Stories from treblinka by LUCAS ESPINO

120167_6 — 2023-12-07 19:13:47 UTC

Kalman Tagiman and Samuel Willenberg were both 19 years old when they arrived at the camp Treblinka, where they were forced to assist in the mass murder of men, women and children. This happened 70 years ago and Samuel is now 89 years old. The Treblinka “death factory” was located in occupied Poland but was destroyed by the Nazis at the end of the war as they tried to cover their tracks.

120167_6 — 2023-12-07 19:14:39 UTC

One morning a transport arrived. We ran in. There was a new system to remove clothes immediately, jackets, trousers, and a production line. Suddenly I looked down. My sisters’ clothes.'I recognised Tamara’s coat - it was too small for her so my mother had lengthened the sleeves with bright green material. And my other sister’s skirt, navy with blue stripes... as if one was hugging the other. I immediately knew where they were, what had happened.'

120167_6 — 2023-12-07 19:14:59 UTC

The impact was none beneficial and bad

120167_6 — 2023-12-07 19:15:17 UTC

'God must have been on holiday. I looked for Him, but there was only a beautiful Polish sky.'

120167_6 — 2023-12-08 18:25:01 UTC

120167_6 — 2023-12-08 18:26:17 UTC

Again, Samuel and Kalman were among the Jewish slaves made to dig up and bodies and burn them - but this time they knew that once they had completed the grim work they too would all be killed.

So, on August 2, 1943, they were among 150 other Jewish prisoners who made a daring escape bid, stealing weapons, setting fire to the camp and fleeing into the woods during the night

120167_6 — 2023-12-08 18:26:42 UTC

120167_6 — 2023-12-08 18:28:21 UTC

120167_6 — 2023-12-08 18:30:49 UTC

120167_6 — 2023-12-08 18:31:50 UTC

120167_6 — 2023-12-08 18:32:49 UTC

120167_6 — 2023-12-08 18:35:16 UTC

Holocaust deniers have used the lack of physical evidence, such as records or mass graves, to suggest there was no genocide at Treblinka and that it was just a transit camp for Jewish workers.

But those claims were scuppered earlier this year when British forensic archaeologist Caroline Sturdy Colls used ground-penetrating radar to find evidence of massive burial pits at the Treblinka site, which she said contains the burnt remains of thousands of bodies.

120167_6 — 2023-12-08 18:36:26 UTC

Those too ill or weak to continue to the gas chambers, as well as injured and unaccompanied children, were taken into the so-called ‘Field Hospital’ - a wooden building with a Red Cross flag flying outside. Once inside, they would be shot through the neck and thrown into mass graves.

120167_6 — 2023-12-08 18:38:07 UTC

This death camp has killed many people and the stories of them are scary and bad