Labour Camp Treblinka I

Treblinka I labour camp was located two kilometres from Treblinka extermination camp (Treblinka II). The camp was opened on 1 September 1941 as a labour camp for forced labourers. The prisoners were detainees from the Gestapo office in Sokołów about 35 kilometres south. Among them were Poles from surrounding villages. Germans, Czechs and French Jews were also imprisoned here. Jews from the Warsaw ghetto were also deported here to be used as forced labourers. During its existence, around 20,000 people were imprisoned here, half of whom died due to exhaustion, hunger and disease.

Most of the male prisoners were put to work in the stone quarry. This provided construction materials for the German army. Work here was done in shifts of 12 to 14 hours. No work clothes were available and when prisoners ran out of footwear, they had to work barefoot. Besides the quarry, prisoners were also employed in the forest to cut wood that was used in the death camp as fuel for the pits in which bodies of gassed Jews were burned. Female prisoners in Treblinka I were employed in barracks where they washed and mended army uniforms, which were brought in in large quantities in goods trains.

The camp was commanded by Sturmbannführer Theodor van Eupen. He was in charge of several SS and East European volunteers (Hilfswilliger or Hiwis). Treblinka I officially remained in use until 23 July 1944, after which it was abandoned due to the arrival of the Red Army.

Today, only foundations of several buildings remain on the former camp site. There are signs indicating which buildings once stood here. Furthermore, a large monument and several smaller memorials have been erected here. An information board shows the map of the original camp.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Koos Winkelman