Treblinka Memorial Site

The Treblinka Memorial Site commemorates the victims of the German Nazi camps: the Treblinka II Extermination Camp (1942–1943) and the Treblinka I Labour Camp (1941–1944). It also encompasses the areas and facilities associated with the operation of these camps, including the Gravel Pit, the Black Road connecting the two camps, the Execution Site, and the area of the former Treblinka railway station. It is one of the most significant Holocaust memorial sites in Europe.

It is estimated that between 800,000 and 900,000 Jews [1]were murdered in the Treblinka II Extermination Camp. The victims were primarily Polish citizens, as well as Jews deported from other European countries. The victims also included Roma and Sinti [2]. In the Treblinka I Labour Camp, approximately 10,000 Jews, Poles, and Roma [3] were executed or died as a result of disease, exhaustion, and forced labour. The Treblinka Memorial Site is the largest burial and commemoration site for victims who were citizens of the Second Polish Republic.

The Treblinka Museum. The German Nazi Extermination Camp and the Labour Camp (1941–1944) is located at Wólka Okrąglik 115 (08-330 Kosów Lacki). Since 1 July 2018, it has operated as an independent cultural institution. Its founding body is the Mazovian Voivodeship Self-Government, and it is co-managed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

[1] Różycki, Sebastian, Kopówka, Edward and Zalewska, Natalia, Obóz zagłady Treblinka II. Topografia zbrodni, Treblinka–Warszawa 2021, pp. 75–76.

[2] Bukowski, Krzysztof, ‘Holokaust Romów w Niemieckich Nazistowskich Obozach w Treblince (w dokumentach Oddziałowej Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu w Szczecinie). Zarys problemu’, in: Treblinka. Historia i Pamięć = Treblinka. History and Memory, ed. Edward Kopówka, trans. Piotr Łopuski, Siedlce 2015, pp. 57–77.

[3] Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Delegation in Siedlce (DS), ref. no. 60/64, vol. I, fol. 28, Protokół z ekshumacji, act no. 2 of 23 August 1944; IPN, DS, ref. no. 60/64, vol. I, fol. 390, Protokół z ekshumacji, act no. 3 of 23 August 1944; IPN, Branch Office (Ob), ref. no. 194, Protokoły z oględzin of 9 August 1946 and 10 August 1946; see also: Łukaszkiewicz, Zdzisław, ‘Obóz pracy w Treblince’, Biuletyn GKBZH w Polsce, 1947, vol. III, pp. 109–122; District Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Siedlce (OKBZN), ref. no. 47, fols 29–32, cited in: Kopówka, Edward and Rytel-Andrianik, Paweł, Dam im imię na wieki (Iz 56,5). Polacy z okolic Treblinki ratujący Żydów, Oksford–Warszawa 2011, p. 66.