"THIS PLACE MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN". SUMMARY OF 78TH-ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION OF UPRISING AT TREBLINKA II EXTERMINATION CAMP
"Where are our artists today; where are the talented and the educated, experts from various professions and fields? Where are the simple folks and the cultivated, the festive and the everyday Jewish men and women who roamed the Jewish streets of Polish towns with such vigour and temperament, laboured and lived until their last breath, without special permission to exist?" - questioned Rachela Auerbach, who recorded the account of Abram Krzepicki, a refugee from Treblinka in 1942. Her words were quoted by Monika Krawczyk, director of the Jewish Historical Institute, in her speech.
Commemoration of the 78th anniversary of the uprising at the Treblinka II extermination camp. Pic. Alicja Szulc, Grzegorz Kwolek (ŻIH)
- More than 800,000 people died on approximately 17 hectares of this land. It is an imaginable number. The Germans brought Jews here mainly from occupied Poland and Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Yugoslavia, the USSR, Germany, and Austria. The Roma and Sinti from Poland and Germany were also sent here. - Monika Krawczyk emphasised.
The letter from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was read by Edward Kopówka, PhD, director of the Treblinka Museum:
"Treblinka is a symbolic site. Jews from occupied Poland and Europe were brought here. The cruel extermination industry claimed the lives of thousands of victims every day (...). Those still alive decided on an uprising which, although destined to fail, saved their humanity and offered a chance of escape to at least a few. Thanks to this heroic uprising, about 70 people survived and could give testimony after the war," the Prime Minister wrote.
"The scale and monstrosity of the crime are beyond the capacity of human perception, which is why it was planned and executed in complete isolation. The Treblinka I labour camp was situated 2 kilometres from the death camp, which was hidden from the human eye. Therefore, the brave, determined people decided to organise an uprising - as a dramatic outcry of defiance. A voice that has been heard," wrote Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport, Professor Piotr Gliński.
Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Deputy Speaker of the Polish Parliament, recalled the figure of Samuel Willenberg. - When he spoke about the rebellion, I perceived it differently. His story showed how these people, the few who managed to survive the revolt, were lonely after escaping from the camp; they were like hunted animals that had to hide, but they had a great will to fight and survive. By the way, Samuel also survived the Warsaw Uprising and the entire occupation.
"We are procuring new weapons and machine guns. Rudolf Masaryk finds himself on the roof and shoots the frightened Germans. Amid the roar of gunshots, we hear his voice: "This is for my wife and my child, who never saw the world" - the account of the insurgent Stanislaw Kon was recalled by Tal Ben Ari Yaalon, chargé d'affaires of the Israeli Embassy. - The Treblinka Uprising teaches us an important lesson that values such as freedom, equality and life must be fought for and that we must do so not only for ourselves but for the good of us all.
- Germany, my country, brought immeasurable suffering to Poland, your country, between 1939 and 1945. The Germans murdered nearly six million Poles, half of whom were of the Mosaic faith. A further three million Jews from all over Europe fell victim to German racist madness and hatred, which became a veritable death factory on this very site. Every individual human fate has the same value - said Robert von Rimscha, Minister Counsellor for Cultural Affairs at the German Embassy.
- If all the victims of Treblinka could stand along the entire length of this road in a tight row one after the other, there would not be enough room for them. It is hard to imagine and impossible to describe the scale of suffering and death - noted Jarosław Nowak, Plenipotentiary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Contacts with the Jewish Diaspora.
- We must not forget what happened at Treblinka and other extermination sites. When the last witnesses of those terrible events depart this life, when people who remember those times are gone, we will be obliged to carry on the story, warning and memory - said Aldona Machnowska-Góra, deputy mayor of Warsaw.
- The stories are deeply saddening. Unfortunately, there are hardly any first-hand accounts of these stories anymore. Virtually no one will give a first-hand account of it anymore. My mother stayed at Treblinka, and nearly all my family died at Treblinka. For me, this place is sacred. It is the largest cemetery there can be - said Ada Willenberg, Holocaust survivor and widow of Samuel Willenberg, the last insurgent from Treblinka who died in 2016.- I hope that when we, the last witnesses of this crime, are gone, you will still come here because this place must not be forgotten.
At the end of the ceremony, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich and representatives of the Christian faith recited prayers. Wreaths were laid, and candles lit.
The German Nazi death camp Treblinka II was opened on 23 July 1942. - On that day, the first transports of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto arrived at the camp.
For almost a year and a half, transports from central Poland and other countries of occupied Europe arrived at the camp. Every day the Germans murdered around 5-10 thousand people in the gas chambers using flue gas from a tank engine.
Treblinka Museum. The concrete blocks represent the approximate route of the tracks used by the death trains.
The Germans destroyed the entire camp area in 1943. Pic. Alicja Szulc
On 2 August 1943, at about 16:00, the prisoners' commenced a revolt, attacking the German and Ukrainian guards and setting fire to the camp buildings. Of the more than 700 participants of the revolt, about 200 managed to escape beyond the camp's borders, and nearly 100 of them survived the war.
Treblinka is the largest cemetery for Polish Jews and one of the largest cemeteries for Polish citizens. Approximately 900,000 Jews were murdered at the camp, mainly from Warsaw, Bialystok, Mazovia and Podlasie, Slovakia, Greece, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, including an estimated 2,000 Roma. We only know the names of about 45,000 of those murdered.
On 2 August, at the German Nazi extermination camp Treblinka II museum, ceremonies were held to commemorate the 1943 prisoner revolt. The celebrations were attended by state and local government officials and members of the diplomatic corps, including Ada Willenberg, widow of Samuel Willenberg, the last participant in the Treblinka uprising who died in 2016.
Przemysław Batorski, Jewish Historical Institute