Following the liquidation of the camp, the site remained neglected for many years and lacked consistent institutional care. It was also desecrated by so-called “diggers”, individuals searching the area for gold, jewellery and other valuables belonging to the victims. Witness accounts and documents indicate that both local residents and outsiders took part in this activity, digging through the former camp grounds and mass burial sites in search of valuable items. These actions led to the destruction of traces of the crimes and the desecration of the remains of the murdered [1]. Attempts to commemorate the site were made immediately after the war, but proved unsuccessful [2].
It was not until 1955 that the Central Board of Museums and Monuments of the Ministry of Culture and Art announced a competition for the commemoration of the area of the former Treblinka II Extermination Camp and the Execution Site as a place of remembrance. The winning design was created by Adam Haupt, Franciszek Duszeńko and Franciszek Strynkiewicz. The ceremonial unveiling of the spatial and architectural complex took place on 10 May 1964. At that time, the Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom in Treblinka was also established.
In 1986, the institution became a branch of the Regional Museum in Siedlce. In the 1990s, an important role in maintaining and modernising the memorial site was played by the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites, which financed, among other things, conservation work and technical studies of the camp infrastructure. It also supported the process of commemorating the towns and localities from which Jews were deported to Treblinka. Initially, this concerned 130 localities, and in 1998, with the consent of the creators of the memorial, a further 86 were added at the request of Benjamin Majerczak, Secretary General of the Association of Jews of Polish Origin in Israel. An important stage in the development of the Museum was the construction of a new building with conference facilities in 2010, as well as the opening of a permanent exhibition devoted to the German occupation and the functioning of the Treblinka II Extermination Camp and the Treblinka I Labour Camp. In subsequent years, visitor infrastructure was modernised, information boards were installed, and maintenance work was carried out across the memorial site [3].
Since 1 July 2018, the Treblinka Museum. The German Nazi Extermination Camp and the Labour Camp (1941–1944) has operated as an independent cultural institution. The memorial encompasses the entire area of the former Treblinka II Extermination Camp. The boundaries of the camp are marked by two-metre-high, roughly hewn stones. The entrance gate is indicated by two concrete blocks, from which a cobbled road leads towards the ramp. The concrete elements symbolise railway tracks. Next to the ramp, ten stones have been placed bearing the names of the countries from which Jews were transported to the camp: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Yugoslavia, Germany, Poland and the Soviet Union. An eleventh stone bearing the inscription “Macedonia” was added in 2008 [4].
The central element of the complex is a granite monument designed by Franciszek Duszeńko. Its form refers to a wall composed of irregular stone blocks. The western wall is split by a vertical crack. At the top is a relief featuring a motif of blessing hands, as well as bas-reliefs also present on the northern and southern sides, referring to the events that took place in the camp during its operation. On the eastern side there is a menorah. In front of the monument stands a granite block bearing the inscription “Never Again” in Polish, Yiddish, Russian, English, French and German. In 2002, at the request of the then Israeli Ambassador to Warsaw, Shevah Weiss, an inscription in Hebrew was also added. Behind the monument is a rectangular depression filled with black basalt, commemorating the site where bodies were burned.
The commemorative area, covering approximately 22,000 m², has been secured with concrete and shaped as a space of remembrance; within it lie the remains and ashes of the victims. Approximately 17,000 stones of various sizes have been placed there. On 225 of them are inscribed the names of localities from which Jews were deported to the Treblinka II Extermination Camp. Among these stones there is only one personal commemoration—a stone dedicated to Janusz Korczak (Henryk Goldszmit) and the children from the orphanage, murdered in the camp in August 1942 [5]. It was added in 1978.
The commemoration of the Execution Site, designed by Franciszek Strynkiewicz, was unveiled on 10 May 1964. It takes the form of a stark wall of red sandstone bearing the inscription “In tribute to the murdered”. On 30 July 2014, on the initiative of the Association of Polish Roma, a monument dedicated to the Roma and Sinti murdered in the Treblinka I Labour Camp and the Treblinka II Extermination Camp was erected [6]. On 21 October 2025, a monument commemorating 49 victims of the Treblinka I Labour Camp, whose remains were discovered during archaeological works in November 2019, was unveiled. These were prisoners of unknown nationality and religion, murdered by the Germans during their imprisonment in the Treblinka I Labour Camp [7].
In 2018, the Mazovian Voivodeship Self-Government granted the Treblinka Museum the use of a plot forming part of the former railway station in the village of Treblinka. Based on research conducted in this area, one of the two sidings on which transports carrying deported Jews and Roma waited to enter the camp was identified. At the location designated by researchers from the Warsaw University of Technology, an embankment was constructed, referencing in form the symbolic railway siding within the memorial site of the former German Nazi Treblinka II Extermination Camp.
On 6 August 2021, an architectural competition was announced for the development of a concept for a new exhibition and educational building on the grounds of the Treblinka Museum. The aim was to select a design for a modern facility that would serve exhibition, educational and commemorative functions related to the history of the German Nazi Treblinka II Extermination Camp and the Treblinka I Labour Camp. The need for a new museum building arises, among other reasons, from the lack of adequate facilities and conditions to meet the growing expectations of visitors. A total of 31 designs were submitted. The jury evaluated them in terms of architectural quality, functionality, and the manner in which the new building would be integrated into the historic memorial landscape of Treblinka. The results were announced on 29 November 2021. The winning design was submitted by the Warsaw-based studio Bujnowski Architekci.
The building, with a usable floor area of over 2,100 m², will serve visitors and enable significant modernisation of exhibition and information systems. Beyond exhibition functions, the project will also support the Museum’s activities by creating conditions for the development of educational programmes. The designed exhibition space will total over 720 m², while meeting and educational rooms, with a combined area of over 300 m², will accommodate up to 200 people at one time. The implementation of the project will not only contribute to the preservation of valuable historical heritage but will also create opportunities for developing new exhibitions tailored to a wide audience. The investment is financed through targeted subsidies from the budget of the Mazovian Voivodeship Self-Government and the Minister of Culture and Nationa Heritage, derived from the state budget.
References
[1] Rusiniak, Martyna, Obóz zagłady Treblinka II w pamięci społecznej (1943–1989), Warszawa 2008, pp. 30–40; see also: Kowalski, Michał, “Na polach Treblinki. Profanacja terenów po obozie śmierci w świetle relacji i dokumentów”, Zagłada Żydów. Studia i materiały, 2021, no. 17, pp. 172–201.
[2] Kopówka, Edward, ‘Upamiętnienie obozu zagłady w Treblince. Próba odczytania’, in: Treblinka – ostrzega i przypomina! W 80. rocznicę utworzenia Karnego Obozu Pracy Treblinka I, ed. Edward Kopówka, Muzeum Treblinka. Niemiecki nazistowski obóz zagłady i obóz pracy (1941–1944), 2022, p. 113.
[3] Zawadka, Artur, ‘Upamiętnienie Treblinki’, in: Treblinka. Historia i Pamięć = Treblinka. History and Memory, ed. Edward Kopówka, trans. Piotr Łopuski, Siedlce 2015, pp. 50–55.
[4] Kopówka, ‘Upamiętnienie obozu zagłady w Treblince. Próba odczytania’, p. 122.
[5] Ibid., pp. 111–162.
[6] Remiszewska, Anna, ‘Miejsce Straceń i biogramy osób upamiętnionych’, in: Treblinka – ostrzega i przypomina! W 80. rocznicę utworzenia Karnego Obozu Pracy Treblinka I, ed. Edward Kopówka, Muzeum Treblinka. Niemiecki nazistowski obóz zagłady i obóz pracy (1941–1944), 2022, pp. 189–191.
[7] Remiszewska, Anna, Artyści Upamiętnienia Treblinki. W 100. rocznicę urodzin Franciszka Duszeńki, Treblinka 2025, p. 64.