Treblinka
Treblinka was an extermination camp in northeastern Poland during World War II. Over 800,000 men, women, and children were killed by the Nazis at Treblinka in 1942 and 1943. Jewish people, among others, were transported to Treblinka and other camps by train. They would be transported from their own neighborhoods by truck to the train station. The Jews would then be crowded into cattle cars and sent to the camps.
To convince the arriving prisoners that it was an transit camp, the Nazis built a fake railway station, along with a zoo, garden, and many other things. The camp was camouflaged with branches and bushes to hide it from view. The camp was divided into three areas.The SS and Ukrainian living area, the reception area, and the extermination area. The reception and living areas were called the "Lower Camp" while the extermination area was called the "Upper Camp".
The Lazarett, a small execution site, was for the ill. Those too ill or weak to work in the gas chambers, along with the lone children and ones injured in transit, were taken to a fenced-in area with a small wooden building. They were shot in the neck and thrown into a pit in which a fire burned constantly.
Thousands of Jews from all over Europe were killed in Treblinka. There were at least 7,000 from Slovakia, 4,000 from Greece, 7,000 from the Macedonia part of Bulgaria, and 8,000 from the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Even about 2,000 gypsies were killed in Treblinka by the Nazis.
The camp was finally closed in November, 1943. For years, the only knowledge of Treblinka was the testimonies of SS officers. Later, mass grave sites were found and a few of the survivors told their stories about the death camp.