'CAN YOU BE WRONG ABOUT
THE WHOLE CITY?'. THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REVOLT
IN THE TREBLINKA II EXTERMINATION CAMP
The celebration of the 80th anniversary of the revolt in the Treblinka II extermination camp gathered several hundred people. We would like to thank everyone who was with us at the Treblinka Museum and those watching the event coverage. We would like to thank the partners of the event, the Treblinka Museum. The Nazi German Extermination and Forced Labour Camp (1941-1944) and the World Jewish Congress, we would like to thank the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda for honorary patronage of the event.
Before the start of the official ceremony, Dariusz Lipowski, Deputy Director of the Jewish Historical Institute, together with a delegation from Treblinka Museum. The Nazi German Extermination and Forced Labour Camp (1941-1944) laid wreaths at the execution site next to the Treblinka II penal labour camp.
The main ceremony began with an opening of the exhibition of Samuel Willenberg's sculptures depicting scenes from the extermination camp. Then the gathered people went to the Monument to the Victims of the Death Camp in Treblinka.
“It was a heroic struggle of a handful of doomed people against the loss of human dignity. Of the dignity of people who have already been stripped of everything, of all their wealth and health. They were malnourished, hungry and exhausted, yet they put up a heroic fight. The horror of this place touches us. Historians are not sure whether 800,000 or 900,000 people died here. And I ask myself: how can you be wrong about a hundred thousand human lives? 100,000 human beings are like such cities as Płock or Elbląg. Can you be wrong about the whole city? Of course, this is not a complaint against historians, but the fact that we do not know the names of these people. They were destroyed along with the memory of them. We call it a double crime,” said the director of the Jewish Historical Institute, Monika Krawczyk.
“Thank you to everyone who came here. It is known that it is not a great pleasure to be in this place, to partly experience what those who were here experienced. My husband recalled that he cursed every moment that he was still alive, because it was better to die in the camps. I am grateful to all those who remember and who try to ensure that the memory of those who died here is not forgotten,” said Ada Willenberg.
“I share my pained reflection with you who have come to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the uprising in the German extermination camp in Treblinka. Today I bow my head in tribute to the Jews – our neighbours and fellow citizens – victims of the Nazi genocide. I think with the greatest reverence of those who, despite inhuman suffering and terror, undertook an unequal fight against the torturers”, wrote the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda in a letter read by Piotr Ćwik, Deputy Head of the Chancellery of the President.
“A group of fighters, heroes who have always believed in freedom and that there is another way out, decided to get out of this hell and simply destroy this extermination camp. The revolt they started was not only a cry of despair but also of hope that it might be possible to save the memory, that some would survive and tell about what had happened here. Because the memory of this place – and yet everything has been done to make the memory of this place perish – is very, very important”, said the Deputy Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska.
“It would seem that if this terrible story has already happened once, it cannot happen again. Nothing could be more wrong. The genocide in Rwanda, the massacre in Srebrenica, the genocide of the Uyghurs and finally the massacre in Bucha, where I was personally and I will never forget the enormity of evil I saw there. The Treblinka camp has become synonymous with evil born of contempt for other people, racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Therefore, we must not remain indifferent to any signs of aggression, racist or xenophobic attacks, but also to any acts of discrimination,” said the Deputy Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka.
“Our duty today is to remember those events, our duty is to ensure that this memory is passed on to future generations. There are also young people here with us, it is the duty of all of us,” said the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, prof. Piotr Wawrzyk.
“Criminals deprived of elementary humanity must be opposed to the innocent victims they dehumanize. On the 80th anniversary of the
On August 2, 2023, ceremonies were held to commemorate the Treblinka II extermination camp victims on the 80th anniversary of the camp's prisoners' revolt. Among the guests were Ada "Krysia" Willenberg, Holocaust Survivor, wife of Samuel Willenberg, a participant in the Treblinka uprising, Israeli Ambassador Yacov Livne, Dani Dayan, director of the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem, as well as Holocaust Survivors, Righteous Among the Nations and representatives of the highest state and local government, diplomatic corps, cultural institutions, clergy and Jewish organizations from Poland and abroad.
Natasza Majewska, Jewish Historical Institute