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The
Treblinka extermination camp, one of three such camps established
under Operation Reinhard, was built in a sparsely populated area
along the main railroad line between Warsaw and Bialystok. The camp
was camouflaged in a forest and concealed from the surroundings. The
construction work, begun in lateMay, was carried out by German
companies that used Jewish and Polish forced labor. Giant burial
pits were excavated on the camp’s grounds. The camp was built in
the form of a rectangle, 600 meters long and 400 meters wide, and
was encased in a double barbed-wire fence. High watchtowers were
positioned at the corners of the rectangle and along the fences. The
camp was partitioned into three zones: housing, reception, and
extermination. The last-mentioned was totally separate. Three gas
chambers, designed to look like shower rooms in every respect, were
installed in brick buildings. Groups of Jews were undressed and made
to run to the gas chambers through a "chute" with fences
on either side. A Diesel motor pumped carbon monoxide gas into the
chambers; death by asphyxiation was achieved in about half an hour.
Mass murder in Treblinka began on July 23, the day after
construction was completed, with groups of Jews from the Warsaw
Ghetto. |
