Introduction: Treblinka I & II

“The mass extermination of the Jews of occupied Europe by Nazi Germany began with the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.” (1) Treblinka I was a labor camp and living center, and Treblinka II was an extermination camp. As Fig. 1 depicts, both camps were located in the German territory of General Government (German-occupied Poland). It covered 20 hectares and was surrounded by a high barbed wire fence, threaded through with pine branches, to hide what was happening beyond the wire.” (18)

The camp was located approximately 50 miles from Warsaw (3), and operated during the deadliest and most aggressive part of the Holocaust, Operation Reinhard, which aimed to exterminate all Polish Jews as quickly as possible. The operation constructed three camps to achieve its goal, Treblinka, Bełžec and Sobibór. Treblinka was inaugurated in late 1941 as a labor camp and the extermination camp was implemented months later.