# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors.

# data[].attributes.body
The last three survivors

# data[].attributes.body
To honor the braveness of the resisters.

# data[].attributes.body
Some of the prisoners escaped through this route in Treblinka I.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The camp staff was afraid of the resistance of the people brought to Treblinka. Reinforced precautions had already been taken at the Treblinka railway station. However, there were incidents. There are no materials to indicate the number of these events.

The prisoners realised that working only for a short time prolongs their lives. The only effective weapon was escape. Not many managed to do so. Actually, there were only two ways. Either a prisoner escaped from the unit that worked outside the camp or left hidden in a freight wagon with garments. Some of them tried to get out with the underground tunnel. Unfortunately, the escape was unsuccessful. All those who undertook the escape and were caught, were killed, often in great tortures. The prisoners from a given unit were punished for successful escapes. Usually 10 people were shot for one fugitive.

The prisoners in the camp knew that the only way out was an armed uprising, because then they would either die in battle or escape. A secret organisation was founded, first in camp 1, then in camp 2. |The prisoners formed "fives" - groups of 5 people each, and if possible, they gathered blunt tools, wooden boards and pegs needed to push through the wire fence, as well as petrol to set the buildings on fire.

At the beginning of 1943, the Organising Committee was set up, who after many defeats (typhus epidemic, failure to acquire weapons by bribery of watchmen) prepared the uprising. The committee also included Jews who survived the Warsaw ghetto uprising and were brought to Treblinka in April and May. Its members included: Zelomir Bloch, Rudolf Masaryk, Marceli Galewski, Sudowicz, Salzburg, Samuel Rajman, Julian Chorążycki, Irena Lewkowska, Moněk, Leon Haberman, Lubling, Zeichet.

In camp 2, the Organising Committee collected 10-12 people and was operating probably since March 1943. The resistance group in camp 2 was initially formed independently, but in April 1943 Bloch was transferred there and took the lead.

In July 1943, the burning of the excavated corpses was basically completed. The transports came less and less frequently and the prisoners feared that the liquidation would take place any day. The formation of a secret organisation was possible due to a smaller rotation of prisoners, when their personal status stabilised. The staff assured the prisoners that they would stay alive if they worked well.

The plan of the uprising was to steal weapons and ammunition from the guardhouse, set fire to all camp structures, and attack the occupants by the prisoners from camps 1 and 2. It was planned to kill as many guards as possible, to carry out a mass escape of inmates and after crossing the Bug river with survivors' groups to join partisans in the forest of Białystok. The prisoners counted on the help of about 400 detainees from the penal labour camp, who were returning on railway platforms from the railway station in Małkinia and were driving past the death camp at about 4 p.m. In case of full success, the plan was to attack the crew of the labour camp, release the prisoners and burn down the buildings.

The uprising broke out on 2 August 1943 in the afternoon. It was Monday, a day off. There were no transports on Mondays.

Before 4 p.m., the conspirators had stolen weapons, ammunition and grenades from the guardhouse, with a key that had been duplicated earlier. The action had to start before the scheduled time, because SS officer Kurt Küttner found gold on one of the prisoners who was involved in the preparation of the uprising, and began the investigation immediately. The conspirators were surprised by the situation and decided to act at once. There was a chaotic shooting, some buildings were set ablaze, and Stanislaus Lichtblau from Moravian Ostrava, employed in the garage and who was nicknamed "Standa", blew up a tank of petrol. However, the destruction of gas chambers failed and the telephone line was not interrupted. The biggest attack was at the main gate, which was broke through after suffering heavy losses. Several kilometres away, a black column of smoke could be seen above the camp. From the commandant's office Stangl managed to establish contact with units stationed nearby. The occupants from Małkinia, Sokołów Podlaski, Kosów Lacki, Ostrów Mazowiecka rushed to help. In total, hundreds of people were chasing the fleeing Jews. The uprising lasted 20-30 minutes, of which shooting continued for about 10 minutes.

On the day of the uprising there were 840 prisoners in the camp, of which 105 did not participate in the uprising at all - they were mentally tired and resigned people. It is assumed that only about 200 people managed to get out of the camp and escaped the chase. Of this number, at most 100 people survived the war. After the Red Army occupied these areas, about 40 survivors were found, some of whom hid in the surrounding forests. The first meeting of the former prisoners of Treblinka II took place on 21 January 1945 on the initiative of the Central Jewish Historical Commission. It was probably then that the Treblinka Former Prisoners' Circle was formed, who held a meeting on 15 July 1945 in the apartment of Oskar Strawczyński, a former prisoner of the extermination camp. The meeting was attended by 15 prisoners from the extermination camp and 3 prisoners from the labour camp.

There are no reliable data on the casualties among SS-officers and Ukrainians, and the reports on this issue are contradictory. Most probably there were no Germans among the fatalities.

The uprising in Treblinka echoed loudly. The underground press widely commented on this event, including Informacja Bieżąca No. 32 (105) of 18 August 1943.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The camp staff was afraid of the resistance of the people brought to Treblinka. Reinforced precautions had already been taken at the Treblinka railway station. However, there were incidents. There are no materials to indicate the number of these events. The prisoners realised that working only for a short time prolongs their lives.

# data[].attributes.body
The camp was divided into two halves. One for prisoners, the other for utility and administrative.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On August 2, 1943, a revolt broke out in the extermination camp in Treblinka. Its participants attacked the SS soldiers and the guards and set the camp buildings on fire. They not only wanted to escape, but also to take revenge on the Germans and destroy the Nazi death camp.

The extermination camp in Treblinka became operational on July 23, 1942. After Sobibór and Bełżec, it was the third extermination camp created by the Germans as a part of the "Reinhard" action, which started in 1942 with the purpose of exterminating Jews of Jews of General Government. The camp was located in a forest area, near the Treblinka I penal camp, which was built there a year before. The close proximity of the railway line between Warszawa and Białystok and its branch to Siedlce were important, as it made transporting vast numbers of people easier.

The Jews that were transported here were taken to gas chambers, where they perished in tank fumes. Only few of them were temporarily kept alive. They were ordered to empty wagons and gas chambers, burn or bury bodies and segregate items taken from those who were murdered. The idea for an armed uprising and escape emerged in that group of people.

The conspiracy among the Treblinka prisoners started in the spring of 1943. Marceli Galewski was its leader. Despite receiving authority over the prisoners from the Germans, he gained trust of his fellow prisoners. Prisoners with military experience played an important role in the secret organisation. Among them were Polish Army captain and a doctor - Julian Chorążycki and Czechoslovak Army lieutenant - Želomir Bloch. The conspirators successfully managed to copy a key to the German weapon arsenal which allowed them to enter it and steal rifles and grenades when they were ready. However, most of the prisoners were armed with axes, crowbars, knives and Molotov cocktails.

The preparations did not always go smoothly. The date of the uprising was moved many times due to unforeseen events and accidents. This is how doctor Chorążycki died. The Germans found valuables and money hidden in his living quarters, which the escapees would use to survive. A very strong impulse, which increased the determination of the conspirators and lifted their spirits, were the news about the Warsaw ghetto uprising, which they heard from the Jews deported from Warsaw.

The uprising started on the 2 August, at around 4 pm. During that hot day, a part of the camp staff went by the Bug river to swim in it. It is unknown how many Germans and Ukrainian guards were killed by the prisoners during the uprising. Probably not many. However, the plan to burn the camp down was successful. Only the brick building with gas chambers was left standing. Around 300 prisoners lived to be free. The remaining number out of 850 prisoners perished under the gunfire of the guards. However, most of the escapees were killed during pursuit or after it. Around 90 people survived the war. Among them were Jankiel Wiernik from Warsaw, the author of a detailed report about how Treblinka II functioned ((Rok w Treblince)( Eng:A year in Trablinka)), Samuel Willenberg, who described his experience in his work Bunt w Treblince (Eng: Riot in Treblinka), and Czech Jew, Richard Glazar, the author of the Stacja Treblinka (Eng: Station Treblinka) account.

After the uprising of the prisoners,the Treblinka II extermination camp was liquidated. The last transport of Jews from Białystok was murdered there on August 19, 1943. Later, all buildings were destroyed, the area was ploughed and transformed into a farm, where a former Ukrainian camp guard lived. In almost one year, the Germans murdered over 800 thousand Jews in Treblinka. Most of them were from the districts of Warsaw, Radom and Białystok. Among them were almost 300 thousand prisoners of the Warsaw ghetto.

The uprising in Treblinka was not an isolated incident. Similar uprising efforts were made in other extermination camps - in Sobibór on October 14, 1943 and in Auschwitz-Birkenau on 7 October, 1944.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On August 2, 1943, a revolt broke out in the extermination camp in Treblinka. Its participants attacked the SS soldiers and the guards and set the camp buildings on fire. They not only wanted to escape, but also to take revenge on the Germans and destroy the Nazi death camp.

# data[].attributes.body
The Treblinka uprising took place in Poland, 1945, and consisted of about 1,000 Jews. Only three survived, Abraham Kolski, Lachman, and Brenner.

# data[].attributes.body
The staff would have up to 60 wagons, each filled with 80-120 people. They would then be seperated, each getting a different execution.

# data[].attributes.body
The soldiers watching for the resisters.

# data[].attributes.body
Although the main doctor died, the fire setting of the camp was successful, around 300 prisoners escaped, but 850 were shot by the Nazis.

# data[].attributes.body
Tornungcommando: specialized in camouflage.
Kommando Rot: The red unit
Kommando Gelb: The yellow unit
Kommando Blau: The blue unit
Desinfektionskommando: The disinfecting unit.
The Goldjuden: Unit segregated and estimated the valuables

# data[].attributes.body
They were afraid of being killed after seeing what had happened to other people so they seized arms, set camp buildings on fire, and attempted to rush the main gate.

# data[].attributes.body
 They set camps on fire and headed for the main gate.

# data[].attributes.body
On August 2,1943 a revolt broke out in the extermination camp in Treblinka. The participants attacked SS soldiers and gaurds.

# data[].attributes.body
: Several hundreds of prisoners were able to escape. The others were traced down by the nazis.