COMMEMORATION OF THE 83RD ANNIVERSARY OF THE TREBLINKA II PRISONER REVOLT
Jewish Historical Institute
The ceremony was attended by state and local officials, members of the diplomatic corps, representatives of cultural institutions, clergy, and Jewish organizations from Poland and abroad. Also present was Ada Willenberg, the widow of Treblinka survivor Samuel Willenberg; she herself miraculously survived the Holocaust with the help of Polish families.
“Every year we gather in Treblinka to commemorate the victims of the German extermination camp, their suffering and despair, but also the heroism of those who rose in revolt here 83 years ago,” said Dr. Michał Trębacz, Director of the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, opening the ceremony. In her address, Ada Willenberg added,
“In this way, you pay tribute to those who perished here.”
Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland, noted, “We meet here every year, and this place changes because every year we restore memory here.”
The joint ecumenical prayer was attended by Ihumen Dionizy Awksuetijuk of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church; Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland; Sister Katarzyna Kowalska of the Catholic Church, Co-Chair of the Polish Council of Christians and Jews; and Halina Radacz, pastor of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland.
An important part of this year’s ceremony was the collective reading of the names of victims inscribed on one of the plaques of the Wall of Names at the Treblinka Museum. Each year, on August 2, names from successive sections of the Wall of Memory will be read aloud.
The participants then listened to
a performance of “The Blessing Nigun” by Piotr Przedbora and Andrzej Ciepliński. The commemoration concluded with the laying of flowers and stones at the Monument to the Victims of the Treblinka Extermination Camp. The event was hosted by Marek Zając.
On this momentous day, delegations from the Jewish Historical Institute and the Treblinka Museum also paid tribute to the victims of the Treblinka I Forced Labor Camp by laying flowers at the Execution Site and the Monument to the Roma and Sinti.
Before the official ceremony began, Zuzanna Schnepf-Kołacz, Deputy Director of the Jewish Historical Institute, together with Edward Kopówka, Director of the Treblinka Museum, laid wreaths at the Treblinka I Memorial and the monument honoring the Roma and Sinti murdered at the Execution Site.
We would like to express our gratitude to everyone for their presence and for keeping the memory alive on this important day.
The victims of the Treblinka II extermination camp were honored during
a commemorative ceremony organized by the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute and the Treblinka Museum: German Nazi Extermination and Forced Labor Camp (1941–1944). The event marked the 83rd anniversary of the prisoners’ revolt.
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