NEW RESEARCH
ON TREBLINKA
EHRI
On January 14–15, 2026, the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, in cooperation with the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure, organized an international scholarly workshop entitled New Research on the Treblinka Labour Camp and Treblinka Death Camp. The event took place in Warsaw and at the Treblinka Museum and brought together researchers and practitioners from Poland, Germany, Israel, Denmark, and the United States.
The primary objective of the workshop was to present and critically discuss innovative methodological and interpretative approaches to the study of both Treblinka I, the forced labour camp, and Treblinka II, the extermination camp. The meeting aimed to integrate new archival discoveries, spatial and visual analysis, perpetrator studies, and research on resistance and survival into a broader, interdisciplinary framework. A further key goal was to connect current academic research with the development of the new permanent exhibition at the Treblinka Museum, strengthening the relationship between scholarship, commemoration, and public education.
Opening Session
The workshop was opened by Dr. Michał Trębacz, Director of the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, who emphasized the importance of international collaboration and the need for ongoing research related to Treblinka.
Dr. David Silberklang (Yad Vashem, International Treblinka Council) highlighted the significance of Treblinka within Holocaust research and stressed the importance of communicating to a broader audience that Treblinka also represents the destruction of thousands of shtetls (small Jewish town or village in eastern Europe).
First panel
The first panel introduced innovative approaches to visual and symbolic interpretations of Treblinka:
• Dr. Agnieszka Kajczyk presented a newly discovered photographic negative attributed to Jakub Byk, offering a rare and critical reflection on the status of images as historical testimony. Her work demonstrated how visual sources can reshape understandings of the physical and emotional landscape surrounding post-war Treblinka.
• Dr. Annika Wienert examined the challenges of representing Treblinka II from an art-historical perspective. Her contribution highlighted the tensions between absence, abstraction, and material traces in visual and spatial representations of extermination sites.
• Prof. Elżbieta Janicka analyzed the symbolic topography of the Treblinka museum sites, focusing on patterns of denialism and selective memory in public narratives and commemorative practices.
The discussion emphasized the innovative use of visual culture, spatial theory, and memory studies to interrogate how Treblinka is seen, interpreted, and commemorated in both scholarly and public contexts.
Second panel
The second panel shifted attention to perpetrator studies and the historical marginalization of the labour camp Treblinka I.
• Michał Kowalski presented new research on Treblinka I, challenging its long-standing marginalization in Holocaust historiography. His work foregrounded the camp’s role within the broader system of violence, forced labour, and mass murder.
• Dr. Anders Otte Stensager introduced new biographical research on key perpetrators: Franz Stangl and Christian Wirth. By combining archival research with digital and transnational methodologies, he demonstrated how individual life trajectories illuminate the institutional and ideological structures of the Nazi killing system.
This panel underscored the innovative integration of microhistorical biography with systemic analysis, contributing to a more complex understanding of agency, responsibility, and institutional violence.
Third panel
The third panel explored spatial perspectives and new interpretations of Jewish resistance and survival strategies.
• Dr. Jacob Flaws analyzed Treblinka as a constructed and contested space, highlighting how spatial arrangements shaped both mechanisms of control and possibilities for resistance.
• Dr. Franziska Bruder offered a critical examination of escapes from deportation trains, reframing them as a significant yet underexplored form of Jewish resistance.
• Dr. Chad S.A. Gibbs presented new research on resistance and survival at Treblinka, including gendered perspectives on the 1943 uprising and post-escape experiences.
The discussion highlighted the methodological innovation of combining spatial analysis, social history, and gender studies to expand existing narratives of resistance beyond armed revolt.
Second day: Treblinka Museum
The second day of the workshop took place at the Treblinka Museum and focused on the relationship between academic research and museum practice.
Dr. Maria Ferenc presented the conceptual framework for the new permanent exhibition in the forthcoming educational and exhibition building. Her presentation emphasized the integration of the latest scholarly findings, the ethical challenges of narrating mass violence, and the role of the museum as a space for memory, education, and critical reflection.
The discussion addressed innovative approaches to:
• Role of objects form both camps in unfolding the exhibition narration
• Narrative structure and visitor engagement
• The use of archival materials and digital tools
• Balancing commemoration with historical complexity.
This session reinforced the workshops overall goal of ensuring that cutting-edge research directly informs public history and museum pedagogy.
30
Fot. Robert Wilczyński