Camp Surroundings

Treblinka had a unique geolocation. It was literally located in the middle of the woods. As it can be seen in "Fig. 2," the area is surrounded by extremely tall and dense trees, which are the only remaining witnesses of the horrors that occurred during its almost 2 years of operations. When I visited the camp in 2015, there were few other tourists visiting the area together with us three, me, my mother and my father, and the silence together with the vast dense forest and the history of the place created a unique and indescribable and eerie atmosphere.

I still remember the camp very well. I visited Treblinka I & II in 2015, and the memories will last forever. Contrary to Auschwitz, there were very few people both working and visiting Treblinka’s memorial, we were basically the only ones there. The lack of preservation, and destruction, of the main buildings compared to now more renowned camps is, in my opinion, the reasons why it boasts less fame, despite its sinister past.

I remember that the road from Warsaw to the village of Treblinka was quiet and empty. As you get close to the camp, tall and dense chestnut trees fill up the surroundings. As Samuel Willenberg, the last witness of Treblinka, describes in a documentary, children were amazed by the forest, as most had never left Warsaw. (4)