the corpses were removed from the huge ditches which had been used until then. The old corpses were burned on the roasts, along with the new bodies (of new arrivals to the camp). During the transition to the new system, Wirth came to Treblinka. As I recall, Wirth spoke of a Standartenführer who had experience in burning corpses. Wirth told me that according to the Standartenführer's experience, corpses could be burned on a roaster, and it would work marvelously. I know that in the beginning (in Treblinka) they used rails from the trolley (i.e. the rails from the dismantled trolleys used in the early stage for transporting the bodies from the gas chambers into the graves) to build the cremation grill. But it turned out that these were too weak and bent in the heat. They were replaced with real railroad rails.208

206

207 208

Statement by Franz Stangl, 17 July 1967 in Dinslaken Prison, Holocaust Historical Society UK. ŻIH, Warsaw, 301/481 (Testimonies): Statements by Rescued Jews, p. 3. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 174.

The Standartenführer mentioned by Stangl was almost certainly Paul Blobel who had previously experimented with corpse cremation at the Kulmhof (Chełmno) death camp.209 Finally, after Wirth's visit and doubtless at his instigation, a “cremation specialist”, SS-Oberscharführer Erich Herbert Floss, was sent to Treblinka, as recalled by Chil Rajchman: From the first moments of his arrival he was to be found at the pits. He laughed at the sight of them and was happy and satisfied with his role. He ordered the ovens to be dismantled and laughed at how things were being done here. He laid down ordinary long, thick iron rails to a length of 30 meters. Several low walls of poured cement were constructed to a height of 50 centimeters. The width of the oven was a meter and a half (sic). Six rails were laid down, no more. He ordered that the first layer of corpses should consist of women, especially fat women, placed with their bellies on the rails. After that, anything that arrived could be laid on top: men, women, children. A second layer was placed on top of the first, the pile growing narrower as it rises, up to a height of two meters. The corpses were thrown on by a special brigade, two “firemen” caught each corpse brought to them by the corpse carriers. One caught a hand and a foot on one side, the second caught the other side, and then they threw the dead person into the oven. In this, way some 2,500 corpses were piled on.210

2,000–3,000 bodies would be piled on the “roast”. The flames reached a height of up to 10 meters and the rails glowed from the heat. The number of cremation sites was increased to six, meaning that at the lowest estimate around 12,000 corpses could be burned simultaneously.211 Jerzy Rajgrodzki recalled about the cremations in Camp II after his transfer from Camp I, the Lower Camp, that: “The fires burned

209

210 211

From May 1942, Blobel was the leader of Sonderkommando 1005 which had the task of exhuming and cremating the hundreds of thousands of victims of SSObergruppenführer Heydrich's Einsatzkommandos, the mobile killing squads in Russia and the Ukraine. (For the killing operations of the Einsatzgruppen, see: R. Rhodes, Masters of Death—The Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust, Vintage Books, New York 2003). Rajchman, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 72–73. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 175–176.

day and night. The odor was terrible”.212 The cremations were carried out 24 hours a day. The “Ash Brigade” (Aschekolonne), collected the ashes once the fires were extinguished, removed the charred bones from the “roasts” and placed them on tin sheets. Wooden posts were then used to pulverize the bones into small fragments. The ashes and fragments of bone were finally dumped back into the emptied mass graves with a final layer of sand, topped off with earth.213 The gruesome work of exhuming and cremating bodies continued even after the revolt of August 2, 1943. * Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was not the only visitor to Treblinka, as mentioned earlier by the Jewish inmate Aleksandr Kudlik. Another prominent figure in the execution of the Holocaust, SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann, Head of Amt IV B4, the Jewish Desk (Judenreferat) at the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt—RSHA), also visited the death camp. SS-Oberscharführer Kurt Franz recalled meeting Eichmann on that occasion, “Adolf Eichmann was in civilian clothes when I met him at Treblinka in 1943. He came to check on what happened to the Jews he sent there. When he saw the gassing, he went rather pale.”214 SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel remembers the regular visits to Treblinka by SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik, the head of Aktion Reinhardt: He came to Treblinka at least every three months. Each time he came to see me in the Goldjuden workroom and I had to give him a full and detailed report. Stangl himself always gave me prior notice of Globocnik's impending visits. He also gave me notice of Eichmann's visit, but he was only in the Upper Camp.215

212

213 214 215

GFH, Israel, File 28646: L. Bewerunge, „Wer bei der Auspeitschung schrie, wurde erschossen. Nach elf Monaten Treblinka entkommen/Der Düsseldorf Prozess.“ Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 176. Tregenza, Christian Wirth…, op. cit., p. 26. Ibid., p. 26.

SS-Unterscharführer Gustav Münzberger recalled other Nazi visitors to the death camp, some of whom were high-ranking SSofficers, probably from the Tiergartenstraße 4 headquarters of the Euthanasia program in Berlin. Sometimes, only the Upper Camp and gas chambers were visited. The visitors were almost always guided around the camp by SS-Obersturmführer Wirth, and on one occasion Globocnik was with them. Münzberger, however, was unable to identify any of these high-ranking visitors. Franz Suchomel also recalled the visits of SA-Oberführer Werner Blankenburg from the Führer’s Chancellery, who controlled the T4 Euthanasia operation: “Blankenburg on the occasion of his visits, repeatedly explained that everyone had been put there for the purpose of carrying out the operation, and there was no point in transferring away.”

Suchomel also confirmed in a conversation with Gitta Sereny that: “A messenger arrived from Berlin with a suitcase and orders from Blankenburg, to return with one million marks. We crammed a million into it and he went off with it to Berlin.”216

216

Sereny Into that Darkness, p. 162.

Chapter 8 Jewish Work Brigades

Approximately 1,000 “work-Jews” (Arbeitsjuden) lived in very primitive quarters, in wooden barracks, in the Lower and Upper Camps. At first, until September 1942, in the Lower Camp they slept on the sand floor or on scattered rugs on the floor of a barrack on the Undressing Square (Entkleidungsplatz). It was only when they moved later into a part of the right-hand wing of a U-shaped barrack that they slept on three-tiered wooden bunks. From the beginning, only the so-called “Court Jews” (Hofjuden) had better accommodation, befitting their “higher” status.217 During the night, the inmates were locked inside the barracks with only buckets for toilet facilities. They were woken soon after sunrise, provided with a meagre breakfast, followed by the morning roll-call. The working day lasted from the morning rollcall until the evening and was interrupted only by a lunch break lasting about an hour. On their return from work, they had to line up for the evening roll-call during which the prisoners were counted. On this occasion, some were punished by flogging, and those in a poor shape were taken to the Lazarett and shot. The prisoners were employed in all kinds of work to keep the death camp functioning efficiently, divided into seven work brigades in the Lower Camp, and three in the Upper Camp. Each work brigade was assigned a particular function at designated places throughout the death camp.

Work Brigades in the Lower Camp—Camp I About twice as many prisoners worked in the Lower Camp than in the Upper Camp, and received somewhat better treatment. They also had access to the variety of items the deportees brought with them on the transports—especially food. Nevertheless, the 217

M. Chocholatý interview with Kalman Teigman, Bat-Yam, Israel, March 2008.

prisoners in the Lower Camp were divided into groups according to their status, with the prime position occupied by the so-called “Court Jews”.

Court Jews (Hofjuden) This brigade was one of the most privileged in the camp. Among its members were skilled workers: carpenters, blacksmiths, painters, housekeepers, and so on. The “Court Jews” also known as the “Yellows” because of their yellow armbands,218 also included other work brigades, such as the so-called “Gold Jews” (Goldjuden), who dealt mainly with the gold, valuables and cash from the victims. Other sub-brigades included the “Street Construction Brigade” (Straßenbaukommando), Bricklaying Brigade (Maurerkommando), and the Building Brigade (Baukommando).219 Józef Czarny, deported to Treblinka from Warsaw in the autumn of 1942, recalled how he became a “Court Jew.” He was ordered to report to Kurt Franz at his quarters in the German compound: He was sitting there in an armchair and I remember it as if it were today. And he said, “Take off my boots!” Instead of pulling back, instead of letting me do so, he pushed his boot into my face. He must have been—he was drunk. I don't know how I managed to get the boots off his legs. After I had taken his boots off, he said to me: “You are going to be a Court Jew.”220

Czarny was assigned to the chicken coop that supplied the SS daily with fresh eggs. Kalman Teigman has described his first encounter with “Court Jews” in Treblinka: After the roll-call they put us into two barracks fenced with barbedwire. Everyone got a place to sleep. There we met a group of Jews who were called the “Court Jews.” They were from the region of Treblinka, mostly skilled craftsmen. The “Court Jews” were not as

218 219 220

Chrostowski, Extermination Camp …, op. cit., p. 48. Ibid., p. 49. Teicholz, Ivan The Terrible …, op. cit., pp. 161–162.

restricted in the camp as the rest of the prisoners. They could move about freely (...) they had their own kitchen and plenty of food. At first, they kept their distance from us, didn't want any contact with us, as if they weren't interested in what was happening in the camp. They were even afraid to approach us. It was only after the camp Commandant announced that there was no longer any special status to the “Court Jews” that all the Jews were equal and no further distinctions would be made between them, that the “Court Jews” began to approach us.221

Gold Jews (Goldjuden) This group of almost twenty people was made up of former jewellers, watchmakers, and bank clerks. Their task was to receive and sort the money, gold, and other valuables taken from the new arrivals. Some of the group worked in the undressing area, receiving money and valuables from the deportees prior to entering the gas chambers. This group also carried out body searches on women. Other members of the Goldjuden worked at the square where the victims’ belongings were sorted and checked, and they were responsible for preparing the money, gold and valuables for shipment from the camp. Abraham Krzepicki recalled: Some of them enjoyed collecting all sorts of curios. They made no effort to hide this from us, but among themselves they were wary of each other. They would come right over to us and take away a nice gold watch, which they would immediately take to one of the six Jewish watchmakers, to put in working order. Or they would pick out a particularly unusual ring or some other item of women’s jewellery, no doubt as gifts for their sweethearts in the Fatherland. All of them—both Germans and Ukrainians—had so much money that they didn’t even bother to touch it. I think they all became millionaires in Treblinka.222

221 222

Ibid., p. 106. A. Krzepicki, “Eighteen Days in Treblinka”, in: Donat, The Death Camp… op. cit., p. 101.

Train Station Brigade (Bahnhofskommando) The forty or fifty members of this brigade were employed in the receiving process of the newly arrived transports. Because of their blue armbands they became known as the “Blues”. The Jewish inmate Aleksandr Kudlik has described his first encounter with the “Blues” and their duties: After arrival at Treblinka station, a part—20 wagons—were taken to the camp's Ramp. After the opening of the wagons on the Ramp, a group of Germans and Ukrainians pushed the Jews out of the wagons, beating them with gun butts and whips, yelling. At the same time, Jewish workers with blue armbands were cleaning the wagons, taking out the mess and the corpses of those who died on the way.223

Rag Brigade (Lumpenkommando) Probably the most extensive work brigade in the whole camp was the Rag Brigade which numbered between 80–100 men, and in turn was sub-divided into several smaller groups. The brigade members worked mainly in the open air, sorting the clothing and possessions of the victims.224 Samuel Willenberg describes the work in this brigade: I was taken to a Vorarbeiter—a prisoner selected as a foreman. This was a Czech Jew who had arrived on a transport from Theresienstadt, and his work instructions boiled down to one word, “Sort!” This meant scouring the mountain of objects for glasses, spoons, shavers, watches, cigarette cases and other personal effects, and placing them in suitcases according to type. Our contingent also sorted clothing, shoes and bedding, which we laid on the ground on sheets of different colors. We were to search everything painstakingly—emptying pockets, removing every indication of manufacturer or owner, and squeezing each bit of clothing in case diamonds, gold coins or paper money were sewn inside. Like peddlers in a Persian market who trumpet praise of their wares, the foremen Kapos shouted, “Work, work! Faster!” Their

223 224

YVA 03/550: Aleksandr Kudlik. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 109.

roaring reverberated across the vast yard. Like everyone else, I worked at breakneck speed. Anything I touched had to be sorted not only by type of cloth but even by quality. Worthless rags were thrown onto special white sheets, tied into bundles and lugged to open storage areas in the middle of the yard. These white bundles stretched in piles for hundreds of meters, creating eerie avenues of coats, jackets, dresses and other garments. At a murderous pace, accompanied by the mad cries of the foremen, we worked and sorted all these personal effects. Now and then we found various documents—birth certificates, passports, money, family photos, letters from relatives, Diplomas, University Degrees, professional certificates and doctors' licenses. I sorted glasses, knives, spoons, pots and scissors, stuffing them like everyone else into suitcases at my side. Bent double, we worked like madmen. Suddenly, as if by order, the foremen began to scream “Koirem, Koirem!”—a vulgarization of the term from the Hebrew liturgy meaning “bend”—and everyone began working even more frantically. We tossed the belongings of murdered Jews into the air, creating an impression of rapid progress.225

Transport Brigade (Transportkommando) Some of the most terrible work in the Lower Camp was undertaken by the 40 members of this Kommando who had to urge the deportees to undress quickly, and then lead the women into the barrack for their hair to be cut off. They wore red armbands and were known in the prisoner's language as the “Burial Brotherhood” (Chevra kadisha).226 Joe Siedlecki and his wife were deported from Warsaw to Treblinka in July 1942, and this is recalled in an interview he had with Gitta Sereny: As soon as we got to Treblinka I was selected for work. They called me “Langer”, because I was so big and tall. I said to the SS who picked me out that she was my wife and could she work too. And he said, Miete or Küttner—I can't remember who it was—“Don't

225 226

Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 49–50. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit, p. 108. The members of Chevra kadisha (“Sacred Society”, more commonly translated as the Jewish Burial Society) were responsible for the preparation and burial of the deceased in accordance with Jewish law (halachah).

worry, she is going to work in the laundry in Camp II.” But of course that wasn't true; they killed her straight away. I never saw her again. They put me in the “Red Brigade”—we had to supervise the undressing in the undressing barracks. We had to call out: “Strip, tie your shoes together, take along money and documents!” (Ganz nackt, Schuhe zusammenbinden, Geld und Dokumente mitnehmen!). Later I was appointed to the disinfection room, probably one of the worst places to be in; it was between the hairdressers who cut off the women's hair, and the “Tube” which led up to the gas chambers. We had to disinfect the hair, you see, right away, before it was packed up to ship—they used it in Germany to make mattresses.227

Richard Glazar recalled the “Blues” and “Reds” in his memoirs: Most of the newly chosen workers are assigned to the commando units that work at the sorting site organizing the personal effects taken from the transports. The new ones cannot be assigned directly to the special commando units –to the “Blues”, for example, the ones with the blue armbands, who receive the transports as they come into the station and are responsible for moving the people and their luggage away from the arrival platform as quickly as possible, or to the “Reds,” the ones with the red armbands who are assigned to the disrobing site and help people get undressed, the ones who tear the clothes off any woman who might hesitate. This is a job for a hardened veteran.228

Barbers' Brigade (Friseure) According to the Jewish survivors Gustav Boraks229, Abraham Bomba and Chil Rajchman, the cutting of women's hair—before it was moved into a hut in the Undressing Square (Entkleidungsplatz) in the Lower Camp—was initially carried out in the gas chambers in the Upper Camp. According to their statements, the hair cutting was carried out in some of the chambers that were not currently used for the mass gassing. 227 228 229

Sereny, Into That Darkness …, op. cit., p. 189. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 16. GFH, Israel, 28646: L. Bewerunge, „Mit Peitsche und Revolver and der Rampe“. Franz im Treblinka: „Prozess des heimtückischen Mordes beschuldigt/Den Baumeister der Gaskammern wiederkannt?“

Later this task was undertaken in the undressing hut near the entrance of the “Tube”. Wolf Sznajdman explains the procedure: “All the women, undressed, went in the later period to the barber who cut their hair. The barbers were sitting in the same barrack where the women took off their clothes.”230 Abraham Bomba, a barber by profession, was deported from the Częstochowa ghetto and arrived at Treblinka on September 30, 1942. A month later, he was assigned to the Barbers' Brigade in the Upper Camp. He explains: It was in the morning, around 10 o'clock when a transport came to Treblinka and the women went into the gas chambers. They chose some people from the working people over there, and they asked who was a barber, who was not a barber. I was a barber for quite a number of years and some of them knew me—people from Częstochowa and other places. So naturally they chose me and I selected some more barbers who I knew, and we got together. (…) And the order came to go with them, with the Germans. They took us to the gas chamber, to the second part of the camp in Treblinka. It was not too far from the first part, and it was all covered with gates, barbed-wire and trees covering the gates so that nobody should see there is a gate, or a place going into the gas chamber.231

Chil Rajchman was also a barber in the Upper Camp: The foreman suddenly calls us—“Barbers!” All the barbers, 10 men, five old and five new ones, stand next to him. He asks if each of us has shears and then leads us away to the evil gas chambers, where the living are transformed into the dead. He leads us into the first cell, which is open to the corridor and to the outside. It is a fine summer's day. The sun's rays reach us. Long benches are set out and next to them dozens of suitcases. The murderers order us to take our places. Each of us stands behind a suitcase. A gang of Ukrainians surrounds us, whips in their hands and rifles on their shoulders. The Commandant of Treblinka comes in—a tall, stout murderer of about 50. He orders us to work fast. After five cuts the hair must all be cut off. We have to make sure that no hair falls on the ground, and the suitcases must be fully

230 231

YVA, Jerusalem, 03/1560: Wolf Sznajdman (Wolf Shneidman). USHMM, Washington, DC: RG-50.030.0033: Abraham Bomba interview, August 28, 1990.

packed. He ends his order this way—“if not you will be whipped, you accursed dogs!” A few minutes pass and we hear pitiful screams. Naked women appear. In the corridor stands a murderer who tells them to run into the room where we are. They are beaten murderously and driven with cries of “Faster, faster!” Each woman sits down opposite a barber. A young woman sits down opposite me. The women sit opposite us and wait for us to cut off their beautiful hair, and their weeping is pitiful and terrible. I force open the fingers of my dirty hand, cut off the woman's hair and throw it into a suitcase, like every one of us is doing. The woman stands up. She asks me where to go and I indicate the second entry on the left.232

Samuel Willenberg recalls the tragic scenes that took place in the barbers' barracks after the cutting of women's hair was moved into a hut in the Undressing Square: We ran through the camouflaged gate to the beginning of “death avenue”. We entered the hut and proceeded to a small room where a row of prisoners in white hairdressers' smocks stood, each besides a small stool, cutting off the new arrivals' hair. I donned a smock which was hanging on the wall, pulled a pair of scissors from a crack between two boards, and stood like the other “hairdressers” beside one of the available stools. Through a hole in the wall I saw the Germans order the women to undress. The women helped one another as small, skinny children clung to their legs. Despite the large number of women and children in the hut, the deathly silence was disrupted only by the Germans who barked, “Strip faster!” The women moved towards us and sat on the stools. Some brought their children along. They looked at us in fright as we the prisoners began to cut their hair—black, light brown, totally white.233

After the women had had their hair cut off, an SS-man opened the door and ordered the women out—into the “Tube”—the one-way road to the gas chambers.234

232 233 234

Rajchman, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 33–34. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka ..., op. cit., pp. 80–81. Ibid., p. 81.

Forest and Camouflage Brigades (Waldkommando und Tarnungskommando and other groups) The Forest Brigade (Waldkommando, also known as the Holzfällerkommando),235 was small in number, probably only a few dozen prisoners. They were responsible for cutting wood for heating and cooking in the camp. From early 1943, this group was enlarged to supply the wood needed for the cremation of corpses in the Upper Camp. The Camouflage Brigade (Tarnungskommando), consisting of about 25 prisoners, was guarded by SS-NCO Hermann Sydow, according to Richard Glazar. Their task was mainly camouflaging the camp fences with fresh evergreen branches, particularly for the “Tube” and the fences surrounding the Upper Camp in order to prevent anyone outside from seeing into the camp.236 In the Lower Camp, other brigades were introduced as the need arose to keep the death camp functioning. These were not on the scale of the main brigades as they consisted of only a few prisoners, or even just an individual. One of those was Isadore Helfing, who had been deported from Kielce. He worked in the stables and gave an interview with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1992: In that camp there was a horse, and a two-wheeler buggy what picked up garbage and took it to the grave, where the people were burning. And he backed it out and dumped the garbage in, for burning. There were no trash cans- something to haul away— everything went into that grave to be burnt. So what happened, when the guy pulled back the horse, the horse pushed him to go backwards. The horse got wild and backed it up, and went right to the fire with the buggy. And then the German that was around to see what was going on, shot him. There was a stable, there were five horses. And they used the horses for horseback riding, and two horses to bring materials, and food from other towns for the Germans. So they need another guy, and it happened to be me. I was in the barracks with a guy who worked in the stable, cleaning the

235

236

A. Krzepicki, “Eighteen Days in Treblinka”, in: Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 97. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 110.

horses, and feeding the horses and I substituted for the guy who got killed.237

Among these lesser known brigades were the “Bottle Sorting Brigade” (Flaschensortierungskommando)238 and the “Shit Brigade” (Scheißkommando) whose two members supervised the prisoners' latrine, allowing each “visitor” only a few minutes to attend to their bodily needs.239 Jankiel Wiernik recalls the first appearance in the camp of the aptly-named “Shit Master” (Scheißmeister): He was dressed like a cantor and even had to grow a goatee. He wore a large alarm clock on a string around his neck. No one was permitted to remain in the latrine longer than three minutes, and it was his duty to time everyone who used it. The name of this poor wretch was Julian. He also came from Częstochowa, where he had been the owner of a metal products factory.240

The “Shit Master” was probably the sole object of mirth in the hell of Treblinka. According to Wiernik, “Just to look at him was enough to make one burst out laughing.”241

Work Brigades in the Upper Camp (Camp II)242 The prisoners in the Upper Camp were also divided into special brigades with strictly specified roles, each one handling the bodies after the completion of the extermination process.

Corpse Carrying Brigade (Leichentransportkommando) Beside the Sorting Brigade, this brigade was the biggest in the camp, consisting of about 100 men who had the task initially of

237 238 239 240 241 242

Isadore Helfing, Intreview with USHMM 1992. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 75. Chrostowski, Extermination Camp …, op. cit., p. 49. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 179. Ibid., p. 179. SS-Scharführer Heinrich Matthes, who was in charge of the Upper Camp, has stated: “I carried out the roll-calls of the working Jews in the Upper Camp. There were about 200–300 such working Jews. They took away the corpses and later burned them. There were also working Jews who had to break out the gold teeth from the corpses.” (Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 121.)

transporting the corpses from the gas chambers to the mass graves, and later taking them to the cremation grills. Eliahu Rosenberg was deported to Treblinka in September 1942, together with his mother and three sisters. He was transferred from the Lower Camp to the Upper Camp where at first he spent a month carrying the corpses from the old gas chambers to the mass graves. Later, he was transferred to the brigade removing corpses from the 10 gas chambers to the mass graves. He gives us a deep insight into the role of this brigade in whose ranks he spent five months:243 Once—and I remember this well—all the gas chambers were operating. Ten thousand people entered all at once, within fortyfive minutes. This was a transport of 13,000 persons who had arrived on that day.244 Each chamber was sealed—absolutely hermetically sealed. There was a kind of folding door that closed downwards—we removed the “clins.” The “clins” were pieces of wood used to hold the doors in place. When the door was folded and fell to the bottom, there were actually two boards there. One was on top of the door and the other at the bottom, and again, with these pieces of wood, these “clins”, we closed it hermetically and stood to the side (sic). We closed it from the outside; before that, the Germans stood on the ramp and watched what was going on inside. When they said “Alle schlafen” (Everyone is asleep), we opened it up and stood aside for three minutes, until the fumes had dispersed, and then we removed them. We then threw them onto the platform. When I removed the bodies from the gas chambers, the people, mostly women, had hidden all kinds of documents and money in their private parts, and they fell out afterwards, and we saw them. There were many cases of people from the gas chambers who remained alive, those who survived were mainly children who slipped to the floor, and when we opened the gas chamber and removed the bodies, we saw children underneath who had remained alive. The Germans took them away and shot them.245 It happened once that in the big chambers where the gas was

243 244

245

ŻIH, Warsaw, 301/481 (Testimonies): Statements by Rescued Jews, p. 3. One of the questions M. Chocholatý asked Treblinka survivors Eliahu Rosenberg and Pinchas Epstein: “Did it ever happen that all 13 chambers worked together?” (See Chapter 11). Testimony by Eliahu Rosenberg at the Adolf Eichmann Trial, Jerusalem, June 6, 1961. (See: http://www.nizkor.org).

concentrating near the ceiling, one of the children survived. The little one was led to the grave and there mercilessly shot to death by a guard. In the summer of 1943, there occurred an event when one of the body-carriers recognized beside the opened chamber his cousin, a 15-year-old girl who was still alive. The girl stood quite calm, fully aware of what she was facing. The corpse carrier told this to his superior and asked him to do something to keep the girl alive. The superior reported it to the Oberkapo of the camp, the Viennese named Singer, who forwarded this message to his then chief, SSScharführer Karl Pötzinger. The Scharführer led the girl to one side and shot her with one shot. He said he could not help her.246

Abraham Goldfarb has testified that: “It happened once that a seemingly dead woman who was carried from the gas chambers to the grave, rose on the stretcher and asked, “Where am I?” She was consequently shot by Horn (SS-Unterscharführer Otto Horn) who was on duty at the grave.”247 Pinchas Epstein testified at the trial of John (Ivan) Demjanjuk in Jerusalem in 1987: We heard cries, screams—unbelievable—I sat down in a place where I could see the entrance of the gas chambers. This was the socalled Maschinenhaus, the engine house. I saw someone go into this engine room, and later I was told this was Ivan, “Ivan the Terrible.” After the people had been introduced into the gas chambers and after the screams (...) had died down, the gassing engine was turned on, the engine that introduced the gas into the chambers. I saw this man—a big, thickset man who turned on and operated the engine. And then we would wait 20 minutes or half-an-hour, and then we were told to open the doors—very wide doors, and remove the corpses.248

Goldfarb recalls terrible incidents he witnessed outside the gas chambers. He once saw an SS-NCO called Gustav (possibly Gustav Münzberger) and a Ukrainian guard rape a Jewess. The same SS246

247

248

100

Jewish Historical Documentation, Vienna, Factual Report, dated December 24, 1947: Recording with Eliahu Rosenberg. (Copy in: GFH, Israel, 3562/4494, p. 7– 8). GFH, Israel, 28646: L. Bewerunge, „Mit Peitsche und Revolver and der Rampe. Franz im Treblinka-Prozess des heimtückischen Mordes beschuldigt/Den Baumeister der Gaskammern wiederkannt?“ Teicholz, Ivan The Terrible …, op. cit., p. 134–135.

man also had the ghastly task of checking dead pregnant women taken out of gas chambers by cutting opening their abdomens to see if the fetus was also dead.249 Eliahu Rosenberg—attached to the Corpse Brigade described the gruesome work he carried out: I saw a pile of dead people who lay on the ground, and boys stained with blood approaching the dead bodies with stretchers. They grabbed a corpse by the hands and legs and laid it on the stretchers and ran with it. I suddenly found out what was going on around me, and I looked at it with tears in my eyes. Suddenly, I received a blow on my head with a stock-whip. The boys who had already been here for few days told us to take in pairs a stretcher, and start transferring the bodies to the pit.250 (…) the German Matthes began shouting to this group—“An die Tragen!” (To the stretchers). We did not understand what was going on. We began running around the bodies. The Germans and the Ukrainians who were present there hit us. The Jews who worked at removing these bodies said to us, “Take hold of the stretchers and put a body on each”.251 I rapidly jumped to a stretcher and seized it together with my companion. We ran to the gas chambers. On the way to the chambers they hurled curses at us, yelling: “Faster, you dogs!” At a run I came to the ramp and we put the stretcher on the ground and awkwardly laid the body on it. It was then that the Germans started to beat us mercilessly. I was knocked to the ground and they kicked me in the head with their boots, yelling that I had incorrectly laid the body on the stretcher. I got up from the ground and laid the body correctly on the stretcher, and I ran with my companion to the pit. On the way to the pit, the boys ran with the corpses, one by one. Once I had approached the pit I saw a tragic scene. Inside the pits I saw only a huge pool of blood. Throwing the bodies into the pit, we drowned in the blood.252 The grave was 6-7

249

250 251

252

GFH, Israel, 28646: L. Bewerunge, „Mit Peitsche und Revolver and der Rampe. Franz in Treblinka-Prozess des heimtückischen Mordes beschuldigt/Den Baumeister der Gaskammern wiederkannt?“ ŻIH, Warsaw, 301/481 (Testimonies): Statements by Rescued Jews, p. 2. Testimony of Eliahu Rosenberg at the Adolf Eichmann Trial, Jerusalem, June 6, 1961. (See: www.nizkor.org). ŻIH, Warsaw, 301/481 (Testimonies): Statements by Rescued Jews, pp. 2–3.

101

meters deep. It was built with a slope, in a conical shape.253 I carried the bodies for a whole month.254 Pinchas Epstein at the Fedorenko trial in 1978, gave this account of his work of clearing the mass graves in the Upper Camp: After they had emptied out the pits of bodies, dead bodies, I was assigned to with my bare hands, to scrape out of there the remains of the dead—of the bones. Pieces of flesh…… I and another person, prisoner were lowered by machine into the pit, deep into the pit, and we had to scrape up with our hands the bones and put them…. While we were scraping up the bones at the bottom of the pit, the crane sent down a basket, that we put the remains in, and then lifted it out.255

Dentists' Brigade (Zahnärzte/Dentisten) Chil Rajchman was also employed in the Upper Camp as a so-called “dentist” from the beginning of November 1942: When Scharführer Matthes returned from leave, he ascertained at the roll-call that there were 19 men in the group of dentists. He ordered the Kapo of the dentists, Dr. Zimmermann, an acquaintance of mine, to increase the number to twenty. (…) When Dr. Zimmerman announced that he was looking for dentists, I stepped out and declared that I was a dentist. Other people also declared themselves as dentists, but Dr. Zimmermann chose me and got me into his group. We marched off to our work. Adjoining the building containing the three smaller gas chambers there was an additional wooden shed, which was entered via the corridor that led to the gas chambers. In the shed stood a long table at which the dentists worked. In the corner of the shed stood a locked trunk in which were kept the gold and platinum crowns from the teeth of the corpses, as well as the diamonds that were sometimes found in the crowns, along with the money and jewels that were found under bandages on the naked bodies, or in the women's vaginas. Once a week, the trunk was emptied by Matthes or Karl Pötzinger, his adjutant. Next to the table stood long benches on which we used to 253

254 255

102

Testimony by Eliahu Rosenberg at the Adolf Eichmann Trial, Jerusalem, June 6, 1961. (See: www.nizkor.org). ŻIH, Warsaw, 301/481 (Testimonies): Statements by Rescued Jews, p. 3. Fedorenko Denaturalization Hearing, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA in 1978. Statement by Pinchas Epstein. (Wiener Library, London, UK).

sit tightly crowded together and do our work. On the table were placed dishes with extracted teeth as well as various dental tools.256

Avraham Lindwasser has testified about his experiences in the Dentists' Brigade and an encounter with SS-Obersturmführer Wirth who in the Aktion Reinhardt camps preferred to wear the green uniform of a Captain of the Protection Police (Hauptmann der Schutzpolizei): The Hauptmann with the glasses (Wirth) (…) brought me to a well. Next to the well, there were basins with gold teeth and also pairs of forceps for extracting teeth. He ordered me to take a pair of forceps and to extract the teeth from the bodies next to the chambers. (…) Next to the small gas chambers. (…) I was employed at this work for approximately one month, a month and a half, perhaps less, perhaps more, until once I recognized my sister's body. (…) The leader of our group then was Dr. Zimmermann; I asked him to take me back to the chambers (carrying bodies), I could not continue with this.257

Chil Rajchman described in detail the “dentistry” work involved: Our work consisted of scraping out and cleaning the metal from the fillings and from the natural teeth. An additional task was to separate the crowns from the bridges and then clean and sort them. For that purpose there was a special blowtorch which melted rubber. The dentists were divided into specialized groups. Five men worked with white false teeth, others with metal teeth, and two specialists were occupied with sorting the metals, especially white gold, yellow gold, platinum and ordinary metal. The dentists sat at their work under the direction of Dr. Zimmermann, who was a very decent human being. In the shed stood a small stove. In one wall there were two small windows which looked out onto the open space in front of the building with the 10 big gas chambers. When a transport was brought in and the outer doors of the gas chambers were opened, the Germans would knock on the windows shouting: “Dentisten raus!” (Dentists out!). Depending on the size of the transport, one or more groups of six men would go out to work. With pliers in their hands they would

256 257

Rajchman, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 55–56. The Trial of Adolf Eichmann, Session 66. (See: www.nizkor.org/hweb/ people/e/eichmann-adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-066-08.html).

103

position themselves along the path via which the corpses were carried from the ramp to one or more of the mass graves.258

Camp Orchestra (Lagerorchester) In the early days of the camp's existence the SS organized a musical trio, as recalled by Abraham Krzepicki in his account Eighteen Days in Treblinka: Under a tree, about 40 meters from the “bath-house”, not far from the path on which the Jews were driven into the “bath”, there was a small orchestra consisting of three Jews with yellow patches and three Jewish musicians from Stoczek. There they stood playing their instruments. I don't know why, but I was particularly impressed by a long reed instrument, a sort of fife or flute. In addition there was a violin, and I believe a mandolin. The musicians were standing there and raising a ruckus for all they were worth. They were probably playing the latest hits which were popular with the Germans and Ukrainians, for whom they also used to play at shindigs in the guards' quarters.259

In the spring of 1943, in one of the transports from Warsaw the famous musician Artur Gold was recognized by the “Reds” and they included him in a batch of 50 men to be selected for work. Along with two other musicians, newly promoted260 SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Franz decided to form a proper orchestra. This orchestra played at roll-calls after the work brigades returned from their day's labor. The most popular songs were the pre-war Polish song, Goralu, czy ci nie żal? (“Highlander, have you no regrets?”) and the camp anthem, Fester Schritt.261 SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel, in an interview with Claude Lanzmann in the film Shoah, recalled the Treblinka camp song: Looking squarely ahead, Brave and joyously at the world The brigades march out to work. All that matters to us now is Treblinka, 258 259 260 261

104

Rajchman, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 56–57. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 106. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., pp. 117–118. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 115.

It is our destiny, That's why we've become one with Treblinka In no time at all. We know only the word of our Commander, We know only Obedience and Duty, We want to serve, to go on serving, Until a little luck ends it all. Hurray!262

Suchomel added: You want history—I'm giving you history. Franz wrote the words. The melody came from Buchenwald. Camp Buchenwald, where Franz was a guard. New Jews who arrived in the morning, new “work-Jews,” were taught the song.263

And by the evening, every new work-Jew had to be able to sing it lustily, or risk a beating.264 Jerzy Rajgrodzki who worked in the Upper Camp, recalled how an orchestra was established there: In the month of October, while I was put to work in removing corpses from the new gas chambers, a Kapo came and in his hand was a violin. He asked who knew how to play and I said that I knew. He excused me from transferring the bodies and ordered me to play in the yard, near the corpses. After a while the “camp elder” arrived and took me into the kitchen. There I played a number of works as he requested. From then on they put me to work in the kitchen at peeling potatoes. There were six prisoners doing this work. One was Fuchs, who played the clarinet and who had worked in the past for the Polish radio. At first I played only with Fuchs—violin and clarinet—with no accompaniment. We played from time to time during the roll-calls. On New Year’s Eve, we played in the kitchen. The “camp elder,” the Kapo’s and others came. There were only men. They brought some vodka and danced. It was a sad new year. We heard that in Camp I there was an orchestra under the direction of Artur Gold. Camp II demanded an orchestra of its own. There was a need for a harmonica player and we looked for one

262 263 264

Lanzmann, Shoah …, op. cit., p. 106. Ibid. Ibid.

105

among the people in the transports. Who could count the number of harmonica players who were already in the pits? The “camp elder” was especially worried about the missing harmonica player, and turned to the SS with this problem. Finally, they found one in one of the transports; he was also a pianist, and a well-known composer from Warsaw. From that time we were a trio.

Jerzy Rajgrodzki described the type of music they played: It became the custom during the roll-calls, as the people fell into rows of fives for the roll-calls, we stood at the side and played the Polish Army march, “We the First Brigade.” After a while we substituted the music from the movie, “The World Laughs for the march. We the First Brigade.” Sometimes we accompanied with melody the singing of the prisoners. The most popular song was Tumbalaika. One of the prisoners would sing a verse, and the others would join in the chorus with Tumbalaika. The words of the song reflected the lives of the prisoners in the camp with humor and criticism. The words of the song changed with time. In 1943, they stopped singing Tumbalaika and more cultured songs were included in the repertoire. One of the prisoners composed a song in Yiddish to the tune of the foxtrot “The Girl from the Puszcza.” The words of the song spoke about a different world that existed outside of Camp II. The songs served a revolutionary purpose for us. They encouraged us to continue our struggle to live and find ways to salvation. For the SS men and in order to note where we were living, a composition of Treblinka, “Lager zwei is unzer leben, ay, ay, ay” (Camp II is our life, ay, ay, ay), was composed. The chorus was sung by a professional singer, Spiegel, who had appeared in the Prague theater. In the spring when the warm days came, the SS men would come to our camp early. The one who stuck out the most was the one whose nickname was “the black one.” He would sit himself down on a chair, near the well, and order us to play for him. While the other prisoners were still dressing or eating their breakfast and preparing for work, we would put the chairs in front of the hut, sit down and begin the morning concert. Sometimes they would bring us cigarettes, chocolate, or other valuable items. We also performed concerts as per the wishes of the Ukrainian guards—in the afternoon, after work, when the prisoners were locked up. We would stand near the fence and play for the Ukrainians, dozens of Soviet songs. Ivan and Nikolai loved these songs, and they made a big impression on them. During that time,

106

they did not beat or torture the prisoners, except when they committed some unusual crime.265

265

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 234-235.

107

Chapter 9 The Camp Revolt: August 2, 1943

Stanisław Kon, a former Polish soldier who fought during the September 1939 Polish campaign, was deported to Treblinka with his wife and mother-in-law on October 1, 1942. He is one of the survivors from the camp who gave a detailed testimony about the genesis of the revolt in the death camp, and was one of the first to be recorded in 1944 in the liberated city of Lublin in southeast Poland. In 1945, long extracts from his memoirs were published in the Jewish newspaper Dos Naje Lebn (“The New Life”). According to Kon, in the beginning there were four initiators of the revolt who, as a “Committee”, gathered together on their wooden bunks in the Lower Camp to discuss plans and weapons: Dr. Julian Chorążycki (Ilya) from Warsaw, Želomír (Želo) Bloch, a Jewish officer with the rank of Captain (should read Lieutenant— corrected in subsequent references—author’s note) in the Czechoslovak army, Zev Kurland from Warsaw, and Moshe Lubling from Silesia. Chorążycki, a former Captain in the Polish army, at 57-years-of-age was the oldest in the group and their leader.266 When the first steps had already been taken, the Committee was enlarged by four more people: Leon Haberman, an artisan from Warsaw, Salzberg, a furrier from Kielce, Markus from Warsaw, aged 22, the youngest in the group, and the Warsaw agronomist, Sudowicz.267 Samuel Willenberg remembers Chorążycki in the context of his medical role in the camp: In the otherwise empty infirmary we found doctors Riback (Rybak), Reislik, and Chorążycki, together with the camp physician (whose 266 267

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 271. S. Kon, “Revolt in Treblinka”, in: Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 225.

108

name I do not recall). The last two only treated Germans and Ukrainians. Dr. Chorążycki, about 50, had a very interesting face. Wise, clear blue eyes peered from under thick eyebrows. He had an athletic build, his slim legs encased in brown boots laced to the top and buckled at the knee.268

Stanisław Kon saw in Chorążycki a key person and spirit of the forthcoming uprising: The thought of revenge which burned in us—witnesses to most horrible and most cold-hearted Nazi criminal methods—grew every day and started to assume tangible form, especially when 50year-old Dr. Chorążycki from Warsaw joined in the idea of resistance. Chorążycki worked in the camp as a “medical advisor,” a person necessary to the Germans to play out the comedy which comprised of the fictitious examination of the Jews before they were led to the gas chambers. He was a quiet and self-possessed man. In his white smock, with an armband bearing a Red Cross, he gave the impression that all of this was of no concern to him. But in his Jewish heart burned the hot desire for revenge. (…) If Chorążycki was the initiator of the revolt, Lieutenant Želo Bloch was the chief organizer. The presence of this army specialist contributed to the realization of this difficult and complicated task. In the black moments of despair, when many people lost all hope of the uprising, he never ceased to call on us for further efforts. He was the soul of the revolt and even when he was moved to another group of workers, all plans and projects were still sent to him for acceptance, however great the risk. In place of Chorążycki, Engineer Galewski from Łódź was chosen, who put his whole, his soul into the idea. He was also very self-possessed, which was a considerable virtue.269

A date in April 1943 was chosen for the revolt, but then for different reasons the date was changed several times.270 According to Stanisław Kon, the conspirators first made efforts to obtain weapons from two sources: from outside, and from within the camp by stealing guns from German SS or the Ukrainian guards. They also took a great interest in the camp's armory which 268 269

270

Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 89. ŻIH, 301/481 (Testimonies): S. Kon, Uprising in Death Camp Treblinka, Warsaw 1945. Kon, “The Treblinka Revolt” in: Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 227.

109

was situated in the area of the camp occupied by the barracks of the SS and the Ukrainians. Kon wrote: Only Germans were allowed there and it was not possible to gain access. We tried to use different ways. We planned to dig a tunnel, but this was not possible because it could have been discovered by Hitler's bandits, who guarded us very thoroughly. We decided to make extra keys for the armory. This was also not possible for as long as we did not have access to the doors of the armory. For this reason we had to wait for a suitable opportunity and then act very quickly. The lock was broken in the door to the armory and the Germans had to order a Jewish locksmith to repair it. They were so careful that they took the complete door to the workshop. The locksmith diverted the guard's attention for a moment and made a wax copy of the key. Several days later, the Committee received the key, which to us was like the most holy object. We waited for the best moment.271

Chorążycki decided to buy weapons outside the camp, and having also made contact with a Ukrainian guard, who was very well paid, he decided to buy pistols. Several successful transactions took place, but an accident put pay to further dealings. It also cost Chorążycki his life. Stanisław Kon remembered: One day, Chorążycki had prepared a larger amount of money for the Ukrainian when the Deputy Commandant of the camp, SS-man Franz suddenly arrived, a bandit who was known throughout the camp as a sadist. He discovered the banknotes in Chorążycki's smock. “You have money!”—screamed the SS-man. This meant that Franz believed that Chorążycki wanted to escape from the camp. Chorążycki immediately attacked Franz and tried to cut Franz's throat with a surgical knife. But Franz succeeded in reaching the window and called for help. Chorążycki, knowing the kind of torments that awaited him and how great the danger for the resistance group was, drank a large dose of poison of the kind that all the conspirators possessed. The arriving SS-men tried to keep Chorążycki alive because they wanted to torture him, but with no result. So perished the initiator of the uprising, but his death did not stop our work.272

271 272

110

Ibid. Kon, “The Treblinka Revolt”, in: Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 226.

Kalman Teigman recalled the fate of Dr. Chorążycki: Chorążycki knew what his fate would be. He fell upon Kurt Franz, even though he was a man of advanced age, and Kurt Franz was powerful and tall. Chorążycki jumped away from him, fled from this hut, but he did not run far before he fell. Apparently he had taken some poison pills, or something else. They summoned all the detainees and personnel to assemble for a roll-call. We were obliged to watch how they flushed Chorążycki's stomach in order to revive him, to wake him up, and to torture him anew. The faithful assistant of Kurt Franz, a Ukrainian, Zugwachmann, Rogosa, pulled out Chorążycki's tongue with some sharp instrument or a hook, I don't remember exactly. Kurt Franz poured water into his mouth from a bucket, after which he jumped on him with his boots in order to flush out his stomach. In the end, two members of the group had to raise Chorążycki by the legs in order to remove the water from his body. They repeated this operation several times, but they did not manage to resuscitate him. After all their efforts failed, they undressed him and continued beating him with clubs, after which they took him off to the Lazarett.273

Later, many transports began arriving in Treblinka from the Warsaw Ghetto and from these Jews, Kon and the rest of the workJews learned about the uprising. Kon's testimony continues: The Germans treated them with exceptional brutality. Many wagons were loaded with the bodies of fighters from the ghetto who refused to go on the transport while still alive. The last deportees from the Warsaw Ghetto were not people who were already resigned and passive. In place of tears, they armed themselves with grenades and explosive materials. From them we also received some weapons. The leadership decided that this was the moment that was best for the uprising to begin. In Treblinka there was a group of Jews who acted as servants for the Germans, cleaning their rooms, etc. They were the only Jews who had access to every part of the camp. Often, they were also close to the armory. The leadership had the idea to use them. They received an order to procure 100 grenades on the day of the uprising. They did it. Haberman, who worked in the German laundry, Markus, a cleaner of shoes, and 17-year-old Jacek from 273

Testimony by Kalman Teigman at the Adolf Eichmann Trial, Jerusalem, June 6, 1961. (See: www. nizkor.org).

111

Hungary, smuggled some grenades from the armory. Especially praiseworthy were the efforts of 14-year-old Salzberg, son of a furrier from Kielce. He gathered uniforms, officially for pressing. He hid the grenades in the uniforms. Unfortunately, the grenades were without detonators and we had to change the date of the uprising at the last moment. In the meantime, new activists joined our group. Dr. Leichert from Węgrów was selected by the Germans from a new transport, and replaced Chorążycki. The second was Rudolf Masaryk (Masárek), a close relative of the President of Czechoslovakia.274 He did not want to be separated from his Jewish wife and shared her fate in the transport to Treblinka. Here he was “lucky,” he was assigned to the work brigades. In front of his eyes, his pregnant wife was taken to the gas chambers. Masaryk was one of the most active people. It is also necessary to mention the driver and mechanic from Płock, Rudek, who worked in the German garage. His place of work was a focal point of our actions. Also, weapons were stored there. So passed the months of tension and waiting. We saw before us death at every step. We saw the Germans' brutality. Every day, thousands of Jews were led to the gas chambers, naked women and old people. They were driven in long rows to the Judenstaat, (“Jew State”) as the Germans cynically called the building with 12 gas chambers.275 In the speeches Untersturmführer Franz gave at every opportunity, he repeated that: “If there is still even one Jew in the world, the gas chambers will be working”.276

By now, the Organizing Committee had two basic cells, one in the Lower Camp and a second in the Upper Camp. The latter was formed by Želo Bloch after his transfer from the Lower Camp to the Upper Camp. It was thanks to his arrival that both hitherto strictly segregated parts of the death camp finally had a “centralized planning staff”. Previously, individual escape attempts had been organized separately in the Upper and Lower Camps, and had not involved many people. The liaison between the two camps was usually undertaken by Jankiel Wiernik from the Upper Camp who, as a unique exception by the SS, was allowed to move about

274 275

276

112

His surname was Masárek and he was not related to the Czech President. According to other Jewish prisoners, the building contained 10 gas chambers, not 12. Kon, Uprising in Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 228.

between the two segregated areas. He has described a meeting of the new Organizing Committee in the Upper Camp: When all the prisoners who were tired from the work and from suffering would fall asleep, we would gather in a corner of the barrack on an upper bunk and take counsel. The younger ones among us, who pressured for immediate action, even without a detailed plan, nearly had to be restrained by chaining them down. We decided not to act without the Lower Camp, because to do so would have been suicidal. In our camp we were a small group, and not all were in any sort of combat condition.277

Wolf Sznajdman belonged to the privileged group of prisoners, the “Court Jews”, who were not watched as closely as the others. Consequently, at times, they were even able to enter the armory and take a weapon: There was an underground organization which, for a few weeks before the revolt, gathered and began preparing everything. They made an additional key for the armory in order to enter and remove weapons used by the Germans and Ukrainians. At first, they were successful in removing grenades, but it proved to be for nothing because they lacked detonators. They were returned to the armory. This was even more dangerous. We removed them in the afternoon when there was quiet, and took them back in the evening when they (the SS) changed duties. Only one gun was left (with us) from that very first attempt. Later on, we succeeded in obtaining ammunition. Some 30 persons belonged to the conspiracy. They liked to use us Hofjuden because we could walk about freely. We could take an axe, a hammer, saying that we were about to repair something. (...) Only a Kapo could come to us, to arrange something. But although we entered into the conspiracy, we also had to be able to explain everything properly, why we went for planks or to repair something. It was necessary to state an exact reason in order not to arouse any suspicion.278

Samuel Rajzman was deported to Treblinka on September 21, 1942, and became an active participant in the planning of the revolt in the camp. He attended the final planning meeting on August 1, 1943:

277 278

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 279. YVA, Jerusalem, 03/1560: Wolf Sznajdman (Wolf Schneidman).

113

At the Organizing Committee meeting, held late at night by the light of the fires burning the bodies of hundreds of thousands of those dearest to us, we unanimously approved the decision to launch the revolt the next day, August 2. I will never forget whitehaired Zvi Kurland, the oldest among us all, who, with tears in his eyes, administered us the oath to fight to our last drop of blood for the honor of the Jewish people. Every man present sensed the tremendous responsibility involved in our decision to eliminate this creation of mad German sadism, and bring an end to Treblinka.279

Stanisław Kon recalls the run-up to the revolt: Our desire for revenge grew even greater. At last, Commander Galewski gave the order for the revolt. The date was fixed for August 2, 1943, 5 p.m. The plan was to kill the main hangmen, disarm the guards, cut the telephone line, and to set on fire and destroy all the buildings of the factory of death. We also planned to liberate the Poles from the work camp which was located 2 kilometers away and, together with them, to escape to the forests and establish a strong partisan group.280

Stanisław Kon recalls that on the morning of that day, a Monday, the tension in the camp was enormous: The leaders needed all their energies to calm the people down. Finally, special inspectors came to see that the normal quota of work was carried out as usual in order not to arouse suspicion. All the details of the plan were known only to the 60 people who constituted the nucleus of the fighting organization. The activists were divided into three groups, and as soon as the signal would be given, each group was to occupy the position assigned to it.281

Kon's testimony continues: At one o'clock in the afternoon we lined up as we had been doing every day, for the roll-call, the last roll-call in the camp because there was never to be another. But when Galewski, the head of the group of workers, told us that work that day would end an hour earlier than usual because Rottenführer Rotner (should be SS-

279 280 281

114

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 284. Kon, Uprising in Treblinka …, op cit., p. 228. Ibid., p. 228.

Scharführer Reuter, author's note) was going to Małkinia to bathe in the river Bug.282

An hour later, the distribution of weapons began. Those who had access to the SS-barracks stole about 20 rifles and a machine gun, but it proved more difficult to get hold of hand grenades. Finally, after distracting the attention of a couple of SS-men in the vicinity of the munitions room, the door was opened with the specially made duplicate key. Kon continues: Jacek, the Hungarian boy, slipped inside, climbed onto the window sill at the end of the room, used a diamond to cut out a small square in the glass and handed out the grenades and other weapons to Jakob Miller from Włodzimierz-Wołyński who was waiting outside and put them in his garbage cart. The arms were taken to the garage. (…). Spirits grew agitated and it seemed that no one would be able to keep the secret. The leaders therefore decided to start the revolt an hour before the time originally agreed upon.283

Tanhum Grinberg recalled the premature start of the revolt on August 2, 1943: A little before 4 p.m., Kiwe (SS-Oberscharführer Fritz Küttner) came across a boy whose pockets were bulging. He grabbed him and took the money out of his pocket. A hail of blows immediately descended on the youth. While this was going on, another Jew happened along. “Komm,komm!” (Come here, come here!) the German called to the man, and when the German found that this Jew also had money on his person, he led both (the man and the boy) behind our barrack and started beating them alternately. The designated hour had not yet arrived, but we were afraid that the two would break down and confess (…) So there was no alternative but to jump the gun and go into action immediately. One of us went over to the window and fired his pistol at Kiwe. Kiwe died on the spot.284

Wolf Sznajdman also believed that SS-NCO Fritz Küttner had been killed in the first minutes of the revolt: 282 283 284

Ibid., p. 228. Ibid., p. 229. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 221. SS-Oberscharführer Küttner (Kiwe) was only wounded. He survived the revolt and the War.

115

We had arranged the beginning of the revolt for 4:30 the signal would be a grenade explosion. Before that hour, someone entered a barrack; he wanted to dig up money. There was a Blockältester (Block Elder) on guard who went to Oberscharführer Küttner and reported that somebody had entered the barrack. It was Kuba, the one who had denounced many people, many people died because of him. He was one of the first to die, I saw him lying dead. Küttner was also killed. The leader of our group appeared, Zalcberg (Salzberg), and said, “You have to go and kill Küttner, otherwise he is going to take the man to the Verwaltung (Administration) and they will beat him and that man will give us all away.” We ran out with anything we had. One of us had a revolver. Küttner started running. He was killed near the entrance to his barrack. The shot fired at Küttner was the beginning of the uprising. There were a few weapons that we had just taken from the armory. Only a few.285

Samuel Willenberg recalled: This was the shot we had heard, and which we had taken for the prearranged signal to start the revolt. That moment is well preserved in my memory. I remember the picture of the camp in all of its details: there was much movement all around. I was at work chopping trees with my comrades. The heat was extraordinary. We worked clad only in shirts or half-naked. The SS-man (Franz) Suchomel passed by on his bicycle and gaily shouted something to the prisoners who were busy working. Weary guards had dozed off in the watchtowers. Near the gate to the vegetable garden, which was our handiwork, one of the SS-men was strolling around. When I heard the shot I started to make a run for the barracks and take my jacket, in which I had hidden the gold intended for my escape, but at that moment a shout of “Hurrah!” rang out, which turned my feet in an entirely different direction. The assault had begun.286

SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel recalled his initial reaction to the revolt: When it started, Tchechia (...) the good-looking red-blonde—was working in the kitchen. SS, cleaners and kitchen girls were all lying together on the floor in the corridors because they were shooting in

285 286

116

YVA, Jerusalem, 03/1560: Wolf Sznajdman (Wolf Schneidman). Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 210.

from outside. Tchechia was lying quite near me. I don't know whether she had known about the revolt in advance.287

Commandant Franz Stangl recalled the day the prisoners revolted: August 2 was a very hot day. A Monday: Mondays were always a day of rest—because, of course, on Sundays nobody worked in Warsaw, so they didn't load transports.288 Kurt Franz had taken a swimming party of 20 down to the River Bug straight after lunch; four Germans and the rest Ukrainians. I had a visitor, a Viennese. He was an army political officer who was temporarily stationed in Kossov (Kosów), 6 kilometers away. He had rung up to say hello and ask whether he could drop by.289

SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel recalls Stangl's visitor, and that drinking had been going on in Stangl's quarters since mid-morning. Suchomel also identified Stangl's guest as his old friend Greuer, a Lieutenant from a Vlasov unit in Kosów.290 According to Suchomel, by the time the revolt started, “Stangl and his friend were both drunk as lords and didn't know which end was up. Stangl just stood there and looked at the burning buildings.”291 Stangl continues: Looking out my window I could see some Jews on the other side of the inner fence—they must have jumped down from the roof of the SS-billets, and they were shooting (...) In an emergency like that my first duty was to inform the chief of the external security police. By the time I had done that, our petrol station blew up. That, too, had been built just like a real service station, with flower-beds around it. Next thing, the whole ghetto camp was burning and then (SS-Scharführer) Matthes, the

287 288

289 290

291

Sereny, Into That Darkness …, p. 247. An interesting slip by Stangl, because by this time there were no more transports to Treblinka from the Warsaw Umschlagplatz. The Warsaw ghetto had been “cleaned” of Jews. Sereny, Into That Darkness …, op. cit., p. 238. Ibid. The Vlasov army was named after Lt.-Gen. Andrey Andrejevich Vlasov, a Soviet army officer who, after his capture in July 1942, collaborated with the Germans and eventually raised the Russian Liberation Army (Russkaya osvobodstel'naya armiya—ROA), consisting of Soviet prisoners of the Germans and White Russian emigrés. The ROA played a significant role in the bloody suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. Sereny, Into That Darkness …, op. cit., p. 238.

117

German in charge of the Upper Camp, arrived at a run and said everything was burning up there, too.292

Fedor Fedorenko, a Ukrainian guard, recalls that dramatic day in Treblinka: I was standing guard on the first gate, flames started and shots fired all around, I couldn't understand who was shooting and where the shots were coming from. The Commandant ran out and one or two Germans and we Wachmänner, we dropped to the ground and lay there, and then we saw some people running away and they ordered us to shoot, but this was far away from us.293

Franciszek Ząbecki, the Polish supervisor at Treblinka station, was carefully observing what was taking place just a few kilometers away on that fateful afternoon: I heard shooting and almost at the same time saw the fires. They burned till 6 p.m. The SS came to the mayor and told him that anyone who helped escapees would be shot at once. There were hundreds of troops around; almost immediately people were so afraid to be taken for Jews, almost everybody stayed locked-up in their houses. The troops shot on sight at anything that moved. One woman, Helen Sucha, hid a Jew: they took her up to the labor camp and she was never heard of again.294

Stanisław Kon recalls the progress of the revolt, SS-men being attacked, the telephone line cut and watchtowers set ablaze: Lieutenant Zelo Bloch attacked two SS-men with an axe, and (…), took command. Close by the garage stood a German armored car, but Rudek swiftly put the engine out of commission. Now the car served as an ambush from which to fire at the Germans. Our gunfire felled Sturmführer Kurt Seidler (Seidel) and other Nazi dogs. The arsenal was taken by assault and the captured weapons handed out to the insurgents. We already had 200 armed men. The others attacked the Germans with axes and spades.

292 293

294

118

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 293. Fedorenko Denaturalization Hearing, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA in 1978. Statement by Fedor Fedorenko. (Wiener Library, London, UK). Sereny, Into That Darkness …, op. cit., p. 248.

We set fire to the gas chambers, to the “bathhouse”,295 burned the simulated railroad station and all the fake signs, BiałystokWółkowysk, Office, Tickets, Waiting Room, etc. The barracks which bore the name of the Nazi hangman Max Biela were ablaze, too. Lieutenant Zelo Bloch gave commands and encouraged the men to fight. Nobody cared about his own life. A fiery spirit of revenge had taken hold of us. We had acquired more weapons, we even had a machine gun now. Rudolf Masaryk (Masárek) took care of it. He stationed himself on the roof of the pigeon coop and poured fire on the confused Germans. Through the exchange of fire we could hear his voice shouting: “Take that for my wife, and take that for my child who did not even have a chance to come into the world! And take that, you murderers, for the humanity which you have insulted and degraded!” Roused to action by the flames and the firing, Germans began to arrive from all sides. SS and police arrived from Kosów, soldiers from the nearby airfield, and finally a special squad of the Warsaw SS. A full-scale battle developed. Lieutenant Želo Bloch was darting in-and-out among the flames, giving us courage and urging us to fight on. He gave orders, concise, warlike—until a Nazi bullet put an end to his life.296

Kalman Teigman described how the camp barracks were set alight: There was a young man who used to disinfect the huts of the Germans and Ukrainians. He had a receptacle on his back, with a hosepipe, with which he sprayed disinfectant. On that day, this young man was to mix the chemicals with fuel, petrol, and in fact he did so. In addition to that, there was a large tank of petrol near the garage. I think it must have contained several thousand liters of petrol. This tank was also set on fire. It exploded and spread flames along the fence which was covered with dried foliage, and it began burning.297

Richard Glazar recalls the fires in the camp, the end of the revolt, and his escape into the forest:

295

296

297

The brick and concrete gas chambers were not extensively damaged by the fire and were soon in use again. Extract from Dos Naye Lebn, Warsaw, May 10, 1945. Cited in full in Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., pp. 224–230. Testimony by Kalman Teigman at the Adolf Eichmann Trial, Jerusalem June 6, 1961. (See: www. nizkor.org).

119

Among the trees, racing out from the SS-barracks, a figure appears in a white shirt, without a jacket, and then suddenly disappears behind an exploding grenade. More flames leap into the air, and now the Ukrainian barracks are beginning to burn. All of a sudden, his arms spread wide, Robert falls onto a pile of chopped branches, the way boys throw themselves into a mound of hay, and he doesn't move. Saul is at the very front. Karl is running in front of me, to my left, swinging his spade over his head, and then he stops. Somehow he just can't keep going. Beyond the trees, near the barracks, I can see the chief guard (Wachmann) Rogoza, shooting in the direction of the lumberyard. Coming from up front, somewhere near the intersection at the SS-barracks, we hear a long drumfire barrage. (…) A quick hissing sound and the subsequent explosion blinds me, everything quakes under my feet, the pine tree in front of the kitchen bursts into black– bordered flames. I hear a weaker but constant crackling and see fire breaking out everywhere. (…) We duck and somehow reach the yard in front of the Ukrainian barracks. There are only a few of us. At a loss, Josek is standing there with his empty rifle in his hands. Herschek is nowhere to be seen. Lubling is running along the barracks carrying some kind of pole in his hand and chasing people out in front of him like a gooseherd, pointing to the back gate, which leads out into the field surrounding the camp: “Out of here, everyone out of here—into the woods!” The gate is broken down. We run out and on across the vegetable field.298

Franciszek Ząbecki recalled: Immediately the whole region was placed on alert. SS men and Ukrainians returning very quickly from their bathing in the River Bug, dressed themselves in their vehicles. To aid the camp staff the Bahnschutzpolizei, army and gendarmes from Kosów Lacki, Sokołów Podlaski, Ostrowek, Małkinia and Ostrow Mazowiecka, and even the fire brigade called by the Germans from Małkinia arrived at Treblinka. According to Stanisław Kon even soldiers from the nearby airifield299 joined the hunt.300 All roads were blocked. A hunt for the Jews was organized. There were many telephone calls to railway stations in the region. 298 299 300

120

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., pp. 143–144. The airfield was at Milewo Wielkie. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 230.

The German railway workers from neighbouring stations asked us what was happening in Treblinka. We answered that we knew nothing.301

Commandant Franz Stangl described the German response to the revolt: The Security troops had surrounded the camp at a distance of 5 kilometers. And of course they caught most of them… they shot them. Towards the end of the afternoon, the figures began coming in. By five or six o’clock it looked as if they had caught forty more than escaped. I thought “My God, they are going to start shooting down Poles next.” They were shooting at anything that moved.302

Jerzy Rajgrodzki, and a member of the camp orchestra in the Upper Camp, ran together through wheat fields outside the camp, just as the sun was setting: We ran through the wheat-fields. The sun was dipping to the West. To our left we saw country houses and dirt roads. I saw a Ukrainian guard galloping on a horse. The farmers fled their fields. The pace was exhausting. The others began to overtake me. It took all my strength not to fall back. Others were running near me. Among them I saw people that I did not know from the Lower Camp. I knew all our people. Near me, a young couple were running, a dark girl with her boyfriend from the camp. In my hands I was holding a club and a razor, ready for use against anyone and, if need be, against myself. The running went on for about two hours. We reached the forest. To my left was a large group of fugitives. They said they would walk eastward, towards the Puszcza Białowieska.303 We stopped to rest in the forest. There were eight of us. Moishele the tailor was with us. He had a rifle without bullets. He was wounded near the heart. I took a shirt out of my knapsack and cut it up as a bandage. One of the others dressed Moishele’s wound but it continued to bleed. A short while later he lost consciousness and died. May he rest in peace. One of those with us was a former sergeant in the Polish Army named Adas, and he took the rifle. We held a consultation. Most of

301 302 303

F. Ząbecki, Wspomnienia dawne i nowe. PAX, Warsaw 1977, pp. 194-195. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 295-296. Puszcza Białowieska: a huge primeval forest complex due east of Treblinka, on the border of Poland and Belarus.

121

the comrades decided to head east, which is where the majority of the fugitives were going. Adas and I decided to head south. Anyone going north or east would have to cross the River Bug, which was not easy; also we estimated that the main German pursuit effort would be made in these directions. We also hoped a small two man team would have an easier time. We decided to walk at night. We had to cross a road. From a distance we could see traffic heading for the camp. We lay near the road until a convoy had passed. We were hungry and decided to enter a nearby farmhouse. We approached it. My companion stayed at a distance, his rifle at the ready, while I knocked on the door. They opened—an old man, a woman and a boy. We asked for and received food. As we went on, we met Jews who had fled the camp, now, going in the opposite direction. At dawn we stopped in a forest, and there we remained throughout the day, hiding in the bushes. We were about a dozen kilometers from the camp. We heard screams from far away. They must have been screams of Jews caught by the Germans. The day passed, and at nightfall we resumed our march. After several days walk we passed near Siedlce and finally reached Warsaw.304 Samuel Willenbeg recalled his moving account of his escape from the death camp: We heard thunderous explosions from the garage: tongues of fire soared over the trees. The petrol drums between the station platform and the German huts had been ignited, according to the plan by two Jewish mechanics. A pillar of fire burst from the garage and towered overhead. The Germans’ huts burned in a devils dance. The dry pine branches we had woven into the fence burned as well, giving the fence the appearance of a giant dragon with tails of fire. Treblinka had become one massive blaze. Beside the men of the potato squad I saw a little over-turned pram. Recognizing it as Alfred’s, I looked for my friend. There he was prostrate beside the fence, as if about to fire. Running over to him, I found his head slumped to the left and pouring blood. The Minister grabbed me and pulled me through the gate. We ran from tree to tree, firing until we reached a pile of logs where I had talked with Alfred. While firing, the Minister crumpled to the ground beside the logs, struck in the leg. I leapt over him and our eyes met. He showed no fear, only determination, as he delivered 304

122

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 296-297.

his last request. His pale lips trembling, he begged, “Katzap, finish me off—in the name of He whom you do not believe.” I gestured at the death camp, “Look over there,” I said. “There are your wife and children.” As he squinted at the gate between ourselves and the death camp, I pushed my rifle into his head and squeezed the trigger. Now I ran with the others toward the vegetable garden. Reaching the fence, I was greeted by a horrifying sight: masses of human corpses strewn between the tank obstacles. Dead prisoners stood erect like tombstones: dozens of human bodies leaned against the obstacles and the barbed-wire fences. Machine-gun fire continued to rain down from the watchtowers. As I skipped across the bodies of my dead comrades, I felt a sudden pain in my leg and a sharp blow. My shoe filled with blood. I had been hit in the leg. Limping, I reached the railway track, crossed into the forest and resumed running with the other fugitives. We encountered a girl from a nearby village. She looked at us as if apparations from another world. I began to shout madly, “Hell is burnt to the ground! Hell is burnt to the ground!” Leaving the tracks and crossing the road, we entered the marsh area. Concealed by treetops, we ran as a disciplined group of several dozen men. As we approached a village, the group split—one party to the right and the other to the left. Only I acting thoughtlessly went through the village. Once past it, I plunged again into the depths of the forest. I was alone, desperately thirsty and dressed only in a shirt and trousers. One of my shoes was filled with blood; my leg throbbed horribly. I removed the cap from my shaven head.305

Samuel Willenberg continued his account: In the end I emerged from the forest. I broke off a large branch, held it on my shoulder and strode through the open land. Though I was wounded, the injury was no great impediment. Even if I stumbled now and then, my will to live ordered me to distance myself quickly from the danger zone. Night had fallen by the time I reached the marshy bank of the River Bug. I dragged myself to the village of Wolka Nadbuzina.306 I heard cows lowing in their barns, the sound of water being pumped from a well, a group of children wandering about the village streets. Weak light illuminated house windows. I knocked on the first 305 306

Samuel Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka… op. cit., pp. 141-142. A village located some 51 miles from Treblinka.

123

house I saw, and asked for a clean piece of cloth and some iodine. The cloth was available, no iodine. They dressed my wound, and the relief was immediate.307

According to Commandant Franz Stangl, there were about 840 Jews in the Upper and Lower Camps and approximately 100 Jews did not attempt to leave the death camp. Around 350 to 400 were killed inside the camp or near the fences. Approximately 100 fugitives managed to flee from the Treblinka area and scatter throughout occupied Poland.308 Kalman Teigman recalled in 2001 in the film documentary “Despite Treblinka” that was made by ORT Uruguay: We got to the woods and we all turned around to see the camp burning. All the facilities and the flag with the swastika were burning. We stood there looking. We knew we were not going to end up in the gas chambers, no matter what. We thought that someone survived, who knows? We were still at war, it was 1943; the War was far from ending. We could not think we were going to survive, although we dreamed about it. How do you explain that feeling?309

Despite the cost in human lives, during the revolt the Jews of Treblinka had failed to put the gas chambers out of action. The mass murder in the death camp was to continue for several more weeks.

307 308 309

124

Ibid., p. 143. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 298. “Despite Treblinka” Documentary, ORT-Uruguay University 2002.

125

Chapter 10 The End of Treblinka and Aktion Reinhardt: August–November 1943

The revolt at Treblinka was the first mass revolt among the prisoners at an Aktion Reinhardt death camp. In mid-October 1943, the Jews in the Sobibór camp also rose up against their SS tormentors. At Treblinka, after the revolt some semblance of normality had returned, the gassings resumed, albeit on a much reduced scale. The last known deportation trains, designated as “PJ-202” and “PJ204”,310 departed from Białystok on August 18 and 19, 1943. The first consisted of 39 wagons and both trains arrived at Treblinka on August 19. This was only 17 days after the revolt. A number of other transports passed through Treblinka on their way to Lublin and the nearby concentration camp—Lublin (Majdanek).311 Among the Jews deported from Białystok was twenty-one year old Bertha Sokolovskaya, who recalled the journey: We were forty in the cattle truck, the train started out and then after a while stopped. Shooting began. We discovered that some of the younger people managed to hide screwdrivers, and opened the engine cabin. Many were killed, some managed to escape to the woods. One of them was Yosif Makovsky, a friend of mine, now living in Israel. Then the train stopped in Treblinka, it stopped for a long time. We felt the smell of burning. It hung all over Treblinka. We thought that we will be taken there. In desperation one of the girls in the cattle truck squeezed through the little window gap. The Germans caught her and led her into the camp. Finally, the train moved, leaving Treblinka.312

310 311

312

In the code of the Ostbahn, “PJ” meant Polnische Juden (Polish Jews). Chrostowski, Extermination Camp …, op. cit., pp. 94-95. M. Rusiniak-Karwat, Obóz zagłady Treblinka II w pamięci społecznej (1943–1989), Neriton, Warsaw 2008, p. 17. Gilbert, The Holocaust …, op. cit., p. 603-604.

126

When these last transports from Białystok arrived at Treblinka station, instead of the usual 20 wagons being detached and shunted to the camp, only 10 at a time were disconnected and shunted along the branch line and into the camp. The reason being the greatly reduced number of work-Jews left to sort the clothes and belongings of the victims. * Commandant Franz Stangl, instead of being the subject of an official investigation and punishment, was re-assigned to Trieste in northern Italy by SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik. He stayed in Treblinka for only three or four days while transport to Italy was organized.313 SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Franz was left in charge to complete the erasure of all signs of the mass murder and dismantling of the camp.314 He recalled in a post-war statement: After the prisoners' uprising in August 1943, I ran the camp more or less single–handedly for a month; however, during that period no more gassings were carried out. It was during this time that the original camp was demolished, everything was leveled-off and lupines were planted. A farm was supposed to be built on the site of the camp. Against Wirth's will, I put any material that was still usable at the disposal of the Reserve Hospital in Ostrów (Mazowiecki), 14 or 15 kilometers away from Treblinka. The director of the hospital was a Senior Staff Doctor (Oberstabsarzt) called Friedrich Struwe (...) I used to go and see Dr. Struwe if I had any problems.315

It was to Dr. Struwe that Kurt Franz gave the infamous dog, Barry, a St. Bernard or similar cross-breed who had been a much-feared part of the bloody history of the Treblinka death camp. Dr. Struwe became the dog's new and last master and testified about the dog after its arrival in Ostrów: 313 314

315

Sereny, Into That Darkness …, op. cit., p. 249. Franz, a man full of his own importance, declared himself on a document from this final phase at Treblinka as “Camp Commandant”. He admitted during his trial that this had been “a mistake” on his part. But it is beyond comprehension that no one was in charge of Treblinka, once Stangl had departed. Hence it is clear that Franz was the last Commandant in charge of the death camp. Klee, et al., (eds.), The Good Old Days …, op. cit., p. 247.

127

Barry was a very harmless animal. That dog had absolutely no temperament. He liked most to lie under my desk and sleep. Once, the dog bit me. He was jealous while I was greeting my acquaintances. Well, it seems that the dog was not always so sleepy!316

Franciszek Ząbecki, the station-master at Treblinka, witnessed the dismantling of the camp and the departure of wagonloads of its equipment on September 2, 9, 13 and 21: On September 30, the German railroadman, Rudolf Emmerich, who had been employed to supervise the transports entering the death camp, left Treblinka station and went to Warsaw. At the beginning of October, we observed at Treblinka station that elements of dismantled barracks, wooden planks, and chlorinated lime were being shipped out of the death camp. Later, the digger–excavator which was no longer needed, was also taken away.317

The dismantled barracks were shipped to Dorohucza labor camp and most of the barbed-wire was wound up and taken to the nearby penal labor camp (Treblinka I), together with the anti-tank obstacles which had surrounded the death camp. The gas chambers were demolished, and on October 21 the gassing engines and all other metal materials were probably sent to Lublin. Some structures, such as the bakery and stables, were only partially demolished. The land on which the camp had stood was ploughed, leveled and sown with lupines, as mentioned by Kurt Franz.318 The final winding-up of the camp took place in November 1943. First, on the fourth of that month, a transport train of three wagons containing the last Jewish workers departed for the still functioning Aktion Reinhardt death camp at Sobibór. The following day, the armored car previously used for guarding the transport of valuables to Lublin, and had been put out of action during the revolt, was also shipped out, along with a personnel carrier that

316

317 318

128

GFH, Israel, 28646, L. Bewerunge: „Der gute und der böse „Bari“. Tierpsychologie im Treblinka-Prozess/Welche Rolle spielte der Lagerhund?“ Chrostowski, Extermination Camp ..., op. cit., p. 95. Ibid., pp. 95–96.

was shipped to Klagenfurt in Austria, according to the transport waybill. Franciszek Ząbecki at Treblinka station reported that throughout the whole of October and a part of November 1943, trains shipped out planks, bricks, rubble—all kinds of construction materials. He estimated that from the beginning of the liquidation until November 17, 1943, over 100 wagons of equipment were sent out.319 Shortly after the Treblinka revolt, SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel arrived in the Sobibór camp, along with the Jewish workers sent from Treblinka: We were received by Commandant Reichleitner (...) and briefed about our areas of responsibility. He said the camp was to be demolished, and that we had to pack up the remaining items of clothing that had belonged to the Jews. (…) During the first half of November 1943, the other Jews arrived from Treblinka. I remember quite clearly that one morning the Treblinka-Jews were lined up in the assembly area in Camp I. The Jewish Oberkapo, Karl Blau (…), stepped forward and reported to Deputy Commandant Gustav Wagner (…) “Oberkapo Karl Blau from Treblinka with Jews reporting for work!”320

At the end of November 1943, the last remaining work-Jews in Treblinka, including some of the Ukrainian women who had worked in the kitchen, were executed. As all the barracks had already been dismantled and taken away, the remaining male Jewish inmates were kept in two freight cars guarded by SS-NCO Albert Rum. Ukrainian Wachmänner from the Treblinka penal labor camp formed a security cordon. One Jew committed suicide by hanging himself. SS-Unterscharführer Paul Bredow next led the surviving women to a hollow to the left of the farm built for the Ukrainian “guardian” of the site. There, they and five male prisoners were shot in the back of their necks. The shooting was carried by Mentz, Bredow and an

319 320

Ibid., p. 96. J. Schelvis, Sobibór—A History of a Nazi Death Camp, USHMM, New York/Oxford 2007, p. 189.

129

unidentified SS-Unterführer from the nearby Treblinka labor camp, in the presence of Kurt Franz. After the execution of the first batch of work-Jews, the rest were shot in groups of five and their bodies cremated on a makeshift open-air pyre by their surviving comrades. The last group to be shot were cremated by the Ukrainian guards. With this final execution, Franz drove a truck to the Sobibór camp, taking with him the SS-NCOs Bredow, Mentz, Miete and Rum.321 The hell called Treblinka had ceased to exist. * At Treblinka, a small farm was built from the bricks of the demolished gas chambers, and known locally simply as “the farm”. It consisted of a wooden peasant-style hut built on brick foundations, a farmyard with a wooden barn, a cellar made of wood, and a barrack hut. The farm kept horses, cows and pigs, and also cultivated vegetables. The area around the farm was fenced off to prevent entry by local villagers who believed there was still a large amount of buried Jewish gold and valuables at the site of the camp. According to Franciszek Ząbecki and the local villagers Eugeniusz Goska and Wacław Niemgowski, the farm was inhabited by two Ukrainian families. The first was the former Wachmann from the death camp, Strebel, who, according to Ślebzak, lived there with his wife and children. According to Goska, however, Strebel lived on the farm together with his wife, motherin-law and sister-in-law with her children. The second Ukrainian, also a former Wachmann from the death camp, was called Sashka, and likewise lived there with his wife. The two Wachmänner were almost certainly armed to guard against local intruders who wanted to dig for Jewish loot. Their only visitor was a Ukrainian guard from the nearby penal labor camp which was still operational.

321

130

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., pp. 315_316.

In August 1944, as the Red Army advanced on the area from the east, the former Treblinka Wachmänner set the farm buildings alight and fled with their families.322 Thirteen months after the revolt in Treblinka, Vasily Grossman, a Red Army soldier and journalist wrote a book The Hell of Treblinka in which he describes what he saw on entering the site of the former death camp in early September 1944. It was immediately evident that once the Ukrainian “guardians” had fled, local Poles had thoroughly dug up the earth in their search for Jewish loot. Grossman recalled: It is quiet. The tops of the pine trees on either side of the railroad are barely stirring. It is these pines, this sand, this old tree stump that millions of human eyes saw as their freight cars came slowly up to the platform. With true German neatness, whitewashed stones have been laid along the borders of the black road. The ashes and crushed cinders swish softly. We enter the camp. The earth is casting up fragments of bone, teeth, sheets of paper, clothes, things of all kinds. The earth does not want to keep its secrets. And from the earth's unhealing wounds, from this earth that is splitting apart, things are escaping of their own accord. Here, there are the half-rotted shirts of those who were murdered, their trousers and shoes, their cigarette cases that have turned green, along with little cog-wheels from watches, pen-knives, shaving brushes, candlesticks, a child's shoes with red pom-poms, embroidered towels from the Ukraine, lace underwear, scissors, thimbles, corsets and bandages. Out of another fissure in the earth have escaped heaps of utensils, frying pans, aluminum mugs, cups, pots and pans of all sizes, jars, little dishes, children's plastic mugs. In yet another place—as if all that the Germans had buried was being pushed up out of the swollen, bottomless earth, as if someone's hand were pushing it all out into the light of day: half-rotted Soviet passports, notebooks with Bulgarian writing, photographs of children from Warsaw and Vienna, letters penciled in childish scrawl, a small volume of poetry, a yellowed sheet of paper on which someone had copied a prayer, ration cards from Germany. And everywhere there

322

Rusiniak, Obóz zagłady Treblinka II ..., op. cit, pp. 20___22. Her work focuses on “the functioning of the post-camp terrain in the context of human awareness as well as creating a memory of this place in the context of social awareness.”

131

are hundreds of perfume bottles of all shapes and sizes—green, pink, blue. And over all this reign a terrible smell of decay, a smell that neither fire, nor sun, nor rain, nor snow, nor wind have been able to overcome. And thousands of little forest flies are crawling about over all these half-rotted bits and pieces, over all these papers and photographs.323

* For many years after the War, very little was known about what transpired on the site of the Treblinka death camp. The years 1944– 1950 belong to the period when various investigation commissions inspected the site of the former death camp to collect evidence of the crimes committed there. The first such investigation was carried out in 1944 by the Extraordinary Soviet-Polish Investigation Commission whose findings were subsequently published in Polish and English.324 The Commission also discovered the shocking behavior of local inhabitants of the region, the “human hyenas”, who scoured the site in search of Jewish gold and other valuables.325 The Hyenas' used many methods to uncover the treasures of Treblinka; one group of “treasure hunters”, instead of arduously digging in the earth, used bombs and artillery shells to blow craters in the ground in the hope of finding valuables. The explosions also blew to pieces the bodies of Jews buried in the earth of Treblinka.326 In 1945, the first clearing-up of the former camp site was undertaken with the aim in mind of eventually erecting a monument on the site. At that time, two years after the liquidation of the camp, only small sections of the barbed-wire fence remained and were not removed until 1947. During that year, the area was fenced-off by wooden boards and a unit of the Polish Army was 323 324

325 326

132

Grossman, The Treblinka Hell ..., op. cit., p. 29. Z. Łukaszkiewicz, „Obóz zagłady Treblinka”, in: Biuletyn Głównej Komisji Badania Zbrodni Niemieckich w Polsce, vol. I, Wydawnictwo GKBZNwP, Warsaw 1946, pp. 133__143. “Extermination Camp Treblinka”, in: German Crimes in Poland, vol. I, Central Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Warsaw 1946, pp. 95_106. Rusiniak, Obóz zagłady Treblinka II ..., op. cit., pp. 32, 93. Ibid.

ordered to guard the site from further intrusion by “treasure hunters”. In the same year, the Committee for Honoring the Victims of Treblinka was founded.327 From 1947, there were many projects for creating a suitable memorial on the place of the former death camp. For several reasons this period lasted several years, and it was not until 1958 that attempts were renewed as the Polish Government increased its interest in the project. Several designs for monuments were proposed and rejected. Finally, at the beginning of the 1960s,328 a design by Adam Haupt, Franciszek Duszenko and Franciszek Strynkiewicz was accepted. It consisted of a main, massive monument erected on the site of the “new” gas chamber building, and surrounded by a “forest of stones”—17,000329 ash-colored stones of granite brought from the famous granite quarries in Strzegom, Lower Silesia, in southwest Poland.330 Adam Haupt conceived the idea of concrete blocks to symbolize the railway track that had led from the main gate to the Ramp. Beside the cobbled area of the Ramp there are ten stones on which are carved the names of countries from which the Jews were brought to Treblinka: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Yugoslavia, Germany, Poland and the Soviet Union.331 The first commemoration took place at the Memorial in April 1963 to mark the 20th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The official dedication ceremony took place on May 10 the following year, during which the monument area was highly praised as a work that was “deeply human, replete with blood and the victim’s ashes”.332 However, after the 1960s, few publications appeared about the Treblinka death camp. It was not until 2001, at the initiative of the State Museum at Treblinka, which came under the auspices of the Regional Museum in the nearby town of Siedlce, that a dual327 328 329

330 331 332

Ibid., pp. 38, 93. Ibid., pp. 48, 94. E. Kopówka, Plan symbolycznych kamieni. Muzeum Walki i Męceństwa w Treblince, Kosów Lacki 2001, pp. 1–2. Rusiniak, Obóz zagłady Treblinka II ..., op. cit., p. 48. Kopówka, Plan symbolycznych kamieni ..., op. cit., pp. 1–2, 7. Rusiniak, Obóz zagłady Treblinka II ..., op. cit., pp. 48, 50.

133

language Polish-English booklet was published. It gave a brief history of the death camp, identified more than 130 names of localities inscribed on the “forest of stones”, and provided a plan of the camps—Treblinka I and Treblinka II.333 In 2002, another book appeared which provided a detailed history of both the penal labor camp (Treblinka I) and the death camp (Treblinka II), illustrated with photographs.334 *** This part of the chapter is dedicated to Billy Rutherford. On a personal note I visited the site of the former death camp Treblinka for the first time on July 23, 2002. The trip was carefully planned so that we visited the site, 60 years to the day that the death camp received its first mass transport from the Warsaw Ghetto. The information is contained in the journal, “The ARC Trips to Poland 2002 and 2004”, which to date is unpublished.335 Our trip to the east started in Alfstedt in Germany and continued via Hamburg, Berlin and Dresden first to see the former T4 Institute in Pirna–Sonnenstein before travelling to Lublin, via Warsaw by train. With me on that first trip were members of the ARC group, consisting of Johannes Feuser, Peter Laponder, Michael Peters, and William “Billy” Rutherford. We were met at the Lublin station after a very long journey, by our local guide, Mike Tregenza, and our driver Piotr, both based in Lublin. We visited Bełżec, Sobibór, and Trawniki on this trip as well as the former Lublin Concentration Camp, and after a few days we first drove from Lublin to Małkinia, where at the station we saw an old cattle car. We also found the site where Kurt Franz photographed the demolition of the glass factory chimney, near a church. Mike Peters and Peter Laponder got chased by a cow in the field, which was amusing for the onlookers, but not so for them.

333 334

335

134

Kopówka, Plan symbolycznych kamieni ..., op. cit., Kopówka, Treblinka: Nigdy więcej! Muzeum Walki i Męceństwa w Treblince, Siedlce 2002. Webb, The ARC Trips to Poland, 2002 and 2004 (Holocaust Historical Society)— Unpublished Journal.

We then crossed the River Bug and made our way to the former Treblinka village station, before driving to the car park site of the former camp itself. We saw the symbolic concrete slabs that have been laid in the forest, that lead onto the Ramp. I was photographed at the site of the symbolic cemetery, the so-called “Forest of Stones” that commemorate the communities destroyed by the Nazis at Treblinka. I laid a stone on the Warsaw symbolic stone , remembering Tema Teigman, keeping a promise I had made to her son Kalman. Apart from the impressive massive monument built on the site of the former new gas chambers, and two concrete blocks that mark the entrance to the camp, the Nazis had completely obliterated the site, and no historic structures from the time the camp was operational have survived. I walked with Billy past the massive monument to the trees that marked the perimeter of the camp and beyond, and saw how really small Treblinka was, say compared to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Billy filmed the visit to Treblinka. Laced with his own running commentary on what we were seeing. Billy with his extensive knowledge of the layout of Treblinka, stressed how big the area of the Totenlager was, compared to the comparative overall size of the site of the camp. The visit to Treblinka was important to Peter Laponder, who was planning to make a new model for Cape Town Holocaust Museum. In Germany, before our trip, he took a number of photographs of the model built by Michael Peters, who had consulted with the survivor Richard Glazar, and thus produced a very accurate model. The following day, after an overnight stay in the Hotel Hetman in Siedlce we visited Edward Kopowka, the Museum Director in his offices in Siedlce. He accompanied us on a return trip to Treblinka, and he took us around the site, where he did his best to answer our many questions, despite the language difficulties. On a memorable note he showed us the site where glass and china destructs were sorted, with some remarkable results. He took us along the Czarna Droga (Black Road) past the wartime bunker, to the site of the Treblinka quarry and the adjacent 135

Treblinka I penal camp. There is a little more to see here: a Ramp for lorries, the barrack foundations and the camp kitchen remains, as well as a fine memorial to the Polish victims with individual symbolic gravestones. Two years later the expanded ARC group re-visited Małkinia station, but the original cattle car was gone, before making our way to the former Treblinka death camp site. The site was unchanged, so nothing new to add here. However, we did spend longer at the Ramp and the quarry, by the labor camp. We had a more comprehensive tour of the Treblinka Penal camp site, including the remains of the kitchen and barrack foundations. We were once again accompanied by Edward Kopowka and an excellent translator, Andrzej. Finally, on September 15, 2005, the third ARC Trip to Poland took place. Cameron Munro and myself took the train from Łódź to Warsaw East station where we met up with our Polish friend Lukasz Biedka, whom we had met on the ARC trip to Poland in 2004. We took the train from Warsaw East station to Małkinia Gorna station, following exactly the same route the deportation trains took from Warsaw to Treblinka, which was quite an uneasy feeling. Waiting for us at Małkinia Station was a local taxi driver Władek, whose services had been organized by Edward Kopowka, the Museum Director in Siedlce, who is responsible for the Treblinka site, and whom I had met in 2002 and 2004. We proceeded to the road and the rail bridge over the River Bug and then onto the site of the former village station and the village itself. A flying visit to the former death camp site was made. Lukasz told us that Edward Kopowka had told him that two mass graves had recently been discovered. We looked for them but could not find them. We left the former camp site and headed for the nearby village of Wolka Okraglik, Poniatowo and Kosow Lacki. We photographed the road at Wolka Okraglik that had been built by prisoners incarcerated in the Treblinka Penal Camp. We returned in the taxi to Małkinia, where I mentioned to the driver about a local saw-mill and post office that Richard Glazar, 136

the Treblinka survivor had mentioned in his book, Trap With a Green Fence. SS-Officers Bredow and Schiffner visited these two places along with a group of inmates from the death camp. Władek was aware of the saw-mill and we took a drive to it. Unfortunately, the old builing was demolished in 2004, and a new modern structure has taken its place. On the road back to the station, we pass the old post office building, where Bredow and Schiffner were entertained, which we photographed. Władek dropped us back at the Małkinia station, where we waited for the train to take the three of us back to Warsaw. The ARC group disbanded shortly after this trip, in December 2005, and thus the Holocaust Education and Archive Research team was born, better known as H.E.A.R.T. in October 2006. This group was founded by Carmelo Lisciotto and Chris Webb, who along with other former members of ARC, quickly established this website into one of the most visited Holocaust Memorial websites in the world. The above account of our 2005 trip to Treblinka, and Chełmno, was included in the self-published book “Postcards From The Past.” This was co-written by Chris Webb, with the late Artur Hojan and Cameron Munro during 2008. This was published a year later, under the H.E.A.R.T. banner. In 2008, the first detailed history of the site of the Treblinka death camp, as opposed to a history of the camp itself, was published which dealt with the period between 1943 and 1989.336 The author divided the post-camp period into particular stages, the first period, known as the so-called “settled period” was followed by period of the “search for valuables”, when the terrain became known as the “Eldorado of Podlasie”, “Podlasie” being the area around Treblinka.337 The rest of the book is devoted to the years up until the end of Communist rule in Poland in 1989. Since 1983, the former site of the death camp and the monuments has been the responsibility of the Museum of Fighting

336 337

Rusiniak, Obóz zagłady Treblinka II ..., op. cit. Ibid., p. 22.

137

and Martyrdom in Treblinka, which is a branch of the Regional Museum in Siedlce. Its responsibilities consist of the site of the former death camp and the site of the former penal labor camp, the two camps being connected by the so-called “Black Road”, as well as another monument adjacent to the execution site and prisoners' cemetery in a forest clearing close to the former penal labor camp.338 Close by there is the former gravel quarry, a deep and wide gouge in the earth of Treblinka, its undulating floor covered with clumps of shrubbery. The concrete ramp where the gravel was loaded into trucks on the narrow-gauge railway for transportation to Małkinia still exists, together with a nearby concrete bunker for the camp guards.

338

138

Kopówka, Plan symbolicznych kamieni ..., op. cit.

Part II Survivors, Victims and Perpetrators

Chapter 11 Interviews with Treblinka survivors Michal Chocholatý339

I began to take an interest in the Holocaust in 1999, although I have no Jewish origins and none of my ancestors, at least as far as I know, had any experience in any of the Nazis camps. I was born in 1981, thirty-six years after the end of World War II, and it was sometime in the spring of 1999 that my interest was aroused in the subject through reading a novel about the Holocaust. Later on, I also became interested after attending a talk, and at about the same time a monographic lecture about the Nazi camps.340 The subject of the Treblinka death camp especially intrigued me because I realized that despite being a focal point of the history of the Holocaust, it was not a widely known camp. I visited the site of the Treblinka death camp even before visiting the fortress ghetto of Theresienstadt in my own country, which was the deportation point for Treblinka, or before visiting AuschwitzBirkenau, which was much closer than Treblinka to my home-town of Plzeň (Pilsen) where I was born and where I still live. This first trip to Treblinka took place in May 2000.341 I went alone. I was 18-years-old and had no language skills. In my youthful enthusiasm, I hoped to see abandoned barracks, ruins of gas chambers, and so on. I walked eight kilometers from the town 339

340

341

My surname, Chocholatý, means “crested” and has no connection with chocolate; many people from abroad, especially those who are English-speaking, have a problem with this. In this context, one of the Sobibór survivors, Tomasz “Toivi” Blatt, still calls me “Czekolada” which is the Polish word for chocolate. The Holocaust has given me a deeper interest in history in general. I therefore decided to study this branch of history at the Institute of World History in the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague. I graduated in December 2012 as a Bachelor of Arts with my thesis Gas chambers in KL Lublin in post-war historiography, defended on September 11, 2012. This visit to the camps at Treblinka I and Treblinka II took place on May 13, 2000.

141

of Małkinia alongside the long disused railroad tracks that led towards the site of the camp. This must have been the same route taken by SS-Scharführer Kurt Franz when he was transferred from the Bełżec death camp to Treblinka; he too walked from Małkinia to the camp. By the time I arrived, I was exhausted. Instead of the remains of the camp I had envisaged, I found myself in a big sunlit clearing in the middle of a Polish pine forest. All around there was a strange, sand-like soil. Much of the clearing was covered by hundreds of stone monuments of all sizes, dominated by a massive granite monument that resembled a giant mushroom.342 It was a very hot day and in the forest near the main gate of the former death camp, orange flames started to consume the dry pine trees and smoke rose into the cloudless, blue sky. This unexpected event seemed somehow symbolic. While in Treblinka, I began to sense that something dramatic had happened here, something that I knew little about. Why was there no camp here as a monument; no barbed-wire fences, no watch towers and no barracks, as can be seen in AuschwitzBirkenau and Majdanek? Here, in Treblinka, there was no trace of the death camp. Nothing to remind one about what had happened here. There was only the field of stones over which loomed the big granite monument. I did not know then that there had been a revolt in the camp during which several barracks were burnt down. If I had known, with the burning trees just a few meters from me, I could have imagined what it must have been like in the summer of 1943. The Polish firemen attempting to fight the flames during my visit held a kind of historic symbolism. But there was no one who could tell me where the remnants of the camp were, or if indeed any such remnants still existed. I had travelled so many kilometers from Pilsen to Treblinka, only to find more questions than answers. I resolved that in future

342

142

The Poles call the main Treblinka monument the grzyb (phon. gzhib)—“the mushroom”.

no one should be so poorly informed as I was while visiting Treblinka on that first occasion. In the Czech Republic there was just one book dealing with Treblinka, published as late as 2000, and was written by one of the only two Czech survivors of the camp, Richard Glazar. Immediately after I read Glazar's book, I decided I wanted to meet the author in order to put to him some questions about Treblinka, a subject that increasingly interested me. However, soon after, I learned that Glazar had committed suicide in Prague in 1997.343 His companion in Treblinka, Karel Unger, had died long before him. I was left with a great sense of disappointment. Although at that time I did not speak any foreign languages, I was determined to meet someone who had survived Treblinka. I therefore began to learn Polish, on the assumption that there would be more of an opportunity to meet a Polish survivor. In 2002, I learned that a certain Samuel Willenberg had survived Treblinka, but it was only after lengthy telephone enquiries that I eventually succeeded in contacting him personally. Our first meeting took place in January 2003 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Our last meeting took place later in Warsaw, Poland. Samuel Willenberg became the first survivor of Treblinka whom I got to know personally. From that time on, we kept in frequent telephone contact. In 2003, I was also fortunate enough to make contact with a second survivor, Eliahu Rosenberg, who in turn told me how to find his companion from Treblinka, Pinchas Epstein,344 who invited me to his home in Israel where we met in 2008. A year before, I also succeeded in contacting the next survivor, Kalman Teigman.

343

344

When I spoke with Richard Glazar's cousin in the same house where Glazar committed suicide by jumping out the window, she told me that she was probably the last person with whom he spoke before he jumped. Irka, his cousin, was imprisoned during the War in the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto. (M. Chocholatý interview with Irka Ravelová, Prague, February 2009 and August 2011). I had previously used statements by Willenberg and Rosenberg in my fictional trilogy: Another place, another time344, published between 2005–2006 in the Czech Republic.

143

By this time, I knew I should write a book about the last living survivors from the Treblinka and Sobibór death camps. Apart from the general history of Treblinka, I became particularly interested in the early stages at the camp, during the mid-summer of 1942, when only three small gas chambers were in use. This was during the reign of Dr. Irmfried Eberl, the first Commandant. This, however, presented me with a problem: none of the afore-mentioned survivors had been in the death camp during Dr. Eberl's brief tenure as Commandant. In April 2008, I took part in a meeting of survivors of the Sobibór death camp, during which one of the participants informed me that his comrade from New York, Edi Weinstein, had spent some time in Treblinka and had escaped a few days after his arrival. I immediately contacted Edi Weinstein, and thus began a longlasting friendship based on his gripping accounts about Treblinka at the time the camp was approaching the end of its first phase under Dr. Eberl. I also succeeded—only for a short time, however—to talk via the telephone to Józef Czarny, another former prisoner of Treblinka, but I never met him personally. The same happened with Eliahu Rosenberg with whom I kept in close contact for many years by telephone and by post until 2007. Later, I was fortunate enough to meet Eliahu Rosenberg's daughter and grand-daughter in Israel. In the following pages I have attempted to highlight the most interesting extracts from my interviews with some of the survivors of the Treblinka death camp. Kalman Teigman died on July 26, 2012, and at the time of writing—December 2013—only Samuel Willenberg is still alive. I sincerely hope that through these pages I will impart a deeper and fascinating personal insight of the history of Treblinka, as well as the characters of those who endured the hell of that death camp. They spoke to me frankly about their unbelievably horrific times in order that such events should not be forgotten. I hope that through this book I have fulfilled their wish that as many people as possible should know about their experiences. This chapter is intended to honor the personal as well as the collective sacrifices made by the Treblinka survivors and victims. 144

Because Samuel Willenberg was the first Treblinka survivor with whom I became acquainted, and with whom I have been in close contact for more than 10 years, I will begin with the conversations I had with him.

Samuel Willenberg I met Samuel Willenberg for the first time in his flat in Tel Aviv on January 16, 2003. When I reached the top of the stairs to his flat, I was confronted with a healthy-looking man in a black sweater. I was immediately struck by his deep blue eyes and roughly shaped moustache. Unfortunately, at that very first meeting I did not have a tape recorder with me, which meant that after the long conversation about Treblinka I had to write down, as best as I could, everything from memory. Over the next few years, I made sure I used a tape recorder during all conversations. I am very pleased to reproduce this almost unique and historically important information that Samuel Willenberg imparted to me about his time in Treblinka. Firstly however, an interesting digression. At the end of our first meeting, Samuel took me down to the cellar where he had a lovely looking studio with several bronze sculptures he was preparing for an exhibition which took place a few months later in Warsaw. Willenberg's sculptures are now well known and I had the unique opportunity of seeing several of them before they were finished and shown to the public. The bronze sculptures represent themes taken from Samuel's memory of Treblinka. He follows the artistic traces of his father, Professor Perez Willenberg who was a painter. One of his paintings can still be found in Marszałkowska Street, one of the main streets in Warsaw, under a special wooden cover at the end of a corridor leading to the cellar of the house which during World War II had served as an airraid shelter. Samuel told me about the painting: During the Warsaw Uprising (1944) my father was in hiding and pretended to be dumb. A bomb fell on Marszałkowska Street 60, but the house in which he was hiding, was not damaged. My father walked down to the cellar afterwards, he started to talk again and

145

he made a painting on the wall with the inscription: Jesus, I believe in You!345

According to Samuel, this work—not only the sculptures but the paintings too (one should not forget the detailed sketches he made of Treblinka, and a plan of the camp)—gave him a new lease of life, as if he had found himself again. The second meeting between us took place on March 2, 2008. I have to say that one of the most important topics we covered during our talks was Samuel's relationship with Richard Glazar, one of the only two prisoners from Czechoslovakia who survived Treblinka. Regrettably, I never had the opportunity to talk to Richard Glazar; as mentioned earlier, he committed suicide in 1997. I told Samuel that he appears in Glazar's book Trap with a Green Fence under the nickname Kacap346 (Kacap is colloquial Polish for a Russian)347 but on the other hand, Samuel has not mentioned Glazar, at least not in the 1992 English edition of his book.348 And then Samuel started to tell the story: In the 1970s, or in 1969, when he (Glazar) was still alive, I suddenly had a phone call from somebody with an Anglo-Saxon accent: “Excuse me, I would like to talk to Mr Willenberg from Treblinka. I am a professor”. He did not tell me his name. And I suddenly recalled Glazar. I said: “All right, all right (...)”. Then some 15 people from Treblinka had a meeting. And there sat the guys and I was with my wife on the edge. Suddenly, there appeared a man with a Czech woman. And he just came towards me, but I said nothing. She spins, she has blue eyes, she spins, spins, spins all around (...) Kacap!349

345 346

347

348

349

146

M. Chocholatý interview with Samuel Willenberg, Tel Aviv, March 2008. “Kacap, they say he reached the partisans and finally he became an officer in the Polish army”. (Glazar, Treblinka, slovo jak z dětské říkanky, G plus G, Prague 2007, p. 360). Samuel Willenberg was known in Treblinka by this nickname which he had acquired in his childhood because his mother was Russian. While sorting the victims' clothes in the Lower Camp he wore a strange-looking cap which the Kapos thought looked Russian; thereafter he was known as “Kacap”. S. Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, Żydowski Instytut Historyczny (ŻIH), Warsaw 1992. In the original, Willenberg tried to sing in Czech with a strong Polish accent, Ona se totshi, ona se totshi, totshi, totshi do kola.

He clapped his hands and yelled, then continued: “Just Kacap. Nobody understood. Just Kacap! We were in the same work brigade in the Tarnungskommando (Camouflage Brigade).”350 When I told him that Glazar had committed suicide, he was really shocked because although he knew he had died, he did not know how he had died. Willenberg knew little about the post-war fate of the other Czech survivor, Glazar's companion in Treblinka with whom he had escaped, Karel Unger. I told him that Unger had passed away long before Glazar. Samuel and his wife Ada (“Krysha”)351 also claimed many times that Glazar had no children, but this was incorrect as I found out after our second meeting. When our third meeting took place,352 I was able to correct their misunderstanding and showed them photographs of Glazar's son and daughter whom I met personally. Samuel continued about Glazar and Unger: I can remember both of them from the Camouflage Brigade. They were both in my brigade. They were quite strange and did not make friends with the Eastern Jews; frankly they did not like them. They stuck together with Czechs, but that was normal. Listen, I was ordinarily dressed, good boots, good trousers, but they had bow ties, they used to walk like dandies; that was something quite different.353

I argued they could have behaved like that because of their fear of SS-Unterscharführer August Miete. If they did not look smart and

350

351

352 353

M. Chocholatý interview with Samuel Willenberg, Tel Aviv, March 2008; repeated in Warsaw, March 2011. Krysha (Polish: “Krysza”) is an abbreviation for Krystyna, the name she used during the War while was hiding with Aryan papers. Her husband still calls her “Krysha”—even though her pre-War name was Ada, and she calls him “Igo”, which is an abbreviation of Samuel's pseudonym name, “Ignacy”, which he used after escaping from Treblinka. M. Chocholatý interview with Samuel Willenberg, Warsaw, March 2011. Glazar remarked about himself and Karel Unger after their transferal from the Sorting Brigade to the Camouflage Brigade: “There was nothing left of the two glossy maschers from the clothing department of I. type after a short time spent in the camouflage commando”, Glazar, Treblinka, slovo jak z dětské říkanky …, op. cit., p. 203. This supports that they were aware they were somehow refined as claimed by Willenberg.

147

well-groomed, he could have taken them to the Lazarett and shot them. Willenberg replied, “But we were all were threatened by this, by the possibility of being taken there because we were not smartly dressed. Listen, we were a good brigade”.354 When we approached the point where Glazar had written about the Eastern Jews (Ostjuden) in his book, Willenberg got quite angry. He said that Glazar had written a good book, but what he wrote about Eastern Jews was “ugly”. “He was refined (in the camp). Why the hell did he want to be refined in Treblinka!” Even though Samuel had not read Glazar's book in Czech, he said he read some parts in German.355 One cannot wonder about why he became so angry when talking about extracts from Glazar's book about the Eastern Jews. Some comments appeared in the Czech press about interviews with Glazar, and the reader could really detect a strange attitude by Glazar towards Eastern Jews. Here is an example: From those who managed to survive it was only me and my comrade Karel Unger—from “West” Czechoslovakia. All the others came from the poor wastelands of Eastern Poland. They were simple, moulded by the circumstances they grew up in. Their lives were in complete isolation from the rest, in the voluntary ghettos, which were called “shtetl”. To write about Treblinka was beyond their limits. After all, they had problems with statements before the International Tribunal. They could not speak good enough German, their mother language was Yiddish, and their life was streaked with lurid fantasy ...356

In the Czech version of Glazar's book, the strange title of which can be translated as Treblinka, a word as from a nursery rhyme, further evidence of this attitude can be found in a remark made by one Czech prisoner to another: “We are losers, bigger than the Polish

354 355

356

148

M. Chocholatý interview with Samuel Willenberg, Warsaw, March 2011. In 2011, a Polish edition of Richard Glazar's book was published for the first time. I. Lamper, J. Šmídová, Jsem dnes jediný na světě, (February 13, 1995) in: Respekt 7/1995.

ones here, because they were still like this—traffickers in hot water, profiteers and cheaters”.357 Another statement of this kind can be found in Sereny's book Into That Darkness, in which Glazar stated: “At the beginning of winter the huge transports from the East started coming”, Richard said. “The (Eastern) Polish Jews: they were people from a different world. They were filthy. They knew nothing. It was impossible to feel any compassion, any solidarity with them. Of course, I am not talking about the Warsaw or Kraków intellectuals; they were no different from us. I am talking about the Belorussian Jews,358 or those from the extreme east of Poland.”359

I think that this demonstrates very well the differences between the nationalities brought together in Treblinka. Of course, every nation has its own culture and traditions, and its citizens will react in different ways to any particular situation. It is generally well known that the transports of Jews deported to Treblinka from the Generalgouvernement were treated with greater brutality then those from the West. The prisoners of Willenberg's nature reacted in a different way to Treblinka than Glazar and his “refined” comrades, but—as shown in their post-war meetings—they kept up a friendship with one another, and their personal views of Treblinka only represent how particular nationalities reacted in the camp. I would like to mention one more thing in support of the various views on the same situation by citing the case of another prisoner: the very well known Kapo, Rakowski. Glazar remembers him as a man standing beside the kitchen where food was distributed, and where he maintained order by using his whip, yelling: “Your mother was a whore!” in his growing anger with the lack of discipline. Although he was right to do that, he beat even those who were starving, while he himself was not hungry.360

357 358

359

360

Glazar, Treblinka, slovo jak z dětské říkanky …, op. cit., p. 129. During our talks I tried several times to assure Samuel that Glazar was basically talking about the Jews from distant regions of Poland or Russia. G. Sereny, Into that Darkness—From Mercy Killing to Mass Murder, Vintage Books, New York 1983, p. 198. Glazar, Treblinka, slovo jak z dětské říkanky …, op. cit., p. 94.

149

I asked Samuel about his description of Kapo Rakowski. He replied that Glazar had not understood Rakowski's intention: He wanted to make soldiers of us; he made us perform marches in order to build up our physical condition. And there were few who just did not understand what he wanted from us. And he instructed them, to be ready (...) he was a good man. He was a Kapo, (...) and Chaskiel (one of the camp informers) said about him that he had a lot of money. It is possible that he wanted to escape on his own. And then the Jews themselves betrayed him. Miete, the “Angel of Death”, took him away and shot him right in the head. Miracles do not happen!361

While going through my unpublished manuscript about the last survivors from Treblinka and Sobibór, Samuel, looking at the chapter about Glazar which I planned to dedicate to him, said that I seem to be “favoring Glazar here and there.” In fact, I never wanted to take sides with either Samuel Willenberg or Richard Glazar; but, of course, as a Czech, I needed to defend Glazar in some way. Although I never had the opportunity to talk with him, I am convinced that if he were still alive, he would have still liked to meet once again with his friend Samuel Willenberg from Treblinka. When we reached the point concerning the Treblinka revolt and how Samuel escaped from the camp, in order to slowly approach the most interesting point of the revolt itself, he started to tell me a story from his childhood: I used to run from home to my friend in Częstochowa. Instead of going to school, the Gymnasium, we walked to the train station. An express train, the Warsaw-Vienna, had arrived and it had such lovely looking wagons, they smelled sweet (...) today, it is not as romantic as it was then. There was a locomotive and a sweet smell, olive-like, hot water and steam,that together created a nice ambience. We entered the wagon. Close the door! So we closed the door and when the train started moving, we opened it again. The wagons were not like today. You cannot get out of them today. But then we could climb a ladder onto the roof, and we watched Poland roll by. When we were approaching some buildings, we immediately got back down again, and in this way we travelled

361

150

M. Chocholatý interview with Samuel Willenberg, Tel Aviv, March 2008.

throughout the whole of Poland. We jumped off without knowing where we were, what town it was (...) But who cared! Thanks to these experiences I had an advantage while the revolt in Treblinka was in progress. Once we got through the fence where our friends lay dead, there was a railroad, a concrete road which was built by the Germans, and then a grove and swamps, and suddenly a village. Once all of the Jews noticed it, they threw themselves to the left, to the right, but I went straight on and was left alone. It was a question I did not think about, I had a bullet in my leg. It is still there, until today. When they (the Germans) asked the Poles, “Where are the Jews?” They replied they are there and there, but who would notice a lonely Jew? And so I went on until I came to the River Bug.362 We ran that way (points to the vegetable garden on his drawing). There was a railway in the direction of Siedlce-Małkinia. There were no trees; I used to go outside the camp, I worked on the fence (Tarnung). There were trees (points behind the corner of the Upper Camp), behind the Toytlagr.363 And we ran—listen, see my plan—(he shows the vegetable garden), this way, across the field. But the place was clean, we had eradicated all the trees. We had uprooted the forest here. With the Camouflage Brigade we got out through this gate (he showed the vegetable garden again). And I also worked close to the anti-tank obstacles (...).

I asked Samuel when these obstacles were placed around the camp. He replied: I think they started to lay them in the winter, I think, after Stalingrad. I am not absolutely sure. During March 1943, I think, the Wehrmacht gave them away because they did not need them anymore. The Russian tanks made “eggers” (“pancakes”) of them. (He clapped his hands). They represented no obstacles for them, no difficulty for a tank. And because of that, the SS took them for themselves and they used them to encircle the outer area around the camp.

I slowly returned to the subject of the revolt. I was interested in how the prisoners from the Upper Camp had taken part in this revolt.

362 363

M. Chocholatý interview with Samuel Willenberg, Tel Aviv, March 2008. Toytlagr is Yiddish for “death camp.” Very similar to the German word Totenlager.

151

Samuel then explained that although some had escaped during the revolt: They did not have any weapons. I know they did not. We made a revolt and they joined in and that proved that there was a possibility to revolt at any time, an uprising by that mass. They yelled: Huraaah!!! and ran. There was always the possibility to revolt. The crowd was moving and there was always the possibility to kill somebody.364

One of the most interesting points on Samuel's talks was how he suggestively described the process of loading the excavators, Bagger in German, from the Upper Camp onto a flatbed wagon at the Ramp in the Lower Camp, to send them for repair: It was unbelievable when the excavators were transported away.365 There were two of them, and from time to time one of them went for repair (...) so we had to clean the teeth (on the scoops), to get rid of the human remains. Oh, how that stank! They ordered us to clean it before the excavator was loaded onto the platform. It happened a few times, they left for repairs a few times. The excavator came from here (he shows a place in the Upper Camp, behind the sand bank which separated it from the Lower Camp), and it went along the fence, on the outside, towards us on the downside (he shows the end of the siding, the end of the camp Ramp). There it went in again and onto a wagon which stood at the Ramp which led to us (our camp). That way (he shows the corner of the camp near the end of the siding), they got it inside. We had to dismantle the fence, and after it had passed through the gap, we erected a new fence.

I said: “You know what I do not understand? Why you (the prisoners from the Lower Camp, where the excavators, in fact, did not operate) had the job of cleaning the excavators? Why did the prisoners in the Upper Camp not clean them themselves?” 364

365

152

Willenberg very emphatically distinguished between the terms “revolt” and “uprising”. He did not refer to the prisoners' revolt in Treblinka as an “uprising” because, according to him, an “uprising” requires organization, and this could not be achieved in Treblinka because in the circumstances in the camp it was not possible to trust everybody. Willenberg stated that the “uprising” took place in Warsaw in August 1944 where, after his escape from Treblinka, he fought against the Germans. (M. Chocholatý interview with Samuel Willenberg, Tel Aviv, January 2003). Willenberg uses the Polish word koparki, which means “excavators”.

Samuel replied that he had no idea. He continued: Anyway, we had to do this job, down there, on this spot (he pointed to the Ramp). I can remember the moment we were repairing the fence: the guys from the other Treblinka (penal labor camp) were repairing the rails close to us. And we threw them bread, we had enough, and we pushed gold coins inside and we threw it to them on the other side (of the fence).

We then discussed some details about what certain parts of the camp, with which he was familiar, looked like. We began with the Lazarett. I showed Samuel a photograph of the model of Treblinka, constructed by my colleague Peter Laponder,366 in which the Lazarett and the wooden building in the corner were clearly visible. Samuel immediately exploded: “There was no building there!” But I had an objection: “But you have drawn it on your sketch.” “No”, he disagreed. We then studied the above-mentioned sketch Samuel had drawn a long time ago. “There is a building”. I pointed to the building-like object with a Red Cross flag. “But inside! And he (Laponder) has made it outside. I know what I am doing. But OK. It was made out of the fence, the same fence (he shows the fence surrounding the area of the Lazarett), just there and there led inside, it was made of the same fence, such a kind of a soft penthouse. And there the people undressed and walked out, so no building there.” I asked Samuel to compare the Aktion Reinhardt camps: Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka. His reply was, “Similar, similar. They used gas there, too, they were also primitive.” My next question was, “After the War, did you ever go to Sobibór or Bełżec?”

366

Peter Laponder's model of Treblinka was in the Holocaust Center, Cape Town, South Africa. A later version is now in the Treblinka Museum.

153

Samuel replied: “I have never been to Sabibor (Sobibór).367 I was once in Bełżec.”368 The next section regarding interviews with the other survivors could well be entitled Companions in Perdition. The reader will soon understand why.

Eliahu (“Eli”) Rosenberg I was told about Eliahu Rosenberg, a former grave-digger from the Upper Camp, by Edward Kopówka, director of the Treblinka Memorial Museum, who gave me his address in Israel. I wrote to Eli (the abbreviation of Eliahu), and received a prompt reply. My original intention was to put to him some questions about “Ivan the Terrible”, 369 the Ukrainian mechanic allegedly in charge of the gas chambers, because I knew Eli had been a prisoner in the Upper Camp where this man carried out his hellish duty. Immediately after reading the first sentence of Eli's reply, I knew I had found the right person to help me with collecting information about the Upper Camp. Eli's letter, written in Polish, began with the words: “Mister Chocholatý, I have received your letter and I am pretty shocked, I cannot calm down because such a young person as yourself, and what is more, a Czech, has an interest about the tragedy that happened in Treblinka”. I have to stress that Eli, according to his own words, until this letter he wrote to me, had neither written nor spoken Polish for 50 years! The letter continued: I would really like to help you (...) unfortunately I can testify only via letters about what happened in Treblinka II. Anyway, I will say a few words about the awful murderer “Ivan the Terrible”. I do not know how such an animal could be born on our planet. Mr. Michal,

367

368 369

154

It is a peculiar fact that throughout our conversations, Samuel always referred to Sobibór using the Russian pronunciation—“Sabibor”. M. Chocholatý interview with Samuel Willenberg, Warsaw, March 2011. “Ivan the Terrible”was identified by some survivors as Ivan (John) Demjanjuk, while others believe him to be Ivan Ivanovich Marchenko, both of Ukrainian nationality. The latter proved to be the case, based on several post-war interrogations in the Soviet Union of Marchenko's former comrades who served with him in Treblinka.

a few impressions: the murderer stood before the door of gas chambers and he used a bayonet to stab the victims and to cut off pieces of flesh from them. He pushed them with a peitsche. I am not strong enough to describe here all the crimes before he suffocated the people, women and children. If you are interested in more information, here is my phone number: (…) Mr Chocholatý, we have an opportunity to meet in Poland,370 when I go (there) with the young people, and then you would learn a lot about what happened in that “hell”.371 (...) I am giving you the address of my companion in “perdition”, who was there (in the Upper Camp), together with me. He carried to the graves those who had been asphyxiated. There is nobody else alive, only me and him.372

Eli's “Comrade in Perdition” was Pinchas Epstein,373 whom I tried to contact; but at that time (2003) I was not very lucky. Pinchas spoke only a few words by phone, saying that he was ill and did not want to talk about Treblinka. Thankfully, he changed his mind, and we finally met in 2008—five years later! This was a paradox. In 2003, when I contacted Eli Rosenberg for the first time, he willingly helped me during long phone conversations which continued until 2007. Then, after the death of his beloved wife, he had a mental breakdown. It was exactly at that time that I planned to visit him and other Treblinka survivors in Israel. But my decision came too late and I discovered that Eli was now not so strong as before. 370

371 372

373

One of Eli's granddaughters, Inbal, took part in one such trip and wrote to me about it as follows: “I have a lot of material regarding my grandpa's story. I visited Poland with him in 1999. I have been to Treblinka and to all of the death camps. I think that it would be wonderful for you to tell grandpa's story and I think that Pinchas' family will also agree.” (Letter from Inbal to Michal Chocholatý, dated December 11, 2007). Eli's younger granddaughter, Neta, whom I personally met in Jerusalem, told me: “Years after grandpa stopped visiting Poland—he used to go there every year with children from a kibbutz—I grew to the age I could go there with him, but he never went there again.” (From a conversation between Neta, Rivka and Chocholatý, Jerusalem, March 2008). “Hell” is the specific name used by Eli for the Upper Camp. From the first letter Eliahu Rosenberg sent to Chocholatý in 2003. The original letter was given to the YVA in Jerusalem in 2008. The letter is published in: M. Chocholatý, Jiné místo, jiná doba II a III: Das unser Schicksal ist, Ein Höllseher (To náš osud je, Peklovidec), České Budějovice 2006. Eli wrote his name the Polish way—Pynchas.

155

Since then, there have been no conversations, no correspondence. But I made wonderful bonds of friendship with his closest relatives, his daughter Rivka Bosem and his two granddaughters. In 2008, I decided to contact once again Eli's “companion in perdition” Pinchas Epstein, after five years! This time, I had better luck. Pinchas now agreed to talk by phone and even invited me to visit him in Israel. Perhaps the fact that his old friend Eli was mentally exhausted, and the information I gave him about the lengthy conversations between Eli and myself, moved him to change his mind. So now it was to be Eli, not Pinchas, who was unattainable. The roles had reversed. To return to the content of the long-lasting phone conversations I had with Eli, I have to say how much I now regret that I did not record what he told me about Treblinka and his fate. However, much of what he told me I can reproduce from memory, although there were inconsistencies about when he exactly arrived in Treblinka. In his first testimony recorded in Vienna in 1947 he stated that he came to Treblinka on August 20, 1942,374 while elsewhere in the same statement he mentions that he arrived on the day that Max Biela was killed by being “stabbed in the chest with a knife”,375 i.e. on September 11, 1942. On the first page of a Polish statement, however, he claims that he arrived in Treblinka in August 1942.376 Nevertheless, it can be deduced that he did arrive on the day Biela was attacked—September 11, 1942. It seems Eliahu simply erroneously gave August as the month of his arrival in Treblinka in his first testimony.377

374

375 376 377

156

Jewish Historical Documentation Center (Wiesenthal), Linz, Austria. Factual Report, dated December 24, 1947: recording of an interview with Elias (Eliahu) Rosenberg, p. 1. (Copy in: GFH, Israel: 3526/4491). Ibid., p. 3. ŻIH, Warsaw, 301/481 (Testimonies): Statements by Rescued Jews, p. 1. During a telephone conversation Eliahu Rosenberg told me that he was deported to Treblinka “sometime in September”. Also, his daughter told me during our meeting that her father was deported to the camp sometime around Rosh HaShana (The Jewish New Year) or Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the important Jewish days that occur in September, but never in August! According to Rosenberg's daughter Rosh HaShana was a day he could remember better

I can remember very well when Eli was telling me about the sounds that echoed from inside the closed gas chambers in which the naked victims were crammed, a child's soft and frightened voice calling out, “Mummy, mummy, where are you, it's dark, dark ...”. It was Eli who informed me for the first time that the gas chambers had “flip-up” doors. He gave me this information in a very firm voice—he wanted to be sure that I understood everything perfectly. That was one of his attributes, to recount everything absolutely correctly, as I had learned not only from our telephone conversations, but also from his letters. In one of my letters, I included sketches I had made of the old, small gas chambers, and asked him to make any necessary corrections. This was his reply: I have received your letter with various sketches from this terrible hell; they are basically all right but they also need some exact revising (...) unfortunately I cannot help you right now. First of all, I would like to discuss this subject with you face-to-face and talk to you, because everything has to be exact. But now there is one more important thing here (...) In a few months a new museum of the Jewish tragedy will be opened in Yad Vashem, and I am busy as a Crown witness from Treblinka. They are making lots of documentary films with me, and because of that your sketches will have to wait.378 Once you come to Israel, you can consider it as good as done.379

In the meantime, Eliahu's granddaughter, Neta Bosem, explained to me how her grandfather had been selected for work in Treblinka, and ended up in the Upper Camp: My grandfather was a very smart man. After his arrival at the camp, he heard in Yiddish to take a broom, so he took it and started working with it, and that's how he was saved. For a few days they

378

379

than some less important day in August. (From a conversation between Neta, Rivka and Chocholatý that took place in January 2013, Jerusalem). When I walked twice (2008 and 2013) through the new museum in Yad Vashem, I went straight to the section dealing with the Aktion Reinhardt camps, and below the station sign “Treblinka” there was Eli's face looking at me from a TV screen, giving an interview about that terrible hell. From a letter Rosenberg sent to Chocholatý. The original letter was presented to the YVA in Jerusalem in 2008. Reproduced in: M. Chocholatý, Jiné místo, ..., op. cit.,

157

were busy with sorting the clothes and then a German came and asked for volunteers, right there. And the German said: “I want a few men for a job for 10 minutes.” The volunteers were then led by him to a gateway.380

Neta also recalled how her grandfather repeated again and again about the fuel used in the engines which pumped their lethal exhaust fumes into the gas chambers: Oil, raw oil.381 But once, they opened a small window made from unbreakable glass which was on the roof of the small chambers. They had never opened it before. A Ukrainian climbed on the roof. I am not sure, but I think it was that Ivan (“Ivan the Terrible”). They gave him a container with chlorine—you know what it is, Chlorine? And he infused the chlorine into the chamber where the naked people were. Their skin started to cook, just to cook. The people down there were dying in terrible agony. The SS took their revenge on them in this way because they were a small group of deportees who, after they got off the train, tried to revolt. Those who were not shot or killed on the spot were taken to the small chambers and the death by chlorine was used as a special punishment.382

When I asked Eli about “Ivan the Terrible” and whether he could remember when Ivan had arrived in the camp, Eli replied: When I came to Treblinka, he was not there yet. The man who was in charge of gassings was the Baggermeister (excavator expert) Schmidt. Schmidt used to sit in the excavator and dig the pits. He left just for a while to start the gassing process, and then to give the command to open the “flip-up” doors of the chambers if he thought that all of the persons inside were dead.383 He then used to say, “Jetzt schlafen alle” (Now everyone's asleep). Ivan arrived in

380

381 382

383

158

From a conversation between Neta, Rivka and Chocholatý, Jerusalem, January 2013. In the original Polish, “Ropa, surowa ropa”. From a telephone conversation between Rosenberg and Chocholatý that took place sometime between 2003 and 2007. Unfortunately, there is no actual voice recording of the particular phone conversation in which the use of chlorine was discussed. Klapa in the original Polish, which means “flap”.

October in one of the passenger carriages which was part of a Jewish transport.384

Pinchas Epstein, Eli's “Companion in Perdition”, told me about Fritz Schmidt, the motor mechanic from Pirna on the river Elbe: He was in charge of the engine which suffocated (...) the smoke from a diesel engine went into the cabins (Pinchas always referred to the gas chambers as “cabins”).385 There were three there at the beginning. Three small ones. One cabin measured four by four meters and into such a cabin could be pushed from one hundred to one hundred and fifty victims. Can you imagine what they looked like, when the bodies were taken out? Battered, stabbed (...) they had not known where they were going. Once they did realize, they moved back. And at that moment (...) Ivan, Nikolay with a saber or with an iron bar (...) Oh (...) You know, he (Ivan) was well built (...)

I asked Pinchas, looking him straight in the eye: “Was this person Ivan Demjanjuk or not?” He did not wait long with his answer. “One thousand percent!” He was absolutely sure about the identity of “Ivan the Terrible”.386 Pinchas continued about Ivan: He was 1.80 meters tall, strongly built. A healthy Ukrainian. Nikolay was thicker-set. The Ukrainians went through training in Trawniki. Trawniki, it was a university for murderers. They trained them there how to shoot (...). His voice trailed off with the words, “You know, it's not so easy for me now (...)”.

384

385

386

I am not sure that I have remembered correctly the month Eli mentioned. Most testimonies state that Ivan was in Treblinka much earlier. It is a strange fact that after the War Pinchas worked as a motor mechanic working with diesel engines. When I asked him if there was any connection with the gassing engines in Treblinka, he replied in the negative, saying it was “only coincidence”. Eliyahu Rosenberg was also sure that Ivan (John) Demjanjuk was “Ivan the Terrible”, as he told me on the telephone. When I asked his daughter Rivka: “Did your father mean that he (Demjanjuk) was Ivan the Terrible?” she replied: “He was sure”. Eliyahu's granddaughter added: “You know, Dalia Dorner, the judge in the Demjanjuk trial (in Jerusalem), she was 100% convinced that he (Demjanjuk) was Ivan the Terrible. And even now in interviews she is still very sure”. (From a conversation between Neta, Rivka and Chocholatý, Jerusalem, January 2013).

159

It was, to say the least, very kind of Pinchas, even after all he had been through in the camp and afterwards, to talk about Treblinka again. Although it undoubtedly caused him pain, he still did it. He must have felt a duty to do so because when I and my friend Jiří Strnad were leaving him, he thanked us for being interested in the subject, about Treblinka. We could see visually how hard it was for him. He told us: It is not a fairy tale about Little Red Riding Hood (...) I do not forget. Just to repeat it, once again, once again. It is impossible to forget it. Such terrible experiences. I am not healthy (...) You know, now, when I am old, all the past comes back more intensively. I sometimes ask myself if it was true (...) or a nightmare. My whole family was murdered. I was left alone. And it was not easy to go through it all. I was wandering like a dog after Treblinka. Worse than a dog. I wrote something, but nobody cared. My daughter wanted me to write about Treblinka, but I did not write anything, and now I feel somehow at fault. Our health, after all we had suffered (...) everything is coming back.387

Eli's granddaughter Neta also spoke about the hard times her grandfather had after Treblinka: Eli had a lot of nightmares. My grandpa spent whole nights fighting dogs that attacked him. I can remember the Demjanjuk trial—“Ivan the Terrible”. I was a child then. My grandpa is still sure (2008) that Demjanjuk is “Ivan the Terrible”. He was sure already during the trial. Demjanjuk wanted to shake his hand, but my grandpa was so furious (...) It was in the press here. There is a picture of my grandmother, grandfather and my mother. They were all sure about Demjanjuk's identity. Eli is very close to Pinchas who still calls him (2008), because he is afraid of him. Pinchas did not want to visit him on these days because my grandpa is really not feeling well. They became the best of friends after they came to Israel. My grandpa is a famous survivor of the Holocaust. I just grew up surrounded by it. I am proud to be his grandaughter.388

387

388

160

M. Chocholatý interview with Pinchas Epstein, Petach Tikva, Israel, March 2008. Pinchas' daughter died at a young age. I can remember Eliahu telling me about this tragedy, saying this is the worst thing a man can face, to outlive his child. From a conversation between Neta, Rivka and Chocholatý, Jerusalem, March 2008.

Eli was known by the prisoners while escaping from the camp after the revolt by the nickname, “Saint”. He told to me how it came about—why they started to call him that: While we were escaping after the revolt we decided to get some food. Only I was able to speak Polish, so my companions chose me to go to a peasant house and knock on the door. It was night. So I went and knocked on the door. I stood there (...) After a while, a woman with a lighted candle in her hand showed herself in the halfopened door. I explained to her that I needed some food. When she saw me, she crossed herself and called me “Saint”. I was terribly impregnated with the smell of corpses, by the smell of burnt human flesh, my clothes were full of it. She definitely sensed it and said I had to be a “Saint” if I succeeded in escaping from hell.389

Pinchas Epstein, Eli's “Companion in Perdition”, told me about his transfer from the Lower Camp to the Upper Camp after only two days: After that, I was the whole time in the Upper Camp. When we arrived in the Upper Camp they (the SS) were killing there every day. They were afraid we would revolt when we saw the corpses. Not two thousand, not three, every day eight, nine thousand. And when we took the bodies out of the gas chambers, it happened so fast that the speed was deadly. They brought new people there every day. And that was how I came to the death camp after two days. And there I stayed until the end, until the uprising. (...) They built 10 new gas chambers there. There was a corridor and on the left side there were five doors and on the right side the same. They could push into one of these chambers five, six hundred victims. There were pipes through which went the (...) the (...) smoke from the diesel engines. There was a bulb covered with an iron grating in order to protect it against being smashed. There was a (...) we can call it a window, through which you could see, after the bulb was switched on, if the people inside were dead or not.390

389

390

From a telephone conversation between Rosenberg and Chocholatý sometime between 2003 and 2007 that was not recorded on tape. Pinchas did not react to my remark that according to Eli Rosenberg there was a small window in the roof of the small chambers, but continued to talk about some other matter, probably an observation window in the bigger gas chambers.

161

I asked about the color of the curtain that witnesses say covered the entrance door to the gassing building. Pinchas replied: “What color was it, you ask? It was a dark red color. A beetroot-like color. Like a beetroot turnip, red turnip.”391 Treblinka camp is the only death camp of the so-called “River Bug Camps”—Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka, where the old gas chambers remained intact after the construction of the new, bigger chambers. I was therefore interested if it ever happened that both buildings operated together. I once asked Eli that question. He answered that there were indeed times when all of the chambers (a total of 13) were in operation together.392 Pinchas replied to the same question: “It happened once or twice. Believe me, I do not know exactly. I do not know why they operated together, but there were a few cases when all 13 gas chambers operated at once.” We turned to the subject of the cremation of the bodies of those who had been gassed. Pinchas said: They brought in a specialist. Herbert Floss. He started to liquidate (...) there were pits (...) What can I tell you? The biggest grave was that of Piotrków, Częstochowa, and their vicinity, all in one grave.393 The bodies, the corpses, were covered with chloride of lime. And the chloride speeded up the decomposition of the bodies. And a decomposed body burns like gasoline. And there was an excavator, two excavators. And Herbert Floss was a specialist. (...) Once a grave was emptied, it was covered and ploughed. Various plants were planted there. In the beginning, all the bodies were thrown into the pits. They laid rails then and they brought the specialist. They built the grids. Oh! (...) and the smell! Man is stronger than he thinks. The grids were built of concrete and rails and we piled the bodies into a pyramid.

Pinchas looked at the table where there was a small wooden gratelike tray. He picked it up, looked at it closely, and then said that it reminded him of the cremation grid. He continued, “the pyramid 391 392

393

162

In the original Polish: buraczkowy kolor, lit. “beetroot color.” From a telephone conversations between Rosenberg and Chocholatý sometime between 2003 and 2007. Unfortunately it was not recorded on tape. The main liquidation of the Częstochowa ghetto and those nearby took place in September 1942.

of human bodies was sprayed with gasoline or oil, and they burned like gasoline would burn. Once the grave was emptied it was covered and obliterated and nothing of it was left. They tried to remove all of the traces.” I wanted Pinchas to tell me about the day-to-day life in the Upper Camp. Pinchas stated: We slept in a hut. There were two hundred, two hundred and fifty prisoners. The women slept separately. There was a kitchen and on the edge a laundry. I can remember one song we had to sing after the Appell (roll-call) in the death camp (singing): Marishka, my Marishka, you will go to sleep with me in bed (...). That is all I can remember (about the songs of the Upper Camp). And we were ordered to sing this. Every day after Appell. “Buba”, he was called “Lalka”, was very satisfied with this.394 He had a dog called Barry. It was a paradox: Saint Bernards are very good dogs395 but it

394

395

Several times during our conversations Pinchas used the name “Buba” when talking about “Lalka”—Kurt Franz. I have never heard anyone refer to Franz by the nickname “Buba.” According to prisoners' statements, Barry could be a very aggressive dog when commanded by Franz. Barry started his bloodthirsty career in the Sobibór death camp where—according to SS-Oberscharführer Erich Bauer—he was one of three dogs in the camp: Barry the Saint Bernard, Zeppel the German Shepherd, and a black sheepdog that did not respond to any German commands. All three were additional sources of terror for the Jewish prisoners. The Polish women at the railway station were terrified of Barry—he was the size of a calf and could knock down anyone when he jumped up at them. This even happened once to SS-Oberscharführer Bauer. Barry often accompanied SS-NCO Kurt Bolender around the camp: “As time went on, I began to see that the animal was rather aggressive. The dog not only chased after the horses, it even tried to attack me once. (...). Occasionally, he also bit the Jew who looked after him, as well as another Jew who rushed past to report for duty. In both cases, the bites did not have severe consequences, because the Jew who was supposed to look after him carried on brushing and combing him afterwards. (...) I did find out once that the dog had allegedly bitten a Pole outside the camp. The camp survivors naturally knew far better than either Bauer or Bolender what the dog really got up to. According to one survivor: “He was trained to bite people. I saw myself how (SS-NCO) Frenzel set him on a Jewish butcher, using the words “Get that dog!”. Frenzel regarded the Jew rather than Barry as a dog. The dog bit the Jew's throat, killing him instantly.” Jakub Biskubicz from Hrubieszów saw how (SSNCO) Paul Groth set the dog on the prisoners while they were sitting on the latrine. The dog bit them in the groin, which for many resulted in an agonizing death. (Schelvis, Sobibór ..., op. cit., p. 92). Dov Freiberg, a former prisoner of Sobibór, had his own experience with Barry: “(SS-NCO) Bolender (...) while on

163

depends on how you train them. Lalka, Lalka was “Buba” (...) why was he called that? Because he was as good-looking as a doll. You know, not all of the SS used to come to the Upper Camp, to the death camp (...) not all of them came from the Lower Camp. The only exceptions were the perpetual Ukrainians and perpetual SSmen who constantly came into the Upper Camp. I can remember the girls who were brought to us. There were about twelve, thirteen of them. (…) You know, there were ten, fifteen, twenty persons a night who committed suicide. They could not keep going with that, they broke mentally and physically.

I asked Pinchas about an escape from the Upper Camp. I knew there was a case when the prisoners dug an escape tunnel.396 He confirmed that such an escape attempt had been made: There was a group who succeeded in escaping. But at that time the first snow had fallen and they (the SS) followed their footprints. They brought back two of them alive. They tortured them the whole day and after that they killed them. You cannot imagine how they tortured those two! The first snow of that winter had betrayed them. They just followed the footprints (...) At the beginning, in the very first days (probably of Pinchas' stay in the camp), two prisoners succeeded in escaping. They took advantage of a few seconds when the Ukrainian on guard fell asleep. They cut the barbed-wire and escaped. The Ukrainian woke

396

164

his way to Lager III (the extermination area in Sobibór) or on the way back, would set the dog Barry on one of the workers. You could go out of your mind from the horrible sight of Barry attacking a man, tearing his clothes, biting his flesh, as the victim screamed horribly. (...) One day, Paul (probably Groth) came to us with the dog. (...) Now and then, he would set the dog on someone: “Man, get that dog!” he would order Barry. Paul was amused. (...) The fear of the dog's bite was so great that fear alone could drive you insane. (...) Barry came straight at me (...) jumped up on me with such force that I fell to the ground (...) (he) tried to bite me between my legs. I (...) pushed his head to the side, and then his teeth sank into my thigh until I felt them hit bone. (...) then he bit my backside. (...) I thought this was the end (...) (D. Freiberg, To survive Sobibór, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem/New York 2007, pp. 204–205). Another prisoner, Tomasz, “Toivi” Blatt, also remembered the dog: “Groth had a huge dog which was a horror. His name was Barry. He was trained to respond to the command, “Man, get that dog!” after which he attacked the prisoner, concentrating on his genitals. Barry was taken to Treblinka by Stangl.” (T. Blatt, Zapomniane powstanie ..., op. cit., p. 83). After Barry's transfer from Sobibór to Treblinka, his reign of terror continued in that camp. When I put to Pinchas these very detailed questions about the Upper Camp, he complimented me by saying with a smile that I had “done my homework well.”

up too late and became angry that they had escaped while he should be on guard.397

Rivka Bosem, Eliahu's daughter, asked me if I knew about a book by George Steiner. I corrected her and said that the name of the author was Jean-François Steiner, and nodded that I had read the book.398 Neta then translated Rivka's Hebrew reply into English: “My grandfather was angry about this man because he wrote in his book things that are not correct. What he wrote made it look as if the Jews were collaborating with the Germans. My mother says that she has a lot of newspapers about this.” I said that I had read some criticisms of the book, and that people thought that it was much more a fictional rather than a non-fictional book about Treblinka. Rivka added that Steiner had definitely written it as if the Jews had cooperated with the Germans. She continued that that was the reason she and her mother were very wary of my book, but changed their minds when they read my paper on Treblinka. They did not want Eliahu put in a bad light. I explained that in fact this had also been a problem with the Jewish Sonderkommando in Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were watched by other prisoners who also believed the members of the Sonderkommando were cooperating with the Germans.399 In 397

398

399

M. Chocholatý interview with Pinchas Epstein, Petach Tikva, Israel, March 2008. All the statements by Pinchas Epstein included in the section “Companions in Perdition” are taken from the above-mentioned conversation. Original recordings of these conversations are in Michal Chocholatý's personal archive. J.F. Steiner, Treblinka, Meridian Books, New York 1994. Original French Edition published by Librairie Arthé Fayadrd, Paris 1967. First English Edition by Weidenfeld and Nicholsen, London 1967. An interesting mistake by Rivka Bosem: George Steiner is a French-born American literary critic and, among others things, a novelist. He has written extensively about the relationship between language, literature and the impact of the Holocaust. From a conversation between Neta, Rivka and Chocholatý (Jerusalem, January 2013. This is a problem encountered by many survivors who were ordered to do the “dirty work”—the worst jobs possible directly involved with the extermination process in the death camps. For a long time after the War, some members of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Sonderkommando were afraid to tell their story, fearing the negative and even hostile opinions of others. The tasks they were forced to do were so awful that some people believed that they could only have been accomplished by collaborators. The above are well supported by the following statements. The first two come from a former member of the Birkenau

165

Treblinka, however, this problem could be observed as unlikely. Richard Glazar, the former prisoner of the Lower Camp in Treblinka, wrote in this context about the Upper Camp: They started selections for a second camp—the death camp (i.e. the Upper Camp). They had to form a brigade to work with death straight in its workshop and clean up afterwards. As far as I remember, they never selected workers for the Upper Camp directly from a transport. They learned that the first part of the camp (Lower Camp) is a preparation for the work up there with “naked death”, and that no one is used to it after arriving here straight from outside. They learned that the first part of the camp is a preparation for the work with “naked death” up there, and that no one is used to it after coming in here straight from the outside— from life.400

I can well remember the day that Neta sent me a message that her grandfather, the last witness of the Upper Camp in Treblinka, had died the day before. When we talked about this matter a few years later, she specified: “Pinchas died a few months before my

400

166

Sonderkommando, Shlomo Venezia: “After the liberation, I heard some absurd rumors about what was supposed to have happened in the Sonderkommando to dead women. These are just lies, sick rumors initiated by people trying to undermine and discredit the men who worked in the Sonderkommando.” (S. Venezia: Inside the Gas Chambers. Eight Months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz, Polity/USHMM, Cambridge, Malden 2009, p. 97). Venezia continues: “I did find out later that some people were jealous of the fact we sometimes got extra rations. Others held us partly responsible for what happened in the crematorium, but that's completely wrong—only the Germans killed. We were forced, whereas collaborators, in general, are volunteers. It's important to write that we had no choice. Those who refused were immediately killed with a bullet through the back of the neck. (Ibid., pp. 101–102). However, many former prisoners of the Sonderkommando did not speak out because they were suffering deep feelings of shame. In the Brzezinka (Birkenau) death zone, they were forced into an experience in which a man facing his own survival was able to do things they could not even have imagined before. In the regime of the SS, built on terror, they were transformed into robots.” (E. Friedler, B. Siebert, A. Kilian [eds.], Svědkové z továrny na smrt: historie a svědectví židovského sonderkommanda v Osvětimi. Rybka Publishers, Prague 2007, pp. 258–259). Today, Shlomo Venezia even doubts that it was the right thing to survive. In all of the Reinhardt camps, including Treblinka, many of the prisoners from other work brigades were more terrified however, of being transferred to the gas chamber and burial brigades than they were of death. Glazar, Treblinka, slovo jak z dětské říkanky …, op. cit., pp. 59–60.

grandfather. We called his wife to tell her that Eli had died and she said that Pinchas had also died.” I asked, “And did Eli know that Pinchas had passed away?” “No. He was in a really bad shape and we also did not know, so (...) she (Pinchas' wife) tried to call us but she could not contact us.”401 I am really glad I had the unique opportunity to talk with these two men who had come through this man-made hell on earth. I am really glad that I became a friend of Eli, and that Pinchas thanked me for my interest. Both these men, “Companions in Perdition”, are now dead, and I hope their souls find peace and that death brings an end to the seemingly never-ending nightmares that had haunted them for so many years.

Kalman Teigman I contacted the fourth Treblinka survivor, Kalman Teigman, with the help of Eli Rosenberg. If there was anyone who wanted to talk with someone who had survived the Lower Camp, then according to Eli Rosenberg, Kalman Teigman was a good witness to talk to. In Treblinka, Kalman had been known as “Kazik” (phon. Kah-zhik). I told Kalman that I had found him thanks to Eli Rosenberg. Kalman, together with Samuel Willenberg, was one of the last two known survivors from the Treblinka death camp. In 2012 Kalman too has passed away, leaving only Willenberg as the sole survivor and last eyewitness of Treblinka. After several telephone conversations, Kalman invited me to Israel.402 Kalman Teigman was a tall man, very jocular, somewhat sarcastic but calm. During our meetings he never became excited

401

402

From a conversation between Neta, Rivka and Chocholatý (Jerusalem, January 2013). I was very grateful for such an invitation because I knew that Kalman was a “crown witness” for my friend and co-author Chris Webb, who was already in close contact with Kalman. During the meetings I had with Kalman in Bat Yam near Tel Aviv, Kalman often referred to Chris, “Chris knows everything (...) I corresponded with him for many years, but I never met him personally. I invited him to come here, but he had some troubles then so he could not come. I keep a lot of letters from him.”

167

and always maintained an elegant and friendly approach. His cynicism showed itself when on one occasion I thanked him for picking up the phone, he replied that the telephone was “not so heavy”. Another time, when he was looking at an old photograph of me with Samuel Willenberg, he remarked that he did not recognize the person with Willenberg. When I explained that it is me, five years ago, he looked me up and down, and then commented and said that I had “a little bit less flesh then”. Kalman began by telling me how he arrived in Treblinka and his first impression of the camp: I came to Treblinka on September 4, 1942. I came together with my mother. My mother was immediately led away and I was chosen for work. I did not know where I was. Only after I met the others who worked there already for a day or two, they told us, where we are. I did not imagine in the wagon where I am going. I just could not believe that they would take a healthy man who is able to work and immediately kill him. I had no time to look around. Those who were getting out of the wagons were beaten with such blows (...) Ukrainians and Germans stood there and they were beating everybody: “Schnell, schnell, prendko, prendko!”403—just to run in order not to become aware of what is happening all around. They pulled us out of the wagons and we had to cross the Ramp towards such a place, a courtyard, through a gate. Near the gate, stood a person who picked people out. First of all, the women entered on the left side and men on the right side. And then they picked out some of the men: “Stay here, go over there!” And that is how I was chosen. I had no idea where they were taking me. I was told: “Stop! Attention! How old are you?” So I stood, and then one of them said: “Go over there!” It happened that some two hundred people were chosen. One hundred of that group stood here (in the Lower Camp) and another hundred went to the Upper Camp. I met a Kapo there whom I knew from Warsaw, Jurek. Once he saw me, he called out: “Come to me! You will be fine.” He told me, all of the Jews were coming here. He had a jacket, high boots and a whip, he was a Kapo and he beat the men.

When I asked Kalman about the SS from the Lower Camp, and about their characters, he said:

403

168

Prędko is Polish for “faster.”

I cannot say who within the SS was the worst one. Every one of them was evil. Some of them did not beat anyone, and there were a few of them who had not killed anyone. Then it could be said, “See, he is surely good!” Suchomel never hurt anybody, but Miete was terrible (...) he was an awful son of a bitch. There was Miete, Mentz, Bölitz. This three-some were the worst. They killed in the Lazarett. (…) We called Mentz “Frankenstein,” because he looked like that monster created by him. He had such ugly a mouth, big teeth, big ears. Like a devil. He stood there the whole day, shooting. And the Ukrainians were there, too. One of them sat at a huge pit where there was sand around the Lazarett. The Ukrainian sat there and played a panpipe. There was a white flag with a Red Cross. He sat up there and still played the panpipe while the bodies were burning.

On September 11, 1942, just a few days after Kalman's arrival in Treblinka, one of the prisoners had attacked an SS-man. I asked Kalman about that incident, and he replied: A German was killed. I saw it, all of us saw it. It happened during Appell (roll-call). They counted us, and naturally they beat us. I do not know how, but one of us jumped out of line and he had a knife with him with which he stabbed him in the back. Naturally, he (the Jew) was killed on the spot with shovels. And the German was taken to hospital but he died on the way. His name was Max Biela. (…) They shut us in the huts and they did not allow us to leave for work. Later, they formed two groups. One was sent to the Lazarett (…) another to the second camp. After that, Stangl came and said—they were afraid we could do it again—so they said to us that we will have living quarters where we would eat and sleep, wash ourselves, and so on. And it really came true. Before that, we had been sleeping on the sand.

I asked about the prisoners, especially about the more well-known ones like Galewski and Chorążycki. Kalman obliged: Galewski was an intelligent man; an engineer. But he was already worn out, weak. I also knew Chorążycki, but not well. I saw what happened to him. He took some poison (after it was discovered by “Lalka” that he had a lot of money in his possession). When they brought him, he was already dead. They brought pails with water and they poured it in his mouth, in his throat. Then he was taken by two or three men by the legs, and they picked him up, trying to

169

flush the water out again—but they did not succeed because he was dead already, a corpse—they moved him to a bench where they used to beat prisoners, and they gave him twenty-five lashes, or fifty, I do not remember exactly. They were beating a corpse. He was then taken to the Lazarett where his body was burnt.

Kalman recalled a Czech prisoner whom he called Masaryk. “But he was not Masaryk!” I argued. “That's what they called him.” “No, he was called Masárek,” I said correctly. Kalman: “I know, but they said in the camp that he was some relative of the President (of Czechoslovakia).404 He took care of Barry, Lalka's dog. Barry was a Saint Bernard dog. Those dogs are calm. They rescue people. But he was trained to do what he was trained to do there.” “How did you refer to the Upper Camp, the Totenlager?” It depends in which language. In Polish, we called it the “death camp, extermination camp.”405 There were two parts there. The people came into the first one, and they killed them in the second one. The second camp was much smaller. It was separated by earth and barbed-wire. You could not see into there. There was a railroad which went into the camp through the first gate, and on to the end of the camp, close to the end of the Ramp (...) at the end there was a second gate. I think the rails came to an end at some kind of buffer, but I cannot remember exactly. There was a sandy surface, but the sand was not the same kind as here on the beach (i.e. the beach of Mediterranean sea in Tel Aviv and Bat Yam). They created a camp in the desert. There was no grass before, but they later sowed a bit of grass on the Ramp. There were just a few trees. There was a more dense forest around the second camp.

In a somewhat melancholy frame of mind, Kalman added:

404

405

170

The first President of Czechoslovakia (today the Czech Republic) was Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1918-1935). The prisoners confused the Masárek name that sounds similar, but in fact they were not related. In the Masárek name, the letter “á” is pronounced as a long “a”, as in the word “art”. Witold Chrostowski is one of the first Treblinka researchers to draw attention to the confusion between the names Masárek and Masaryk which are be found in some statements about Treblinka. (Chrostowski, Extermination Camp …, op. cit., p. 97). In the original Polish: obóz śmierci, obóz zagłady (death camp, extermination camp).

Now there is nothing left in Treblinka. I returned once with my wife and granddaughter. Children from the school used to go there every year. There is nothing left, only stones. They liquidated the camp in 1943. It was burnt during the revolt. If we did not exist, then nobody would know what kind of place had been there.

When I asked about what had happened to him after the War, Kalman replied: After the War, I worked in various places, I delivered carpenters' tools. But before that, I worked in a factory. Before I came here (to Israel) I spent a year and half in a camp on Cyprus. Of course, it was not the same camp as Treblinka. It was an English camp. On our way to Palestine they caught us at sea and took us to the camp. We were just kept there, nothing else. My good friend—when we met Rosenberg and Epstein (after the War) and they started to talk to us about what they came through there (in the Upper Camp), how it worked there—we did not know about it, we could not even look in the direction of the Upper Camp. We met them after the War. We used to meet every year on August 2 (the date of the Treblinka revolt in 1943), those who survived. We used to tell to each other how it looked, where one worked, and when they told us how it went over there (in the Upper Camp), then I had to say to myself: “I went through paradise!” I had absolutely no idea about such things. Then Rosenberg started to tell us how it all happened and how the naked women came through the Schlauch (“Tube”) (...) that was a tragedy among them. (…) We could hear cries and it could be heard how the bagger (excavator) worked there. (…) We knew after a while what was going on over there, but we did not know the details of the process. (…) The most I saw was the part of that Schlauch which the women passed through. We could not walk any further. (…) But even down there where we worked, there were also murderers.406

After the meeting with Kalman in Bat Yam, he paid for a taxi for me and my friend Jiří Strnad to return to Tel Aviv. He was very kind to us, as were all of the survivors I met. I would like to thank all of them for their friendship, kindness and understanding.

406

All the statements in this section come from a conversation between Teigman and Chocholatý (in the company of Jiří Strnad) that took place in Bat Yam, Israel, during March 2008.

171

Edi (“Idl”) Weinstein407 I found the sixth survivor of Treblinka by chance. While attending a reunion of Sobibór survivors in Poland I was told by one of them that he knew a man who had escaped from Treblinka. He told me his name, which was quite unknown to me, but immediately after my return home I contacted this person, Edi Weinstein, who turned out to be a very kind man. I am pleased to say we maintained a long-lasting relationship by telephone and letters, and later a personal meeting which took place in Prague. Edi was the only survivor who called me many times on his own initiative. If I did not respond quickly to his e-mails, he became concerned about my welfare. First of all, I informed him about my research for a book for which I was conducting interviews with the last survivors of Treblinka. In the meantime, I asked Kalman Teigman if he knew about Edi, but his reply was negative. When I mentioned this to Edi, he wrote to me in April 2008: I am very surprised that in Israel they don't know about me, since Yad Vashem published my story in 2001 in Hebrew under the title Plada Rotahat and in English in 2002 under the title Quenched Steel: The story of an escape from Treblinka. After 18 days, three of us escaped in a train picking up the clothing of the dead. We came back to our town. The other two left for a hiding place and never came back.408

When I asked Edi if he had ever met any other survivors from Treblinka, he replied: “Never. I was once at a conference of survivors in 2002 or 2003 and I had a sign: I AM LOOKING FOR PEOPLE FROM TREBLINKA. Not one.”409 Edi wrote to me about his arrival in Treblinka on August 24, 1942, that his part of train was shunted into the camp when dusk was already falling: “I read a book by Alexander Donat, The Death Camp Treblinka, in which he says that Franz Stangl and Kurt Hubert Franz arrived the same day I did, August 24. I was shot the first 407

408

409

172

Edi Weinstein: born Yehuda Jakob Wajnsztajn. He sometimes spells his first name as “Eddi” or “Eddie”. From e-mail correspondence between Weinstein and Chocholatý, April 22, 2008. M. Chocholatý interview with Edi Weinstein, Prague, August 2008.

day, on the 25th, around midday, since then I was hiding for four days in a big hut near the Ramp.”410 After I met Edi in person, I asked him if he would show me the scar left by the bullet. He bared his chest and said: Can you see it? It's small. It's four inches from the center and on my back it's five and half inches. Lately, maybe two months ago, I told my wife to mark it with black ink on the back and to take a photo so I could see it. You know, I have never seen the wound. My doctor from New York University, he is a Professor of Medicine, told me when he read my book in English and I came for a visit, “Sit down, I have to see where were you shot.” And his reaction was, “How to hell did you survive?” Every time when I came for a visit he has to find another doctor from the University and show him the wound, with my permission, of course.411

One of the things that interested me the most about Edi Weinstein's story of his stay in the death camp was the infamous Lazarett. When I asked him about this, he replied: The only time I was near the Lazarett was when I found out there were babies sitting near the pit, and the SS-man left for his lunch. I had an urge to see for myself. It was very dangerous for me. I got some garbage and ran there. I saw those babies sitting wrapped in blankets. Not one of them was crying, looking everybody in the face and looking at this inferno with burning bodies. No, they didn't cry. Still sitting there were these sick women whom we found in the cattle car about half-an-hour before. I must have been there for only about 10 seconds. I remember that the Lazarett was the middle one of three pits against the fence. I don't remember its shape.412 When I was there, the Lazarett was the middle pit.413

I also wanted Edi to tell me about the pits that had existed before the Lazarett, and which he had drawn on a sketch of Treblinka he had sent me earlier by post. He had drawn two round pits by the fencing of the yard, with two huts, in the first of which work-Jews slept, and in the second the women undressed.

410

411 412 413

From e-mail correspondence between Weinstein and Chocholatý, April 28, 2008. M. Chocholatý interview with Edi Weinstein, Prague, August 2008. From e-mail correspondence between Weinstein and Chocholatý, 28 April 2008. M. Chocholatý interview with Edi Weinstein, Prague, August 2008.

173

Edi: “When we arrived, they (the earlier pits) were full of bodies. In the morning, a big machine arrived. I saw it start to dig three big pits.”414 These pits were located at the far side of the yard, close to the camp fence. So that was how the creation of the infamous Lazarett victims had started. Edi continued: On the Sortieren (Sorting Square) there were not two buildings. Only one long building, and we sat around the building and sorted the clothes. I was shot not far from there. A boy in front of me started to cry that his father was dead (...) My brother was behind me and he dragged me into the building (No. 18 on the sketch below). Later, they turned that place into the station. That place.

I asked him: “Do you remember the shape of that building? Was it like in Auschwitz, like a horse stable?” Edi replied: No, no. It was very simply put together. No windows just entrances. There were no doors. In that building I was laying there for four days. I saw names from Radom. Packages. I do know which transports they came from because I do not think our train came with packages. Maybe this was before us.

I asked: “This building (No. 26) was where you slept?” Edi pointed to the building: “There was a separate entrance from the side of the wire. (...) it was double, and there was a German guard. A German or Ukrainian. And this was for the “red patches””(Red Brigade). Edi pointed to the smaller part of the barrack: “We slept there on the sand. The people were bringing in rugs. It was sandy there.”415

414 415

174

Ibid. M. Chocholatý interview with Edi Weinstein, Prague, August 2008.

Plan based on the old information panel at the Treblinka Memorial.416 416

This panel was replaced a few years ago with Samuel Willenberg's plan of Treblinka.

175

The basic sketch was drawn by me. Edi only added a few details into the area he knew about. At the bottom right of the plan the three big round pits Edi drew are clearly visible, with the one in the middle labeled “Hospital.”, i.e. the Lazarett). No. 18, marked “Clothing”, was later transformed into the fake railway station. Notice also the place just to the left of No. 18, marked “SHOT”. This is where Edi was shot while waiting in line for water. Two identical barracks, No. 25 and No. 26, are shown in a special fenced area. No. 25 indicates the “Undressing Barrack”. On the right-hand barrack (No. 26) it can be seen that the barrack is divided into two parts, the smaller of which served as the primitive sleeping area for the “red badge” work brigade. Between this barrack and the fence is the “Latrine”. On the other side of the fence are two circles which represent the pits that were full of corpses when Edi arrived in

Treblinka.

176

In the plan above, the middle pit of the three pits is labeled Lazarett. Also labeled are the prisoners' latrine, the sorting barrack and the place where Edi was shot.417 Referring to the two identical barracks in the fenced-off area on these plans, Edi stated: “There were two buildings. This one for undressing (No. 25).” I mentioned to Edi that I had also heard that there was a guard standing on the roof of this building with an automatic rifle. He replied: “I don't know. I didn't look on the roof.” “During your stay in the camp, did they cut off the womens’ hair?” Edi replied, “I don't know. This was maybe later. You see, there was a connection to the gas chambers. I think there was only one entrance. I do not think there were two entrances” (entrance to the Schlauch between the undressing barracks and the gas chambers which is not in fact meant as an entrance and which was drawn there by me during the creation of the basic sketch based on the old information panel!). As far as I knew from Edi Weinstein's book, during August 1942, the time when there were corpses scattered all around the railroad tracks near Treblinka station, he once left the camp for Treblinka village station on some flat bed railroad wagons. I asked Edi about this event because this was something that was quite specific for the time when Eberl was in charge of Treblinka. Edi told me: The SS and the Ukrainians were on the first and the third flat beds, the middle one was empty. They gave us some water, so everybody wanted to get on. I was there with my brother. We arrived at the station where most of the dead were. I and three other boys were ordered to cross a small stream to pick up two dead bodies, this must have been about 600–700 meters from the platform. Most of the bodies were at the station, near the water pump. We didn't go to Małkinia, and I didn't see Ząbecki.418

Edi's account corresponds with other descriptions of those early chaotic days in Treblinka: 417

418

Both versions of the plan come from correspondence between Weinstein and Chocholatý in 2008. From e-mail correspondence between Weinstein and Chocholatý, 29 April 2008.

177

When we arrived, there were dead people everywhere. They were sending him (Eberl) so many people. And in our train there must have been sixty, seventy percent dead people. Stangl told Gitta Sereny what he saw when he arrived there, and that's what I saw.419 But I came at night. We came to Treblinka station where there was a water pump and they took away a part of the train. They could handle only twenty cars there. Then came another part of cattle cars and our part was the last. When they pushed it in, it was already dark.

When I argued that no transports arrived in Treblinka when it was dark. Edi retorted: This one did. I arrived. It was the beginning. Twenty-fourth of August, it was a Monday night. It started to get dark. They had to finish with the people. It was a long transport. So we were pushed in and there were lights all over. And then, when we stopped by the Ramp, we saw the dead bodies when we looked out of the windows. I do not know how long they had been lying there. And I thought they're going to shoot everybody right after opening the doors. The trip from Siedlce to Treblinka took maybe three hours, I do not know exactly. We did not look at the time. We got on the train on Monday morning. We were chased from our town on Saturday morning. We were chased out on foot. The women and the small children rode on horse and carts. We spent the whole night in the cemetery where there was once a Jewish synagogue. I am not sure, but somebody told me there had been a Jewish synagogue there. And later, there was a cemetery; anyway they pushed us there and on the next day, at two o'clock, they chased us to the railway station. But there were no trains, you know, it was wartime. Everybody was crying for water, praying generally. And we stayed there another night. Finally, Monday morning, exactly two days since we left, a train arrived, cattle cars. And they started to push us on board. I got in with my brother, my mother I lost. So I got in near the vent, because there was no air right there. And when we got in, the cattle car filled up to the brim. The people were fainting, passing out. But the density of the people kept them from falling. So my brother and I realized that we would soon die. I don't know it was my own or my brother's idea to jump out. Better to be killed from a bullet than to suffocate. There were still a couple

419

178

Sereny, Into That Darkness ..., op. cit., (Vintage Books 1983), p. 157.

of hundred people left on the platform. They were pushed in like sardines into our cattle car. Realizing they could not push in any more, they added a few more cattle cars. And then, we did not know where we were going, nobody knew. (...) At Treblinka station, people were jumping out of the train. In our cattle car I remember one guy, Avruhum Loshice, much older than me, and he took off his clothes, screaming. He went mad from the heat and dehydration. And the people in other cattle cars, they were packed in and were dying. The people were dead already. They wanted to get water. And 10 minutes later they started to divide our train. We did not know how many cattle (cars). So we realized this is our final destination, where we're going be living and working. But nobody could believe what they were going to do to us. The people were still jumping. And they were killed, they saw the other people being killed, but they did not care. They just wanted water.

I asked if there were guards with rifles standing on the roofs of the wagons. Edi replied that he could not see the roofs, but was sure there were no guards up there: But they were all over there and they were shooting at those who were jumping. I could not see what was happening on the roof. They were shooting at those who ran to the water pump. Not one of them got there. I cannot remember even one. Look! I would have run there too if I could have got some water. If they would let me drink enough and then they could kill me. That's how I felt.

When Edi spoke about the “Red Badges” brigade I asked: “And what were the colors of the other work brigades?” He replied he did not know: I remember only the red badges. Later I found out there was a blue brigade, but that was after me. When we arrived, Treblinka had only been in operation for a month, from July 23. And I escaped on the ninth or the tenth of September. So it had been 40, 50 days in operation.

I remarked: “Perhaps a day or two after your escape, a German, Max Biela, was killed there.” To which Edi commented: “Abraham Krzepicki said he was there when he was killed so I must have been

179

there too.”420 But Edi Weinstein apparently had no clear recollection of the incident. * The above account represents only extracts from many conversations with the survivors that sometimes lasted for hours. A certain amount of “literary license” has been used for the sake of continuity because the meetings did not always follow a questionand-answer routine. Very often they were disjointed and fragmentary, or were ordinary conversations interrupted by my questions, which resulted in brief replies. All the interviews were conducted in Polish, with the exception of those with Eli Rosenberg's daughter and granddaughters, and the meeting with Edi Weinstein, which was conducted in English.

Correspondence with Treblinka Survivors Chris Webb

In 2000, through the kind offices of the Ghetto Fighters House in Israel, Chris Webb was fortunate enough to make written contact with Treblinka survivors Kalman Teigman and Eliahu Rosenberg. Chris Webb takes up the story: Contact between us continued right up to Kalman’s death in 2012. The relationship prospered due to the considerable help and support of Kalman’s grandson Yaniv, and I am extremely indebted to Yaniv for his all his help, patience and support. Kalman often apologized for his poor English, which he had no need to do, and I have re-produced what he wrote, for the sake of accuracy. One thing that struck me in all of our writings was that Kalman was always at pains to point out something that he could not remember or didn’t know. His honesty shone through and he knew how fortunate he was to survive this man-made hell. I would write to Kalman and Eliahu and ask them a series of questions about 420

180

M. Chocholatý interview with Edi Weinstein, Prague, August 2008.

Treblinka, and what I have done with this chapter, is to show their responses, including drawings they kindly sent to me, and photographs. Yaniv kindly provided a eulogy: Kalman has been to hell and back again, and God alone knows how he crossed that path. He prevailed, came home without the gold and without the chrome, but inspired life, in its simplest form, on generations he met, living them good and full. Rest in Peace, Saba Yaniv Taigman—January 7, 2018.

Kalman Teigman with his mother, Tema—Warsaw. © Kalman Teigman. Printed with kind permission .

181

Our correspondence began in December 2000, with a question regarding the identity of the four SS men photographed in Treblinka. Kalman involved another Treblinka survivor Eliahu Rosenberg who lived near him in Israel, to take part in the correspondence with me.

Bredow, Mentz, Möller, Hirtreiter in Treblinka Death Camp. © Holocaust Historical Society. Printed with kind permission. Mr. Rosenberg showed me the photograph of the SS men from Treblinka. The one on the right is Sepp Hirtreiter. The big one was called the Amerikaner.421 Concerning the SS man Amerikaner I am sure that it was a nickname, but all I know is he was a builder of the gas chamber.422 I am not able to believe that in Treblinka could be an SS man that was better than the others. In my opinion every SS man in Treblinka camp was a horrible murderer. I was born in Warsaw in 1922, and lived on Twarda Street, until September 1942, the Germans took me with my mother and other members of my family to Treblinka. Nobody of them survived.423 421 422 423

182

Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb – December 1, 2000. Ibid. – December 25, 2000. Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb – March 13, 2001.

I saw everyday the clock on the barracks wall, but I don’t remember the time it showed.424 The clock was not painted, but made of some solid material. On the wall was also written “Manager of the Station” and there were signs to the trains—To Białystok and Volkovysk, but the direction was to the gate of a big place with two barracks. One of them was for women to take off their clothing, before they went to the gas chambers. I make a

drawing:425 Treblinka Ramp—Drawing by Kalman Teigman. Printed with kind permission. I remember 3 trees in the ghetto territory and they were near the living barracks. The ghetto area was lit with electric lights on poles. Inside of the barracks were bunk beds, and very cramped washing

424 425

Richard Glazar said the clock showed a time of 6 o’clock. Ibid. – August 10, 2001.

183

facilities. I think for 700-800 more or less. There was a pit for debris not far from the Lazarett.426 Only the Ramp was covered with black cinders, it was made a few months before the revolt. The SS kept an armored car in the garage, and some other vehicles were outside. Nobody of us in Camp No 1 saw Himmler’s visit in Treblinka, because we were closed in the living barracks. I never saw the inside of the Upper Camp, because to go near the fence was strictly prohibited.427 The locomotive was a normal one with a coal tender. The buffers of the railway were free of sand and by the end of it was a large gate, but always closed. On the roof of the Kommandatur was a big flag with a swastika. The Nazis killed every day thousands of people and after such massacre they went home, play with their children, kissing them, and make love to their wives. I am not sure a psychologist knows the answer. When the revolt started I was on the Ramp. I cross the railway and jumped over the fence and I escaped to the forest. After a year in August 1944, I was liberated by the Russian Army.428 I spoke to Mr Rosenberg about your questions and here are his answers: The Jewish Sonderkommando barracks were surrounded by a fence—but not a wooden one. There were two watchtowers in the Upper Camp.

426 427 428

184

Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb – October 26, 2001. Ibid., – November 15, 2001. Ibid., – December 15, 2001.

Mr. Rosenberg explained to me that the doors of the gas chambers were like you can see on the drawing:

Treblinka Old Gas Chamber—Eliahu Rosenberg and Kalman Teigman. © Chris Webb Private Archive. Thank you very much for placing a stone on the Warsaw monument, on behalf of all of my family murdered by the Nazis in Treblinka. The Red and Blue Kommandos wore a triangle on their breast with a number. I don’t remember armbands. I asked Mr Rosenberg about the roof in the gas chambers and his anwers was: The old three gas chambers (small) had a flat roof, and a small lattice window on it. The other gas chambers had a sloping roof. There were 10 new chambers with a corridor, 5 on the left and 5 on the other side. There were a few stairs to the entrance. In front of the building was a big copper Magen David, and an inscription in Hebrew: “This is a gate to God and all people have to go through.”429 The gate on the rail spur leading onto the Ramp was covered with barbed-wire and branches. The gate from the Ramp to the Undressing Square was a wooden one with barbed-wire and branches. I spoke with Mr. Rosenberg—there was no gate at the exit of the “Tube.” The end of the “Tube” was very near to the gas chamber (big) and to the stairs of the entrance. He also said that the curtain

429

Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb – September 15, 2002.

185

from a synagogue was not an entrance, it was over the opening. There was no external door, but just an opening.430 The evenings after the work, we have been closed in the ghetto, and talk about the horrible day we had. But most of us went early to bed, because we were very tired. We also did talk about what happened to us and when the SS are going to kill us.431 The roofs in our living barrack had supporting beams, but no windows. Small windows were in the wall, very high, with no shutters, only with wires on them. There were no stoves, and only one door to enter.432 I arrived at Treblinka together with my mother, Tema. We were approximately 100 persons in the railway wagon, we were very exhausted and tired, because the conditions in the wagon were terrible. At night we must stand, because there was no space to move. Many of the persons were dead. We had no water to drink and not enough air to breathe. After the Nazis opened the doors of the wagons they ordered us to get out fast and to run to the courtyard, shooting at the crowd. The Nazis ordered my mother with all the other women to get into the left barrack and since then I never saw her again. After we came to the courtyard, one of the Nazis selected me, with other persons to go to the other side and wait. I did not know what is going to happen with us. After the selection the Nazis send all the other persons to the Women’s Undressing barrack, on the way to the gas chambers, and the selected group had to clean the barrack and the courtyard, to collect the next part of the transport. I had no special contact with Miete, Mentz or Küttner. I saw them everyday, shooting, killing, and hanging. Mentz was very ugly. His face was like a monkey. Most of the time he was acting in the Lazarett, shooting children, sick persons, who were still living, but unable to walk. Miete and Bielitz were helping him from time to time.433

430 431 432 433

186

Ibid.–December 1, 2002. Ibid.– January 24, 2003. Ibid. − February 2, 2003. Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb – March 23, 2003.

I will give to you the names of the Jews who escaped from Treblinka after the uprising: Berek Rojzman from Grojec near Warsaw escaped together with me. Lived in Warsaw after the War, he passed away a few years ago. He was working in the camp’s supply store. Jacob Miller from Wlodzimierz escaped together with me, was working in the garden. He lived lately in Uruguay. He passed away some years ago. Salzberg fom Kielce, I don’t remember his working place in the camp—escaped together with me, he was in Poland after the War. His brother was one of the boys who was taking the guns and the ammunition from the room and delivered them to the right person. Geniek Turowski from Warsaw434 was working in the metal workshop and made a key to the munitions room. He passed away some years ago. Joseph Zymerman from Warsaw. Lived in New York, USA, after the War. He passed away a long time ago. Jozef Czarny still living in Israel, was working in the Zoo. Arie Kudlik from Częstochowa, lived in Israel, but passed away a long time ago. Salomon Helman from Warsaw. He was working in the Upper Camp, and passed away a long time ago. Now a few of the names of Jews from the camp who did not survive: Guba Steinowitz my cousin with his father from Warsaw, was working in the Upper Camp. Kapo Jurek from Warsaw. Foreman Sadowski a business man from Warsaw.

434

This is incorrect; he was deported from Częstochowa.

187

Rudek from Włocławek, was working in the Garage, and was a very important member of the resistance.435 Mr. Rosenberg told me that Adas was a wrong name. He was known as Adolf Friedman, he was a Foreman and a friend of Zelo. Abraham was working in the kitchen and was known as “Little Abraham.” Mr. Rosenberg does not have any special details about Matthes. Only that he was 40-45 years-old and he was a monster and bloody murderer. He was high in stature like Stangl and was similar to him. Artur Gold who was a very good orchestra leader known on Polish radio—and known all over the country. Slamek Rozenblum who was operating the engine which was sending gas to the gas chambers. He was working with me on the Warsaw airport before the deportation to Treblinka. This Roll of Remembrance is a very important document, please continue and I’m sure you will do it.436 I met Mr. Czerniakow a few times before the War. He was a schoolteacher in my school, but during the War I never met him.437 I think that the women and children were first, because they were sent first from the Undressing Barrack on the way to the gas chambers. The men were sent after them. I was in Treblinka when Berliner killed the SS man Max Biela. What happened after, is very difficult to describe. It was a massacre among us. They were shooting and killing 12-15 persons, and then selected 10 men, and Kurt Franz shot them in the head. The next day a part of the workers were shot in the Lazarett, and another part was transferred to the Upper Camp. When my family and I were deported from the Ghetto, we did not know where we were going, and what would happen to us. I

435 436 437

188

This was Rudek Lubrenitski. Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb – June 24, 2003. Ibid. – December 13, 2003.

did not know what Treblinka was and I was not aware what the name meant. The name Treblinka was unknown to me.438 I spoke with Mr. Rosenberg by phone regarding your questions and I had a large discussion with him. He is a sick man and he is not feeling well. So I got the answers from him: The doors of the gas chambers were iron, but Mr. Rosenberg does not know if they came from Białystok. The spy-hole was not in the doors, but to the side of them. At the exit to the “Tube” was a screen of trees at the angle of the new gas chambers, in order to hide the Upper Camp from the victims. Mr Rosenberg is not sure who the SS men are by the digger, but it must be Schmidt, because he was the only one working with the digger.

SS Men by one of the excavators at Treblinka. © Ghetto Fighters House. Printed with kind permission. In the old gas chambers there were shower-heads.439

438 439

Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb – February 1, 2004. Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb – February 18, 2004.

189

In the spring of 1943, there was a typhus outbreak. I think every prisoner in the camp was sick, including me. It was a very bad time, no food, no medication. I drank water. Believe me Chris, how I survived, I really don’t know. I will tell Mr. Rosenberg that you were asking after him.440 After a few years nobody will even speak of it, after 60 years all of the survivors are old persons, many of them passed away, and the others will not remember, because this was in the 20th Century. Only what is written in books, and documents in museums and movies will give you the story.441 The Kapo’s lived in their own barrack, the name of my Kapo was Yurek. Mr. Rosenberg answered your questions: Mr. Rosenberg said there were only two diesel engines, 1 for the three gas chambers and 1 for the ten gas chambers. He also said there was no Maschinenhaus, but the engines were covered outside the gas chambers.442 440 441 442

190

Ibid., – April 20, 2004. Ibid.,– October 1, 2004. This statement by Eliahu Rosenberg does not correspond with a number of accounts by others, and even Rosenberg himself described a Maschinenhaus at the rear of the gas chamber building at the John Demjanjuk Trial in Jerusalem in 1986. Rivka Rosenberg–Bosen emailed me on February 22, 2003 on behalf of her father and that the engine was located in a small cell that was connected to the gas chambers, and it was made out of bricks. It could be that Eliahu Rosenberg wanted to distinguish between a primitive cell and a sophisticated power plant. In terms of the number of engines, Jankiel Wiernik who helped build the new gas chambers in late summer/early autumn 1942, said the motor that fed the gas chambers was often defective. So two Jewish prisoners closely connected with the new gas chambers stated that there was only one motor in the new gas chamber. On the other hand, Pavel Leleko stated during an interrogation on February 20, 1945, that there were two powerful German engines about 1.5 meters high— two engines in all. Each engines fed gas to four chambers. Leleko claimed that eight gas chambers were used, and the last two chambers housed the engines, which, as previously stated, is contrary to testimony by Jankiel Wiernik and Eliahu Rosenberg... Other Ukrainian guards mentioned that Ivan Marchenko and Nikolay Shaleyev turned on the motors. These testimonies were given by guards such as Emanuel Schultz, Samuel Prisch, Pavel Leleko, Nikolay Kulak and others. SS visitors to the camp such as Kurt Gerstein, who visited Treblinka the day after visiting Bełżec death camp said that he saw eight gas chambers and Rudolf

The original 3 gas chambers have a complete flat roof. The women and children were gassed before the men. The living barracks in the Upper Camp were the same as in Camp I. There were wooden couches and outside on one side was the kitchen, and on the other side was the Women’s barrack.443 The Ramp was an elevation of sand, but as you know in 1943, we covered the Ramp with cinders, so it looked like a small railway station. There were no trees by the external fence, only branches between the barbed-wire. The watchtowers had strong lights, but there were lights all over the camp, especially around the “living” barracks. Around the “living” barracks were 2 fences and between them were patrols by the Ukrainian soldiers all through the night.444 You can always ask me questions, I will tell you everything I know. The time is short. The survivors, including me, are old persons, so after not a long time nobody will be left to answer your questions. I was glad to be one of the survivors who is still able to tell the whole story of the death camp, where the German Nazis killed so many thousands of innocent men, women and children in the name of God—only because they were Jewish.445 Yaniv Teigman by E-Mail: Finally some answers. In the gas chambers the floor was tiled and the walls as well. There was no electric light above the door, only a very small light in the gas chambers. There were no shower–heads, only holes drilled in the ceiling, with a covering grid. The unloading doors, held open with two

443 444 445

Höss the Commandant of Auschwitz said “A motor room had been built next to the gas chambers, equipped with various engines taken from large lorries and tanks. These were started up and the exhaust gases were led by pipes into the gas chambers, thereby killing the persons inside.” SS man Franz Suchomel in an interview with Claude Lanzmann in the film Shoah said “In the “funnel,” the women had to wait. They heard the motors of the gas chambers.... So what is the truth 6, 8, 10 chambers, 1 or 2 diesel motors to feed the gas chambers?. With so many conflicting accounts it is difficult to say what is the truth.” Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb – November 21, 2004. Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb – December 2004. Ibid.– February 14, 2005.

191

heavy wooden clins. The piping in the gas chambers was visible. The excavators were all grey in color.446 Yaniv Teigman by E-Mail: August 29, 2009. Kalman did not recall a gate on the rail-road, but after it ends. In the drawing you see how it ended, there were two brake disks at the buffer, used for the trains front soft brakes to stop. They were installed like this—note the front disk brakes. The gate itself looked pretty much like yours—wooden gate with iron surrounds and those X style on the doors.

Treblinka—Buffer and Gate at the End of the Ramp—Drawing by Kalman Teigman, 2009. Printed with kind permission. The gate and buffers diagram thus drawn by Kalman Teigman is unique, no plan of the camp shows such a gate, although Yitzhak Arad, in his book Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka on page 41, states “at the end of the railway spur was a wooden gate, wrapped with barbedwire intertwined with tree branches.”

446

192

Ibid.– February 1, 2006.

I e-mailed Yaniv on May 27, 2012, to ask Kalman if he could confirm the address of the Astra-Werke factory in the Warsaw Ghetto, before he was deported to Treblinka in September 1942. Kalman recalled that the street was called Zamenhof, and Yaniv said he was in hospital in the neurosurgery but was okay. Unfortunately this was the last time I heard from Kalman, as he sadly passed away on July 26, 2012. There was, however, one final thing I was able to do for Kalman’s family. I contacted Dr. Jorg Müller at the Staatarchiv Chemnitz, and he was able to send me some documents from the Astra-Werke in Warsaw, on May 23, 2013. Amongst the documents he sent to me, was a roster of Jewish workers, and Kalman Teigman’s name was on the document, listed at 29. After all that he shared with me, it was the least I could do, to send a copy of this document to Yaniv, and he was truly delighted to receive this from me. A copy of this document concludes this chapter in a fitting way. Kalman is listed against number 29:

193

Astra-Werke Factory (Warsaw Ghetto)—Roster of Jewish Workers. Source: Holocaust Historical Society, courtesy of the Chemnitz State Archive.

194

195

Chapter 12

Wartime Reports about the Death Camp

Although some war-time reports about Treblinka contain a certain amount of incorrect information, especially those referring to the bizarre methods of killing the victims, they nevertheless demonstrate that despite efforts by the Germans to maintain secrecy, the truth about the Treblinka death camp leaked out and became known both within and beyond Poland's borders. These reports serve as an overview in order to give the reader an idea of what was “publicly” known about the death camp from the beginning of its operations. The first fugitives from Treblinka gave very detailed statements to the Polish Underground to warn the Jews about the real meaning of “resettlement”, the truth about this death factory. In his book Cieniom Treblinki (“Shadows of Treblinka”) Ryszard Czarkowski dedicated his longest chapter to the question: “Did the world know about their fate?”447—the fate of the Jews deported to Treblinka? He analyses in depth particular reports which appeared about the camp throughout the War. Czarkowski states that the first news about the death camp reached the Warsaw Ghetto between August 8–10, 1942. This came about as the result of the activity of a member of the Jewish Bund Organization448 who was sent to observe one of the transports

447

448

Czarkowski, Cienom Treblinki ..., op. cit., pp. 88–188. (Czy świat wiedział o ich losie?—“Did the world know about their fate?”). Bund: Yiddish abbr. for Algemeyner Yidisher Arbeter Bund. Polish abbr. Ogólny Żydowski Związek Robotniczy, the Jewish Socialist Party in Poland which promoted the political, cultural and social au‐ tonomy of Jewish workers. It sought to combat anti‐Semitism and was opposed to Zionism. After the partition of Poland between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia on September 17, 1939, the Bund contin‐ ued to operate as an underground anti‐Nazi organization in the

196

heading for Treblinka in order to publish what he witnessed.449 Other reports, mainly from those who escaped from the camp, then began appearing. In the context of Czarkowski's question “Did the world know about their fate?” he raised the problem of the attitude of many Poles towards the mass murder of the Jews, and the failure of the Allies to bomb the railroad tracks to the death camps, especially those leading to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Czarkowski also provided detailed reports about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April 1943 and named the Polish organizations which assisted Jews. He mentioned the underground groups and the underground press which published reports about Treblinka, as well as the individuals who courageously attempted to forward the reports to governments abroad. In many cases, this was a futile exercise. One of the first detailed descriptions of the extermination of Jews in the Treblinka death camp was printed in the Information Bulletin of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa—AK) on August 17, 1942.450

Report No. 30 (55) Progress in the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto. The decrease in the number of inhabitants in the ghetto at the present stage totals 200,000 persons, this is 50% of the situation that existed before July 22. In that period, between July 23 and August 7,451 the following transports left for Treblinka (…) a total of 113,100 people.

449 450

451

Generalgouvernement, and in 1941 established representation in New York. Czarkowski, Cienom Treblinki …, op. cit., p. 95. Armia Krajowa (AK): the Polish Home Army, the dominant anti‐ Nazi and anti‐Soviet resistance movement in the Generalgouverne‐ ment whose ultimate aim was a free post‐war Poland. The AK came under the authority of the Polish Government‐in‐Exile in London which was recognized by all the Allied governments. Since August 6, 1942, a second train (Warsaw—Treblinka) consist‐ ing of 58 cattle cars and two passenger carriages was added to the

197

Besides these transports from Warsaw, every day, additional trains from other cities reached Treblinka. For example, at the beginning of August, a transport arrived from Radom, so that altogether, every day, three transports arrived, each with 60 cars, 58 of them with Jews. In each car there were 100 people. After the engine leaves the station,452 they force the Jews to undress in order, supposedly, to go to the showers. Actually, they are taken to the gas chambers, exterminated there, and then buried in prepared pits, sometimes when they are still alive. The pits are dug with machines. The gas chambers are mobile,453 and they are situated above the pits. On August 5, 40,000 Jews were deported to the camp, and every day 5,000 are killed. The Ukrainians under German command carry out the liquidation. By September 10, the Aktion in the Warsaw Ghetto is supposed to end. 454

Report No. 33 (58) The Treblinka extermination camp, the place where the Jews are being killed, is located near the labor camp. It is situated 5 km from Treblinka station, and 2 km from Poniatowo station. There is a direct telephone to Małkinia. There is an old camp for Poles (the penal labor camp, Treblinka I) and a new camp whose construction is still underway— exclusively for Jews. The extermination of the Jews is now carried out in a way that is completely independent of the old camp.

452

453

454

198

transport time schedule No. 58. (Kopówka, Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 27). This refers to the smaller steam locomotive using for shunting wag‐ ons already separated at Treblinka station from the main transports along the branch line to the death camp. The gas chambers were not mobile (i. e. gas vans), they were static. There was only a narrow‐gauge railway used at the beginning for taking the corpses in tip‐up mining trucks, borrowed from the Tre‐ blinka I penal labor camp, from the static chambers to the pits. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 353. Czarkowski, Cieniom Treblinki …, op. cit., pp. 96–97.

A locomotive pushes the wagons with the Jews to a platform. The Ukrainians remove the Jews from the wagons and lead them to the “showers” to “bathe.” This building is fenced-off with barbedwire. They enter it in groups of 300–500 people. Each group is immediately closed inside hermetically, and gassed. The gas does not affect them immediately, because the Jews still have to continue on to the pits that are a few dozen meters away and whose depth is 30 meters.455 There they fall unconscious, and an excavator covers them with a thin layer of earth. Then another group arrives. (…) Soon, we will relay an authentic testimony of a Jew who succeeded in escaping from Treblinka.456

Report from Chamber 1631 of the Information Department of the Chief Command of the Polish Home Army October 1942 The death camp is still functioning. The transports are arriving from the whole of the GG (Generalgouvernement), the most recent from Radom, Siedlce, and Międzyrzec. They are currently transporting them not in 20 wagons but 10 wagons, because removing from each wagon the corpses of those who died on the way takes a lot of time (20–30%). The gas chambers operate as follows: outside the barracks, a 20-horse-power combustion engine

455

456

The “walking to the pits of those being suffocated” seems most un‐ likely. It is possible that either on exceptional occasions the gas failed to kill all the victims, or, in the early stages, some experiments may have been carried out with various methods of gassing, includ‐ ing the addition of various mixtures to the engine fuel. In such cases, some of the victims could have survived the gassing. This is sup‐ ported by survivors' testimonies that the victims had “only fainted”. They could then possibly “walk” through the unloading doors of the gas chamber, but it is hardly imaginable they could walk into their own mass grave! Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka…, op. cit., pp. 353__354. Czarkowski, Cieniom Treblinki …, op. cit., pp. 103_104.

199

works for 24 hours.457 The opening of its exhaust pipe is inserted through the barrack wall and the exhaust gases, with a mixture of poisonous gases specially added to the engine fuel, kill the people shut inside the barrack. Besides the Jewish workers, there is an orchestra and a group of Jewish women who are kept on the camp territory for the amusement of the personnel. Up until the end of August, 320,000 Jews have been killed.458

Telegram from Abraham Stupp of the Jewish Agency in Tel Aviv to Tartakower Miller at the Jewish World Congress in New York December 4, 1942 Warsaw deportations since June 22,459 7,000 daily, once 20,000. Stop. By October 36,000 remained. Stop. Deported carried Treblinka where every day trainloads Jews arrive—they are stripped naked— clothes given tailors to be cut through search jewelery. All heaps clothes lie about then Jews taken so-called bath-house hermetically closed chamber, air pumped away people suffocate, other reports say Jews killed poison gas. Fact is no one left house alive, dead bodies burned ashes continually carried out. Stop.460

457

458

459

460

200

A 20 hp engine, as fitted to small motorcycles, would have been com‐ pletely useless for gassing even a handful of people. According to the figures in Arad, up to the end of August 1942 ap‐ proximately 285,00 Jews had been deported to Treblinka from the Generalgouvernement. (Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 392‐393. See also Czarkowski, Cieniom Treblinki ..., op. cit., pp. 104–105). The date is incorrect. The deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto were ordered on July 22, 1942, not in June. National Archives Kew (London): FO 371/30924. The abbreviated style of writing telegrams was because the sender was charged per word.

Report from the Polish Minister of the Interior in Exile in London to the British Government August 1944 Treblinka Treblinka A is for Poles who committed offences against the occupation army by not delivering the imposed quota of agricultural products, or were caught smuggling. The discipline is very severe—the prisoners are shot under the smallest pretext. The fame of this camp is established as well as that of Auschwitz/Oświęcim.461 In March 1942, the Germans started the construction of a new camp—Treblinka B, near Treblinka A.462 This camp was designated as a concentration camp for Polish Jews and for Jews from other European countries. Poles from the neighboring camp, and Jews caught in the small towns in the vicinity, were employed in the construction. The camp was completed at the end of April, when the center point of the camp was constructed—the death house. The new camp—Treblinka B—is situated on sandy hills among brush-wood. The area of the camp is comparatively small. It is about 5,000 hectares. The camp is surrounded by a fence of greenery interwoven with barbed-wire entanglements. Part of the fence runs through a young forest in the north. At the four corners of the camp, observation points were placed for the Lagerschutz (camp guard). The Lagerschutz consists mostly of Ukrainians armed with machine guns. At the observation points, strong searchlights have been placed to illuminate the entire place at night. Observation posts are also set in the middle of the camp and on the hills in the woodlands. The western border of Treblinka B is formed by a railway embankment along which runs a branch track that connects the camp with the main railroad track. The branch line was constructed in recent months in order that the transport trains 461 462

Oświęcim is the Polish name for Auschwitz. “Treblinka A” and “Treblinka B” refers to Treblinka I and Treblinka II, or to Polish Treblinka (penal labor camp) and Jewish Treblinka (death camp).

201

could be delivered directly to the slaughter-house. The northern border of the camp is formed by a forest; east and south the border cuts through sandy hills. In the area of the camp, bushes form a long stretch parallel to the railroad track, starting in the north. A railroad crossing is adjacent to the branch line; from that barrier there is an entrance to a square which holds two to three thousand persons. The square is fenced-in with barbed-wire. On the square, not far from the northern corner of the square, there is a guard house with a military post on 24-hour duty. South of the square, outside the fence, there is a clothing-sorting place, and further south there is an execution site of the camp Commandant, and the graves of the victims murdered by him. The arrival square is connected with the rest of the area by an entrance in the northeastern corner of the fence. From there, a path runs through the woods for about 200 meters eastwards, and then turns at rightangles to the south and runs along the forest, parallel to the western limit of the arrival square.463 This road stops at a large building with an unusual shape: it is an unfinished one-storey brick construction, about 40 meters long and 15 meters wide. When we received the information concerning Treblinka B in the first half of September, this building was about to be finished. The Germans began the construction of that building after the Aktion started (in Warsaw), probably in the middle of August, with the help of Jewish artisans picked out from among the Jews brought to Treblinka for slaughter. It is significant that the bricks for the construction had been brought from as far as Warsaw, in wagons attached to each transport. The bricks were loaded at the Warsaw Umschlagplatz by Jewish workers.464 According to the report of an eyewitness, the interior of the building is as follows:

463

464

202

When the new gas chambers (“Death‐House No. 2”) were built in the autumn of 1942, the “Tube” (Schlauch) was shortened. The orig‐ inal “Tube” was 350 m in length whereas the new one was only 125 m long. This modification is confirmed by a statement of SS‐Unter‐ scharführer Franz Suchomel on September 14, 1967, in Düsseldorf. Umschlagplatz (lit. collection/loading place). Area formed by the freight yard of the Danzig (Gdańsk) railway station between Stawki

A corridor three meters wide runs through the middle, there are five chambers on each side, the height of each chamber is about two meters; the area is about 35 square meters. The execution chambers are without windows, but they have doors opening onto a corridor and a type of valve on the outside walls. (...) In the walls, pipes are installed from which water-steam is supposed to pour into the chambers. This was death-house No. 2. A path skirts the building and runs along its western wall, finally ending at the next building, the nearby death-house No. 1. This building is at right angles to death-house No. 2. It is a brick construction, much smaller than the other. It consists of only three chambers and a steam-room. Along the northern wall of this house runs a corridor from which there are doors to the chambers. The outside walls of the chambers have valves (until recently, doors which had been changed into valves for utility reasons) (sic). Also here, a scoop in the shape of a shallow vessel is placed at the height of the valves (sic). The steam-room is adjacent to the building: inside the steam-room there is a large vat which produces the steam. The hot steam enters the chambers through pipes installed there, each having the prescribed number of vents. While this machinery of death is in action, the doors and valves are hermetically closed. The floors in the chambers are made of terracotta which becomes very slippery when water is poured over it. There is a well next to the steam-room, the only well in the whole area of Treblinka B. Not far from the death-house, south of the barbed-wire and wooden fences, there is the grave-digger's camp.465 The gravediggers live in barracks next to which are kitchen buildings. On both sides of the camp there is a guard house. The remaining area of Treblinka B is destined for the murdered victims. A part of that area is already a large cemetery. At first, Poles employed in the camps dug the graves; later, the slaughter was intensified and the need for more ditches grew, special digging machines/bulldozers

465

and Dzika Streets in the Muranów district of Warsaw. From there, about 320,000 Warsaw Jews were deported to Treblinka. The “grave‐digger's camp” refers to the Upper Camp (Camp II) where the gas chambers were located.

203

were brought, which ran day and night at grave digging. A diesel motor supplies the energy and its rattle is the characteristic sound in Treblinka B.466 * The cited report by Czarkowski, which was published in Wiadomości (“News”), Bulletin Nos. 3 and 4, described the genesis of the extermination methods in the Treblinka death camp. It was alleged that in the beginning the technical potential of the camp had not been perfected realized; therefore, the Germans exterminated the people by volleys from machine guns,467 this was characteristic during the time Dr. Eberl was the camp Commandant. The bodies of the victims were disposed of in a haphazard way, “The grave-digging brigade threw everybody—the corpses of those who were killed, seriously injured, as well as those without serious wounds—into the prepared pits and buried them.”468 Another report mentions yet another bizarre method of killing the victims—inside the transport wagons. In August 1942, when the transports reached their zenith and outpaced the capacity of the gas chambers, chloride of lime was scattered into the interior of the wagons, thereby causing the agonizing death of the deportees before they even reached the camp.469 That this sadistic and particularly gruesome method was used is borne out by the fact that on opening the wagons on the Ramp in the Lower Camp, they were found to contain only heaps of corpses.470

466

467 468 469

470

204

National Archives Kew (London): FO 371/42806. Other parts of this statement can be found in Czarkowski, Cieniom Treblinki ..., op. cit., pp. 119–124. Ibid., p. 132. Ibid., Ibid., It is more likely that the wagons had been used previously for transporting sacks of lime and the wagons had not been cleaned be‐ fore being loaded with Jews. M. Chocholatý interview with Edi Weinstein, Prague, August 2008.

205

Chapter 13 Transports and Death Toll

The role of the German railway, the Reichsbahn, and its subsidiary in the Generalgouvernement, the expropriated pre-war Polish State Railway (Polskie Koleje Państwowe—PKP), renamed General Management of the Eastern Railway (Generaldirektion der Ostbahn— abbreviated to Gedob or Ostbahn—Eastern Railway), played a vital role in the mass deportation of the Jews to Treblinka and the other death camps, first from German–occupied Poland and then from other countries in western Europe, and as far afield as the Balkans. It is no exaggeration to state that without the close collaboration of the Reichsbahn and Ostbahn with the SS, the Holocaust would not have been possible.

Mass Deportations from the Generalgouvernement Treblinka was constructed primarily for the extermination of the Jews of Warsaw and other parts of the Generalgouvernement, a mass murder operation that began in the death camp on July 23, 1942. Adam Czerniaków, Chairman of the Jewish Council (Judenrat) in the Warsaw Ghetto, wrote three days earlier in his diary: “July 19, 1942. Incredible panic in the city (...) there is talk of about 40 railroad cars ready and waiting. It transpired that 20 of them have been prepared on SS orders for 720 workers leaving tomorrow for a camp.”471 On July 22, 1942, the day of the first deportation from Warsaw to Treblinka, Czerniaków wrote in his diary about a visit from SSSturmbannführer Hermann Höfle, the organizer of Jewish deportations on the staff of SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik in Lublin during Aktion Reinhardt:

471

R. Hilberg, S. Staron, J. Kermisz, The Warsaw Diary of Adam Czerniakow, Elephant Paperbacks, Chicago 1999, p. 382.

206

“Höfle and associates came at 10 o'clock (…) we were told that all Jews, irrespective of sex and age, with certain exceptions, will be deported to the East. By 4 pm today a contingent of 6,000 people must be provided. And this (the minimum) will be the daily quota.”472

The thousands of Jews caught in the round-ups were herded to an assembly point in a part of the freight yard of the Danzig (Gdańsk) railroad station, located on the corner of Stawki and Dzika Streets and behind a large abandoned building, the former “Czyste” Hospital. There the deportees had to wait until the freight cars were ready to deport them to Treblinka. This area was known to the Germans as the Umschlagplatz (lit. “collection” or “transfer place”).473 During the long wait to be deported, without food or water, the Jews were brutally treated by the SS and Trawnikimänner guarding them, as well as the Jewish Ordnungsdienst under the command of Mieczysław Szmerling. The first wave of deportations of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp took place from July 22–September 21, 1942. Estimates about how many Jews were deported vary from 250,000–320,000.474 The deportations were temporarily halted from August 28 until September 2, 1942, while Treblinka was being reorganized.475 During a visit in July 1942 by the Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Himmler, to the Aktion Reinhardt headquarters in the Julius Schreck Barracks in Lublin, he became aware of the transport difficulties arising from the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, and problems arising from repair works on the railroad track to the Aktion Reinhardt death camp at Sobibór. He ordered SSObergruppenführer Karl Wolf, chief of his personnel staff, to contact Dr. Theodor Ganzenmüller, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Transport, to resolve these difficulties. Wolf contacted Ganzenmüller by telephone and asked for an explanation. Ganzenmüller subsequently wrote to Wolf on July 27, 1942:

472 473 474

475

Ibid., p. 384. Gutman, The Jews of Warsaw …, op. cit., p. 208. According to the records of the Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH) in Warsaw, a total of 253,741 Jews were deported during this period. Gutman, The Jews of Warsaw …, op. cit., p. 212.

207

Since July 22, a trainload of 5,000 Jews has departed daily from Warsaw via Małkinia to Treblinka and in addition a train load of 5,000 Jews has left Przemyśl twice a week for Bełżec. Gedob is in constant contact with the Security Police in Krakow. It has been agreed that the transports from Warsaw through Lublin to Sobibór be suspended for as long as the reconstruction works on that section make those transports impossible (approximately until October 1942). These trains have been agreed upon with the commander of the Security Police in the Generalgouvernement, and SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik has been advised.476

In August 1942, the Bund in Warsaw needed definite information about the fate of the thousands of Jews being transported out of Warsaw. They ordered Zalmen (Zygmunt) Frydrych to follow one of the transports travelling allegedly “to the East”. His mission lasted three days. Immediately after leaving the ghetto, Zygmunt made contact with an employee of the Danzig station freight terminal who was working on the Warsaw—Małkinia line. They travelled together, following the transport to Sokołów Podlaski where Zygmunt was told by local railroad workers that there, the tracks forked, with one branch line leading to Treblinka. Every day, a freight train carrying people from Warsaw travelled in that direction and invariably returned empty. No transports of food were ever seen on that line, and civilians were forbidden to approach Treblinka railroad station. The following morning, on the market place in Sokołów, Zygmunt met two Jewish fugitives from the death camp who had been stripped completely of their clothes. From them, Zygmunt heard the full details of the horrible procedure in the death camp. Now, it was no longer a question of often wild rumors, but of facts established by eye-witnesses.477 On August 20, 1942, a group of SS-NCOs arrived for duty in Treblinka. One of them was SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel who has described the appalling conditions they witnessed during

476 477

208

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 51. M. Edelman, The Ghetto Fights—Warsaw 1941–43, Bookmark, London 1990, p. 57.

the transports arriving from Warsaw and other parts of the Generalgouvernement: Treblinka was then operating at full capacity. The Warsaw Ghetto was being emptied then. Three trains arrived in two days, each with three, four, five thousand people aboard, all from Warsaw. But at the same time, other trains came in from Kielce and other places. So three trains arrived, (...) the trainloads of Jews were left on a station siding. What's more, the cars were French, made of steel. So that while 5,000 Jews arrived in Treblinka, 3,000 were dead in the cars. They had slashed their wrists or just died. The ones we unloaded were half-dead and half-mad. In the other trains from Kielce and elsewhere, at least half were dead.478

Jankiel Wiernik was caught in a round-up in the Warsaw Ghetto on August 23, 1942, and taken to the Umschlagplatz where, as he put it, “the Jews came face to face with reality”: There were railroad cars, waiting to receive us. It was a bright, hot summer's day (...) next came the command to board the train. As many as 80 persons were crowded into each car, with no way of escape (...) our train was shunted from one siding to another. The air in the cars was becoming stiflingly hot and oppressive. It was difficult for us to breathe. Despair descended on us like a pall (...) amidst untold agonies we reached Małkinia, where our train stopped for the night. The next morning, our train started to move again. We saw a train passing by filled with tattered, half-naked, starved people. Until noon, I suffered greatly from thirst. Then a German, who subsequently became a Hauptsturmführer, entered our car and picked out 10 men to get water for us all (...) at 4 p.m. the train started to move again and within a few minutes we pulled into the Treblinka camp.479

Abraham Krzepicki was caught two days later in the factory at Zamenhof Street 19 in Warsaw where he was employed: On August 25, 1942, at about half past six in the evening, the honey factory at 19 Zamenhof Street, where we workers were employed, was surrounded. SS men broke into the factory and drove all the people out…. 478 479

Lanzmann, Shoah …, op. cit., p. 53. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., pp. 150–151.

209

We were taken out to Zamenhof Street. In the group outside in the street there were some more SS men with their sleeves rolled up carrying whips in their hands….. Jews with blood all over them were coming from Wolnyska Street. Gangs of Ukrainians were going around, looting the abandoned buildings. When Brandt480 came driving up, people said to each other, “Look! Here’s Brandt! Maybe he’ll get us released, because we are working people.” After that two hundred more people appeared; they were returning from one of the workshops…. One of the Ukrainians asked Brandt what he should do with these people? “Take them all in!” Brandt replied. Brandt gave an order to Lejkin481, “Alles abmarschieren!” and so we began to march off five abreast.

Abraham Krzepicki recalled what happened when the deportees arrived at the Umschlagplatz: At the Umschlagplatz we still hoped that some kind of separation would take place (...) and we would be able to show our papers. But unfortunately we never had that chance (...) from the Umschlagplatz we were moved towards the box-cars (...) Already we could see elderly people stretched out on the floor of the first car, half– unconscious. Then steps were moved up to the box-cars and the Lithuanian auxiliaries started driving us faster with their whips, up into the cars, we had to give up all hope of being able to show our papers to somebody, and so we got into the box-cars. Over 100 people were crammed into our car. The ghetto police closed the doors. The cars began to move. We were on our way. Where to? I tried to talk to some of the young people, “Let's get out of here! Let's get out through the windows!” But many of them said, “It's no good. If we jump we will get killed anyway.” But two people jumped out just the same. The Germans noticed and stopped the train to shoot after them.482

480

481

482

210

Karl-Georg Brandt, member of KdS Warschau, in charge of Jewish Affairs, and was known as the Resettlement Commander. Jakub Lejkin, Jewish Commander of the Ordnungsdienst. He was assasinated by Jewish Resistance fighters on October 29, 1942. Ibid., pp. 78__80.

Treblinka also started to receive transports from other parts of the Generalgouvernement; one such transport from the Lublin district is recalled by Chil Rajchman: We travel from Lubartów station, some twenty kilometers from Lublin. I travel with my pretty young sister Rivka, 19-years-old, and with a good friend of mine, Wolf Ber Rojzman, and his wife and two children. Almost all of those in the freight car are my close acquaintances from the small town, Ostrów Lubelski. There are about 140 of us in the freight car, it is extraordinarily tight, with dense, stale air, all of us pressed against one another. Despite the fact that men and women are all together, each of us, in these crowded conditions, has to perform his natural functions on the spot where he is standing. We travel through various stations, among them Łuków and Siedlce (...) it's four in the morning when we approach a station called Treblinka, which lies some seven kilometers from Małkinia. We stop. After a short while, the train begins to move (...) we see the train is moving backwards. The train moves very slowly and we enter a forest (...) after a short while, the door of the freight car is abruptly thrown open to the accompaniment of fiendish screams: “Raus! Raus!” (Out! Out!).483

There were many “outside” witnesses who saw these appalling “death transports” passing by, and from their eyewitness accounts a picture of horror emerges. One such witness was Czesław Borowi, a Pole who was born in Treblinka village in 1923. He recalled in the Claude Lanzmann film Shoah, the scene where he saw transports waiting at Treblinka station: Lots of people opened the doors, or escaped through the windows. Sometimes, the Ukrainians fired through the car walls. It happened chiefly at night. When the Jews talked to each other, as he showed us, the Ukrainian wanted things quiet and they asked (...) yes, asked them to shut up. So the Jews shut up and the guard moved off. Then the Jews started talking again in their language (...) The people who had a chance to get near the Jews did that to warn them that they'd be hanged, killed, slain, even foreign Jews from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, from France, too, surely, and from Holland and elsewhere. These didn't know, but the Polish Jews

483

Rajchman, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 16–18.

211

knew. In the small cities in the area, it was talked about. So the Polish Jews knew, but the others didn't.484

Hubert Pfoch, a 22-year-old Austrian serving in an infantry company of the German Wehrmacht, was on his way from Vienna to the Eastern Front via Mährisch Ostrau (Moravská Ostrava),485 Kattowitz, through the Upper Silesian industrial region to Radom and Łuków. His transport train arrived at Siedlce station on the evening of August 21, 1942, and they are given soup: From time to time we can hear shooting, and when I got out to see what was going on, I saw, a little distance from our track, a loading platform with a huge crowd of people—I estimated about 7,000 men, women and children. All of them were squatting or lying on the ground and whenever anyone tried to get up, the guards began to shoot. The night was sultry, the air sticky and we slept badly. Early next morning—August 22—our train was shunted on to another track, just next to the loading platform, and this was when we heard the rumor that these people were a Jewish transport. They call out to us that they have been travelling without food and water for two days. And then, when they are loaded into cattle cars, we become witnesses of the most ghastly scenes. The corpses of those killed the night before were thrown by Jewish auxiliary police on to a lorry that came and went four times. The guards—Ukrainian volunteer SS, some of them drunk—cram 180 people into each car. I counted, parents into one, children into another, they didn’t care how they separated families. They scream at them, shoot, and hit them so viciously that some of their rifle butts break. When all of them are finally loaded there are cries from all cars—“Water,” they plead, “My gold ring for water.” Others offered us 5,000 złoty for a cup of water. When some of them manage to climb out through the ventilating holes, they are shot the moment they reach the ground— a massacre that made us sick to our souls, a blood-bath such as I never dreamed of. A mother jumps down with her baby and calmly looks into a pointing gun-barrel—a moment later we hear the guard

484 485

212

Lanzmann, Shoah ..., op. cit., pp. 30–35. Mährisch Ostrau: under Nazi occupation in the Moravian part of today's Czech Republic.

who shot them both boast to his fellows he managed to “do” them both with one shot through both their heads.486

Pfoch's harrowing description continues: When at last our train leaves the station, at least 50 dead, women, men and children, some of them totally naked, lie along the track. We saw the Jewish police remove them—all kinds of valuables disappeared into their pockets, too. Eventually, our train followed the other train and we continued to see corpses on both sides of the track—children and others. They say Treblinka is a “delousing camp.” When we reach Treblinka station the train is next to us again— there is such an awful smell of decomposing corpses, some of us vomit. The begging for water intensifies, the indiscriminate shooting by the guards continues.487

Pfoch recalled in an interview with Gitta Sereny, in Vienna in 1972, that the troops asked their commanding officer to intervene with the SS officer in charge of the transport. He suggested to the SS officer that this outrageous spectacle was unworthy of Germany and German honor. The SS officer bellowed, “that if our officer and the rest of the Ostmarkler didn’t like it and didn’t shut up about it, he’d be glad to add a “special car” to the train for us, and we could join the Jews and warmongers and get to know Treblinka.”488 Stephan Kucharek, a Polish engine driver for the Ostbahn, recalled these transports to the Treblinka death camp: It was only when the supervisor told me I must take the train to Treblinka I knew that they brought Jews there. What could I say? Nothing. One had to go. I left half of the train at Małkinia and took the other half to Treblinka. Some were freight cars, others public coaches like those that came from France. I knew this because this was written on the coaches. I saw the coaches when they were empty and I can't describe what it was like—a mess of excrement and urine. One took risks you know. There was this one occasion, September 15, 1942. It happened at the station in Treblinka. I checked the train and this Jewess gestured to me, she was probably hungry. I had this ham sandwich, but I knew that Jews wouldn't eat 486 487 488

Sereny, Into That Darkness …, op. cit., pp. 158–159. Ibid., p. 159. Sereny, Into That Darkness …, op. cit., p. 159.

213

anything with ham in it, but reckoned that a hungry person will eat anything. So I got out of the engine, walked over the coals—she was in the first coach behind the engine—well I simply threw the sandwich and she caught it. But the sons of whores—the Ukrainians—took it away.489

Henryk Gawkowski, another Polish train driver who also drove the transports into the death camp, was asked in the film Shoah whether he could hear screams from the wagons. He replied: “Obviously, since the locomotive was next to the cars. The screams from the cars closer to the locomotive could be heard very well”. He admitted that one never got used to it: “They screamed, asked for water.” He found it extremely distressing. He knew the people behind him were human, like him. He and the other Polish workers for the Ostbahn were given vodka by the Germans as a bonus. Without it, they could not have done it, shunting all those people to their deaths in Treblinka. Those who worked on the normal passenger or freight trains were not given such a bonus.490 Commencing in September 1942, the Częstochowa Ghetto in southern Poland was subjected to mass deportations to Treblinka via Warsaw. Hershl Sperling from that ghetto has provided the following testimony: When we arrive at the train, the SS shove 80–100 people into each of the wagons. The disinfectant calcium chloride (sic) is scattered liberally into every wagon.491Each wagon receives three small loaves of bread and a little water. Then the doors are pushed shut, locked and sealed. Ukrainian and Lithuanian SS stand guard on the steps of each wagon. We are shut-in like cattle, tightly crammed together. Only a tiny bit of air comes in through the one small wirecovered window, so that we can hardly breathe. The calcium chloride hardly helps to combat the unbearable smell, which gets worse all the time. Some women faint and others vomit. The natural functions also have to be performed in the

489

490 491

214

L. Smith, Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust—True Stories of Survival From Men, Women and Children Who Were There, Ebury Press, London 2006, pp. 159–160. Lanzmann, Shoah …, op. cit., p. 32. Calcium chloride is not a disinfectant. It can be used as a desiccant, a “dryingout” chemical, as in this case in the freight cars. This was to slow-down the decomposition process of the dead bodies.

wagon, which makes the situation even more terrible, and on top of everything else, we are tormented by a terrible thirst (...) thus in pain and torment, the journey drags on until we reach Warsaw. There our train is shunted onto a siding. It's not until the following morning that we travel on to Małkinia, seven kilometers from Treblinka. A special locomotive takes away 20 of the 60 wagons which made up our train. After five minutes it comes back (sic) and takes another 20 wagons (...) and now the last 20 wagons are being moved. I am in one of them. Slowly we roll on. One can clearly see that the forest here has recently been dug up. Full of trepidation, we roll towards a huge gate, guarded by a large number of SS with machine guns. The train stops and the escort is commanded to get out and wait there. Then the gate opens and the locomotive shunts all the wagons into the camp. It remains outside. The gate closes behind us. The wagons roll slowly towards a big platform. Round about it stands an SS unit, ready to receive us with hand-grenades, rubber truncheons and loaded guns. Now the doors of the wagons are flung open, and half-fainting, we are driven out onto the platform.492

* On January 9, 1943, Reichsführer-SS Himmler visited the Warsaw Ghetto and ordered that 8,000 Jews whom he considered to be “illegals” should be deported. SS-Oberführer Dr. Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg, the SS and Police Leader for Warsaw, commenced the so-called “Second” Aktion on January 18. The Commandant of the Treblinka penal labor camp, SSHauptsturmführer Theodor van Eupen, also took part in this Aktion. However, due to attacks by the Jewish Underground in which a number of Germans were killed, the deportations were curtailed four days later. The SS managed to deport about 6,000 of the 8,000 Jews intended for Treblinka.493 The final transports from Warsaw were sent to Treblinka during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising which took place during April/May 1943. SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop, who had replaced SammernFrankenegg as the SS and Police Leader for Warsaw, wrote in his 492 493

Smith, Treblinka Survivor …, op. cit., pp. 244–245. Gutman, The Jews of Warsaw …, op. cit., pp. 308 and 311.

215

daily report for April 25, 1943, to Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger, the Higher SS and Police Leader in Kraków that he would try to obtain a train for TII (Treblinka) the next day (April 26). But in any case, the liquidation would be carried out on that day.494 Transports from Białystok, Białystok district and Grodno495 arrived in Treblinka between November 1942 and February 1943, and the last transports to be murdered at Treblinka came from Białystok during August 1943, after the camp revolt on August 2.

Deportations from the Reich German and Austrian Jews deported from the Reich were sent primarily to the fortress ghetto in Theresienstadt (Terezín) in Bohemia, or to the so-called “exchange ghettos” in Piaski, Izbica and Rejowiec in the Lublin District of the Generalgouvernement. From there, the deported Jews were sent on to the Aktion Reinhardt death camps at Bełżec and Sobibór. Some most certainly also ended up in Treblinka; this makes it difficult to be precise about the numbers sent to Treblinka and indeed the other two camps. The case of deportations from the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto is more straightforward. According to the Bundesarchiv Memorial Database, ten transports left Theresienstadt between September 19, and October 22, 1942, carrying 18,004 deportees to Treblinka. Among those deported on these transports were two survivors, Richard Glazar and Karel Unger.496 Among those who were murdered on arrival were three sisters of the Jewish psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. One of the important differences between the transports was that whereas the Polish Jews were transported to the death camp in

494

495

496

216

J. Stroop, The Stroop Report—The Jewish Quarter In Warsaw Is No More, Pantheon Books, New York 1979 (facsimile edition, no pagination). Secret teletype message from Stroop to Krüger, dated April 25, 1943. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 396. The city of Grodno was located on the former Polish-Lithuanian border and after the German invasion of Russia in June 1941, incorporated into the Białystok District. Today, Grodno is in western Belarus. Richard Glazar was deported from Theresienstadt to Treblinka on transport “Bu”. He was given Transport No. 639.

freight cars, ordinary passenger carriages were used for the Jews from Theresienstadt. Guarded by members of the Schutzpolizei, the regular police in green uniforms, the journeys to Treblinka often took two or more days, and after crossing the border into the Generalgouvernement, headed east. Glazar recalls his journey to the death camp: We were in ordinary passenger cars. All the seats were filled. You couldn't choose. They were all numbered and assigned. In my compartment there was an elderly couple. I still remember, the good man was always hungry and his wife scolded him, saying they'd have no food left for the future. On the second day, Glazar saw a sign for Małkinia.497

Henryk Gawkowski, a Polish locomotive driver recalled in the film Shoah an extraordinary incident he witnessed at that station. A Jew on a foreign transport got out of the passenger carriage to buy something at the station bar. The train pulled out without him, heading for Treblinka. He ran after it, to catch it up.498 Glazar's train went a short distance further: Then, very slowly, the train turned off the main track and rolled at a walking pace through a wood. While he looked out—we'd been able to open a window—the old man in our compartment saw a boy, (...) cows were grazing, (...) and he asked the boy in signs: “Where are we?”499

At that, the boy made a strange gesture. He drew his finger across his throat.

Deportations from Bulgaria and Greece On February 2, 1943, the SS and representatives of the Bulgarian government signed an agreement that specified that 14,000 Jews living in areas annexed to Bulgaria, which included Thrace in Greece and Macedonia in Yugoslavia, would be deported “to the East” by April 15, 1943, at the latest.500 497 498 499 500

Lanzmann, Shoah …, op. cit., p. 34. Ibid., p. 36. Ibid., p. 34. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 143.

217

Following Himmler's visit to Treblinka in early 1943, a transport from Salonika in Greece with about 2,800 Jews on board, arrived in Treblinka during the latter half of March 1943. They were all murdered in the camp. Between March and April 1943, about 7,100 Macedonian Jews also met the same fate. The trip from Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, to Treblinka lasted six days. The first transport departed on March 22, 1943, with 2,338 Jews on board. The loading has been described by an eyewitness: The previous day, only about 1,600 people were selected for this transport. They were given food for a trip lasting 15 days, namely, one and a quarter kilos bread, half a kilo kashkaval (a hard cheese), two kilos of marmalade, two kilos of peksmit (a kind of bread or biscuit) and one kilo of smoked meat. Everyone refused to take the meat as a sign of protest (sic). On the morning of the same day, it was announced unexpectedly that an additional 800 people would be leaving. Since the train was supposed to leave soon, these people were hurriedly forced onto the transport and many of them did not manage to secure any food. When an individual's turn came to be transported, no one asked whether that person was ill, whether a woman was pregnant, or whether she had given birth just the day before.501

A German police message sent on March 26, 1943, from Sofia to Berlin, stated that at 15.15 hours transport DA 102, left Skopje. Strength 2,382 Jews guarded by SS men from the German police. Polizeimeister Handrick is in charge of the transport.502 Two days later Adolf Eichmann sent a message to Sofia, which was also intercepted by the British at Bletchley Park, stating that 2 Bulgarian doctors were taken in the Zar Duschani transport which left on March 22; they wished to accompany the transport from Vienna to the east. This is incomprehensible, the reasons known. In future allocate only Jewish doctors. Report immediately whether Jews were without exception deprived of citizenship after transported away.503 Richard Glazar has described the arrival in Treblinka of such a transport from the Balkans: 501 502 503

218

Ibid., p. 144. National Archives Kew (London) HW 19/236. Ibid.,

People climb calmly out of the cars without pushing, without crowding. Their clothes are wrinkled and dirty, but they are good clothes, items of value. Their faces look healthy and they have an unusually dark complexion. Black hair, all I see is black to pitchblack hair. On the left side, mostly on the left coat collar, each of them has a small yellow star. The star is very small, framed in black, without any lettering. And now I can see that they've been pinned on like brooches. Not made of fabric, but of some kind of material, maybe wood. I can hear that the people are speaking a completely foreign language. “Hey, Kuba! Where are they from?” The answer comes back, “Bulgaria, the Balkans,” we hear through the wooden wall.504

At the end of March 1943, transports of Jews from the transit camp in the Baron Hirsch district of Salonika were sent to Treblinka. Samuel Willenberg witnessed the arrival of a transport from that city, signaled by a train whistle: This time, a most strange crowd issued forth from the cars. The new arrivals, with tanned faces, and jet-black curly hair, spoke among themselves in an unrecognizable language. The baggage they took with them from the cars was tagged “Salonika.” Rumors of the arrival of Greek Jews spread like lightning. Among the arrivals were intellectuals, people of high station, a few professors and university lecturers. Everyone was well-dressed and carried lots of baggage. Amazed, we eyed marvelous oriental carpets, we couldn't take our eyes off the enormous reserve of food. Besides food, these Jews took along a reserve of clothing, various sundry accessories, and trinkets. They all disembarked from the carriages in perfect order and serenity. Attractive, well-dressed women, children as pretty as dolls, gentlemen tidying up their lapels. Miete found three Germanspeaking Greeks and appointed them as interpreters; they moved about with armbands embellished with the Greek colors. Not a single one of the new arrivals had grasped where he was, and what was his fate was to be.505

The truth only penetrated when they were being led naked, supposedly to the baths, and suddenly the first blows from SS whips and clubs began to fall.

504 505

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., p. 89. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 146.

219

Gypsy victims In addition to the extermination of the Jews, it is estimated that over 2,000 Gypsies were murdered at Treblinka.506 In the spring of 1943, Jankiel Wiernik witnessed a group of gypsies arriving at the death camp: Then one day, as I was busy working near the gate, I noticed quite a different spirit among the German garrison and the Ukrainian guards. The Stabsscharführer, a man of about 50, short, stocky and with a vicious face (the description fits SS-Stabsscharführer Otto Stadie), left the camp several times by car. Then the gate flew open and about 1,000 Gypsies were marched in. This was the third transport of Gypsies to arrive at Treblinka. They were followed by several wagons carrying all their possessions: filthy tatters, torn bedclothes and other junk. They arrived almost unescorted except for two Ukrainians wearing German uniforms who were not fully aware of what it all meant. They were sticklers for formality and even demanded a receipt, but they were not even admitted into the camp and their insistence on a receipt was met with sarcastic smiles. They learned on the sly from our Ukrainians that they had just delivered a batch of new victims to a death camp. They paled visibly and again knocked on the gate demanding admittance, whereupon the Stabsscharführer came out and handed them a sealed envelope which they took and departed.507

The Gypsies, who had come from Bessarabia, a region of Eastern Europe with a diverse and complicated history (today, divided between Moldavia and the Ukraine), were gassed just like all the others and cremated.508 Shimon Goldberg, who escaped from Treblinka following the revolt in August 1943, was working near the gas chambers and he recalled the fate of a group of Gypsies: While I was there, they killed about 2,000 Gypsies. The Gypsies went wild, screamed awfully and wanted to break down the chambers. They climbed up the walls towards the apertures at the top and even tried to break the barred window. The Germans

506 507 508

220

Ibid., p. 153. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 180. Ibid.,

climbed onto the roof, fired inside, sealed off the apertures and asphyxiated everyone.509

Death Toll Although the precise figures will never be known, it is estimated that between at least 700,000 and perhaps as many as 885,000 Jews were murdered in the Treblinka extermination camp. Franciszek Ząbecki, the Polish station-master at Treblinka who claims to have kept a careful account of all the arriving transports, which he passed on to the Polish AK, has always insisted that the real total is 1,200,000. However, one of the most important modern finds in the field of Holocaust Research was the German police message which was decoded by British Intelligence staff at Bletchley Park, discovered by Steven Tyas, at the National Archives in Kew. The message was sent by Hermann Höfle, the Deputy Chief of Aktion Reinhardt in Lublin to SS-Obersturmbannführer Franz Heim, Commander-in-Chief of the BdS (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei) office in Kraków. The message was a 14-day report and year-end report up to December 31, 1942, covering the number of people sent to the Aktion Reinhardt death camps. This was the second of two messages intercepted by the British Intelligence Service, the first one Hermann Höfle sent to Adolf Eichmann, the Jewish expert at the RSHA headquarters in Berlin, which was only partially intercepted. The second message sent to Heim was intercepted in full on January 11, 1943. The death camps were identified by their initial letter:

509

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., pp. 152-153.

221

It should be noted that the British Intelligence staff made a mistake and missed the last 5 off the Treblinka figure; it has to be 713,555 to be in alignment with the total figure. It must be emphasized that the message does not refer to the above as victims, but nevertheless, these figures represent the closest we are likely to get from any German sources, and this is a really important find, which cannot be denied.510 Returning to the overall number of Jews exterminated at the Treblinka death camp, the total estimate will in all probability never be known, but the conclusion reached in this book, is regarded as a conservative estimate. The following table shows the estimated number of victims, along with the origin of transports:

510

222

National Archives Kew (London) 16/32.

Table of Deportation Statistics Origin of transports

Number of people deported

Warsaw Ghetto Warsaw District Radom District Lublin District Białystok Ghetto Białystok District Macedonia/Bulgaria Greece Theresienstadt Ghetto (including deportees from the Reich)

309, 975 91,750 347.850 37,500 20,000 50,000 7,144 2,800 18,004

Total

885, 023

Source: Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 180. Revised and updated table from: Dr. M. Burba, Treblinka: Ein NS-Vernichtungslager im Rahmen der Aktion Reinhard. Pachnike, Göttingen 1993, p. 22.

223

Chapter 14 Treblinka War Crimes Trials

By August 6, 1944, the Red Army was approaching Treblinka. The railroad station was already closed to traffic and Franciszek Ząbecki, knowing that the station building was about to be destroyed by the retreating Germans, smuggled out some of the railway documentation concerning transports to the death camp. A few minutes after his departure, when Ząbecki was in the surrounding fields, the station building was indeed blown up by the Germans. Several days later, neighbouring villages around Treblinka were burned down by the Wehrmacht, and the local population forced to escape to different regions. On August 16, 1944, Treblinka was liberated by the Red Army, and the following month, Ząbecki returned to his work at Treblinka station. It was not until the autumn of 1945 that the Polish Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes, based at the Ministry of Justice in Warsaw, carried out an investigation into the crimes committed at Treblinka. The investigators, both Polish and Russian, were under the supervision of Zdzisław Łukaszkiewicz, a well-known Polish judge. During questioning by Łukaszkiewicz, Ząbecki handed over the original documents he had taken from the Treblinka station.511 During 1951 the first former SS-man from Treblinka was indicted and brought to trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Josef “Sepp” Hirtreiter, already questioned in July 1945 about the “T4” euthanasia program, and in particular about the “euthanasia” killing center at Hadamar in Hesse, also provided 511

After completion of the investigation at Treblinka, the original documentation was deposited at the Siedlce court and copies given to the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland in Warsaw. Today, they are preserved in the archive of the Institute of National Memory (IPN) in Warsaw.

224

information about “death camps near Trawniki in Poland” (sic). He also mentioned former members of the Hadamar staff who later had served in these death camps. Hirtreiter was released due to a lack of evidence against him.512 Josef Hirtreiter was re-arrested in March 1951 and brought to trial in Frankfurt-am-Main. In the courtroom he was recognized by Szyja Warszawski who had been left for dead in a mass grave in the Upper Camp in Treblinka. Hirtreiter was found guilty of beating two prisoners until they were unconscious because money had been found on them, then hanging them by their feet, and finally killing them with a shot in the head. He was also found guilty of killing many young children and infants during the unloading of transports at the Ramp, by seizing them by their feet and smashing their heads against the boxcars.513 Josef Hirtreiter was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and on March 3, 1951, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In Düsseldorf, Germany on December 30, 1959, Kurt Franz was interviewed by the investigating judge Schwedersky, and he recalled his time in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp, his recruitment into T4, and his time in the Bełżec death camp before reporting to the Treblinka death camp: In the beginning of 1943, I was transferred from Bełżec to Treblinka.514 Treblinka was a liquidation camp that was operating already for some time, when I arrived there. Treblinka was considerably larger than Bełżec. In Treblinka I was the Führer of the Guards, who again were Ukrainians. Together with the Unterführer’s they may have been 90 to 95 men. I had one employee, by the name of Otto Stadie. As well as I he was an SS-Oberscharführer. He might have been originally from Berlin or northern Germany. At the time he was in his fifties and he had the Iron Cross from 1914. What happened to him I do not know. 512 513 514

T. Blatt, Sobibór—The Forgotten Revolt. H.E.P Issaquah 1998, p. 95. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 277. Franz admitted in later statements that he arrived in Treblinka during the late summer / early autumn of 1942.

225

The train conductors were Volksdeutsche. I still remember the names Jager, Strebelow and Schulz. Their first names I do not remember. At the time they might have been about 23 or 25. They did not hold an SS rank. As well as the guards they wore black uniforms, cut in Russian style. The guards had to provide, like in Bełżec, a chain of guarding posts around the liquidation camp. Within the liquidation camp there was a separated camp for the so-called working Jews. These working inmates were essentially used for works within the liquidation camp, meaning for works related to the treatment of individual transports. In Treblinka too the pits for the corpses were within the compound of the camp. Partially the working inmates were used also for works outside the camp—for example the Forest Commando. To guard these working commando’s, the guard units provided personnel. In the camp there were 2 horses. Since I was the only one who knew how to ride515, I moved these 2 horses. For example I rode along the guard posts and I also used them for other duties. Other than myself no one moved the horses. In Treblinka I had a dog, whom I called Barry. This dog was once brought by somebody into the camp516 and he wanted to be with me. He was a mixture between Bernhardiner and New Foundler. He had a Jewish inmate as caretaker, who told me this. There were no other dogs in the camp. After the dissolution of the camp Treblinka, I brought the dog to the then doctor Dr. Friedrich Struwe, chief doctor of the Reserve Lazarett in Ostrów, who later on took him to his home. The dog was a very good humoured animal, and has surely never done anything bad to a human being.517 If asked and told that a series of former inmates of the camp Treblinka declare unanimously, that a dog by the name of Barry had been chased by myself on the inmates, and that he butchered them, so I declare: If things like that are being told, I can only declare that this is not so. Often I took the dog with me to the Lazarett in Ostrów. If he had been such a beast, as is being alleged according to the declarations put forward to me and the sworn assurances, he would surely not have behaved peacefully there, but would have also attacked people there.

515

516 517

226

From accounts by Stangl’s wife, Stangl used to ride horses in Sobibór, so this is just a boast by Kurt Franz. Barry was at Sobibór and it was Stangl who took the dog to Treblinka. A number of former inmates who survived do not share Kurt Franz’s opinion of harmless Barry.

If in my declaration of 16.12.1959, I said,that Stangl was until the end the Kommandant of the camp, so I declare this too. After the revolt in Treblinka, meaning on August 2, 1943, no liquidations of Jews were performed anymore.518 At the end I was only a Führer of a post-commando, which consisted of 6 to 7 men. Is shown from the DC documents my request, dated Treblinka 2.10.43, and with the addition to the signature: SS-Untersturmführer and Lagerkommandant, I declare: I wrote this, but there was no camp anymore. It is silly of me to have written this. After being shown the writing of the SS-Oberführer Dr. Katz of 21.4.1943: During the elimination of the Jews I did not achieve any merits.519

The First Treblinka Trial was held in Düsseldorf from October 12, 1964 to August 24, 1965, when eleven former SS-NCOs were brought to trial. The main accused was former SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Franz, Commandant Franz Stangl's Deputy. When Franz was arrested in 1959, police searching his apartment in Düsseldorf found a photograph album with an inscription on the cover: “Good Times” (Schöne Zeiten). In addition to family photographs, the album also contained photographs taken at the euthanasia institution at the Hartheim castle in Austria, where Franz had been a cook. There were also a number of photographs taken at Małkinia showing the destruction of a brick tower from a former glass factory. The bricks were in fact used to build the new gas chambers at Treblinka, and also show Erwin Lambert in charge of the destruction. The photographs also show life in the death camp, with images of the zoo, the armory on the Kurt Seidel Strasse, the bakery, and the stables, as well as photos of Kurt Franz, Franz Stangl and an SSNCO exercising by the SS relaxation area, as well as a whole series of photographs showing the excavators at work in the Totenlager. The photographs taken were carefully selected, to show as little incriminating evidence as possible. There were also a large number of photographs taken during Kurt Franz’s service with Einsatz R in northern Italy, showing a number of former Treblinka personnel, such as Stadie and Wirth. 518 519

This is untrue. There were transports from Białystok after the revolt. Kurt Franz Interrogation – December 30, 1959. NARA Washington DC.

227

These photographs are an important record of Treblinka, virtually unique, given the rather strict orders that taking photographs of the Aktion Reinhardt camps was expressively forbidden. SS-Oberscharführer Fritz Küttner, one of the most sadistic SSNCO’s in Treblinka, evaded justice. He died before he could be brought to trial.520 Those arraigned before the court in Düsseldorf are listed below, together with the sentences they received: Name FRANZ Kurt HORN Otto LAMBERT Erwin MATTHES Heinrich Arthur MENTZ Willy MIETE August MÜNZBERGER Gustav RUM Albert Franz STADIE Otto SUCHOMEL Franz

Role in Treblinka Deputy Commandant, then Commandant Upper Camp (Corpse Brigade) Built large (2nd) gas chambers Chief of the Upper Camp Lazarett Lazarett (“Angel of Death”) Upper Camp (gas chambers) Upper Camp (gas chambers) Camp Administration Gold, valuables and cash (Goldjuden)

Sentence Life imprisonment Acquitted 4 years imprisonment Life imprisonment Life imprisonment Life imprisonment 12 years imprisonment 3 years imprisonment 6 years imprisonment 7 years imprisonment

One of the prime witnesses at the trial was Franczisek Ząbecki, the former Polish supervisor at Treblinka station. During the first confrontation with the former SS-men in the courtroom in Düsseldorf, he could not recognize any of them, as Ząbecki recalls: The judge asked me if I knew the accused, if I recognized them, and what were their names. Horrible. In the main, it had been 22 years since I had last seen them. I saw them as younger men of that time. Now they were old men, some of them gray-haired, others bald, their faces wrinkled. Also important was the fact that as younger men they had been in uniform. Now they were in civilian clothes. I stood up because I wanted to see them better. We stood for a time opposite one another. I looked at everybody, I looked into their eyes for a few seconds, before they looked away; in these short 520

228

Ibid., op. cit., p. 278.

seconds I was the object of their hate-ridden, yet at the same time, interested scrutiny. I felt that they tried with difficulty to recognize whom it was from the Polish railroad workers who stood before them.521

When the Judge began to call the accused by name, Ząbecki began to recognize them. During the trial he was asked for and provided details about the transport schedules from Białystok to Treblinka. He also explained how he had saved the documentation from the railroad station in Treblinka, and why he had kept records of the transports in the first place, that he had been a member of the Polish Home Army, and as such it was part of his duties to collect intelligence about German railway traffic. He also explained that his messages about the crimes the Nazis were committing in Treblinka had been transmitted to the Allies in London. In 1966, Ząbecki travelled again to Germany to attend the trial in Bielefeld of three former members of the Nazi Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei—Sipo) and Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst— SD) who had served in Białystok, and were accused of carrying out the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in the city, as well as crimes against the Polish inhabitants during the occupation. The main accused was Wilhelm Altenloh, former Commander of the Sipo and SD in Białystok.522 Two years later, Ząbecki travelled to Frankfurt-am-Main, where the trials of Adolf Beckerle, the former Nazi Ambassador to Bulgaria, and Fritz von Hahn, an official from the Jewish Affairs Office (Judenreferat) in the Nazi Foreign Ministry, were to take place. He had been invited to attend as a witness because among the documents he had saved were telegrams about the transports from Salonika and Bulgaria in 1943. In reply to the question, from what source did he know that among the deportees there were also Jews from foreign countries, Ząbecki replied: The Jews from foreign countries arrived in passenger trains and had bought tickets for the journey. The train staff collected the tickets

521 522

F. Ząbecki, Wspomnienia …, op. cit., p. 121. The other accused were: Richard Dibus, Hans Errelis and Lothar Heimbach.

229

and gave them to us at the railroad station. The tickets were the best proof of the country the deportees were from. Sometimes, a passenger would ask a Polish railway worker how far it was to the factories in Treblinka, because his whole family was there already.523

Ząbecki then recounted to the court the incident about the passenger who decided to go to the bar while his transport stood at the station, waiting its turn to proceed to Treblinka, and that the train with the deportees had left without him. He had used the normal train service and arrived at Treblinka wanting to be with his family. During our conversation he told me where he was from and I informed him in detail about the “factories” in Treblinka. He escaped immediately. There were several such incidents.524 Ząbecki also recalled that for every train, a list of wagons was issued, and that these lists included the departure station of each transport.525 The last time Ząbecki appeared as a witness at a war crimes trial was at the proceedings against former Camp Commandant Franz Stangl (Second Treblinka Trial) in Düsseldorf in 1970. In court, Ząbecki made a detailed statement, not only about the transports and the camp, but also about his activity in connection with the gathering of information for the Home Army. Ząbecki also mentioned his colleague, the engineer Kaczkowski, who assisted him in collecting information about the transports. Unfortunately, Kaczkowski had been arrested by the Germans who had spotted him putting a note with figures on a spike. The Germans took him first to Małkinia, and then transferred him to the Pawiak prison in Warsaw. On January 17, 1943, he was transported from Pawiak to the Lublin (Majdanek) Concentration Camp, where in all probability he perished.526

523 524 525

526

230

Ząbecki, Wspomnienia …, op. cit., p. 121. Ibid. Ibid., p. 138. The court in Bielefeld sentenced von Hahn to eight years imprisonment. Beckerle was released because of ill health and never sentenced. Wiezniowie Pawiaka—online resource.

The court asked Ząbecki if Stangl had visited the railway station in the Treblinka village. Ząbecki confirmed that he had. He also described how Stangl had visited local villages when Ukrainian guards had deserted from the camp. This was a very important moment for the court, because prior to Ząbecki's evidence, Stangl had denied that he had been the Commandant of Treblinka and claimed that he not been in the camp at the time of the mass extermination.527 * Between May 29, 1960 and 10 April 1961, before commencement of the proceedings against Adolf Eichmann, he was interrogated by Israeli police captain Avner Less and admitted that he had visited the Treblinka death camp: I came to a railroad station with a sign saying Treblinka, looking exactly like German railroad stations—anywhere in Germany—a replica, with signboards, etc. There I hung back as far as I could. I didn't push closer to see it all. (...) a line of naked Jews were being driven into a house, a big (...) no, not a house, a big, one-room structure, to be gassed.528

Eichmann then stated (erroneously) that he believed the Jews were gassed with potassium cyanide), but he “didn't look to see what happened.”529 When asked if he knew the meaning of Aktion Reinhardt, Eichmann replied in the affirmative, and that it was named after Heydrich.530 During Eichmann's trial which took place in Jerusalem between April 2 and August 14, 1961, four Treblinka survivors testified against him: Jankiel Wiernik, Kalman Teigman, Eliahu Rosenberg and Avraham Lindwasser.531

527 528

529 530

531

Ząbecki, Wspomnienia ..., op. cit., 138. J. von Lang, C. Sibyll (eds.), Eichmann Interrogated: Transcripts from the Archives of the Israeli Police, The Bodley Head, London/Sydney/Toronto 1983, p. 84. Ibid., Testimony of Adolf Eichmann, Jerusalem, July 18 1961. (http://www.nizkor.org). R. Wistrich, Who's Who in Nazi Germany, Routledge, London/New York 1995, p. 51.

231

Kalman Teigman recalled his arrival at Treblinka with his mother Tema on September 5, 1942, testified at Eichmann’s trial on June 6, 1961: As I have already said, they opened the freight cars and shouted at us to come out and take with us our personal belongings and parcels. A large number of people were killed on this platform or inside these freight cars, such as those who fainted or those who were not quick enough. On the double at lightning speed, they made us run towards the courtyard in which those two huts stood. Next to the gate, men were standing—men of the SS and Ukrainians, and here right away, the sorting began. They shouted to the women to go to the left and to the men, to the right. I did not want to part from my mother so soon. Precisely at the gate, I received a blow on my head from something, I think it was from a stick, and I fell down. I got up immediately for I didn’t want to receive another blow, and by then my mother was no longer at my side.532

Kalman Teigman on the witness stand testified about the revolt on August 2, 1943: The revolt was to start at four o’clock in the afternoon and between two and two thirty, those children whom I mentioned were to enter the store. And indeed they went in and brought some arms from the store, mainly hand grenades and some revolvers, and also ammunition. At the same time, two men went into the building, that is to say, the hut where we lived, and that was forbidden. These two men were caught and made to undress. Money was found on them; evidently they wanted to prepare money for themselves, in case they succeeded in escaping. They were caught, and one of the camp commanders stripped them and began beating them. This was about half an hour before the commencement of the revolt. A great commotion broke out. All the time people kept coming back and reported that they were beating them, and they would certainly reveal information—perhaps they had already done so— and if that was the case, there was nothing to lose, we should start straight away. But most of the people had been advised that the revolt was to begin at four. However, as I ascertained—we were

532

232

Testimony of Kalman Teigman, Jerusalem, June 6, 1961. (http: /www.nizkor.org).

told afterwards- Rudek fired at the SS man who was beating these two young men, and subsequently a grenade was thrown. This was the signal for the revolt to commence. And after that, the explosions began. There was a young man who used to disinfect the huts of the Germans and Ukrainians. He had a receptacle on his back, with a hosepipe, with which he sprayed disinfectant. On that day, this young man was to mix the chemicals with fuel, petrol, and in fact did so. In addition to that, there was a large tank of petrol near the garage. I think it must have contained several thousand liters of petrol. This tank was also set on fire. It exploded and spread flames along the fence, which was covered with dried foliage, and it began burning. I was at the workshop refurbishing aluminium utensils. I knew that I was to receive arms at the garage. I ran in fact towards the garage, but I could not reach it, for the fire prevented me from getting near. Then I turned around and ran in the direction of the Lazarett towards the second gate. I simply climbed over the fence. There had already been people who had escaped that way, and on the fence there were already blankets and boards, and we climbed over these.533

Avraham Lindwasser testified at the Eichmann Trial about his work as a dentist in the Totenlager also on June 6, 1961: For a while we worked at the gas chambers, inside the corridor of the small gas chambers, we could also see the gas chambers at the end. On one occasion, I was even taken—again by Matthes534—to the first camp, in order to fetch pairs of forceps for extracting teeth, since extra men had been added to our group. We passed by the large chambers, and, on the way back, I saw a big curtain at the entrance to the large gas chambers; a curtain used to cover the Ark containing the Torah Scrolls with the Shield of David on it, and on the curtain there was the inscription “This is the gate of the Lord, through which the righteous shall enter.” It was the curtain for the Ark—whether it was precisely from a synagogue, I do not know. But it was of quite large dimensions–it measured three by four meters, something like that.535

533

534 535

Testimony of Kalman Teigman, Jerusalem, June 6, 1961. (http: /www.nizkor.org). Written in the testimony record as Matthias, which is incorrect. Testimony of Avraham Lindwasser Jerusalem, June 6, 1961. (http: /www.nizkor.org).

233

Testimony given by both Eliahu Rosenberg and Jankiel Wiernik added little to what has been covered in other chapters of this work, so have not been included in this part of the book. On December 2, 1961, Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death for crimes against the Jewish people and crimes against humanity. On May 31, 1962, he was executed in Ramleh prison, his body cremated, and the ashes scattered in the Mediterranean.536 * Prior to the trial of Franz Stangl, which became known as the Second Treblinka Trial, one of his subordinates, former SSUnterscharführer Franz Suchomel, the supervisor of the “Gold Jews” (Goldjuden) in the Lower Camp, gave the following detailed pretrial statement in Düsseldorf on September 17, 1967.

Franz Suchomel Düsseldorf, 14 September, 1967 About the Case: SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel arrived in Treblinka on August 20, 1942. Previously, he had been employed at the “T4” euthanasia institution in Hadamar and occasionally worked in Berlin at the “T4” head office on Tiergartenstraße. He recalled that he went to Treblinka with the SS-NCOs Hirtreiter, Post, Löffler, Sydow and Matthes, (...) When Suchomel and his comrades arrived in Treblinka, Dr. Eberl was still Camp Commandant. Suchomel stayed in Treblinka until October 1943 when he was posted to the Sobibór death camp. While in Treblinka, he went on home leave several times. Once, for the birth of his youngest daughter on September 18, 1942. Altogether, he was given four home leaves from Treblinka. From Sobibór, he was transferred to Trieste in northern Italy. At the end of the War, Suchomel was captured by the Americans but released in August 1945 after only three months in a POW camp. He could not return to his hometown of Krumau because Czechoslovakia was under Russian occupation. From 1949, he

536

234

Ibid.

settled in Altötting, a picturesque town in the Alpine foothills of Upper Bavaria. Under oath Suchomel stated as follows: Under Dr. Eberl there was chaos in the camp. So many transports were arriving that it was impossible to deal with them. In my opinion, when these transports arrived, two-thirds of those transported were already dead. At that time I had to work on the Ramp, and I therefore know this accurately. After I had been in Treblinka quite a short time, one night Wirth appeared there. He had a fierce argument with Dr. Eberl. At that time my quarters and those of the other NCOs were in the Commandant's barrack and I heard what was going on. In the course of this argument Wirth dismissed Dr. Eberl. Wirth then went off for a day and returned accompanied by a detail consisting of Germans and Ukrainians. In Warsaw, he arranged for a three-day break in the arrival of transports, and immediately commenced a total re-organization of the camp. The method of operation was changed and the “Tube” relocated. The erection of a new gas chamber was started. At that time Wirth stayed in Treblinka throughout and supervised the new arrangements which included the creation of Jewish work details in both the Upper and Lower Camps. Until then, there had only been the so-called “Court Jews”, i.e. craftsmen and others who had to carry out personal services for the Germans. As I remember it, Stangl arrived in Treblinka at the beginning of September 1942. I know for certain that he signed my leave pass. That was on September 18, 1942. My daughter was born on September 19. I recollect that when I reached Berlin my daughter had already been born. I also remember the date, because on the advice of a railroad employee from Małkinia I took a normal civilian train and not the train carrying military personnel on leave. I learned later that this train had been in collision with a train from Łódź and there had been many casualties. (...) When I returned to Treblinka on October 1, I ran into Hauptmann Schemmel. I assumed that Stangl was looking after Sobibór or was himself on leave. At any rate, he was not in Treblinka when I returned. I remember that the new gas chambers had been completed and were in use.537 537

This part of the statement would seem to support Raul Hilberg who claimed that during this interim period the Commandant of Treblinka was Ernst Schemmel, temporarily transferred from the Bełżec death camp. Schemmel therefore

235

I remember about the incident with Max Biela which happened before my leave. When informed that Biela had died on the evening of September 11, 1942, after being taken to the sick bay (...)

When Suchomel was then asked whether at that time Stangl was already in Treblinka, he made the following addition to his statement: I assume this was the case, but I cannot be certain. Certainly Wirth was there. As to Wirth, I can state that when he issued a command no one else had anything to say. On the day that Biela had been knifed I was outside the camp with a work detail. When I returned I saw corpses of Jews on the reception square. I do not particularly recall the retribution action which took place the next day after an enquiry conducted on oath. I do know Wirth ordered apparently random shootings of work-Jews in order to spread shock and fear.

Suchomel continued with his statement: In the course of the re-organization of the camp I was put in charge of the Goldjuden. When I returned from leave on October 1, 1942, Lindenmüller had been in charge and I was his Deputy. Lindenmüller left at the start of February 1943. I remained the socalled boss of the Goldjuden for the rest of my time in Treblinka. From November 1942, I was also put in charge of the tailors' and shoemakers' workshops. My orders concerning these workshops came from Stangl, Franz, Küttner, and the senior NCO, i.e. Stadie. As boss of the Goldjuden I was only responsible to Stangl. The seized articles of value, gold, jewellery and money were packed into cases and ammunition boxes. The articles of value also included watches. Lists of contents were prepared for each case or munitions box. The individual articles were always listed only by number, for example: 1,000 gold watches, 500 alarm clocks, or so many thousand wedding and other rings. Paper money was sorted into separate denominations, bundled up and totaled. These cases and boxes were handed over to Stangl in his quarters. They were collected by an SS detail from Lublin and taken there. Any diamonds were kept separate and handed over to Stangl. I assume that inasmuch as the Goldjuden possessed diamond rings they themselves removed the was the acting Commandant before Stangl arrived from Sobibór. According to Donat, however, it would appear that Schemmel was Stangl's deputy for a period of several weeks in late September–early October 1942, which was well after Stangl first took over the command of Treblinka. (Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 303).

236

stones from the rings. In any event, I only ever handed diamonds to Stangl which, to my knowledge, he personally took to Lublin. From the Upper Camp I received gold teeth and to a smaller extent also other valuables. I cannot now say who brought these individual items, it could have been Matthes or Lindenmüller. In a very few instances it could have been myself who collected the valuables from the Upper Camp if I knew that the transport for Lublin was already waiting in the camp.

Suchomel was asked about Alfons Lindenmüller, the chief of the Goldjuden and Suchomel's immediate superior in Treblinka. Suchomel replied: At that time his age would have been mid-late-twenties. He had a lean narrow face, was taller than myself, about 1 m 74. The color of his hair was darkish fair to brown. He was an Oberscharführer of the Waffen-SS. I cannot say if he came to Treblinka from Lublin. From conversations with him I knew that he had been with a formation at the front where he had a motorcycle accident which resulted in a torn cartilage and damage to his kneecap. When he was well again he worked in an accounting capacity for the Waffen-SS. He mentioned that he had served in Dachau after his accident. What kind of duty I do not know. It could not have been guard duty. He was still limping when in Treblinka and complained of pain. In connection with Dachau, he spoke of postings of higher-ranking SS officers. The way he spoke pointed to a south German origin. He was not Austrian or a Sudeten-German. I do not know where he was before Treblinka. I assume he was with a unit at the front, which he also mentioned during conversations with me. He said that because of the “shit” at Stalingrad there had been some “weeding out”. I have never heard from him since. When I was in charge of the Goldjuden it was his responsibility to deliver the valuables to Stangl. I helped him with this from time to time. At the beginning, under Dr. Eberl, there was a big backlog to deal with, and there was a high yield from the transports as the Jews at that time apparently still believed that they were going to be resettled. As far as I know, Lindenmüller was an active member of the Waffen-SS. He told me nothing about this or that he had been a student.

237

I do know from questioning under oath about the witness Unger,538 that this man spoke of a German who had been a doctor of psychology, who had been a decent person but had not stayed long. I stated that this man could have been Lindenmüller. As I have already stated, I know nothing about whether Lindenmüller was an academic. With Lindenmüller one could speak openly about the circumstances in Treblinka. He also made efforts to control the severity of some of his men. He particularly took a strong stand against the beatings meted out by Küttner. When I am informed that according to the verdict of the court, Lindenmüller was said to have introduced the inspection of the genitals of naked Jewesses in the search for valuables, I have to state: If that was the case, that such a procedure was in place, it could only have happened on the orders of Wirth. As I knew Lindenmüller, he would never have given such an order.

In reply to questions about the SS-NCOs Küttner and Schiffner, the cremation of corpses, and Wirth, Suchomel offered the following information: Küttner was responsible for the allocation of duties in the Lower Camp. This had no significance for me because as boss of the Goldjuden I had permanent duties and was responsible to Commandant Stangl. As for the other workshops: after Schiffner left, I was put in charge of the carpenters and the other tradesmen. As far as I can recall, Schiffner left Treblinka in May 1943 after falling out with Wirth. After the reorganization had been completed, Wirth was in Treblinka for at least four weeks. When in the winter of 1942/43 the burning of corpses in the Upper Camp was introduced, Wirth was frequently in Treblinka. He came with Floss, a cremation specialist, I believe from Bełżec. I remember how horrified Stangl was when he first heard of this change. He told me about this and asked how it could happen that corpses already in a state of decomposition should now be burnt. Wirth then sent Hackenholt with an excavator to clear the graves. (...) (Signed) Franz Suchomel.539

538

539

238

Karel Unger from Czechoslovakia. In Treblinka, he worked in the Sorting and Camouflage Brigades. He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1942. Archives of the Holocaust: Zentrale Stelle der Verwaltungen Ludwigsburg, Garland Publishing Inc, New York/London 1993, p. 423.

Trial of Franz Paul Stangl Düsseldorf, West Germany 1970 Franz Stangl, extradited from Brazil to West Germany in 1967, for technical reasons was tried only for his participation in crimes at Treblinka, and not for crimes during the “T4” euthanasia program. Stangl was sentenced to life imprisonment for participation in the murder of 900,000 people during his tenure as Commandant of the Treblinka death camp.540 At his first hearing in court in Düsseldorf, he declared that while it was true that he had been the Commandant at Treblinka, he denied his participation in the mass murder of Jews. He claimed that his task in the camp had been “solely to supervise the collection and shipment of valuables brought into the camp by the victims. The individual responsible for the killings had been Christian Wirth.”541 In 1970, the court sentenced Stangl to life imprisonment. On June 28, 1971, while awaiting the result of his appeal against the sentence, Stangl died of a heart attack in Düsseldorf prison. He had just concluded a series of interviews with the British journalist Gitta Sereny who subsequently published the interviews in a book. Sereny believed that Stangl had died after their last meeting because “he had finally, however briefly, faced himself and told the truth—it was a monumental effort to reach that fleeting moment when he became the man he should have been.”542

Denaturalization Trial of Fedor Fedorenko Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, 1978 Fedor Fedorenko, a former Ukrainian guard who served in Treblinka, was arraigned in 1978 before a denaturalization hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, accused of providing false information about his past when applying for US citizenship. Confirmation of Fedorenko's presence in the Treblinka death camp was provided by the Ukrainian guard Petrovich Malagon 540 541 542

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 276. Ibid. Sereny, Into That Darkness …, op. cit., p. 366.

239

who had also served in Treblinka at the same time as Fedorenko. Malagon, however, was cautious enough not to implicate Fedorenko too deeply: I remember well his person and therefore can identify him on a photograph. In the Trawniki camp, Fedorenko was also trained to be a guard (Wachmann) and wore a special SS uniform. After he had completed his training in the Trawniki camp, Fedorenko was given the title of Wachmann. Each Wachmann was given 10 marks per month for tobacco. I cannot easily say how Fedorenko came to be in the Trawniki camp undergoing training for the duties of a Wachmann, because I did not speak with him about this. I did not meet Fedorenko in the Chełm camp and therefore cannot say from which camp precisely he was sent, to be trained in the Trawniki camp.543 I also met Fedorenko in the Treblinka camp, but I cannot remember if he was employed in this camp or brought Jewish citizens there for extermination. I remember Fedorenko only with the rank of Wachmann, and I do not know whether he was promoted to higher ranks and what was the attitude of the German authorities towards him.544

In the spring of 1943, Malagon was transferred to duty with the guard unit at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and then to Buchenwald concentration camp. He was therefore not in Treblinka at the time of the revolt and could not state whether Fedorenko took part or not in the suppression of the revolt. Fedorenko was eventually stripped of his American citizenship and deported to Russia in December 1984. In June 1986, after a 10day public trial, he was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad. His execution was officially reported by the Soviet authorities a month later.545 The trial of Ivan Demjanjuk, in Jerusalem during the 1980’s will be covered in more detail in Chapter 16. This controversial trial was the last trial regarding the Treblinka death camp. The debate persists even to this day, even though the original guilty verdict

543

544 545

240

The “cage” for Soviet prisoners in Chełm was officially designated as Stalag 319. OSI/DJ, Washington, DC: Nikolay Malagon, March 18, 1978. Teicholz, Ivan the Terrible …, op. cit., p. 376.

was overturned on appeal, despite the survivors claiming in court that Ivan Demjanjuk was Ivan the Terrible of Treblinka.

241

Chapter 15 From Trawniki to Treblinka

During interrogations in the USSR between 1945–1978 by officers of “Smersh”, the NKVD, NKGB, MGB, MVD, KGB546 and State Prosecutors, statements were taken from former Trawnikimänner who had served at the Aktion Reinhardt death camps. The extracts cited below come from transcripts given by the Soviet judicial authorities to the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) in Washington, DC, to assist the original prosecution case against John (Ivan) Demjanjuk. Translations of the interrogation protocols were prepared by OSI staff in Washington, DC. Before their duty in the death camps, including Treblinka, all those interrogated had been trained at a special establishment of the SS in the village of Trawniki, about 25 kilometers south-east of Lublin in the Generalgouvernement, and came under the jurisdiction of SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik. The SS training school was located in the buildings of a pre-war Polish sugar refinery, served by a big railway station close by. In early July 1941, shortly after the invasion of the Soviet Union, SS-Hauptsturmführer Hermann Höfle, the Deputy Director of Aktion Reinhardt in Lublin, established a camp for Soviet Prisoners of War (POW’s) soldiers on the factory premises.547 546

547

“Smersh” (Death to Spies): the name coined by Stalin for three secret units formed within the Red Army in late 1942 to combat attempts by the Germans to infiltrate and subvert Soviet troops. Officially called the Department for Special Methods of Spy Detection (Spetsyalnye Methodoy Razoblachniya Shpionam), it was officially disbanded in May 1946. NKVD: Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del (National Commissariat for Internal Affairs), was the biggest law enforcement agency in the Soviet Union 1934–1946, its successor was NKGB, MGB and MVD (Ministry for Internal Affairs) until 1954. Predecessor of the KGB. KGB: Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security) in the Soviet Union 1954–1991 when it was replaced by the present-day FSB (Federaln'naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federalatsi), the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. R. Kuwałek, From Lublin to Bełżec, AD-REM, Lublin 2006, p. 12.

242

On October 27, 1941, Globocnik appointed SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Streibel as Commandant of the newly created SS-Training Camp Trawniki (SS-Ausbildungslager Trawniki). Within a month of Streibel's arrival, a small detachment of Trawnikimänner had been sent to the Bełżec death camp which was under construction, and to the penal labor camp at Treblinka (Treblinka I).548 Thereafter, Streibel and a group of SS officers toured the so-called “cages” in which Soviet troops were held and picked the fittest and healthiest for training at Trawniki. Some also volunteered in order to avoid certain death by starvation and disease in the coming winter.549 About 2,000–3,000 Soviet prisoners passed through the training camp at Trawniki during the two and a half years of its existence, to qualify as Wachmänner in the service of the SS. After a training course lasting up to two months, a companysize unit of up to 120 men was sent to guard the Aktion Reinhardt death camps at Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka. Those who were bilingual in Russian and German or Ukrainian and German, the ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) were assigned as interpreters and platoon leaders (Zugwachmänner).550 During their duty in Aktion Reinhardt it was not uncommon for some of them to be transferred from one death camp to another. The Soviet prisoner Dimitriy Nikolayevich Korotkikh has given a description of Trawniki, the training he underwent there, and his subsequent postings: The SS training camp in which I was trained was situated at the edge of the village of Trawniki, on the territory of a factory, in a few

548

549

550

P. Black, “Foot Soldiers of the Final Solution: The Trawniki Training Camp and Operation Reinhard”, in: Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Oxford University Press 2011, p. 6. The conditions in these “cages” were appalling. Thousands of Soviet prisoners were held under the open sky in big tracts of land surrounded by a barbed-wire fence. There were no barracks, no food or water, and no sanitation. In some “cages”, notably Stalag 319 in Chełm, eastern Poland, the death rate reached 90%. The deliberate neglect and ill-treatment of these prisoners was the result of Stalin never signing any international treaty concerning the treatment of prisoners-of-war. Therefore, the Germans never felt any obligation to treat these prisoners under the humane rules of warfare. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 22.

243

large, brick, single-storey buildings. The German Kommandantur was also housed there in a two-storey building. (...) The training period in the SS school for Wachmänner was indefinite, it depended on the need for guards. These were taken from the camp, regardless of their state of preparedness, but the training period was roughly for about six months. During our stay in the SS guard's school, we underwent drilling and shooting training. We studied weapons—the rifle, also the rules of sentry duty. We learned German songs and took special training in sentry and convoy duty, (...) In the spring of 1942, I do not recall the month, after completing the SS school for Wachmänner, together with a group of selected guards comprising some 30 men, (...) I was sent to the city of Lublin (Poland) to guard a concentration camp situated at the edge of the city of Lublin.551 As I learned later, individuals of Jewish nationality had been held there, but by the time of our arrival they had been taken away, where to, I do not know and there were no prisoners left in the camp. We stayed there for about four days without occupation, then we were taken back to the camp in Trawniki where I stayed until the fall of 1942 and underwent training. After this, I was sent to the village of Treblinka where there was a camp especially destined for the mass extermination of Jews, and which was called a “death camp”.552

Korotkikh's comrade, Nikolay Petrovich Malagon, has also described his stay in Trawniki which lasted from October 1941 until March 1942. After that, he and 10 other Wachmänner were sent to the town of Zamość on the road between Lublin and Bełżec, where they guarded the property of a colonel: After a month we returned to the Trawniki camp, but of the four companies of guards, nobody was left except the service personnel. As I learned later, part of the guards had been sent to the Treblinka concentration camp (sic) and the rest to the Bełżec and Lublin

551

552

244

Lublin concentration camp, usually known as “Majdanek”, was officially designated as a “Prisoner-of-War Camp of the Waffen-SS”. The name “Majdanek” is a Polish invention, after the nearby village of Majdan Tatarski. Office for Special Investigations at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC (hereafter, OSI/DJ): Dimitriy Nikolayevich Korotkikh, April 21, 1950.

camps. After some time I was also sent to the Lublin camp where a team of guards (Wachmänner) was being collected.553

Malagon and his group of 50 men were then assigned as escort guards on a train taking Warsaw Jews—men, women and children—from the Umschlagplatz to Treblinka: We were all armed with rifles and live ammunition. (...) I was armed with a French rifle, with about 30 cartridges in it. Our group was led by a certain Komarkin, the first name and patronymic of whom I do not know, but he spoke Polish well. We brought the train with the Jews to the Treblinka camp, which was situated near the station of Treblinka on Polish territory. A single-track railway extended from the railway station to the camp. Some of the train's cars were driven into the territory of the camp and part remained at the station. When we arrived at the camp, other guards were already in the cordon and these began to receive the Jews we had brought. (...) we handed them over to the camp guard. When we arrived at the camp, there were other guards there from the Trawniki school. From that day I started my service in the Treblinka camp. This camp was created by the Germans with the express purpose of destroying citizens of Jewish nationality. I saw that trains carrying citizens of Jewish nationality—men, women and children, old men and women arrived regularly at the camp.554

One of those Jews who arrived in Treblinka during October 1942, Samuel Willenberg described the Ukrainian sentries: Suddenly we were entering a clearing—a camp enclosed in barbedwire. The train approached a wooden building. A narrow strip of land along the track broadened into a platform of sorts. We saw SS men walking around everywhere, armed with whips. Blackuniformed Ukrainian sentries stood beside the fence and alongside the hut, each bearing a loaded, cocked rifle. 10 meters away stood Jews in civilian dress with blue armbands, holding brooms.555

Dmitrij Nikolayevich Korotkikh, who served in Treblinka until the liquidation of the camp in November 1943, describes the layout of the death camp: 553 554 555

OSI/DJ: Nikolay Petrovich Malagon, March 18, 1978. Ibid. Samuel Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka… op.cit. p. 39.

245

The mass extermination of Jews in special gas chambers took place in this camp. It was situated in a forest. A highway passed about half a kilometer from it, and the village of Wulka was located some 2 kilometers away.556 The entire territory of the camp was fencedin with barbed-wire, camouflaged with interwoven branches. Iron anti-tank obstacles intertwined with barbed-wire were placed around the camp some 50 meters from the barbed-wire, thus making it impossible to approach the camp. Four watchtowers manned by sentries from among the Wachmänner stood between the barbed-wire barriers and the anti-tank obstacles. The camp had two gates, through one passed the railroad branch line from Treblinka station and on which trains bringing in the doomed prisoners arrived. The second gate served for bringing in supplies, and adjacent to it stood a sentry box. All these entrances were also guarded by the Wachmänner. At the entrance to the camp, to the right, stood the barrack in which the Germans numbering some 50 persons were housed. These and the entire exterminating enterprise were under the command of the camp Commander, Untersturmführer Franz. At the entrance to the camp, to the left, stood a building in which was located the German headquarters of the camp. Four barracks situated behind the headquarters served as quarters for the Wachmänner. The barber's shop and the dining room in which the Wachmänner and Germans ate, were located in the same building. The territory of these barracks and the headquarters were fenced-off from the main area of the camp with barbed-wire. Beyond the fence, on the left, in two large barracks were quartered the so-called “work brigades” numbering some 200 people of Jewish nationality, selected by the Germans from among the people to be exterminated. Beyond the barracks, near the railroad track, there were two more barracks intended for the initial stay of people unloaded from the trains, and at the same time they served as “undressing places”. Both were fenced-in with a single row of barbed-wire. From the “undressing” place, a narrow passage made of barbed-wire led to the gas chamber building, or as it was called the “bath-house”. At the end of the camp there stood a barrack which served as a storage place for the belongings of the exterminated prisoners.557

556 557

246

“Wulka”—Wółka Okrąglik. OSI/DJ: Dimitriy Nikolayevich Korotkikh, April 21, 1950.

Pavel Vladimirovich Leleko provided an accurate overall description of the security features of the death camp: that the entire area of the camp, in the shape of an irregular quadrangle, was divided into three sections by rows of barbed-wire; the outer perimeter surrounded by three meter high double rows of barbedwire intertwined with bushes and branches in order to prevent observation from one section into the other; and beyond the barbedwire a continuous line of metal anti-tank obstacles, also enmeshed in barbed-wire. Leleko's comrade, Nikolai Malagon, remained on duty in Treblinka for at least three or four months, during which time at least one trainload of Jews arrived every day and were killed in the gas chambers and in the Lazarett, known euphemistically to the Wachmänner as the “infirmary”. He was unable to state a specific number of victims. He also knew about sporadic acts of armed resistance by the newly arrived Jews who either used pistols or threw hand grenades. He recalls one incident on the Ramp with a grenade: When one of the prisoners on the unloading area threw a grenade, one of the guards was killed. The other guards standing in cordon formation immediately retaliated against the prisoners who had thrown the grenade, that is, they shot them on the spot. Who among the Wachmänner participated in this action and whether Fedorenko was among them, I do not know.558

Malagon further stated that when the Jews were brought to Treblinka, the trains were unloaded by Germans and by guards with the rank of Oberwachman or Zugwachman who were usually in cordon formation. The Jews were chased from the cars with whips and pistols, beaten and shot at. Malagon had already left Treblinka by the time of the revolt on August 2, 1943. He only heard about it later. Pavel Leleko explained that after the big barracks alongside the railway siding in the Lower Camp had been disguised as a railroad station, the Jews brought to the death camp “did not suspect the horrors closing in on them”. Leleko continues: 558

OSI/DJ: Nikolay Petrovich Malagon, March 18, 1978.

247

Two more barracks stood about 70–100 meters from (…) two barracks situated by the railroad branch line, and served as storage space for the belongings and clothing of the doomed prisoners. One of these two barracks served as an undressing place for the women. The men undressed near the other barrack, right there on the square, winter and summer. The food, belongings and clothing taken from the doomed prisoners were stored inside this second barrack. Inside the women's undressing room there was also a socalled “Cashier's Office” where the women were ordered to hand over their money, jewellery and valuables for “safekeeping.” Beyond the “Cashier's Office” booth was a fenced-in area where the hair of the women was cut off. The men also handed over their valuables and money in a special “Cashier's Office” situated not far from the second barrack. Both barracks were fenced-in by barbedwire.559

The naked Jews were then chased to the gas chambers through the Schlauch made of barbed-wire covered with pine branches. Malagon next describes what happened to the new-arrivals who could not go through the extermination procedure unaided and were taken to the “infirmary” (Lazarett): The principal worker in the “infirmary” was a man with the last name of Rebeka (Fyodor Ryabeka). (…); he looked like a Jew. This was the man who exterminated in the “infirmary” the citizens who were ailing and could not walk without help. Rebeka sometimes boasted that he worked so hard that the barrel of his sub-machine gun became red-hot. I did not participate personally in the shooting of the Jews brought in, but was only in the cordon, took part in the unloading of the Jews from the railroad cars, and mostly, together with a work brigade, prepared pine and fir branches that camouflaged the barbed-wire, (...) which extended around the entire camp, and the wire enclosing the corridor leading from the barracks to the gas chambers. The barbed-wire around the so-called “infirmary” was similarly camouflaged with branches.560

Malagon's comrade, Pavel Leleko adds about the gas chambers that “until about the summer of 1942561 there was only one gas chamber 559 560 561

248

OSI/DJ: Pavel Leleko, February 20, 1945. OSI/DJ: Nikolay Petrovich Malagon, March 18, 1978. “1943” in the original statement; obviously a mistake.

building with three gas chambers, but as it was unable to handle the enormous number of people brought by the Germans to the “death camp”, a new, bigger gas chamber building (…) was constructed with six chambers (sic) (…) some 20 meters from the above-mentioned gas chamber building”:562 A road led from the undressing rooms to the third section of the death camp (i.e. the Schlauch, author's note) and terminated at the building where the extermination of people took place. Flowers grew alongside in long boxes. There was no door at the entrance. Instead, there was a heavy hanging made from a rug. Beyond it started a narrow corridor which ended at the opposite wall. To the right and to the left of the corridor there were five doors that closed hermetically and led into the special chambers where the poisoning took place. The chambers were about 6 meters long and as wide, about 2–3 meters high. In the center of the ceiling there was an electric light bulb (…) and two “shower heads” through which poisonous gas was fed into the chamber. The walls, floor and ceiling of the chamber were of cement. On the opposite side to the entrance door there was another door, also a hermetically closing door, through which the bodies of the poisoned people were removed. As many as 500 men, women and children were pushed into the chambers indiscriminately.563

562 563

OSI/DJ: Pavel Leleko, February 20, 1945. Ibid., Leleko's descriptions of the new gas chambers is interesting because he mentions there were five hermetically-sealed doors on either side of the central corridor, and two rooms at the far end, each one housing a gassing engine. SSScharführer Heinrich Matthes, who was in charge of the Upper Camp, stated that six chambers were operational, i. e. three on each side of the central corridor. (Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 121) SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel, interviewed by Claude Lanzmann in the film Shoah, stated that, in agreement with Leleko: “The Jews say there were five on each side. I say there were four, but I'm not sure.” According to Suchomel, only the upper row on the east side was in operation. Jewish eyewitnesses mention 10 chambers and in correspondence to the authors, Kalman Teigman and Eliahu Rosenberg confirmed that there were 10 gas chambers, and that the engines were located in a small chamber connected to the gas chambers. (Correspondence dated September 15, 2002). During the Eichmann trial in 1961, Rosenberg confirmed that there were five chambers on each side of the central corridor. Another Treblinka survivor, Jankiel Wiernik, a master builder employed on the construction of the new gas chambers, further confirmed that there were 10 gas chambers in the new building: “It turned out that we were building 10 additional gas chambers, more spacious than the old ones.” (Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 161).

249

Leleko claims that only eight chambers of the ten in the gas chamber building were used to gas people. The two remaining chambers contained two powerful German engines, each one of which fed gas to four chambers. While filling the chambers with prisoners, the Germans beat them with whips to force them to press together closer and thus make it possible for more people to be crowded inside the gas chambers. The filled–up rooms were immediately hermetically closed (...) the people inside died. Some 20–30 minutes later the doors were opened and the work brigade consisting of Jews immediately started to unload the bodies from the chambers.564

Dimitriy Korotkikh states that after each gassing, the bodies of the murdered Jews were at first dumped into big pits behind the gassing building. Later, the bodies were dug up and burned in special incinerators.565 Pavel Leleko's statement concludes with a description of the cremation site behind the new gassing building: An incinerator for the burning of the bodies was situated about 10 meters beyond the big gas chamber building. It had the shape of a cement pit about one meter deep and twenty meters long (…) covered on top with four rows of rails extending along the entire length of one of the walls of the pit. The bodies were laid on the rails, and set alight (…) About 1,000 bodies were burned simultaneously. The burning process lasted up to five hours.566

This work was performed by “special teams composed of individuals of Jewish nationality.”567 This work brigade of 500 Jewish prisoners was accommodated in a segregated barrack not far from the gas chamber building in the Upper Camp.568

564 565 566 567 568

250

At the two Treblinka trials held in Düsseldorf (1964–65 and 1970) the officially accepted plan of the camp shows 10 chambers with two engine rooms at the rear of the building. (See: Burba, Treblinka, Ein NS-Vernichtungslager …, op. cit., pp. 18–19). OSI/DJ: Pavel Leleko, April 21, 1950. OSI/DJ: Dimitriy Nikolayevich Korotkikh, April 21, 1950. OSI/DJ: Pavel Leleko, April 21, 1950. OSI/DJ: Nikolay Petrovich Malagon, March 18, 1978. OSI/DJ: Pavel Leleko, April 21, 1950.

For the Jewish prisoners the Ukrainian guards were mostly unnamed and unknown. Jankiel Wiernek recalled Kostenko and Andreyev. Richard Glazar remembered their Commander Rogaza, as a boyish red-cheeked boor.569 Samuel Willenberg also had reason to remember Boris Rogaza, when he was loading the sorted goods from the Sorting Square to the trains. The goods from the Jewish victims had been packed into suitcases: The Ukrainian Commander Sergeant Rogaza, stood in our way, as we ran and with a board he had procured from somewhere, whacked us murderously. When we balanced suitcases on our shoulders, we could use them for a little self-defence. If our loads consisted of two heavy suitcases, leaving our legs and chests exposed, we had no way of eluding Rogaza and his plank. It was on one such occasion that Rogoza smashed me in the face with all his strength. I felt my teeth crack, a mass of blood welled up on my face. I spat out the blood and six teeth and continued to race towards the wagons.570

Kalman Teigman described how a Ukrainian guard murdered people at the Lazarett: You would walk in there and see the fire burning. Human bodies burning! A Ukarainian guard was sitting there, playing the flute, as if he were a shepherd. And when they brought people in, he would shoot them.571

569 570

571

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., p. 39. Willenberg incorrectly stated his name was Rogozin. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 78. Despite Treblinka Documentary, ORT Uruguay University 2002.

251

Chapter 16 The Real “Ivan the Terrible”

In circumstances similar to the Fedorenko case, John Demjanjuk (born Ivan Nikolai Demjanjuk on April 13, 1920 in Dubowije Machrinzik, a village in the Ukraine) was deported from Cleveland, Ohio, USA. On February 16, 1987, he was tried before an Israeli court in Jerusalem, accused of being “Ivan the Terrible” who had supervised the gas chambers at Treblinka.572 He was found guilty and sentenced to death on April 25, 1988. Following a successful appeal based on mistaken identity— although numerous witnesses who had survived Treblinka were convinced they had identified the right man—it was apparent that Demjanjuk whilst not in Treblinka, had served at the Sobibór death camp, which he himself admitted. He was released and returned to the USA. It was obvious from evidence collected that the “Ivan the Terrible” of Treblinka was actually another Ukrainian guard called Ivan Marchenko. Demjanjuk was rearrested and extradited to Germany on May 11, 2009, to stand trial for participation in crimes committed in the Sobibór death camp, and found guilty by a Munich court of being an accessory to 27,900 counts of murder. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment, but released from custody pending an appeal. He died in a nursing home at Bad Feilnbach, Upper Bavaria, on March 7, 2012, before the appeal could be heard.573 John (Ivan) Demjanjuk died a free man and legally innocent.574

572

573

574

During interrogation in Russia, Nikolay Malagon, a former Wachmann from Treblinka, made the unlikely statement that he had seen Demjanjuk in Treblinka “where he was employed as a cook”(!): OSI/DJ: Nikolay Malagon, October 2, 1979. J. Ewing, A. Cowell, “Demjanjuk Taken to a Nursing Home”, in: New York Times, May 13, 2011. A. A. Semotiuk, “In Memory of Ivan Demjanjuk”, in: Kyiv Post, March 21, 2012.

252

Information concerning the background and activities of the real “Ivan the Terrible” of Treblinka, Ivan Ivanovich Marchenko and his assistant at the Treblinka gas chambers, Nikolay Shalayev originated from Soviet sources during the period 1944–1978. The information was provided by former comrades of Marchenko and Shalayev who had served with them at the SS training camp in Trawniki, Poland, and in the death camp at Treblinka during interrogations by officers of “Smersh”, the NKVD, State Prosecutors, and more recently by the KGB. From these statements some details of Marchenko's background and pre-war life can be gleaned, although even these are sometimes conflicting.575 Ivan Ivanovich Marchenko was born on March 2, 1911, in the small village of Serhijowga, Dnjepro-petrowsk, Ukraine. His father was also called Iwan, and his mothers name was Oksana. Her maiden name was Beretjatka. Marchenko was married to Katherine, formerly Krawchenko. Physical descriptions of him, however, are fairly consistent: well-built, with short-cropped dark hair, above average height—one of his comrades, Samuel Prits, remarked that “Marchenko was distinguished by his tall stature”,576 while another comrade, Pavel Leleko, remarked that Marchenko “held himself with a stoop because he was so tall”.577 Facial features: hazel eyes, narrow black eyebrows; long, straight nose; large mouth with thick lips; big ears and a prominent Adam's apple. Although he allegedly came from a village, he spoke “perfect Ukrainian with clear pronunciation”. After completing third grade education, Marchenko was employed as a coal miner in Kryvy Rog (Ukr. Kryvy Rih), a big steel producing city in central Ukraine. Other statements refer to him

575

576 577

All statements in this chapter by former Trawnikimänner are from the archive of the Office for Special Investigations at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC (hereafter, OSI/DJ). OSI/DJ: Samuel Prits, August 2, 1961. OSI/DJ: Pavel Leleko, February 20, 1945 during interrogation by the “Smersh” Directorate of Counter-Intelligence of the 2nd Belarussian Front. Note that this interrogation took place almost three months before the end of the War in Europe.

253

being employed for a time as a supervisor on river-boat barges floating lumber on the river Dnieper. Although most statements claim Marchenko was not a member of the Communist Party, there is reference to him being considered in 1941 as a candidate for the VKB(b)578—Department (b) of the local branch of the NKVD, Stalin's secret police. He was married, with one son aged about five years, and a daughter aged nine. In Treblinka, he carried a photo of his family. A third child was born in the summer of 1941 shortly after his capture by the Germans. Drafted into the Red Army immediately after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, he was captured near the city of Belaya Tserkov (Ukr. Bila Tserkova), 80 kilometers south of Kiev, in a battle during which his unit was surrounded and taken prisoner. After internment in a camp in the Ukraine, Marchenko and other comrades were transferred to Stalag 319, one of three camps for Soviet prisoners in the city of Chełm in eastern Poland. In October 1941, Marchenko and other former Soviet soldiers were selected for service in Aktion Reinhardt. After basic military training in the SS camp at Trawniki, he was assigned to the Treblinka death camp in the late summer of 1942 where he served until the late summer of 1943. According to Marchenko's comrade, Samuel Martynovich Prits: “When Marchenko arrived in the Treblinka death camp from the Trawniki SS training camp along with me in a group of SS guards, the mass killing of people was not yet taking place.”579 Which means they arrived some time before July 23, 1942. In the camp, Marchenko wore a black uniform, similar to a German SS-uniform;580 he also often wore a leather jacket.581 Armed with a pistol,582 he always roamed around the camp clutching a one-and-a-half or two meter long water-pipe. One of Marchenko's comrades, Grigoriy Skydan, recalls that Marchenko “was an expert

578 579 580

581 582

254

Vnutrennikh Komissariat Bezopastnosti—Committee for Internal Security. OSI/DJ: Samuel Prits, August 2, 1961. OSI/DJ: Nikolay Yegorivich Shalayev, August 28, 1951. Samuel Prits, August 2, 1961. OSI/DJ: Nikolay Malagon, March 8, 1978. OSI/DJ: Fyador Ryabeka, August 31, 1961; Ivan Terekhov, September 13, 1961.

in killing people with the water-pipe. I personally saw how with one blow of the pipe, Marchenko killed a physically strong man.”583 From the very beginning, Marchenko was friends with the Deputy Camp Commandant, SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Franz, and “was always hanging around the German guards”,584 especially SSOberscharführer Fritz Schmidt who was in charge of the SS-garage and metalwork shop. Marchenko and Schmidt repaired cars together, and when the transports arrived, they were together on the Ramp. Marchenko's main responsibility as a mechanic included safeguarding the functioning of the engine in the first gas chamber building that produced the carbon monoxide pumped into the dushehubka, the peculiar word used by the Ukrainian guards for the gas chambers. It means “soul destroyer”. In September 1942, Nikolay Shalayev arrived in Treblinka and was assigned to work with Marchenko as a mechanic in the engine room at the rear of the gassing building.585 Shalayev became friendly with SS-NCO Erich Schultz who often visited Shalayev in his barrack.586 Marchenko and Shalayev turned on the gassing engines, first in the old gas chambers, and after the autumn of 1942, in the machine rooms at the rear of the new and bigger gassing building. They were assisted by two Jews, who re-fuelled and sometimes turned on the engines587 and two Germans and a Ukrainian who guarded the Jews and supervised their work.

583 584 585 586 587

OSI/DJ: Grigoriy Skydan, February 16, 1950. OSI/DJ: Fyador Ryabeka, August 31, 1961. OSI/DJ: Shalayev, December 20, 1950. OSI/DJ: Sergey Vasilyenko, March 6, September 16, September 18, 1961. OSI/DJ: Nikolay Shalayev, December 20, 1951. Filip Fedorovich Levchishin, March 20–30, 1962. Nikolay Malagon erroneously claimed that in Treblinka, Marchenko drove a gassing van, a mistake that could have arisen because in February 1943 he and a unit of about 15 Wachmänner were transferred to the Bełżec death camp where such a van had been used early in 1942. He could well have heard about this vehicle while in Bełżec. Malagon further claimed (again erroneously) that while he was in Treblinka, Marchenko was employed in the camp as a cook, preparing food for the guards. He also made the dubious claim that he could identify the guard he named as “Demedyuk” or “Demjanjuk”

255

Because of their “responsibility” at the gas chambers, personally directing the whole process of the mass killing of people with exhaust gas, Marchenko and Shalayev “had the greatest prestige” in the camp.588 They worked 24-hour shifts, i.e. worked for 12 hours on duty and 12 hours off-duty.589 Thereafter, both Marchenko and Shalayev considered themselves among the élite in the camp, preferred to mix with the SS-NCOs off-duty, and very rarely went to the barracks where the other Ukrainian guards lived.590 Because of the special savagery Marchenko exhibited while dealing with the Jews during the killing process, he very quickly acquired the nickname “Ivan the Terrible” (Polish: Iwan Gróżny) among the Jews in the work brigades.591 He directly took part in the herding of the people into the gas chambers, standing at the top of the entry steps and hurrying the Jews to get inside. The people thought they would be given a bath,592 and as the procession of the naked condemned approached the gas chambers (dushehubky), Marchenko and Nikolay would shout: “Hurry up, or the water will get cold!”593 But then the sadistic treatment by the two Ukrainian mechanics began, who viciously kicked the people or beat them with whatever was at hand.594 As the people approaching saw this, they began shouting and screaming, refusing to go into the building. Often, they tried to turn back. At that point, the beatings became even more vicious. Whips, clubs and even iron bars were used.595 Marchenko killed people with obvious satisfaction and beat them mercilessly with a whip or the iron pipe he usually carried.596

588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596

256

from photographs. If this were true, he could only have met Demjanjuk while they were undergoing training together in Trawniki. OSI/DJ: Grigoriy Skydan, February 16, 1950. Samuel Prits, August 2, 1961. OSI/DJ: Grigoriy Skydan, February 16, 1950. Aleksandra Kirpa, April 18, 1951. Ibid. OSI/DJ: Sergey Vasilyenko, September 16, 1961. OSI/DJ: Nikolay Shalayev, August 28, December 20, 1950. OSI/DJ: Pavel Leleko, February 20–21, 1945. Nikolay Kulak, March 1, 1947. OSI/DJ: Nikolay Shalayev, August 28, December 20, 1950. OSI/DJ: Pavel Vladimirovich Leleko, February 20–21, 1945. OSI/DJ: Ivan Terekhov, September 13, 1961.

Marchenko also had a cavalryman's sword with which he mutilated the people outside the gas chambers. He cut off women's breasts,597 and cut off the noses and ears from women and men alike. Being a strong and well-built man, with one stroke of the sword Marchenko would virtually cut a man through.598 In addition to Marchenko and Shalayev, five or six SS-men armed with clubs and whips also drove the naked Jews into the corridor of the building and then into the chambers. In this, the Germans would compete with the Ukrainian mechanics in brutality towards the people selected to die.599 Wachmann Prokofy Ryabtsev, who stood near the entrance to the gassing building, states that he also saw the Zugwachmänner Yeger and Pilman go into the corridor: “I personally did not herd the condemned into the gas chambers, but stood at my post near the entrance and from there I could see what was happening inside the dushehubka.”600 Each group of men or women with children were also chased along the Schlauch from the rear by a group of SS-men, very often by Deputy Commandant Kurt Franz himself, accompanied by his dog, Barry. Franz set his dog on the condemned, which was specially trained to snap at their genitals.601 SS-NCO Erich Schultz also had a dog that had been trained by Nikolai Shalayev. He too enjoyed setting the dog on the naked people running to the gas chambers. The dog would tear off pieces of flesh from the terrified men, women and children.602 One by one the gas chambers were packed full of Jews, and Marchenko made sure that the door of each chamber was closed and locked before the filling of the next chamber began.603 After the chambers on both sides of the corridor were full, Marchenko and

597 598 599 600 601 602 603

OSI/DJ: Pavel Leleko, February 20–21, 1945. OSI/DJ: Grigoriy Skydan, February 16, 1950. OSI/DJ: Pavel Leleko, February 20–21, 1945. OSI/DJ: Prokofy Nikolayevich Ryabtsev, April 17, 1961. OSI/DJ: Pavel Vladimirovich Leleko, February 20–21, 1945. OSI/DJ: Sergey Vasilyenko, March 6, September 16, September 18, 1961. OSI/DJ: Fyodor Ryabeka, August 4, 1961.

257

Shalayev went together to the machine room and started the engines to begin the process of asphyxiation.604 While the engines were running Marchenko looked through special observation slits alongside each door to see how the killing process was progressing.605 When asked by their comrades what they could see inside, Marchenko and Shalayev replied that “the people were writhing, twisting around one another.” The Ukrainian guard Pavel Leleko also tried to look through the little window into a gas chamber, but “somehow I could not see anything. Gradually, the noise in the chambers subsided.”606 After about 15 minutes, the engines were turned off.607 Shalayev claimed during interrogation in 1951 that he worked as a supervisor in the machine room of the new gassing building for only 20 days. He then transferred to the job of supervisor of the electricity generator in the same room, because, as he claimed, “he did not want to work with the engines the gas from which was fed into the gas chambers.” The generator provided electricity to the whole camp and was run by two Jews under Shalayev's supervision.608 After the War, Shalayev admitted during interrogation that “during the course of over a year's work, tens of thousands of persons were sent through the chambers of the dushehubka by Marchenko with the help of other Wachmänner and the SS.”609 Shalayev neglected to mention his own indisputable participation in the mass murder that certainly extended well beyond the 20 days he claims. Whenever executions were carried out in the camp by firing squad, usually on the orders of Deputy Commandant Kurt Franz, Marchenko was always a member.610 One such execution was ordered after a Ukrainian guard, Oberwachmann Robertus, together with others, began to sadistically hack with axes members of a work 604 605 606 607 608 609 610

258

OSI/DJ: Pavel Leleko, February 20–21, 1945. Prokofy Ryabtsev, April 17, 1961. OSI/DJ: Nikolay Kulak, 1 March, 1947. OSI/DJ: Pavel Leleko, February 20–21, 1945. Ibid. OSI/DJ: Nikolay Shalayev, August 28, December 20, 1951. Ibid. OSI/DJ: Nikolay Kulak, March 1, 1947.

brigade. In desperation, one of the workers cut Robertus on the neck with a razor.611 Robertus escaped and ran to Marchenko for help. For this “transgression”, practically the entire work brigade was executed by firing squad.612 Altogether, about 10–15 men were executed next to one of the excavators in the Upper Camp on the orders of Franz.613 The firing squad consisted of Marchenko and several other Wachmänner, and SS-NCO, Erich Schultz.614 In cases where Ukrainian guards were attacked and injured by Jews in the work brigades, on returning from hospital, it was characteristic that they wreaked their revenge, without regard for age or gender, killing and torturing the Jews of the work brigades at every opportunity.615 By all accounts, Ivan Marchenko was an alcoholic who was always drunk, both on and off-duty.616 On one occasion outside the camp, he attacked one of his comrades, Fyodor Ryabeka: “I was in the village of Wólka and met Marchenko who struck me with his fist. He was in a very intoxicated state and the next day said that he did not remember what it was all about.”617 One of the surprising facts to emerge from the statements by the former Treblinka Wachmänner is that during the period from February–September 1943, the SS in the camp employed about a dozen Ukrainian women to work in the German compound as cooks, cleaners and laundresses.618 They had originally been

611 612 613 614 615 616

617 618

OSI/DJ: Grigoriy Skydan, February 16, 1950. Ibid. OSI/DJ: Ananiy Grigoryevich Kuzminsky, March 20, 1965. Ibid. OSI/DJ: Grigoriy Skydan, February 16, 1950. OSI/DJ: Ivan Terekhov, September 13, 1961. Aleksandra Kirpa, April 18, 1951. Fyodor Ryabeka, August 31, 1961. Ibid. Of the dozen women taken to Treblinka to work for the SS in the camp the following were identified after the War by the Soviet authorities: Aleksandra Terentyevna Kirpa, Maria Ivanovna Korobka, Malanya Yefimovna Nezdliyminoha, Nina Dimitriyevna Shiyenko, Alexandra Nikiforovna Sumskaya, Anna Ivanovna Sumskaya, Nadezhda Yavtuckyevna Timofenko, and Yevdokiya Nikitovna Tretyak.

259

destined for work in Germany, but en route their carriage had been disconnected from the rest of the train and diverted to Treblinka. Although they were forbidden to enter the Upper Camp, they socialized with the Ukrainian guards who were employed in both the Lower and Upper Camps and soon learned the details about what was happening on the other side of the barbed-wire. Ivan Marchenko, whom the women also state was almost permanently drunk, was particularly forthcoming with information. He was particularly friendly with Aleksandra Terentyevna Kirpa, who shared a room with Nina Dimitriyevna Shiyenko. Shiyenko testified that: Marchenko often came to our room and talked about his work. (...) (he) personally told me and my girlfriends in the camp that he worked as a mechanic in the gas dushehubka. (...) Besides that, I myself saw the glow of a fire and smoke from over in the other camp (i.e. The Upper Camp, author's note) around the clock and the smoke, and there was a strong smell of burning bodies.619

Aleksandra Kirpa, however, seems to have completely misunderstood what Marchenko told her; or, more likely, he gave a garbled version of events while intoxicated. Kirpa claims that the Wachmänner serving in the SS unit “undressed these people and cut their hair, and afterwards led the naked people into a stone, windowless building and were tightly shut in.”620 She continues: Then, on a certain signal, Marchenko turned on the engine and let the gas into the place where the people were. After a few minutes the room of the dushehubka was opened and the prisoners in the camp (mostly Jews) brought the corpses to special pits where they were burned and the ashes removed for fertilizer.621

In the autumn of 1943, during the liquidation of the camp, all the female Ukrainian service personnel were transferred to another camp in the city of Lublin, while the Wachmänner, including

619 620 621

260

OSI/DJ: Nina Dimitriyevna Shiyenko, May 3, 1951. OSI/DJ: Aleksandra Teryentyevna Kirpa, April 18, 1961. Ibid.

Marchenko, remained in Treblinka. None of them ever saw Marchenko again.622 On September 20, 1943, a convoy of SS-men and about 100 Ukrainian guards from the Aktion Reinhardt death camps left Lublin en route for the port city of Trieste on the Adriatic coast of northern Italy. The convoy was led by SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik, accompanied by Christian Wirth and Franz Stangl. Ivan Marchenko and Nikolai Shalayev were among the group of Ukrainian Wachmänner. In Trieste, Marchenko apparently wore SS-uniform, and armed with a rifle, “he guarded German warehouses at the port, guarded the Trieste prison, and took part in the round-up of Italian citizens for forced labor in Germany.”623 The “Trieste prison” refers to the San Sabba rice mill that was Wirth's headquarters as the head of Einsatz R, the round-up and deportation of Italian Jews to Auschwitz and other camps in Germany. In the spring of 1945, together with a Ukrainian driver by the name of Grigory, formerly a mechanic in the gas chambers of the Sobibór death camp, Marchenko seized an armored personnel carrier in Fiume and fled to the partisans over the border in Yugoslavia.624 Shalayev last saw Marchenko in Fiume at the end of March 1945: I saw Marchenko coming out of a brothel. At that time he no longer served with the Germans but was with the partisans and, as he said, he had come on leave. He invited me to a nearby restaurant where he began to tell me about his escape from the Germans. Marchenko told me that he did not intend to return home at the end of the War and that he wanted to stay in Fiume where he had a Yugoslav girlfriend whom he wished to marry, and that he wanted to settle down. This girl was involved with the partisans and received intelligence from him regarding the Germans.625

622 623 624 625

OSI/DJ: Nina Dimitriyevna Shiyenko, May 3, 1951. OSI/DJ: Nikolay Shalayev, December 20, 1950. Ibid. Ibid., Shalayev also mentions that Alexander Schultz, a 27-year-old Volksdeutsche from the Povolzhye region of the Volga, married a Yugoslav woman and remained in Udine, northern Italy.

261

After this meeting, Shalayev never saw Marchenko again and afterwards never heard anything more about him. The subsequent fate of Ivan Marchenko remains unknown.626

626

262

In April 1945, Shalayev retreated with the Germans over the border into Carinthia (Kärnten) in Austria. At the end of May, he was handed over to the Soviet command as a prisoner-of-war and drafted into the Soviet Army. After demobilization he returned to the USSR.

Chapter 17 Roll of Remembrance: Jewish survivors and victims

Standing: Lejbel Rosenthal, Zigmund Brothandel, Shmuel Goldberg, Chaim Ciechanowski, Wolf Schneidmann Sitting: Jacob Domb, Gustav Boraks, Oskar Strawczynski, Samuel Rajzman, Arie Kudlik, Shimon Goldberg, Lejzer Ciechanowski. © Ghetto Fighters House. Printed with kind permission. The Roll of Remembrance, with some brief histories and the fates of individual survivors, escapees and victims, is an attempt to record the names of Jews who entered the living hell that was the Treblinka death camp. Painstaking research has revealed the names of approximately 100 or more survivors, most of who escaped from the death camp during the revolt on August 2, 1943, while some survived following other smaller scale escape attempts. Some of those survived the War, whilst others lost their lives fighting the Germans in the Warsaw uprising during 1943, and in

263

other places. Whilst in some cases a great deal is known, in other cases, much less is known. Likewise, any list of the victims of Treblinka can only include a very small fraction of the several hundred thousand murdered in the death camp. Despite intensive research, the names of approximately 700 plus victims have been found out of the 900,000 murdered in the camp. The results presented in the Roll of Remembrance are not intended to be merely an impersonal statistical list; wherever possible an attempt has been made to show that these people were once flesh and blood. However, such was the secrecy surrounding Treblinka and the murderous efficiency of the Nazis that of the several hundred thousand Jews deported to Treblinka, the vast majority remain anonymous, their backgrounds and lives unknown. Only one thing is certain, that they were murdered in the Treblinka death camp.627 The second part of the Roll of Remembrance (Treblinka Victims) is therefore important for keeping alive the memory of the victims whose names are known. The Jewish Roll of Remembrance has been fundamentally revised with the inclusion of the Jews deported from the Reich and inclusion of the sources for the complete listing of all those included, as an enhancement to the original edition. In addition new names have come to light, both survivors and victims which have been added. Names that have subsequently been found to be incorrect have been removed, as some were found to have perished in the Treblinka Labor Camp or en-route to the death camp.

627

264

The Germans only drew up lists of names for the Dutch and German Jews deported to Sobibór from the Westerbork camp in Holland during 1943. The list of names of survivors and victims was compiled from archival sources, Internet websites and authors' correspondence with survivors. New research by the authors corrected previous errors and brought new information to light, primarily through the Częstochowa documents from the USHMM in Washington, DC, in March 2012, and a new publication by Barbara Engelking and Jacek Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto—A Guide to Perished Places. Other invaluable sources were the Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims, the Yad Vashem Pages of Testimony, Warsaw Ghetto Database, and the Ghetto Fighters' Online Archive.

Survivors and Escapees AUGUSTYNIAK, Czesław. Last heard of in 1979 living in Sweden.628 BERGER, Oskar. He was a businessman from Katowice, Upper Silesia. He moved early in the War to Kielce, Poland. Deported from Kielce to Treblinka in August 1942, together with his wife and son who were killed immediately on arrival in the camp. In September 1942, Berger, together with a young boy, escaped hidden beneath a pile of prisoners' clothing being shipped to Germany. Arrested again in July 1943, he was incarcerated in Buchenwald concentration camp where he was liberated in 1945.629 BERKOWICZ, Yechiel. Deported from the Częstochowa Ghetto. In Treblinka, together with Abraham Bomba and Yechezkel Cooperman, he prepared a hideaway in the piles of clothing in the Sorting Yard, and escaped at night sometime in January 1943. Berkowicz returned to the Częstochowa Ghetto.630 BLAU, Adele (nee Wallisch). Born on February 18, 1898, in Schaffa, Moravia. She was deported from Vienna to Kielce in Poland, together with her husband Karl on February 19, 1941, and from there, to Treblinka. In the death camp they had the unique distinction of being the only husband and wife couple permitted to live. While her husband was appointed Oberkapo, she was employed in the camp as a cook. Later they were both taken to the Sobibór death camp, to assist with the dismantling of the camp. When that task was completed in November 1943, she committed suicide with her husband.631 BLAU, Karl. Born on February 15, 1892, in Kollersdorf, Lower Austria. Together with his wife Adele, they were deported from Vienna to Kielce in Poland, on February 19, 1941 and from there, to Treblinka. In the death camp they had the unique distinction 628 629 630 631

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 285. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 260. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 260. Sereny, Into That Darkness... op. cit., p. 209.

265

of being the only husband and wife couple permitted to live. He was appointed Oberkapo, and was most feared by the other prisoners, because of his network of informers. Later Karl and his wife were both sent to the Sobibór death camp to assist with the dismantling of the camp. When that task was completed in November 1943, he committed suicide along with his wife.632 BOMBA, Abraham. Born on June 9, 1913, in Beuthen, Upper Silesia. His family moved to Częstochowa where he became a barber. Together with his wife Reizl and infant son Berl, Bomba was deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka where they arrived on September 30, 1942. His wife Reizl and 4-week old son Berl were gassed on arrival. Bomba was assigned first to sorting the clothes and belongings of the victims, and later assigned as a barber cutting the women's hair before they were gassed. Together with Yechiel Berkowicz and Yechezkel Cooperman, he prepared a hiding place among the bundles of clothes in the sorting barracks and escaped via the Lazarett in January 1943. All three returned to the Częstochowa Ghetto, via Warsaw. In Częstochowa, Bomba was employed as a forced laborer in the HASAG factory until the camp was liberated.633 He testified at the trial of SS-NCO Josef Hirtreiter in Frankfurtam-Main in 1951 and at the First Treblinka Trial in Düsseldorf 1964–65 against Kurt Franz and others.634 Bomba was interviewed for the Claude Lanzmann film Shoah which was released in 1985. BOORSTEIN, Moshe. Escaped from Treblinka with Simcha Laski (see below) at the end of July 1942 by hiding in bales of clothing stacked in a freight car. They jumped from the train along with two others who were killed. Boorstein and Laski reached

632 633

634

266

Ibid., p. 207. HASAG—Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft—Metallwarenfabrik, a German metal goods manufacturer based in Leipzig. During World War II, HASAG relied heavily on foreign forced labor in its factories, the biggest of which was in Częstochowa. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 285.

Warsaw on the day of the so-called “Children's Operation” (Kinder-Aktion) on August 6, 1942.635 BORAKS, Gustav. Born in 1901 in Wieluń, a small town near Łódź in Poland; he trained as a barber. Deported from Częstochowa with his wife and two sons, Pinhas and Yossef, they arrived in Treblinka on Yom Kippur, September 21, 1942. His wife and two sons were gassed on arrival. Boraks was selected to work as a barber, cutting the women's hair before they were gassed. He also worked at sorting clothes and in the Camouflage Brigade. Boraks escaped from Treblinka during the revolt on August 2, 1943. He testified at the Feodor Fedorenko denaturalization hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, in 1978. He also appeared as a prosecution witness at the trial of John (Ivan) Demjanjuk in Israel in 1987.636 BRENER, Hejnoch (“Henry”). Born in 1913, he was a craftsman, skilled in making shoes. He was deported from Koniecpol in October 1942. After working briefly as a clothes sorter, he was assigned to the Totenlager, where he worked as a barber. He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943. Along with seven other escapees, including Abraham Kolski and Salek Lachman, they were hidden by a Polish farmer Julian Pogorzelski and his son Stanislav, on his farm in the village of Orzeszowka. They were liberated by the Russians in the summer of 1944.637 One of 13 survivors who gave evidence in 1946 for the Main Commission for Investigation of German Crimes in Poland. After the War, Brener settled in the USA.638 BROTHANDEL, Zigmund. Pictured in the Treblinka survivor’s reunion photograph in 1944.639 BULKOWSTEIN, Adek. Born on October 16, 1914, in Białystok. He moved to Warsaw and married Lila and they had a daughter

635 636 637 638 639

Ibid., p. 259. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 285. In correspondence with Linda Mayer, June 26, 2018. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 285. Ibid., p. 285.

267

Malka. He worked in the Schultz factory in the Warsaw Ghetto. In August 1942, he was deported to Treblinka. His wife and daughter went into hiding, and he never saw them again. After a couple of weeks in Treblinka he escaped with another prisoner in a freight car carrying clothes and he returned to Warsaw. Along with three other Jews he went into hiding, until he was liberated by the Soviet Red Army. He remarried and his wife and daughter settled in Australia.640 CIECHANOWSKI, Chaim and Lejzer. Both of these men were pictured in the Treblinka survivors reunion photograph in 1944. Both settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina.641 CIENKI Brothers. Two brothers from Międzyrzec Podlaski, Poland. They were deported from there to Treblinka during the second Aktion which took place on October 6-9, 1942, together with about 7,000 other Jews from Międzyrzec and the surrounding area. They managed to escape from the camp and returned to Międzyrzec Podlaski where they informed the Jewish Council (Judenrat) about Treblinka and the fate of the deportees. The chairman of the Jewish Council, Klarberg, informed the Germans about the two escapees who were arrested and shot by the Gestapo. Because some of the Jews from Międzyrzec Podlaski had heard the accounts by the brothers, some of them decided to jump from the trains during the course of the following deportations.642 COOPERMAN, Yechezkel. Together with Yechiel Berkowicz and Abraham Bomba, he prepared a hiding place among the bundles of clothes in the sorting barracks and in January 1943 escaped through the Lazarett. They returned to the Częstochowa Ghetto via Warsaw.643 CZARNY, Józef. Born on July 27, 1926, in Warsaw. Deported to Treblinka in September 1942, and selected to work at sorting 640 641 642 643

268

Correspondence between Mary Ziegler and Chris Webb – July 2015. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 285. Robert Kuwalek correspondence with author. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 260.

clothes before being appointed to the “Court Jews” (Hofjuden) where he was appointed servant to Kurt Franz, and also looked after the chicken coop. He survived the revolt on August 2, 1943, settled in Israel, and gave evidence at the Fedor Fedorenko denaturalization trial in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. He was also a witness at the trial of John (Ivan) Demjanjuk in Jerusalem in 1986.644 CZECHOWICZ, Aaron. Arrived in Treblinka on September 10, 1942, from the Warsaw Ghetto. After sorting clothes, he was transferred to the Totenlager. After working there for two weeks he managed to escape to the Lower Camp, where he worked at sorting clothes. He managed to escape from Treblinka, at the end of November 1942. He was one of the 13 survivors who gave evidence in 1946 for the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland. Settled in Caracas, Venezuela, South America.645 DIAMANT, Nachum. Escaped from Treblinka together with Władysław Salzberg in the summer of 1942. He informed the Kielce Jewish Council about the death camp.646 DOMB, Jakob. In Treblinka, Domb drove a horse-drawn wagon to collect rubbish in the Lower Camp. While driving near the Upper Camp on the day of the uprising he shouted out in Hebrew to the prisoners working across the fence, “End of the world today, the day of judgment at 4 o'clock!” He appears in the Treblinka re-union photograph taken in 1944.647 EINSHINDLER, Israel. Originally from Łódź, he moved to Częstochowa in southern Poland and was deported from there to Treblinka. He worked in the Sorting Yard and showed Oskar Strawczyński how to sort the clothes and luggage from the

644 645 646 647

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 285. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 285. Correspondence with Robert Kuwalek. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 285.

269

murdered Jews. Shortly after Oskar Strawczyński's arrival in Treblinka, Einshindler escaped from the camp.648 EISNER, Jakob. Deported to Treblinka from Częstochowa. He escaped in January 1943 with Moshe Rappaport and returned to Częstochowa. He settled in Israel.649 EPSTEIN, Pinchas. Born on March 3, 1925, in Częstochowa from where he was deported on September 22, 1942. He was selected to live. His brother David tried to join him, whereupon an SSman hit him with the butt of his rifle and killed him. Pinchas witnessed the incident. After only a few days in the Lower Camp, he was assigned to the Upper Camp where he carried corpses. After the August 2, 1943 revolt he escaped and returned to Częstochowa. Under false documents he was employed as a laborer in Germany. In July 1948, he settled in Israel, and in 1978 gave evidence at the Fedorenko Denaturalization hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. He also appeared as a witness at the Ivan Demjanjuk Trial in Jerusalem in 1987. Epstein died in Israel in 2010.650 FINKELSZTEIN, Leon. Born in 1902. Deported from Miedzyrzec Podlaski during August 1942, to the Treblinka death camp. On arrival he was assigned to building fences. According to Chil Rajchman, Finkelsztein was a dentist in the Upper Camp. On one occasion he was tortured by Ivan Marchenko (“Ivan the Terrible”), who used an auger on his buttocks. He escaped after the revolt on August 2, 1943, and is possibly the Leon mentioned by fellow-escapee Berek Rojzman. He was one of the 13 survivors who gave evidence in 1946 for the Main Commission for Investigation of German Crimes in Poland. After the War he was a butcher in Paris, France.651

648

649 650 651

270

O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 136. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 286. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 286. Ibid., p. 286.

FISCHMANN, Michael. He was from Biala Podlaska. He escaped from Treblinka with Edi Weinstein and Gedalia Rosenzweig on September 9, 1942. His fate is unknown, but it is unlikely he survived.652 GALEWSKI, Alfred. (some survivors claim his name was Marceli). Born in Łódź, he was a member of a wealthy and completely assimilated family. An engineer by profession, he was one of the main employees in the head office in Warsaw of CENTOS, a Jewish charity organization.653 Deported from Warsaw to Treblinka he was selected for work and appointed Camp Elder (Lagerälteste) by the SS. He was involved in the camp Underground and helped plan the revolt on August 2, 1943, during which he escaped from the camp. According to Leon Perelstein, however, Galewski's nerves failed him and after running a few kilometers he committed suicide by taking poison.654 GELBERD, Aron. Deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka together with Moshe Lubling on October 2, 1942. He was selected to work with the “Gold Jews” (Goldjuden). He escaped from the camp on October 21, 1942, and returned to Częstochowa. He settled in Israel.655 GLAZAR (GOLDSCHMID), Richard. Born on November 29, 1920, in Prague. He was accepted at the University of Prague in 1939, but the Germans closed the universities after students' demonstrations. Thereafter, he worked on a farm near Prague. On September 2, 1942, he was ordered to report to the Mustermesse—a big exhibition hall in Prague. After a stay of two or three days in the Mustermesse he was sent to the Theresienstadt transit ghetto on transport number “BG-417”.

652

653

654 655

E. Weinstein, 17 Days in Treblinka, Yad Vashem Publications, Jerusalem 2008, p. 49. CENTOS—Central Society for the Care of Orphans, Director: Adolf Abraham Berman. One of several Jewish charity organizations in the Ghetto that ran schools, provided food, clothing and shelter. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 281. Ibid., p. 286.

271

After working for four weeks in the refuse disposal unit, he was deported to Treblinka on transport “Bu”, which left Theresienstadt on October 8, 1942. Glazar had the registration number 639. The transport arrived in Treblinka two days later, on October 10, 1942, and Glazar was selected for work by August Miete. Glazar, together with his close friend Karel Unger, worked at sorting the victims' belongings and in the Camouflage Brigade. He and Unger took part in the revolt on August 2, 1943 and escaped. They made their way across Poland but were arrested by a forester near Nowe Miasto-nad-Pilicą in the south-western corner of the Mazovian Province. They convinced their captors that they were workers for the Organization Todt, the Nazi construction brigades, and were sent to Germany as laborers. Travelling from the assembly camp in Częstochowa, they travelled through Moravia to Vienna, and on to Mannheim in Germany where they arrived on September 24, 1943. They worked for the Heinrich Lanz firm that manufactured agricultural machinery. After liberation by the US Army, Glazar returned to Prague. After the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Army in 1968, he and his family fled to Switzerland where he became an engineer. He wrote a book about Treblinka entitled Trap with a Green Fence—Surviving in Treblinka that was published in several languages. After the death of his wife Zdena, he committed suicide in Prague on December 20, 1997.656 GOLDBERG, Shimon. Born in 1914 in Warsaw. According to Oskar Strawczyński, he was a carpenter from Radomsko in Łódź Province who worked in the Upper Camp for four months. He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943, and 10 months later met Strawczyński in a forest where they had been hiding. Goldberg appears in the Treblinka reunion photograph taken in 1944. Goldberg died in 1976.657

656 657

272

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 286. Ibid., p. 287.

GOLDBERG, Shmuel (Sam). Born circa 1919, in Bagatele, Poland. His family owned a farm and traded in grain, cattle and timber. His family was expelled from their farm, and they moved to the Soviet-controlled part of Poland. Shmuel was “drafted” into the Soviet Army, and was captured during the German invasion. He escaped from a Prisoner of War camp and made his way to Stoczek. He was taken by truck by the Nazis from Stoczek, along with 135 other Jews, in June 1942, to Treblinka, where he helped build the death camp. When he arrived there, there was an open field and one shack. He was later appointed by Kurt Franz to work in the camp laundry. He escaped duing the revolt on August 2, 1943, and met up in the forest with Wolf Sznajdman, who also came from Stoczek. Shmuel and Wolf met Esther Kwiatek, in the woods near Stoczek, and they were hidden by Helena Stys in her barn. Shmuel stayed whilst Wolf did not, and he married Esther after being liberated by the Red Army, in the summer of 1944. Shmuel was photographed in the Treblinka re-union photo and he and Esther emigrated to the United States of America, and settled in Brooklyn, New York.658 GOLDFARB, Abraham. From Białystok in north-east Poland. He arrived in Treblinka on August 25, 1942, with his wife and four children. A cobbler by trade, he was selected to work in the Upper Camp, at first at the mass graves and later cremating the bodies. He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943 by breaking through the north gate. He settled in Israel.659 GOSTYNSKI, Zygmunt. Settled in Israel.660 GRINBERG, Tanhum. Born in Błonie, near Warsaw in 1913. In 1941, he was “relocated” to the Warsaw Ghetto with his mother, three younger brothers and a sister. Although a cobbler by trade, he was employed in the workshop of the Fritz Schultz firm, a Gdańsk-based fur company. On returning home from work one

658 659 660

Karen Treiger, correspondence with Chris Webb, June 4, 2017. Ibid., p. 287. Ibid., p. 287.

273

day, he found his apartment empty. His entire family had been taken away, probably to Treblinka. A short time later, Grinberg himself was deported from Warsaw to Treblinka where he was selected to work, employed as a cobbler. Active in the preparation for the revolt on August 2, 1943, he escaped from the camp and sought refuge in the village of Sterdyń, only 18 kilometers from Sokołów Podlaski, and later joined a partisan unit. He was a witness at the First Treblinka Trial in Düsseldorf in 1964–65 (Kurt Franz et al.). He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943. He settled in Israel and was killed in an automobile accident in 1976.661 GRINSBACH, Eliahu. An electrician. Settled in Israel.662 GROSS, Yosef. A mechanic by trade. Settled in Israel.663 GUTMAN, Józef. Born in Warsaw in 1919. Deported in July 1942 from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka where he spent only two weeks, but was an eyewitness to the murder of the Kielce and Siedlce Jews in the camp. Employed at carrying the bodies of those who had died on the transports to the mass graves. After two weeks, together with four other prisoners, he escaped from a train transporting the clothes of the murdered victims to Lublin. He returned to the Warsaw ghetto and tried to warn people about what was going on in Treblinka, but most did not believe him. During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April–May 1943 he was deported to the Poniatowa labor camp in the Lublin District, but escaped from the train and returned to Warsaw where he spent several months in hiding. He obtained Aryan papers from Polish friends and was sent to Vienna as a Polish forced laborer, where he worked until the liberation. After the War, he returned to Warsaw.664 HELFING, Izak (Isadore). Deported with his family from Kielce, in the Świętokrzyskie Province, to Treblinka in 1942. He avoided 661 662 663 664

274

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 287. Ibid., p. 287. Ibid., p. 287. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 287.

being sent to the gas chambers by joining a group of prisoners carrying bodies out of the transport. Later he was employed in the SS stable. He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943.665 HELLMAN, Shlomo. Arrived in Treblinka from Warsaw in September 1942. He worked in the construction of the new gas chambers and later in burying the dead in the Upper Camp. He escaped from Treblinka during the revolt on August 2, 1943. Settled in Israel.666 HERSCHKOWITZ, (First names are unknown). Father and son who escaped from Treblinka on September 13, 1942, along with Abraham Krzepecki.667 JAKUBOWICZ, Jakob. No further details are known.668 JANKOWSKI, No further details are known.669 KELIN, Judah. No further details are known.670 KOHN (KON), Stanisław-Shulem. Born in 1909 in Praszka near Łódź where he lived until 1939. He fought in the Polish army during the September 1939 Polish Campaign. He returned to Łódź, and from there in March 1940, together with his wife and child, he moved to Częstochowa where they lived until October 1, 1942. During the Aktion in the Częstochowa Ghetto at that time, Kon and his family were deported to Treblinka where his wife and child were killed on arrival. He was selected to work in the camp at sorting the clothing of the murdered Jews. Kon escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943, and was one of the survivors of Treblinka who provided details about the revolt in the death camp. His testimony was also one of the first to be collected in 1944 in liberated Lublin. In 1945, long extracts from his memoirs were published in the Jewish newspaper Dos Naje

665 666 667 668 669 670

Testimony of Jozef Gutman – Jewish Historical Institute. Testimony Isadore Helfing – USHMM. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 135. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 287. Ibid., p. 287. Ibid., p. 287.

275

Lebn (The New Life), a Warsaw newspaper published in Yiddish.671 KOLSKI, Abraham. Born on August 17, 1917, in Izbica, Poland. Deported to Treblinka from Częstochowa in southern Poland on October 2, 1942.672 He was employed in the sorting of the clothes and belongings of the Jews murdered in the death camp. He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943. Along with seven other escapees, including Hejnoch Brener and Salek Lachman, they were hidden by a Polish farmer Julian Pogorzelski and his son Stanisłav, on his farm in the village of Orzeszowka. They were liberated by the Russians in the summer of 1944. Abraham settled in the United States of America in 1956, via Paris, France. On October 21, 1997, he received a medal from the USHMM in recognition of his courage during the revolt in Treblinka. He attended the Treblinka Trials in Düsseldorf 1964– 65 and 1970. He passed away on July 10, 2005, and he was buried in Jerusalem, Israel.673 KON, Abe. Born in 1917. He arrived in Treblinka on October 2, 1942, on a transport from the Częstochowa Ghetto. He was first assigned to sort clothes, and then he worked in the hut where the women undressed. He escaped from the camp during the prisoner uprising on August 2, 1943. KOSZYCKI, Jakob. No further details are known.674 KRUK, Recalled by Chil Rajchman, he was from Plock, who escaped with him following the revolt on August 2, 1943. His fate is unknown.675 KRZEPICKI, Abraham. Born in 1918 in Danzig (Gdańsk). Deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka on August 25, 1942. He escaped with three other prisoners 18 days later 671 672 673 674 675

276

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 287. Yoram Lubling, Twice Dead. op.cit., p. 120. In correspondence with Linda Mayer, June 26, 2018. Ibid., p. 287. C. Rajchman, Treblinka—A Survivors Memory, Maclehose Press, London 2011, p. 104.

(September 13) by hiding in a freight car full of clothes. He alone succeeded in returning to the Warsaw Ghetto. During December 1942 and January 1943, the leaders of the Ghetto Underground archives under the historian Emanuel Ringelblum entrusted Rachel Auerbach with the task of recording Krzepicki's testimony.676 The manuscript, written in Yiddish, was buried in the rubble of the ghetto, together with other documents from the second part of the Ringelblum Archives.677 Krzepicki was a member of Hanoar-Hatzioni, a Zionist Youth organization, headed by Jakob Praszker, which fought under the auspices of the Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowska Organizaja Bojowa— ŻOB). During the shelling of the brush makers' workshop on Świętojańska Street he was wounded in the leg. His comrades, forced to evacuate the burning building, had to abandon him and other wounded insurgents.678 KUDLIK, Arie. Born in 1909. Deported to Treblinka from the Częstochowa Ghetto on October 12, 1942. Selected to live, he was employed at sorting the clothes of the gassed victims. Later he was assigned to sorting fountain pens. He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943, and was photographed at the Treblinka reunion in 1944.679 LACHMAN, Salek. From Działoszyn, near Częstochowa. He and his family were deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka in 676

677

678 679

Rachel Auerbach, born 1903 in Lanowce, Galica (today, Lanovtsy in the Ukraine) as Rokhl Rachela Eiga Auerbakh, a prolific Yiddish and Polish writer, historian and essayist. Died May 31, 1976, in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Ringelblum Archive consists of 30,000 documents and photographs collected between 1940–1942 under the supervision of Emanuel Ringelblum, a Polish-Jewish historian, politician and social-worker, recording the fate of Polish Jewry. The collection was divided into three parts which were buried separately in the cellars of buildings in the ghetto; the first part in 10 metal cases in August 1942, and the second part in three milk churns in December 1943. In February 1946, the first collection was unearthed from beneath the ruins of Nowolipki Street 68, and the second collection from the same location in December 1950. The third collection, believed to have been buried in the vicinity of Świętojerska Street 34, has never been found. This unique collection is preserved today in the Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH) in Warsaw. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 287. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 287.

277

September 1942. In Treblinka, he was employed first in the Sorting Brigade, then in the Camouflage Brigade. He escaped during the revolt and along with Abraham Kolski and Hejnoch Brener and others, was hidden by Polish farmer Julian Pogorzelski and his son Stanisłav, in the village of Orzeszowka. The escapees were liberated by the Russians in the summer of 1944.680 He settled in New York. Testified in San Diego, California, in 1980 under the name Sol Lackman in the denaturalization cases against Ivan (John) Demjanjuk and Fedor Fedorenko.681 LAKS, Moszek (“Mietek”). Escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943. Drew a plan of Treblinka that he gave to the Central Jewish Historical Commission (Centralna Żydowska Komisja Historyczna—CŻKH) in Warsaw in 1946. He settled in Israel.682 LASKI, Simcha. Deported from Warsaw to Treblinka at the end of July 1942. He escaped four days later by hiding in bales of clothing being transported out of the camp. He jumped to freedom with Moshe Boorstein. Laski reached the Warsaw Ghetto on August 6, the day the Kinder-Aktion (Children's Operation) was being carried out in the ghetto.683 LEWI, Leon. No further details are known.684 LEWKOWICZ, Sonia. Born on March 11, 1922, in the city of Dombrowa, Poland. Deported to Treblinka in December 1942. Selected to work, she was employed in the laundry in the Lower Camp, and on March 5, 1943 she was sent to work in the laundry in the Upper Camp. She escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943. Settled in Israel. In 1978, Lewkowicz gave evidence at the Fedorenko Denaturalization Hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.685

680 681 682 683 684 685

278

In correspondence with Linda Mayer, June 26, 2018. Ibid., p. 287. Ibid., p. 287. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 259. Donat, The Death Camp…, op. cit., p. 288. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 288.

LIEBERMAN, David. Deported to Treblinka from Częstochowa during the Aktion of September 1942, in which 39,000 Jews were deported to Treblinka. He succeeded in escaping shortly after his arrival and he returned to the so-called “small ghetto” in Częstochowa, which housed the remaining Jews. He was employed in the HASAG munitions factoy. Later he settled in New York, USA.686 LINDER, Eli. Escaped from Treblinka in a goods wagon carrying clothes from the camp, during August 1942. He made his way to the Warsaw Ghetto.687 LINDWASSER, Avraham. Born in 1909. Deported from Warsaw and arrived in Treblinka on August 28, 1942. Selected to live and worked as a “dentist” in the Upper Camp. After the revolt on August 2, 1943, he escaped from the camp and hid in the forest. After the War, he volunteered to serve in the Polish army. He settled in Israel in 1948 and testified at the Adolf Eichmann Trial in Jerusalem in 1961.688 LODDICK, Ella. A friend of Avraham Bomba. He escaped from Treblinka and in the process killed a Ukrainian guard. He returned to the Częstochowa Ghetto. He married but passed away shortly afterwards.689 LUCK, Moshe. No further details are known.690 MEDRZYCKI, Anshel. Escaped from Treblinka and teamed up with Abraham Krzepicki in the forest during September 1942.691 MILGROM, David. Escaped in August 1942.692 MILLER, Jakob. Born during 1918 in Włodzimierz, Volhynia, eastern Poland. Deported to Treblinka from the Siedlce Ghetto

686 687 688 689 690 691 692

Moshe Y.Lubling, Twice Dead, Peter Lang Publishing, New York 2007, p. 122. M. Burba, Treblinka, Pachnicke, Gottingen 2000. p. 15. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 288. Avraham Bomba, Interview with UASHMM August 28, 1990. Ibid., p. 288. Ibid., p. 141. M. Burba, Treblinka, Pachnicke, Göttingen 2000. p. 15.

279

on August 22, 1942, he participated in the revolt on August 2, 1943, and escaped with Kalman Teigman. He testified before the Jewish Historical Commission in Lublin in 1945. He settled in Uruguay, South America.693 MITLEBERG, M. No further details are known.694 Moishele, He was a tailor who escaped during the revolt, as recalled by Jerzy Rajgrodzki. “He had a rifle without bullets. He was wounded near the heart… A short while later he lost consciousness and died.”695 MORDZKY, Lejzer. He was the son of the owner of an olive curing plant and he lived with his family on Miedzyrzecka Street in Losice until he was deported to Treblinka. He helped Edi Weinstein escape on September 9, 1942. He escaped using the same method, but was murdered in the Konstantinow area, by members of the Polish Home Army (AK) in early July 1944.696 NOWODWORSKI, Dawid. Born in 1912 in Warsaw. A member of the Jewish Youth Guard (Hashomer Hatzair), a Socialist-Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement, and in the ghetto was an active member of the underground. He lived at Leszno Street 6 where he listened to the radio (which could incur the death penalty) and passed information to the underground press. Deported to Treblinka in August 1942, he escaped and returned to the Warsaw Ghetto where he participated in the Ghetto Uprising in April 1943, in which they commanded the Hashomer Hatzair combat unit group based at Nowolipie Street 67. On April 29, 1943, he and other Jewish fighters escaped from the ghetto through the sewers, and later commanded one of several partisan units in the Wyszków forest, about 60 kilometers northeast of Warsaw. He returned to Warsaw before the liberation to organize the emigration of Jews through Hungary to Palestine.

693 694 695 696

280

Moshe Y.Lubling, Twice Dead, Peter Lang Publishing, New York 2007, p. 62. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 288. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 296. E. Weinstein, 17 Days in Treblinka, Yad Vashem Publications, Jerusalem 2008, p. 61.

He was denounced to the Germans by an ethnic German (Volksdeutsche) and shot.697 PACANOWSKI, Moshe. Settled in Israel.698 PERELSTEIN, Leon. In Treblinka he managed the tool-store for the Construction Brigade. He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943. Testified at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem about Galewski's suicide after the escape, and that after they had run a few kilometers, Galewski felt he did not have the strength to go on. He took some poison out of his pocket, swallowed it, and died on the spot.699 PETAKOWSKIY, Marek. No further details are known.700 PLATKIEWICZ, Marian. He was from Płock, on the Vistula River, in central Poland. He served in the Polish army from 1938 and was taken prisoner by the Germans during the Polish Campaign in 1939, after which he returned to Warsaw. Deported to Treblinka from the Warsaw Ghetto in July 1942. Employed first in the Sorting Brigade and later with the small “potato cleaning” brigade. He participated in the revolt on August 2, 1943, and escaped from the camp. Settled in Israel. Drew a plan of the camp which was given to the Central Jewish Historical Committee in Poland.701 PORZECKI, Moshe. Arrived in Treblinka in a transport of 6,000 men, women and children. In the Alexander Donat book Death Camp Treblinka, Moshe describes his arrival: We were met by a crowd of SS-men and Ukrainians, all armed. We got off the train. In the rush, whoever happened to turn around or look behind him was beaten at once. Women and children were led away in one direction, men in the other. We had to get down on our

697

698 699 700 701

B. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 828. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 288. Moshe Y.Lubling, Twice Dead, Peter Lang Publishing, New York 2007, p. 122. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 288. Moshe Y.Lubling, Twice Dead, Peter Lang Publishing, New York 2007, p. 124.

281

knees. Whoever tried to get up was shot immediately. No resistance was possible. There was no help for us.702

POSWOLSKI, Henryk. Born during 1910. He arrived in Treblinka on January 1943, from the “Small Ghetto” in Warsaw. In the camp he worked as a bricklayer. He escaped during the uprising on August 2, 1943. After the War he settled in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.703 RABINOWICZ, Jakob. A journalist who escaped from the Treblinka death camp and wrote a report. The Jewish Bund in Warsaw sent an emissary to Kosów and Sokołów Podlaski in the vicinity of Treblinka to check the accuracy of the report. In Sokołów Podlaski the emissary met another escapee from Treblinka by the name of Azriel Wallach, and from him received verification of Rabinowicz's report.704 RAJCHMAN, Yekhiel Meyer (“Chil”). Born on June 14, 1914, in Łódź (Litzmannstadt) in central Poland. Deported to Treblinka with his sister Rivka from Ostrów Lubelski in the Lublin District in October 1942. His sister was gassed on arrival. Chil was selected for work and employed in the Sorting Brigade, and then as a “barber” cutting off the women's hair before they were gassed. Transferred to the Upper Camp, first with the Corpse Carrying Brigade, and then as a “dentist”. He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943, together with Kalman Teigman and Jakob Miller. In 1946, after testifying before the Central Jewish Historical Commission, he emigrated to Uruguay, South America. He testified at the trial of John (Ivan) Demjanjuk in 1987. Rajchman died in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 2004.705 RAJGRODZKI, Jerzy. Born in Siedlce. He was deported from Warsaw, where he worked as a draftsman. He spent eleven

702 703 704 705

282

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 288. Ibid., p. 288. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 261. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 289.

months in the Totenlager. He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943.706 RAJZMAN, Samuel. Born in 1902 in Węgrów, between Warsaw and Sokołów Podlaski. Before the War, he lived in Warsaw with his wife and daughter; employed in an import–export business. On September 21, 1942, he was deported to Treblinka with his wife, but their daughter was taken in by another Jewish family. She was murdered in the Poniatowo labor camp in Lublin District. In Treblinka, Rajzman was recognized by Galewski, the Camp Elder, who put him to work cleaning spectacles and microscopes. He was a member of the prisoners' underground committee planning the uprising. On the day of the revolt, August 2, 1943, Rajzman was working in the lumberyard from where he escaped while leading a group fighting their way out of the camp. In 1944, he wrote one of the first reports about Treblinka, which was published in the Lublin literary weekly Odrodzenie (“Revival”).707 He was the only witness to testify about Treblinka at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. After the liberation, he worked in Germany as director of personnel with the Central Committee of Liberated Jews; later he moved to Paris, and then in 1950, finally settled in Montreal, Canada. He also testified at the Treblinka Trials in Düsseldorf, and was a witness at the Fedorenko Denaturalization Hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, in 1978.708 RAK, Meir. No further details are known.709 RAPPAPORT, Moshe. Deported to Treblinka from Częstochowa in southern Poland on October 2, 1942, together with Aron Gelberd. Escaped with Jakob Eisner in January 1943 and returned to the “small ghetto” in Częstochowa. He settled in the USA.710 706 707

708 709 710

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 289. Odrodzenia was the first weekly published in Poland after the War: 1944 in Lublin, 1945 in Kraków, and 1947 in Warsaw. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 289. Ibid., p. 289. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 289.

283

RICHTER. Escaped from Treblinka and returned to Częstochowa and in October 1942 tried to kill the German officer Rohn, who was one of those in charge of the deportation Aktion.711 ROJTMAN. He recalled that his old parents, his three sisters, his three brothers and brother-in-law were all murdered at the camp entrance.712 ROJZMAN, Berek. Born on March 15, 1912, in Grójec, a town to the south-east of Warsaw. A butcher by trade, he arrived in Treblinka on November 2, 1942, and was employed in the camp supply store. He lost his entire family in Treblinka. He escaped from the camp during the revolt on August 2, 1943, and hid in the forests for a year with five other escapees. Unlike every other survivor of Treblinka after the War, Rojzman did not emigrate but remained in Poland.713 ROSENBERG, Eliahu (“Eli”). Born May 10, 1924, in Warsaw. Deported from the Warsaw Ghetto during September 1942 with his mother and three sisters. Selected to work in the Upper Camp, while the rest of his family were gassed on arrival. Escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943. In 1945, he wrote a report about Treblinka in Polish, and in 1947 a German version of one of his subsequent reports was published. He wrote a longer version in Yiddish, which was published in Bleter far Geszichte (“Historical Notes”) and describes events in the Warsaw Ghetto as well as in Treblinka, and events following the revolt. He settled in Israel and testified at the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem in 1961, and at the trial of John (Ivan) Demjanjuk, also in Jerusalem, in 1987. The last survivor of the Upper Camp, he died in 2010.714 ROSENTHAL, Lejbel. According to Abraham Bomba, Lejbel escaped from Treblinka, returned to the camp and explained to Alfred Galewski, the Camp Elder, how he had managed to 711 712 713 714

284

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 260. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 289. Ibid., p. 289. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 289.

escape. He then escaped again from the death camp, photographed at the Treblinka re-union in 1944.715 ROSENZWEIG, Gedalia. He was from Losice and was remembered by Edi Weinstein, the son of Shaya the builder. He escaped from Treblinka with Edi Weinstien and Michael Fischman on September 9, 1942. His fate is unknown but it is unlikely he survived.716 SALZBERG, Heinrich (“Heniek”). The 16-year-old son of Władek Salzberg who was in charge of the “ghetto” and workshops area in the Lower Camp, while his brother Welwel worked in the laundry. According to Stanisław Kon, Salzberg managed to obtain weapons from the German quarters and is believed to have survived the camp revolt on August 2, 1943. His father and older brother were killed. Richard Glazar believed that Salzberg was living somewhere in Spain.717 SALZBERG, Władysław. Escaped from Treblinka with Nachum Diamant in the summer of 1942.718 Schlojme. Worked in the camouflage commando. He escaped with Richard Glazar and Karl Unger, in the revolt on August 2, 1943. Richard Glazar witnessed him being shot and killed.719 SHARSON, Lazar. During the night of December 31, 1942, an escape was carried out from the Upper Camp through a tunnel; five prisoners successfully reached a nearby village. The Germans and Wachmänner pursued the escapees and caught the entire group. One was shot on the spot, three returned to the camp and were hanged, and one—Lazar Sharson—got away.

715

716

717 718 719

A. Bomba, Interview with Louise Bobrow, Monticello, NY, August 14, 1996, USC Shoah Foundation Institute. E. Weinstein, 17 Days in Treblinka, Yad Vashem Publications, Jerusalem, 2008, p. 48. Sereny, Into That Darkness, Pimlico, London 1974, p. 240. Correspondence with Robert Kuwalek. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 145.

285

He returned to the Warsaw Ghetto and fought in the Ghetto Uprising until the end of September 1943.720 SIEDLECKI, Joseph (“Joe”). A soldier in the Polish army. Deported with his wife from Warsaw to Treblinka in July 1942. She was gassed on arrival while Siedlecki was selected to work in the Red Brigade in the undressing barracks. Later, he worked in the disinfection room which was located in a part of the undressing barracks. Escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943, and using false papers obtained employment with a Polish construction unit attached to the German army. Settled in the USA.721 SPERLING, Hershl (“Henry”). Born on March 10, 1927, in Kłobuck (Klobutzko), Silesia. In early October 1940, the Sperling family moved into the Częstochowa Ghetto. Herschl, together with his father, mother and sister, arrived in Treblinka in late September or early October 1942. He was selected to work in the Sorting Brigade, but the rest of his family was murdered in the gas chambers. Escaped from Treblinka during the revolt on August 2, 1943, and returned to Warsaw via Rembertów. Recaptured by the Germans in Kołuszki, Łódź Province, he was sent to a penal camp in Radom, central-eastern Poland. From there, he was transferred to Auschwitz where he arrived on October 2, 1943, and received the tattooed prisoner number 154,356. In October 1944, Sperling was transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and on November 17, 1944 he arrived in Dachau where, after a short time, he was sent to the sub-camp at Kaufering, near Landsberg-am-Lech in Bavaria. After the liberation he settled in Glasgow, Scotland, where he committed suicide on September 26, 1989.722 STRAWCZYŃSKI, Oskar. Born in Łódź, Poland, in 1906. Became a skilled and accomplished artisan whose abilities as a tinsmith eventually saved his life and that of his brother Zygmunt in

720 721 722

286

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 264. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 290. Ibid., op. cit., p. 290.

Treblinka. Oskar's immediate family perished during the Holocaust; only Zygmunt and a younger sister survived. Deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka, Oskar and his family, together with many other relatives, arrived at the death camp on October 5, 1942. His wife Anka, two children Guta and Abus and his parents Yoseph and Malka were gassed on arrival. Oskar was selected to live and worked at sorting the clothes and belongings of the murdered Jews, and later worked in the blacksmith workshop. He participated in the revolt on August 2, 1943, escaped from the camp, and joined a partisan group in the forest. He was one of the 13 survivors to give evidence in 1946 to the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland. He was photographed at the reunion of Treblinka survivors in 1944. Settled in Montreal, Canada, and testified at the First Treblinka Trial in Düsseldorf 1964-65 (Kurt Franz et al.). He died in Montreal in 1966.723 STRAWCZYŃSKI, Zygmunt. (Oskar Strawczyński's brother). They both lived in Częstochowa, but during the Aktion in September 1942, Zygmunt fled the ghetto with his wife and daughter, heading for Bochnia, a small town in the subCarpathian mountains in southern Poland. They left the train en route, were captured by the Germans and taken to Radomsko in Łódź Province. From there they were deported to Treblinka between October 10–12, 1942. Starwczyński's family was gassed on arrival, but Zygmunt was selected to work, initially at sorting the clothes and belongings of the murdered Jews. He was then employed with his brother in the tinsmiths' workshop. They escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943. They made their way to Warsaw where they were re-united with Treblinka escapee Samuel Willenberg. After the War, the Strawczyński brothers settled in Canada. Zygmunt died in Montreal in 1975, nine years after his brother.724

723 724

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 290. Ibid., p. 290.

287

SUKNO, Bronka. Deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka on January 18, 1943. She was selected by SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel to work in the laundry and then in the tailors' workshop in the Lower Camp. She also worked in the Ukrainian guard's kitchen. She escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943. She settled in Israel.725 SZEJNBERG, Wolf. He settled in France.726 SZMULOWICZ, Jakob. He settled in Israel.727 SZNAJDMAN (SCHNEIDMANN), Wolf. Deported from Stoczek, near Węgrów in Mazowsza Province, north-east Poland, to Treblinka penal labor camp in June 1942. Participated in the construction of the death camp and became one of the “Court Jews” (Hofjuden). He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943. Included in the photograph of the reunion of Treblinka survivors in 1944. He settled in New York.728 SZTAJER, Chaim. Born on July 15, 1909, in Częstochowa.729 Worked in the Upper Camp and escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943. Settled in Melbourne, Australia, where he constructed a model of the Treblinka death camp. He passed away on February 16, 2008.730 TEIGMAN, Kalman. Born on December 24, 1922, in Warsaw. His family lived on Twarda Street in the Muranów district of Warsaw that later became the ghetto. Teigman worked at Okęcie airport on the southern outskirts of the city,731 together with his comrade Słamek Rozenblum, and in the Astra-Werke at

725 726 727 728 729 730 731

288

Ibid., p. 290. Ibid., p. 290. Ibid., p. 290. Ibid., p. 290. In correspondence with Malka Silver. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 290 and Malka Silver. Okęcie civilian airport was taken over after September 1939 by the Junkers aircraft construction firm. The Luftwaffe also used it as a repair depot and pilot training school.

Wildstraße 30 (Zamenhof Street 30).732 Deported to Treblinka from the Astra-Werke workshop with his mother Tema, on September 4, 1942, they arrived at the death camp the following day. In Treblinka, he was selected to work, but his mother was gassed on arrival. He worked at sorting the belongings of the murdered Jews at renovating aluminum wares. Kalman escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943, together with Jakob Miller and others. After the War, he spent some time in a refugee camp on Cyprus, before settling in Israel. He testified at the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1961, the First and Second Treblinka Trials in Düsseldorf 1964-65 and the trial of Franz Stangl in Düsseldorf in 1970. Kalman died on July 26, 2012.733 TOBIAS, Mieczyslaw. No further details are known.734 TUROWSKI, Eugen. Born on January 14, 1914, in Łódź, Poland. Served as an NCO in the Polish infantry, captured by the Germans in Poznań Province on September 14, 1939. Released three weeks later, he returned to Łódź and then moved with his family to Częstochowa, where he was employed as a teacher in a professional technical school. Members of his family were deported from Częstochowa on the first transport to Treblinka on August 22, 1942, the day after Yom Kippur. At Częstochowa station, Turowski and his son were singled out and placed among a group selected for work, a temporary reprieve from deportation. His wife, son, mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law were deported to the death camp where they were gassed on arrival. Turowski spent eight days in a temporary camp, after which the Germans discovered he was with his young son, and sent both of them to Treblinka, where they arrived on September 5, 1942. Through the promptings of his former students who told the camp SS that Turowski was a qualified mechanic, he was selected to work. His son was shot on the Undressing Square. Turowski worked for three weeks at sorting the belongings and 732

733 734

The Astra-Werke, based in Chemnitz, eastern Germany, specialized in the construction of typewriters and calculating machines. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., pp. 290-291. Ibid., p. 291.

289

clothing of the murdered Jews, after which he worked in the camp repair shop as a mechanic. He claims it was he who made the duplicate key to the SS armory, a claim supported by Kalman Teigman.735 He escaped during the revolt on August 2, 1943, and in 1946 testified before the Main Commission for Investigation of German Crimes in Poland. Settled in Israel and testified at the First Treblinka Trial in Düsseldorf 1964–65 (Kurt Franz et al.,), and at the Fedorenko Denaturalization Hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, in 1978.736 UNGER, Karel. Born on April 15, 1921, in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia. Deported from there to the Theresienstadt fortress ghetto on June 30, 1942, and then to Treblinka on transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942 (the same transport as Richard Glazar). His transport number was “Bu” 175. His parents and younger brother were gassed on arrival, but he was selected to live and worked in the Sorting and Camouflage Brigades. Participated in the revolt on August 2, 1943, and escaped together with Richard Glazar. They made their way across Poland, but were arrested by a forester near Nowe Miasto-nad-Pilicą, south of Warsaw, and managed to convince their captors that they were workers for the Organisation Todt, the Nazi construction brigades, and sent to Germany as workers. From an assembly camp in Częstochowa they travelled through Moravia and Vienna to Mannheim in Germany, where they arrived on September 24, 1943. They were both employed by Heinrich Lanz AG, a firm that manufactured agricultural machinery, until liberated by the US Army in 1945. Unger settled in the USA where he worked as a brew-master, but never wanted to talk to anybody about Treblinka. He died a long time before his comrade Richard Glazar.737 WALLACH, Azriel. A nephew of the former Soviet foreign minister, Maxim Litvinov. Escaped from Treblinka and met Zalmen Frydrych, a member of the Jewish Underground, in 735 736 737

290

Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb, dated June 24, 2003. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 291. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 291.

Sokołów Podlaski, where he provided him with details of the death camp. A description of Treblinka published in Oyf der vakh (“On Guard”), an underground publication of the Bund, was evidently based on Wallach's information.738 WARSZAWSKI, Szyja. Deported from the Kielce Ghetto during August 1942, he was selected to work in the Upper Camp, as a carpenter. He was one of the 13 survivors who gave evidence to the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland. In 1951, he identified former SS-NCO Josef (“Sepp”) Hirtreiter at his trial in Frankfurt-am-Main.739 WASSER. No further details are known.740 WEINBERG, Boris (“Kazik”). Deported from Warsaw on September 4 1942, and selected in Treblinka for the “Sorting Commando”. Later employed in the Blau Kommando, receiving transports on the Ramp.741 WEINER. A Hassidic Jew who escaped together with Abraham Krzepicki from Treblinka in September 1942.742 WEINSTEIN, Edward (“Edi”). Deported from Łosice, Lower Silesia, with his family. Arrived in Treblinka on August 24, 1942, and escaped on September 9. Settled in the United States of America where he died in 2010.743 WIERNIK, Jankiel (“Jakob”). Born in 1887 in the Brisk district, now Brest, Belarus, although some accounts claim he was born in 1890 in Biała Podlaska in the Lublin district of eastern Poland. He joined the Bund in 1904, was arrested and sent to Siberia. After his release, he served in the Tsarist army after which he settled in Warsaw and became a building contractor. Deported to Treblinka on August 23, 1942. As a skilled craftsman he was 738 739 740 741 742 743

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 261. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 291. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 291. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 97. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 141. E. Weinstein, 17 Days in Treblinka, Yad Vashem Publications, Jerusalem 2008, p. 41. I met Edi in the Hotel Belvedere, New York in November 2009.

291

selected to live by the SS who employed him as a carpenter. He participated in the construction of the new, bigger gas chambers in the autumn of 1942, as well as the Polish-country-style main gate and the Tyrolean-style guard house in 1943. Wiernik played a leading role in the organization of the revolt on August 2, 1943, because he was the only prisoner permitted free access between the Upper and Lower Camps. He maintained contact between the conspirators in the two compounds. He escaped during the revolt, but was shot in the shoulder by a Ukrainian guard from the Treblinka penal labor camp (Treblinka I). Before the guard could shoot again, Wiernik killed him with an axe and escaped into the forest. Wiernik made his way to Warsaw where he approached some Jews using a code word: Amcha.744 Recognized as a Jew, he was accepted as a member of the Jewish Underground. At the age of 56 he became a member of the Communist-led People's Army (Armja Ludowa—AL) in Warsaw.745 He drew a plan of the Treblinka death camp and wrote about his experiences, first in Polish, then in December 1944 in Hebrew. English and Yiddish versions were published simultaneously. In 1946, Wiernik gave evidence to the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland. He moved to Mandate Palestine746 and in the 1950s settled in Holon.747 In 1955, he met Zivia Lubetkin and Yitzhak Zukerman, two key figures in the Jewish resistance in Warsaw and founders 744

745

746

747

292

Amcha: a Yiddish word meaning “your people”. Jews in Europe, especially during the period of the Holocaust, sometimes used the word to ask strangers if they, too, were Jewish. Armia Ludowa (AL): the underground Communist partisan organization that supported the Soviet military and political causes and the establishment of a pro-Soviet government in Poland after the War. During the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, Wiernik fought in the same AL unit as Samuel Willenberg. (See next entry). The British Mandate for Palestine was a legal commission for the administration of Palestine by the League of Nations which came into effect in 1923. The main objective of the Mandate system was to administer parts of the Ottoman Empire which had been in control of the Middle East since the 16th century, “until such time as they are able to stand alone”. The British Mandate covered Palestine in the west and Transjordan in the east, with the Dead Sea in the center. The State of Israel came into being in May 1948. Holon is a city on the coast of Israel, 6 kilometers south of Tel Aviv.

of the Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz and Museum in Western Galilee. This encounter inspired him to construct a model of the Treblinka death camp for the museum.748 He also testified at the Adolf Eichmann Trial in Jerusalem in 1961. He took part, as a white-haired elder survivor, at the Treblinka memorial ceremonial on May 10, 1964. He died in 1972.749 WILLENBERG, Samuel. Born in Częstochowa, southern Poland, on February 16, 1923. His father taught art at the Jewish Grammar school in the city. His mother, from an aristocratic background and a Russian of Orthodox by faith, had settled in Poland during the revolution. Aged 16 at the outbreak of War, Willenberg volunteered to serve in the Polish army and was wounded at Chełmno. The Willenberg family was split up and Samuel went in hiding in Częstochowa. His sisters, Itta and Tamara, were arrested and deported to Treblinka where they were murdered. His mother and father remained in hiding, while Samuel went to the ghetto in Opatów, between Kraków and Lublin. Deported to Treblinka from Opatów, when he walked 18 kilometers to a waiting train at Ozarow, that took him to the death camp. On October 20, 1942, he was selected for work on arrival and assigned to sorting the clothes and belongings of the murdered Jews. He also worked in the Camouflage Brigade. He took part in the revolt on August 2, 1943, and despite being shot in the leg he managed to escape into the forest, and found shelter in Rembertów, just outside Warsaw. He eventually went to Warsaw where he was re-united with his father and mother. In 1944, he participated in the Warsaw Uprising in the ranks of the AK, during which time he was reunited with Treblinka escapee Zygmunt Strawczyński. After escaping from the virtually destroyed city through the sewers, he joined one of several partisan units in the Kampinos Forest (Puszcza Kampinoska), a big forest complex west of Warsaw. After the liberation of Poland, he joined the Communist Polish Army and 748

749

Willenberg's model is still on display in the Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz Museum in Israel. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 147.

293

served as a captain until 1947. In 1950, he emigrated to Israel with his wife and mother. Willenberg's book Revolt in Treblinka went through several editions,750 after which he took up painting and sculpture. After the death of Kalman Teigman in July 2012, Samuel Willenberg was the last Treblinka survivor. The very last man standing from a total of about 900,000 people murdered in the death camp. At the age of 93, Samuel Willenberg passed away on February 19, 2016. He was the last of the Treblinka survivors to pass away.751 ZIEGELMAN. No further details are known.752 ZYMERMAN, Joseph. Settled in New York, United States of America, according to Kalman Teigman.753 Only approximately 100 plus survivors' or escapees names are known, from a figure of around 900,000 victims. This is horrifying evidence of the murderous efficiency of the Nazi extermination machine in which individuals ceased to exist.

Treblinka Victims This Roll of Remembrance covers the Jewish victims—excluding those transported from Germany to the Treblinka death camp. As with the survivors and escapees this Roll of Remembrance has been compiled mostly from survivor accounts, interviews and private correspondence. Extensive use has been made of the excellent Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. This has been an invaluable online resource that cannot be overstated. This list is not definitive, but should be viewed as a representative snapshot of a fraction of the Jews brutally murdered at the Treblinka death camp. 750

751 752 753

294

First published in Hebrew: Mered be-Treblinka, Israeli Ministry of Defence, Tel Aviv 1986; in Spanish: Rebelion en Treblinka, La Semana Publications, Jerusalem 1988; English edition: Surviving Treblinka, Basil Blackwell, Oxford and New York 1989; Polish edition: Bunt w Treblince, Res Publica, Warsaw 1991; Second edition in English: Revolt in Treblinka, Żydowski Instytut Historyczny (ŻIH), Warsaw 1992. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 189. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 291. Kalman Teigman in correspondence with Chris Webb.

Another online resource worthy of mention is the holocaust.cz, which covers the Jews deported to Treblinka from Czechoslovakia. Following this will be another Roll of Remembrance that covers the biographies of Jews deported directly from the Reich to the Treblinka death camp, and those who were deported via the Theresienstadt Ghetto, or the Transit ghettos located in Poland: A-Z ABRAMOWICZ, Reizl. Educated in Janusz Korczak's orphanage on Krochmalna Street in Warsaw, she worked there and was deported to Treblinka, together with Korczak and other staff members during the Kinder-Aktion (“Children's Operation”) on August 6, 1942.754 ADLERFLIGEL, Abram. Born during 1897, in Radom. He was married and a merchant by profession. He died in Treblinka during 1942.755 Adolf. Owner of a chocolate factory in Łódź. Killed during the revolt.756 Adrian. Dr. Remembered by Richard Glazar as a member of the Camouflage Brigade, “he was known as a doctor of speculation sciences, and it is impossible to imagine the Camouflage Brigade without him.”757 AJZENBERG, Chana. Born during 1888, in Siedlce in eastern Poland. She was married to Azriel and was a housewife. She was deported from Sokołów Podlaski to Treblinka in 1942, where she perished.758

754 755 756

757 758

Ghetto Fighters House Archives, Israel. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem, 2007, p. 173. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 129. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

295

AJZENBERG, Chana. Born on November 1, 1893, in Końskowla. She was deported from Warsaw during 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.759 AJZENWASSER, Henia. Born during 1912, in Kaluszyn. She was single and was deported to Treblinka in 1942, where she perished.760 Alexander. Kapo of the Goldjuden. Recalled by Richard Glazar. This indeed might be Arie Kudlik.761 ALTMAN, Sara (nee Koler). Born during 1917, in Warsaw. She was married to Abraham and lived in the Warsaw suburb of Wawer. She was deported to Treblinka, where she perished.762 ALTMAN, Sara (nee Kveler). Born during 1917, in Warsaw. She was married to Avraham and was an actress by profession. She was deported to Treblinka during 1943, where she perished.763 ALTSCHUL, Robert. Czechoslovakian medical student, born on July 24, 1916. Deported from Prague to the Theresienstadt fortress ghetto on September 12, 1942, and from there to Treblinka on October 8, 1942, on transport “Bu”. In the camp Robert worked in the Sorting Brigade. Became close friends with Želo Bloch, one of the Underground leaders who planned the revolt. Altschul's death during the revolt on August 2, 1943, was witnessed by Richard Glazar.764 ANKER, Joseph, Born during 1880, in Warsaw. He was a merchant by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.765 ANKIER, Abram. Born during 1896, in Opole Lubelski. He was married to Tzirel and was a merchant by profession. He was 759 760 761 762 763 764

765

296

Ibid. Ibid. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 71. Ibid. Ibid. Richard Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence, Northwestern University Press, Evanston 1995, p. 144. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

deported from Koprzywnica to Treblinka in 1942, where he perished.766 ANKIER, Israel. Born during 1913, in Warsaw. He was married to Hanna, and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.767 APELBAUM, Josek. Born during 1901. He was deported from Opatów to Treblinka, where he perished on October 23, 1942.768 APELBOIM, Khaim. Born during 1923. He was a shoemaker by profession and lived in Rawa Mazowiecka. He perished in Treblinka during 1943.769 ARBEITER, Hugara. She lived in Plock and was married to Yitzchak. She was murdered in Treblinka during 1942.770 ARBEITER, Yitzchak. He lived in Plock and was a tailor by profession. He was married to Hugara. He was murdered in Treblinka during 1942.771 ARNDT, Ernst. Born on February 3, 1861, in Magdeburg, Germany. He was a German-Jewish actor who from 1910, was a member of the Burg Theatre Ensemble in Vienna. He occasionally appeared in supporting roles in films, and was made an honorary citizen of Vienna. On July 10, 1942, at the age of eightyone he was deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto. From there he was deported on Transport “Bq” on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.772 ASTERBLUM, Henryk. He worked at the Janusz Korczak’s orphanage in Warsaw, and was deported on August 6, 1942,

766 767 768 769 770 771 772

Ibid. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. www. Find a Grave—online resource.

297

together with the children and other members of staff, to Treblinka where he perished.773 AUFRICHTIG, Biene. Born 1862 in Vienna. She was deported from Vienna on Transport 28 to the Theresienstadt Ghetto. She was subsequently deported from there to Treblinka on Transport “Bo” on September 19, 1942, where she perished.774 AUFRICHTIG, Fanni. Born on August 25, 1875. She was deported from Vienna on Transport 29 to the Theresienstadt Ghetto on June 29, 1942. She was subsequently deported from there on Transport “Bq” on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.775 AUFRICHTIG, Regina. Born on March 10, 1866. She was deported from Vienna to the Theresienstadt Ghetto on June 29, 1942. She was subsequently deported from there on Transport “Bq” on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.776 AWROBLAŃSKI, Chaim. Born during 1895, in Białystok. He was married to Fruma and lived in Ostryna. He was deported to Treblinka in 1942, where he perished.777 AXER, Dr. Filip. Teacher of Mathematics in the Government Gymnasium in Przemysl. He moved to Częstochowa, where he was the principal of the Jewish Gymnasium. He was deported to Treblinka where he perished.778 AZRYLEWICZ, Henryk. He worked at Dr. Janusz Korczak’s orphanage at 9 Sliska Street in Warsaw. He was deported with the children, Dr. Korczak and other members of staff from Warsaw to Treblinka on August 6, 1942, where he perished.779

773

774 775 776 777 778 779

298

B. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 717. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. JewishGen. Online resource. B. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 717.

AZRYLEWICZ- SZTOKMAN, Rosa. She worked at the same orphanage as her husband Henryk and shared the same fate as him, Dr. Korczak and the children in the gas chambers at Treblinka.780 BACHNER, Kurt. Born on August 18, 1929. He was deported to Ostrava to the Theresienstadt Ghetto on September 29, 1942. He was subsequently deported on Transport “Bt” on October 5, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.781 BACHNER, Lilly (nee Bornstein). Born on August 4, 1910, in Oldrichovice. She was a housewife and married to Adolf. She was deported from the Theresienstadt Ghetto on Transport “Bt” on October 5, 1942 to Treblinka, where she perished.782 BACK, Eugen. Born on November 26, 1917. Deported from Prague on February 12, 1942 to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto, and from there to Treblinka on October 8, 1942, on transport “Bu”. Selected to live, he worked in the Sorting Brigade. Glazar recalled that Back was known in the camp as the “Eiffel Tower” because of his height.783 Back caught typhus and was taken from the sick bay to the Lazarett where he was shot. BĄK, Dr. P. He was from Warsaw. In Treblinka he was assigned as a doctor in the “ghetto” barracks sick bay. No further information is available.784 BART, Tadeusz. Born on October 15, 1873, in Warsaw. He was a former director of a paint factory and former vice-chairman of the Union of Merchants. A member of the Warsaw Ghetto

780 781 782 783

784

Ibid., p. 717. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Richard Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence, Northwestern University Press, Evanston, 1995, p. 74. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 161.

299

Jewish Council, he lived at Chłodna Street 36 and later at Pawia Street 66. Deported to Treblinka in January 1943.785 BAU-PRUSSAK, Salomea. Born during December 1889, in Tyczyn. She graduated from the Middle School of Saint Anne in Kraków during 1912. She completed medical studies at the Jagielonian University in Kraków. She was the first woman to receive a doctor’s degree from a Polish university. She was a leading neurologist; her clinical abilities and broad medical knowledge were widely known in Poland and internationally. She worked at the Czyste Hospital and the University of Warsaw as an assistant neurologist. During the ghetto months, she was active in distributing underground literature. She also sheltered and cared for a fellow doctor, a woman physician, sick with typhus. She was deported from Warsaw to Treblinka, on August 7, 1942, where she perished.786 BECK, Dr. A prisoner doctor assigned to the infirmary in the Ghetto barracks.787 Beda. Recalled by Richard Glazar. He was a Czech Jew, from somewhere near Prague, who was responsible for the construction work on the Zoo in Treblinka. He arrived on the same transport as Richard Glazar on October 8, 1942. He was probably killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943.788 BERGMAN, Moisze. Born during 1890, in Domanice. He was married to Sara and owned land in Siedlce. He was deported to Treblinka in 1942, where he perished.789

785

786 787 788

789

300

Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 168. Gilbert, The Holocaust …, op. cit., p. 389. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 219. Richard Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence, Northwestern University Press, Evanston 1995, p. 140. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

BERLINER, Aaron. A worker from Częstochowa who “rescued” Oskar Strawczyński on his arrival in Treblinka and arranged for him to be selected for work.790 BERLINER, Meier. A citizen of Argentina, who had been stranded in Warsaw. Deported to Treblinka, along with his wife and daughter, who were gassed on arrival there. In Treblinka, he stabbed SS-NCO Max Biela to death on September 11, 1942, and immediately brutally killed in retaliation.791 BERNSZTEIN, Icchak. A journalist who worked with one of the biggest daily newspapers in Poland “Hajnt and Movement.” He reviewed literature and was the author of biographical studies about famous Jewish writers. In the Warsaw Ghetto he cooperated with Oneg Shabbat. The archive established by Emanuel Ringelblum and others. He was deported to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.792 BERTMAN, Baszka. Born in Orla. She was married to Yaakov and was a housewife. She perished in Treblinka.793 BERTMAN, Erszko. Born during 1885, in Orla. He was married to Feigel and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.794 BERTMAN, Ester. Born in Orla. She was married to Gersohn and was a housewife. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.795 BERTMAN, Feiga. Born during 1889, in Orla. She was married to Tzvi and was a housewife. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.796

790

791 792 793 794 795 796

O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 132. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 127. E.Ringelblum, Chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto, 1988. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.

301

BERTMAN, Gerszko. Born in Orla. He was married to Ester and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.797 BERTMAN, Hershel. Born during 1886, in Orla. He was married to Feiga and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Białystok to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.798 BERTMAN, Jakow. Born in Orla. He was married to Batia and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.799 BERTMAN, Szejna. Born during 1922, in Orla. She was single and was deported to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.800 BERTMAN, Szepsel. Born in 1925, in Orla. He was single and a weaver by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.801 BERTMAN, Szlomo. Born in Orla. He was married to Khinke and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Treblinka.802 BIRNBAUM, Ludwika. Born during 1907, in Kraków. She was married to David and was a musician by profession. She was deported to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.803 BIRNBAUM, Petr. Born on May 28, 1923. Deported from Olmütz (Olomouc) in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on June 30, 1942. From there, he was deported to Treblinka on transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, where he perished.804

797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804

302

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Holocaust.cz -online resource.

BLANKET, Moshe. Deported from Warsaw. In Treblinka, he was recognized by Abraham Krzepicki at the gate to the Undressing Square, but was unable to rescue him from the gas chambers.805 BLAU, Alexander. Born in 1866. During the War he lived in Vienna and was deported from there to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on “Transport 31” on July 14, 1942. Deported from Theresienstadt to Treblinka on Transport “Bp” on September 21, 1942. He perished in Treblinka.806 BLAUFUKS, Aharon. A Jewish artist born in Warsaw in 1894. Murdered in Treblinka during 1942.807 BLOCH, Zoltan (known as Želomír (Želo or Zhelo). Born on August 5, 1912. He lived at Hlinkova 44, in Presov. He was a photographer by profession and former lieutenant in the Czech army,between 1934-1936 and again in 1938. Zoltan and his wife arrived in Deblin, in the Lublin District of Poland on May 13 14, 1942, on a transport from Presov, which left on May 12, 1942.808 The ghetto in Deblin was liquidated on October 15, 1942, and most of the inhabitants were sent to Treblinka. Richard Glazar describes Bloch as “not tall, he has more of a sturdy build, and has a round face with a small moustache. His thick black hair falls into waves over his high forehead.” In Treblinka, he was appointed a Vorarbeiter (Foreman) in the Sorting Barracks “A” in which the clothing of the murdered Jews was organized. One day in March 1943, just after Želo had recovered from a bout of typhus, SS-Oberscharführer Fritz Küttner discovered that 73 bundles of men's shirts were missing. As a 805 806 807 808

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 121. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Transport List 12-May 1942, Yad Vashem. From detailed research with experts on Slovak Jewry, and with online confirmation that Zoltan Bloch was a photographer in Presov, that in all probability his first name was Zoltan. He changed his name to possibly fit in more with the Czech group of prisoners in Treblinka. The Military History Archive in Bratislava have confirmed that Zoltan Bloch from Presov did serve in the military between 1934 -1936 and again in 1938. Mgr Peter Kralcak email to Chris Webb November 28, 2019. Thus we have concluded that Zoltan was his real forename.

303

punishment, Želo and the other foreman, Adasch, were transferred to the Upper Camp. Because of his pre-war military experience, Želo was an important member of the Treblinka Underground and in the Upper Camp he organized a new committee that worked together with the Underground Committee in the Lower Camp. He fought bravely in the revolt on August 2, 1943, rallying the insurgents before being killed in the thick of the fighting.809 BODNIK, Efraam. From Nowy Dwór. In Treblinka, he worked together with his brother Leibisch in the tinsmiths' workshop in the Lower Camp.810 BODNIK, Leibisch. Brother of Efaam, from Nowy Dwór. In Treblinka they worked together in the tinsmiths’ workshop in the Lower Camp.811 BOEHM, Alfred. Originally from Germany, settled in Częstochowa, Poland, in the 1930's, with his Polish-born parents. He was befriended by Samuel Willenberg, as they both lived on Fabryczna Street. They were re-united in Treblinka, and according to Willenberg, Alfred was given the job of picking up rubbish using a small pram. He was killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943.812 BORAKS, Edek. Born in 1918 in Kalisz, at that time a city in Imperial Russia that a year later was incorporated into the newly independent Republic of Poland. He was a member of the Hashomer Hatzair, the Zionist Youth Movement, and the Hachshara, a Zionist training program for children and adolescents. At the outbreak of War, he was drafted into the Polish army, and in 1940 he arrived in Vilnius where he served on the main steering committee of Hashomer Hatzair from

809

810

811 812

304

Richard Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence, Northwestern University Press, Evanston 1995, p. 143. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 142. Ibid., p. 142. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 41.

1941.813 In December 1941, he travelled to Warsaw and then returned to Vilnius the following year where he was active in the Lithuanian United Partisan Organization (Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye—FPO), based in the Vilnius Ghetto. The FPO was the first Jewish resistance organization to be established in the ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe. From there he went to Białystok in north-east Poland where he was active in the Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa—ŻOB). In February 1943, Boraks commanded a combat unit of the ŻOB. He was captured by the Germans and deported to Treblinka.814 BORENSTEIN, Berl. A carpenter by profession from Legionowo, recalled by Oskar Strawczynski in his memoirs, as well as his father. He caught typhus and died.815 BORENSTEIN, Meyer. Born during 1923, in Kielce. He was a tailor by profession. He was deported to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.816 BORNSZTEIN, Tadeusz. Born in 1919 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, south-east of Łódź, Poland. An artist by profession, he was deported to Treblinka sometime in the last months of 1942.817 BORZYKOWSKA, Helia. Born during 1928, in Częstochowa. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.818 BORZYKOWSKA, Luba. Born during 1923, in Częstochowa. She was a student. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.819

813

814 815

816 817 818 819

Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, had been a part of Poland since 1922 and known as Vilno. On August 3, 1940, it was annexed by the Soviet Union and Vilno became the capital of the newly created Lithuanian SSR. Ghetto Fighters House Archive, Israel. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 173. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.

305

BORZYKOWSKA, Raquel. Born during 1902, in Janów. She was deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.820 BORZYKOWSKA, Ruhla. Born during 1902, in Janów. She was married to Reuven. She was deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.821 BRAT, Dawid. Lived at Kożia Street 3 in the Częstochowa Ghetto. Deported to Treblinka, he worked in the sorting barracks in the Lower Camp with Richard Glazar, who described him as having buck teeth and a bony nose822. BRATMAN, Nache. Born during 1910, in Częstochowa. She was married to Hershl. She was deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.823 BRATMAN, Natalia. Born during 1910, in Częstochowa. She was deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.824 BREITER, Max. Born on November 16, 1867, in Oedenburg, Austria. He was deported from Vienna to Theresienstadt on June 20, 1942. He was deported from there to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.825 BREITER, Yitzchok. Born during 1886. A Breslover Hasidic Rabbi. He spread the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. He wrote several scholarly works including: “Order of the Day” and “Seven Pillars of Faith.” He was deported to Treblinka in 1943, where he perished.826

820 821 822

823 824 825 826

306

Ibid. Ibid. Richard Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence, Northwestern University Press, Evanston 1995, p. 21. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. www. Wikipedia—online resource.

BROGER. Worked in the Camouflage Brigade, according to Samuel Willenberg. Knew of the plans to destroy the camp.827 BURG, Hans. Born on March 19, 1925. Deported on Transport “Bg” from Prague to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on September 12, 1942. From there he was deported to Treblinka on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942. According to Richard Glazar, Hans Burg, the youngest of the Czech contingent, in early 1943 was taken to the Lazarett and shot. He had only just recovered from typhus.828 BURSTEIN, Lolek. Escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto to Opatów, an open ghetto in the Świętokrzskie Province. Deported to Treblinka on October 20, 1942, on the same transport as Samuel Willenberg, Burstein was gassed on arrival.829 BURSTEIN, Mark. Born on December 10, 1940, in Grodno. He was deported from Grodno to Treblinka during 1943, where he perished.830 BURSZTYN, Galina (“Gisha”). Born in Pułtusk in 1877, at that time a part of Imperial Russia. She married in the late 1890's and moved with her husband, Shmuel David Bursztyn, to the city of Warsaw (also in Imperial Russia), where Shmuel owned and operated a bakery on Zamenhofa Street in Muranów, the city's Jewish quarter. In 1920, the Bursztyn family, which consisted of eight children, moved to a two-bedroom apartment at Mila Street 47. By 1939, only her youngest son and daughter were still at home, and her husband had given up his business and was working for the Kagan Bakery, the biggest kosher bakery in Warsaw, when the Germans occupied Poland. In April 1942, her husband was killed by the Germans, and Gisha sought shelter in one of the ghetto bunkers. During the first big round-up on

827 828

829 830

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 206. Richard Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence, Northwestern University Press, Evanston 1995, p. 77. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 41. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

307

July 22, 1942, she was rousted from the bunker and deported to Treblinka, where she perished.831 BUZYN, Regina. Born during 1917, in Łódź. She was married to Syszko and was a seamstress by profession. She was deported from Warsaw to Treblinka during 1943, where she perished.832 CAMHI, Matilda. Born in 1925 in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. A student, she was deported from Skopje to Treblinka in March 1943. She was 18 years old.833 “Cescha” (possibly the same woman as Tchechia Mendel). Richard Glazar recalled Cescha as “our robust peasant woman, (...) She works in the German mess and the few girls who are here look up to her the same way as we looked up to Želo.”834 Chaskel/Chaskiel. In his late 20s, a butcher from Warsaw where he was also known as a thief. In Treblinka, one of the most feared and hated informers for the SS. Samuel Willenberg recalled the Germans call him Hermann and he stood outside the camp’s headquarters carrying out petty errands. They even allowed him to marry a woman called Perele. It is likely he perished during the revolt.835 CHILINOWICZ, Ben–Zion. A journalist on the Warsaw daily newspaper Ruch (“Movement”). His specialty was writing about the Polish Parliament. Lived at Nowolipie Street in the Muranów district of Warsaw, the Jewish district which became the ghetto. Deported to Treblinka in 1942 with his family, where they all perished.836 CHORĄŻYCKI, Dr. Julian. A laryngologist, born in Warsaw in 1885, he lived at Nowolipki Street 54, Apartment 4, in the Muranów district of Warsaw that later became the ghetto. Although 57-years-old when he was deported to Treblinka, he 831 832 833 834 835 836

308

USHMM. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., p. 100. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 161. E. Ringelblum, Chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto, 1988.

was selected by the SS to head their own sick bay (Revierstube). As a former captain in the Polish army, he was involved in the prisoner's conspiracy from the outset, entrusted with the task of obtaining as much money as possible to buy weapons, as his clinic was near the barracks of the “Gold Jews” (Goldjuden) who sorted the cash and valuables of the victims. He was discovered by SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Franz, the Deputy Commandant, with a large sum of money on him. But before he could be tortured to reveal the source, he committed suicide by swallowing poison. In 1945, on the second anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Dr. Chorążycki was posthumously awarded the military Cross of Valor (Krzyż Walecznyk) by Poland's then Minister of Defence, General Rola—Żymierski.837 CLAUDE, Julius. Born on February 15, 1882. He was deported from Ostrava to Theresienstadt on September 22, 1942. He was deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.838 CLAUDEOVA, Selma. Born on August 30, 1902. She was deported from Ostrava to Theresienstadt on September 22, 1942. She was deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, where she perished.839 COMBER, Dr. Lipman. A young Jewish historian who, before the War, was connected with the Jewish Institute of Science in Vilno (Vilnius). In the Warsaw Ghetto he ran a dormitory for poor Jewish children. Deported to Treblinka in 1942, where he perished.840 CUKIERMAN, Cypa. Born in 1897. She was deported from Opatów to Treblinka, where she perished on October 23, 1942.841 CUKIERMAN, Cypora. Born in 1892, in Kock, a small town in eastern Poland. She was married and a merchant by profession 837 838 839 840 841

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 280. Holocaust.cz –online resource. Ibid. E. Ringelblum, Chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto, 1988. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

309

in Warsaw. She was deported from Warsaw to Treblinka, where she perished.842 CZECHOWICZ, Halinka. She was the seven-year old daughter of Aaron Czechowicz, who gave her father a watch before entering the gas chamber. She perished in Treblinka on September 9, 1942.843 DAVID, Yitzhak. Recalled by Oskar Strawczynski. He worked in the smithy.844 DEFRISOVA, Helena. Born on September 10, 1885. Deported from Olomouc to Theresienstadt on June 30, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942 to Treblinka, where she perished.845 DEUTELBAUM, Rudolf. Born on July 26, 1889. Deported from Olomouc to Theresienstadt on June 30, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.846 DEUTELBAUMOVA, Eva. Born on April 23, 1931. She was deported from Ostrava to Theresienstadt on September 18, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.847 DEUTELBAUMOVA, Ilona. Born on August 5, 1910. She was deported from Ostrava to Theresienstadt on September 18, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.848 DEUTSCH, Benn. Born on April 23, 1882. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 12, 1942. Deported from

842 843 844

845 846 847 848

310

Ibid. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 21. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 142. Holocaust.cz -online resource. Ibid. Holocaust.cz -online resource. Ibid.

there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.849 DIAMANT, Josef. Born on May 18, 1911. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 12, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.850 DONATH, Jan. Born on October 14, 1870. He was deported from Olomouc to Theresienstadt on June 26, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.851 DONATH, Pavel. Born on August 11, 1901. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on August 3, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.852 DONATHOVA, Jana. Born on December 16, 1890. She was deported from Olomouc to Theresienstadt on June 30, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.853 DONATOVA, Katerina. Born on December 16, 1888. She was deported from Olomouc to Theresienstadt on September 26, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.854 DORFMAN, Shlomo. He was a barber who was selected to work with Abraham Bomba in the gas chamber in the autumn of 1942. Along with another barber (name unknown) he ran into the gas chamber and was gassed along with the people from a transport.855 849 850 851 852 853 854 855

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Holocaust.cz -online resource. Ibid. A. Bomba Interview with Louise Bobrow, Monticello NY, August 14, 1996, USC Shoah Foundation Institute.

311

DORFMANN, Ruth. Samuel Willenberg recalled the tragic fate of this young woman as he worked at cutting the women's hair before they went to the gas chambers: Hundreds of women went through my station that day. Among them was a very lovely one about 20-years-old; though our acquaintance lasted only a few short minutes, I would not forget her for many years. Her name was Ruth Dorfmann, she said, and she had just finished matriculation. She was well aware of what awaited her, and kept it no secret from me. Her beautiful eyes displayed neither fear nor agony of any kind, only pain and boundless sadness. How long would she have to suffer?—she asked. “Only a few moments”, I answered. A heavy stone seemed to roll off her heart; tears welled up in our eyes. Suchomil (SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel) (...) the man in charge of sorting gold and dispatching transports to the gas chambers (...) passed by.856 We fell silent until he was gone. I continued cutting her long, silken hair. When I had finished, Ruth stood up from the stool and gave me one long, last look, as if saying goodbye to me and to a cruel, merciless world, and set out slowly on her final walk. A few minutes later I heard the racket of the motor which produced the gas and imagined Ruth in the mass of naked bodies, her soul departed.857

DRUCKER, Zdenek. Born on March 27, 1919. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 8, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.858 DUB, Karel. Born on April 16, 1918. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on July 20, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.859 DUBOVA, Frantiska. Born on March 19, 1880. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on July 20, 1942. Deported from

856

857

858 859

312

SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel, supervisor of the “Gold Jews” (Goldjuden) in the Lower Camp. S. Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), Warsaw 1992, p. 65. Holocaust.cz—online resource. Ibid.

there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.860 DUSENESOVA, Berta. Born on May 27, 1893. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on August 3, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.861 DUSENESOVA, Kamilia. Born on March 15, 1893. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on August 3, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.862 DZIALOSZYNSKI, Alfred. From Częstochowa, he worked and lived in the same barrack as Samuel Willenberg. According to Willenberg, Działoszyński was murdered by the Germans as a direct consequence of “Hermann” (Chaskiel) the official camp informer.863 EBERT. An engineer from Warsaw. Participated in the construction of the new gas chambers, along with his son, but they were both killed, a short time after the construction commenced as recalled by Jankiel Wiernik.864 “Edek”. Richard Glazar recalled the arrival in Treblinka of “little Edek” who, at the age of 14 was small for his age: When he got off the train and stood on the Ramp, all one could see of him was his head and his shoes; in between was the accordion he'd brought and that was all he brought. An SS-man saw him and said right away, “Come on, come on!” and from that day he played for them. They made a kind of mascot of him. He played everywhere, at all hours, and almost nightly in their mess.865

860 861 862 863 864 865

Ibid. Ibid. Holocaust.cz -online resource. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 197. Ibid., p. 156. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op cit., p. 30.

313

EICHNER, Daniel. He was Zygmunt Strawczynski’s brother-inlaw, who was murdered at Treblinka, as recalled by Oskar Strawczynski.866 ELJASZEWICZ, Nachum. A tinsmith from Częstochowa in southern Poland. Oskar Strawczyński brought him into the workshops to help him.867 ENGEL, Abraham. Born on April 12, 1882, in Warsaw. He was married to Perla and he perished in Treblinka on September 13, 1942.868 EPELBAUM, Beryl. Born in Staszów. He was married to Riva and they had five children. Sala and Jenny emigrated to Palestine and Canada respectively. Ruzia and Leonard survived and initially emigrated to Palestine. The youngest daughter Faigel perished in Treblinka. The parents and children were deported to Sandomierz and it was from there on January 10, 1943, that Beryl, Riva and Faigel, along with grandmother Freidel were deported to Treblinka, where they all perished.869 EPELBAUM, Faigel. Born in Staszów in 1928. At the age of eleven she was deported from Sandomierz to Treblinka on January 10, 1943, where she perished.870 EPELBAUM, Freidel. She was deported from Sandomierz to Treblinka on January 10, 1943, where she perished.871 EPELBAUM, Riva. Born in Warsaw and was married to Beryl and they lived in Staszów, before being deported to Sandomierz. She

866

867

868 869

870 871

314

O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 144. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 149. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ruzia Epelbaum / Rose Rotenberg—Courtesy of Dr. Dov Rotenberg, May 10, 2015 in correspondence with the author. Ibid. Ibid.

was deported from there on January 10, 1943, to Treblinka, where she perished.872 EPHROIMSON, Lila. She was the women’s Kapo in the Upper Camp, According to Sonia Lewkowicz, who survived, she behaved very favourably to the inmates there. She probably perished during the revolt on August 2, 1943.873 ERLICHMAN, Chana. Born on January 31, 1917, in Lublin. She was married and a teacher by profession. She was deported from Warsaw to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.874 ETTINGER, Moshe. Treblinka survivor Yekhiel Meyer Rajchman (Chil) recalls Moshe Ettinger embracing him “with bitter tears” because he could not forgive himself for remaining alive while his wife and son had been murdered.875 FARBER, David. Born during 1931, in Bocki. He was murdered in Treblinka during 1942.876 FARBER, Mordechai. Born during 1875, in Knyszyn. He was a merchant by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.877 FARBER, Yitzchak. Born during 1936, in Bocki. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.878 FEDER, Robert. Born on July 19, 1898. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on November 30, 1941. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.879

872 873 874 875

876 877 878 879

Ibid. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 116. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. C. Rajchman, Treblinka—A Survivors Memory, Maclehose Press, London 2011, p. 30. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Holocaust.cz –online resource.

315

FELDMAN, David. Born during 1891, in Szydlowice. He was married to Toibe. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.880 FELMAN, Sarah Rivka. Born in 1923, in Sokołów Podlaski. Deported with her entire family during the September 22, 1942 deportation of the town's 5,000 Jews to Treblinka.881 FELNER, Avraham. Born during 1918, in Wysków, Poland. He was a Yeshiva student and single. He was deported from Wyskow to Treblinka where he perished.882 FINKELSTEIN, Samuel. Born circa 1890, in Sandomierz. A painter who lived in Łódź. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.883 FINKELSTEIN, Shumel. Born during 1889, in Wegrow. He was married to Fruma and was a merchant by profession. He was deported from Sokołów Podlaski to Treblinka in 1942, where he perished.884 FISCHER, Irma. Born on August 26, 1897. She lived at Retezova 3, in Prague. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on August 3, 1942. Deported from there on Transport „Bx” on October 22, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.885 FISZELEVIC, Mindul. Born during 1881, in Horodek. She was married to Menukha. She perished in Treblinka during 1943.886 FLINT, Dawid. Born in Piaseczno during 1905. He was married to Fruma and was a merchant by profession and they lived in Legionowo. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.887 FOJGENBAUM, Szmul. Photographed on April 1, 1943, with three other Jews: Jankiel Waserman, Wigda Szpektor, and Abraham

880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887

316

Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. www.wideworlds.ch. Ibid. Holocaust.cz –online resource. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid.

Koltun, in the Wisznice Ghetto near Biała Podlaski in the Lublin District. Deported to Treblinka later that year.888 FOLKENFLICK, Rachmiel. Born during 1891. He was married to Nekha and was a merchant by profession. He lived in Jezierzany and was deported to Treblinka, where he perished during 1943.889 FRIEDMAN. A Jew deported from Kielce on August 24, 1942, who attacked a Ukrainian guard and cut his throat with a razor blade, before being killed.890 FRIEDMAN, Adolf (“Adasch”). From Łódź. In his 30s when deported to Treblinka where he worked as a foreman in the Sorting Square. In March 1943, together with Želo Bloch, transferred to the Upper Camp as a punishment for bundles of men's shirts that went missing. Friedman was appointed a foreman in the Corpse—Burning Brigade. In the Upper Camp in late May–early June 1943, he and Bloch became key members of the Committee organizing the revolt. He was killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943.891 FREUD, Marie. Born on March 22, 1861, in Vienna, a sister of the renowned Sigmund Freud. She lived at Seegasse 9 in Vienna before being deported to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on June 28, 1942. From there she was deported to Treblinka on Transport “Bq” on September 23, 1942, where she perished.892 FREUND, Hans (“Honza”). Born on March 18, 1907. Deported from Prague to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on June 20, 1942, and on October 8, deported to Treblinka on Transport “Bu”. Richard Glazar recalls Freund thus: Hans Freund towers over all of us even when he is sitting. Words come out of his mouth in the same ambling way he moves his body. You hear in every sentence that he's a true son of Prague. Many of 888 889 890 891 892

USHMM Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Gilbert, The Holocaust …, op. cit., p. 434. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 271. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

317

his expressions come from the world of commerce, from the textile business. Because of his size, Hans simply could not be overlooked upon his arrival at the undressing site. His wife and small son, however, went into the pipeline.893

Hans Freund was killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943.894 FREUND, Hugo. Born on November 23, 1900. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 12, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.895 FREY, Pavel. Born on July 27, 1913. Deported on April 28, 1942, from Prague to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto, and on October 8, 1942 deported to Treblinka on Transport “Bu”. Selected to live, he worked in the Lower Camp at sorting the belongings of the murdered Jews. He perished in Treblinka.896 Fritz. Kapo of Sorting Barracks B, as recalled by Richard Glazar.897 FUCHS, Treblinka survivor Jerzy Rajgrodzki recalled that in the Upper Camp there was a man called Fuchs who had worked in the past for Polish radio, and in the death camp played the clarinet in the camp orchestra. He perished in Treblinka.898 FUKS, Chaim. Chaim Fuks was born in Opoczno in the Łódź Province, Poland. He was married to Nekhama and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Treblinka during September 1942.899 FÜRST, Willi. A Czech hotelier, born on November 11, 1910. Deported to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto from Mährisch Ostrau (Moravská Ostrava) in northern Moravia, the third biggest Jewish community in Czechoslovakia after Prague and Brno. Transport “Bm” left Ostrava for Theresienstadt on 893 894 895 896 897 898 899

318

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op cit., pp. 23-24. Ibid., p. 149. Holocaust.cz –online resource. Ibid. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op cit., p. 87. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 234. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

September 30, 1942, and from there he was deported on Transport “Bu” to the Treblinka death camp on October 8, 1942. Richard Glazar recalls Fürst, known as “Little Willi Fürst”, and of all the Jews deported from Theresienstadt, he was the best informed about events in Treblinka: He spends most of his time sitting down at the big depository, where he can easily observe the comings and goings of the SS. Among the 12 members of the Goldjuden brigade, Willi always seems to be playing some kind of supporting role. The black eyes, bushy eyebrows, the moustache under his nose, his somewhat rotund figure—they all add to the confusion.900

GAJKOWSKI, Chana. Born during 1891, in Lida. She was married to Khaim and was a housewife. She perished in Treblinka.901 GAŃCWOL-GANKIEWSKI, Adolf. Born on December 27, 1870. He was a photographer from Siedlce. He was deported from Siedlce to Treblinka during August 1942, where he perished.902 GELLERT, Malka. Born during 1914, in Tuszyn. She perished in Treblinka.903 GERSCHONOVITZ, Eduard (“Edek”). Born during 1900, in Częstochowa. A merchant from Częstochowa in Poland. Deported to Treblinka with his wife Esther in 1942.904 GERSCHONOVITZ, Esther. Born during 1900, in Częstochowa. She was married to Edek. Deported to Treblinka with her husband during 1942, where she perished.905 GERSTENMAN, Wolf. From Działoszyce, a small village in the south-west corner of Świętokrzyskie Province.906

900 900 901 902 903 904 905 906

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op cit., p. 96. Ibid., p. 149. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Jewish Siedlce –online resource. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.

319

GILBERT, Szlomo. Born in 1885. A writer and poet, author of essays and short stories published in Jewish periodicals in Warsaw. In the ghetto he lived at Nowolipie Street 58 and worked with YIKOR, the Society for Jewish Culture that strived to establish Yiddish as the official language of the ghetto, and organized an ambitious program of cultural events. Although it is known that he wrote a great deal in the ghetto, his manuscripts were lost during the deportations. He was murdered in Treblinka during the summer of 1942.907 GITLER, Joseph. A lawyer by profession and a member of the Częstochowa Jewish Council. Deported to Treblinka on 4 October 1942.908 GLATSTEIN, Jakob. Born in 1908 to Moshe and Yeta. A baker by profession and married to Ita. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.909 GLATTSZTAJN, Jakub. A musician, voice teacher and conductor of the Bund Tsukunft (“The Future”) youth choir during the German occupation.910 He took part in cultural activities in the Warsaw Ghetto and organized choral groups of refugee children. He composed the melody to Yitzhak Katzenelson's poem in Hebrew, Yats a Yehudi le-Rechov (A Jew went out to the Street). He perished in Treblinka.911 GLOBOCNIKOVA, Leonie. Born on October 8, 1888. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 12, 1942. She was deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.912

907

908 909 910

911 912

320

Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 821. The World Society of Częstochowa Jews—online resource. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Official name: Yugn Bund Tsukunft (lit. “Future” Youth Association)—a youth organization of the Jewish Labor Union, the Bund. By 1939, it had 15,000 members of whom many took part in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 as part of the Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa—ŻOB). Ghetto Fighters House Archives. Holocaust.cz –online resource.

GODIN, Hena. Born in Warsaw. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.913 GODIN, Rashka (“Elka”). Born during 1888 in Latvia. She was a housewife and was married to Shmuel and they lived at Stawki Street 9. Deported to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.914. They were the grandparents of Israeli politician and former government minister Ehud Barak.915 GODIN, Shmuel. Born during 1882, in Smolensk, Russia. Married to Rashka, he was a bookbinder by profession. He lived with Rashka on Stawki Street. 9. Deported to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished. Grandparent of Israeli politician and former government minister Ehud Barak.916 GOLCZEWSKY, Ester. From Przytyk, a small village about 20 kilometers west of the city of Radom in Radom District, eastcentral Poland. She was married to Velvel. She perished in Treblinka.917 GOLD, Artur. Born in 1897, the son of Michał and Helena Gold. In 1922 he established a jazz band with his cousin Jerzy Petersburski, which became very popular. He travelled to England and recorded for Columbia Records in Hayes, Middlesex, near London. From 1929 he performed at the famous “Adria” coffee house at Moniuszki Street 8, the most elegant and modern in Warsaw for dancing and cabaret. During the 1930's he composed popular songs such as Jesienna róży (Autumn Roses), Oczy czarny (Eyes of Black).. He lived and worked with his brothers Adam and Henryk, who were also musicians, at Chmielna Street 122 in Warsaw. In 1940 he was forced to move to the Warsaw Ghetto, where he performed at the Nowoczesna Café at Nowolipki Street 10, where Władysław Szpilman played 913 914 915

916 917

Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ehud Barak, born 1942 in Mandate Palestine. Changed his family name from “Brog” to “Barak” in 1972. Served as Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister in Binyamin Netanyahu's second government 2009–2012. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid.

321

daily on the piano. Szpilman's entire family was murdered in Treblinka. Artur Gold was deported from Warsaw to Treblinka in late 1942. Recognized as the famous musician, he was saved from the gas chambers and ordered by SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Franz to form a small orchestra. Richard Glazar recalled about the formation of the camp orchestra: We all knew that Lalka (Kurt Franz) was interested in music and someone alerted him to the fact that Artur Gold, the famous Warsaw musician, had arrived on one of the last transports. Lalka brought out Gold and gave him the assignment of forming a small orchestra in Treblinka. There were certainly enough musicians here; both of the red-haired Schermanns, Salwe the tenor, little Edek with his accordion, and many others.918

Kurt Franz ordered the composition of a camp song titled: Fester Schritt—the lyrics were composed by Walter Hirsch, a Czech Jew, and Artur Gold wrote the music. Artur Gold perished during 1943.919 GOLDBERG, Elenore. Born on April 6, 1917. She was deported from Theresienstadt on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.920 GOLDBERG, Eliasz. Born during 1908. He was single and he perished in Treblinka during 1942.921 GOLDBERG, Julke. From Łosice in the northern part of Lublin District. Shot in Treblinka, as recalled by Edi Weinstein.922 GOLDBERG, Mathilde. Born on December 12, 1921. She was deported from Theresienstadt on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.923

918 919 920 921 922

923

322

Ibid., p. 117. Cultur.pl—online resource. Transport List—Bu. October 8, 1942, National Archive Prague. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. E. Weinstein, 17 Days in Treblinka, Yad Vashem Publications, Jerusa lem 2008, p. 46. Transport List—Bu. October 8, 1942, National Archive Prague.

GOLDBERG, Rosa. Born on August 30, 1887. She was deported from Theresienstadt on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.924 GOLDBERG, Sane. From Łosice. He was the brother of Julke. He perished in Treblinka in August 1942, as recalled by Edi Weinstein.925 GOLDBERGER, Karel. Born on May 4, 1922. Deported on June 30, 1942, from Olmütz (Olomouc) in eastern Moravia, Czechoslovakia, to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto, and from there to Treblinka on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, where he perished.926 GOLDFARB, Leybl. He was remembered by Chil Rajchman, who wrote that he was from his hometown of Ostrow Lubelski. He was selected with Chil to work as a barber. He perished in Treblinka.927 GOLDGORN, Ewa. A Jewish girl deported to Treblinka, along with her mother Risia and her Grandmother Zina Grinfeld. They all perished.928 GOLDMAN, Henryk. Arrived in Treblinka from Opatów, between Kraków and Lublin, on the same transport as Samuel Willenberg. Last seen in the “Undressing Square”, clutching his father, before going to the gas chambers.929 GOLDSTEIN, Avraham. Born during 1890, in Kock, a small town in Eastern Poland. He was married to Malka and lived in Dubienki. He perished during 1942, in Treblinka.930

924 925

926 927

928 929

930

Ibid. E. Weinstein, 17 Days in Treblinka, Yad Vashem Publications, Jerusalem 2008, p. 46. Holocaust.cz –online resource. Rajchman, Treblinka—A Survivors Memory, Maclehose Press, London 2011, p. 24. Ghetto Fighters House Archives. S. Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), Warsaw 1992, p. 41. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

323

GOLDSZTAJN, Bale. Born during 1930, in Radom. She perished in Treblinka.931 GONCARSKI, Jakob. Recalled by Oscar Strawczynski as a close friend of his brother Zygmunt. He perished in Treblinka.932 GOTLIEB, Mosze. Born in 1885, in Kitow. He was married to Khaia and was a merchant by profession. He was deported to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.933 GOTTLIEB, Moshe. Born in Częstochowa. He was married to Batia. He perished in Treblinka during 1943.934 GRADOWCZYK, Hirsh. Born during 1875, in Radzyn. He was deported from Miedzyrec to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.935 GRAF, Rosa (née Freud). Born on March 21, 1860, in Vienna, a sister of the renowned psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Deported from Vienna to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto, and from there on Transport “Bs” on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.936 GRINBERG, Meir. Son of a scribe and in Treblinka the Kapo of the Blue Kommando at the Ramp. According to Samuel Willenberg, Kapo Grinberg was “a plump, hump-backed, red-head, and also an orthodox Jew.” Oskar Strawczyński recalled about Kapo Grinberg: Each evening at the end of the workday, when all were locked into the barracks, he would stand and pray the Evening Service and end with El male Rachamim.937 Then the Jews in the hut would recite Kaddish (“The Sanctification of God's Name”), a prayer usually

931 932

933 934 935 936 937

324

Ibid. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 144. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. El Male Rachamin (“God full of Compassion”): an Ashkenazi funeral prayer for the souls of the departed.

recited as part of the mourning rituals of Judaism.938 The SS-men would come and stand near the hut and listen to the Meir's pleasant voice.939

Meir Grinberg was shot in Treblinka940 GRINBERG, Meir. Born circa. 1904 in Warsaw. He perished in Treblinka.941 GRINBERG, Meir. A student, born in 1923 in Opatów, between Kraków and Lublin. Deported to Treblinka at the age of 21. GRINBERG, Meir. A student, born during 1924, in Klementów, a village in Łódź Province, central Poland. Murdered in Treblinka in 1943.942 GRINFELD, Zina. Deported to Treblinka with other members of her family. They all perished.943 GRODZIENSKI, Natan. He was a Barrister by profession. He was a Councillor for personnel issues within the Warsaw Judenrat. In the autumn of 1942, he lived at Muranowska No. 42. He was deported from Warsaw to Treblinka on January 18, 1943. He perished there along with other members of his family.944 GROSS, Ernestine. Born on May 9, 1889. Deported from Theresienstadt on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.945 GROSS, Otto. Born on November 24, 1889. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 12, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.946 938

939 940 941 942 943 944 945 946

Kaddish (“Sanctification of God's Name”): recited as a part of the mourning ritual in Judaism. Recited only by a quorum of 10 Jewish male adults. YVA, Jerusalem, 0-3/3131: O. Strawczyński, Ten Months in Treblinka. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 216. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ghetto Fighters Archive. Warsaw Ghetto Database—online resource. Transport List—Bu. October 8, 1942, National Archive Prague. Holocaust.cz –online resource.

325

GRUNBERG, Adam. Born during 1919, in Warsaw. He was a student and was deported to Treblinka during July 1942, where he perished.947 GRYC, Chana. Born during 1890, in Deblin-Irena. She was married to Jakow. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.948 GRYNBERG, Alter. From Opatów, between Kraków and Lublin in Poland. Murdered in Treblinka in 1942.949 GRYNBERG, Chana Rivka. Mother of Herschel Grynberg950. Married to Shmuel. Her maiden name was Swzicki, and she came from Białystok. She was deported to Treblinka from Losice, via Siedlce on August 22, 1942. She perished in Treblinka.951 GRYNBERG, Esther Ruchla (Rivka). Sister of Herschel Grynberg. She was twenty-five years old when she was taken from Losice to Treblinka via Siedlce on August 22, 1942. She perished in Treblinka.952 GRYNBERG, Israel, Yitschak. Born in Losice, circa 1887. He was an oil and seed dealer in Losice, and an uncle to Herschel Grynberg. He was deported from Losice to Treblinka, via Siedlce, on August 22, 1942, where he perished.953 GRYNBERG, Shmuel Yankel. Father of Herschel Grynberg. He was born circa. 1885. He was a dairyman who owned a large dairy on Ulica Berka Joselewicza in Losice. The family lived

947 948 949 950

951 952 953

326

Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Herschel Grynberg was born on May 13, 1915, in Losice, his father was Schmuel—Yankel and his mother was Chana. He fled to the Soviet Union where he was arrested by the NKVD, and imprisoned. He joined the Polish Anders Army, and he fought on the Western Front. He was demobbed in 1947. He settled in England until his death on September 25, 2009. Warren Grynberg in correspondence with the Author–January 2018. Ibid. Warren Grynberg in correspondence with the Author–August 2017.

there unti August 1942. Shmuel was deported from Losice, via Siedlce, to Treblinka on August 22, 1942, where he perished.954 GRZYBOWA, Balbina. She worked at the Janusz Korczak orphanage in Warsaw. She was deported on August 6, 1942, to Treblinka, together with the children and other members of staff, where she perished.955 GUTMAN, Israel Ber. Born during 1915, in Plock. He was married to Nekhana, and he was a carpenter by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1943.956 HABERMAN, Leon. An artisan from Warsaw. In Treblinka employed in the SS laundry and managed to steal handgrenades on the day of the revolt.957 HECHTKOPF, Szejndl. Born in Zamość, Lublin District, in 1911. In 1932 she moved to Warsaw with her family, and completed her law studies. During the War she was a member of the “Dror” Jewish youth movement and the Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowski Organizacja Bojowa—ŻOB). Ran a soup kitchen which served as a meeting place for members of the resistance movement, and organized educational courses for workers and activity programs for children. On September 6, 1942, she was arrested and deported to Treblinka, where she perished.958 HELLER. In Treblinka, he was in charge of the kitchen in the Upper Camp, and he had a well-known relationship with a woman.959 HERSZAFT, Adam–Abraham. Born in 1886. A Jewish graphic artist and painter who studied art in Warsaw and Paris. His work was displayed at various exhibitions in Warsaw, Łódź and Katowice. Herszaft was an employee of the Supply Section in

954 955

956 957 958 959

Warren Grynberg Interview March 13, 2018 in London. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 717. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 225. Ghetto Fighters House Archives. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 236.

327

the Warsaw Jewish Council. Deported to Treblinka in 1942, where he perished960. HERSZKOWICZ, Moniek. Former owner of a canning factory in Łódź. Together with Oskar and Zygmunt Strawczyński, decided to escape through the roof skylight of the blacksmiths' workshop, but the attempt had to be aborted.961 HILFERDING, Dr. Margarethe. Born on June 20, 1871. She was the first female member of the Vienna Psychoanalysis Society (Wiener Psychoanalytische Vereinigung)962 and an activist of the Viennese Social Democratic Party. Deported from Vienna to the Theresienstadt Fortress on June 28, 1942, and from there to Treblinka on Transport “Bq” on September 23, 1942.963 HIMMELBLAU, Szloma. Born circa 1912, in Czemierniki. The son of a rabbi. During the Nazi occupation he was a teacher in an orphanage in the Parczew Ghetto. During the deportations in 1942, he and his family hid from the Germans, even though he had an ID card stating that he worked for the Judenrat. When he discovered that the children from his orphanage were to be deported, he and his family accompanied the children to Treblinka, where they all perished.964 HIRSCH, Walter. Born in 1909. Deported from Mährisch Ostrau (Moravská Ostrava) in the Moravian part of Czechoslovakia to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on September 29, 1942. Deported to Treblinka from Theresienstadt on October 5, 1942 on Transport “Bt”. In the death camp he wrote the lyrics for the camp song Fester Schritt (music by Artur Gold). Hirsch was killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943.965

960 961

962

963 964 965

328

Ghetto Fighters House Archives. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, pp. 175-176. The Vienna Psychoanalysis Society was founded in 1902 with Sigmund Freud as its leading light. The Nazi Anschluss of Austria in 1938 resulted in Freud's emigration to London and dissolution of the Society. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Robert Kuwalek, State Museum Majdanek 2005. Holocaust.cz –online resource.

HOLCMAN, Ludwik. Born in 1889. He was a musician who played the violin and he lived in the Warsaw Ghetto. From there he was deported to Treblinka during August 1942, where he perished.966 HOLZMAN, Malka. From Wyszków, a town in north-eastern Poland. Deported from Warsaw to Treblinka, where she perished.967 HUBERBAND, Szymon. Born in 1909 in Chęcina, Świętokrzyski Province, Poland. A rabbi, self-taught historian and advisor to the Jewish Self-Help Association (Żydowskiej Samopomocy Społecznej—ŻSS) in Piotrków Trybunalski in Łódź Province, central Poland. He moved to Warsaw in 1939 and the following year was forced to live in the ghetto, at Zamenhof Street 19, where he continued his work with the ŻSS. He collected documents on religious life in the ghetto, and the fate of synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, religious books and holy artifacts at the hands of the Germans. These documents formed a part of the Ringelblum Archive which was hidden in the ghetto in 1942 and 1943, and recovered after the War. Rabbi Huberband was deported from Warsaw and murdered in Treblinka on August 18, 1942.968 IMICH, Gustava. Born during 1904, in Częstochowa. She was married to Aleksander and was a chemist by profession. She perished in Treblinka.969 INWALD, Arnold. Born on November 13, 1887. He was deported from Ostrava to Theresienstadt on September 22, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.970 INWALDOVA, Rozena. Born on September 21, 1885. She was deported from Ostrava to Theresienstadt on September 22, 1942. 966 967 968

969 970

Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 823. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Holocaust.cz –online resource.

329

Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.971 JABŁKOWSKI, Hershel. From Stoczek in northern Poland. Probably arrived in Treblinka on June 18, 1942—just over a month before the arrival of the first transport from Warsaw. According to Oskar Strawczyński, “Hershel was a quiet and reliable man” who later became the camp's master-blacksmith and employed in building the “bath”, i.e. the first gas chambers. Strawczyński also recalled that Hershel told him about the gas chambers in the Upper Camp and the mass killing procedure. Herschel was responsible for making the beautiful iron decoration which was placed on top of the main entrance gate to the camp. Before the revolt, he sharpened knives and axes and turned metal files into daggers. He was killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943.972 “Jacek”. A 17-year-old Hungarian-Jew, recalled by Stanisław Kon, who smuggled grenades out of the armory, just prior to the revolt on August 2, 1943.973 JAKUBOWICZ, Beila. Born during 1899, in Przedborz. She was married to Mordekhai and was a housewife. She perished in Treblinka.974 JAKUBOWICZ, Herch. Born during 1882, in Przedborz. He was married to Lea and was a shoemaker by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.975 JERZYK, A cabaret dancer as recalled by Oscar Strawczynski.976

971 972

973 974 975 976

330

Ibid. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 171. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 227. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 155.

JITZROCK. Recalled by Richard Glazar, known as “old Jitzrock”, who was a member of the camouflage commando.977 JOJNE. Worked in the Barracks A. He had red hair and was recalled by Richard Glazar.978 JUREK. A former rickshaw driver in Warsaw. In Treblinka, Jurek was the Kapo of the Red Brigade and he supervised the undressing of the victims in the Lower Camp. Oskar Strawczyński described Kapo Jurek as being: So corrupt and debauched that “no deed was too foul for him. This brute would not hesitate to take a girl aside, already naked, on her march to the “bath”. Promising to save her, he would do the worst, and then push her back into the line.979

KACZKEWICZ, Hershel. He was from Radomsko, and a close friend of Zygmunt Strawczynski. He was shot at the Lazarett, as remembered by Oskar Strawczynski.980 KAMINSKY, Daniel. A fireman by profession. Relative of the famous American singer, actor, dancer and comedian Danny Kaye.981 In Treblinka, Kaminsky was employed as a barber in the Upper Camp.982 KAPLAN, Aron Chaim. Born in 1880 in Horodyszcze, a village in the Lublin District. A teacher and writer, he settled in 1902 in Warsaw, where he set up a Hebrew elementary school, located first at Karmelicka Street 29, then at Pawia Street 13 and finally at Dzielna Street 15 until the outbreak of the War. He was the author of a dozen or more Hebrew school textbooks, articles and essays 977 978 979 980

981

982

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op cit., p. 131. Ibid., p. 75. YVA, Jerusalem, 0-3/3131: O. Strawczyński, Ten Months in Treblinka, p. 132. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 144. Danny Kaye, born David Daniel Kaminsky in Brooklyn, New York in 1913, to a Ukrainian-Jewish couple who had emigrated to the USA in 1911 from Ekaterinoslav (today, Dnepropetrovsk) on the Dnieper River in central Ukraine. Kaye changed his name from Kaminsky to Kaye in 1913, at the very beginning of his career as an entertainer. A. Bomba Interview with Louise Bobrow, Monticello NY, August 14, 1996, USC Shoah Foundation Institute.

331

about the problems of Hebrew education, and a member of the Association of Hebrew Writers and Journalists in Warsaw. In the ghetto he lived on the corner of Nowolipki and Karmelicka Streets. From 1933–August 1942 he kept a diary which he managed to smuggle to the Aryan side, and this was subsequently published under the title, “Scroll of Agony”. He was killed along with his wife Tzipora in Treblinka, probably in December 1942 or January 1943.983 KAPLAN, Shmuel. Born in Warsaw in 1907 where he became one of the founders of a branch of the HaNoar HaTzioni a Zionist Youth movement. At the outbreak of World War I he became the chairman of the movement's national leadership in Poland. Kaplan was one of the initiators of the kibbutz, a communal group based on agriculture established in the ghetto at Długa Street 27. In July 1942 he was deported to Treblinka.984 KAPLAN, Shmuel. A tinsmith by profession, who lived in Wolkowysk. He perished in Treblinka.985 KAPLAN, Tzipora. The wife of Aron Chaim. She was killed along with her husband in Treblinka probably in December 1942, or January 1943.986 KAPLANSKI, Alter. Born during 1869. He was deported from Opatów to Treblinka, where he perished on October 23, 1942.987 KAPŁANSKI, Haim. Born during 1916, in Bransk. He was single and a musician who played the violin. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.988 KAROLIŃSKI, Doba. Born during 1925, in Rozany. She was single and perished in Treblinka, during 1942.989 983

984 985 986 987 988 989

332

Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 824. Ghetto Fighters House Archives. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.

KATZ, An engineer by profession deported from Ostrow Lubelski to Treblinka during October 1942, as recalled by Chil Rajchman.990 KATZENELSON, Hanna. Wife of Yitzhak Katzenelson, the famous Jewish poet, play-writer and educator. Deported to Treblinka, together with their sons Benjamin and Ben Zion on August 14, 1942.991 KIERBEL, Hinda. Born during 1888, in Chmielnik. She was a housewife and married. Deported from Starachowice to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.992 KIŚIELNICKI, Feiga. Born circa. 1888 in the small, predominantly Jewish town of Kałuszyń, near Minsk Mazowiecki, about 40 kilometers east of Warsaw, in the Mazovia Province. Feiga was a housewife; her husband was a merchant who often traveled to Warsaw by horse and wagon. The family was religious and spoke Yiddish at home. Their 21-year-old son Israel Yitzak died of typhus in late 1942, at about the same time that Feiga and her family were deported to Treblinka.993 KLAJNMAN. Recalled by Samuel Willinberg, as a member of the camouflage commando, who knew about the plans to destory the camp.994 KLEIN. Recalled by Samuel Willinberg, as a member of the camouflage commando, who knew about the plans to destory the camp.995 KLEINMANN, Heinrich. A former civil servant from Czechoslovakia, “a quiet, polite, bespectacled man.” In Treblinka he was the foreman of the Camouflage Brigade where,

990

991 992 993 994 995

Rajchman, Treblinka—A Survivors Memory, Maclehose Press, London 2011, p. 16. Lewin, A Cup of Tears, Fontana Collins, London 1990, p. 281. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 206. Ibid.

333

according to Richard Glazar, “He thought he was a curious choice of foreman, for our tough little gang of dare–devils.”996 KLEINMANN, Leopold. Born in 1863. Deported from Vienna to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on June 28, 1942, and from there deported to Treblinka.997 KOBYLA, Itzik. From Warsaw. According to Jankiel Wiernik he was an informer in the camp.998 KOHLENBRENNER. Recalled by Richard Glazar as having approached him with an escape plan for Glazar's group of six plus himself leading to Warsaw, but the escape did not materialize.999 KOHN, Max. Born on June 20, 1874. He lived in Leipzig before settling in Austria. He was deported from Vienna to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto. He was deported from there on Transport “Bp” on September 21, 1942, where he perished.1000 KOLTUN, Abram. Photographed in the Wisznice Ghetto, Lublin District, on April 1, 1943. Deported to Treblinka the same year, where he perished.1001 KONGORECKI. Samuel Willenberg remembered that Kongorecki, who was from Częstochowa in southern Poland, argued with Doctors Rybak and Reislik about having an injection prior going to the Lazarett. Kongorecki resisted and they were disturbed. Kongorecki died several weeks later in his bunk.1002 KONINSKI, Natan. Educator and the Director of the Centos (Central Organization for Orphan Care) boarding house at Mylna Street No. 18 in the Warsaw Ghetto. He was deported with

996 997 998 999 1000 1001 1002

334

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op cit., p. 132. Holocaust.cz –online resource. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 161 Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op cit., p. 42. Holocaust.cz –online resource. USHMM—Photo Archives. S. Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), Warsaw 1992, Pp. 60-61.

his wife and children on August 6, 1942, to Treblinka where they perished.1003 KORCZAK, Janusz. Born in 1878 or 1879 in Warsaw. A doctor, educationalist, writer, founder and editor of Maly Przeglad (“Little Review”), a weekly children's supplement to Nasz Przeglad (“Our Review”); he was also the author of radio programs and talks where he used the pseudonym the “Old Doctor”. In 1928, he was the co-founder of the Dom Sierota Jewish Orphans' Home, with Stefania Wilczyńska, and in 1912 Nasz Dom (“Our Home”), with Maria Falska, an orphanage for Polish children. At the outbreak of the War he volunteered for the Polish Army but was rejected because of his age (he was 64). The Germans then forced him to relocate the Jewish orphanage from Krochmalna Street 92 to the ghetto, first to Chłodna Street 38 and later to a building on the corner of Sienna and Śliska Streets. Dr. Korczak became a well-known and respected figure in the ghetto. On Thursday, August 6, 1942, the SS came to the orphanage to collect the 192 children for deportation to Treblinka. This was the beginning of the Kinder-Aktion (Children's Operation) during which all orphanages in the ghetto were cleared out and the children sent to the Umschlagplatz. Twice, Dr. Korczak was offered immunity from deportation. Twice he refused. Korczak and Stefania Wilczyńska led the children, in an orderly manner, to the Umschlagplatz where even the SS offered him immunity. Again he refused—he would not abandon his children. Nachum Remba witnessed the scene at the Umschlagplatz:

They began the loading. I stood by the cordon of the Order Service, which led to the trains.1004 (...) I asked all the time about the numbers in the train cars. They loaded them constantly, but they were still not full. (...) Korczak went at the head of the column. No, I will never forget that sight. It was not a march to the trains; it was an organized, 1003 1004

Lewin, A Cup of Tears, Fontana Collins, London 1990, p. 149. Order Service (Ordnungsdienst—OD): the Jewish Ghetto Police who functioned under German supervision.

335

silent protest against banditry. In contrast with the packed masses, who went like cattle to the slaughter, it was a march of a kind that had never taken place before. All the children were formed in fours, with Korczak at the head, and with his eyes directed upwards, he held two children by their tiny hands, leading the procession. The second column was led by Stefania Wilczyńska, and the third by Broniatowska—her children had blue knapsacks, while the fourth column was led by Szternfeld from the boarding house in Twarda Street. They were the first Jewish ranks that went to their death with dignity, giving the barbarians looks full of contempt. When the Germans saw Korczak, they asked, “Who is that man?”1005 Dr. Janusz Korczak, his three assistants and 192 children were all murdered in Treblinka on arrival.1006 KOTT, Berek. Lived at Marienstraße 36 in the Częstochowa Ghetto. A mechanic and welder, in Treblinka he was responsible for renovating the Ramp. In the SS administration building he constructed a special iron furnace for incinerating the secret German files, should the camp come under attack.1007 KOZIEBROCKI, Avraham. A school-teacher who lived with his wife Feige in Pruszków, a town just south-west of Warsaw. Murdered in Treblinka at the age of 63.1008 KRAMARSKA, Avraham. Born in Tarczyn, circa 1927. Son of Mendel and Frymet. Deported from Warsaw during 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1009

1005

1006 1007

1008 1009

336

Cited in: B. Engelking, J. Leociak, Getto Warszawskie—Przewodnik po nieistniejącycm mieście, Centrum Badań nad Zagłada Żydów, Warsaw 2013. (Eng. edn.: The Warsaw Ghetto—A Guide to Perished Places, Yale University Press, New Haven/London 2009. Ibid., pp. 716-717. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 166. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Information supplied by Linda Mayer May 2019 verified by Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

KRAMARSKA, Fischel. Born in Tarczyn, during 1928. Son of Mendel and Frymet. Deported from Warsaw during 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1010 KRAMARSKA, Frymet. Born in Tarczyn, during 1900. Married to Mendel. Deported from Warsaw during 1942, to Treblinka, along with her sons, who all perished.1011 KRONENBERG. A journalist who lived in Lvov (Lemberg), Galician District. In Treblinka he contracted typhus and hid among a pile of furs in the sorting barracks. He was discovered by SS-NCO Miete, taken to the Lazarett and shot.1012 Kuba. From Warsaw, “a thief and a pimp”. In Treblinka assigned as “Barrack Elder” (Blockälteste) in Barrack II in the Lower Camp. He was also a much-feared informer who was killed in the “ghetto” workshop area by fellow prisoners during the revolt on August 2, 1943.1013 KUBEK, Wilhelm (“Jakob”). A childhood friend of Samuel Willenberg from Częstochowa. He caught typhus in the spring of 1943 and was shot in the Lazarett by a Ukrainian Wachmann, witnessed by Willenberg.1014 KUDISH, William. He was from Galicia. He was sent back to Poland in 1938. He perished in Treblinka along with his wife Regina, and four children, Jakob, who was 25, Herschel aged 23, Esther who was 18, and Moishe who was 17 years old. They all perished either in July or September 1942.1015 KURLAND, Zev/Zvi. From Warsaw, about 50-years-old. In Treblinka assigned as the Kapo supervising the Lazarett Brigade,

1010 1011 1012

1013 1014

1015

Ibid. Ibid. S. Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), Warsaw 1992, p. 83-84. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 161 S. Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), Warsaw 1992, p. 101. Information supplied by Cindy Halpern—May 17, 2019.

337

the smallest in the camp. Described by Richard Glazar as a small man, the “oldest gravedigger”: Looking out over small round lenses in metal frames are eyes that must have seen a lot and have come to understand a lot. His nose is somewhat bulbous, a few of his teeth are missing, his cheeks are sunken and his face seems to have been colored by the sand that has been burned dark and mixed with ashes. The whip that hangs from his belt always seems to be getting in his way; somehow it gets between his legs, which are clothed in pants made of a coarse material, and felt boots. And since he is of such small stature, the end of the thing drags across the floor.1016

Kurland, one of the key figures in the Organizing Committee from the beginning, was killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943.1017 KUSZER. Remembered by Jankiel Wiernik as having attacked Matthes the Commander of the Totenlager, because he could take no more. He and others were murdered on the spot for attacking Matthes.1018 KUSZER, Mendel. Born in Siedlce, Mazowia, eastern Poland. Deported from Siedlce to Treblinka in 1942, where he perished.1019 LAJCHER, Dr. Berek. Born during 1893, in Częstochowa. He was married to Eugenia, and was a physician by profession. He lived in Wegrow during the occupation and was deported from there to Treblinka. He perished during the revolt on August 2, 1943.1020 LANDAU, Natalia. Born in Warsaw in 1907. A Jewish artist by profession, deported to Treblinka in 1942.1021

1016 1017 1018 1019 1020 1021

338

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 56. Ibid., p. 56. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 165. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ghetto Fighters House Archives.

LANGER. From Częstochowa in southern Poland, he was an old school friend of Samuel Willenberg. Langer was spotted by SSUnterscharführer Miete in conversation with two other prisoners. Miete found a few gold coins in Langer's possession and for that he was hung upside down and savagely beaten. Miete ordered him to denounce the prisoners who were in conversation with him, but Langer stubbornly refused. He was shot in the head by Miete.1022 LAU, Moshe Chaim. Born in 1892 in Lvov (Lemberg). A rabbi, married to Khaia (née Frenkel). Prior to the Second World War he lived in Piotrków, Poland. He was deported to Treblinka in 1942 along with one of his sons Milek, where they were both murdered.1023 He was personally selected by SSHauptsurmführer Adolf Feucht, from Radom, who was in charge of the deportation Aktion. Feucht pointed with his cane and shouted at Rabbi Lau, “The Jews need Rabbi’s there too!” This was on October 25, 1942, and Rabbi Lau was deported to Treblinka, where he was murdered, on the last major transport out of Piotrków.1024 ŁAZOWERTÓWNA, Henryka. Born 1910 in Warsaw. A poet close to the Skamander group of Polish experimental poets, founded in 1918. After study in Warsaw and Grenoble in France, she became an active member of the Polish Writers' Union, wrote for the periodicals Droga (Road) and Pion (Perpendicular) and published two volumes of poetry. In the Warsaw Ghetto she worked for the Jewish Self-Help Organization (Żydowska Samopomoc Społeczna—ŻSS), and was a member of Emanuel Ringelblum's Oneg Shabbat group, documenting the tragic daily life in the ghetto. She also continued to write poetry, the bestknown being Mały Szmugler (“The Little Smuggler”) which dealt with a child-smuggler struggling single-handedly to keep his 1022

1023 1024

S. Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), Warsaw 1992, pp. 117-118. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Encyclopaedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933 -1945, USHMM, University Press, Indiana and Indianapolis 2012.

339

family alive by smuggling food into the ghetto from the Aryan side of the wall, at great risk to his own life. In August 1942 she went voluntarily with her mother to the Umschlagplatz and was deported to Treblinka, where they were murdered.1025 LEBER, Myriam. Born during 1890, in Piotrków Trybunalski. She was married to Hersh. She perished in Treblinka on October 14, 1942.1026 LEICHERT, Dr. Marius. From Węgrów, between Warsaw and Sokołów Podlaski. A physician and a former reserve officer in the Polish Army, and in Treblinka a member of the Organizing Committee. Dr. Leichert replaced Dr. Chorążycki, according to Stanisław Kon. He was killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943.1027 LEITEISEN. Remembered by Jankiel Wiernik as a Warsaw baker employed in the Lower Camp. He acted as a liaison between the conspirators.1028 LEJZEROWICZ, Sabina. She was head of the sewing room at Janusz Korczak’s orphanage and she was deported on August 6, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1029 LENGE, Zalman. Performed weddings according to Jewish law in the Upper Camp. He was formerly a porter from Warsaw, as remembered by Eliahu Rosenberg.1030 LERER, Jechiel. A poet, born in 1910 in Zelechów, a small town a few kilometers south-east of Warsaw, in Garwolin county. Employed in the Warsaw Ghetto as a post office clerk, and also

1025

1026 1027 1028 1029

1030

340

Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 826. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 175. Ibid., p. 175. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 717. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 217.

active in the YIKOR organization.1031 He worked with the Underground press, especially the Hebrew periodical Hamadrikh (“The Guide”) and wrote poetry, some of which survived and was published in 1948. Deported to Treblinka in August 1942, where he perished.1032 LESZCZYŃSKI, Chil. Born during 1934, in Łódź. He moved to Warsaw and he was deported from there to Treblinka, where he perished.1033 LEWKOWSKA, Dr. Irene (“Irka”). Dr. Irene Lewkowska was a physician who worked with Dr. Chorążycki in the infirmary. She was ordered by the SS to pump out his stomach, which she did, to no avail.1034 LEWIN, Julian. Born during 1917, in Łódź. Deported from the Warsaw Ghetto on August 25, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1035 LEWIN, Luba. Born in 1900, née Hotner. Wife of Abraham Lewin, who kept a diary in the Warsaw Ghetto. After a blockade on Gęsia Street 30 in the ghetto, she was deported to Treblinka on August 12, 1942, where she perished.1036 LEWKOWICZ, Chaim Cheel. Chaim and his wife Freda owned a house and a small grocery/butcher's shop at Bodzentiskya Street in Kielce, Poland. They lived together with their children— Lajzer, Mania, Mottel, Rivka and Shaindel. A younger brother died at an early age, and one sister was shot by the Nazis while smuggling food into the ghetto. The whole family was deported to Treblinka when the Kielce Ghetto was liquidated. Marek 1031

1032

1033 1034 1035

1036

YIKOR (Yiddish Cultural Organization): the largest of several underground cultural organizations in the Warsaw Ghetto whose main aim was to make Yiddish the official language of the ghetto. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 826. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 273. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 552. Lewin, A Cup of Tears, Fontana Collins, London 1990, p. 45.

341

Meyer, another brother, survived the War and now lives in Canada.1037 LEWKOWICZ, Freda. Married to Chaim, she perished in Treblinka, along with other members of her family.1038 LEYBL, Recalled by Chil Reichman, a friend who was overcome with grief. He worked at sorting the clothes of the gassed Jews.1039 LICHTBLAU, Samuel, Stanisław (“Standa”). Born on May 3, 1909. Deported to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on September 18, 1942, from Mährisch Ostrau (Moravská Ostrava), the third largest Jewish community in Moravian Czechoslovakia after Prague and Brno. Deported to Treblinka on October 8, 1942, on Transport “Bu” from Theresienstadt. In the death camp he worked in the SS garage. On August 2, 1943, Lichtblau sabotaged the big fuel tank in the garage which exploded and caused an extensive fire in which he was killed. His wife and daughter were murdered in Treblinka.1040 LICHTENSTERN, Jacob. Recalled by Abraham Krzepecki as a member of the Ha- Tehiyah Zionist Youth Movement, whom he tried to urge to escape in the freight cars taking away clothes from Treblinka.1041 LIPIEC—JAKUBOWSKA, Roza. A former foster child who studied child-care in Belgium, and later became a housemistress at Janusz Korczak’s orphanage in Warsaw. She was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto on August 6, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1042

1037 1038 1039

1040 1041 1042

342

Freda Lewkowicz, Private Correspondence, Montreal, Canada, Ibid. Rajchman, Treblinka—A Survivors Memory, Maclehose Press, London 2011, p. 41. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op cit., p. 144. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 133. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 717.

LOWY, Yitzhak. Born in 1887 in Warsaw. In 1907, at the age of 20, he joined the Yiddish Theatre Group with whom he became an actor of note and toured eastern and western Europe. 1911–1912 the theatre group was in Prague where Lowy befriended the Czech writer Franz Kafka. Lowy was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, during 1942, where he perished.1043 LUBELCZYK, Rachel. Born in 1911, née Szteinlauf. The mother of Ada Lubelczyk, who married Treblinka survivor Samuel Willenberg. She married Simon Lubelczyk in Paris and gave birth to their daughter Ada who was born in Warsaw in 1929. Rachel and her daughter worked in the Brush Factory in Swietojerska 32-34 in Warsaw. Rachel swapped places with Ada, during a selection on August 18, 1942, and was taken from the Umschlagplatz to Treblinka, where she perished.1044 LUBLING, Ester. The daughter of Moshe and Zelda. She and her mother were murdered in Treblinka in 1942. Her father was killed in the revolt on August 2, 1943.1045 LUBLING, Moshe Yehoshua. Born in Wolbrom, Upper Silesia, Poland in 1902. Served in the Polish army 1926–1928. He was the chairman of HaNoar HaOved,1046 and other organizations in Sosnowiec, also in Upper Silesia. Lubling was chairman of the Workers Council in the Częstochowa Ghetto which evolved into the Resistance Organization in the city and established relations with the left-wing Polish Resistance Movement. Moshe Lubling's wife Zelda, née Fisch, and Ester their 12-year-old daughter were deported to Treblinka on September 22, 1942, where they were murdered. Moshe and his son Pinchas were separated from Zelda and Ester, and remained in Częstochowa, accommodated in a former Jewish-owned metal ware factory—

1043

1044 1045 1046

R. Gray, R. Gross, R. Goebel A. Franz Kafka Encl, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005, p. 344. A. Willenberg, Skok do Zycia, Kraków, 2010. Thanks to Michal Chocholaty. Y. Lubling, Twice Dead, Peter Lang, New York 2007, p. 48. HaNoar HaOved: Federation of Working and Studying Youth. A Jewish organization founded in 1926 to conduct educational activities and supervise working conditions and wages of Jewish youths aged 13–18.

343

Metalurgja, which had been expropriated by the Germans. In late September or early October 1942, Lubling was deported to Treblinka, but Pinchas Lubling remained in Częstochowa. It was the last time Pinchas saw his father, but not the last time he had contact with him. In the death camp, Moshe Lubling was selected to join the Goldjuden and became one of the original members of the Organizing Committee that planned the prisoner revolt. In May 1943, he sent a letter from Treblinka to the resistance organization in the “small ghetto” in Częstochowa containing information about the preparation for the revolt and encouraging the resistance in the ghetto to do the same.1047 Moshe Lubling was killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943. In 1961, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem awarded Moshe Lubling a citation for his heroic resistance against the Nazis. His son Pinchas survived the War and settled in Israel.1048 LUBLING, Zelda. Wife of Moshe. Perished in Treblinka, along with her daughter on September 12, 1942. LUBOSZYCKI, Aron. Born August 22, 1874, in Ruzhany. He was a teacher and writer from the Łódź Ghetto, before settling in Warsaw. He was deported from Warsaw on July 30. 1942, to the Treblinka death camp, where he perished. He was known to Chaim A Kaplan, who mentioned him in his wartime diary.1049 LUBRENITSKI, Rudek. From Płock in Mazowsze county, northwest of Warsaw, Poland. In the death camp he was in charge of the garage and petrol stores, and was a key figure in the revolt on August 2, 1943. On that day, he immobilized the engine of the armored car parked outside the SS-garage, and played a distinguished role in distributing the weapons taken from the

1047

1048 1049

344

The existence of the letter is confirmed by the testimonies of Aron Gelberd, Tsvi Rosenvayn, Moshe Rappaport, Pinchas Lubling and Dr. Binyamin Orenstein. Gelberd and Rappaport both escaped from Treblinka, the former after 19 days in the camp and the latter after three months. Both returned to the “small’ ghetto” in Częstochowa. Y. Lubling, Twice Dead, Peter Lang, New York 2007, p. 48. Chaim A. Kaplan, Scroll of Agony- The Warsaw Diary of Chaim A. Kaplan, Hamish Hamilton, London 1966. Pxx.

SS armory. Together with Standa Lichtblau, he set fire to the petrol storage tank, causing explosions and a huge fire. He was killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943.1050 LUKSEMBURG, Miriam. Born during 1909, in Warsaw. She was married and a teacher by profession. She was deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka, where she perished on August 15, 1942.1051 LUKSEMBURG, Wolf. Born in 1937 in Dęblin, Lublin District, south-east Poland. He perished in Treblinka.1052 LUKSENBURG, Ester. Born in Opatów. She perished during 1942, in Treblinka.1053 LUKSENBURG, Hinda. Born during 1916, in Opatów. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.1054 LUXEMBURG, Frania. Born during 1913. She was married to Henrik and they had a son Wiesiek. She perished in Treblinka during October 1942.1055 LUXEMBURG, Henrik. Born during 1911, in Deblin-Irena. He was married to Frania and they had a son Wiesiek. He perished in Treblinka during October 1942.1056 LUXEMBURG, Wiesiek. Born on April 19, 1937, in Deblin–Irena. His parents were Henrik and Frania. He perished in Treblinka during October 1942.1057 Maier. A 16-year-old youth from Warsaw. In Treblinka, he sorted the belongings of the murdered Jews. Accused by SS-Oberschar-

1050 1051 1052 1053 1054 1055 1056 1057

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 144. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.

345

führer Küttner of not removing a Jewish star from a woman's coat, he was executed on the spot by a Ukrainian guard.1058 MALINICKI, Chana. Born on February 28, 1899, in Piotrków. She lived at Ulica Starowarszawska 22, Piotrków. She was deported to Treblinka during October 1942, along with her husband Elimalech, her son Nuta and four daughters, Frymeta, Szajudla, Sura Dwojra and Mariem. They all perished in the gas chambers1059 MALINICKI, Elimalech. Born on January 25, 1892, in Piotrków Trybunalski. He was a baker by profession and lived at Ulica Starowarszawska 22, Piotrków. He was deported to Treblinka during October 1942, along with his wife Chana, his son Nuta and four daughters, Frymeta, Szajudla, Sura Dwojra and Mariem. They all perished in the gas chambers.1060 MALINICKI, Frymeta. Born April 6, 1926, in Piotrków. She lived at Ulica Starowarszawska 22, Piotrków. She was deported to Treblinka during October 1942, along with her parents. Brother and sisters. They all perished in the gas chambers1061 MALINICKI, Mariem. Born on December 31, 1933, in Piotrków. She lived at Ulica Starowarszawska 22, Piotrków. She was deported to Treblinka during October 1942, along with her parents, brother and sisters. They all perished in the gas chambers.1062 MALINICKI, Nuta. Born September 2, 1924, in Piotrków. He lived at Ulica Starowarszawska 22, Piotrków. He was deported to

1058 1059

1060 1061 1062

346

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 77. BBC “Who Do You Think You Are?”—August 2018. Program about Judge Robert Rinder, searching for his Grandfather Moses Malinicki who survived in England. Ibid. Ibid. BBC “Who Do You Think You Are?”—August 2018. Program about Judge Robert Rinder, searching for his Grandfather Moses Malinicki who survived and settled in England.

Treblinka in October 1942, along with his parents and four sisters, where they all perished in the gas chambers.1063 MALINICKI, Sura Dwojra. Born on October 30, 1931, in Piotrków. She lived at Ulica Starowarszawska 22, Piotrków. She was deported to Treblinka during October 1942, along with her parents. Brother and sisters. They all perished in the gas chambers.1064 MALINICKI, Szajudla. Born February 16, 1930, in Piotrków. She lived at Ulica Starowarszawska 22, Piotrków. She was deported to Treblinka during October 1942, along with her parents, brother and sisters. They all perished in the gas chambers.1065 Malpa, Chaim. Recalled by Samuel Willenberg. Malpa was named “The Ape”. A very ugly man from Warsaw, whose appearance earned him this nickname. He was married to Maniele. In the camp he was a storekeeper, who supplied the resisters with a large number of axes and wire cutters on the morning of the revolt.1066 MANDELBAUM, Isak. Born in Losice. He was single and was deported from Miedzyrzec to Treblinka, where he perished during 1943.1067 MANNES, Kapo. Remembered by Richard Glazar, “as straightforward in his movements, precise in his actions, his brown face clean.”1068 Marcus. A youth from Warsaw, he was a Putzer (“cleaner”) who shined the boots and cleaned the uniforms of the SS. He was the leader of a group of four boys who were responsible for removing weapons from the SS armory. Marcus also managed to remove newspapers from the SS living quarters through which the prisoners learned that the tide of the War was turning 1063 1064 1065 1066 1067 1068

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 209. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 38.

347

against the Germans. On the day of the revolt, the boys led by Marcus broke into the armory, wrapped the weapons in sacking, removed a bar from the back window of the armory facing the western fence, and passed the weapons out. From there, the weapons were taken to a lean-to shed at the nearby garage and delivered to Rudek Lubrenitski.1069 MARKIN, Dr. Estera. A doctor of psychology and an author of scientific works. Before the War she had been a teacher of philosophy and psychology in secondary schools in Warsaw; she was also an assistant to Władysław Witwicki at Warsaw University. In the Warsaw Ghetto she worked for CENTOS, a Jewish charity organization which helped Jewish orphans. She was deported to Treblinka in 1942, where she perished.1070 MASAREK, Gisela. Born April 18, 1923. Wife of Rudolf Masarek. She was deported from the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on Transport “Bu” along with her husband, on October 8, 1942. She was gassed on arrival.1071 MASÁREK, Rudolf. Born on September 10, 1913, in Czechoslovakia. Prior to the German occupation he had served in the Czech army with the rank of lieutenant. He was deported from Prague on August 10, 1942 to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto. On October 8, 1942, he was deported on transport “Bu” from Theresienstadt to Treblinka, together with his pregnant wife, Gisela. Masárek was a half-Jew; his wife who was Jewish was gassed on arrival. Masárek worked in the tailors' workshop under SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel and appointed as a Hofjude (“Court Jew”). He also looked after SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Franz's dog, the much-feared Barry. Active in the Organizing Committee that planned the revolt, he was last seen on the roof of the SS zoo, firing a heavy machine gun at the Germans. According to Richard Glazar, Masárek wanted to die in the same place as his wife and unborn child, and this he

1069 1070 1071

348

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 227. E. Ringelblum, Chronice of the Warsaw Ghetto, 1988. Holocaust.cz –online resource.

shouted defiantly at the Germans from the roof of the zoo. Richard Glazar believed he was killed with all the other key leaders in the revolt. This is at odds with information from Chil Rajchman who states that Masárek escaped with him to the forest and made an unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide by slitting his wrists. Rajchman bound his wounds, but Masárek succeeded at the second attempt. At the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem in 1961, Kalman Teigman testified that he believed that Masárek had been killed during the revolt. Despite belief to the contrary, the half-Jewish Masárek was not related to the Czech President.1072 MASS, Arik. Born during 1900, in Klobuck. He was married to Chai and was a shoemaker by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.1073 MAYER, Kapo. In charge of the “Blues” who supervised the Ramp, as recalled by Oskar Strawczynski. This might be the same man as Kapo Meir, who was the son of a scribe, who introduced evening prayers, and had a wonderful singing voice. He was shot by the SS.1074 Mechel. From Warsaw. Escaped from the Upper Camp in Treblinka on the night of December 31, 1942, together with four other prisoners. One escaped, one was shot dead and the other three were returned to the camp. He was the last of the three to be hanged, and as he stood under the gallows he called out: “Down with Hitler! Long live the Jewish people!”1075 MENDEL, Tchechia. From Lvov (Lemberg), she was an extremely well educated woman, the daughter of an industrialist in Galicia. According to SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel, Tchechia was Kapo Rakowski's girlfriend and she became pregnant by him and had an abortion. She was executed along

1072 1073 1074 1075

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 283. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 63. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 264.

349

with a number of girls who were kept alive after the revolt, to wait on the Germans.1076 MERING, Estera. Born on August 3, 1897, in Częstochowa. She married Professor Mojzesz Mering. She worked at a private grammar school in Częstochowa. They had a daughter. She perished in Treblinka during October 1942, along with her daughter and stepson.1077 MERING, Professor Mojzesz. Born on December 7, 1898, in Bolechow near Stanisławow. After eight years attendance at the grammar school in Stryj, he received his PhD. Mering taught Hebrew, as well as Jewish history at the Grammar School of Jewish Association of the Group of High Schools, on Dabrowskiego 3a Street in Częstochowa. He also taught at a public school at Jasnogorska 8/10 and at a private grammar school. In the second half of the 1930’s he was a member of TOZ—The Association for Health Keeping of the Jewish people. During the beginning of the German occupation—after the Jewish schools were closed—he organized private lessons and gave lectures on history. He lived on Dabrowskiego 28, and afterwards on Jasnogorska 34, until 1941. Later he was forced to move into the ghetto. He was appointed a Commissar of TOZ by the Judenrat, until the organization was terminated by the German authorities. In October 1942, he was deported along with his family from the Częstochowa Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp. His wife Estera, their daughter and stepson were murdered on arrival. Professor Mering renewed his acquaintance with former pupil Samuel Willenberg, who witnessed his death. He was shot in the Lazarett in 1943.1078 MEYER, Frederike. Born in 1877. Deported from Vienna to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on July 10, 1942, and from there

1076 1077 1078

350

Sereny, Into That Darkness, Pimlico, London 1974, p. 195. Osrodek Dokumentacji Dziejow Czestochowy. S. Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), Warsaw 1992, p. 134. And Osrodek Dokumentacji Dziejow Częstochowy.

deported to Treblinka on Transport “Bp” on September 21, 1942, where she perished.1079 MIKA, Chaim. A building contractor from Nowy Dwór near Sokołów Podlaski. In Treblinka, he supervised the digging of two new wells, one in the Ukrainian courtyard and one in the Jewish “ghetto” area. He also constructed cellars for storing ice and potatoes. Generally, he led a small brigade responsible for the storage of potatoes.1080 MILEJKOWSKI, Dr. Izrael. Born on July 17, 1887. A Warsaw dermatologist who lived at Orla Street 5. In the ghetto he organized research into starvation. A member of the Warsaw Jewish Council (Judenrat). Deported to Treblinka in January 1943, where he perished.1081 MINCOWA, Dr. Tola. She worked in a children’s sanatorium in Miedzyszin, which was turned into an orphanage for children from the Warsaw Ghetto. As a member of staff in Janusz Korczak’s orphanage, she was deported on August 6, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1082 MISKA, Shmuel. The landlord of Oskar Strawczynski, in Częstochowa. Murdered in Treblinka, as recalled by Oskar Strawczynski.1083 MLYNEK. Bluma. Born during 1925, in Warsaw. She was deported to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.1084

1079 1080 1081

1082

1083

1084

Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. YVA, Jerusalem, 0-3/3131: O. Strawczyński, Ten Months in Treblinka. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 169. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 717. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 143. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

351

Moniek. Described as a young, dynamic fellow from Warsaw who was the Kapo of the Hofjuden (“Court Jews”).. He was a member of the Organizing Committee that planned the camp revolt.1085 MOKOTOWSKI, Lejbl. Born during 1897, in Stoczek. He was married to Rakhel. He was deported from Stoczek to Treblinka, where he perished.1086 MOKOTOVSKI, Yenta. Born during 1920, in Stoczek, to parents Leibel and Rakhel. She perished in Treblinka.1087 Mordechai. Recalled by Oskar Strawczynski, was a decent and clever young man from Legionowo, who worked in the potato commando. He devised a plan for the uprising.1088 MOYSHKE, From near Sochaczew, he was an informer for the SS, as remembered by Jankiel Wiernik.1089 NAHMIAS, Bohora. Born in 1876 in Bitolj, Yugoslavia (today in Macedonia). A housewife and a widow. Deported from Bitolj to Treblinka in 1943.1090 NAJMAN, Itccak. Born during 1886, in Radom. He was married to Perla and was a merchant by profession. He was deported to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.1091 NAJMAN, Perla. Born during 1887, in Radom. She was married to Itccak. She was deported to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.1092 NEUMARK, Wolf. From Częstochowa in southern Poland. In Treblinka he was a foreman, “a decent young man”, who

1085 1086 1087 1088

1089 1090 1091 1092

352

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 277. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 173. Ibid., p. 161. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid.

worked in the Sorting Yard in the Lower Camp, as recalled by Oskar Strawczynski.1093 NOHEL, Frantiszek. Born on June 13, 1908. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 12, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1094 NIUDOWSKI, Szolom. Born in 1880. Married, and a shochet (“ritual slaughterman”).1095 He lived in Kosów Lacki, Sokołów County, a village located close to the Treblinka death camp. He was murdered in the camp during 1942.1096 ORENSTEIN, Marek. Born in 1878 in Warsaw. A self-taught writer, he had completed a drama course in Los Angeles, USA. In Warsaw, he obtained a diploma in directing from ZASP,1097 a union for theatre artists, and directed his first play in 1903. He was the author of poetry, songs, humoresques, stories and dramas. Before the War he was a stage manager and director in Jewish theatres, a popularizer of classic Jewish drama, a translator, and author of stage adaptations. In the Warsaw Ghetto he was the manager of the Nowy Kameralny Theatre (New Chamber Theater) where he also directed stage productions.1098 He perished in Treblinka.1099

1093

1094 1095

1096 1097 1098

1099

O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 135. Holocaust.cz –online resource. The shochet was a religious Jew trained and licensed to carry out shechita, the slaughter of animals “with respect and compassion”, according to Jewish tradition and Jewish dietary laws. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. ZASP: Związek Artystów Scen Polskich (Union of Polish Stage Artists). Among his best-known theater pieces were Chasydzi (“The Hasidim”), Piesniaze ghetto (“The Bards of the Ghetto”), Fanatycy (“The Fanatics”), Krółestwo Krzywdy (“The Kingdom of Injustice”), Nędzarze (“The Paupers”), Krółowa Sabat (“Queen of the Sabbath”), and Ostatni Mesjasz (“The Last Messiah”). Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 827.

353

OSELKA, Joshua. Born during 1898, in Szydlow. He was married to Tema and was a clerk by profession. He was deported from Ostrowiec to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.1100 OSTRINSKA, Etka. Born during 1916, in Krinki, to parents Moshe and Feigel. She was a widow and a clerk by profession. She perished in Treblinka during December 1942.1101 OSTRZEGA, Avraham. A sculptor, born in 1889 in Radzymin, a town 25 kilometers north-east of Warsaw. He lived in Warsaw and was deported to Treblinka from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942, where he perished.1102 Pałacz. His arrival and fate in Treblinka is described by Oskar Strawczyński in his statement Ten Months in Treblinka: From a distance I recognize neighbors. I see my neighbor Pałacz being led to the Lazarett, from where shortly a shot is heard. Pałacz, a rather weak, delicate young man, evidently could not pass the training.1103

Perele. Little Perele, recalled by Richard Glazar, was involved in a mock wedding with the infamous Chaskiel. She probably perished during the revolt.1104 Perla/Paulinka. Perla, or as she was usually called Paulinka, was the women's Kapo in the Lower Camp. She was notorious for her ill treatment of the women under her supervision and feared as an informer. SS-Unterscharführer Franz Suchomel recalled that she betrayed at least six Jews to SS-Oberscharführer Fritz Küttner. After the revolt on August 2 1943, she was found on the path to the Upper Camp with her head shattered.1105

1100 1101 1102 1103 1104 1105

354

Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. YVA, Jerusalem, 0-3/3131: O. Strawczyński, Ten Months In Treblinka. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 124. Sereny, Into That Darkness, Pimlico, London 1974, p. 247.

PIASEK, Oskar Strawczyński recalled that Piasek had arrived in Treblinka with his wife and six children. In the camp, he supervised a group of upholsterers: He was an ugly creature. He had come to Treblinka, but behaved like a street brat, singing dirty songs, gorging himself, getting drunk and molesting women who tried to avoid him.1106

PIOTROWSKI, Chana. Born during 1933, in Warsaw. Her parents were Romek and Karola. She was deported from Warsaw to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.1107 PIOTROWSKI, Izio. Born in Łódź during 1910. He moved to Warsaw and lived at Dzielna No. 17. He perished in Treblinka during 1943.1108 PIOTROWSKI, Karola. Born during 1910, in Warsaw, née Butlow. She was married to Romek. Deported to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.1109 PIOTROWSKI, Romek. Born during 1908. He was married to Karola and they had a child Chana. He was a merchant by profession and was deported from Warsaw to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.1110 POHORILLE, Dr. Szymon. A lawyer from Częstochowa in southern Poland who served as a member of the Jewish Council (Judenrat) in the ghetto. Deported to Treblinka on October 4, 1942, where he perished.1111 POSNER. Remembered by Abraham Krzepicki, as the Kapo in charge of the Forest Brigade (Waldkommando) in September 1942 when two Jews escaped. The supervising SS-Scharführer discovered they were missing, but Kapo Posner told him that the men were asleep in their barracks. Several Wachmänner searched 1106

1107 1108 1109 1110 1111

O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 177. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Czestochowajews.org—online resource.

355

the nearby forest, found the two men hiding in a tree, and brought them back to the camp where they were executed. Kapo Posner received twenty-five lashes in front of his brigade because he had lied.1112 POZ, Natalia. She was a member of the staff at Janusz Korczak’s orphanage in Warsaw. She was deported on August 6, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1113 POZNER, Jadwiga. She was a member of the staff at Janusz Korczak’s orphanage in Warsaw. She was deported on August 6, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1114 PULLMAN, Szymon. Born in 1890 in Warsaw. A violinist, conductor and music teacher who had studied in St. Petersburg and Paris. In 1915, he moved back to Warsaw where he formed a string quartet and then a chamber orchestra, Pullman's Orchestra, with which he gave concerts in Poland and throughout Europe. In 1921, he became a professor of the Conservatoire in Vienna and a seminal figure in the evolution of the performance of chamber music. He escaped to Paris at the time of the 1938 Nazi Anschluss with Austria. While visiting his family in Warsaw in August 1939, he was unable to leave at the outbreak of the War and ended up in the Warsaw Ghetto. In the Ghetto he was one of the founders and conductors of the Ghetto Symphony Orchestra which played regularly between 1940 and 1942. Pullman was deported to Treblinka in August 1942, where he perished.1115 RABINOWICZ, Henrik. He took part in several exhibitions of Jewish artists in Poland from 1921. He painted landscapes and

1112 1113

1114 1115

356

Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 126. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 717. Ibid., p. 717. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 829.

still-life in a post impressionist style. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.1116 RAIMAN, Ida. Born on October 7, 1888. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 12, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1117 RAIMAN, Rudolf. Born on January 1, 1879. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 12, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1118 RAJCHMAN, Rivka. She was the nineteen-year old sister of Chil Rajchman from Ostrów Lubelski. She was deported along with her brother to Treblinka during October 1942, where she perished.1119 RAKOWSKI, Benjamin. A farm owner from Jędrzejów, located between Kraków and Kielce in the Świętokrzyskie Province. He was tall, well-built and strong, which explained his selection in Treblinka as a Kapo. For a short time deputized for the Camp Elder (Lagerälteste) Galewski, when he contracted typhus. According to Abraham Bomba, Rakowski's brother escaped from the death camp, and he was questioned about it by SSUntersturmführer Kurt Franz. Rakowski was brought into the prisoners Organizing Committee preparing for the revolt, but following a postponement of an escape, Kapo Rakowski decided to organize an escape from the camp for about fifteen prisoners, including his girlfriend Tchechia Mendel in late April or early May 1943. Richard Glazar wrote in his book Trap with a Green Fence that Rakowski “is the biggest speculator in the entire camp, a glutton, a boozer, a belly-acher and he is not looking out for anyone but himself; everything he does is for his own

1116 1117 1118 1119

Artcult.com—online resource. Holocaust.cz –online resource. Ibid. Rajchman, Treblinka—A Survivors Memory, Maclehose Press, London 2011, p. 16.

357

benefit.’1120 This is in sharp contrast with Samuel Willenberg's opinion of Rakowski. Willenberg saw in him a man preparing the others for a revolt, who planned the escape with the help of two Ukrainian guards, whom he bribed with large sums of money. The escape was planned through the tailors' workshop, but before it could take place, SS-Scharführer August Miete found money, gold and valuables hidden in the walls. He had Rakowski arrested. Despite claiming his innocence and that the money and valuables belonged to Dr. Chorążycki, whom he lived in the same room with before his death, Rakowski was taken to the Lazarett and shot. RAZANOWICZ. From Warsaw. Participated in the construction of the new gas chambers in the autumn of 1942. Shot in the Lazarett, as remembered by Jankiel Wiernik.1121 REISLIK, Dr. A doctor witnessed by Samuel Willenberg trying to give an injection to the prisoner Kongorecki.1122 REIZMAN, Dr. Along with Dr. P Bąk from Warsaw, Dr. Reizman from Tomaszów Mazowiecki in Łódź Province, was added to the medical staff at the infirmary in the Lower Camp.1123 RETSTEIN, Matel, née Kohn, was born in Ćmiłów, a village just south of Lublin in south-east Poland. Murdered in Treblinka at the age of 22.1124 ROGOWY, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai. Born in 1898 in Łódź (Litzmannstadt). He moved to Warsaw and in the ghetto lived at Nowolipie Street 58, Apartment 8. He was one of the leading members of Agudat Yisrael, (Union of Israel), a party that formed an umbrella for all observant Jews who were opposed to Zionism in pre-war Palestine. In the Warsaw Ghetto he ran

1120 1121 1122

1123

1124

358

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., p. 99. Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 156. S. Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), Warsaw 1992, pp. 60-61. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 161. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

religious schools and engaged in social work. He headed a Chevra Kadisha (Holy Society/Burial Society) that attended to the preparation of deceased Jews for burial according to Jewish tradition. Deported to Treblinka with his wife and nine children on August 1, 1942. They were all murdered on arrival.1125 ROJZMAN, Wolf Ber. Deported with his wife and two children from Ostow Lubelski during October 1942, where they all perished as recalled by Chil Rajchman.1126 ROSENBLATT, Max. Born in 1939 in Radom, between Warsaw and Lublin in Mazowiecki Province, Poland. Deported from the Radom Ghetto to Treblinka where he was murdered aged only three.1127 ROSZMAN, Avrum. Born during 1921, in Grodzisk. He was a student and was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.1128 ROTBART, Zelig. A lawyer from Częstochowa in southern Poland and a member of the Jewish Council (Judenrat) in the Częstochowa Ghetto. Deported to Treblinka on 4 October 1942, where he perished.1129 ROTHOLZ, Chawa. Born during 1890, in Szczekociny. She was married to Dawid and was a seamstress by profession. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.1130 ROTHOLZ, Dawid. Born during 1889, in Zarki. He was married to Khaia and was a tailor by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.1131 ROTSZTEJN, Jecheskel. Born in 1919 in Działoszyce, Świętokrzyski Province, north-east of Kraków. He was married 1125 1126

1127 1128 1129 1130 1131

Ibid. Rajchman, Treblinka—A Survivors Memory, Maclehose Press, London 2011, p. 16. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Częstochowajews.org—online resource. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid.

359

and lived in Warsaw. Deported from Warsaw to Treblinka in 1942.1132 ROZENBLUM, Słamek. Lived in Warsaw and worked with Kalman Teigman at the Okęcie airfield on the southern outskirts of the city. In Treblinka he worked in the Upper Camp and assisted with the gassing of the victims. The precise meaning of what Kalman meant by assisting with gassing is unclear.1133 ROZENSZTAT, Bolesław. Born on October 28, 1887. A barrister, he lived at Prosta Street 12 in Warsaw, only a few meters west of the western wall of the “small ghetto”. After moving into the ghetto, he became a member of the Jewish Council (Judenrat). Deported to Treblinka in January 1943, where he perished.1134 ROZENTAL, Roman. Born during 1897, in Łódź. He was an artist by profession and he perished in Treblinka, during 1943.1135 RUBINOWICZ, Dawid. Born on July 27, 1927. From Kielce, the capital of Świętokrzyski Province in central Poland between Warsaw and Kraków. He left his diary notebooks, which he maintained in an attic at Bodzentyn. He was deported from Kielce to Treblinka, on September 22, 1942, where he perished. His diary was published in the Hebrew language during 1964.1136 RUBINSZTAJN (RUBENSTEIN) Abraham. A well-known beggar in the Warsaw Ghetto, and self-appointed “Ghetto Jester”. He ran wildly through the ghetto streets accosting people and shouting out ditties he had made up; the best known was: “Look lively, Jews, you've lost all shame! Rich and poor are all the same!” He accosted passers-by and blackmailed them into giving him small change or he would start screaming. Everyone knew that if Abraham did not get his coins, he would shout: 1132 1133 1134

1135 1136

360

Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Correspondence from Kalman Teigman to Chris Webb, dated June 24, 2003. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 169. Ghetto Fighters House Archives. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

‘Down with the Führer! Down with Hitler!’ At which any passing German patrol would open fire indiscriminately in the street. The “Jester” was eventually deported to Treblinka. Even at the Umschlagplatz he still continued to clown and fool around.1137 RYBAK, Dr. According to Richard Glazar, Rybak came from Warsaw and at one time had been a student at the University of Prague. In Treblinka, he was assigned as the sick bay doctor in the Lower Camp. Oskar Strawczyński also recalled Dr. Rybak: He was elegantly dressed, always in a good mood, and worked fast and with zest. He participated in all the receptions and entertainments, and even managed to fall in love with a young woman dentist from Białystok. Following the example of Kapo Yurek and informer Chaskiel, he went so far as to celebrate a wedding with great ceremony, music and dancing—naturally with the help and approval of the Germans.1138

RZONDINSKI, Welwel. Born in 1903 in Kałuszyn, a small town east of Warsaw. He lived in Warsaw, married to Henryka (“Henia’”. Deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where he perished.1139 SADOWSKI, (Vorarbeiter—Foreman). According to Kalman Teigman, Sadowski was a businessman from Warsaw, who was a foreman in the Lower Camp.1140 Salwe. Richard Glazar remembered that Salwe had been an opera singer in Warsaw.1141 SALZBERG, Władek. A furrier from Kielce in Świętokrzyski Province, between Warsaw and Kraków. In Treblinka, he was the head of the tailors' workshop and a member of the Organizing Committee that planned the revolt during which he

1137

1138 1139 1140 1141

Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 830. YVA, Jerusalem, 0-3/3131: O. Strawczyński, Ten Months in Treblinka. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Correspondence between Kalman Teigman and Chris Webb—June 2003. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., p. 117.

361

was in charge of the “ghetto” area in the Lower Camp. SSUnterscharführer Franz Suchomel recalled Salzberg and the premature start of the revolt on August 2, 1943: He had two sons. Both boys were cleaners in our barracks. Father Salzberg was a storekeeper in the tailors' shop, therefore under me. He was very intelligent and worried about the boys. He told me his wife had died in Kielce before he came to Treblinka. Salzberg was on the so-called Committee, and it was upon his urging that the revolt began an hour earlier than planned, and thus insufficiently prepared. The reason why Salzberg insisted on this maybe because his older boy, two days before the revolt, had done something—I don't know what—that annoyed Küttner (SS-Oberscharführer Fritz Küttner). I had pleaded with Kurt Franz for the boy's life and it seemed all right, but Salzberg was afraid that Küttner would take him. That boy was 15—that's what his father told me—the younger one was 12 and his name was Heinrich. He was a nice boy. The older one I didn't know because he worked in the other barrack.1142

Oskar Strawczyński recalled one of Salzberg's sons was called Heniek (Henryk), aged about 13, who polished boots in the German barracks and Welwel, about 17, who worked in the Jewish laundry. Władek did not survive the revolt.1143 SALZBERG, Welwel. The eldest of the two sons of Władek Salzberg. Aged between 15–17, he worked in the Jewish laundry. He was killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943.1144 SAUER, Salo. A Czech member of the Goldjuden (“Gold Jews”), as recalled by Richard Glazar.1145 SAYET, Rozalia. Born in 1881, in Grodno. She was married to Samuil and was a housewife. She was deported from Grodno to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.1146

1142 1143 1144 1145 1146

362

Sereny, Into that Darkness …, op. cit., p. 240. YVA, Jerusalem 0-3/3131: O. Strawczyński, Ten Months in Treblinka. Ibid., p. 174. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., p. 96. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

SCHER. He was from Częstochowa and was a foreman in the Sorting Commando, as recalled by Chil Rajchman.1147 SCHERMANN. Richard Glazar recalled that there were two redhaired siblings who were part of the camp orchestra.1148 Oskar Strawczyński, however, claimed there were three Schermann brothers from Warsaw who were musicians.1149 SCHMOLKA, Miloš. Born on August 26, 1919. Deported from Kolín on the Elbe River in central Bohemia, about 55 kilometers east of Prague, to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on June 13, 1942. From there, deported to Treblinka on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942. He was murdered on arrival.1150 SCHNITZER. One of the musicians in the small band that had been organized in the camp from the beginning, together the three Schermann brothers from Warsaw. Preceded the camp orchestra later established under Artur Gold, as recalled by Oskar Strawczynski. .1151 SCHONBRON, Renée. Born in Warsaw, an artist by profession, she was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka in 1942, where she perished.1152 SCHREIBMAN, Rebecca. Born in 1935 in Opatów. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.1153 SCHUTZER. Musician and cello player. Member of the Artur Gold camp orchestra in Treblinka, as recalled by Samuel Willenberg.1154

1147 1148 1149

1150 1151

1152 1153 1154

Rajchman, Treblinka—A Survivors Memory, Maclehose Press, London 2011, p. 38. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., p. 117. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 155. Holocaust.cz—online resource. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 155. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Samuel Willenberg, Revolt in Treblinka, Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), Warsaw 1992, p. 126.

363

SCHWARZKOPF, Otto. Born December 19, 1898. Deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 12, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1155 SCHWER. An engineer by profession. The SS appointed him to be supervisor of the latrine and dressed him up in a long rabbi’s coat with a skull cap and an alarm clock, as recalled by Chil Rajchman.1156 SHLEKHLER, Ahron. Born during 1898, in Dąbrowa. He was married to Ester and they lived in Suchowola. He perished in Treblinka.1157 SIDMAN, Eisack. Recalled by Avraham Bomba, as a friend of him.1158 SIDOWICZ, (“Simcha”). According to Richard Glazar, Sidowicz was employed as a carpenter in the Lower Camp.1159 SINGER. He was from Austria. On arrival in Treblinka, appointed Oberkapo in the Upper Camp by Commandant Franz Stangl. Singer was killed during the revolt on August 2, 1943.1160 SŁAPAKOWA, Cecylia. A native of the Vilna region in Lithuania, she was married to a successful engineer. She and her family lived at Elektoralna Street 1 in the Warsaw Ghetto, an address the Germans forced them to leave. She was a member of Oneg Shabbat (“Joy of Sabbath”), an underground group in the ghetto led by Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum, dedicated to collecting documentary evidence of religious and social life in the ghetto, for which she interviewed Jewish women in the ghetto. Deported with her daughter to Treblinka during the mass

1155 1156 1157 1158 1159 1160

364

Holocaust.cz—online resource. Rajchman, Treblinka—A Survivors Memory, Maclehose Press, London 2011, p. 97. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Avraham Bomba Interview with USHMM on August 28, 1990. Sereny, Into that Darkness …, op. cit., p. 246. Ibid., p. 207.

deportation in the summer of 1942, both were murdered in the death camp.1161 ŚLIWNIAK, Józef. A well-known painter before the War and member of the group of artists known as the “Group of Seven”. In the Warsaw Ghetto he worked first with other artists at Orla Street 6 and later in a workshop on Myna Street, side streets on either side of Leszno Street, where he made stained-glass windows for the Jewish Council (Judenrat) building on Grzybowska Street. Deported to Treblinka during the big deportation operation that began on July 22, 1942.1162 SOKOLNICKA, Dora. Brought up and educated in the Janusz Korczak orphanage on Krochmalna Street in Warsaw and stayed in the orphanage as a counselor. She continued her work after the orphanage was re-located to the ghetto. Deported to Treblinka on August 6, 1942, with Korczak and the rest of the children, where she perished.1163 SPAIZMAN, Yitzhak. Born during 1924, in Radom. He perished in Treblinka.1164 SPERLING, Frumet. The younger sister of Hershl Sperling. She was deported with other members of the family from Częstochowa on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1165 SPERLING, Gitel. The mother of Hershl Sperling. She was deported with other members of the family from Częstochowa on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1166 SPERLING, Icchak. In Klobuck he was a Tailor by profession and he also ran a small livestock business. He was the father of Hershl Sperling, who survived Treblinka. The family moved to 1161 1162

1163 1164 1165 1166

E. Ringelblum, Chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto 1988. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 831. Ibid., p. 717. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. M. Smith, Treblinka Survivor, The History Press, Stroud 2010, p. 40. Ibid., p. 40.

365

Częstochowa and lived at Wilsonia 34. He was deported with other members of his family from Częstochowa on September 26, 1942, and he perished in Treblinka.1167 SPIEGEL. A professional actor and singer who had performed in Prague. In Treblinka, according to Jerzy Rajgrodzki, Spiegel was involved in plays and concerts in the Upper Camp, and sang the chorus of Lager Zwei is unzer Leben, ay, ay, ay (“Camp II is our life, ay, ay, ay”).1168 SPIGEL, Natan. Born during 1892, into an Orthodox Jewish family who lived in Łódź. He studied art as a young man and in 1910, he travelled to Rome on a sponsored trip to continue his studies with Henryk Gilcenstein. He was a painter who depicted scenes of Jewish life in Poland. He was a key member of the Expressionist group Jung Idysz. He was also a member of “Start” a group of mainly Jewish artists from Łódź, who exhibited works across Poland throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s. His works found their way into collections in Poland, Israel and the United Kingdom. Following the German invasion of Poland during 1939, Natan Spigel along with his family were incarcerated in the Radomsko Ghetto. He was deported to the Treblinka death camp during 1942, where he perished.1169 SPIRO, Stefa. Born during 1919, in Łódź. She was a student in Warsaw and was deported from there in 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1170 SPITZ, Elsa. Born on December 23, 1879. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 12, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1171

1167 1168 1169 1170 1171

366

M. Smith, Treblinka Survivor, The History Press, Stroud 2010, p. 40. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 235. www. Wikipedia –online resource. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Holocaust.cz—online resource.

SPITZ, Leopold. Born on February 15, 1911. He was deported from Theresienstadt on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, where he perished.1172 SPITZ, Olga. Born on January 18, 1885. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 12, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1173 SPITZ, Paul. Born on August 31, 1919. He was deported from Theresienstadt on Transport “Bu,” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1174 STEIN, Dr. Józef. Medical doctor and pathologist. Of CatholicJewish origin, he worked in the Infant Jesus Hospital (Szpital Dzieciątka Jezus) on William Lindley Street close to the city center in Warsaw. From December 1939 he was director of the “Czyste” Jewish Hospital on Dwórska Street in the Woła district of western Warsaw. After the establishment of the ghetto, the hospital was split up into several sections at different addresses.1175 In the ghetto hospital he continued to lecture on numerous subjects, especially on the effects of starvation. The hospital was destroyed by the Nazis in April 1943 during the ghetto uprising. Dr. Stein was deported to Treblinka the following month, in May 1943, where he perished.1176 STEINOWITZ, Guba. A cousin of Kalman Teigman from Warsaw. Together with his father he served in the Upper Camp. He was shot by August Miete.1177 STERN. From Warsaw. In Treblinka, one of the “Gold Jews” (Goldjuden) in the Upper Camp. Oskar Strawczyński recalls the

1172 1173 1174 1175

1176

1177

Transport List—Bu October 8, 1942, National Archive Prague. Ibid. Transport List—Bu October 8, 1942, National Archive Prague. The main departments of the Jewish hospital in the ghetto were on Leszno (main section), Niska, Stawki and Tłomackie Streets. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 831. Kalman Teigman correspondence with Chris Webb, letter dated June 24, 2003.

367

fate of Stern, “a strong young man”, at the hands of Lalka, SSUntersturmführer Kurt Franz: He was accused of “speculating” with the Ukrainians and giving them money. Unceremoniously, Lalka took him out in the morning, fixed him up as only he could do, and set him squatting with his hands over his head at the entrance to the “Ghetto,” so that all passers-by could see him. On his orders, the block elder, Kuba the informer, hovered over him to prevent him from changing his position. Lalka would come back every few minutes, throw the victim to the ground and kick and whip him. Nothing was left of the man but a swollen mess of bloody flesh, which Lalka would again put in a squatting position, and this went on until the evening. It is impossible to understand how the man lived through a day like that. At the evening roll-call he was treated to another 50 lashes and finally sent to the Lazarett.1178

STERNBERG, Petr. Born on December 17, 1923. An Austrian Jew and a refugee with Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Registration No. 41267. He lived at Celetna Street 2 in Prague, and was deported from there to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto on July 2, 1942. From there he was deported to Treblinka on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, where he perished.1179 STERNLICHT, Binyamin. Born during 1936, in Łódź. He was a child when he was deported from Opatów to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.1180 STERNLICHT, Ervin. Born on November 29, 1897, in Ostrava. He was deported from Ostrava to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on Transport “Bt” on October 5, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1181 STERNLICHT, Feiga. Born during 1873, she lived in Opatów. From there she was deported to Treblinka where she perished on October 23, 1942.1182

1178 1179 1180 1181 1182

368

YVA, Jerusalem, 0.3/3131: O. Strawczyński, Ten Months in Treblinka. Holocaust.cz—online resource. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Holocaust.cz—online resource. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

STERNLICHT, Otto. Born on April 4, 1902, in Ostrava. He was deported from Ostrava to Theresienstadt on September 30, 1942. Deported from there on Transport „Bt” on October 5, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1183 STRAWCZYŃSKI, Abus. Born during 1938, the son of Oskar and Anka Strawczynski. He perished in Treblinka on October 5, 1942.1184 STRAWCZYNSKI, Anka. She was the wife of Oskar Strawczynski and she perished in Treblinka, along with her two children and other family members on October 5, 1942.1185 STRAWCZYNSKI, Guta. Born during 1933, she was the daughter of Oskar and Anka Strawczynski. She perished in Treblinka on October 5, 1942.1186 STRAWCZYNSKI, Malka. Born during 1867, in Piotrków. She was married to Yozef and was the mother of Oskar and Zygmunt. She was deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka, where she perished on October 5, 1942.1187 STRAWCZYNSKI, Yozef. Born during 1867, in Olszowka. He was married to Malka and was the father of Oskar and Zygmunt. He was deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka, where he perished on October 5, 1942.1188 STROMAN, Minia. Born in 1912 in Mława, northern Mazowsza district, north of Warsaw. Married to Zaanwel. Deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka in 1942, where she perished.1189 STUPNIKI, Saul. A journalist and in 1918 in Lublin, he established the first Yiddish newspaper the Lubliner Tugblat and was its editor for many years. He co-operated with the Warsaw Jewish 1183 1184

1185 1186 1187 1188 1189

Holocaust.cz—online resource. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 281. Ibid., p. 127. Ibid., p. 127. Ibid., p. 127. Ibid., p. 127. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

369

newspaper Moment. During the Nazi occupation he wrote articles for the Gazeta Zydowska, the only official Jewish newspaper in the Generalgouvernement. He was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where he perished.1190 SUDOWICZ, Israel. Born in 1903 in Praszka, Opole Province in south-west Poland. An agronomist, he was married to Rakhel (née Rozenblum) and lived in Warsaw. In the Warsaw Ghetto his profession of agronomist was invaluable to Toporol, the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture Among Jews (Towarzystwo Popieranica Rolnictwa wsród Żydów), founded in 1933 to train Jews in agricultural work in Poland. In the ghettos of Warsaw and Łódź, Toporol strived to produce more food for the ghetto inhabitants by utilizing every piece of arable earth. This required the cooperation of the Jews themselves and at least the tolerance of the Nazi administrators of the ghettos. Sudowicz was deported to Treblinka where his expertise was utilized in the vegetable garden in the north-east corner of the camp. He was also a member of the Organizing Committee that planned the revolt and in which he himself played a significant role on August 2, 1943. He told SS-NCO Müller that there was a problem with the “Potato Brigade”, and together they went to the vegetable garden to deal with it. During Müller's absence, the Putzers broke into the armory and stole weapons for the insurgents. Israel Sudowicz was killed during the revolt.1191 SZPAJZMAN, Moishe. Born during 1924, in Grodzisk. He was a student in the Warsaw Ghetto. He was deported from there to Treblinka during 1942, where he perished.1192 SZPEKTOR, Wigda. Photographed in the Wisznice Ghetto, Lublin District, on April 1, 1943. Deported to Treblinka in 1943.1193 SZPILMAN, Edwarda. Mother of famous pianist Władysław Szpilman. She lived with her family in Sliska Street, in the 1190 1191 1192 1193

370

E. Ringelblum, Chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto 1988. Y. Lubling, Twice Dead, Peter Lang, New York 2007, p. 134. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. USHMM Archives.

Warsaw Ghetto. She was a piano teacher who gave lessons. She worked for the Werterfassung sorting the belongings of the deported Jews. She was deported from the Umschlagplatz in Warsaw on August 16, 1942, with her husband Samuel, daughters Halina and Regina, and son Henryk, to Treblinka, where she perished.1194 SZPILMAN, Halina. Sister of famous pianist Władysław Szpilman. She lived with her family on Sliska Street, in the Warsaw Ghetto. She worked for the Werterfassung sorting the belongings of the deported Jews. She was deported from the Umschlagplatz in Warsaw on August 16, 1942, with her parents, sister Regina and brother Henryk to Treblinka, where she perished.1195 SZPILMAN, Henryk. Brother of famous pianist Władysław Szpilman. He lived with his family on Sliska Street, in the Warsaw Ghetto. He was a musician and poet. He worked for the Werterfassung sorting the belongings of the deported Jews. He was deported from the Umschlagplatz in Warsaw on August 16, 1942, with his parents, sisters Regina and Halina to Treblinka, where he perished.1196 SZPILMAN, Regina. Sister of famous pianist Władysław Szpilman. She lived with her family on Sliska Street, in the Warsaw Ghetto. She was a lawyer by profession in the ghetto. She worked for the Werterfassung sorting the belongings of the deported Jews. She was deported from the Umschlagplatz in Warsaw on August 16, 1942, with her parents, sister Halina and brother Henryk to Treblinka, where she perished.1197 SZPILMAN, Samuel. Father of famous pianist Władysław Szpilman. He lived with his family on Sliska Street, in the Warsaw Ghetto. He was a violinist who made a living from giving music lessons in the ghetto. He worked for the Werterfassung sorting the belongings of the deported Jews. He 1194 1195 1196 1197

Warsaw Ghetto Database—online resource. Ibid. Warsaw Ghetto Database—online resource. Ibid.

371

was deported from the Umschlagplatz in Warsaw on August 16, 1942, with his wife, Edwarda, daughters Regina and Halina and son Henryk to Treblinka, where he perished.1198 SZTERN, Israel. Born in 1894 into a deeply religious family in Ostrołęka, Mazowiecka Province, in north-east Poland between Warsaw and Białystok. An eminent poet and essayist. All his life he lived in self-imposed poverty and near starvation, to such an extent that he was often ill and referred to hospital as his “second home”. In the Warsaw Ghetto he lived in a basement on the corner of Smocza and Pawia Streets until his friends moved him into the office of a refugee center at Leszno Street 14. Throughout his confinement in the ghetto he continued to write. Emmanuel Ringelblum, the Warsaw Ghetto historian and archivist, referred to Sztern as “a quiet, modest man, a just man among the just”. Before his deportation to Treblinka in September 1942, Sztern was employed in the Hoffman workshop, one of many workshops in the ghetto. Ringelblum wrote that “his manuscripts died with him.”1199 SZTERENLICHT, Abram. Born in 1881. He was deported from Opatów to Treblinka, where he perished on October 23, 1942.1200 SZTERNENLICHT, Gitla. Born during 1917. She was deported from Opatów to Treblinka, where she perished on October 23, 1942.1201 SZTERNENLICHT, Izrael. Born in 1872. He was deported from Opatów to Treblinka, where he perished on October 23, 1942.1202 SZTERNENLICHT, Judka. Born during 1907. She was deported from Opatów to Treblinka, where she perished on October 23, 1942.1203

1198 1199

1200 1201 1202 1203

372

Ibid. Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 831. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.

SZTERNENLICHT, Lejbus. Born during 1907. He was deported from Opatów to Treblinka, where he perished on October 23, 1942.1204 SZTERNENLICHT, Moszek. Born during 1911. He was deported from Opatów to Treblinka, where he perished on October 23, 1942.1205 SZTERNENLICHT, Serla. Born during 1883. She was deported from Opatów to Treblinka, where she perished on October 23, 1942.1206 TEIGMAN, Tema. Born in 1903, the mother of Kalman Teigman. Deported together with her son from the Astra-Werke firm at Wildstrasse 30 (Zamenhofa Street 30) in the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where they arrived on September 5, 1942. Tema Teigman was murdered on arrival while her son was selected to work.1207 TIK, Chaim. In Treblinka, he worked in the blacksmith workshop. He was excluded from he Organizing Committee planning the prisoner revolt because of his and conservative and reluctant attitude. Later he was in charge of the potato commando.1208 TIK, Jacob. Born during 1926, in Wengrow. He was deported from there to Treblinka, where he perished during October 1942.1209 TIK, Jakob. Born during 1910, in Mława. He was single and a merchant by professon. He was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where he perished.1210

1204 1205 1206 1207 1208

1209 1210

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Correspondence between Kalman Teigman and Chris Webb – March 2001. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 173. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid.

373

TIK, Keila.Born during 1912. She owned a bakery. She perished in Treblinka.1211 TIK, Rosa. Born during 1902, in Wengrow. She was married to Wolf. She perished in Treblinka during October 1942.1212 TIK, Wolf. Born during 1900, in Chorzele. He was married to Rosa. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.1213 TOLPEL, Moritz. A small man with a bald head and crooked legs, selected in Treblinka to be the “Shit Master” (Scheißmeister) in charge of the latrines. Richard Glazar recalls Tolpel's selection by the SS for the bizarre job: Lalka looks around for Tolpel, (...) he is standing there cringing at attention, his pants hanging rumpled over his crooked legs. Lalka takes his measure, “Yes you're the one.” A Ukrainian guard manages to dig up an old robe from one of the transports. The SSmen, one after the other, add to the costume. Topping-off the black robe, which reaches all the way down to his ankles, is a tall rabbi's hat. The hat is decorated with a shiny half moon, and the small hand, which has probably never been made into a fist, is now wielding a heavy whip. A sign will be put on each of the latrines: “Two minutes is the limit for shitting here. Take any longer and you're out on your ear.”1214

TRACHTER, Rina. Born during 1911, in Radom. She was married to Avraham and was a housewife. Deported from Radom to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.1215 TRACHTER, Symcha. Born during 1893, in Lublin. He was an artist by profession. He was deported to Treblinka on August 25, 1942, where he perished.1216

1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 1216

374

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., p. 119. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ghetto Fighters Archive.

TYK, Mordechai. Born in Jablonna. He was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where he perished.1217 ULLMANN, Frantiszek. Born on May 4, 1904. He was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 8, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1218 ULLMANNOVA, Alice. Born on April 11, 1905. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 8, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1219 ULLMANNOVA, Eva. Born on April 29, 1932. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 8, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1220 ULLMANNOVA, Marta. Born on November 2, 1894. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 8, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1221 UNGER, Anna. Born on August 15, 1891. She was deported from Olomouc to Theresienstadt on June 30, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” (Bu 174) on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1222 UNGER, Arnold. Born on July 18, 1885. He was deported from Olomouc to Theresienstadt on June 30, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” (Bu 173) on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1223

1217 1218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223

Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Holocaust.cz—online resource. Ibid. Ibid. Holocaust.cz—online resource. Ibid. Ibid.

375

UNGER, Hanus. Born on January 28, 1928. He was deported from Olomouc to Theresienstadt on June 30, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” (Bu 176) on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1224 UNGER, Melita. Born on September 17, 1908. She was deported from Prague to Theresienstadt on September 8, 1942. Deported from there on Transport ‘Bu‘ on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1225 URBAN, Anna. Born on December 3, 1902. She was deported from Ostrava to Theresienstadt on September 26, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1226 URBAN, Samuel. Born on January 21, 1902. He was deported from Ostrava to Theresienstadt on September 26, 1942. Deported from there on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.1227 VEINLES-CHAJKIN, Marie. Born in Warsaw during 1903, an artist who was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.1228 VOGEL, Hanuš (“Honza”). Born on January 24, 1909. Deported on September 21, 1942, from Mährisch Ostrau (Moravská Ostrava) in north-eastern Moravia, Czechoslovakia, to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto. Deported to Treblinka on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, where he perished.1229 WAISMAN, Abram. Born during 1910, in Lukow. He was married to Shoshana and was a shoemaker by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.1230

1224 1225 1226 1227 1228 1229 1230

376

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Holocaust.cz—online resource. Ghetto Fighters House Archives. Holocaust.cz—online resource. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

WAISMAN, Aron. Born during 1870, in Biala Podlaska. He was married to Ester and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.1231 WAISMAN, Berl. Born during 1905, in Sokolka. He was married to Khana and was a tailor by profession. He perished in Treblinka.1232 WAISMAN, Bila. Born in Komarowka. She was a housewife and she perished in Treblinka during 1942.1233 WAISMAN, Dvora. Born during 1908, in Częstochowa. She was married to Yakov and was a housewife. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.1234 WAISMAN, Eliezer. Born during 1894, in Radzyn. He was married to Zirla. Deported from Miedzyrzec to Treblinka, where he perished on May 2, 1943.1235 WAISMAN, Lyba. Born circa 1883. She was married to Betzalel and was a housewife. She perished in Treblinka.1236 WAISMAN, Notke. Born in Sokolka and was a tanner by profession. He perished in Treblinka.1237 WAISMAN, Yoav. Born during 1937, in Częstochowa. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.1238 WAJCMAN, Josef. Born during 1900, in Radom. He was married to Ester and was a merchant by profession. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.1239 WAKSMAN, Dawid. Born in Ostrowiec in Świętokrzyskie Province, Poland. A merchant, married to Adela. Deported from 1231 1232 1233 1234 1235 1236 1237 1238 1239

Ibid. Ibid. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.

377

Ostrowiec to Treblinka in 1942. He perished in Treblinka on October 11, 1942.1240 WALLABAŃCZYK/WOŁOWAŃCZYK. A young man from Warsaw. In Treblinka, a member of the Underground. On the day of the revolt he was sent to shoot SS-Oberscharführer Küttner who, after apprehending a prisoner with a large sum of money on him, was about to discover that a revolt was imminent. Wallabańczyk drew his pistol and fired at SS-Oberscharführer Küttner, but only wounded him. This shot was mistaken for start of the revolt which began at 4.00 p.m. instead of an hour later.1241 WANTECH, Else. Born on August 28, 1885. She was deported from Theresienstadt on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1242 WANTECH, Ina. Born on January 16, 1920. She was deported from Theresienstadt on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1243 WASERMAN, Jankiel. Photographed in the Wisznice Ghetto in the Lublin District on April 1, 1943. Deported to Treblinka the same year, where he perished.1244 WASSER, Mania. Wife of a well-known Bund Leader. She lived at Gesia Street 13. She was deported to Treblinka along with her daughter who perished.1245 WEINKRANTZ, Bencian. Born on November 13, 1913, in Warsaw. He was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where he perished on January 18, 1943.1246

1240 1241

1242 1243 1244 1245 1246

378

Ibid. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 180. Transport List—Bu October 8, 1942, National Archive Prague. Ibid. USHMM Archives. Warsaw Ghetto Database—online resource. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

WEINKRANTZ, Elsa. Born during 1903. She was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished.1247 WEINKRANTZ, Salomea. Born during 1900, in Warsaw. She was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto during 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1248 WEINKRANTZ, Yitzhak. Born during 1920, in Jablono. He was single and he perished in Treblinka.1249 WEINRYB. Member of the Jewish Order Service, who worked as a liaison man for the Gestapo in Częstochowa, as recalled by Oskar Strawczynski.1250 WEINTRAUB, Ilik. He worked in the Upper Camp. Shot by SSScharführer Arthur Matthes while transferring bodies from the gas chambers to the burial pits because he stopped at a well to drink water.1251 WEINTREUB, Władysław. A Jewish artist born in 1891 in Łowicz, a town between Łódź and Warsaw. Murdered in Treblinka in 1942.1252 WEISS, Adele. She was born on March 24, 1879. Deported from Theresienstadt on Transport “Bu” on October 8, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1253 WILCZYŃSKA, Stefania. Born in 1886 in Warsaw to a rich and assimilated Jewish family. Trained as a teacher and completed her education at Liége University in Belgium. On returning to Warsaw, she was employed in a Jewish orphanage, first as a voluntary worker and then as director. In 1912 she met Dr. Janusz Korczak and went to work with him in his Jewish 1247 1248 1249 1250

1251 1252 1253

Ibid. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Ibid. O. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 143. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 194. Ghetto Fighters House Archives. Transport List—Bu October 8, 1942, National Archive Prague.

379

orphanage (Dom Sierota) at Krochmalna Street 92. In 1934 and 1937 she visited Palestine. After the re-location of Korczak's orphanage to the ghetto, she continued to cooperate with him until the Kinder-Aktion (Children's Operation) on August 6, 1942. On that day, all the Jewish orphanages were “cleared out” and the children and staff deported to Treblinka, where they all perished.1254 WILLENBERG, Itta. Born during 1919, in Częstochowa. She was a student and the younger sister of Treblinka survivor Samuel Willenberg. She perished in Treblinka during November 1942.1255 WILLENBERG, Tamara. Born during 1936, in Częstochowa. She was the youngest sister of Treblinka survivor Samuel Willenberg. She perished in Treblinka during 1945.1256 WILLINGER, Herman. From Częstochowa. Worked in the Lower Camp with Richard Glazar at sorting the clothes and valuables of the victims. He perished in Treblinka.1257 WILK, Simcha. He was a carpenter from Warsaw, who perished during the revolt on August 2, 1943, recalled by Oskar Strawczynski.1258 WINAWER, Chela. Born during 1914, in Warsaw. She was married and a housewife. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.1259 WINAWER, Fela. Born during 1883, in Warsaw. She was married to Wolf and was a housewife. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.1260

1254

1255 1256 1257 1258

1259 1260

380

Engelking and J. Leociak, The Warsaw Ghetto, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2009, p. 833. Willenberg, Surviving Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 76. Ibid., p. 76. Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., p. 68. Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 173. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims. Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims.

WINAWER, Mirjam. Born during 1913. She was married to Zeev. She perished in Treblinka during 1942.1261 WINAWER, Szaja. Born during 1904, in Warsaw. He perished in Treblinka during 1942.1262 WINTERNITZ, Pauline. Born on May 3, 1864 in Vienna. A sister of the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Deported from Vienna to the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto, and from there to Treblinka, on Transport “Bq” on September 23, 1942, where she perished.1263 WŁOŚ, Itka. Born in 1917 in Sokołów Podlaski, not far from Treblinka. Raised in a religious, Yiddish–speaking family. Completing her schooling in Sokołów at the age of 14, she began to work. Itka and her family were deported to Treblinka on September 22, 1942, where they all perished.1264 ZALCWASSER, Zygmunt. Born in 1898 in Warsaw. A renowned Jewish mathematician, Prof. at Warsaw University and active member of the Polish School of Mathematics which flourished in the inter-war years. He worked on the Fourier Series and developed the Zalcwasser Rank which, in mathematical terms “measures how close the Fourier Series of f is to being a uniformly convergent series; it is a rank that measures the uniform convergence of sequences of continuous functions on the unit interval.” Zalcwasser was killed in Treblinka in 1943.1265 ZAMENHOF, Lidia. Born in 1904 in Warsaw. Youngest daughter of Ludwig Zamenhof, the creator of the international auxiliary language Esperanto. In 1925, Lidia became a member of the Bahá'i Faith, a monotheistic religion that emphasizes the spiritual unity of all humankind. In 1937, she travelled to the USA to teach the religion as well as Esperanto. She returned to Poland at the end of 1938 and continued to teach and translate many Bahá'i 1261 1262 1263 1264 1265

Ibid. Ibid. Holocaust.cz—online resource. USHMM Archives. Historyillustratedmagazine.com –online resource.

381

writings. In the ghetto she lived at Ogrodowa Street No 3, Flat 17. She was deported to Treblinka in the autumn of 1942, where she perished.1266

ZAMENHOF, Zofia. Born December 15, 1889, in Warsaw. The second child of Ludwig Zamenhof, and sister of Lidia. She was a graduate of the University of Lausanne, and was a doctor. She was imprisoned in the Pawiak Prison in Warsaw, and on release she lived in the Warsaw Ghetto. She was deported to Treblinka in August 1942, where she perished.1267 ZEIDMAN, Yitzchak. From Częstochowa in southern Poland. On arrival in Treblinka, he was saved from the gas chambers by Aron Gelberd and other members of the Sorting Brigade in the Lower Camp. It is thought he perished in the camp.1268 ZEISLER, Gertrude. Born in 1888. Deported on February 19, 1941, on Transport “2” from Vienna to the ghetto in Kielce, Świętokrzyskie Province. She was deported to Treblinka at the end of August 1942, where she perished.1269 ZELICHOWER. Remembered by Abraham Krzepicki as coming from his hometown, the Baltic port of Danzig (today, Gdańsk in Poland). In Treblinka, Zelichower worked in the Camouflage Brigade.1270 ZIMMERMANN Dr. Kapo of the “dentists” in the Upper Camp. He perished in Treblinka.1271 ZONSZAJN, Jakob. Born during 1912, in Siedlce. He lived in the Siedlce Ghetto, a few kilometers south of Sokołów Podlaski,

1266 1267 1268 1269

1270

1271

382

www. Ghetto.pl (Warsaw Ghetto Database). Gilbert, The Holocaust …, op. cit., p. 389. Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka …, op. cit., p. 210. In 1981, a selection of Gerda Zeisler's letters written in the Kielce Ghetto to relatives in Switzerland were published in the USA in a 27-page booklet: G. Zeisler, (ed. G. Hoffer), I did not survive: Letters from the Kielce Ghetto, Gefen Publishing, Jerusalem/Anaheim (Calif.) 1981. A. Krzepicki, “Eighteen Days in Treblinka”, in: Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 117. Rajchman, Treblinka—A Survivors Memory, Maclehose Press, London 2011, p. 55.

with his wife Cypora and young daughter Rachela. Jakob was deported to Treblinka in 1942. Cypora committed suicide before the November Aktion. Only their daughter Rachela survived the War by being hidden by Poles.1272 ZUNDELEWICZ, Bernard. He was a Barrister by profession. Before the Second World War he was active in commercial organizations and was the legal advisor to the Central Office of the Union of Minor Jewish Merchants. He was a member of the Councillors Commission in the Jewish Order Service. He was deported to Treblinka on January 18, 1943, where he perished.1273 ZYLBERBERG. Recalled by Oskar Strawczynski. He was from Częstochowa, he tried to build a hideout and so avoid deportation from the ghetto. He was betrayed by Shmuel Miska, a member of the Jewish ghetto police. He was deported to Treblinka and assigned to the workshops. He became a foreman, but fell ill and was shot at the Lazarett.1274

Victims from the German Reich This is a completely new Jewish Roll of Remembrance, compiled from the Bundesarchiv Memorial Book on-line resource (www.Bundesarchiv.de / gedenkbuch). It contains the names of Jews deported from Germany, either directly to Treblinka, or via the Theresienstadt Fortress Ghetto, near Prague. Those Jews who were deported to the transit ghettos located in Poland, such as Piaski, Izbica, or to the Warsaw Ghetto have also been included. Those Jews who were deported to Warsaw, though whose fate thereafter is unknown, have not been included. In addition, Jews who were expelled to Poland before the onset of the Second World War, have also been included, if the records indicate that they were subsequently deported to Treblinka. The

1253 1273 1274

USHMM. www. Ghetto.pl (Warsaw Ghetto Database). Strawczynski, Escaping Hell in Treblinka, Yad Vashem and The Holocaust Survivors Memoirs Project, New York and Jerusalem 2007, p. 143.

383

vast majority of Jews deported from Germany went to Treblinka, via Theresienstadt, the Fortress Ghetto some 39 miles from Prague. As with all records like this, whilst every effort is made to be accurate, this is not a precise science, and readers need to be mindful of this. A-Z ABRAHAM, Paula. Born on March 6, 1865, in Albersweiler. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main to the Theresienstadt Ghetto. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. ALEXANDER, Caroline. Born on October 16, 1864, in Suwalki, Poland. She was deported from Hannover on July 23, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. ALTMANN, Emma. Born on February 24, 1877, in Berlin. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. ARENSBURG, Ida. Born on September 17, 1875, in Osterwiehe. She was deported from Munster–Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. ARNDT, Siegmund. Born on May 29, 1870 in Kotzlow. He was deported from Berlin on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. ARON, Albert. Born on January 31, 1871, in Hadamar/ Limburg. He was imprisoned in Dachau Concentration Camp and Bamberg prison. Deported from Nurnberg on September 10, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. ARON, Berta. Born on June 9, 1880, in Arnstein. She was deported from Nurnberg on September 10, 1942, to Theresienstadt. 384

Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. AUERBACH, Hela. She perished in Treblinka. BACH, Elisabeth. Born on April 11, 1877, in Stuttgart. She was deported from Munich on June 5, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BACH, Helene. Born on August 22, 1869, in Erkelenz. She was deported from Cologne on June 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BACH, Karolina. Born on June 10, 1874, in Stuttgart. She was deported from Munich on June 3, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BACHARACH, Martha. Born on April 19, 1888, in Breslau. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BACHARACH, Max. Born on June 7, 1872, in Augsburg. He was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. BACK, Moritz. Born on January 6, 1879, in Taksony, Hungary. He lived in Eppstein, before emigrating to Czechoslovakia on July 12, 1938, and subsequently to Poland on March 30, 1939. He was deported from Kielce, on August 28, 1942, where he perished. BADRIAN, Emil. Born on September 30, 1859, in Beuthen. He was deported from Berlin on August 19, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. BAER, Sarah. Born on March 1, 1921, in Frankfurt am Main. Perished in Treblinka during 1942. 385

BAMBERGER, Anna. Born on July 26, 1869, in Obereutheim. She was deported from Nurnberg on September 10, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BAR, Abraham. Born on September 14, 1867, in Windsbach. He was deported from Frankfurt am Main on on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. BAUM, Julie. Born on November 7, 1875, in Laudenberg. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BEHREND, Israel. Born on February 8, 1864, in Friedrichstadt. He was deported from Hamburg on July 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. BENDORF, Moses. Born on January 12, 1887, in Ober-Ramstadt. He was deported from Mainz-Darmstadt on March 25, 1942, to the Piaski transit ghetto in Poland. From there he was deported to Treblinka, where he perished. BERGMANN, Albert. Born on October 17, 1878, in Gros Kackschen. He perished in Treblinka. BLAUSTEIN, Necha. Born on May 24, 1897, in Kolomea. She was a resident in Leipzig, before being expelled to Poland some time between October 1938 and August 1939. She was deported to Treblinka, where she perished. BLOGG, Julius. Born on April 3, 1863, in Uchte. He was deported from Hamburg–Kiel on July 19, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. BLUM, Elsie. Born on March 13, 1905, in Darmstadt. She was deported from Darmstadt along with 882 other Jews on

386

Transport DA84, on September 30, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished on October 2, 1942.1275 BLUMENRATH, Martha. Born on December 12, 1873, in Dortmund. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BLUMENTHAL, Josef. Born on February 23, 1866, in Biebrich. He was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942,to Treblinka, where he perished. BLUMENTHAL, Lina. Born on August 9, 1871, in Diez. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BOLEY, Emma. Born on January 21, 1875, in Fritzlar. She was deported from Kassel-Chemnitz on September 7, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BONDY, Sara. Born on April 20, 1873, in Hohenlimburg. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BONINGER, Netta. Born on November 2, 1865, in Salzkotten. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BORKOWSKI, Naftali. Born on April 22, 1876, in Zgierz. She was a resident of Düsseldorf. She perished in Treblinka. BRANDES, Pauline. Born on July 21, 1876, in Rotenburg. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt.

1275

Bundesarchiv Memorial Book—Incorrectly listed the date of death as October 22, 1942. It should be October 2, 1942 using the chronology information.

387

Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BRASCH, Emma. Born on November 6, 1867, in Kamberg. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on August 18, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BRINITZER, Sally. Born on September 15, 1869, in Beuthen. She was deported from Breslau on July 27, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. BRUCKMANN, Rosa. Born on November 28, 1869, in Kraisdorf. She was deported from Nurnburg on September 10, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. CAHN, Martha. Born on March 9, 1869, in Bleicherode. She was deported from Kassel-Chemnitz on September 7, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished on October 1, 1942. CENTAWER, Henriette. Born on October 22, 1867, in Zabre. She was deported from Nurnberg on September 10, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished on October 1, 1942. COHEN, Amalie. Born on January 26, 1874, in Iserlohn. She was deported from Dortmund on on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. COHN, Laura. Born on July 30, 1877, in Kroben. She was deported from Magdeburg on April 14, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there during July 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. DANZIGER, Magda. Born on May 24, 1895, in Striegau. She emigrated to Poland. She was deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka, where she perished. 388

DANZIGER, Samuel. Born on April, 16, 1894, in Częstochowa, Poland. He lived in Neustadt before emigrating to Poland in July 1939. He was deported from Częstochowa to Treblinka, where he perished. DEMAJO, Salomon. Born on May 15, 1927, in Bütow. He was deported from Bütow, and he perished in Treblinka during 1943. DIECKHOFF, Bendix. Born on July 10, 1862, in Lichtenau. He was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. DIECKHOFF, Lina. Born on November 23, 1869, in Nieheim. She was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. DILLOFF, Philipp. Born on December 18, 1863, in Frankenberg. He was deported from Hamburg-Kiel on July 19, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. DIMANT, Heine. Born in Shapiro. She was deported from Hannover to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there to Treblinka during 1942, where she perished. DYRENFURTH, Margarete. Born on July 17, 1862, in Crossen an der Oder. She was deported from Berlin on June 16, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. EDELBAUM, Cira. Born January 1, 1916, in Meseritz. She perished in Treblinka. EHRLICH, Bertha. Born on February 2, 1867, in Dransfeld. She was deported from Hannover on July 23, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.

389

EICHMANN, Flora. Born on April 14, 1866, in Soltau. She was deported from Hannover on July 23, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. EICHWALD, Alfred. Born on January 7, 1863, in Dortmund. He was deported from Hamburg on July 19, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. EINSCHLAG, David. Born on February 28, 1879, in Leipzig. He emigrated to Poland on July 5, 1939. He was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where he perished. EINSCHLAG, Hedwig. Born on March 16, 1890, in Leipzig. She emigrated to Poland on July 15, 1939. She was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where she perished. EINSCHLAG, Wanda. Born on April 3, 1883, in Liepzig. She emigrated to Poland on July 15, 1939. She was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where she perished. ERDENSOHN, Ida. Born on November 4, 1865, in Bielefeld. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished ERMANN, Klara. Born on January 8, 1867, in Oppau. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. EXAMUS, Emmy. Born on August 12, 1886, in Detmold. She was deported from Gelsenkirchen-Munster-Hannover on March 31, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there to Treblinka, where she perished. FABER, Victor. Born during 1884, in Labowa. He lived in Pirmasens. He emigrated to Poland. He perished in Treblinka. FALK, Clara. Born on December 13, 1872, in Wertheim. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on August 18, 1942, to 390

Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. FEIGMANN, David. Born on January 10, 1887, in Meseritz. He was expelled from Bochum to Zbąszyń, Poland on October 28, 1938. He perished in Treblinka. FEIGMANN, Gunther. Born on May 8, 1927, in Bochum. He was expelled from Bochum to Zbąszyń, Poland on October 28, 1938, and he perished in Treblinka. FEIGMANN, Harald. Born on March 27, 1923, in Bochum. He was expelled from Bochum to Zbąszyń, Poland on October 28, 1938, and he perished in Treblinka. FEIGMANN, Klara. Born on May 17, 1891, in Zwickau. She was expelled from Bochum to Zbąszyń, Poland on October 28, 1938, and she perished in Treblinka. FEIGMANN, Waldemar. Born on September 22, 1928, in Bochum. He was expelled from Bochum to Zbąszyń, Poland on October 28, 1938. He perished in Treblinka. FEIST, Selma. Born on November 5, 1872, in Dortmund. She was deported from Dortmund to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. FELDMANN, Abraham. Born on December 15, 1891, in Michałowo. He was expelled from Düsseldorf to Zbąszyń, Poland on October 28, 1938. He perished in Treblinka. FISCHBEIN, Ida. Born on January 23, 1873, in Dortmund. She was deported from Dortmund to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. FISCHBEIN, Klara. Born on January 13, 1892, in Rzeszów, Poland. She was expelled from Leipzig on October 28, 1938, to Poland. She perished in Treblinka on August 18, 1942. FISCHLEBER, Fanny. Born on December 1, 1883, in Königsberg. She was a resident of Leipzig. She was expelled to Poland on October 28, 1938. She was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where she perished. 391

FRANKEL, Karoline. Born on October 25, 1870, in Niederkirchen. She was deported from Kassel-Chemnitz on September 7, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. FRAUENFELD, Paula. Born on July 23, 1874, in Bamberg. She was deported from Nurnberg on September 10, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. FUCHS, Eva. Born on May 19, 1892, in Beuthen. She was deported from Breslau where she was a resident, to Treblinka, where she perished. GELB, Regina. Born on January 27, 1895, in Tęgoborze. She lived in Berlin before emigrating to Poland on June 18, 1939. She perished in Treblinka during 1942. GERSON, Mina. Born on January 13, 1865, in Mittelsinn. She was deported from Nurnberg on September 10, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. GOLD, Yishajahu. Born on January 27, 1895, in Tęgoborze. She lived in Berlin until she emigrated to Poland on June 18, 1939. She perished in Treblinka during 1942. GOLDREICH, Hena. Born on November 8, 1899, in Nizankowice. She lived in Dresden before being expelled to Poland. She perished in Treblinka. GOLOMB, Heinrich. Born on July 25, 1917, in Würzburg. He lived in Munich but was expelled to Poland. He perished in Treblinka during 1943. GOLZ, Chane. Born on November 18, 1873, in Radautz. She was deported from Kassel-Chemnitz on September 7, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished on October 1, 1942.

392

GROSS, Ryfka. Born on July 14, 1912, in Pińczów, Poland. She was a resident of Danzig, before emigrating to Poland. She perished in Treblinka on October 4, 1942. GROSS, Siegbert. Born on April 15, 1903, in Danzig, Poland. He was a resident of Danzig, before emigrating to Poland. He perished in Treblinka on October 4, 1942. GRUNEWALD, Pauline. Born on May 21, 1864, in Driburg. She was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. GRUNEWALD, Rosalie. Born on May 3, 1877, in Bielefeld. She was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. GUGGENHEIMER, Cacilie. Born on March 29, 1886, in Chemnitz. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September, 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. GUGGENHEIMER, Max. Born on February 27, 1874, in Ulm. He was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. GUMPEL, Julius. Born on December 27, 1865, in Lindhorst. He was deported from Hannover on July 23, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. GUTMANN, Emmy. Born on July 19, 1873, in Hamburg. She was deported from Hamburg-Kiel on July 19, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. HALLGARTEN, Sofie. Born on October 29, 1870, in Hattersheim. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1,

393

1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HAMMEL, Leo. Born on October 4, 1893, in Offenbach. He was deported from Darmstadt on September 30, 1942. He perished in Treblinka during October 1942. HAMMEL, Max. Born on March 6, 1922, in Offenbach. He was deported from Darmstadt on September 30, 1942. He perished in Treblinka during October 1942. HAMMEL, Theresa. Born on February 13, 1897, in Mainz. She was deported from Darmstadt on September 30, 1942. She perished in Treblinka during October 1942. HAMMERMANN, Pauline. Born on August 15, 1875, in Nikolayev, Russia. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HAMMERSCHLAG, Hedwig. Born on August 21, 1876, in Konnern. She was deported from Kassel-Chemnitz on September 7, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HAUPTMANN, Gustav. Born on October 5, 1863, in Militsch. He was deported from Hannover on July 23, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. HEICHELHEIM, Paula. Born on July 6, 1879, in Bamberg. She was deported from Darmstadt on September 30, 1942. She perished in Treblinka. HEILBRON, Friederike. Born on April 26, 1870, in Heddesheim. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HEILBRONN, Therese. Born on October 15, 1876, in Oberusel. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to

394

Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HEILBRUNN, Hildegard. Born on September 7, 1901, in Kothen. She was deported from Magdeburg-Potsdam-Berlin on April 14, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there to Treblinka, she perished duing 1943. HEINE, Martin. Born on April 20, 1917, in Poznań. He was deported from Gelsenkirchen-Munster-Hannover on March 31, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there to Treblinka, where he perished during 1942. HEINEMANN, Johanna. Born on October 2, 1872, in Magdeburg. She was deported from Hannover on July 23, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HEINEMANN, Klara. Born on December 17, 1881, in Ahrweiler. She was deported from Düsseldorf on July 21, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HERBERT, Mina. Born on October 22, 1905, in Oświęcim, Poland. She was expelled to Poland and settled in Częstochowa. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HERBERT, Shlomo. Born on April 1, 1930, in Ratibor. He was expelled to Poland and settled in Częstochowa. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. HERSCHBERG, Malka. Born on July 2, 1875, in Stryj. She was a resident of Chemnitz. She was deported from Kassel-Chemnitz on September 7, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HERZ, Elia. Born on August 28, 1867, in Sieburg. She was deported from Cologne on June 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. 395

HERZ, Sofie. Born on August 5, 1866. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, on Transport DA 509 to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HEUMANN, Franziska. Born on January 24, 1875, in Kreuznach. She was deported from Trier-Cologne on July 27, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HILDESHEIMER, Jenni. Born on June 24, 1877, in Stolzenau. She was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, , to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. HILDESHEIMER, Julius. Born on November 27, 1873, in Schusselburg. He was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, , to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. HILLER, Gertrud. Born on November 2, 1870, in Rauscha. She was deported from Berlin on September 10, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. HIRSCH, Hedwig. Born on January 21, 1893, in Widminnen. She was deported from Berlin to Treblinka, where she perished. HIRSCH, Siegfried. Born on April 14, 1885, in Kraków, Poland. He was expelled from Berlin on December 13, 1938, to Poland. He perished in Treblinka. HIRSCHBERGER, Janette. Born on February 24, 1879, in Brunnau. She was deported from Wiesbaden on September 1, 1942. She perished in Treblinka. HOFMANN, Dina. Born on March 9, 1867, in Anhausen. She was deported from Trier-Cologne on July 27, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished.

396

HOFMANN, Irene. Born on February 22, 1908, in Tarnów, Poland. She was a resident of Pirmasens. She emigrated to Poland and perished in Treblinka during 1942. HOFMANN, Joachim. Born on August 21, 1933, in Pirmasens. He emigrated to Poland and perished in Treblinka during 1942. HUNENBERG, Kurt. He was born on January 24, 1924, in Neustadt. He was deported from Gelsenkirchen-MunsterHannover on March 31, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. He perished in Treblinka. ISACK, Werner. Born on September 5, 1919, in Essen. He was deported from Düsseldorf on April 22, 1942, to the Izbica Transit Ghetto in Poland. From there he was deported to Treblinka, where he perished. ISRAEL, Klotide. Born on July 3, 1867, in Furth. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. JACOB, Amalie. Born on July 27, 1873, in Eschwege. She was deported from Kassel-Chemnitz on September 7, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. JACOB, Josef. Born on September 6, 1875, in Budingen. He was imprisoned in Dachau Concentration Camp from November 11, 1938, until November 22, 1938. He was deported from Stuttgart on August 22, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. JACOBY, Edith. Born during 1903, in Worms. A resident of Danzig. She perished in Treblinka. JAMSCHON, Schone. Born on May 4, 1913, in Białystok. She was expelled from Leipzig to Poland on October 28, 1938. She perished in Treblinka.

397

JAMSCHON, Wella. Born on May 25, 1884, in Białystok. She was expelled from Leipzig to Poland on October 28, 1938. She perished in Treblinka. JANKOWERNER, Wolf. Born on April 15, 1898, in Dołeck. He was a resident of Leipzig and Dessau. He emigrated to Poland on September 1, 1938. He perished in Treblinka. JELSKI, Bernard. Born on November 7, 1869, in Danzig. He emigrated to Poland in 1938. He perished in Treblinka during 1942. JELSKI, Margaret. Born during 1875, in Berlin. She emigrated to Poland. She perished in Treblinka during 1942. JOACHIMSTAHL, Balbina. Born on September 19, 1866, in Murowana. She was deported from Berlin on August 28, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. JORDAN, Gustav. Born on August 13, 1869, in Hechingen. Deported from Hamburg-Kiel on July 19, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. JUSTMANN, Krajndla. Born on May 13, 1864, in Warsaw, Poland. She was expelled from Chemnitz to Poland on October 28, 1938. Deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where she perished. KAHN, Amalie. Born on December 15, 1874, in Bamberg. She was deported from Munich on July 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. KAHN, Gustav. Born on June 26, 1867, in Freudenburg. He was deported from Trier-Cologne on July 27, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished on September 21, 1942. KALISKI, Michael. Born on February 7, 1873, in Kriewen, Poland. He was deported from Breslau on July 27, 1942, to 398

Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. KANTER, Pauline. Born on May 16, 1871, in Bierstadt. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. KATZ, Frieda. Born on June 21, 1880, in Holzhausen. She was deported from Kassel-Chemnitz on September 7, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. KATZ, Moses. Born on August 2, 1873, in Jesberg. He was deported from Kassel-Chemnitz on September 7, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. KATZ, Nanny. Born on May 2, 1870, in Ibbenburen. She was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. KERMANN, Hans. Born on July 16, 1919, in Essen. He was expelled from Essen to Poland on October 28, 1938. He was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where he perished. KESSLER, Antonie. Born on February 13, 1875, in Wickede. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. KIELCZYGLOWSKI, Berek. Born on March 15, 1882, in Russia. He was expelled from Danzig to Poland. He perished in Treblinka during 1942. KLAPPHOLZ, Jakob. Born on November 5, 1891, in Teschen. He emigrated from Ulm to Brunn in Czechoslovakia on April 20, 1937. He was deported from Brunn on April 4, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there to the Warsaw Ghetto on 399

April 25, 1942. He was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto on the first transport to Treblinka on July 22, 1942. He perished in Treblinka on July 23, 1942. KLAPPHOLZ, Julie. Born on February 8, 1930, in Ulm. She emigrated from Ulm to Brunn in Czechoslovakia on April 20, 1937. She was deported from Brunn on April 4, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there to the Warsaw ghetto on April 25, 1942. She was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto on the first transport to Treblinka on July 22, 1942. She perished in Treblinka on July 23, 1942. KLAPPHOLZ , Ottilie. Born on June 14, 1933, in Ulm. She emigrated from Ulm to Brunn in Czechoslovakia on April 20, 1937. She was deported from Brunn on April 4, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there to the Warsaw Ghetto on April 25, 1942. She was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto on the first transport to Treblinka on July 22, 1942. She perished in Treblinka on July 23, 1942. KLAPPHOLZ, Walter. Born on June 20, 1924, in Ulm. He emigrated from Ulm to Brunn in Czechoslovakia on April 20, 1937. He was deported from Brunn on April 4, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there to the Warsaw Ghetto on April 25, 1942. He was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto on the first transport to Treblinka on July 22, 1942. He perished in Treblinka on July 23, 1942. KLAPPHOLZ, Wilhelmine. Born on July 15, 1902, in Freiburg. She emigrated from Ulm to Brunn in Czechoslovakia on April 20, 1937. She was deported from Brunn on April 4, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there to the Warsaw Ghetto on April 25, 1942. She was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto on the first transport to Treblinka on July 22, 1942. She perished in Treblinka on July 23, 1942. KOHN, Max. Born on June 20, 1874. He resided in Leipzig until he emigrated to Austria. He was deported from Vienna on July 28, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there to Treblinka on September 21, 1942, where he perished. 400

KOHN, Pinkus. Born on April 7, 1885, in Warsaw, Poland. He was expelled from Plauen to Poland. He was deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, where he perished. KONINSKI, Moshe. Born on January 1, 1898, in Koło. He lived in Berlin. He perished in Treblinka. KOPPEL, Karl. Born on April 4, 1871, in Beilstein. He was deported from Cologne on June 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished on September 21, 1942. KORNBERG, Selma. Born on November 17, 1886, in Bielefeld. She was deported from Gelsenkirchen-Munster-Hannover on March 31, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there on September 2, 1942, where she perished. KOSCHITZKY, Moshe. Born on January 1, 1885, in Radomsko, Poland. He lived in Ratibor but emigrated to Poland. He perished in Treblinka. KOSCHITZKY, Laura. Born on September 23, 1887, in Schoppnitz. She was a resident of Ratibor. She perished in Treblinka on October 4, 1942. KRACAUER, Hedwig. Born on July 29, 1862, in Frankfurt am Main. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on August 18, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. KRACAUER, Rosette. Born on April 2, 1867, in Frankfurt am Main. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on August 18, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. KRAUSE, Gusta. Born in 1894, in Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland. She was a resident of Beuthen. She perished in Treblinka. KROMOLOWSKI, Jetta. Born on February 3, 1878, in Łódź. She perished in Treblinka. KUGELMANN, Ella. Born on November 26, 1874, in Wagenfeld. She was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, to 401

Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. LANDAU, Emma. Born on May 21, 1864, in Birnbaum. She was deported from Düsseldorf on July 25, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. LANGENDORF, Max. Born on September 13, 1866, in Prague. He was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. LEHMANN, Gerda. Born on February 25, 1921, in Cologne. She was deported from Gelsenkirchen-Munster-Hannover on March 31, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there to Treblinka, where she perished. LEMANOWICZ, Chaim. Born on December 24, 1899, in Krzepice, Poland. He was expelled from Duisberg on October 28, 1938, to Zbąszyń, Poland. He perished in Treblinka during 1942. LEMANOWICZ, Jenta. Born on May 22, 1899, in Krzepice, Poland. She was expelled from Duisberg on October 28, 1938, to Zbąszyń, Poland. She perished in Treblinka during 1942. LENKOWITZER, Lea. Born on September 25, 1883, in Kraków, Poland. She lived in Recklinghausen, before being expelled to Poland on October 29, 1938. She perished in Treblinka on October 4, 1942. LENKOWITZER, Samuel. Born on January 23, 1878, in Kraków, Poland. He lived in Recklinghausen, before being expelled to Poland on October 29, 1938. He perished in Treblinka on October 4, 1942. LEVEN, Sara. Born on March 11, 1869, in Gurzenich. She was deported from Düsseldorf on July 25, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.

402

LEVITA, Franziska. Born on June 15, 1862, in Sonnenberg. She was deported from Trier-Cologne on July 27, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. LEVITTA, Bella. Born on July 1, 1876, in Ruddesheim. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. LEVY, Paula. Born on June 15, 1876, in Bollendorf. She was deported from Cologne on June 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished on September 21, 1942. LEVY, Recha. Born on June 20, 1891, in Gambach. She was deported from Koblenz between April 30–May 3, 1942, to the Krasniczyn Ghetto in Poland. She perished in Treblinka. LEVY, Wilhelm. Born on October 10, 1883, in Ahrweiler. He was deported from Koblenz between April 30–May 3, 1942, to the Krasniczyn Ghetto in Poland. He perished in Treblinka. LEWIN, David. Born on March 9, 1895, in Pudewitz. He was deported from Berlin on April 2, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there to Treblinka, where he perished. LICHTENSTEIN, Karl. Born on November 6, 1869, in Festenberg. He was deported from Trier-Cologne on July 27, 1942, , to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. LICHTENSTEIN, Karoline. Born on November 11, 1864, in Eller. She was deported from Trier -Cologne on July 27, 1942, to Theresienstadt. She was deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished.1276 LIEBER, Ester. Born on November 9, 1871, in Kleinsteinach. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to 1276

Biography and postcard included in the Holocaust Exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, London, permanent exhibition.

403

Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. LIEBMANN, Hedwig. Born on August 3, 1867, in Lohnberg. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. LIZBAND, Aron. A resident of Berlin, he perished in Treblinka. LOB, Albert. Born on October 22, 1874, in Wachenheim. He was imprisoned in Buchenwald Concentration Camp on November 9, 1938. He was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. LOB, Katherina. Born on March 10, 1877, in Bochum. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. LOWENDORF, Fanny. Born on December 18, 1868, in Vorden. She was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. LOWENSTEIN, Jenny. Born on April 20, 1880, in Liebenau. She was deported from Hamburg on July 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. LORIG, Alexander. Born on January 5, 1860, in Butzweiler. He was deported from Trier-Cologne on July 27, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished on September 21, 1942. LORIG, Josef. Born on February 11, 1863, in Butzweiler. He was deported from Trier-Cologne on July 27, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished on September 21, 1942.

404

LUCAS, Isaak. Born on October 26, 1878, in Warden-Hoengen, Aachen. His son Eric Lucas managed to settle in Britain in February 1939. Isaak perished in Treblinka during 1942. MANNES, Benjamin. Born on August 26, 1901, in Leopoldshall. He was imprisoned in Buchenwald Concentration Camp on November 10, 1938. He was deported from MagdeburgPotsdam-Berlin on April 14, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there during 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. MANNES, Hamann. Born on February 4, 1891, in Vegesack. He was deported from Magdeburg-Potsdam-Berlin on April 14, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there during 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. MANNES, Johanna. Born on October 14, 1900, in Wollstein. She was deported from Magdeburg-Potsdam-Berlin on April 14, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there during 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. MANNES, Rosa. Born on January 28, 1904, in Hannover. She was deported from Magdeburg-Potsdam-Berlin on April 14, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there during 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. MARX, Hans. Born on November 2, 1905, in Bottrop. He was imprisoned in Dachau Concentration Camp between November 17, 1938 and January 12, 1939. He was deported from Gelsenkirchen-Munster-Hannover on March 31, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there to Treblinka, where he perished on July 31, 1942. MARX, Moritz. Born on March 23, 1873, in Altenkirchen. He was deported from Düsseldorf on July 21, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. MARX, Rosalie. Born on November 19, 1869, in Altenkirchen. She was deported from Düsseldorf on July 21, 1942, , to

405

Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. MENDELSOHN, Regina. Born on August 24, 1873, in Schwersenz. She was deported from Hamburg on July 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. MOSES, Jutta. Born on December 29, 1936, in Zicher. She was deported to the Warsaw Ghetto. From there, she was deported to Treblinka, where she perished. NAMM, Agnes. Born on June 2, 1864, in Sagan. She was deported from Breslau on August 30, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. NATHAN, Philipp. Born on January 15, 1866, in Billerbeck. He was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. He was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. NEUKIRCHER, Adele. Born on July 21, 1877, in Neuenkirchen. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. NEUKIRCHER, Mathilde. Born on April 15, 1872, in Werl. She was deported from Cologne on June 15, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. NEUMANN, Emil. Born on December 1, 1867, in Sonnenberg. He was deported from Frankfurt am Main, on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. NEUMANN, Karoline. Born on May 15, 1867, in Reichenborn. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to

406

Theresienstadt. Deported from there on October 22, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. NEUMARK, Betty. Born on January 2, 1880, in Soldin. She was deported from Tilsit-Königsberg on August 24-25, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. NUSSBAUM, Hermann. Born on September 17, 1866, in Butzweiler. He was deported from Trier-Cologne on July 27, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. NUSSBAUM, Johanna. Born on February 15, 1884, in Butzweiler. She was deported from Trier-Cologne on July 27, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. OPPENHEIMER, Meier. Born on January 30, 1863, in Theilheim. He was deported from Nurnburg on September 10, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. PIECK, Rosalie. Born on November 23, 1868, in Neuwedell. She was deported from Berlin on August 17, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. PLOWITZ, Alfred. Born on August 13, 1862, in Vienna, Austria. He lived in Dresden before emigrating to Czechoslovakia. He was deported from Prague on July 13, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on October 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. POTTNER, Emil. Born on December 10, 1872, in Salzburg, Austria. He was deported from Berlin on July 24, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, to Treblinka, where he perished. PRAGER, Salo. Born on January 6, 1873, in Czemitz. He was deported from Breslau on August 30, 1942, to Theresienstadt. 407

Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. REBHUN, Max. Born on January 29, 1906, in Głogów. He was expelled from Berlin to Poland in November 1938. Deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka during August 1942, where he perished. REINHARDT, Siegfried. Born on May 31, 1906, in Heusentamm. He was a resident of Offenbach am Main. Deported from Darmstadt on September 30, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. Richard Glazar and Franz Suchomel both recalled that Siegfried was a baker in the camp.1277 REIS, Adolf van der. Born on October 2, 1860, in Neuenhaus. He was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished on October 5, 1942. REIS, Georg van der. Born on May 1, 1866, in Neuenhaus. He was deported from Munster-Bielefeld on July 31, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished on October 5, 1942. RINDE, Eli. Born on May 26, 1937, in Berlin. He emigrated to Poland on May 20, 1939. He perished in Treblinka. RINDE, Zysla. Born on November 29, in Warsaw, Poland. She emigrated from Berlin to Poland on May 20, 1939. She was deported to Treblinka, where she perished during 1943. ROBINSON, Betty. Born on June 8, 1867, in Landsberg. She was deported from Tilsit-Königsberg on August 24-25, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. ROCHOCZ, Martha. Born on September 13, 1873, in Potsdam. She was deported from Berlin on July 30, 1942, to Theresienstadt.

1277

408

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., p. 168.

Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. ROSE, Gustav. Born on October 9, 1873, in Freden. He was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. ROSENBAUM, Benjamin. Born on April 26, 1873, in Dortmund. He was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. ROSENBERG, Ernst. Born on September 10, 1908, in Cologne. He perished in Treblinka. ROSENBERG, Sophie. Born on March 17, 1897, in Lvov. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. ROSENBERG, Sussie. Born on September 24, 1876, in Wiznitz. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. ROSENTHAL, Julius. Born on July 4, 1870, in Meschede. He was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. ROSENTHAL, Laura. Born on July 2, 1869, in Arnsberg. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. ROSENZWEIG, Jakob. Born on April 12, 1877, in Ungvar, Hungary. He lived in Leipzig before emigrating to Czechoslovakia. He perished in Treblinka.

409

ROSENZWEIG, Rosa. Born on February 25, 1893, in Saros, Hungary. She lived in Leipzig before emigrating to Czechoslovakia on October 31, 1939. She perished in Treblinka. RUBEN, Klara. Born on August 22, 1873, in Sulm. She was deported from Trier-Cologne on July 27, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. RYCZKE, Genia. Born on May 26, 1897, in Kalisz, Poland. She lived in Danzig before emigrating to Poland. She perished in Treblinka. SAMSON, Benjamin. Born on December 6, 1860, in Aurich. He was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. SAMSON, Ruben. Born on March 21, 1868, in Aurich. He was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. SCHLESINGER, Elsbeth. Born on November 18, 1868, in Hannover. She was deported from Hannover on July 23, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. SCHÖNBERG, Franziska. Born on January 25, 1873, in Hadamar a.d. Lahn. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. SCHÖNEMANN, Albert. Born on June 17, 1871, in Helminghausen. He was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. SCHÖNFELD, Clementine. Born on December 14, 1875, in Nordenstadt. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on

410

September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. SCHÖNWETTER, Hersch. Born on November 21, 1891, in Rzemien, Poland. He was expelled from Magdeburg to Poland. He perished in Treblinka during 1942. SCHÖNWETTER, Hilda. Born on August 18, 1896, in Brzostek, Poland. She was expelled from Magdeburg to Poland. She perished in Treblinka during August 1942. SCHURMANN, Emil. Born on August 20, 1873, in Scheidingen. He lived in Werl. He was deported to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. SCHWARZ, Julie. Born August 1, 1873, in Schöppingen. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. SIMON, Frieda. Born on May 29, 1875, in Kehl. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. SINGER, Erich. Born on November 3, 1871. He was deported from Berlin on July 17, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there to Treblinka, where he perished. SPIER, Henriette. Born on January 20, 1899, in Merzhausen. She was deported fom Gelsenkirchen-Munster-Hannover on March 31, 1942, to the Warsaw Ghetto. Deported from there to Treblinka, where she perished. SPIER, Hermann. Born on January 20, 1899, in Merzhausen. He was imprisoned from March 26/27 to March 31, 1942, in the Hannover-Ahlem detention camp. He was deported from Gelsenkirchen-Munster-Hannover on March 31, 1942, to the

411

Warsaw Ghetto. From there, he was deported to Treblinka, where he perished.1278 SPIER, Simon. Born on November 1, 1863, in Zwesten. He was deported from Stuttgart on August 22, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished on October 19, 1942. STEINBERGER, Marianne. Born on May 28, 1874, in Bollendorf. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished on September 21, 1942. STERN, Julie. Born on July 15, 1864, in Meppen. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. STERNBERG, Adolf. Born on March 4, 1855, in Plettenberg. He was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. STERNBERG, Emil. Born on February 22, 1863, in Schwerte. He was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. STERNBERG, Mimi. Born on March 7, 1861, in Schwerte. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. STERNBERG, Ricka. Born on March 15, 1876, in Hohenlimburg. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. STERNHEIM, Henriette. Born on March 15, 1882, in Ergste. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to 1278

412

Date of death incorrectly listed as 1944.

Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. TENNENBAUM, Jeanette. Born on July 23, 1883, in Berlin. She was expelled to Poland in 1938, settling first in Łódź and then Częstochowa. Deported from there to Treblinka, where she perished. THEUMANN, Valerie. Born on May 19, 1875, in Vienna, Austria. She was deported from Munich on July 3, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. TUCH, Clara Born on May 12, 1875, in Hamburg. Deported from Hamburg on July 19, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. TUCH, Dr. Theodor. Born on April 20, 1865, in Hamburg. Deported from Hamburg on July 19, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 21, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. ULLMANN, Amalie. Born on March 14, 1871, in Worms. She was deported from Frankfurt am Main on September 1, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. WEIDENBAUM, Henriette. Born on June 21, 1864, in Dielingen. She was deported from Dortmund on July 29, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. WEISKOPF, Cacilie. Born on June 15, 1873, in Chemnitz. She was deported from Kassel-Chemnitz on September 7, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 29, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. WERTHEIM, Salomon. Born on March 17, 1866, in Allendorf. He was deported from Frankfurt am Main on August 18, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 26, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. 413

WERTHEIMER, Anna. Born on November 19, 1870, in Berlin. She was deported from Berlin on August 17, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 19, 1942, to Treblinka, where she perished. WRZOS, Abraham. He was born in Dobrzyń. He lived in Berlin before emigrating to Poland. He perished in Treblinka. WRZOS, Male. Born on June 5, 1894, in Lezajsk, Poland. She emigrated to Poland from Berlin on July 21, 1939. She perished in Treblinka. ZACHARIS, Simon. Born on January 30, 1873, in Mehlaucken. He was deported from Tilsit-Königsberg on August 24-25, 1942, to Theresienstadt. Deported from there on September 23, 1942, to Treblinka, where he perished. ZMIGROD, Leja. Born on July 28, 1907, in Warsaw, Poland. She was expelled from Plauen to Poland. She perished in Treblinka. ZMIGROD, Tobiasch. Born on May 2, 1892, in Bedzin. He was expelled fom Plauen to Poland. He perished in Treblinka.

414

Chapter 18 The Perpetrators

Almost all of the personnel who staffed the Aktion Reinhardt death camps came from the lower middle class: their fathers were factory workers, craftsmen, salesmen or shop workers. Most of them had completed elementary education, having left school at the age of 14; a few had gone on to complete two-year vocational courses. Those who in the late 1920s and early 1930s had become psychiatric nurses (male and female) in mental institutions chose that profession simply in order to guarantee a regular wage during the time of the Depression. They too came from all walks of life and being a member of the Nazi Party certainly helped in securing a job in an institution. Later, Party membership was the main criterion by which they were selected at the end of December 1939 for duty within the Aktion T4 euthanasia program. Their average age was between 30–40 at the time they served in the death camps, many of them were married, had children, and most had no criminal record. They were absolutely ordinary people. When first recruited to the “T4” euthanasia program they were given the choice of participating or withdrawing. Very few withdrew and none of them suffered any consequences. After several years' service in the mental institutions they were in complete agreement with euthanasia. Although most of them denied being overtly anti-Semitic, the six years of unrelenting antiSemitic propaganda must have had some effect, no matter how slight: anti-Semitism was an accepted phenomenon among large segments of German society. Others, the die-hard Nazis, wholeheartedly believed the Party doctrine and zealously carried out their orders in the camps. On being transferred from Aktion T4 in Germany to Aktion Reinhardt in Poland, all the civilian staff had to wear the field-gray or greenish-gray uniforms of the Waffen-SS, but without actually belonging to any SS unit. They were easily identified by the absence 415

of the SS-runes on the wearer’s right hand collar patch. In the death camps they were known disparagingly to the serving SS-NCOs as “civilians in uniform”. Christian Wirth wore the green uniform of the Schutzpolizei, whilst Franz Stangl and others wore the white summer SS uniform, when the weather conditions allowed. The members of the pre-war SS and police were a different matter. They were commandeered with no possibility to refuse. Although by whom and why these particular men were selected for duty, they were assigned to their roles not only because of their fanaticism, but in the case of the SS-NCO’s, also for more pragmatic reasons—they had particular skills that were useful in the death camps: SS-drivers and mechanics, cooks and accountants from the concentration camp administration, or because in civilian life they had been bricklayers, chauffeurs, or other useful occupations. They, too, had joined the concentration camp service to ensure a guaranteed job with a regular wage. There was also the element of wearing a smart uniform which instilled respect (and fear) from the public. A necessary attribute was hardness of character, a quality instilled in the pre-war concentration camp service, when all sense of morality and pity was driven out of them. For this reason they performed the more gruesome tasks in the euthanasia institutions: removing the bodies from the gas chambers and cremating them, which earned them the name of “disinfectors and burners”. The police officers also had no choice. They, too, were commandeered with no possibility of refusing. But in these cases they were selected primarily because they were too old for frontline duty, but were still very capable officers who were able to act on their own initiative. Most had also joined the SS before the War in order to further their careers within the police; a few were obliged to join shortly after the outbreak of War. All of them were entitled to wear SS-uniform with the rank equal to their police rank. In Treblinka and the other Aktion Reinhardt death camps they found themselves in an impossible situation. Under the hate-filled regime of SS-Obersturmführer Christian Wirth who ruled through sheer terror, they had no choice but to obey his orders, no matter how inhuman. In the “T4” duty at the euthanasia institutions they had already seen how he had miscreants on the staff sent to 416

concentration camps. Although he constantly continued to use the threat of concentration camp and summary shooting for disobeying his orders, most of them believed him capable of carrying out such threats. Although the majority bowed under duress to Wirth's every whim, a few emulated his sadistic behavior and even competed with one another in “improving” or inventing novel ways of killing their victims. In time, even the least inclined among them to commit brutal and sadistic acts against the Jews succumbed on occasions. The unquestioning, self-serving conformity largely achieved among the SS-garrison in Treblinka made evil entities out of even those who at first were apparently relatively harmless individuals. Information about the personal feelings about the tasks that they undertook and their relationship with the victims is almost nonexistent. The reason for this is simply that during their pre-trial interrogations the police interrogators, prosecutors and examining magistrates were more interested in obtaining admissions to specific crimes, and the accused further incriminating their codefendants. The judicial officials were not concerned with the psychology of the defendants, their remorse or lack thereof. It was their task to produce sufficient evidence to present to the courts to gain convictions. A further hindrance was that the survivors often did not know the names of their SS tormentors, or could only offer a phonetic version; in the camps they invented nicknames for the SS and Ukrainian guards which suited the character, physical attributes, looks, or function in the camp; the nicknames were also used as a code among the Jews to give warning of the approach of a certain SS-man. In the death camps, anyway, it could be fatal to look directly into the face of an SS-man. The SS-garrison at Treblinka comprised of about 20–30 men stationed in the camp at any given time, and it was likely that at any given time only half of them were on duty. SS men who served at the Aktion Reinhardt death camps received two to three weeks home leave every three months. The SS personnel sometimes made use of the T4 Rest Home (Erholungsheim) at Weissenbach, Austria. A number of the Treblinka staff were photographed there, 417

including Gentz, Miete, Mentz and Sydow. It also happened that some SS-NCO’s were transferred from one death camp to another, either because their expertise was needed, or as a punishment. A small minority served in Treblinka only for a brief time. A complete list of all those who served at the Treblinka death camp is therefore not possible. By the end of 1943, after the liquidation of three Aktion Reinhardt camps, most of the personnel had been posted to Trieste on the Adriatic coast of northern Italy. Operating under the code designation Einsatz R (“Operation R”), they were divided into three special units, designated as R-I (based in Trieste), R-II (based in Fiume) and R-III (based in Udine). R-III was commanded by former Treblinka Commandant Franz Stangl.1279 The main task of Einsatz R personnel, still under the supervision of Christian Wirth (by this time promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer), was the arrest and detention of the remaining Italian Jews who hitherto had been protected by Benito Mussolini, and the confiscation of Jewish property and valuables. Einsatz R was simply a scaled-down version of Aktion Reinhardt. The main base of the SS-Sonderkommandos of Einsatz R was in the buildings of a big rice-husking mill in the Trieste suburb of San Sabba, which became a holding center for the Jews until their deportation by train to Auschwitz-Birkenau. San Sabba also became an interrogation and holding center for captured Italian and Yugoslav partisans. The prisoners were killed by shooting, by hanging, in a gassing van, or simply beaten to death with a mallet. In February 1944, a crematorium furnace was installed by Erwin Lambert who had supervised the construction of the new gas chambers at Treblinka and Sobibór in Poland. By the spring of 1944, SS-Gruppenführer Globocnik, the Higher SS and Police Leader for the Adriatic Coastal Region, based in Trieste, forbade Wirth to carry out the killing of any more Jews in San Sabba. Wirth had not been authorized to kill Italian Jews, only to deport them. Globocnik was well aware of the fact that the War 1279

418

Another unit, R-IV, existed in the Venice suburb of Mestre between May 1944 to November 1944 (Außenstelle Venedig), also commanded briefly by Franz Stangl.

was all but lost and he already had the mass murder of at least 1.5 million Jews during Aktion Reinhardt on his conscience. Instead, the three Einsatz R units were switched to anti-partisan duty on the Istrian peninsula. As the War drew to a close, the leaders and organizers of Aktion T4, Aktion Reinhardt and Einsatz R realized that the staff and their commanders were “the keepers of secrets” who could incriminate their superiors. Consequently, they were sent to the most dangerous areas where the partisans killed immediately any German in SS-uniform. Consequently, their rate of casualties was significantly high, inflicted also as a result of Allied action (airraids). Three of the principal perpetrators were ambushed and assassinated by Yugoslav or Italian partisans: Christian Wirth, Franz Reichleitner, who replaced Franz Stangl as the Commandant at Sobibór, and Gottfried Schwarz, Deputy Commandant at Bełżec. Stangl stated after the War that: “We were an embarrassment to the brass. They wanted to find ways to incinerate us.” Altogether, apart from Wirth, Reichleitner and Schwarz, eleven other men who had served in both Aktion Reinhardt and Einsatz R were killed in action in northern Italy.1280 The sources for these biographies come from a number of institutions, books and websites. The detailed biography of Christian Wirth is the work of Michael Tregenza, who has studied Wirth and his family for a number of years. The research into compiling a comprehensive list of perpetrators was started by the ARC group who maintained the original ARC website, www.deathcamps.org between the years of 2001 and 2005. Further research was undertaken by the H.E.A.R.T. group, comanaged with Carmelo Lisciotto, a website expert from America. In more recent years, research has continued with the Holocaust Historical Society and their website www. Holocausthistoricalsociety.org.uk. 1280

All of them were originally buried in the German Military Cemetery at Opicina, a small town up on the Karst above Trieste. In the late 1950’s—early 1960’s, all German war dead were exhumed from their burial places all over Italy and reinterred in a big German Military Cemetery at Costermano, on the south-eastern shore of Lake Garda in the Verona Province of northern Italy.

419

This online activity has been supplemented by the excellent recent book by Sara Berger, Experten der Vernichtung das T4 Reinhardt—Netzwerk in den Lagern Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka, published in 2013. The following list is prepared in good faith, it is not a definitive list, and other names and details may become known in the years to come. Likewise any mistakes are also done in good faith. This is not a precise science and allowances have to be made.

Odilo Globocnik The Head of Aktion Reinhardt Born on April 21, 1904, in Trieste. He was the son of an Austrian Croat family of petty officials and a builder by profession. He joined the Nazi Party in Carinthia, Austria in 1930, and became a “radical” leader of its cells in the province. In 1933, Globocnik entered the SS and was appointed Deputy District Leader of the NSDAP in Austria. He was imprisoned for over a year on account of political offences though re-emerged as a key liaison figure between Hitler and the Austrian National Socialists. He was appointed provincial Nazi Chief of Carinthia in 1936, and was further promoted to the post of Gauleiter of Vienna on May 24, 1938. He was dismissed from this position for illegal speculation in the foreign exchange on January 30, 1939, and was replaced by Josef Burckel. Globocnik was pardoned by Himmler and he was appointed to the post of SS and Police Leader for the Lublin distict on November 9, 1939. He was chosen by Himmler as the central figure in Aktion Reinhardt, the mass murder program of Polish Jewry, no doubt because of his scandalous past record and well-known virulent anti-Semitism. Globocnik built up a special company of SS men, not subordinate to any higher authority, and responsible only to Himmler. Globocnik established three death camps in Poland— Bełżec, Sobibór, and Treblinka, as part of Aktion Reinhardt. He also had a hand in the creation of Lublin (Majdanek) Concentration Camp. He also built up an economic empire, including the Jewish 420

Labor Camps at Budzyn, Krasnik, Poniatowa, Trawniki, as well as a number of camps in Lublin itself, such as Lipowa and the Old Airfield, and various enterprises throughout the Lublin district. Globocnik was also responsible for clearing Polish peasant farmers from the Zamość Lands and replacing them with ethnic Germans. Globocnik and some of his cohorts amassed rich rewards from the slaughter of approximately 1.6 million Jews whose property and valuables were seized by the SS, and his various business interests. As his situation reports showed, Globocnik carried out Himmler’s orders with brutal efficiency and by November 1943, Aktion Reinhardt had been completed and the three death camps under his control had been liquidated. On September 13, 1943, Himmler wrote to Globocnik appointing him to the post of Higher SS and Police Leader for the Adriatic Coastal Zone in Trieste, and replacing him in Lublin by Jakob Sporrenberg. Himmler instructed Globocnik to produce a final accounting statement regarding the assets and economic achievements of Aktion Reinhardt by December 31, 1943. Globocnik provided a portfolio and on January 5, 1944, produced a detailed appendix. This appendix demonstrated that 178 million Reichmarks had been added to the Reich’s finances, as a result of Aktion Reinhardt. At the end of the Second World War, Globocnik succeeded in evading arrest by returning to his native country, in the mountains south of Klagenfurt. He was eventually tracked down and arrested by a British army patrol at Wiessensee. He commited suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule at Paternion, Austria, on May 31, 1945.

Hermann Julius Höfle Deputy Head of Aktion Reinhardt Born on June 19, 1911, in Salzburg, Austria. He was a trained mechanic and drove a taxi in Salzburg, and then went on to own his own taxi company. He joined the Nazi Party and the SS on August 1, 1933. He led SS-Sturmbann 1/76 after serving a brief 421

prison sentence. He served for three months in Znaim, in the Sudetenland and attended the Führerschule in Dachau. After the invasion of Poland, he served in a Selbschutz unit in Nowy Sącz (Neu Sandez). During 1940, he was the Leader of the Labor Camps employed on building the border fortifications known as the “BugGraben”, near Bełżec in the Lublin district. On July 17, 1941, RFSS Heinrich Himmler appointed Odilo Globocnik as his Plenipotentiary for the Construction of SS and Police bases in the newly occupied Eastern Territories and Höfle was sent from Lublin to Mogilev to supervise construction work there. Höfle was recalled by Globocnik to Lublin and he was responsible for overseeing the construction of the death camp at Bełżec, and he was appointed by Globocnik to act as the Deputy Head of Aktion Reinhardt, which was the name given in 1942, to the mass murder program of Polish Jewry, following the death of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague. Höfle was highly regarded by Globocnik and he played a leading role in the mass deportation Aktions in Warsaw, during July –September 1942, which sent hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths in the Treblinka death camp, and the clearance of the Białystok Ghetto during the summer of 1943. He was married and had four children, though two of his children were twins, who died, and at their graveside he lamented; “This is punishment for the children of Warsaw.” Whilst in Lublin, Höfle lived and worked in the Julius Schreck Kaserne, the headquarters of Aktion Reinhardt at Litauer Strasse 11. His associate Georg Michalsen, who worked for Höfle in the mass deportations from Warsaw and Białystok, gave a description: The staff building was a three-storey house. On the ground floor—immediately by the entrance—there was a transport squad. On the first floor—on one side—there was the administration, accounts and archive (documents) offices. Here the chief-of- staff also had a room and an ante-room. On the second floor the personnel department was located. Here Hermann Höfle also had his living quarters in one room.

422

Höfle also played a key administrative role in the destruction of the remaining Jewish workers, according to the post-war testimony of Jakob Sporrenberg, the SS and Police Leader for Lublin, who had replaced Odilo Globocnik. This mass murder frenzy, ordered by Himmler, was known as Aktion Erntefest– Harvest Festival—and this resulted in the mass murder of over 40,000 Jewish workers on 3 -4 November 1943, in a number of labor camps in Lublin itself, and also at the camps in Poniatowa and Trawniki, by means of shooting in prepared ditches. Höfle left Lublin and briefly served as the Commander of a Guard unit at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. This was followed by spells of duty in Belgium and the Netherlands. He was re-united with Globocnik, who was now in Trieste. Höfle was amongst a group of SS men who were captured by the British Army. He was photographed beside the body of Globocnik, who had swallowed poison at Paternion, Austria on May 31, 1945. Höfle learned in 1948, that the Polish Communist government wanted to extradite him to Poland to stand trial for War crimes he had allegedly committed there. With help he fled first to Italy and then returned to his native Austria. Making his way to Bavaria, he worked for the American Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) as a low level agent. Höfle was arrested and he committed suicide on August 21, 1962, in a Vienna prison cell during pre-trial detention.

Georg Michalsen Einsatz Reinhardt Member Georg Michalsen was born as Georg Michalczyk, on September 13, 1906, in Wendrin, Upper Silesia. The son of a school-teacher, he attended school in Opole between the years 1912 to 1920. He then served an apprenticeship in a law firm in Opole. Afterwards, he worked in agricultural co-operatives and in the construction industry. Michalczyk joined the Wehrwolf in 1924, a regional organization, and on November 1, 1928, he became a member of the Nazi Party. He served in a number of roles in Opole, such as treasurer. He also

423

belonged to the SA-Reserve. On January 10, 1932, Michalczyk transferred from the SA to the SS (SS No. 29337). Following the German attack on Poland in September 1939, Michalczyk belonged to an SS unit which occupied Częstochowa. In Poland Michalczyk commanded a 70 strong squad of SS men, who trained Volksdeutsche Selbstschutz units in Petrikau, Opoczno and Rawa. This paramilitary organization was established as an auxillary police force. During 1940, Michalczyk married and in the same year, he changed his Polish sounding name to Michalsen. Following service in the SS and Police Leader’s office in Radom, he was transferred to serve the same office in Lublin, which was under the control of SSPF Odilo Globocnik. Globocnik was appointed by RFSS Heinrich Himmler after the German invasion of the Soviet Union to construct SS and Police strongpoints in the East, and Michalsen was appointed to head this activity in Riga. Michalsen returned to Lublin and became part of the Aktion Reinhardt Kommando, under Hermann Höfle, and Michalsen assisted Höfle in the resettlement of the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto commencing in July 1942. Michalsen, along with Hermann Höfle met with Adam Czerniaków and other members of the Warsaw Judenrat on July 22, 1942, to order the start of deportations in Warsaw to the Treblinka death camp. After July 27, 1942, Michalsen, the Deputy Head of the resettlement commando was deployed at the Umschlagplatz, the place where the cattle cars left for Treblinka. During the mass deportation Aktion in Warsaw, the resettlement squad, under Michalsen’s command was despatched to the nearby towns of Otwock, Wolomin and Miedzyrzec-Podlaski, during August 1942. Michalsen was then involved in deportations within the Lublin district in Piaski and Włodawa. Michalsen returned to the Warsaw Ghetto, in the spring of 1943, during the uprising, to organize the transfer of major factories, such as Többens and Schultz to the Poniatowo and Trawniki Labor Camp sites.

424

Between February 1943, and August 16 and 23, 1943, Michalsen was involved in the dissolution of the ghetto in Białystok, where over 17,000 Jews were deported to the Treblinka death camp. In the autumn of 1943, Himmler appointed Globocnik to the post of Higher SS and Police Leader for the Adriatic Coastal Zone in Trieste, and Michalsen soon joined him. He became head of the HSSPF’s personnel department and was later involved in partisan combat in Istria. Michalsen was captured by British Forces in Paternion, in Carinthia, Austria, along with Globocnik, Höfle, Lerch and others on May 31, 1945. Both Michalsen and Lerch were interviewed by the British Army on June 5, 1945, but both of them failed to disclose that they had participated in the mass murder of Jews, serving under Globocnik. Michalsen was released from captivity during 1948, and he settled in Hamburg, where he worked as an accountant. He was arrested on January 24, 1961, but released. He was arrested again and stood trial. On July 25, 1974, Georg Michalsen was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment by the Regional Court of Hamburg. He died in the early 1990’s.

Richard Thomalla Construction supervisor Born on October 23, 1903, in Sabine-bei-Annahof (today, Sowin in Polish Silesia) in the Falkenberg Distict of Upper Silesia. A builder by profession, he was bi-lingual in German and Polish, and joined the SS on July 1, 1932, and the Nazi Party a month later. On October 5, 1935, Thomalla married Margarete Bruckner. He served his draft in Falkenberg and Oppeln and service in the SS in Wohlau (Wołów) and Breslau (Wrocław) in the present-day south-eastern part of Polish Lower Silesia. His SS Number was 41206, and he was an SSHauptsturmführer, in rank. On September 6, 1940, Thomalla was transferred from Breslau to the Generalgouvernement where he was a member of the SSHilfspolizei (auxiliary police) in the cities Częstochowa and Radom. On August 22, 1940, he was transferred by Friedrich Wilhelm 425

Krüger, the Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer Ost, based in Kraków, to serve under SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik, the SS and Police Leader of the Lublin District. From August–October 1940, Thomalla was a Section Leader of the SS-Border Defense Construction Service (SS-Grenzschutz Baudienst) in Bełżec, on the demarcation line between the Generalgouvernement and Soviet-occupied Galicia (Western Ukraine). His first assignment was the establishment of a construction depot of the Waffen-SS and Police in Zamość, about 40 kilometers north of Bełżec. After the invasion of Russia, Thomalla was also in charge of constructing SS-Strongpoints (SS-Stützpunkte) in the Ukraine with branch offices in Zwiahel and Kiev. He was recalled to Lublin at the end of 1941. He oversaw construction of the Aktion Reinhardt camps at Sobibór and Treblinka; as such, he was the senior SS-officer at each site until the camps became operational. In 1943, he headed Waffen-SS construction offices in Riga, the capital of Nazi-occupied Latvia, and Mogilev in White Russia. Later, during 1943–1944, Thomalla also played a role in the “pacification” operations of the SS and police in the Zamość district. He was last seen in Zamość in June 1944, a few weeks before the entry of the Red Army into the town the following month. He was arrested by the Russians near Jičín, on the Czechoslovakian side of the Czech-Polish border. He was held in a special prison nearby for members of the SS and Nazi Party officials at Karthaus—Walditz (Kartouzy—Vladice). On May 12, 1945, Thomalla was “ordered out of his cell, with all his belongings”. This was a typical order by the Soviet NKVD immediately before the prisoner was executed.1281

Dr. Irmfried Georg Rolf Eberl Commandant: July–August 1942 Born on September 8, 1910, in Bregenz, Vorarlberg district, on the Bodensee (Lake Constance) in Lower Austria. He was the youngest 1281

426

In 1957, at the request of Thomalla's mother, he was officially declared dead by a magistrate's court in Neu-Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, as she had heard nothing from him since 1944.

of three brothers, the offspring of Josef Franz, an engineer, and his wife Josefine. Eberl attended four years of elementary school and the Bregenz Gymnasium (Secondary School) where aged 17 he took his Abitur (final exams on leaving school) on June 15, 1928. He was the youngest in his class. At first, he wanted to study law but later decided on medicine and began his medical studies in 1929. On December 8, 1931, he joined the Nazi Party (Membership No. 687,095) and became the Nazi representative of the students' union. At the same time, he also joined Motorsturm 1 and SA-Sturm 14. In February 1935, aged 24, Eberl received his license to practice medicine, and from February 20–May 27, 1935, he was employed in the 2nd Medical Section of the Rudolf Foundation Hospital (Krankenanstalt Rudolfstiftung) in Vienna, and then from May 28, 1935–March 8, 1936, at the Sanatorium for Lung Diseases (Lungenheilanstalt) in Grimmenstein, Lower Austria. After the assassination of Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss by the Nazis in 1934, the Nazi Party and all its organizations were banned in Austria, and Eberl's illegal Nazi activities resulted in the withdrawal of his medical license in 1936. Now unemployed and without a future in Austria, and crossed the border into Germany as political refugee No. 13,943. For a month in April 1936, he was employed at the renowned Institute of German Hygiene (Deutsches Hygiene Institut) in Dresden. The following month, he was the head of the Office for Social Welfare (Amt für Volkswohlfahrt) in Dessau near Magdeburg. He subsequently served at the Main Health Office (Hauptgesundheitsamt) in Berlin. In January 1940, he was recruited by the Charitable Foundation for Institutional Care (Gemeinnützige Stiftung für Anstaltspflege), the cover name of the organization and ran the Nazi euthanasia operation under the code designation “T4”. He was among the group of Nazi dignitaries and doctors who witnessed the first gassing experiment in mid-January 1940 at an abandoned prison in Brandenburg-an-der-Havel, 30 kilometers west of Berlin. The dignitaries included Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler, head of the Führer's Chancellery, and Dr. Karl Brandt, Hitler's escorting

427

physician (Begleitarzt). SS-Obersturmführer Christian Wirth was also included in the group. From February 1940, Eberl was appointed medical director of the “T4” euthanasia institution in Brandenburg prison, and when that institution ceased functioning at the end of 1940, he became medical director of the “T4” gassing center established in a part of the mental asylum in Bernburg-an-der-Saale, near Dessau. From January 1942, Eberl spent several weeks on the Eastern Front with other “T4” personnel, ostensibly ferrying wounded troops from the frontline in the Minsk area to reserve military hospitals in the rear. This duty was carried out in the uniform of the Organisation Todt (OT), the Nazi construction brigades led by Fritz Todt.1282 Upon his return to Germany in the spring of 1942, Eberl was sent briefly to the Sobibór death camp which was then under construction. Towards the end of June, he was appointed the first Commandant of Treblinka death camp, but within a little over a month it became obvious that he was not equal to the task. In the euthanasia institutions he had dealt with the gassing of around 100 patients a day; in Treblinka he was confronted with the gassing of at least 5,000 people a day. Chaos ensued and he was soon relieved of his post by SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik and SS-Obersturmführer Wirth sometime towards the end of August 1942. Eberl's wife Ruth, also a medical practitioner, knew on August 24 that her husband's tenure at Treblinka had come to an end. Her letter dated the same day began with the words: “With this, finally the end of your work in Treblinka.” (Hiermit, endlich das Ende deiner Arbeit in Treblinka). He was replaced by Franz Stangl who was transferred from Sobibór which was temporarily out of action because repair work on the single-track main railroad rendered the delivery of transports impossible. 1282

428

It only came to light during the trials of euthanasia personnel in West Germany in the 1960s that some “T4” personnel on the Russian Front had administered euthanasia to severely wounded German troops. At least one “T4” unit had served right at the frontline where they administered lethal injections to troops who were brain damaged, mutilated or blinded, and “not worth evacuating to the rear”. This explains why they undertook this duty in the uniform of the Organisation Todt instead of under the protection of the German Red Cross.

Eberl returned to the Bernburg institution for a short time, then according to the witness Fritz Bleich, who worked for “T4”, in a statement before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremburg, he stated that Dr. Eberl, along with other doctors—Georg Renno and Horst Schumann—went to Auschwitz Concentration Camp for about 6 months from October 1943, to carry out medical experiments on camp inmates. After that Eberl served in the German Army. At the beginning of April 1945, he was taken prisoner by American troops and interned in Luxemburg before being transferred to a POW camp in Dietersheim on the river Rhine, close to the French border with Germany. After working in the TB department in the camp, he was released in July 1945. After the end of the War he settled in Blaubeuren near Ulm, in the Alb-Donau district of Württemberg. He was arrested again in 1947 and held in the remand prison in Ulm while an investigation was carried out into his activities in Aktion T4. At that time, his tenure as Commandant at Treblinka was not known. On February 16, 1948, Dr. Irmfried Eberl committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell.

Christian Wirth Inspector of the Aktion Reinhardt SS-Sonderkommandos Born on November 24, 1885, in Oberbalzheim, a small village in the Upper Swabian part of Württemberg in south-west Germany. After completing elementary education at the age of 14, he was employed as an apprentice carpenter with the Bühler brother's timber firm in Oberbalzheim. From 1905–1907 he served his two years draft with the Grenadier Regiment 123 in Ulm, and after a short break, reenlisted for another two years as an army instructor. After honorable discharge from the army in 1910, Wirth joined the Württemberg State Police as a uniformed constable in Heilbronn, and the same year married Maria Bantel with whom he had two sons. The first was Eugen, born on May 22, 1911, and Kurt who was born on September 22, 1922. In 1913, Wirth transferred to

429

the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo), the plain-clothes detective squads at their headquarters on Büchsenstraße near the city center in Stuttgart. In October 1914, two months after the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered to serve in the army of Kaiser Wilhelm II and saw action on the Western Front in Flanders and northern France in the ranks of Reserve Infantry Regiment 246. He received a field promotion to acting officer (Offiziersstellvertreter) and was awarded several medals and decorations for bravery, including the Iron Cross I and II Class and the Gold Württemberg Military Service Medal. At the end of 1917, Wirth was transferred back to Stuttgart as an officer in the Military Police (Militärpolizei) guarding a supply depot for Reserve Infantry Regiment 119. During this duty he won high praise for defending the depot against the Spartakists, the forerunners of the German Communist Party, who attempted to raid the depot for weapons and ammunition. Wirth rejoined the Kripo in 1919 and by 1923 was the head of Precinct II (Dienststelle II) on Büchsenstraße in Stuttgart. He earned a reputation for solving difficult crimes that had defeated other officers, often by using brutal methods of interrogation. His “dedication and zealous methods finally led to questions being asked about him in the Württemberg Regional Parliament (Landtag).” In 1937, Wirth was the head or Deputy Head of all police and Party organizations, not only in Stuttgart, but the whole of Württemberg, which resulted in his recruitment by Reinhard Heydrich's Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst—SD) as a V-Mann (Vertrauensmann), a confidential agent spying and informing on his Party and police comrades. By 1939, Wirth had reached the rank of Kriminalinspektor, in charge of Kommissariat 5, a special detective squad for investigating serious crimes, including murder. Wirth then carried out special police duties in Vienna and in Olmütz (Olomouc), Czechoslovakia. In the spring of 1939, a special remark was inserted into his personal file: “At the disposal of the Führer” (z. V. Führer). He had been earmarked for future “special tasks”. In the autumn of 1939, Wirth began the first “special task” as founder member of the euthanasia planning team in Hitler's private 430

Chancellery. His well-known reputation for “meticulous administration and organization” was put to use in setting up the bureaucracy. In mid-January he was among a group of highranking Nazi officials who witnessed the first test gassing of psychiatric patients in the abandoned prison in Brandenburg-ander-Havel. Among this group were Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler, head of Hitler's private Chancellery, Dr. Karl Brandt, Hitler's escorting physician (Begleitarzt), Dr. Leonardo Conti, Secretary of State for Health, and SS-Standartenführer Viktor Brack, chief of Head Office II (Hauptamt II) in Hitler's private Chancellery. Brack was soon to be in charge of the daily running of the euthanasia operation under the code designation “T4”, named after its headquarters in a villa at Tiergartenstraße 4 in BerlinCharlottenburg. His SS Number was 345464. At the beginning of February 1940, Wirth arrived at the first “T4” euthanasia institution established in Grafeneck castle in the Swabian Alb, 60 kilometers south of Stuttgart, in charge of administration and security. In May 1940, Wirth was appointed “roving inspector” of the euthanasia institutions to tighten-up discipline among the staff which had deteriorated alarmingly, improve security, and streamline the killing process and ensuing paperwork was completed. He spent much of his time in the euthanasia institution in Hartheim castle, near Linz in Upper Austria. It was here that he encountered the police officer Franz Stangl, the future Commandant of the Aktion Reinhardt death camps at Sobibór and Treblinka. At Hartheim castle, Stangl was in charge of administration and security, and his first meeting with Wirth made a profound impression on him: Wirth was a gross and florid man. My heart sank when I met him. He stayed at Hartheim for several days that time and often came back. Whenever he was there he addressed us daily at lunch. And here it was again this awful verbal crudity: when he spoke about the necessity for this euthanasia operation, he was not speaking in humane or scientific terms

431

(...) he laughed. He spoke of “doing away with useless mouths and that sentimental slobber about such people made him puke.”1283

Just before Christmas 1941, Wirth arrived in Bełżec where the first Aktion Reinhardt death camp was under construction, and in the New Year returned to the “T4” euthanasia institution at Bernburg to select the first group of 15 men to staff the camp. Between mid-January and the beginning of March 1942, he experimented with different methods of gassing, including—in the early days—using the exhaust fumes from a Post Office parcel delivery van converted into a mobile gas chamber. He also tried pumping the exhaust fumes from army trucks into three primitive gas chambers, before trying Zyklon B—a pesticide issued to all German military units in the field, and bottled carbon monoxide (CO) gas. This was the method used in the “T4” euthanasia institutions. He finally decided that CO gas produced from engines was the most efficient and had a Russian tank engine brought from a depot of captured Russian vehicles in Lemberg (today, Lvov in the Ukraine). This method was then applied in the other two Aktion Reinhardt death camps Sobibór and Treblinka. In time, he also perfected the “conveyor-belt” method of mass murder, in which the Jews themselves carried out most of the tasks in the extermination process, working permanently at specific points to ensure its smooth continuity. This method, too, was also adopted at Sobibór and Treblinka. Wirth ran the Bełżec death camp with a rod of iron, feared not only by the Jews, but also by his own staff, Germans and Ukrainians alike. After ensuring that Bełżec was operating efficiently, on August 1, 1942, SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik appointed Wirth to the post of Inspector of the three SS-Sonderkommandos operating at Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka (Inspekteur der SS-Sonderkommando Aktion Reinhardt), with his office at first in the Julius Schreck Kaserne, the headquarters of Aktion Reinhardt in Lublin. At the end of the year, Wirth's Inspectorate was moved to a building on the Old Airfield 1283

432

Sereny, Into That Darkness …, op. cit., p. 54.

just outside Lublin and close to Lublin concentration camp (Majdanek). From mid-August 1942, Wirth played a leading role in the reorganization of Treblinka, including the construction of the new gas chambers, and thereafter visited the camp frequently. He was promoted to the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer on January 30, 1943. On September 20, 1943, Globocnik, Wirth, Stangl and several Ukrainian guards from the Aktion Reinhardt death camps, were transferred to Trieste in northern Italy where Globocnik had been appointed the Higher SS and Police Leader for the Adriatic Coastal Region. Wirth was given command of three special units formed from former Aktion Reinhardt personnel, including many of the Ukrainian guards, most of who had arrived in Trieste by the end of the year. Based in the buildings of an old rice-husking factory in the San Sabba suburb of Trieste, their task was rounding-up and deporting the remaining Italian Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and confiscating their property. Under the code designation Einsatz R (“Operation R”) these tasks were merely an extension of Aktion Reinhardt, albeit on a far smaller scale. Wirth, however, turned the San Sabba factory into an interrogation center and mini-death camp for Jews and captured Italian and Yugoslav partisans. Executions were carried out by shooting, hanging or beating to death with a mallet. For a time, a gassing van was also used. Erwin Lambert, who had constructed the gas chambers at the “T4” euthanasia institutions, supervised the construction of the new and bigger gas chambers at Treblinka and Sobibór, converted a basement heating furnace into a crematorium to dispose of the bodies of the victims. The charred and burnt human bones and ashes were dumped into the Adriatic from a boat or a jetty in the harbor. By the spring of 1944, Globocnik was aware that Germany could lose the War and became concerned about the mass murders in Poland and Italy, for which he was ultimately responsible. He therefore forbade Wirth to carry out any more killing of prisoners in San Sabba. Wirth's special units were switched instead to antipartisan duty on the Istrian peninsula where they committed 433

atrocities against the Yugoslav and Italian population under the guise of “pacification operations”. Christian Wirth was ambushed and killed by Yugoslav partisans of the First Battalion of the Istrska (Istrian) Division on May 26, 1944, near Kozina, just outside Trieste. He was on his way by car to inspect one of his SS-units in Fiume (today, Rijeka in Croatia) on the other side of the peninsula. Wirth was buried with full military honors in the German Military Cemetery in the small village of Opicina, up on the Karst above Trieste. During the late 1950s–early 1960s, the remains of all German war dead in Italy were exhumed from their widely-scattered graves and reinterred in a new and big German Military Cemetery at Costermano, on the south-eastern shore of Lake Garda, near Verona in northern Italy. For many years, the presence of Wirth's grave at Costermano has been a matter of bitter dispute, although his SS-rank has been erased from his gravestone and his name removed from the Roll of Honor in the Propyleum.

Franz Paul Stangl Commandant: August 1942–August 1943 Born on March 26, 1908, in Altmünster, a market town on the western shore of the Traunsee, near Gmunden in Upper Austria. Although his father was already advanced in years and his mother was still a young woman, they had one other child, a daughter. In 1916, when Franz was eight years old, his father died of malnutrition. A year later, his mother married a widower and Franz gained two step-brothers. After leaving school aged 15, Franz became an apprentice in the weaving trade and three years later qualified as a master weaver, the youngest in Austria. Five years later, in 1931, he realized his job held no further prospects and he applied to join the Federal Austrian Police. After acceptance and a year's training at the police school in Linz and a probationary period, he served in the Traffic Division and then with the Riot Squad. He recalled his tough training with some bitterness and that his colleagues were “a 434

sadistic lot, who were indoctrinated with the feeling that everyone was against them, that all men were rotten”.1284 In 1935, he was transferred to the political division of the criminal investigation department in Wels, the biggest city in Upper Austria, not far from Linz. Franz Stangl married Theresa Eidenbock, during October 1935, in Wels. They had three girls between the years 1936 and 1944. Brigitte, the eldest, was born in 1936, Renate in 1937, and Isolde in 1944. A year later he joined the Nazi Party which had been banned in Austria since the assassination of Chancellor Dolfuss by the Nazis in 1934. After the Nazi annexation of Austria in March 1938, Stangl's department was absorbed into the Gestapo, and the Wels police department transferred to Linz. Stangl was promoted to the rank of Kriminal-Oberassistent, under the supervision of Georg Prohaska, a Bavarian police officer. The two officers took an immediate dislike to one another. Stangl also held the equivalent rank of Polizei-Oberleutnant in the uniformed police, the Schutzpolizei (Schupo) and, like Wirth, he was also a member of Heydrich's Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst—SD). His SS Number was 296569. On November 3, 1940, Stangl was recruited into the “T4” euthanasia program and posted to Schloss Hartheim near Linz as Deputy Head of administration and in charge of security. Later, he carried out the same task at the Bernburg euthanasia institution where Dr. Eberl was the medical director. In the early spring of 1942, Stangl was ordered to report to SSBrigadeführer Odilo Globocnik in Lublin who appointed him the first Commandant of the new Aktion Reinhardt camp at Sobibór on the River Bug in eastern Poland. The camp began its mass murder operations a few weeks later, in May 1942, although a few transports are known to have arrived at the end of April whose occupants were used to test the gas chambers. In Sobibór, Stangl made use of his skill as a weaver to sew himself the famous white linen uniform which later gave him the nickname “White Death”. Sobibór was surrounded by swamps and 1284

Ibid., p. 28.

435

in the heat of summer the area was plagued by all kinds of insects, especially mosquitoes, and Stangl claimed that because of this he preferred to wear this uniform. Sometime between mid-August 1942 and the end of the month, Stangl was transferred from Sobibór to Treblinka to take over command of the death camp from Dr. Eberl who had created chaos in the camp. In Treblinka, Stangl had very little contact with the victims he sent to their deaths, or the Jewish prisoners employed in the camp. He was seen only on rare occasions, in summer wearing the distinctive white tunic. Through Stangl's flair for organization and his dedication in running the death camp, he earned an official commendation as the “best Camp Commandant in Poland”. Just prior to the revolt in Treblinka, Stangl was attacked by partisans on July 30, 1943, in his car, on an official journey between the Sobibór death camp and Chełm, according to a KdO Lublin report dated July 31, 1943. Soon after the camp revolt on August 2, 1943, Stangl was expecting to be summoned to face a court martial because of the revolt. Instead, he was posted to Trieste in northern Italy where he spent a short time at San Sabba. He did not face a court martial because no SS-men had been killed during the revolt and he was therefore not obliged to submit a report to Berlin. In Italy, Stangl was appointed as the Commander of special SS and Police units in Fiume (today, Rijeka in Croatia) and Udine, with the task of rounding-up Jews, confiscating their property and shipping them back to San Sabba. Later, he was engaged in construction projects, defending the Po Valley against the Allied advance from the south. At the end of the War, Stangl fled over the border to Austria where he was interned by US forces because of his SS membership. From the late summer of 1947 he was imprisoned in Linz, accused of having participated in the gassing of mentally ill patients at Hartheim. In May 1948, he escaped and made his way to Rome where he received help from the Austrian Bishop Alois Hudal, who arranged for a Red Cross passport and money for Stangl to flee to Syria. In Damascus, he found employment in a textile factory; his wife and 436

family joined him soon afterwards. He was later employed by the Imperial Knitting Company, and in 1951, he emigrated with his family to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he worked in the Volkswagen factory. It was not until the mid-1960's, that the Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal in Vienna learned of Stangl's whereabouts. For a total of $7,000—one cent for every Jew killed—an informer agreed to divulge Stangl's address. He was arrested by the Brazilian authorities, and in 1967 extradited to West Germany. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1970 by a court in Düsseldorf. He died a year later in prison, on June 28, 1971.

Kurt Hubert Franz Deputy Commandant: August 1942–August 1943 Commandant August–November 1943 Born on January 17, 1914, in Düsseldorf where he attended elementary school from 1920–1928. After leaving school he trained first as a master butcher and then as a restaurant chef in the Hirschquelle restaurant, and then in the Wittelsbacher Hofhotel in Düsseldorf. He did not take the final qualifying examination. From 1935–1937, Franz served his draft, and upon honorable discharge in October 1937 he joined the Waffen-SS, serving for two years in the 6th Battalion of SS-Totenkopfstandarte (SS-Death's Head Regiment) Thüringen, based at Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar. His SS Number was 316909. In November 1939, Franz and a group of 10 other SS-NCOs from the Death's Head Division were summoned to the Führer's Chancellery on Voßstraße in Berlin. They were seconded to the “Charitable Foundation for Institutional Care”, the camouflage organization that managed the “T4” euthanasia program in the Reich. Franz was assigned as cook in four of the six euthanasia institutions, at Grafeneck, Brandenburg, Hartheim and Sonnenstein. In March 1942, Franz was ordered to report to SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik in Lublin, and was then posted to the Bełżec death camp. In Bełżec, Franz was initially employed as the garrison cook, 437

but within a short time Commandant Wirth assigned him to train the Ukrainian guard unit. On April 20, 1942, on the occasion of the Führer's 53rd birthday, Franz was promoted to the rank of SSOberscharführer. Between August 19–21, Wirth ordered Franz to the Treblinka death camp as Deputy Camp Commandant,1285 where once again he supervised a company of Ukrainian guards. Franz's physical appearance—tall, handsome, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and a round, almost baby-face—led to him being nicknamed by the prisoners Lalka, the Polish word for “doll”. However, beneath the good looks there lurked an evil personality and his constant sadistic treatment of the Jews in Treblinka quickly made him feared as the murderous and cruelest of all the SS in the camp. On his daily rounds, Franz was accompanied by Barry, a Saint Bernhard cross, trained by Franz to attack and maim prisoners on his master's command. Barry came to Treblinka from the Sobibór death camp and it is possible that Stangl brought him with him when he was transferred to Treblinka. Kurt Franz and Barry are mentioned frequently in statements by Treblinka survivors, and both were feared for their proclivity to inflict pain and injury. During the spring of 1943, Franz was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer. After the revolt on August 2, 1943, Franz was made responsible for the liquidation of the death camp which lasted from August 27– November 1943.1286 After the final demolition of Treblinka, Franz was in Sobibór for a short time, and then assigned to Trieste and Goriza in northern Italy, where he was the head of a Home Guard (Landesschutz) school. 1285

1286

438

During his trial before a Düsseldorf court, Franz claimed that he did not arrive in Treblinka until October 31, thereby attempting to absolve himself from any liability for events in the camp during the nine-week period between August 1942 and the end of October 1942. During this liquidation period Franz made the mistake of signing a document on which he stated he was the Commandant. This played an important part of the prosecution case against him. Franz, however, admitted during his trial in Düsseldorf that this was an “error” on his part, he merely wanted to make himself look more important than he really was.

In May 1945, Franz was arrested in Austria by the Americans, but escaped to Germany, where he was re-arrested, again by the Americans, but later released. His duty in the “T4” euthanasia program and Aktion Reinhardt were not known at the time. He returned to Düsseldorf where he was employed as a construction worker before returning to his pre-war profession as a restaurant chef. He was arrested in his home in December 1959 on suspicion of being involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity at Treblinka. The main defendant at the First Treblinka Trial in Düsseldorf during 1964–1965, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on September 3, 1965, for “participation in at least 900,000 murders”. He was released through ill health in 1993, after having served 28 years of his sentence. Kurt Franz died in an old people's home in Wuppertal, a few kilometers east of Düsseldorf in North Rhine-Westphalia, on July 4, 1998. He was 84 years old.

Ernst Schemmel Acting Commandant Late September–Early October 1942 Born on September 11, 1883, in Kirchhain, north Saxony. A career police officer, he was a member of the Kriminalpolizei (“Kripo”), the plain clothes detective squads. Commandeered to “T4”, he was employed as head of administration at the Pirna-Sonnenstein and Hartheim euthanasia institutions. He was transferred in early 1942 to the Bełżec death camp in the administration office and then for a short time, late September–early October, as acting Commandant at Treblinka. He died in Dresden on December 10, 1943, while home on leave, aged 60.

Members of the SS-garrison ARNDT, Kurt. Born 1912, or 1914, in Königsberg. He belonged to a police detachment. Served at the “T4” Hadamar euthanasia institution. According to Kurt Franz, in Treblinka, Arndt's main 439

duties were in the Upper Camp. He served in Treblinka from May / June 1942, until 1943. Later served in Trieste, no other details are known. BAER, Rudolf. Born on March 28, 1906, in Leipzig. Employed as a carpenter in Halle-an-der-Saale in Saxony-Anhalt, then served in “T4” as a cook at the euthanasia center in Bernburg-an-derSaale. He served in Bełżec from September 1942, until the spring of 1943, after serving in Treblinka. In Treblinka, he was employed for a few weeks as a book–keeper in the camp administration office until he was replaced by Willi Mätzig, when Stangl became Commandant. In May 1945, he was interned in a POW camp near Kirchbach in Kärnten (Carinthia), Austria. He escaped and has never been traced. BIELA, Max. Born on August 5, 1905, in Leschen, Calau district in southern Brandenburg Province. A farm laborer in civilian life, he joined the SS and served with the SS-Totenkopfverband (SSDeath's Head) Brandenburg Regiment in Sachsenhausen concentration camp from January 27, 1940, with the rank of SSRottenführer. His SS Number was 37401. Commandeered to “T4” as guard at the euthanasia institutions in Brandenburg and Bernburg, he was posted to the Treblinka death camp in the summer of 1942 as Deputy to Commandant Irmfried Eberl. He was fatally injured in the camp on September 11, 1942 when attacked and stabbed by the Jewish prisoner Meier Berliner. Biela died of his wounds in the Reserve Military hospital in Ostrów Mazowiecka. The Ukrainian barracks in the Lower Camp were named the “Max Biela Kaserne” in his honor. BÖLITZ, Willi. Born during 1909, in Berlin-Lichterfelde. Willi Bölitz belonged to a police detachment and after recruitment to “T4”, he served in the laundry room at the euthanasia institutions in Grafeneck and Hadamar. In Treblinka, he served mainly in the Upper Camp. Together with Adolf Gentz he supervised part of the “Blue” Work Brigade that received transports on the Ramp, and then checked the wagons to ensure that no one remained inside. Treblinka survivor Richard Glazar described Bölitz in his book Trap with a Green Fence: 440

Bölitz is quite another type, made of more solid stuff. He is a strong, lean, young man. It's not just that his hair is cut short, shaved high in the back (in the Prussian military style), but gave the impression that the sun has bleached the eyebrows and lashes blond, on his oval, rosy pink face.1287

After the liquidation of Treblinka, Bölitz served in Udine, Italy. He disappeared after the War. BOOTZ, Helmuth. Born on June 25, 1907, in Stettin, on the Baltic coast of Pomerania.1288 After attending elementary school he was employed as a security guard for the General Electricity Company (Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft—AEG). A member of the Nazi Party and SS since 1933, Bootz was recruited to “T4” in the autumn of 1939. Employed first at the Grafeneck euthanasia institution as a guard, and then in the post room at Bernburg from late October until the spring of 1942, when he was ordered to Treblinka. He was released from his duties in the camp by SS-Obersturmführer Christian Wirth due to chronic ill health. His subsequent fate is unknown. BOROWSKI, Werner. Born on October 23, 1913, in Sprottau (Sprottischdorf) in the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia.1289 Served at the Bernburg euthanasia center as head of the economics office. Posted to the Bełżec death camp in early 1942, and then to Treblinka death camp. Because he fell victim to the typhus epidemic in the camp, after recovering, he was sent back to Bernburg. He joined the Luftwaffe and was reported “missing in action, presumed killed”. BREDOW, Paul. Born on October 31, 1903, in Güttland, a village within the county of Danzig.1290 A male psychiatric nurse, he was recruited by “T4” and served at the Grafeneck and

1287 1288

1289

1290

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., pp. 51–52. After the War, Stettin reverted to its Polish name, Szczecin, and was incorporated into the Polish West Pomeranian Province. Today, Szprotowa in Żagan county, Lubuskie Province in south-western Poland. After 1944, Güttland came within the Polish Western Pomeranian Province and was renamed Kożliny.

441

Hartheim euthanasia institutions. In the spring of 1942, he was posted to the Sobibór death camp with Stangl and others. In charge of the Lazarett, the execution pit for those unable to proceed through the extermination process unaided, he behaved there with particular cruelty. Transferred in the spring of 1943 to Treblinka, where he was in charge of Sorting Barracks “A”, the clothing barracks. After the liquidation of Treblinka, he was transferred to Trieste in northern Italy. From the end of the War until November 1945, Bredow worked as a carpenter in Giessen, Hesse, together with Karl Frenzel, an “old comrade” from Sobibór. In December 1945, he was killed in an accident in Göttingen, Lower Saxony. BREE, Max. Born during 1914, in the Lubben/Spreewald district of Lower Lusatia in the Province of Brandenburg. Due to his relatively late arrival in Treblinka, little is known about him, other than he supervised the Ukrainian guards as well as the Jewish workers in the sorting barracks. Transferred from Treblinka to Sobibór at the beginning of June 1943, he was killed during the revolt on October 14 the same year. He was buried with full military honors in the German Military Cemetery in Chełm. His remains were exhumed and re-buried at the German Military Cemetery in Puławy, Poland. BRUCKNER, Bruno. Born during 1902, in Linz. Served at the Hartheim “T4” instiute in Austria. Served in Treblinka between August 1942, and September 1942. He survived the War and returned to Austria. EISOLD, Johannes. Born on November 13, 1907, in Königsstein. Served at the “T4” euthanasia institution in Pirna–Sonnenstein. He later worked for the Wollenweber construction firm in Berlin, which hired out one of its excavators to Treblinka, where Eisold was the driver in the Upper Camp. After the liquidation of Treblinka he was posted to Trieste, Italy. Nothing is known about his post-war fate. FELFE, Hermann. Born on January 4, 1902, in Jankwitz. A bricklayer by profession and a member of the Nazi Party. 442

Recruited by “T4”, he was employed as a male nurse at the Grafeneck and Pirna-Sonnenstein euthanasia institutions. In Treblinka, Felfe constructed the first water tower in the Lower Camp. According to his SS comrades Mentz and Matthes, Felfe was a guard but only during the initial stages of the camp's existence. He was arrested in 1945 by the NKVD, Stalin's secret police, and sentenced to death in the Dresden Doctors' Trial against Professor Hermann Nitsche, one of the leading figures in “T4”, and others. Felfe was sentenced to death on July 7, 1947, but committed suicide in the remand prison on October 15, 1947. FLORIAN, Alfred. According to the testimony of his SS comrades Matthes and Rum, Florian was only at Treblinka for a short while, during the initial phase of the camp's existence. Described as being about 40-years-old, hefty build, heavy-faced and blond. What became of him is not known. FLOSS, Erich Herbert. Born on August 25, 1912, in Reinholdshain, a small town in the Osterzgebirge Mountains of Saxon Switzerland (Saxony). He attended extended elementary school, after which he trained in textile dyeing, but was unsuccessful in finding permanent employment in the trade. He consequently worked in several other jobs. From April 1, 1935 he served in the 2 Totenkopfsturmbann Elbe at Lichtenburg concentration camp near Torgau in Saxony-Anhalt, one of the first concentration camps established by the Nazis. From 1937, the SS unit Elbe was transferred to Dachau as part of the SS-Death's Head Regiment Oberbayern. His SS Number was 281582. Commandeered by “T4”, Floss served at the Bernburg euthanasia institution. He was to make a name for himself as the Aktion Reinhardt cremation expert at the Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka death camps during 1942–1943. At Treblinka, the Jews nicknamed him Tadellos, a German word that can be translated as “perfect”, “excellent”, “splendid”, etc., because it was his favorite word when surveying his handiwork at the cremation pyres. Jankiel Wiernik wrote about him:

443

Then, one day, an Oberscharführer wearing an SS-badge arrived at the camp and introduced a veritable inferno. He was about 45years-old, of medium height, with a perpetual smile on his face. (...) His face looked kind and did not show the depraved soul behind it. He got pure pleasure watching the corpses burn; the sight of the flames licking at the bodies was precious to him, and he would literally caress the scene with his eyes.1291

A week after the revolt in Sobibór death camp on October 14, 1943, Floss escorted a group of Ukrainian guards by train back to the Trawniki training camp. During a stop at Zawadówka railway station, near Chełm, he was overpowered by the guards and shot with his own sub-machine gun, by Wasil Hetmaniec. FORKER, Alfred. Born on July 31, 1904, in Sachsen. Employed as a male nurse at the “T4” euthanasia institution at PirnaSonnenstein. In Treblinka, he was a guard in the sorting yard and in the Upper Camp. Described in the testimony of his colleague, SS-Unterscharführer Otto Horn, as being “small, with a tapering peaky face and dark blond hair”. Forker also served at Sobibór death camp, and when Sobibór was liquidated he was posted to Italy. His subsequent fate is not known. FUCHS, Erich. Born on April 9, 1902, in Berlin. After elementary education he trained to become a skilled motor mechanic and foreman responsible for vehicle repair and maintenance in a vehicle repair workshop in Berlin. He was later employed as a professional chauffeur by the directors of the Jewish-owned Ullstein Press on Berlin's Kochstraße. When the publishing firm was “Aryanized” by the Nazis, it’s new owners forced him to join the SA and the Nazi Party. He was drafted into “T4” and worked as Dr. Eberl's driver in the euthanasia institutions at Brandenburg and Bernburg. On one occasion, he watched the gassing of 50 mental patients as “an interested spectator”. At the beginning of January 1942, Fuchs was among the group of Bernburg personnel selected by SS-Obersturmführer Christian Wirth to staff the Bełżec death camp. At the camp, Fuchs installed the shower heads on the ceiling of the gas chambers to 1291

444

J. Wiernik, “A Year in Treblinka”, in: Donat, The Death Camp …, op. cit., p. 170.

disguise them as shower rooms. He was then employed as a truck driver in the SS-garage, transporting building material to the death camp site. In April 1942, he collected a Russian watercooled petrol engine from Lemberg (today Lvov in the Ukraine) which was to produce the lethal gas for exterminating the Jews at Sobibór. Together with Erich Bauer, he installed the engine and tested it during a trial gassing of Jews. Erich Fuchs was then posted to Treblinka to assist with the installation of an engine in the gas chamber building as a generator for the camp: Subsequently I went to Treblinka. In this extermination camp I installed a generator which supplied electric light for the barracks. The work in Treblinka took me about three to four busy months. During my stay there transports of Jews who were gassed were coming in daily.1292

In December 1942 Fuchs managed to arrange his release from “T4” and from early 1943 he worked for a German oil company, the “Ostland’ Oil Distribution Company” (Ostland—Öl-Vertriebsgesellschaft) in Riga, the capital of Latvia, which since 1941 had been under German occupation. In February 1945, he was conscripted into the Waffen-SS, where he served in a tank transport unit. In March 1945, he was wounded during a bombing raid and taken prisoner first by the Russians, and then by the Americans in Western Germany. After his release, he was employed by the British Army as a driver/mechanic in the former SS-barracks of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, until his release in 1946. Fuchs worked at a number of jobs, as an assistant laborer, a locksmith and finally as a truck inspector in the Technical Inspection Association (Technischer Überwachungsverein—TÜV), in Koblenz, until his arrest on April 8, 1963. On December 20, 1966, the Assize Court in Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, sentenced him to four years imprisonment for being an accessory in the murder of at least 79,000 people. He died in Koblenz on July 25, 1980, aged 78. GENTZ, Adolf. Born circa 1912, in Mark Brandenburg. Worked on the Ramp at Treblinka. Richard Glazar recalled about him:

1292

Arad, Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka ..., op. cit., p. 43.

445

If I imagine Gentz without the SS-uniform, he could be a nice bright young man. I imagine him tossing his school bag into some corner and putting the field cap on his straight, bright red hair, buttoning his uniform jacket, grinning at the reflection in the mirror of the youthful freckled face with the strawberry blond eyebrows, and thinking, “This is gonna be fun.” And when he got to Treblinka, and everyone around him eyed him with awe, then he told himself, “Well, whadda ya know, this is fun.”1293

After the liquidation of Treblinka, Gentz was posted to the Sobibór death camp and assisted with the liquidation of that death camp in the autumn of 1943. He served in Udine, Italy. GRAETSCHUS, Siegfried. Born on June 9, 1916, in Tilsit, East Prussia. After extended elementary education, he became a farmer and a member of the NSDAP from 1936. He served at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, as confirmed by the War Crimes Group in 1947. Graetschus was posted to Bełżec and was involved in the early gassing experiments, including the conversion of a Post Office parcel van into a gas-van. Graetschus was transferred to Treblinka in May 1942 until August 1942, when he was posted to Sobibór, where he commanded the Ukrainian guards. He replaced Erich Lachmann in this role. He was killed during the prisoner revolt on October 14, 1943, by Jehuda Lerner, in the Shoemakers shop. GROSMANN, Willy. Born on January 26, 1901, in Lichtenberg, Saxony. A member of the Nazi Party, he was employed as a male nurse in the institution in Hubertusburg, a former palace in the village of Wermsdorf, Saxony, which since 1911 had been used as a psychiatric hospital. In the summer of 1940 he was drafted into the police in Dresden, and subsequently sent to the “T4” euthanasia institution at Pirna-Sonnenstein as a member of the police guard unit. He also served at the “T4” institution at Hadamar in Hesse. In the winter of 1941–1942, Grossmann and other members of “T4” served in the Smolensk area of the

1293

446

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 51.

Russian Front ferrying wounded troops to reserve military hospitals in the rear. This duty was performed in the uniform of the Organisation Todt, the Nazi construction brigades. In the spring of 1942, this duty ended and the “T4” personnel returned to Germany. Grossmann returned to Pirna-Sonnenstein for a brief time. From there he was posted to the Trawniki SS training camp and then to Treblinka where he stayed until the camp was liquidated in autumn 1943. According to Kurt Franz, Grossmann was employed in both the Upper and Lower Camps and also on the Ramp. After Treblinka was dismantled he was sent back to Berlin and in December 1943 posted to Trieste in northern Italy. He also served in Tolmezzo, Udine Province, Italy, guarding an ammunition dump. Grossmann was never brought to trial because of ill health. HACKENHOLT, Lorenz Maria. Born on June 25, 1914, in the coal mining area of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, in the northern part of the Ruhr. After attending the local elementary school until the age of 14, he became an apprentice bricklayer and on passing the trade examinations worked on various building sites. In 1934 he joined the 2 Totenkopfstandarte (Death's Head Regiment) Brandenburg stationed at Oranienburg, north of Berlin. His SS Number was 84133. In March 1938, he was transferred to the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp where he was employed in the motor pool and as a driver for the camp Kommandantur and personnel. In November 1939, he was one of a group of 10 SS-NCOs summoned to the Führer's Chancellery on Voßstraße in Berlin.1294 During a meeting with SS-Standartenführer/Oberdienstleiter Viktor Brack, the head of Main Office II (Hauptamt II) of the Führer's Chancellery, they were informed of the euthanasia program and their roles within its ranks, mainly as bus drivers conveying the patients and as corpse incinerators. This duty was

1294

The other SS-NCOs were Josef Oberhauser, Siegfried Graetschus and Werner Dubois, also from Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Kurt Franz, Fritz Jirmann and Erich Hubert Floss from Buchenwald, and Johann Niemann and Gottfried Schwarz from Dachau.

447

to be performed in civilian clothes. After the SS-NCO's were sworn to secrecy, civilian clothes were bought for them and Hackenholt drove them in a bus to Grafeneck castle in the Swabian mountains, south of Stuttgart. From the beginning of 1940 when Grafeneck became operational until the summer of 1941 when the gassings were temporarily halted on Hitler's orders, Lorenz Hackenholt served in all six “T4” euthanasia institutions, both as a bus driver and as a so-called “disinfector/burner,” unloading the corpses from the gas chambers and incinerating them. After the temporary halt in the “T4” gassings, Hackenholt, together with a small group of SSNCO's from “T4”, was transferred in the autumn of 1941 to serve under SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik, the SS- and Police Leader of the Lublin District in the Generalgouvernement. Hackenholt was assigned to Bełżec, a remote village in the far south-eastern corner of the Lublin District, on the main road and railroad between Lublin and Lemberg (Lvov). Here, on the outskirts of the village, the first Aktion Reinhardt death camp was under construction. When the camp became operational on March 17, 1942, Hackenholt became the supervising mechanic who started the Russian tank engine which pumped its lethal exhaust fumes into three primitive gas chambers in a wooden shed He rapidly became the gassing expert of Aktion Reinhardt, and a few months later designed and supervised the construction of a new and bigger gassing building with six chambers. It was named the “Hackenholt Foundation” (Stiftung Hackenholt) in his honor. In August 1942, Hackenholt was ordered to Treblinka by Christian Wirth, by then Inspector of the three Aktion Reinhardt SS-Sonderkommandos operating at Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka, to replace the original three gas chambers with a new and bigger building containing 10 gas chambers. He was assisted in this task by Erwin Lambert, the “T4” construction expert. On completion of this task, both men were sent by Wirth to Sobibór death camp to construct new and bigger gassing facilities there. Hackenholt then returned to Bełżec where in the late autumn of 1942, he became involved in the exhumation and cremation of the hundreds of thousands of 448

corpses buried in the mass graves. In the spring of 1943, Hackenholt returned to Treblinka on orders from Wirth to assist with the exhumation/cremation operation as one of the excavator drivers. Following the liquidation of Bełżec in May 1943, Hackenholt was transferred to the Old Airfield camp just outside Lublin, which was the main sorting, cleaning and storage depot for the vast amounts of belongings and valuables seized from the Jews murdered in the Aktion Reinhardt death camps. Valuable furs were disinfected with Zyklon B in four specially constructed chambers. After Hackenholt arrived at the airfield, he used the chambers for killing prisoners who were unfit for work instead of sending them to the gas chambers in the nearby Lublin concentration camp (Majdanek). In autumn 1943, Hackenholt was transferred to Trieste in northern Italy, where he served in the R-I Sonderkommando of Einsatz R at San Sabba. In 1944, he was awarded the Iron Cross II Class for his dedicated service to Aktion Reinhardt. Shortly after Easter 1945, he was arrested and interned in San Sabba awaiting execution for selling arms to the partisans. However, Dieter Allers, the head of Aktion T4 and Aktion Reinhardt who had replaced Wirth after his assassination, realized that the War was all but over and released Hackenholt, who promptly disappeared. He was next seen driving a bus for a Trieste motor company. After that, he disappeared until during the retreat of the Einsatz R troops into Austria, the convoy passed him on the road to Kirchbach. He was driving a horse-drawn milk float (!) In the summer of 1945, his wife, Ilse, received news of him in Berlin from Rudolf (“Rudi”) Kamm, a former SS-comrade from the Bełżec death camp. He wanted to collect Hackenholt's civilian clothing. In 1946, two former SS-comrades from Sobibór, Erich Bauer and Wenzel Rehwald, claim to have met him near Ingolstadt in Bavaria where he was living under an assumed name and employed in a motor accessories shop. A year later, Hackenholt's brother believed he passed him driving a delivery van near their hometown of Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr. After that, nothing more was heard of him. However, after a fruitless four-year hunt by the West German police (Sonderfahndung 449

Hackenholt 1959–1963), and intensive and repeated interrogations of his wife and family, it seemed likely that Hackenholt could have been living under a false name in the area of Memmingen, in the Allgäu region of southern Germany. His wife, Ilse, lived in the same area. The Allgäu region was close to the border with Austria, a country that had no extradition treaty with West Germany. Lorenz Hackenholt, wanted for participation in the mass murder of at least 1.5 million people, has never been found.1295 HENGST, August. Born on April 25, 1905, in Bonn. By profession a chef and pastry cook. Recruited by “T4” on January 4, 1940, he was assigned to the Brandenburg euthanasia institution where he assisted with the installation of the kitchen. When Brandenburg closed down he was sent to the Bernburg euthanasia institution, also as a cook, until early 1942. He was posted to Treblinka, together with Erwin Lambert, while the camp was still under construction, where he was employed as camp cook for a short time, and then as a relief cook. After the liquidation of Treblinka, Hengst was transferred to Italy, first to Udine then Castel Nuovo (today Podgrad in Croatia). After a bout of illness, he was sent to San Sabba, Trieste, where he served as a cook until the end of the War. After the War he worked in Stadthagen, near Hannover. In 1949, he opened a bakery in a nearby village but in 1954 had to close the business, due to ill health. Later, another former “T4” colleague arranged for him to work as a courier at the Deutsche Werft shipyard in Hamburg. HERMANN, Franz or Josef. From Mark Brandenburg, some survivors state Cologne. He was an SS-Unterscharführer in charge of the Tree Cutting Commando. Also served in Italy, no

1295

450

M. Tregenza, The Disappearance of SS-Hauptscharführer Lorenz Hackenholt. A Report on the 1959–1963 West German Police Search for Lorenz Hackenholt, The Gas Chamber Expert of the Aktion Reinhardt Death Camps. (See: http://www.holocaust-history-org/Tregenza/Tregenza00.shtmt).

further details are known. This man may be Hermann Sydow, as listed below, as many of the key details are the same.1296 HILLER, Richard. Born in 1899, in Braunsdorf bei Freiberg. At Treblinka, he worked in the administration office in the Lower Camp, from September 1942, until October 1943. He later served in Fiume, Italy. He died in 1962. HIRTREITER Josef (“Sepp”). Born on February 1, 1909, in Bruchsal, 20 kilometers north-east of Karlsruhe. After attending extended elementary school, he trained as a locksmith but failed the final examination. He worked as an unskilled construction worker and bricklayer and on August 1, 1932 joined the Nazi Party and SA. In October 1940, he was ordered to the Hadamar euthanasia institution where he was employed in the kitchen and office. In the summer of 1942, he was drafted briefly into the Wehrmacht before returning to Hadamar. In Berlin in early 1942, he was transferred by SS-Obersturmführer Christian Wirth to the Treblinka death camp, via Lublin. Hirtreiter was stationed at Treblinka from August 1942, 20–October 1943, At Treblinka he became much feared by the Jewish prisoners who knew him as “Sepp”, the diminutive of his first name, Josef. In October 1943, he was transferred to Sobibór to assist with the dismantling of the camp, after which he was transferred to northern Italy where he joined an anti-partisan police unit. In July 1946, he was arrested and accused of having served at the Hadamar euthanasia institution, and was the first of the Treblinka war criminals to be brought to trial. On March 3, 1951, the Assize Court in Frankfurt-am-Main sentenced Hirtreiter to life imprisonment. Among other crimes, he was found guilty of killing many 1–2-year-old infants by seizing them by their feet and bashing their heads against the railroad cars on the Ramp. He was released from prison in 1977 due to ill-health. Josef Hirtreiter spent the last six months of his life in an old people's

1296

Franz Hermann is listed in an NIOD document regarding Aktion Reinhardt personnel. Josef Hermann is listed as Chef der Holzfaller in the book Treblinka by Manfred Burba in the list of SS personnel at Treblinka.

451

home in Frankfurt-am-Main, where he died on November 27, 1978. He was 69 years old. HORN, Otto Richard. Born on December 14, 1903, in Obergrauschwitz, a hamlet in Oschatz distinct near Leipzig in Saxony. He attended extended elementary school until the age of 14, after which he worked for four years on a farm and at the age of 18 he became a miner in Borte before being employed in a factory. Like many others during the Depression, he opted for a job with a steady salary and became a probationary mental health nurse in the psychiatric institution at Arnsdorf, near Dresden in Saxony. After passing the final examinations, he served for two years at the Leipzig-Dösen psychiatric institution before returning to Arnsdorf. In 1939, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht, attached to a medical unit based in Dresden. He also served as a medical orderly during the Polish Campaign in September 1939. In November that year he was stationed at Geldern, near Düsseldorf, before transfer to France in 1940. In August 1941, Horn was discharged from the Wehrmacht and assigned by “T4” to the Pirna-Sonnenstein euthanasia institution as a male nurse. In September 1942, he was sent to Trawniki for two weeks basic military training, and then assigned in October to the Treblinka death camp in uniform of an SS-Unterscharführer. In Treblinka, he was employed in the Upper Camp, supervising the burial of corpses in mass graves, and then the cremation of the exhumed corpses. Horn had the reputation of being “a decent man who never hurt anyone”; although Abraham Goldfarb has testified that he once witnessed Horn shoot a prisoner. In September 1943, a month after the revolt, Horn left Treblinka and went on extended leave to the Arnsdorf institution with a simulated illness. He was then posted in January 1944 to Trieste in northern Italy, but he refused to work there and was sent back to the Arnsdorf psychiatric institution. Two weeks later, however, in December 1944, he was ordered to a Home Guard Battalion (Landesschützen-Bataillon) in Plauen, Saxony, possibly as a

452

punitive measure.1297 At the end of the War he was in Czechoslovakia where he was captured by the Russians. At the First Treblinka Trial (Kurt Franz et al.) in Düsseldorf 1964–1965, Otto Horn was acquitted. KAINA, Erwin. Born in March 24, 1910, in Berlin. He was a male psychiatric nurse. In 1940, he was ordered to “T4”, together with his colleague Heinrich Unverhau, and posted to Grafeneck euthanasia institution. Kaina was later employed in the “T4” euthanasia institution in Hadamar, Hesse. He disagreed with what was happening in the euthanasia institutions and several times requested a transfer. He was arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp for six weeks on the orders of SS-Obersturmführer Christian Wirth for “speaking- freely” in a bar about his work at Hadamar: his job was removing the brains from selected corpses for research purposes. He was later placed on probation and sent to the extermination camp at Treblinka. During the chaotic first phase in the camp, Wirth assigned Kaina to form a work-brigade and supervise the gruesome task of removing a pile of rotting corpses from in front of the gas chambers. He was unable to find anyone to help him, not the SS, the Ukrainian guards or the Jews. The Jewish prisoners preferred to commit suicide. Fearing Wirth's wrath and threat of being sent back to Sachsenhausen, Kaina attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself. He bungled it, and died later in the Reserve Military Hospital in Ostrów Mazowiecka on October 31, 1942. KLAHN, Johannes. Born on September 26, 1908. A psychiatric nurse and member of the Nazi Party. Employed at the PirnaSonnenstein euthanasia institution as a male nurse. According to Kurt Franz, in Treblinka, Klahn was assigned to duties in the Lower Camp.

1297

The Landesschützen-Bataillonen were territorial defense formations, usually consisting of older men (Horn was 39 in 1944) who served primarily as guards at various installations and military garrisons. Klee, et al., (eds.), The Good Old Days …, op. cit., p. 344.

453

KÜTTNER, Fritz. Born on July 15, 1907, in Oelsnitz im Erzgebirge. A Polizeimeister der Schupo from near Chemnitz in Saxony, described as being about 38-years-old, 1.74 meters tall, oval sharp-featured face with a somewhat protruding forehead, fair hair parted on the left, blue eyes. His Nazi Party membership number was 5880,388. In Treblinka, Küttner had the rank of SS-Oberscharführer and was in charge of the Lower Camp. Generally hated and feared, he wanted to know exactly what was going on in his part of the camp, and established a network of Jewish informers. He followed Jews, stopped them, and searched them for hidden money, photos, or any family mementos. If anyone was caught, he beat them cruelly before sending them to the Lazarett for execution. In the camp he was given the nickname “Kiwe” by the Jewish inmates. He was wounded during the revolt on August 2, 1943. Later he was assigned to Einsatz R based in San Sabba in Trieste, northern Italy. In July or August 1944, a small police unit that included SS-Hauptsturmführer Franz Stangl, Küttner, Philipp Post and Hubert Gomerski, was sent from Trieste to Milan to clear out the remaining Jews and deport them to camps in Germany. Stangl left soon after, but the other three, together with a Jewish informer from Trieste, known by the pseudonym “Dr. Manzoni”, installed themselves in an office on the Corso del Littorio. Now designated as the Kommando Küttner, the police unit arrested Jews denounced by “Dr. Manzoni”. The Kommando returned to Trieste in mid-March 1945. Fritz Küttner was arrested after the War but never brought to trial. He died on December 31, 1950, aged only 43.1298 LAMBERT, Erwin Hermann. Born on December 7, 1909, in Schildow, Niederbarnim District, north of Berlin. A mason and construction engineer by profession and a member of the Nazi Party since 1933. In January 1940, he was recruited to “T4” to renovate the villa at Tiergartenstraße 4, the headquarters of the euthanasia program from which the code designation “T4”

1298

454

Ernst Klee, Das Kulturlexikon Zum Dritten Reich, p. 344.

originated. He converted rooms in the euthanasia institutions at Hartheim, Pirna-Sonnenstein, Bernburg and Hadamar to serve as gas chambers, lined with bathroom tiles. He also undertook other construction work for “T4”, such as the Haus Schoberstein hotel on the Attersee in Austria, used as a rest home for “T4”, and later also for Aktion Reinhardt personnel. Through all of this work at different locations he became known as the “flying architect” of “T4”. In the spring of 1942, he was ordered to Lublin, kitted out in the uniform of an SS-Unterscharführer, and assigned to the Treblinka death camp, together with August Hengst. Under the supervision of SS-Hauptsturmführer Richard Thomalla, Lambert was responsible for constructing the first gas chambers and other buildings in the camp. In August 1942, he supervised the demolition of an abandoned glass factory chimney in Małkinia (photographed by Kurt Franz). The bricks were used in the construction of the new and bigger gas chambers, which he supervised. There is only an isolated case of Lambert killing a Jew because he had misaligned a brick during the construction of the new gas chambers. Together with Lorenz Hackenholt from the Bełżec death camp, Lambert also was involved later in the construction of larger gassing facilities at Sobibór, as well as the construction of buildings in the Jewish labor camps at Dorohucza and Poniatowa in the Lublin District. In autumn 1943, he was transferred to the San Sabba camp in Trieste, northern Italy, where he converted a basement heating furnace for use as a crematorium. After the War, Lambert owned a bathroom accessories shop specializing in ceramic tiles in Stuttgart. On March 28, 1962, he was arrested and appeared as a defendant at the First Treblinka Trial held before the Assize Court in Düsseldorf during 1964–1965. Lambert was found guilty of participation in mass murder and sentenced to four years imprisonment. He died in Stuttgart on October 15, 1976, aged 67. LINDENMÜLLER, Alfons. Born during 1914, in Trossingen, Württemberg. In Treblinka, he was in charge of the so-called “Gold Jews” (Goldjuden). According to Richard Glazar: 455

SS-Hauptscharführer Lindenmüller comes to Barracks “A” before Christmas with something other than shopping on his mind. He stops in the office, which is right at the main entrance, and once he is alone with Zelo he begins speaking to him as if making a report: “Come from a military family, am a convinced National Socialist, but I cannot reconcile what is happening here with my sense of military honor, will go on Christmas leave beginning tomorrow and will never come back here, have volunteered for the front, would like one of you to know, and I chose you.”1299

Alfons Lindenmüller died on July 27, 1946, in a prisoner-of-war camp in Ksawera-Koszelew, a suburb of the city of Będzin in Upper Silesia. LÖFFLER, Alfred. Born on September 15, 1904, in Basel, Switzerland. Arrived in Treblinka on August 20, 1942, and assigned to the Upper Camp II. According to Jankiel Wiernik, just before the revolt on August 2, 1943, Löffler was transferred to the Lublin concentration camp (Majdanek), and promised to take Wiernik with him which, of course, never happened. From Lublin, Löffler was posted to northern Italy, where he was killed in action on April 30, 1944. He was buried first in the German Military Cemetery in the village of Opicina, near Trieste, exhumed and reburied in the late 1950s in the big German Military Cemetery at Costermano, near Verona in northern Italy. LUDWIG, Karl Emil. Born on May 23, 1906, in Zehdenik. A driver by profession, he was the chauffeur of Reichsleiter Martin Bormann, head of the Party Chancellery. Later he was also a driver for the staff at the “T4” headquarters. April 1942–January 1943, assigned to the Sobibór death camp where he served in Camp III, the extermination area. In January 1943, he was transferred to Treblinka, where he was employed in the Upper Camp, also the extermination area. Joe Siedlecki recalled that Karl Ludwig was “a good, good man. The number of times he brought me things, the number of times he helped me, the number of people he probably saved, I can hardly tell you.”1300 1299 1300

456

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op cit., pp. 52–53. Sereny, Into that Darkness …, op. cit., p. 188.

After Treblinka death camp was dismantled he served in Italy, and survived the War. His post-war fate is unknown. MATTHES, Heinrich Arthur. Born on January 11, 1902, in Wermsdorf in the Wermsdorf Forest of northern Saxony. He attended extended elementary school and became a tailor. In 1924 he served an apprenticeship as a psychiatric nurse and educator, and took his examinations at the Pirna-Sonnenstein psychiatric institution near Dresden in Saxony. Employed at the Arnsdorf psychiatric institution, also near Dresden, he was a male nurse and educator. In 1930, he was employed as an educator and welfare worker at an institution in Braunsdorf, Freiburg district, in the Erzgebirge region of Saxony. In October 1933, he returned to the Arnsdorf institution. Matthes became a member of the SA in 1934, and in 1939 was drafted into the Wehrmacht, where he served in Poland and France until his honorable discharge in September 1941 with the rank of Obergefreiter (Senior Lance Corporal). He was ordered to the Führer's Chancellery on Voßstraße in Berlin and assigned to “T4”. He spent a short time in the photographic section at Tiergartenstraße 4. In the winter of 1941–42 he served on the Russian Front in the uniform of the Organisation Todt where, as a male nurse he ferried wounded troops from the Minsk and Smolensk areas to Reserve Military Hospitals in the rear. In February or March 1942, Matthes returned from Russia and worked in the same photographic section at “T4”. In August 1942, he was ordered to Lublin and drafted into the SS with the rank of SS-Scharführer, and assigned to the Treblinka death camp, where he arrived on 20 August 1942. At Treblinka, SSObersturmführer Christian Wirth placed him in charge of the Upper Camp. In September 1943, he was transferred to the Sobibór death camp where he stayed until the camp was liquidated in the autumn of 1943, and then returned to Berlin. In early 1944 he was sent to Trieste in northern Italy with the rank of Polizei Oberwachtmeister (Schupo). In Trieste, he fought in an anti-partisan unit, took part in military construction work, and served as a guard until the end of the War. In 1945, he was 457

captured by US forces, but released the same year. In Nuremberg, Bavaria, he worked as a medical orderly and as a laborer removing rubble, before finally returning to his old profession of male psychiatric nurse. He was employed in the institutions at Ansbach and Bayreuth in Franconia, northern Bavaria, and at the Andernach institution in the Mayen-Koblenz district of the Rhine-Palatinate. At the First Treblinka Trial (Kurt Franz et al.) held in 1964–1965 before the Assize Court in Düsseldorf, Heinrich Matthes was sentenced to life imprisonment. MÄTZIG, Willy. Born on August 6, 1910, in Berg, Oberlausitz in eastern Saxony. After leaving school, he learned the trade of glasscutter. In October 1933, he became a member of the Allgemeine-SS with the rank of SS-Unterscharführer. In July 1939, he was posted to an infantry unit in Freistadt, a town in Moravian-Silesia with a confusing history.1301 In early January 1940, he was posted to an SS infantry unit in Linz, Upper Austria. Mätzig fell ill with septic bone marrow and as a result was suspended from duty on medical grounds and ordered to Berlin. In February or March 1940 he was employed as a guard at the “T4” euthanasia institution in the old prison in Brandenburg-an-der-Havel. When the Brandenburg institution closed down at the end of 1940, he was posted to the Bernburgan-der-Saale euthanasia institution, where he was employed again as a guard and an administration assistant until August 1942. In August 1942 he was assigned to the Treblinka death camp where he was employed as a book-keeper and on general administrative duties. Together with Otto Stadie, Mätzig was one of Commandant Stangl's two senior administrative assistants in the Kommandantur. Mätzig also supervised the “Blue” Work Brigade that received the incoming transports at the Ramp. After the Jews disembarked, Stadie or Mätzig would say a few words to the Jews to reassure them that they were a 1301

458

Freistadt/Fryštát: 1920–1938 a part of Czechoslovakia. In October 1938, it was annexed to Poland and during World War II it became a part of Germany. After the War, the town once again became incorporated into Czechoslovakia.

resettlement transport, would be given a bath and receive new clothes. They also ordered the Jews to maintain quiet and discipline, and that they would continue their journey the following day. After the liquidation of Treblinka, Mätzig was in Sobibór for a short while, and then served in Einsatz R in Trieste, northern Italy until the end of the War. MEIDKUR, Kurt. SS-Unterscharführer. No details are known. MENTZ, Willy. Born on April 30, 1904, in Schönhagen, a village in the Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) district in Pomerania.1302 After school he found employment as an unskilled worker in a saw-mill and then trained as a master dairyman and passed the trade examination. In 1940, he took care of cows and pigs on the estate of the euthanasia institution at Grafeneck castle in Württemberg. Early 1941–early summer 1942, he worked in the gardens at the euthanasia institution. From June–July 1942, he was assigned to Treblinka death camp with the SS rank of Unterscharführer, and employed at first in the Upper Camp II, and then in the Lower Camp I as chief of the Agricultural Brigade (Landwirtschaftskommando). Also assigned by SSObersturmführer Wirth to supervise the Lazarett. Mentz had been a dairyman with no military training or knowledge of weapons; Wirth therefore demonstrated first how to shoot the Jews in the back of the neck (Genickschuss). After that, Mentz became an expert executioner, much feared by the Jewish prisoners. Because he resembled the monster in Frankenstein films, “with big ears, and a mouth like a monkey”, he was nicknamed “Frankenstein” by the prisoners. After the liquidation of Treblinka, he was employed for a short time at Sobibór death camp, and from there he transferred to Einsatz R in Trieste, engaged in the round-up of Italian Jews, and later on antipartisan duty. After the War, he returned to his old job as a master dairyman. At the First Treblinka Trial (Kurt Franz et al.), held at the Assize Court in Düsseldorf during 1964–1965, Willy

1302

Schönhagen: since 1944 incorporated into Polish Western Pomerania and renamed Osina.

459

Mentz was sentenced to life imprisonment. He died on July 25, 1978, aged 74. MICHEL, Hermann. Born in 1906, in Heegermühle, near Berlin. Employed by “T4” in the euthanasia institutions at Grafeneck castle in Württemberg, and Hartheim castle in Upper Austria. In April 1942, he was assigned to the Sobibór death camp where he befriended Camp Commandant Franz Stangl. Michel welcomed the new arrivals in Camp II in Sobibór with a short speech, reassuring them that they had arrived in a labor camp and, for reasons of hygiene, had to be disinfected and bathed. Transferred to Treblinka in November 1942. After the War, believed to have fled to Egypt. MIETE, August Wilhelm. Born on November 1, 1908, in Westerkappeln, Tecklenburg district in North RhineWestphalia. Until May 1940, he worked with his brother on their parent's mill and farm. Miete was a very latecomer to the Nazi Party which he did not join until 1940 at the age of 38. The same year, his local Chamber of Agriculture in Münster informed him that there was a job opportunity as chief dairyman on the estate of Grafeneck castle in Württemberg; he applied and was accepted. He therefore inadvertently became a member of “T4”. Transferred to the euthanasia institution at Hadamar, but instead of being assigned to the institution's farm at Schneppfenhausen, he was employed at extracting dental gold from the mouths of corpses of the victims before cremation. He also worked as a stoker in the crematorium until the summer of 1942, when he was transferred to Lublin. In June 1942, with the rank of SS-Unterscharführer, Miete was posted to the Treblinka death camp at the time the camp was still under construction. In Treblinka, he was one of the most cruel SS-men in the camp, nicknamed by the prisoners Malakh Ha-Moves—Yiddish for the “Angel of Death” (after the War he could not explain to the court how he received this nickname!) He was also known as Krimme Kepel (“Crooked Head”). He was assigned to the Lower Camp where he worked on the Ramp, and at the Undressing Yard. SSObersturmführer Wirth then placed Miete in charge of the 460

Lazarett where he carried out most of the executions of the old, frail, sick and small children. He also deliberately sought out his victims, walking around the camp and checking the prisoners. Those whom he thought looked sick or too weak to work would be taken straight to the Lazarett and dispatched with a bullet in the head. It was Miete who killed the prisoner Meier Berliner who had stabbed SS-man Max Biela. After the liquidation of Treblinka, Miete was transferred to Trieste in northern Italy, and from there transferred to Udine. In the autumn of 1944, he was employed in a demolition unit. After the War, Miete returned to the family farm and mill where he worked until 1950, when he became the manager of a savings bank (Sparkasse) in Lotte, Steinfurt district in North Rhine-Westphalia. On May 27, 1960 he was arrested and held in Düsseldorf-Derendorf prison, accused of participation in the mass murder of at least 300,000 people. At the First Treblinka Trial (Kurt Franz et al.) held before the Assize Court in Düsseldorf in 1964–1965, Miete was sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in prison. MÖLLER, Robert. Born in 1900, in Grosenmarpe. He served in Treblinka from August 1942 until November 1943. He worked as an ordinance officer in the agricultural administration. The prisoners nicknamed him Amerikaner (“The American”) apparently because of his build, according to Kalman Teigman.1303 MÜNZBERGER, Gustav. Born on August 17, 1903, in Weißkirchlitz, Teplitz-Schönau District in the Sudetenland. He attended extended elementary school, then a public school in Turn, Schönau district for two years. After school, he worked until 1923 as a carpenter for his father's firm, and afterwards for a few months in the Weißkirchlitz Paper Factory. He served 18 months military draft in a Railroad Regiment (EisenbahnRegiment) in the industrial town of Pardubice, 95 kilometers east of Prague. From the autumn of 1925 he returned to work in the

1303

Stanisław Kon mentions SS man Miller, whilst other accounts state the name of the ordinance officer as Müller. Probably it was Robert Moller.

461

paper factory in Weißkirchlitz and in 1931 took over the management of his father's firm for the next nine years. In August 1940, he was ordered to the euthanasia institution at Pirna-Sonnenstein, where he was employed as a carpenter and assistant cook. Together with about 15 other men, he was sent in August 1942 to Lublin, and then to the SS-training camp at Trawniki for basic military training. His SS Number was 321758. In late September 1942, he was assigned to Treblinka with the rank of SS-Rottenführer and employed in the Upper Camp as an assistant to Heinrich Matthes at the gassing installation; he was responsible for chasing people into the gas chambers, and also supervised the Corpse Transport Brigade (Leichentransportkommando). On June 21, 1943, Münzberger was promoted to SSUnterscharführer. At the time of the camp revolt on August 2, 1943, he was at home on leave. After the liquidation of Treblinka in November 1943, he was transferred to Einsatz R in Trieste, northern Italy. Arrested on July 13, 1963, and at the First Treblinka Trial (Kurt Franz et al.) before the Assize Court in Düsseldorf 1964–1965 he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. In July 1971, he was released from prison after serving only seven years, “due to good behavior”. PLIKAT, Karl Heinz. Born on May 14, 1907, in Berlin. He was short in stature, with sparse blond hair. At Treblinka he was assigned to the Lower Camp. One of his SS-comrades, Albert Rum, testified that Plikat was known as an “SA-rascal”. After Treblinka he served in Einsatz R in Trieste, northern Italy. POST, Philipp. Born during 1911, in Bad Vilbel, Hessen. He was about 1.73 meters tall, well-built with brown hair and a rather red face. He arrived in Treblinka on August 20, 1942, and served in the Lower Camp guarding the armory. After the liquidation of Treblinka he served at the Sobibór death camp and then with an Einsatz R unit in northern Italy on anti-partisan duty. PÖTZINGER, Karl. Born in 1908, probably in Leipzig, Saxony. Recruited to “T4” he worked in the crematoria at the Brandenburg and Bernburg euthanasia institutions. In Treblinka, he was employed in the Upper Camp, at first 462

supervising the burial of the bodies in mass graves, and then the cremation of the exhumed corpses. When Treblinka was closed he spent a short time in the Sobibór death camp before being transferred to Einsatz R in northern Italy. On December 22, 1944, Pötzinger was killed by shrapnel during an Allied air-raid. He was buried first in the German Military Cemetery in Opicina village near Trieste, exhumed in the late 1950s and reinterred in the big German Military Cemetery at Costermano on Lake Garda, Verona Province, northern Italy. REUTER. On the day of the Treblinka revolt, August 2, 1943, a very hot day, SS-Scharführer Reuter took a group of SS and Ukrainian guards to swim in the nearby River Bug.1304 Nothing more is known about this SS-NCO. RICHTER, Kurt. Born in 1914, in Karlsbad, Bohemia. A butcher by profession. Recruited into “T4” and employed in the euthanasia institutions at Pirna-Sonnenstein in Saxony and Hartheim castle in Upper Austria. Posted “to the East”, he first went to the Treblinka death camp as a cook. Transferred to Sobibór death camp in December 1942, where he took the sick, old and frail from the Ramp to the Lazarett. He also supervised the barbers' barracks and on one occasion participated in the execution of members of the Forest Brigade (Waldkommando). After the liquidation of Sobibór, Richter was transferred to Einsatz R in northern Italy. He was killed near Trieste on August 13, 1944 in a skirmish with partisans. SS-Oberscharführer Erich Bauer, the former “Gasmeister” at Sobibór testified that he transported Richter's body in a lorry to the German Military Cemetery at Opicina near Trieste. Exhumed in the late 1950s and reinterred in the big German Military Cemetery at Costermano, Verona Province in northern Italy.

1304

Stanisław Kon (Kohn) in his account of the Treblinka revolt, published in the Yiddish newspaper Dos Naje Lebn (The New Life). Original in: ŻIH, Warsaw, 301/481 (Testimonies): Statements by Rescued Jews, Warsaw 1945.

463

RITTLER, Albert. Born in 1910 in Burgau. He served in Treblinka from May / June 1942, until November 1942. He saw action on the Eastern Front. He died in April 1944, in Stras bei Neu-Ulm. ROST, Paul. Born on June 12, 1904, in Deutschenbora, a village near Meissen in Saxony. After attending extended elementary school he trained to become a butcher. In 1925 he joined the Schutzpolizei, the uniformed police, in Dresden. He joined the Nazi Party in 1937. On May 21, 1940, he was commandeered to the Pirna-Sonnenstein euthanasia institution where he commanded the police unit in charge of security and transportation. He also served at the Hartheim euthanasia institution in Upper Austria. In March 1942, Rost was transferred to the Sobibór death camp, initially as Deputy Commandant, but was succeeded by Johann Niemann and Herbert Floss respectively. He supervised the sorting of Jewish property in Lager II, and also secretly spied on the other SS staff. He was transferred to Treblinka in May 1943, and in December the same year, transferred to Einsatz R in Trieste, northern Italy. Awarded the War Service Cross (Kriegsverdienstkreuz) II Class on August 13, 1944, the highest decoration that could be awarded to non-military personnel, and on November 9, 1944 he was promoted to Polizeileutnant in the Schupo. After the War, he was interned in an American POW camp but was released and in 1946 returned to his family in Dresden. Arrested almost immediately, imprisoned and interrogated at length by the Soviet NKVD, he was released a year later without being charged with having committed any War crime. In the early 1960s the German judiciary wanted him to appear as a witness in the Aktion Reinhardt trials, but the East German authorities refused him an exit visa to visit West Germany. When the Ministry of Justice in Bonn insisted that he appear, the Stasi, the East German secret police, “could not find him” (!) It can be assumed that since his release in 1946 he had been an informer first for the NKVD and then for the Stasi. He lived and worked in Dresden until his death on March 21, 1984, aged 80.

464

RUM, Franz Albert. Born on June 8, 1890, in Berlin and a waiter by profession. Fluent in English and French, he worked in hotels in London and Paris. After returning to Germany and joining the Nazi Party in 1933, he was employed as a waiter at the “Inseln” nightclub in Berlin which was frequented by Nazi officials. In late 1939, he was recruited in the nightclub by Hans Hefelmann, an employee in the Führer's Chancellery, and began working in the “T4” photocopying section. In December 1942, he was transferred to the Treblinka death camp with the rank of SSUnterscharführer where he supervised the Corpse Transport Brigade (Leichentransportkommando) in the Upper Camp. He also chased the Jews into the gas chambers with a whip in hand. His other duties included supervision of Sorting Barracks “B” in the Sorting Yard. He took part in the final liquidation of Treblinka and was in the truck with Kurt Franz that went to the Sobibór death camp in November 1943. Rum was then transferred to Einsatz R in Trieste, northern Italy. At the First Treblinka Trial (Kurt Franz et al.) before the Assize Court in Düsseldorf during 1964–1965, he was sentenced to three years imprisonment. He died in 1970, aged 80. SCHARFE, Herbert. Born on February 13, 1913, in Königstein, in the Osterzgebirge Mountains of Saxon-Switzerland (Sächsische Schweiz), near Pirna in Saxony. Recruited to “T4”, he worked in the accounts department of the euthanasia institution at PirnaSonnenstein. Transferred to the Treblinka death camp, he was in charge of the Camouflage Brigade (Tarnungskommando), where he had the nickname Mishke, (“Little Mouse”). He was later transferred to Sobibór death camp. After that, no further information is available. SCHIFFNER, Karl. Born on July 4, 1901, in the Weißkirchlitz, Schönau district in the Sudetenland, under the name of Křesadlo (lit. “Tinderbox” in Czech). He attended an extended elementary and public school in Weißkirchlitz. After a threeyear apprenticeship as a carpenter at a trade school, he served his two-year's draft (1921–1923) in the Czech Army. He married in 1928 and in 1935 joined the Sudeten-German Party 465

(Sudetendeutsche Partei) of Konrad Henlein. In 1938, after the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, Křesadlo joined the SA, but transferred to the SS “because the black uniforms looked better”. He received the Honor Chevron for Old Fighters (Ehrenwinkel der Alter Kämpfer) because of his membership of the SA and SS. His SS Number was 321225. It was not until 1941 that he changed his name from Křesadlo to Schiffner. Recruited to “T4”, he served in the euthanasia institution at Pirna-Sonnenstein until early summer 1942 when he was sent to Treblinka where he was in charge of the camp joinery and construction team. During the summer of 1943, after the liquidation of the Bełżec death camp, Schiffner and a group of 12 Ukrainian guards under his command constructed a farmhouse on the former camp site, which was to be occupied by a Ukrainian and his family to prevent looting for Jewish valuables at the site. Transferred afterwards to Sobibór death camp and from there to Trieste in northern Italy where he served in a police unit on anti-partisan duty. With the rest of the “T4” personnel in northern Italy, he retreated over the border to Kirchbach in Carinthia (Kärnten), Austria, where he was captured by the British, and interned in a prisoner-of-war camp at Usbach. Released in October 1945, he made his way to Salzburg in Austria and disappeared. Nothing more was ever heard of him. SCHMIDT, Fritz. Born on November 29, 1906, in Eibau, Görlitz district in eastern Saxony. A motor mechanic by trade, he was employed in the “T4” euthanasia institution at PirnaSonnenstein in 1940 as a guard and driver, and in 1941 transferred to the Bernburg euthanasia institution. In the summer of 1942, he was posted to the Treblinka death camp to supervise the maintenance and running of the gassing engines in the Upper Camp. He was also in charge of the SS-garage and supervised the metalwork shop. After Treblinka, he was on duty with Einsatz R in Trieste, northern Italy. Captured by the Americans at the end of the War, but released and returned to Germany. He was arrested in Saxony by the Soviet military 466

authorities, placed on trial, and on December 14, 1949, sentenced to nine years imprisonment. He escaped and fled to West Germany, where he died on February 4, 1982, aged 76. SCHUH, Richard. Born in 1910, in Frankfurt am Main. Arrived in Treblinka on August 20, 1942, with the rank of SS-Rottenführer, together with SS-NCOs Suchomel, Matthes, Löffler, Post and Sydow. His SS Number was 98020. Promoted on March 20, 1943, to SS-Unterscharführer. He died in Karznica in March 1945. SCHULTZ, Erich. Born on September 3, 1902, in Adlershof, Berlin. Employed from 1940 at the “T4” euthanasia institutions at Grafeneck, Hadamar and Pirna-Sonnenstein as a “burner” of corpses in the crematoria. Transferred to Treblinka where he was employed as a platoon leader (SS-Zugführer) from September 1942, until the spring of 1943. He was then transferred to Sobibór death camp, where he supervised the Waldkommando and the Strafkommando. When the camp was liquidated in November 1943, he served in Einsatz R in northern Italy. Nothing is known of his whereabouts after the War. SEIDEL, Kurt. Born on March 20, 1910, in Augustusburg near Chemnitz. He was employed as a male psychiatric nurse at the “T4” euthanasia institution at Pirna-Sonnenstein and he also worked in the administration office. Transferred to the Treblinka death camp where the main road in the camp, a single-lane street that ran north-south from the main entrance to the SS-garage, was named Kurt-Seidel-Straße in his honor. Richard Glazar recalls that Seidel was a “good citizen, a civilian in a uniform, and supposedly the oldest among the SS here. He always addresses us impersonally, a straightforward face and polite demeanor.”1305 After the liquidation of Treblinka, Seidel was transferred to Einsatz R in northern Italy, after which all trace of him was lost. SEIDLER, Ernst. Born in 1902, in Netzschkau. He served in Treblinka from September 1942, until the end of 1942, in the

1305

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence …, op. cit., p. 50.

467

Upper Camp. He was transferred to Italy. He died in the Ukraine in November 1944. STADIE, Otto. Born on March 10, 1897, in Berlin. After leaving school, he worked as a courier and later in a clinic where he became interested in nursing. During World War I he trained as a medical orderly and attained the rank of Sergeant. After the War he went to live in Breslau, Silesia, where he married. Thereafter unemployed for several years until in 1927, he obtained a post as a male psychiatric nurse. In 1933, he joined the Nazi Party and the SA with the rank of Rottenführer. 1939– 1940, he took part in the Polish and French Campaigns as a medical orderly, again with the rank of Sergeant (Feldwebel). After discharge from the army, Stadie was sent to the “T4” euthanasia institution at Bernburg where he transported patients from the mental asylums at Halle, Neu-Ruppin and Eberswalde to Bernburg for gassing. During the winter of 1941– 42 he served with other “T4” personnel on the Russian Front in Organisation Todt uniform, ferrying wounded troops to Reserve Military Hospitals in the rear. Transferred to Treblinka in July 1942 where he was assigned head of camp administration. He also served as Company Staff Sergeant (Stabsscharführer)1306of the Ukrainian guard units in the camp, and supervised the arrival of transports at the Ramp. In Treblinka, the prisoners nicknamed him Fesele, the Yiddish for “Barrel”, because of his sturdy build. Due to a disciplinary case, Stadie was transferred to the Old Airfield Camp just outside Lublin, where he was placed in charge of the guard unit. He later served in Einsatz R in San Sabba, Trieste, in northern Italy, where he organized the deportation of Italian Jews to concentration camps in the Reich. He also took part in security duties along the main roads on the Istrian peninsula. Taken prisoner by American troops at the end of the War, he was released from the Weilheim POW camp in the Weilheim-Schöngau district in southern Bavaria. He settled in the spa town of Nordenau in the Meschede district, North 1306

468

The SS rank of Stabsscharführer is approximately equivalent to Company Staff Sergeant in the British Army and Staff Sergeant in the US Army.

Rhine-Westphalia. Stadie was employed as a private nurse until 1962 when he retired. He was arrested on July 15, 1963 and arraigned before the Assize Court in Düsseldorf during the 1964–1965 First Treblinka Trial (Kurt Franz et al.). Sentenced to seven years imprisonment for participation in the mass murder of at least 300,000 people, he was released two years later due to ill-health. He lived another 12 years and died on July 28, 1977, aged 80. STENGELIN, Erwin. Born on August 10, 1911, in Tüttlingen, in the Swabian Alb (“Rauhe Alb”) region of Württemberg. He was employed at the “T4” euthanasia institute in Hadamar, Hesse. Transferred to the East, he was employed in the Lower Camp at Treblinka. In September 1943, he was transferred to Sobibór death camp where he was killed during the prisoner revolt on October 14, 1943. STREBELÓW. According to Kurt Franz, he was assigned to the Lower Camp as a platoon leader (SS-Zugführer). No further details are known. SUCHOMEL, Franz. Born on December 3, 1907, in Krumau (Český Krumlov), in Bohemian Sudetenland, (today in the Czech Republic). By profession he was a tailor. From 1940–1942, he was employed at the Hadamar euthanasia institution and in the “T4” headquarters at Tiergartenstraße 4 in Berlin. Suchomel, together with Hirtreiter, Post, Löffler, Sydow, Matthes and two men from Frankfurt-am-Main, arrived in Treblinka on 20 August 1942. Initially, Suchomel was employed at the Ramp in the uniform of an SS-Unterscharführer, then as a supervisor in the women's undressing barracks, leading the victims to the “Tube.” Later, he was in charge of the “Gold Jews” (Goldjuden), and the tailors' workshop. When Adolf Eichmann and Odilo Globocnik visited Treblinka, Suchomel reported to them about the work of the “Gold Jews”. In late October 1943, he was ordered to the Sobibór death camp. After the closure of Sobibór he was transferred to Trieste, Italy. At the end of the War he was captured by US forces and held in a POW camp and released in August 1945. From 1949 he lived in Altötting, Bavaria, where he was arrested 469

on July 11, 1963. At the First Treblinka Trial (Kurt Franz et al.) held in Düsseldorf in 1964–65 he was sentenced to six years imprisonment, but was released in 1969. He died in Altötting on December 18, 1979, aged 72. SYDOW, Hermann. Born during 1900, he was from Mark Brandenburg. Before the Second World War, he was employed as a docker in Hamburg. In Treblinka he was in charge of the Camouflage Brigade (Tarnungskommando). Richard Glazar recalled that Sydow was: “a short little guy, but very tough, with an unbelievable appetite for alcohol.”1307 After the liquidation of Treblinka, he was posted to the Sobibór death camp, and then joined Einsatz R in northern Italy. WENGLER. SS-Unterscharführer. He served at Treblinka during the initial phases of the camp’s operation. Franz Suchomel recalled how Christian Wirth berated him in August 1942. No further details are known. ZÄNKER, Hans. Born on September 8, 1905, in Sachsen. Employed as a chief of the kitchen at Pirna-Sonnenstein. He was employed at Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka death camps, as a deputy cook. He was transferred to San Sabba, Trieste.

Support staff—Reichsbahn/Ostbahn BLECHSCHMIED, Ludwig. An employee of the Reichsbahn, he drove a tender / railway taxi from the Treblinka village station on the first day of Treblinka’s operation, as recalled by Franciszek Zabecki, the Polish Traffic Supervisor at Treblinka railway station. He helped with the shunting of the first transport from the Warsaw Ghetto. BENNER. Superintendent of the railway station at Malkinia-Gorna. He often visited Treblinka and witnessed the arrival of transports.

1307

470

Glazar, Trap with a Green Fence ..., op. cit., p. 127.

EMMERICH, Rudolf. From Dresden. A German Reichsbahn official, who oversaw the shunting of the deportation trains from the Treblinka village railroad station to the death camp. Franciszek Zabecki said in a post-war testimony that he saw an envelope written by Emmerich to his wife Hilma in Dresden, and the address was Grossenhainer Straβe 97, Dresden. KLINZMANN, Willi. From Wuppertal. A German Reichsbahn official who oversaw the shunting of the deportation trains from the Treblinka village station to the death camp. Franciszek Zabecki recalled how Klinzmann and an SS man from the camp staff, kicked a pregnant Jewish woman to death at the Treblinka village station. Both Emmerich and Klinzmann lived in an apartment at the Treblinka village station. Neither of these two men was ever brought to justice. TEUFEL. An assistant to Blechschmied as recalled by Franciszek Zabecki, who helped supervise the shunting of the first transport from the Treblinka village station into the death camp on July 23, 1942.

471

POSTSCRIPTUM Lublin Concentration Camp (Majdanek) A part of Aktion Reinhardt?

During a visit to Lublin on July 20, 1941, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler ordered SS-Brigadeführer Odilo Globocnik to construct a POW camp, initially for Soviet prisoners, and the camp later became known as Majdanek.1308 A point of much debate by Holocaust historians is whether or not it was a part of Aktion Reinhardt. Shortly after the construction of the camp, it was subordinated to the Inspectorate for Concentration Camps in Oranienburg, and officially became an integral part of the German concentration camp system supervised by two central organizations: the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt—RSHA) and from March 1942 the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office (SSWirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt—SS-WVHA).1309 The Aktion Reinhardt camps at Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka, however, were firmly under the control of Globocnik, although he also appeared to have informal supervision of the Lublin concentration camp. Initially it was not considered an integral part of Aktion Reinhardt. In addition, Lublin concentration camp was primarily a forced labor camp that also provided manpower for the numerous forced labor camps in the Lublin District, also coming under Globocnik's control. It was never designed as a camp solely intended for mass murder. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that SS-Sturmbannführer Hermann Höfle—Globocnik's chief-of-staff and Deputy for Aktion Reinhardt—in a report to SS-Obersturmbannführer Franz Heim in the office of the Commander of the Security Police and Security Service 1308

1309

T. Kranz, Extermination of Jews at the Majdanek Concentration Camp, Państwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2007, p. 10. Ibid., p. 10.

472

(Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienstes) in Kraków, included the death toll for Lublin concentration camp in a 14-day and end-of-year report for 1942 concerning the number of victims of Aktion Reinhardt.1310 In the summer of 1941, Globocnik ordered the establishment of an SS-Clothing Factory (SS-Bekleidungswerke) in Lublin as a branch of the main SS clothing depot at Dachau concentration camp. The factory occupied the premises of the pre-war Plage and Łaskiewicz aircraft factory on Chełmska Street, on the south-eastern outskirts of Lublin and not far from Lublin concentration camp. In addition to utilizing the former buildings of the aircraft factory, and a branch railroad track that ran into the area from the main Warsaw— Lemberg (Lvov) track, a large number of barracks were constructed on the expanse of the airfield. Several thousand Jewish men and women were employed at unloading, sorting and cleaning the clothing and footwear brought by train from the Aktion Reinhardt death camps, as well as from the ghettos. After disinfection and sorting, the plundered property was distributed by rail throughout the Reich.1311 However, since December 1942, SS-Obersturmführer Christian Wirth, Inspector of the Aktion Reinhardt Sonderkommandos, established his Inspectorate in a building at the Old Airfield Camp, and employed several SS-NCOs from the Aktion Reinhardt death camps, in the Old Airfield Camp. He was additionally responsible for inspecting the forced labor camps in the Lublin District. According to a note in the Lublin concentration camp Kommandantur, dated June 5, 1943, the Old Airfield Camp and the other forced labor camps came completely under Wirth's control from that date. On October 22, 1943, by order of the head of the SS-Economic and Administration Head Office, SS-Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl, the SS-Clothing Factory on the Old Lublin Airfield was to become a sub-camp of Lublin concentration camp.

1310

1311

NA Kew (London), HW16/32: decoded secret German police message, dated 11 January 1943. T. Kranz, Extermination of Jews …, op. cit., p. 33.

473

Barely three weeks after the issue of Pohl's order, the decree was rendered obsolete by the “Harvest Festival” (Erntefest) massacre in the Lublin district. Some 16,000 Jewish prisoners, including the 2,000 from the Old Airfield Camp, on November 3, 1943, were shot in specially dug pits within the Lublin concentration camp, in one of the most infamous murder actions in the whole of the Second World War. Christian Wirth returned to Lublin, from Trieste, to carry out Himmler’s order to massacre the Jews still working in the Lublin district labor camps. This was confirmed by SSPF Jakob Sporrenberg, who had replaced Odilo Globocnik, as the police leader for Lublin, in post-war interrogations. Sporrenberg confirmed that on November 3 and 4, 1943, approximately 16,000 Jews from the Old Airfield Camp, Lipowa Street Camp and the Sportplatz Camp, were murdered. On the same day some 12,000 Jewish workers were murdered at the Trawniki camp, including Jews from Dorohucza Labor Camp, and a day later on November 4, 1943, some 14,000 Jews were killed at Poniatowa. Hermann Höfle, was also involved in the massacre, receiving hourly reports from the execution site in Lublin.1312 The currency, gold and other valuables seized from the victims of Aktion Reinhardt and from the ghettos were sent first to the SSGarrison Administration (SS-Standortverwaltung) in Lublin under Globocnik's old crony, SS-Sturmbannführer Georg Wippern. There it was sorted and valued by a team of banking specialists sent from Berlin, all with the rank of SS-Oberscharführer, and the precious metals were smelted into ingots by Jewish jewellers. The cash and ingots were delivered to Berlin by train and lorry. The lorry convoys were escorted as far as the Reich border by an armored car. SS-Brigadeführer Globocnik also paid much of the cash into two secret accounts at the Reichsbank branch in Lublin under the designations “G” and “R”. The quality clothing, footwear and household goods were stored in a main depot in an expropriated building of Catholic Action at Chopin Straße 27 in Lublin. Other Jewish plunder was also stored in a depot in the city of Chełm, 60 kilometers east of Lublin. 1312

474

NA Kew Wo 208/4673 Sporrenberg Interrogation.

SS-Obersturmführer Friedrich Wilhelm Ruppert, head of the Technical Department in Lublin concentration camp, has confirmed the dispatch of currency, gold and other valuables confiscated from the Jews incarcerated in the camp to the Aktion Reinhardt warehouses in Lublin, as well as to the Inspector of the Concentration Camps in Oranienburg. Ruppert also knew that SSSturmbannführer Höfle, on several occasions, personally supervised the transport by rail of these articles to Oranienburg. Ruppert also confirmed that Globocnik's office in Lublin also received some of these articles, especially cash, including Polish banknotes that were not exchangeable.1313 It may therefore be concluded that Lublin concentration camp was included on the periphery of Aktion Reinhardt, but primarily only after December 1942.

Spelling of Aktion Reinhardt Although some historians claim that Aktion/Einsatz Reinhardt was named after Fritz Reinhardt, State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Finance, and not in honor of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, it seems unlikely that the SS would name their mass murder program after an “outsider”, even if he was a government minister. Moreover, Gerald Reitlinger in his book The Final Solution stated that: “the staff of Brigadeführer Globocnik dedicated themselves henceforward to Heydrich's manes under the name of Einsatz Reinhard.”1314 On July 18, 1961, in Jerusalem, Adolf Eichmann, responsible for the deportation of untold numbers of Jews to the death camps, stated categorically that Einsatz Reinhardt was named after Heydrich. It can therefore be accepted that Eichmann, the SS-officer who knew the most about the details of the extermination of European Jewry, settled the matter, once and for all. For many years there has also been much confusion over the spelling of the code designation for the extermination primarily of Polish Jewry—Einsatz Reinhardt or Einsatz Reinhard—with or 1313 1314

Kranz, Extermination of Jews ..., op. cit., pp. 35–36. Reitlinger, The Final Solution …, op. cit., pp. 105–106.

475

without the “t”. There are many documents showing both variations. The official Oath of Secrecy, dated July 18, 1942, issued by Höfle, to be signed by all participants in the extermination operation clearly states that they were assigned to Einsatz Reinhardt.1315 When Globocnik wrote to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler from Trieste on November 4, 1943, he stated that on October 19 he had terminated Aktion Reinhardt, and throughout his correspondence with Himmler, Globocnik constantly used the spelling Reinhardt.1316 On November 30, 1943, Himmler, in his reply to Globocnik thanking him for his services to the German people, also used the term Reinhardt.1317 Considering that the term Reinhardt was frequently used in correspondence and at the beginning and the end of the mass murder program by the two leading SS-officers involved, it may be readily accepted that Reinhardt is the correct spelling. As a matter of interest, Reinhard Heydrich was christened Reinhardt, but later changed the spelling to Reinhard, when he achieved the rank of SSMajor.

1315

1316

1317

476

An original Aktion Reinhardt Oath of Secrecy, dated July 18, 1942, is preserved in the archive of the State Museum at Majdanek. BA Koblenz, Auß. Berlin-Lichterfelde, SS File Globocnik, letter to Himmler, dated November 4, 1943. Ibid.

477

Supplementary Documents

Correspondence between Dr. Eberl and his wife Ruth1318 Letter from Dr. Eberl to his wife, July 30, 1942 SS-Untersturmführer Dr. med. Irmfried Eberl SS-Sonderkommando Treblinka B/Małkinia, Gen. Gouv. Treblinka, July 30, 42 My dear Ruth! A warm thank you and a kiss for your lovely letter. The letter, however, arrived too late. I waited for it for days. I am not sure if there is still a possibility to get some high boots. Therefore, I beg you in this letter to send me some as soon as possible in order to avoid losing some unrepeatable opportunity. What is more, I have not had any confirmation of receipt of the package. There is a big package and one smaller one—both addressed to you. I just hope that you have received everything now. It is really all I could send you, because we are living very frugally here.1319 I know that I have not written much to you lately, but I could not change that, since the last Warsaw weeks have been accompanied by an agitation that was unimaginable; likewise, here in Treblinka we have established a pace that is downright breathtaking. Even if I was in four parts and each day was 100 hours long, then this would probably also not be enough (...) By employing myself ruthlessly, I have nevertheless managed in the last days with only a half of the personnel to supervise my tasks. Of course, I have above all used my men ruthlessly whenever 1318 1319

Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Wiesbaden, 631a, 1631 (III/683/6, 149–150). This proves that deportees from Warsaw to Treblinka were not bringing much luggage with them. According to another letter, Eberl sent the items he mentions from Białystok on July 17, 1942, five days before the mass deportation of Warsaw Jews commenced.

478

necessary, and my men have pulled valiantly with me. And I am happy and proud of this achievement. (...) As you represent the beautiful side of my life, you should not know about everything. However you can be sure that I think about you very often, but there is no time saved for writing. When I was—during the last weeks—standing on my feet from the dawn to dusk and from dusk to dawn, sleeping at nights perhaps 3–4 hours, then I am collecting the rest of sleeping hours during the day and the bit of sleeping hours I have is in addition filled with the suffering brought by greenflies, fleas etc. which are sucking me. You can really believe me, that some more minutes which would serve for recovery would be welcomed. When I am with you—my best comrade—keeping these talks, then I think with you, feel with you and we are bound together, never covering you with dirt and mud. My nerves became made out of steel on those days. The possibility of failing my nerves seems to be unlikely and my physical breaking down is more unlikely. On the last days I was able to manage my tasks only with half of the personnel setting in my person untimely. Of course that I have also my unit settled in the untimely way to the places where needed and my unit received it with bravery. And I am proud and happy about this job. I just need some understanding also from your side. You cannot think that I perhaps not often and without a pleasure think about you. While the fleas are sucking me during the nights, then I often think about my nice homeland in Berlin. And when I daily make my throat warm by yelling, then I think about the silence and freedom of home. But the tasks, which are given to me, will be filled up absolutely and this is the most important thing. And my lovely darling, do not be angry at me when I am a little silent because I think about you very often, but I just cannot always write the letters. You should know that you represent the pleasant side of my life. Warm greetings and many, many kisses

479

Letter from Eberl to his wife Ruth, August 3, 19421320 Treblinka, August 3, 1942 My dear, my darling! I have luckily received your second letter. I was very pleased to hear from you again. The fact that the 2 packages have still not been delivered makes me very upset. They were sent on July 17, 42, from Białystok. I have the confirmation for shipping these packages.1321 Here, everything goes its own way. There was a big visit here on Saturday (August 1, 1942) which filled me with pride. I was highly complimented on this occasion and I am very happy about it.1322 You not need worry about my state of mind, which is, as always, good. When I write a little less often, or not at all, then the reason is too much work here, which is not giving me the necessary time, and duty calls. But it is sure that nevertheless I like to think about you very often. At present, it is sunny and hot again after a single day of rain. And now, my lovely darling, I greet you warmly and kiss you. Your Friedel

Letter to Eberl from his wife Ruth, August 24, 19421323 Mrs Ruth Eberl, née Rehm Department Leader, Women's Office of the DAF1324 Berlin-Schönberg, Innsbruck Straße 34. 1320 1321

1322

1323 1324

480

Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Wiesbaden, 631a, 1631 (III/683/7, 152–152). See Eberl's previous letter to his wife, dated July 30, 1942. The subject of parcels was one of the main topics in their correspondence. This sentence proves that at the beginning of August 1942 the camp was not yet in the state of chaos witnessed by Wirth and Oberhauser when they visited the camp on August 19, 1942. Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Wiesbaden, 631a, 1631, (III/683/8, 153). DAF: Deutsche Arbeitsfront, the German Labor Front under Dr. Robert Ley, the Nazi trade union organization. With 25 million members it was the biggest organization in Nazi Germany.

I. entrance, II. floor right Service address: Women’s office of the DAF, Berlin W 35, Potsdamer Straße. 180 Phone: 270012 Extension 564. Secr. Heidemann Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Westfälische Straße 1–3, Phone: 867381, extension 257 Management: Party Member Breuer.

-----------------------Berlin-Schöneberg, August 24, 1942. Dear Friedel! Well, with the end of your activity in Treblinka, you have finally received a nice official headed letter from your wife, since I am now an educated person (see your letter heading with SSUntersturmführer Dr. med. Irmfried Eberl, etc., etc.), and which gives you an exact address with personal data, so you can finally see what your wife does. You see, the drops keep falling on the stone and eternally correct letter headings make the libidinous woman educated (?) I am looking forward to your arrival. I send you warm greetings and kisses.

481

Appendix 1

Table of equivalent ranks

SS Reichsführer‐SS Oberstgruppenf ührer Obergruppenfü hrer Gruppenführer Brigadeführer Oberführer Standartenführe r Obersturmbann führer Sturmbannführ er Hauptsturmführ er Obersturmführe r Untersturmführ er Sturmscharführ er Stabsscharführe r Hauptscharführ er Oberscharführe r Scharführer

482

Sicherheitspolizei (Gestapo/Kripo)

Ordnungspolizei Schutzpolizei

British Army Field Marshal General

Generalleutnant

Lieutenant General Major General

Generalmajor

Brigadier

Oberst

Colonel

Oberregierungsrat u. Kriminaldirektor Regierungsrat u. Kriminalrat Kriminalkommissar

Oberstleutnant Major

Lieutenant Colonel Major

Hauptmann

Captain

Kriminalinspektor

Oberleutnant

Lieutenant

Untersturmführer

Leutnant

2nd Lieutenant

Kriminalsekretär

Meister

Kriminaloberassiste nt Kriminalassistent

Hauptwachtmeister

Regimental Sgt. Maj. Company Staff Sergeant Sergeant Major Q'master Sergeant

Reichskriminaldirek tor Kriminaldirigent Oberregierungsrat u. Kriminaldirektor Kriminaldirektor

Oberwachtmeister (Revierwachtmeiste r) Wachtmeister

Staff Sergeant

Sergeant

Unterscharführe r Rottenführer Oberschütze Sturmmann SS‐Mann

Fahnder

Corporal Lance Corporal Senior Private Private

483

APPENDIX 2

Glossary of Nazi terms Abteilung: A branch, section or sub-section of a main department or office (Hauptamt, Amtsgruppe or Amt, q.v.). Also a military or paramilitary unit of up to battalion strength, i.e. approx. 700 men. Allgemeine-SS: General body of the SS consisting of full-time, part-time and inactive or honorary members, as distinct from the Waffen-SS (q.v.). Amt (pl. Ämter): A directorate or an office of a ministry. Amtsgruppe: A branch of a Hauptamt (q.v.). Anschluss: Annexation of Austria to the German Reich in March 1938. Außenstelle/Außendienststelle: Out-station of an office, agency or ministry. Gau: One of 42 main territorial divisions of the Nazi Party. Gauleiter: The highest-ranking Party official in a Gau, responsible for all political and economic activity, mobilization of labor and civil defense. Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo): Secret State Police which became Amt IV of the RSHA (q.v.) in September 1939. Headed by SS-Obergruppenführer Heinrich Müller. Generalgouvernement: German–occupied Poland after its division with the Soviet Union on September 17, 1941. Hauptamt: A main or central office. Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer: Higher SS and Police Leader. Himmler's personal representative in each Wehrkreis (q.v.). Reich and liaison officer with the military and senior regional 484

authorities. Also established in the occupied territories. Nominally the commander of all SS and police units in his area. Kapo: A prisoner–functionary in the Nazi camps who was assigned by the SS-guards to supervise labor brigades, maintain discipline, and fulfil administrative tasks. Kinder-Aktion: (lit. “Children's Operation”: The deportation operation of children from Jewish Orphanages in Warsaw to Treblinka that began on August 6, 1942. Kommando: A brigade, squad or detail. Kommissariat: A Regional HQ of the police; also a political administration in the occupied eastern territories (e.g. Reichskommissariat Ukraine). Kreishauptmann: The Generalgouvernement.

principal

district

official

the

Kriminalpolizei (Kripo): Criminal Police, the plainclothes detective squads which together with the Gestapo formed the Sicherheitspolizei (q.v.). In 1939, the Kripo became Amt V of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) (q.v.). Headed by Reichskriminaldirektor/SS-Gruppenführer Arthur Nebe. Lagerälteste: Camp Elder, the senior prisoner in a Nazi camp. Leitstelle: A Regional HQ of the Gestapo or Kripo established at the HQ of a Wehrkreis (q.v.) or capital of a Land. Oberkapo: Senior Kapo in a Nazi camp. Ordnungspolizei (Orpo): Lit. “Order uniformed police, comprising the Gendarmerie (rural constabulary), and Fighting Police), together with certain services.

Police”. The regular Schutzpolizei (Schupo), Feuerschutzpolizei (Fire technical and auxiliary

Organisation Todt: A para-military government organization used mainly for the construction of strategic highways and military installations.

485

Reichsgau: One of 11 regions formed from territories annexed to the Reich. Referat: A sub-section within a Gruppe. Referent: The official in charge of a Referat. Reichsführer-SS: Reich Leader of the SS. Himmler's SS-title from June 1936. Reichskriminalpolizeiamt (RKPA): Berlin HQ of the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo) which in September 1939 became Amt V of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA). Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA): Reich Security Main Office, formed in September 1939 and combined the Sicherheitspolizei (Kripo and Gestapo) and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). It was both an SS-Hauptamt and a branch of the Reich Ministry of the Interior. Schutzpolizei (Schupo): Lit. “Protection Police”. The regular uniformed municipal constabulary forming the bulk of the Ordnungspolizei. Selbstschutz: A self-defense militia recruited from the German minority in Poland. Sicherheitsdienst (SD): Security Service. The intelligence branch of the SS, headed by SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich. Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo): Security Police, comprising the Kripo and the Gestapo, headed by SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich. Sonderkommando: A special unit of the SS employed for police and political tasks in occupied territories. (Also used to denote the special brigades of prisoners in the death camps who dealt with the corpses). SS-Leibstandarte „Adolf Hitler“: Hitler's bodyguard regiment. The oldest of the SS-militarized formations, formed in 1933. Commanded by SS-Obergruppenführer Joseph “Sepp” Dietrich.

486

SS-und Polizeiführer: SS and Police Leader. In command of a District in the eastern occupied territories, subordinate to the Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer (q.v.). Standarte: SS or SA formation approximately equivalent to a regiment, i.e. circa 3,000 men. Sturmabteilung (SA): Lit. “Storm Detachment”, also called the “Brown Shirts”. The original Nazi para-military organization founded in 1921. Sturmbann: An SS or SA unit approximately equivalent to a battalion, i.e. 750–1,000 men. Volksdeutsche: Ethnic Germans. SS-Totenkopfverbände: SS-“Death's Head” units which guarded the concentration camps. In 1939 they formed the nucleus of the SS-Totenkopf Division, one of the first field formations of the Waffen-SS (q.v.). SS-Verfügungstruppen: The pre-war militarized formations of the SS, renamed the Waffen-SS in 1939. Vorarbeiter: Foreman of a team of workers. Waffen-SS: Fully militarized SS formations. Initially composed of the SS-Verfügungstruppen and the SS-Totenkopf units. During World War II it comprised of 40 Divisions, including nonGerman units. Wehrkreis: A military region, usually indicated on maps by a Roman numeral. Wehrmacht: The German Armed Forces comprised of the Heer (Army), Kriegsmarine (Navy) and Luftwaffe (Air Force). Werterfassung: Acquisition of Valuables. A unit set up in the Warsaw Ghetto to sort the belongings of the Jews deported to Treblinka, headed by SS-Hauptsturmführer Franz Konrad. Wirtschaftsund Verwaltungshauptamt (WVHA): Administration and Economic Main Office of the SS, formed from the SS-Hauptamt Haushalt- und Bauten in 1940. Headed by 487

SS-Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl, the WVHA supervised the SS economic enterprises and administered the concentration camps.

488

APPENDIX 3

Alphabetical List of Trawniki-Männer ―Treblinka Chief of the Trawniki-Männer Guards ROGOZA, Boris

Ukrainian Guards

KOROTKIKH, Dimitry Nikolayevich

ANDREYEV

KOSTENKO

BONDARENKO, Mikolaj

KULAK, Nikolay

BONDAVE, Peter

KURINNOY, Ivan

BORODIN, Dimitry CHERNIAVSKY, Volodymir

KUZMINSKY, Ananiy Grigoryevich

DAVYDENKO

LEBEDENKO, Nikolay

DIMITRENKO, Piotr

LELEKO, Pavel

DOZENKO, Denis

LEVCHISHIN, Filip

DUSHENKO, Fyodor

LYACHENKO

FEDORENKO, Fedor

MAKODA, Nikolay

GONCHAROV, Pyotr

MALAGON, Nikolay

GONZURAL, Mikolay

MANCHUK

GORBACHOV

MARCHENKO, Ivan

GOVOROV

MARTOSZENKO, Moisei

GRIGORCHUK, Pavel

MELNIK, Theodozy

ILIICHUK

MILUTIN, Alexej

JAWOROW, Fedor

NIDOSRELOW, Mikolaj

JELENSCHUK, Wasil

ONOPRIJENKO, Daniel

489

OSYCZANSKI, Mikolaj

SKAKODUB, Nikolay

PARASCHENKO, Alexander

SKYDAN, Grigoriy

PARFINYUK, Yevdokim PAYEVSCHHIK, Nikolay PILMAN

STREBEL, Oswald TEREKHOV, Ivan TKACHUK, Ivan

POLAKOW, Leon

TSCHERNIEWSKY, Wladimir

PRITS, Samuel

UNRAU, Jakob

RITTICH, Alexander

VASILENKO, Sergey

ROBERTUS

VEDERNIKOV

RUBEZ, Grigory

VOLOSHENKO, Alexander

RUDENKO, Wasil

WASILENKO, Iwan

RYABEKA, Fyodor

WOLOSZYN, Wasil

RYABTSEV, Prokofiy

WORONKOW, Vasily

SCHEFFLER, Mikolay

YEGER, Alexander

SHILOV

YELENCHUK, Vasily

SCHISCHAJEW, Wasil

ZAVIDENKO, Trofim

SCHMIDKIN, Iwan SCHULTZ, Alexander SCHULTZ, Emanuel Genrikhov SENIK, Nikolay SENYKOW, Mikolay SHALAYEV, Nikolay SHEVCHENKO, Ivan SHVIDKOY, Ivan

490

APPENDIX 4

Alphabetical List of German and Volksdeutsche Guards at Treblinka Penal Labor Camp Commandant VAN EUPEN, Theodor. Born on April 24, 1907, in Düsseldorf. His SS Number was 4528. He commanded the Treblinka Labor Camp which came under the control of the SS and Police Leader for the Warsaw District. He was killed in action by partisans on December 14, 1944, and was buried in Jedrzejow, Poland. German and Volksdeutsche Guards DINGELMANN

ROGE, Johann

GUTHARD, Emil

SAUER

HAGEN, Erwin

SCHOTTMANN, Franz

HEINBUCH, Hans

SCHWARZ

HINZE,Werner

STUMPFE, Herbert

KRAUSE, Karol

SWIDERSKI, Franz

LANZ, Franz Leopold

VELTEN, Willi

LEMKE, Werner

WEISSHAAR, Wilhelm

LINDECKE

WERHAN

MITTER, Alexander MITTER, Josef MOEBIS PREFI, Karl

491

492

IIustrations and Sources

Most of the illustrations in this edition are part of the author’s private archive. The images are a mixture of original historic photographs and contemporary photographs taken on a number of visits to Treblinka by the author. Images from the former death camp and the surrounding area have been included to enrich this publication. I am grateful to Warren Grynberg for the photograph of Israel Yitschak Grynberg from Losice, Karen Treiger for the photograph of her relative Sam Goldberg from Stoczek and Malka Silver for the photograph of Chaim Sztager hiding in the forest after his escape from Treblinka. The historic photographs of Treblinka death camp are from the Ghetto Fighters House Archive in Israel.

493

Treblinka Death Camp Historical Photographs

Fig. 5: Franz Stangl and Kurt Franz outside German Barracks. © Ghetto Fighters House Israel. Printed with kind permission.

Fig. 6: Franz Stangl and visitor – Camp Entrance rear of the photo. © Ghetto Fighters House Israel. Printed with kind permission. 496

Historical Photographs

500

502

Modern Day Photographs

505

507

508

510

511

512

513

514

Maps, Documents and Drawings

This section contains a number of new copies of documents that have been found by the author since the first edition was published in 2014. I am extremely grateful to the Holocaust Historical Society for access to their archive, as well as the Bundesarchiv, Yad Vashem, the National Archives in Prague, and Kew, as well as the Wiener Library in London.

516

517

518

Doc. 3: Trawniki Manner To Stutthof KZ. Yad Vashem (YVA 051-70).

519

Doc. 4: Trawniki Manner To Stutthof KZ. Yad Vashem (YVA 051-70). 520

Doc. 5: Letter from Dr Grassler in Warsaw – Arrested Jews to Treblinka. Yad Vashem (YVA 051-248).

521

Doc. 6: Closure of Treblinka Station to normal traffic. Holocaust Historical Society.

522

Doc 7: Arbeitslager Treblinka – List of Trawniki Manner. Holocaust Historical Society

523

Doc. 8: August Hengst Fragebogen. Holocaust Historical Society.

524

Doc. 9: Erwin Lambert – Extract from Personnel File. Yad Vashem (YVA 068-722).

525

Doc. 10: Report by Globocnik on Richard Thomalla. Yad Vashem (YVA 068-845).

526

Doc. 11: Karl Unger –Transport List Theresienstadt-Treblinka. National Archives Prague.

527

Doc. 12: Unger Family Transportation List. National Archives Prague.

528

Doc. 13: Fahrplananordnung 552 – Bialystok – Treblinka. Holocaust Historical Society.

529

Doc. 14: Nowoczesna Restauracju Advert – Szpilman and Gold performing. Holocaust Historical Society.

530

Doc. 15: Treblinka Penal Camp Notice. Holocaust Historical Society.

531

Doc. 16: Fahrplan 594. Holocaust Historical Society.

532

Doc. 17: Kurt Franz – Extract from Personnel File. Holocaust Historical Society courtesy of NARA Washington DC.

533

Doc. 18: Matzig Letter to Streibel at Trawniki. Holocaust Historical Society.

534

Doc. 19: Bauleitung Trawniki Letter. Holocaust Historical Society.

535

Doc. 20: Treblinka Waybill 1943. Yad Vashem (YVA 051-70).

536

Doc. 21: Treblinka Waybill. Holocaust Historical Society.

537

Doc. 22: Treblinka Waybill Vehicles. Holocaust Historical Society.

538

Doc. 23: Treblinka Waybill signed by Kuttner. Holocaust Historical Society.

539

Selected Bibliography ADLER, Stanisław: In The Warsaw Ghetto 1940–1943—The Memoirs of Stanisław Adler, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1982. ARAD, Yitzhak: Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka—The Aktion Reinhard Death Camps, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987. ----------: Bełżec, Sobibór. Treblinka: vyhlazovací tábory akce Reinhard, BB/art, Prague 2006 (transl. Luděk Vacín). BAEDEKER, Karl: Das General Gouvernement Reisehandbuch, Karl Baedeker Verlag, Leipzig 1943. BERGER, Sara: Experten der Vernichtung: das T4 Reinhardt –Netwerk in den Lagern Bełżec, Sobibór und Treblinka, Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung, Hamburg 2013. BLACK, Peter: “Foot Soldiers of the Final Solution,” in: Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1987. BLATT, Thomas (Toivi): Sobibór—The Forgotten Revolt, H.E.P Issaquah 1998. ----------: Sobibór—Zapomniane powstanie, Muzeum Pojezerza Łęczyńsko-Włodawskiego we Włodawie, Włodawa 2010. BÖHM, Dr. Boris: Nationalsozialistische Euthanasiaverbrechen in Sachsen, Kuratorium Gedenkstätte Sonnenstein, Dresden/Pirna 1996. ----------: Sonnenstein, Kuratorium Gedenkstätte Sonnenstein, Booklet No. 3, Pirna 2001. BURBA, Dr. Manfred: Treblinka: Ein NS—Vernichtungslager im Rahmen der Aktion Reinhard, Pachnike, Göttingen 2000. CHROSTOWSKI, Witold: Extermination Vallentine, Mitchell, London 2004.

Camp

Treblinka,

540

COWDERY, Ray, VODENKA, Peter: Assassination, USM Inc., Lakeville 1994.

Reinhard

Heydrich

CYMLICH, Israel, STRAWCZYŃSKI, Oskar: Escaping Hell in Treblinka, The Holocaust Survivors’ Memoirs Project, New York/Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 2007. CZARKOWSKI, Ryszard: Cieniom Treblinki, Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, Warsaw 1989. CZECH, Danuta: Auschwitz Chronicle 1939–1945, Henry Holt, New York 1997. DONAT, Alexander: The Death Camp Treblinka—A Documentary, Holocaust Library, New York 1979. EDELMAN, Marek: The Ghetto Fights—Warsaw 1941–1943, Bookmarks, London 1990. ENGELKING, Barbara, LEOCIAK Jacek: The Warsaw Ghetto—A Guide to the Perished City, Yale University Press, New Haven/London 2009. FREIBERG, Dov: To Survive Sobibór, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem and New York 2007. FRIEDLANDER, Henry: The Origins of Nazi Genocide—From Euthanasia to the Final Solution, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London 1995. FRIEDLER Eric, SIEBERT, Barbara, KILIAN, Andreas: Svědkové z továrny na smrt: historie a svědectví židovského sonderkommanda v Osvětimi, Rybka Publishers, Prague 2007. GILBERT, Martin: The Holocaust—The Jewish Tragedy, William Collins, London 1987. GLAZAR, Richard: Die Fälle mit dem grünen Zaun—Überleben in Treblinka, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt-am-Main 1992. ----------: Trap with a Green Fence—Surviving Treblinka, Northwestern University Press, Evanston 1999.

541

----------: Treblinka, slovo jak z dětské říkanky, G plus G, Prague 2007. GRABHER, Michael: Irmfried Eberl, Euthanasie-Arzt und Kommandant von Treblinka, Peter Lang, Frankfurt-am-Main 2006. GROSSMAN, Vasily: The Treblinka Hell—Photographic Album of Martyrs, Heroes and Executioners, Gerhon Aharoni, Jerusalem 1984. GULCZYŃSKI, Janusz: Obóz śmierci w Chełmnie nad Nerem, Wojewódski Ośrodek Kultury, Konin 1991. GUMKOWSKI, J: Treblinka, Council for the Protection of Combat and Martyrdom Monuments, Warsaw 1961. (Dual-language English and German edition). GUTMAN, Jisrael: The Jews of Warsaw 1939–1943, The Harvester Press, Brighton 1982. HILBERG, Raul: Die Vernichtung der europäischen Juden, vol. 2, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt-am-Main 1990. HILBERG, Raul, STARON, Stanisław, KERMISZ, Josef: The Warsaw Diary of Adam Czeniakow, Elephant Paperbacks, 1999. HOFFMANN, Dr. Ute; SCHULZE, Dietmar: Gedenkstätte Bernburg, Dessau 1997. JORGENSEN, Torben: Stiftelsen—Bolerne fra Aktion Reinhardt, Gyldendals Bogklubber, Gylling, Denmark 2003. KAPLAN, Chaim: A. Scroll of Agony—The Warsaw Diary of Chaim. A. Kaplan, Hamish Hamilton, London 1966. KASSOW, Samuel D: Who Will Write Our History? Rediscovering a Hidden Archive from the Warsaw Ghetto, Vintage Books, New York 2009. KERMISH, Joseph: To Live With Honour and To Die With Honour! Selected Documents from the Warsaw Ghetto Underground “O. S.” (Oneg Shabbath), Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1986.

542

KLEE, Ernst: Was sie taten—Was sie wurden: Ärzte, Juristen und andere Beteiligte am Kranken- oder Judenmord, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt-am-Main 1986. ----------: Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt-am-Main 2007. KLEE, Ernst, DRESSEN, Willi, RIESS, Volker (eds.): Schöne Zeiten—Judenmord aus der Sicht der Täter und Gaffer, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt-am-Main 1988. ----------: The Good Old Days—The Holocaust as Seen by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders, Hamish Hamilton, London 1991. KOGON, Eugen: Der SS-Staat: Das System der deutschen Konzentrationslager, Verlag Karl Alber, Munich 1946. ----------: The Theory and Practice of Hell—The German Concentration Camps and the System Behind Them, Secker and Warburg, London 1950. KOGON, Eugen, LANGBEIN, Hermann, RÜCKERL, Adalbert: Nationalsozialistische Massentötungen durch Giftgas—Eine Dokumentation, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt-amMain 1995. ----------: Nazi Mass Murder—A Documentary History of the Use of Poison Gas, Yale University Press, New Haven 1993. KOPÓWKA, Edward: Treblinka—Nigdy więcej! Muzeum Walki i Meczęństwa w Treblince, Siedlce 2002. KRANZ, Tomasz: Extermination of Jews at the Majdanek Concentration Camp, Państwowe Muzeum na Majdanku, Lublin 2007. KUPERHAND, Miriam, KUPERHAND, Saul: Shadows Treblinka, University of Illinois Press, Champaign 1996.

LAMPER Ivan; ŠMÍDOVÁ Jana: Jsem dnes jediný na světě, in: Respekt, vol. 7/1995. LANZMANN, Claude: Shoah—An Oral History of the Holocaust, Pantheon Books, New York 1986. 543

LEWIN, Abraham: A Cup of Tears—A Diary of the Warsaw Ghetto, Fontana/Collins, London 1990. LONGERICH, Peter: The Unwritten Order, Tempus, Stroud 2001. LUBLING, Yoram: Twice Dead—The Ethics of Memory and the Treblinka Revolt, Peter Lang, New York 2007. POPRZECZNY, Joseph: Hitler's Man in the East—Odilo Globocnik, McFarland, 2004. RAJCHMAN, Chil: Treblinka—A Survivors Memory, Maclehose Press, London 2011. ----------: The Last Jew of Treblinka—A Memoir, Pegasus, Cambridge 2011. RASHKE, Richard: Escape from Sobibór, University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago 1995. REITLINGER, Gerald: The Final Solution, Vallentine, Mitchell, London 1953. RHODES, Richard: Masters of Death—The Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust, Vintage Books, New York 2003. RUSINIAK—Karwat, Martyna: Obóz zagłady Treblinka II w pamięci społecznej 1943–89, Neriton, Warsaw 2008. SCHÄFER, J.: Kurt Gerstein—Zeuge des Holocaust: Ein Leben zwischen Bibelkreisen und SS. Luther-Verlag, Bielefeld 1999. SCHELVIS, Jules: Sobibór—A History of a Nazi Death Camp, Berg, Oxford and New York 2007. SCHILTER, Thomas: Unmenschliches Ermessen—Die nationalsozialistische Euthanasie-Tötungsanstalt Pirna-Sonnenstein 1940/1941, Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Leipzig 1999. SCHÖNBERNER, Gerhard: The Yellow Star, Corgi Books, London 1978. SERENY, Gitta: Into That Darkness—From Mercy Killing to Mass Murder, André Deutsch, London 1974.

544

SMITH, Lyn: Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust—True Stories of Survival from Men, Women and Children Who Were There, Ebury Press, London 2006. SMITH, Mark S: Treblinka Survivor—The Life and Death of Hershl Sperling, The History Press, Stroud 2010. STROOP, Jürgen: The Stroop Report: The Jewish Quarter In Warsaw Is No More! Pantheon Books, New York 1979. TEICHOLZ, Tom: The Trial of Ivan the Terrible, Saint Martin's Press, New York 1990. TRĘBICKI, W: Treblinka 1996, Muzeum Walki i Męczeństwa w Treblince/Oddział Muzeum Regionalnego w Siedlcach 1996. (Polish, English and German editions). TREGENZA, Michael: „Christian Wirth: Inspekteur der SSSonderkommandos Aktion Reinhard, in: Zeszyty Majdanka, vol. XXVI, Lublin 1992. TREIGER, Karen I: My Soul is Filled with Joy, Stare Lipki Press, Seattle 2018. WEBB, Chris, HOJAN, Artur, MUNRO, Cameron, Postcards From The Past, H.E.A.R.T. Publication 2009. WEINSTEIN, Edi: Quenched Steel—The Story of an Escape from Treblinka (ed. N. Lasman), Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 2002. ----------: 17 Days in Treblinka—Daring to Resist and Refusing to Die (ed. N. Lasman), Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 2008. WILLENBERG, Samuel: Surviving Treblinka, Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1989. ------------: Revolt in Treblinka, Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 1992. ------------: Treblinka: Lager—Revolte—Flucht—Warschauer Aufstand, Unrast Verlag, Münster 2009. WISTRICH, Robert: Who's Who in Nazi Germany, Routledge, London 1995. 545

ZĄBECKI, Franciszek: Wspomnienia dawne i nowe, PAX, Warsaw 1977.

General Reference Encyclopaedia of Camp’s and Ghetto’s 1933-1945, USHMM, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis 2012.

Private Papers LAPONDER, Peter: Reconstructing Treblinka Death Camp, Cape Town 2000. WEBB, Chris: The ARC Trips to Poland 2002 and 2004 (Holocaust Historical Society).

Archival sources Bundesarchiv, Berlin, Germany. Chris Webb Archive, Whitehill, UK. Chronicles of Terror—Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and Valor Ghetto Fighters House, Israel. Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Wiesbaden, Germany. Holocaust Historical Society, UK. Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), Warsaw, Poland. Landgericht Düsseldorf, Germany. Landgericht Hamburg, Germany. NIOD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Michal Chocholatý, Pilsen, Czech Republic. Mike Tregenza Archive, Lublin, Poland. National Archives Kew (London), UK. National Archives, Prague, Czech Republic. 546

National Archives, Washington, DC, USA. Osrodek Dokumentacji Dziejow Częstochowy. Regional Museum, Siedlce, Poland. Schloss Kalkum Archiv, Düsseldorf, Germany. Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, Chemnitz, Germany. Tall Trees Archives, UK. USC Shoah Foundation Institute, USA. United States Holocaust Washington, DC, USA.

Memorial

Museum

(USHMM),

Volksbund Deutsche Kreigsgräberfürsorge, Kassel, Germany. Wiener Library, London, UK. Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel. ZIH, Warsaw, Poland.

Websites Artcult.com—online resource Bundesarchiv.de/ gedenkbuch-online resource Culture.pl. –online resource Częstochwajews.org—online resource deathcamps.org (ARC)-online resource Find a Grave –online resource ghetto.pl (Warsaw Ghetto Database) –online resource Historyillustratedmagazine.com—online resource Holocaust.cz. –online resource Holocausthistoricalsociety –online resource holocaustresearchproject.org (H.E.A.R.T.) –online resource Jewishgen- online resource 547

JewishSiedlce—online resource The Nizkor Project (Complete Eichmann Trial Transcripts) –online resource The World Society of Częstochowa Jews- online resource Treblinka Extermination Camp –online group Upn.gov.sk Wiezniowie Pawiaka –online resouce Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims Names –online resource

Zapisyterroru.pl (Chronicles of Terror Witold Pilecki Center for Totalitarian Studies –online resource Television Documentaries Death Camp Treblinka—Survivor Stories—2012. Despite Treblinka, ORT—Uruguay University 2002. Treblinka’s Last Witness—Samuel Willenberg—2014. “Who Do You Think You Are”—Judge Robert Rinder, BBC Television, August 2018.

548

Acknowledgements

ABDO, Alexander (Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Wiesbaden, Germany) ABSOLON, Peter ARORA, Surinder BEIER, Undine (Bundesarchiv, Berlin-Lichterfelde, Germany) BIEDKA, Lukasz BLATT, Thomas BÖHM, Dr. Boris (Sonnenstein Memorial, Pirna) BORGERT, Dr. Heinz Ludger (Hauptstaatsarchiv Ludwigsburg, Germany) BOSEM, Neta BOSEM (née ROSENBERG, Rivka) CAHN, David (Yad Vashem) CONSTANDY, Michal (Westmoreland Research, USA) Mgr DVORAKOVA, Ilona (Narodni Archive, Prague) EPSTEIN, Pinchas FELDMAN, Professor Matthew FERRERO, Shaul (Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel) FRÖHLICH, Pavla GILBERT, Sir Martin GLAZAR, Richard GRABHER, Michael GROSMAN, Judy (Ghetto Fighters House, Israel) GRYNBERG, Warren HALPERN, Cindy HARDT, Miriam (Wiener Library, London, UK) HERMANEK, Mgr Pavel (Czech Military Archive Prague) HOFFMANN, Dr. Ute (Gedenkstätte Bernburg, Germany) HOJAN, Ada HOJAN, Artur (T4 Team, Poznań, Poland) JAROS, Marek (Wiener Library, London, UK) KAHN, Vivian KATZ, Lilli-Mai 549

KOPÓWKA, Edward (Muzeum Walki i Męczeństwa w Treblince, Poland) KRALCAK, Mgr. Peter (Military History Archive Bratislava) KUBIS, Pawel KUSNIERCZYK, Andrzej KUWAŁEK, Robert LAPONDER, Peter LAWSON, Professor Tom LEWKOWICZ, Frieda LISCIOTTO, Carmelo MAYER, Linda MORROW, Kevin, Historical Researcher MOSCOVITZ, Emmanuelle MOSER, Lutz (Bundesarchiv, Berlin) MÜHLBERGER, Tania Helene MÜLLER, Dr. Jörg (Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, Dresden, Germany) MUNRO, Cameron NIXON, Tom O'NEIL, Dr. Robin OREN, Zvika PARZER, Robert PASZKOWSKI, Wiesław PETERS, Michael POULSEN, John Ulrich RACHMILEVITCH, Noam (Ghetto Fighters House, Israel) RAVELOVÁ, Irena ROBSON, Gaynor ROSENBERG, Eliahu ROTENBURG, Dr. Dov RUTHERFORD, Billy SCHULZE, Dietmar (Gedenkstätte Bernburg, Germany) SCHWARZ, Dr. Ursula (DÖW, Vienna, Austria) SETOWSKI Juliusz SILBER, Malka SILBERKLANG, David SPYRAKIS, Heather SPYRAKIS, Mark 550

STEINBERG, Jerry TAIGMAN, Yaniv TEIGMAN, Kalman TREGENZA, Michael TREIGER, Karen, Seattle, USA WEBB, John WEBB, Shirley WEINSTEIN, Edi WILLENBERG, Ada WILLENBERG, Samuel WITTE, Peter ZIEMER, Daniel ZEGLER, Mary ZIKES, Josef: Central Military Archive, Prague ZVIKA, Oren (Ghetto Fighters House, Israel)

551

Index of Names A Abraham, 188 Abraham, Paula 384 Abramowicz, Reizl 295 Adas (See Adolf Friedman), 121122, 188, 304 Adlerfligel, Abram 295 Adolf (owner of a chocolate factory), 295 Adrian, Dr. 295 Ajzenberg, Azriel 295 Ajzenberg, Chana 296 Ajzenberg, Chana 295 Ajzenwasser, Henia 296 Alexander, 296 Alexander, Caroline 384 Allers, Dieter 449 Altenloh, Wilhelm 229 Altman, Abraham 296 Altman, Sara 296 Altman, Sara (Kveler) 296 Altmann, Emma 384 Altschul, Robert 120, 296 Andreyev, 251, 489 Andrzej, 136 Anker, Joseph 296 Ankier, Abram 296 Ankier, Hanna 297 Ankier, Israel 297 Ankier, Tzirel 296 Apelbaum, Josek 297 Apelboim, Khaim 297 Arad, Yitzhak 6, 192 Arbeiter, Hugara 297 Arbeiter, Yitzchak 297 Arensburg, Ida 384 Arndt, Ernst 297 Arndt, Kurt 439 Arndt, Siegmund 384 Aron, Albert 384

552

Aron, Berta 384 Askerbaum, Henryk 297 Auerbach, Hela 385 Auerbach, Rachel 40, 277 Auerswald, Dr. Heinz 33 Aufrichtig, Biene 298 Aufrichtig, Fanni 298 Aufrichtig, Regina 298 Augustyniak, Czesław 265 Awroblanski, Chaim 298 Awroblanski, Fruma 298 Axer, Dr. Filip 298 Azrylewicz, Henryk 298-299 Azrylewicz- Sztokman, Rosa 299

B Bach, Elisabeth 385 Bach, Helene 385 Bach, Karolina 385 Bacharach, Martha 385 Bacharach, Max 385 Bachner, Adolf 299 Bachner, Kurt 299 Bachner, Lilly 299 Back, Eugen 299 Back, Moritz 385 Badrian, Emil 385 Baedeker, Karl 11 Baer, Rudolf 440 Baer, Sarah 385 Bak, Dr. P 299, 358 Bamberger, Anna 386 Bantel, Maria 429 Bar, Abraham 386 Barak, Ehud 321 Barry (St. Bernard dog), 40, 127128, 163, 170, 226, 257, 348, 438 Bart, Tadeusz 299

Bauer, Erich 445, 449, 463 Bau-Prussak, Salomea 300 Baum, Julie 386 Beck, Dr. 300 Beckerle, Adolf 229 Beda, 300 Behrend, Israel 386 Bendorf, Moses 386 Benner, 470 Berger, Oskar 39, 265 Berger, Sara 420 Bergman, Albert 386 Bergman, Moisze 300 Bergman, Sara 300 Berkowicz, Yechiel 78-79, 265266, 268 Berliner, Aaron 301 Berliner, Meier 66, 188, 301, 440, 461 Bernsztein, Icchak 301 Bertman, Baszka 301 Bertman, Batia 302 Bertman, Erszko 301 Bertman, Ester 301 Bertman, Ester 302 Bertman, Feiga 301 Bertman, Feiga 302 Bertman, Feigel 301 Bertman, Gerszko 302 Bertman, Herschel 302 Bertman, Jakow 302 Bertman, Khinke 302 Bertman, Szejna 302 Bertman, Szepsel 302 Bertman, Szlomo 302 Bertman, Yaakov 301 Biedka, Lukasz 136 Biela, Max 65-66, 119, 156, 169, 179, 188, 236, 301, 440, 461 Birnbaum, David 302 Birnbaum, Ludwika 302 Birnbaum, Petr 302 Blankenburg, Werner 88 Blanket, Moshe 303 Blau, Adele 265

Blau, Alexander 303 Blau, Karl 129, 265-266 Blaufuks, Aharon 303 Blaustein, Necha 386 Blechschmied, Ludwig 470-471 Bleich, Fritz 470-471 Blobel, Paul 63, 86 Bloch, Zoltan (Żelo, Żelomír) 108-109, 112, 118-119, 188, 296, 303, 308, 317, 456 Blogg, Julius 386 Blum, Elsie 386 Blumenrath, Martha 387 Blumenthal, Josef 387 Blumenthal, Lina 387 Bodnik, Efraam 304 Bodnik, Leibisch 304 Boehm (Böhm), Alfred 122, 304 Boley, Emma 387 Bölitz, Willi 53, 169, 186, 440-441 Bomba, Abraham 28, 78-79, 9495, 266, 268, 279, 311, 357, 364 Bomba, Berl 266 Bomba, Reizl 266 Bondarenko, Mikołaj 489 Bondave, Peter 489 Bondy, Sara 387 Boninger, Netta 387 Bonsztein, Tadeusz 305 Boorstein, Moshe 266, 278 Bootz, Helmut 441 Boraks, Edek 304 Boraks, Gustav 94, 267 Boraks, Pinhas 267 Boraks, Yossef 267 Borenstein, Berl 305 Borenstein, Meyer 305 Bormann, Martin 456 Borodin, Dimitry 489 Borowi, Czesław 211 Borowski, Naftali 387 Borowski, Werner 441 Borzykowska, Helia 305 Borzykowska, Luba 305 Borzykowska, Raquel 306

553

Borzykowska, Ruhla 306 Bosem, Neta 157-158, 160, 165166 Bosem, Rivka 156, 165 Bouhler, Philipp 427, 431 Brack, Viktor 431, 447 Brandes, Pauline 387 Brandt, Dr. Karl 427, 431 Brandt, Karl-Georg 210 Brasch, Emma 388 Brat, David 306 Bratman, Hershl 306 Bratman, Nache 306 Bratman, Natalia 306 Bredow, Paul 129-130, 137, 441442 Bree, Max 442 Breiter, Max 306 Breiter, Yitzchok 306 Brenner, Henryk (Henry) 267, 276, 278 Brinitzer, Sally 388 Broger, 307 Broniatowska, 336 Brothandel, Zigmund 267 Bruckmann, Rosa 388 Bruckner, Bruno 442 Bruckner, Margarete 425 Bühler Brothers 429 Bühler, Dr. Josef 2 Burckel, Josef 420 Burg, Hans 307 Bulkowstein, Adek 267 Bulkowstein, Lila 267 Bulkowstein, Malka 268 Burstein, Lolek 307 Burstein, Mark 307 Bursztyn, David 307 Bursztyn, Gisza (Galina) 307 Bursztyn, Shmuel 307 Buzyn, Regina 308 Buzyn, Syszko 308

554

C Cahn, Martha 388 Camhi, Matilda 308 Centawer, Henriette 388 Cescha - (See Tchechia Mendel) 308 Chaskiel, 150, 308, 313, 354, 361 Cherniavsky, Volodymir 489 Chilinowicz, Ben-Zion 308 Chocholatý, Michal 154-155 Chorażycki, Dr. Julian 108-112, 169, 308-309, 340-341, 358 Ciechanowski, Chaim 268 Ciechanowski, Lejzer 268 Cienki Brothers, 268 Claude, Julius 309 Claudeova, Selma 309 Cohen, Amalie 388 Cohn, Laura 388 Comber, Dr. Lipman 309 Conti, Leonardo 431 Cooperman, Yechezkel 78-79, 266, 268 Cukierman, Cypa 309 Cukierman, Cypora 309 Cymlich, Israel 15, 17, 20 Czarkowski, Ryszard 34-35, 196-197, 204 Czarny, Józef 90, 144, 187, 268 Czechowicz, Aaron 269, 310 Czechowicz, Halinka 310 Czerniaków, Adam 188, 206, 424

D Danziger, Magda 388 Danziger, Samuel 389 David, Yitzhak 310 Davydenko, 489 Defrisova, Helena 310 Demajo, Salomon 389

Demjanjuk, Ivan (John) 7, 100, 159-160, 240-242, 252, 267, 269-270, 278, 282, 284 Deutelbaum, Rudolf 310 Deutelbaumova, Eva 310 Deutelbaumlova, Ilona 310 Deutsch, Benn 310 Diamant, Josef 311 Diamant, Nachum 269, Dieckhoff, Bendix 389 Dieckhoff, Lina 389 Dilloff, Philipp 389 Dimant, Heine 389 Dimitrenko, Piotr 489 Dingelmann, 491 Dollfuss, Chancellor 427, 435 Domb, Jakob 269 Donat, Alexander 172, 281 Donath, Jan 311 Donath, Pavel 311 Donathova, Jana 311 Donatova, Katherina 311 Dorfman, Shlomo 311 Dorfmann, Ruth 312 Dozenko, 489 Drucker, Zdenek 312 Dub, Karel 312 Dubova, Frantiska 312 Dusenesova, Berta 313 Dusenesova, Kamilla 313 Dushenko, Fyodor 489 Duszenko, Franciszek 133 Dyrenfurth, Margarete 389 Dzialoszynski, Alfred 313

E Eberl, Dr. Irmfried 8, 32-34, 4347, 52, 63, 144, 177-178, 204, 234-235, 237, 426-429, 435436, 440, 444, 478, 480-481 Eberl, Josef Franz 427 Eberl, Josefine 427 Eberl, Ruth, née Rehm 33, 428, 478, 480

Ebert (an Engineer from Warsaw) 313 Edelbaum, Cira 389 Edek (The Little) 313, 322 Ehrlich, Bertha 389 Eichmann, Adolf 2, 71, 87, 218, 221, 231-234, 279, 284, 289, 293, 349, 469, 475 Eichmann, Flora 390 Eichner, Daniel 314 Eichwald, Alfred 390 Eidenbock, Theresa 435 Einschlag, David 390 Einschlag, Hedwig 390 Einschlag, Wanda 390 Einshindler, Israel 269-270 Eisner, Jakob 270, 283 Eisold, Johannes 442 Eljaszewicz, Nachum 314 Emmerich, Hilma 471 Emmerich, Rudolf 128, 471 Engel, Abraham 314 Engel, Perla 314 Epelbaum, Beryl 314 Epelbaum, Faigel 314 Epelbaum, Freidel 314 Epelbaum, Leonard 314 Epelbaum, Riva 314 Epelbaum, Ruzia 314 Ephroimson, Lila 315 Epstein, David 67, 270 Epstein, Pinchas 66-67, 100, 102, 143, 155-156, 159-164, 166167, 171, 270 Erdensohn, Ida 390 Erlichman, Chana 315 Ermann, Klara 390 Ettinger, Moshe 315 Eupen, Theodor van 12, 17, 215, 491 Examus, Emmy 390

555

F Faber, Victor 390 Falk, Clara 390 Falska, Maria 335 Farber, David 315 Farber, Mordechai 315 Farber, Ytzchak 315 Feder, Robert 315 Fedorenko, Fedor 7, 68, 102, 118, 239-240, 247, 252, 267, 269-270, 278, 283, 290, 489 Feigmann, David 391 Feigmann, Gunther 391 Feigmann, Harald 391 Feigmann, Klara 391 Feigmann, Waldemar 391 Feist, Selma 391 Feldman, David 316 Feldman, Toibe 316 Feldmann, Abraham 391 Felfe, Hermann 442, 443 Felman, Sarah (Rivka) 316 Felner, Avraham 316 Feucht, Adolf 339 Feuser, Johannes 134 Finkelstein, Fruma 316 Finkelstein, Leon 270 Finkelstein, Samuel 316 Finkelstein, Shumel 316 Fischbein, Ida 391 Fischbein, Klara 391 Fischer, Irma 316 Fischer, Dr. Ludwig 12, 35 Fischleber, Fanny 391 Fischman, Michał 217, 285 Fiszelevic, Menukha 316 Fiszelevic, Mindul 316 Flint, Dawid 316 Flint, Fruma 316 Florian, Alfred 443 Floss, Erich Herbert 86, 162, 238, 443-444, 464 Fojgenbaum, Szmul 316 Folkenflick, Nekha 317

556

Folkenflick, Rachmiel 317 Forker, Alfred 444 Frank, Dr. Hans 2 Frankel, Karoline 392 Franz, Kurt Hubert (Lalka) (Buba) 8, 40, 50, 52-53, 59, 6466, 73, 75-76, 80, 83, 87, 90, 104-105, 110-112, 117, 127128, 130, 134, 142, 163-164, 169, 172, 188, 225, 227-228, 236, 246, 255, 257-259, 266, 269, 273-274, 287, 290, 309, 322, 348, 357, 362, 368, 374, 437-439, 447, 453, 455, 458459, 461-462, 465, 469-470 Frauenfeld, Paula 392 Frenzel, Karl 442 Freud, Marie 317 Freud, Sigmund 216, 317, 324, 328, 381 Freund, Hans (Honza) 317, 318 Freund, Hugo 318 Frey, Pavel 318 Friedman, 48, 317 Friedman, Adolf (Adas / Adasch) 188, 317 Fritz (Kapo) 318 Frydrych, Zalmen 208, 290 Fuchs (clarinet player) 105, 318 Fuchs, Erich 444, 445 Fuchs, Eva 392 Fuks, Chaim 318 Fuks, Nekhama 318 Fürst, Willi 318, 319

G Gabčík, Jozef 1 Gajkowski, Chana 319 Gajkowski, Khaim 319 Galewski, Alfred (Marceli) Ing. 42, 66, 78, 109, 114, 169, 271, 281, 283-284, 357 Gańcwol-Gankiewski, Adolf 319

Ganzenmüller, Dr. Theodor 207 Gawkowski, Henryk 214, 217 Gelb, Regina 392 Gelberd, Aron 271, 283, 382 Gellert, Malka 319 Gentz, Adolf 53, 418, 440, 445446 Gerschonowitz, Eduard (Edek) 319 Gerschonowitz, Esther 319 Gerson, Mina 392 Gerstein, Kurt 42, 58 Gerstenman, Wolf 319 Gilbert, Szlomo 320 Gilcenstein, Henryk 366 Gitler, Joseph 320 Gladstein, Yeta 320 Glatstein, Jakob 320 Glatstein, Moshe 320 Glatstein, Yeta 320 Glattsztajn, Jakub 320 Glazar, Richard (Goldschmid) 14, 69, 71, 79-80, 94, 97, 119, 135-136, 143, 146-150, 166, 216-218, 251, 271, 272, 285, 290, 295-296, 299-300, 303, 306-308, 313, 317-319, 322, 331, 334, 338, 347-349, 354, 357, 361-364, 374, 380, 408, 440, 445, 455, 467, 470 Glazar, Zdena 272 Globocnik, Odilo 1-3, 5-7, 22, 45, 87-88, 127, 206, 208, 242243, 261, 418, 420-421, 426, 428, 432-433, 435, 437, 448, 469, 472-476 Globocnikova, Leonie 320 Godin, Hena 321 Godin, Rashka 321 Godin, Shmuel 321 Goebbels, Dr. Josef 5 Golczewsky, Ester 321 Golczewsky, Velvel 321 Gold, Adam 321

Gold, Artur 104-105, 188, 321322, 328, 363 Gold, Helena 321 Gold, Henryk 321 Gold, Michal 321 Gold, Yishajahu 392 Goldberg, Elenore 322 Goldberg, Eliasz 322 Goldberg, Julke 322 Goldberg, Mathilde 322 Goldberg, Rosa 323 Goldberg, Sane 323 Goldberg, Shimon 57, 220, 272 Goldberg, Shmuel 21-22, 273, 493 Goldberger, Karel 323 Goldfarb, Abraham 41, 42, 100, 273, 452 Goldfarb, Leybl 323 Goldgorn, Ewa 323 Goldgorn, Risia 323 Goldman, Henryk 323 Goldreich, Hena 392 Goldstein, Avraham 323 Goldstein, Malka 323 Goldsztajn, Bale 324 Golomb, Heinrich 392 Golz, Chane 392 Gomerski, Hubert 454 Goncaeski, Jakob 324 Goncharov, Pyotr 489 Gonzural, Mikolay 489 Gorbachov, 489 Goska, Eugeniusz 130 Gostynski, Zygmunt 273 Göth, Amon 3, 8 Gottlieb, Batia 324 Gottlieb, Khaia 324 Gottlieb, Moshe 324 Gottlieb, Mosze 324 Govorov, 489 Gradowczyk, Hirsh 324 Graetschus, Siegfried 446 Graf, Rosa 324 Gramms, Ernst 12, 19

557

Grauss, Ernst 19 Greuer (a friend of Stangl) 117 Grigorchuk, Pavel 489 Grigory (a driver / motorist) 261 Grinberg, Meir (Kapo) 324-325 Grinberg, Meir (from Klementów) 325 Grinberg, Meir (from Opatów) 325 Grinberg, Meir (from Warsaw) 325 Grinberg, Tanhum 83, 115, 273, 274 Grinfeld, Zina 323 Grinsbach, Eliahu 274 Grodzienski, Natan 325 Grosmann, Willy 446, 447 Gross, Ernestine 325 Gross, Otto 325 Gross, Ryfka 393 Gross, Siegbert 393 Gross, Yosef 274 Grossman, Vasily 11, 131 Groth, Paul 163, 164 Grünberg, Adam 326 Grünewald, Pauline 393 Grünewald, Rosalie 393 Gryc, Chana 326 Gryc, Jakow 326 Grynberg, Alter 326 Grynberg, Chana 326 Grynberg, Esther 326 Grynberg, Herschel 326 Grynberg, Israel Yitschak 326, 493 Grynberg, Shmuel 326-327 Grynberg, Warren 493 Grzybowa, Balbina 327 Guggenheimer, Cacilie 393 Guggenheimer, Max 393 Gumpel, Julius 393 Guthard, Emil 491 Gutmann, Emmy 393 Gutman, Israel 327

558

Gutman, Józef 274 Gutman, Nekhana 327

H Haberman, Leon 108, 111, 327 Hackenholt, Ilse 449-450 Hackenholt, Lorenz 52-53, 238, 447-450, 455 Hagen, Erwin (Deputy of Lindeke) 17, 491 Hahn, Fritz von 229 Hallgarten, Sofie 393 Hammel, Leo 394 Hammel, Max 394 Hammel, Theresa 394 Hammermann, Pauline 394 Hammerschlag, Hedwig 394 Handrick, 218 Haupt, Adam 133 Hauptmann, Gustav 394 Hechtkopf, Szejndl 327 Hefelmann, Hans 465 Heichelheim, Paula 394 Heilbron, Friederike 394 Heilbronn, Theresa 394 Heilbrunn, Hildegard 395 Heim, Franz 221, 472 Heinbuch, Hans 17, 491 Heine, Martin 395 Heinemann, Johanna 395 Heinemann, Klara 395 Helfing, Isadore/ Izak 47, 97, 274 Heller, 327 Hellman, Shlomo 187, 275 Hengst, August 32, 47, 450, 455 Henlein, Konrad 466 Herbert, Mina 395 Herbert, Shlomo 395 Hermann, Franz or Josef 450 Herschberg, Malka 395 Herschek, 120 Herschkowitz (Father and Son) 275

Herszaft, Adam (Abraham) 327 Herszkowicz, Moniek 328 Herz, Elia 395 Herz, Sofie 328 Hetmaniec, Wasil 444 Heumann, Franziska 396 Heydrich, Reinhard 1-2, 231, 422, 430, 435, 475-476 Hildesheimer, Jenni 396 Hildesheimer, Julius 396 Hilferding, Dr. Margarethe 328 Hiller, Gertrud 396 Hiller, Richard 451 Himmelblau, Szloma 328 Himmler, Heinrich 1, 3-4, 7, 43, 83-84, 87, 184, 207, 215, 218, 420-425, 472, 474, 476 Hinze, Werner 491 Hirsch, Baron (camp) 219 Hirsch, Hedwig 396 Hirsch, Siegfried 396 Hirsch, Walter 322, 328 Hirschberger, Janette 396 Hirtreiter, Josef "Sepp" 69, 182, 224-225, 234, 266, 291, 451, 469 Hitler, Adolf 3, 45, 110, 349, 361, 430, 448 Hofman (Workshop) 372 Hofmann, Irene 397 Hofmann, Joachim 397 Hoffman, Otto 2 Hoffmann, Dina 396 Höfle, Herman Julius 3-4, 39, 206-207, 221, 242, 421-425, 472, 475-476 Hojan, Artur 137 Holcman, Ludwik 329 Holzman, Malka 329 Horn, Otto Richard 8, 100, 228, 444, 452-453 Höss, Rudolf 63-64 Huberband, Szymon 329 Hudal, Alois (a Bishop) 436 Hunenberg, Kurt 397

I Ilichuk, 489 Imich, Aleksander 329 Imich, Gustava 329 Inwald, Arnold 329 Inwaldova, Rozena 329 Isack, Werner 397 Israel, Klotide 397 Ivan the Terrible / Iwan Groźny - see Ivan Marchenko

J Jabkowski, Hershel 23, 36, 57, 330 Jacek (a boy from Hungary) 111, 115, 330 Jacob, Amalie 397 Jacob, Josef 397 Jacoby, Edith 397 Jager, 226 Jakubowicz, Beila 330 Jakubowicz, Herch 330 Jakubowicz, Jakob 275 Jakubowicz, Lea 330 Jamschon, Schone 397 Jamschon, Wella 398 Jankowener, Wolf 398 Jankowski, 275 Jaworow, Fedor 489 Jelenschuk, Wasil 489 Jelski, Bernard 398 Jelski, Margaret 398 Jerzyk, 330 Jitzrock, 331 Joachimstahl, Balbina 398 Jojne, 331 Jordan, Gustav 398 Josek, 120 Julian, 98 Jurek (Kapo) 168, 187, 331 Justmann, Krajndla 398

559

K Kaczkewicz, Hershel 331 Kaczkowski, Tadeusz 230 Kafka, Franz 343 Kagan (Bakery) 307 Kahn, Amalie 398 Kahn, Gustav 398 Kaina, Erwin 52, 453 Kaliski, Michael 398 Kaminsky, David Daniel (Kaye Danny) 331 Kamm, Rudolf 449 Kanter, Pauline 399 Kaplan, Aron Chaim 331-332, 334 Kaplan, Shmuel 332 Kaplan, Shmuel (Wolkowysk) 332 Kaplan, Tzipora 332 Kapłanski, Chaim 332 Karoliński, Doba 332 Katz, 333 Katz, Dr. 227 Katz, Freida 399 Katz, Moses 399 Katz, Nanny 399 Katzenelson, Ben Zion 333 Katzenelson, Benjamin 333 Katzenelson, Hanna 333 Katzenelson, Yitzhak 320, 333 Kelin, Judah 275 Kerman, Hans 399 Kessler, Antonie 399 Kielczyglowski, Berek 399 Kierbel, Hinda 333 Kirpa, Alexandra Teryentyevna 260 Kisielnicki, Feiga 333 Kisielnicki, Yitzak 333 Klahn, Johannes 453 Klajnman, 333 Klappholz, Jakob 399 Klappholz, Julie 400 Klappholz, Ottilie 400

560

Klappholz, Walter 400 Klappholz, Wilhelmine 400 Klarberg (Judenrat) 268 Klein, 333 Kleinmann, Heinrich 333 Kleinmann, Leopold 334 Klinzmann, Willi 48-49,471 Kneisler, Pauline 33 Kobyla, Itzik 334 Kogon, Eugen 56 Kohlenbrenner, 334 Kohn, Max 334 Kohn, Max 400 Kohn, Pinkus 401 Kon, Abe 276 Kohn, Shulem (Kon, Stanisław) 108-111, 114-115, 118, 120, 275, 285, 330, 340 Kolgushkin, Alexey Nikolaevich 12, 18 Kolski, Abraham 267, 276, 278 Koltun, Abraham 317, 334 Komarkin, 245 Kongorecki (Kongurecki) from Częstochowa 334, 358 Koninski, Moshe 401 Koninski, Natan 334 Kopówka, Edward 135-136, 154 Koppel, Karl 401 Korczak, Janusz 295, 297-299, 327, 335-336, 340, 342, 351, 356, 365, 379-380 Kornberg, Selma 401 Korotkikh, Dimitry Nikolayevich 58, 243-245, 250, 489 Koschitzky, Laura 401 Koschitzky, Moshe 401 Kostenko, 251, 489 Koszycki, Jakob 276 Kott, Berek 336 Koziebrocki, Avraham 336 Koziebrocki, Feige 336 Kracauer, Hedwig 401 Kracauer, Rosette 401

Kramarska, Avraham 336 Kramarska, Fischel 337 Kramarska, Frymet 336-337 Kramarska, Mendel 337 Krause, Gusta 401 Krause, Karol 491 Krolikowski, Jerzy 35 Kromoloski, Jetta 401 Kronenberg (a journalist) 7778, 337 Krüger, Friedrich Wilhelm 1, 216, 426 Kruk (a prisoner of Treblinka camp) 276 Krysha (Ada Willenberg) 147 Krzepicki, Abraham 31, 40, 42, 58, 91, 104, 179, 209-210, 275277, 279, 291, 303, 342, 355, 382 Kuba (Kapo) 116, 219, 337, 368 Kubek, Wilhelm (Jakob) 337 Kubiš, Jan 1 Kucharek, Stephan 213 Kudlik, Aleksandr (Arie) 54, 69, 83, 87, 92, 187, 277, 296 Kudish, Esther 337 Kudish, Herschel 337 Kudish, Jakob 337 Kudish, Moishe 337 Kudish, Regina 337 Kudish, William 337 Kugelmann, Ella 401 Kulak, Nikolay 489 Kuperhand, Saul 16 Kurinnoy, Ivan 489 Kurland, Zvi (Zev) 27, 54, 108, 114, 337-338 Kuszer, 338 Kuszer, Mendel 338 Küttner, Fritz (Kiwe) 53-54, 93, 115-116, 186, 228, 236, 238, 303, 346, 354, 362, 378, 454 Kuzminsky, Ananiy Grigoryevich 489 Kwiatek, Esther 273

L Lachman, Salek 267, 276-277 Lachmann, Erich 446 Lajcher, Dr. Berek 338 Laks, Moszek (Mietek) 278 Lambert, Erwin Hermann 32, 56, 58-59, 227-228, 418, 433, 448, 450, 454 Landau, Emma 402 Landau, Natalia 338 Lange, Dr. Fritz 2 Langer from Częstochowa 339 Langendorf, Max 402 Lanz, Franz (SSUnterscharführer) 17, 491 Lanz, Heinrich 272, 290 Lanzmann, Claude 80, 104, 211, 266 Laponder, Peter 134-135, 153 Laski, Simcha 266, 278 Łaskiewicz, 473 Lau, Khaia, née Frenkel 339 Lau, Milek 339 Lau, Moshe (Chaim) 339 Łazowertówna, Henryka 339 Lebedenko, Nikolay 489 Leber, Hersh 340 Leber, Myriam 340 Lehmanm, Gerda 402 Leichert, Dr. Marius 112, 340 Leiteisen (baker, conspirator´s liaison) 340 Lejkin, Jakub 210 Lejzerowicz, Sabina 340 Lemanowicz, Chaim 402 Lemanowicz, Jenta 402 Lenke, Werner 491 Lenkowitzer, Lea 402 Lenkowitzer, Samuel 402 Leleko, Pavel Vladimirovich 58, 247-248, 250, 253, 258, 489 Lenge, Zalman 340 Lerch, Ernst 3, 425 Lerer, Jechiel 340

561

Lerner, Jehuda 446 Less, Avner 231 Leszczyński, Chil 341 Levchishin, Filip Fedorovich 489 Leven, Sara 402 Levita, Franziska 403 Levitta, Bella 403 Levy, Paula 403 Levy, Recha 403 Levy, Wilhelm 403 Lewi, Leon 278 Lewin, Abraham 341 Lewin, David 403 Lewin, Julian 341 Lewin, Luba 341 Lewkowicz, Chaim (Cheel) 341342 Lewkowicz, Freda 341, 342 Lewkowicz, Lajzer 341 Lewkowicz, Mania 341 Lewkowicz, Mottel 341 Lewkowicz, Rivka 341 Lewkowicz, Shaindel 341 Lewkowicz, Sonia 70, 278, 315 Lewkowska, Dr. Irene (Irka) 341 Leybl 342 Lichtblau, Stanislav (Standa) 342, 345 Lichtenstein, Karl 403 Lichtenstein, Karoline 403 Lichtenstern, Jakob 342 Lieber, Ester 403 Liebmann, Hedwig 404 Lieberman, David 279 Lindeke (Unterscharführer) 17, 491 Linder, Eli 279 Lindenmüller, Alfons 236-238, 455-456 Lindwasser, Avraham 103, 231, 233, 279 Lipiec- Jakubowska, Rosa 342 Lisciotto, Carmelo 137, 419

562

Litvinov, Maxim 290 Lizband, Aron 404 Lob, Albert 404 Lob, Katherina 404 Loddick, Ella 279 Löffler, Alfred 234, 456, 467, 469 Lorig, Alexander 404 Lorig, Josef 404 Loshice, Avruhum 179 Löwendorf, Fanny 404 Löwenstein, Jenny 404 Lowy, Yitzhak 343 Lubelczyk, Ada 343 Lubelczyk, Rachel 343 Lubelczyk, Simon 343 Lubetkin, Zivia 292 Lubling, Ester 343 Lubling, Moshe 108, 120, 271, 343-344 Lubling, Pinchas 343-344 Lubling, Zelda née Fisch 343 344 Luboszycki, Aron 344 Lubrenitski, Rudek 112, 118, 188, 233, 334, 348 Lucas, Isaak 405 Luck, Moshe 279 Ludwig, Karl Emil 456 Łukaszkiewicz, Zdzisław 224 Luksemburg, Miriam 345 Luksemburg, Wolf 345 Luksenburg, Ester 345 Luksenburg, Hinda 345 Luxemburg, Frania 345 Luxemburg, Henrik 345 Luxemburg, Wiesiek 345 Lyachenko, 489

M Maier, 345 Makoda, Nikolay 489 Makovsky, Yosif 126 Malagon, Nikolay Petrovich 39, 239-240, 244-245, 247-248, 489

Malnicki, Chana 346 Malnicki, Elimalech 346 Malnicki, Frymeta 346 Malnicki, Mariem 346 Malnicki, Nuta 346 Malnicki, Sura 346 Malnicki, Szajudla 346 Malpa, Chaim 347 Manchuk, 65, 489 Mandelbaum, Isaak 347 Maniele, 347 Mannes (Kapo) 347 Mannes, Hamann 405 Mannes, Johanna 405 Mannes, Rosa 405 Manzoni, Dr. 454 Marchenko, Iwan 253 Marchenko, Ivan Ivanovich 7, 100, 106, 154, 158-159, 252262, 270, 489 Marchenko, Katherine 253 Marchenko, Oksana 253 Markus (a cleaner from Warsaw) 108, 111, 347-348 Markin, Dr. Estera 348 Martoszenko, Moisei 489 Marx, Hans 405 Marx, Moritz 405 Marx, Rosalie 405 Masarek, Gisela 348 Masárek, Rudolf 80, 112, 119, 170, 348-349 Mass, Arik 349 Mass, Chai 349 Matthes, Heinrich Arthur 8, 5859, 101-102, 117, 188, 228, 233234, 237, 338, 379, 443, 457458, 462, 467, 469 Mätzig, Willy 24, 53, 440, 458459 Mayer (Kapo) 349 Mechel (Treblinka prisoner) 349 Medrzycki, Anshel 279 Meidkur, Kurt 459

Meir (Kapo) - possibly Mayer 349 Melnik, Theodozy 489 Mendel, Tchechia (Cescha) 308, 349, 357 Mendelsohn, Regina 406 Mentz, Willy 8, 44-45, 53-55, 129-130, 169, 186, 228, 418, 443, 459-460 Mering, Estera 350 Mering, Professor Mojzesz 350 Meyer, Frederike 350 Meyer, Marek 342 Michalsen, Georg 3, 39, 422-425 Michel, Hermann 460 Miete, August Wilhelm 8, 27, 66, 71, 77-78, 93, 130, 147, 150, 169, 186, 219, 228, 272, 337, 339, 358, 418, 460-461 Mika, Chaim 351 Milejkowski, Dr. Izrael 351 Milgrom, David 279 Miller, Jakob 115, 187, 279, 282, 289 Miller, Tartakower 200 Mincowa, Dr. Tola 351 Miska, Shmuel 351, 383 Mitleberg, M. 280 Mitter, Josef 491 Milutin, Alexey 489 Młynek, Bluma 351 Moebis, 491 Moishele (a tailor) 121, 280 Mokotowska, Chava 352 Mokotowska, Rakhel 352 Mokotowska, Yenta (1920) 352 Mokotowski, Leibl 352 Möller, Robert 461 Moniek (Kapo) 352 Mordzky, Lejzer 280 Moyshke, 352 Moses, Jutta 406 Müller, 370 Müller, Heinrich (Gestapo) 2 Müller, Dr. Jorg 193

563

Munro, Cameron 136-137 Munstermann, Heinrich 20 Münzberger, Gustav 8, 88, 100, 228, 461-462 Mussolini, Benito 418

N Nachmann, Rebbe 306 Nahmias, Bohora 352 Najman, Itchaak 352 Najman, Perla 352 Namm, Agnes 406 Nathan, Philipp 406 Neukircher, Adele 406 Neukircher, Mathilde 406 Neumann, Emil 406 Neumann, Karoline 406 Neumark, Betty 407 Neumark, Wolf 352 Nidosrelow, Mikolaj 489 Niemann, Johann 464 Niemgowski, Wacław 130 Nitsche, Professor Hermann 443 Niudowski, Szolom 353 Nohel, Frantiszek 353 Nowodworski, Dawid 280 Nussbaum, Johanna 407

O Oberhauser, Josef 44-45, 50 Onoprijenko, Daniel 489 Oppenheimer, Meier 407 Orenstein, Marek 353 Oselka, Joshua 354 Oselka, Tema 354 Ostrinska, Etka 354 Ostrinska, Feigel 354 Ostrinska, Moshe 354 Ostrzega, Avraham 354 Osyczanski, Mikolaj 490

564

P Pacanowski, Moshe 281 Palacz (Lazarett victim) 354 Paraschenko, Alexander 490 Parfinyuk, Yevdokim 490 Paulus, Friedrich von 83 Payevschhik, Nikolay Vasilyevich 490 Perelstein, Leon 271, 281 Perla / Paulinka (a women´s Kapo) 354 Perele, 308, 354 Petakowskiy, Marek 281 Peters, Michael 134-135 Petersburski, Jerzy 321 Pfannenstiel, Dr. Wilhelm 43 Pfoch, Hubert 212, 213 Piasek (Treblinka prisoner) 355 Pieck, Rosalie 407 Pilman (Zugwachmann) 257, 490 Piotr (Driver) 134 Piotrowski, Chana 355 Piotrkowski, Izio 355 Piotrowski, Karola 355 Plage, 473 Platkiewicz, Marian 281 Plikat, Karl Heinz 462 Plowitz, Alfred 407 Pogorzelski, Julian 267, 276, 278 Pogorzelski, Stanisław 267, 276, 278 Pohl, Oswald 473, 474 Pohorille, Dr. Szymon 355 Polakow, Leon 490 Porzecki, Moshe 281 Posner (Kapo) 355, 356 Post, Philipp 234, 454, 462, 467, 469 Poswolski, Henryk 282 Pottner, Emil 407 Pötzinger, Karl 100, 102, 462463 Poz, Natalia 356

Pozner, Jadwiga 356 Prager, Salo 407 Praszker, Jakob 277 Prefi, Karl (Untersturmführer) 17, 491 Prits, Samuel Martynovich 253-254, 490 Prohaska, Georg 435 Puchała, Lucjan 20 Pullman, Szymon 356

R Rabinowicz, Henrik 356 Rabinowicz, Jakob 282 Raiman, Ida 357 Raiman, Rudolf 357 Rajchman, Chil 60, 70, 76, 86, 94-95, 102, 211, 270, 276, 282, 315, 323, 333, 342, 349, 357, 359, 363-364 Rajchman, Rivka 211, 282, 357 Rajgrodzki, Jerzy 86, 105-106, 121, 280, 282, 318, 366 Rajzman, Samuel 113, 283 Rak, Meir 283 Rakowski, Benjamin (Kapo) 149150, 349, 357- 358 Rappaport, Moshe 270, 283 Razanowicz, 358 Rebeka (probably Fyodor Ryabeka) 248, 259, 490 Rebhun, Max 408 Rehwald, Wenzel 449 Reichleitner, Karl Franz 6, 8, 129, 419 Reinhardt, Fritz 475 Reinhardt, Siegfried 408 Reis, Adolf van der 408 Reis, Georg van der 408 Reislik, Dr. 108, 334, 358 Reitlinger, Gerald 475 Reizman, Dr. 358 Remba, Nachum 335 Renno, Dr. Georg 429

Retstein, Matel née Kohn 358 Reuter (Scharführer) 115, 463 Richter, Kurt 284, 463 Rinde, Eli 408 Rinde, Zysla 408 Ringelblum, Emanuel 277, 301, 329, 339, 364, 372 Rittich, Alexander 490 Rittler, Albert 464 Robertus (Oberwachmann) 258259, 490 Robinson, Betty 408 Rochocz, Martha 408 Roge, Johann 491 Rogosa / Rogoza, Boris 111, 120, 251, 489 Rogowy, Avraham Mordechai (Rabbi) 358 Rohn, 284 Rojtman, 284 Rojzman, Berek 187, 270, 284 Rojzman, Wolf Ber 211, 359 Rola-Zymierski (a General) 309 Rose, Gustav 409 Rosenbaum, Benjamin 409 Rosenberg, Eliahu (Eli) 29, 31, 58, 85, 99, 101, 143-144, 154157, 160-162, 165, 167, 171, 180, 182, 184-185, 188-190, 231, 234, 284, 340 Rosenberg, Ernst 409 Rosenberg, Sophie 409 Rosenberg, Sussie 409 Rosenblatt, Max 359 Rosenthal, Julius 409 Rosenthal, Laura 409 Rosenthal, Lejbel 284 Rosenzweig, Gadelia 271, 285 Rosenzweig, Jakob 409 Rosenzweig, Rosa 410 Rosenzweig, Shaya 285 Rost, Paul 464 Roszman, Avrum 359 Rotbart, Zelig 359 Rotholz, Chawa 359

565

Rotholz, Dawid 359 Rotholz, Khaia 359 Rotsztejn, Jecheskel 359 Rozenblum, Slamek 188, 288, 360 Rozensztat, Bolesław 360 Rozental, Roman 360 Ruben, Klara 410 Rubez, Grigory 490 Rubinowicz, Dawid 360 Rubinsztajn (Rubenstein), Abraham 360 Rudenko, Wasil 490 Rum, Albert Franz 129-130, 228, 443, 462, 465 Ruppert, Friedrich 47 Rutherford, William (Billy) 134135 Ryabeka, Fyodor Yakolevich 248, 259, 490 Ryabtsev, Prokofy Nikolayevich 257, 490 Rybak, Dr. 79, 108, 334, 361 Ryczke, Genia 410 Rzondinski, Henryka 361 Rzondinski, Welwel 361

S Sadowski (a foreman) 187, 361 Sajet, Rozali 361 Sashka, 130 Salwe, 322, 361 Salzberg, Heniek, Heinrich 112, 187, 285, 362 Salzberg, Welwel, 285, 362 Salzberg, Władysław 269, 285 Salzberg, Władysław (a father) 108, 116, 285, 361-362 Sammern-Frankenegg, Ferdinand 45, 215 Samson, Benjamin 410 Samson, Ruben 410 Sashka (a Ukrainian) 130 Sauer, Salo 362

566

Sauer, 491 Saul, 120 Sayet, Rozalia 362 Sayet, Samuel 362 Scharfe, Herbert 465 Scheffler, Mikolay 490 Schemmel, Ernst 47, 235, 439 Scher, 363 Schermann Twins, 322, 363 Schiffner, Karl 137, 238, 465-466 Schischajew, Wasil 490 Schlesinger, Elsbeth 410 Schlojme, 285 Schmidkin, Iwan 490 Schmidt, Fritz 60, 158-159, 189, 255, 466 Schmidt, Hans 20 Schmolka, Miloš 363 Schnitzer (a musician) 363 Schönberg, Franziska 410 Schönbron, Renée 363 Schönbrunn, Robert 20 Schönemann, Albert 410 Schönfeld, Clementine 410 Schönwetter, Hersch 411 Schönwetter, Hilda 411 Schottmann, Franz 491 Schreck, Julius 4, 207, 432 Schreibman, Rebecca 363 Schuh, Richard 467 Schulz, 226 Schultz, Alexander 490 Schultz, Erich 255, 257, 259, 467 Schultz, Fritz (a firm) 268, 273 Schulz, Emanuel (Gerikhov) 490 Schulze, Dietmar 34 Schumann, Dr. Horst 429 Schurmann, Emil 411 Schutzer (a musician) 363 Schwarz, 17, 491 Schwarz, Gottfried 419 Schwarz, Julie 411 Schwarzkopf, Otto 364 Schwedersky, Franz 225, 491

Schwer, 364 Seidel, Kurt 24-25, 80, 118, 227, 467 Seidler, Ernst 467 Senik, Nikolay Terentevich 490 Senykow, Mikolay 490 Sereny, Gitta 47, 80, 88, 93, 149, 178, 213, 239 Shalayev, Nikolay Yegorovich 7, 106, 253, 255-258, 261-262, 490 Sharson, Lazar 285 Shevchenko, Ivan 490 Shilov, 490 Shiyenko, Nina Dimitriyevna 260 Shlekhler, Ahron 364 Shlekhler, Ester 364 Shvidkoy, Ivan 490 Sidman, Elsack 364 Sidowicz, Simcha 364 Siebert, Barbara 166 Siedlecki, Joseph (Joe) 93, 286, 456 Silver, Malka 493 Simon, Friede 411 Singer ( Oberkapo) 100, 364 Singer, Erich 411 Skakodub, Nikolay Afanayevich 490 Skydan, Grigoriy 254, 490 Slapakowa, Cecylia 364 Slebzak, 130 Sliwniak, Józef 365 Sokolnicka, Dora 365 Sokolovskaya, Bertha 126 Spaizman, Yitzhak 365 Sperling, Frumet 365 Sperling, Gitel 365 Sperling, Hershl 81, 214, 286, 365 Sperling, Icchak 365 Spiegel, Natan 106,366 Spier, Henriette 411 Spier, Hermann 411 Spier, Simon 412

Spiro, Stefa 366 Spitz,Elsa 366 Spitz, Leopold 367 Spitz,Olga 367 Spitz, Paul 367 Sporrenberg, Jakob 423, 474 Stadie, Otto 24, 53, 220, 225, 227-228, 236, 458, 468-469 Stalin, Joseph 254 Stangl, Brigitte 435 Stangl, Franz Paul 6, 8, 43, 45-47, 50 51, 63, 74, 80, 83, 85-87, 117, 121, 124, 127, 169, 172, 178, 188, 227, 230-231, 234239, 261, 289, 364, 416, 418419, 428, 431, 433-437, 440, 442, 454, 458, 460 Stangl, Isolde 435 Stangl, Renate 435 Stein, Dr. Józef 367 Steinberger, Marianne 412 Steiner, George 165 Steiner, Jean François 165 Steinowitz, Guba 187, 367 Stengelin, Erwin 469 Stern, 367, 368 Stern, Julie 412 Sternberg, Adolf 412 Sternberg, Emil 412 Sternberg, Mimi 412 Sternberg, Petr 368 Sternberg, Ricka 412 Sternheim, Henriette 412 Sternlicht, Binyamin 368 Sternlicht, Ervin 368 Sternlicht, Feiga 368 Sternlicht, Otto 369 Strawczyński, Abus 287, 369 Strawczyński, Anka 287, 369 Strawczyński, Guta 287, 369 Strawczyński, Malka 287, 369 Strawczyński, Oskar 23, 36, 57, 67-68, 75-76, 269-270, 272, 286-287, 301, 305, 310, 314,

567

324, 328, 330-331, 367, 369, 379-380, 383 Strawczyński, Yoseph 287, 369 Strawczyński, Zygmunt 286287, 293, 314, 324, 328, 331, 369 Strebel, Oswald 130, 490 Strebelow (Zugführer) 226, 469 Streibel, Karl 243 Strnad, Jiří 160, 171 Stroman, Minia 369 Stroman, Zaanwel 369 Stroop, Jürgen 215 Struwe, Dr. Karl Friedrich 127, 226 Strynkiewicz, Franciszek 133 Stumpe, Herbert (Unterscharführer) 17, 491 Stupniki, Saul 369 Stupp, Abraham 200 Stys, Helena 273 Sucha, Helen 118 Suchomel, Franz 8, 44, 46-47, 5153, 58, 61, 87-88, 104-105, 116117, 129, 169, 208, 228, 234238, 288, 312, 348-349, 354, 362, 408, 467, 469-470 Sudowicz, Israel 108, 370 Sudowicz, Rakhel, née Rozenblum 370 Sukno, Brońka 288 Sułkowski, Jan 14, 21, 35 Sumskaya, Alexandra Nikiforovna 259 Sumskaya, Anna Ivanovna 259 Sydow, Hermann 97, 234, 418, 451, 467, 469-470 Szejnberg, Wolf 288 Szmerling, Mieczysław 207 Szmulowicz, Jakob 288 Sznajdman (Schneidermann) Wolf 21, 38, 54, 95, 113, 115, 273, 288 Szpajzman, Moishe 370 Szpektor, Wigda 316, 370

568

Szpilman, Edwarda 370, 372 Szpilman, Halina 371, 372 Szpilman, Henryk 371, 372 Szpilman, Regina 371, 372 Szpilman, Samuel 371 Szpilman, Władysław 321-322, 370, 371 Sztajer, Chaim 288, 493 Szterenlicht, Abram 372 Szterenlicht, Gitla 372 Szterenlicht, Izrael 372 Szterenlicht, Judka 372 Szterenlicht, Lejbus 373 Szterenlicht, Moszek 373 Szterenlicht, Serla 373 Sztern, Israel 372 Szternfeld, 336

T Teigman, Kalman 66, 71, 73, 90, 111, 119, 124, 135, 143-144, 167-172, 180, 182, 192-193, 231-232, 251, 280, 282, 288290, 294, 349, 360-361, 367, 373, 461 Teigman, Tema 135, 186, 232, 289, 373 Teigman, Yaniv 180-181, 191193 Tennenbaum, Jeanette 413 Thellmann, Valerie 413 Terekhov, Ivan 490 Teufel, 471 Thomalla, Richard 22, 32, 425426, 455 Tik, Chaim 373 Tik, Jacob 373 Tik, Jakob 373 Tik, Keila 374 Tik, Rosa 374 Tik, Wolf 374 Tkachuk, Ivan Kondratyevich 490 Tobias, Mieczysław 289

Todt, Fritz 428 Tolpel, Moritz 374 Trachter, Avraham 374 Trachter, Rina 374 Trachter, Symcha 374 Tregenza, Michael 134, 419 Treiger, Karen 493 Trzcinski (a Polish partisan) 39 Tscherniewsky, Wladimir 490 Tuch, Clara 413 Tuch, Dr. Theodor 413 Turowski, Eugen 68, 187, 289 Tyas, Steven 221 Tyk, Mordechai 375

U Ullman, Fratiszek 375 Ullmann, Amalie 413 Ullmanova, Alice 375 Ullmanova, Eva 375 Ullmanova, Marta 375 Unger, Anna 375 Unger, Arnold 375 Unger, Hanus 376 Unger, Karel / Karl 120, 143, 147-148, 216, 238, 272, 285, 290 Unger, Melita 376 Unrau, Jakob 490 Unverhau, Heinrich 453 Urban, Anna 376 Urban, Samuel 376

V Vasilyenko, Sergey Stepanovich 490 Vedernikov, 490 Veinles-Chajkin, Mane 376 Velten, Willi 491 Vlasov, Andrey Andrejevich 117 Vogel, Hanuš (Honza) 376 Voloshenko, Alexander 490

W Wagner, Gustav 129 Waisman, Abram 376 Waisman, Aron 377 Waisman, Berl 377 Waisman, Betzalel 377 Waisman, Bila 377 Waisman, Dvora 377 Waisman, Eliezer 377 Waisman, Lyba 377 Waisman, Notke 377 Waisman, Shoshanna 376 Waisman, Yakow 377 Waisman, Yoav 377 Waisman, Zirla 377 Wajcman, Ester 377 Wajcman, Josef 377 Wajnsztajn, Yehuda Jakob (E. Weinstein) 172 Waksman, Adela 377 Waksman, Dawid 377 Wallabańczyk (Wołowanczyk) – 378 Wallach, Azriel 282, 290, 291 Wantech, Else 378 Wantech, Ina 378 Warszawski, Szyja 225, 291 Waserman, Jankiel 316, 378 Wasilenko, Iwan 490 Wasser, 291 Wasser, Mania 378 Wasserman, Mania 378 Webb, Chris 137, 180 Weidenbaum, Henriette 413 Weinberg, Boris (Kazik) 65, 291 Weiner (a Hassidic Jew) 291 Weinkrantz, Bencian 378 Weinkrantz, Elsa 379 Weinkrantz, Salomea 379 Weinkrantz, Yitzhak 379 Weinryb, 379 Weiskopf, Cacilie 413

569

Weinstein, Edward J. (Edi) 144, 172- 271, 280, 285, 291, 322323 Weintraub, Ilik 379 Weintreub, Władysław 379 Weiss, Adele 379 Weisshaar, Wilhelm 491 Wengler 51, 470 Werhan (Rotenführer) 17, 491 Wertheim, Salomon 413 Wertheimer, Anna 414 Wiernik, Jankiel (Jakob) 23-25, 30, 40, 56, 58, 74, 84, 209, 220, 231, 234, 251, 291, 313, 334, 338, 340, 352, 358, 443, 456 Wiesenthal, Simon 437 Wilczyńska, Stefania 335, 336, 379 Wilhelm II, Kaiser 430 Willenberg, Ada 147 Willenberg, Itta 293, 380 Willenberg, Prof. Perez 145 Willenberg, Samuel 24, 27, 70, 74-75, 77-78, 84, 92, 96, 98, 108, 112, 116, 122-123, 143154, 167-168, 219, 245, 251, 287, 293-294, 304, 307-308, 312-313, 323-324, 333, 337, 339, 343, 347, 350, 358, 363, 380 Willenberg, Tamara 293, 380 Willinger, Herman 380 Wilk, Simcha 380 Winawer, Fela 380 Winawer, Mirjam 381 Winawer, Szaja 381 Winawer, Zeev 381 Winternitz, Pauline 381 Wippern, Georg 474 Wirth, Christian 4-6, 8, 43-47, 50-55, 57, 61, 63, 66, 85-86, 88, 103, 127, 227, 235-236, 238239, 261, 416, 418-419, 428435, 438, 441, 444, 448-449,

570

451, 453, 457, 459-460, 470, 473-474 Wirth, Eugen 429 Wirth, Kurt 429 Witwicki, Władysław 348, Wladek 136,137 Włoś, Itka 381 Wolf, Karl 207 Wollenweber (firm) 442 Woloszyn, Wasil 490 Wołowańczyk (Wallabańczyk) – started the revolt 378 Woronkow, Vasily 490 Worthoff, Hermann 39 Wrzos, Abraham 414 Wrzos, Male 414

Y Yeger, Alexandr Ivanovich 257, 490 Yelenchuk, Vasily 490 Yurek (Kapo) 190, 361

Z Ząbecki, Franciszek 19, 34-37, 39, 48, 61, 64, 118, 120, 128130, 177, 221, 224, 228-231, 471 Zacharis, Simon 414 Zalcberg (Salzberg) 116 Zalcwasser, Zygmunt 381 Zalman, Friedrich 290, 291 Zalmen, Frydrych (Zygmunt) 208 Zamenhof, Lidia 381, 382 Zamenhof, Ludwig 381 , 382 Zamenhof, Zofia 382 Zanker, Hans 470

ibidem.eu