Treblinka Railway Station

The German Treblinka I Labour Camp and the Treblinka II Extermination Camp took their name from the railway station located in the nearby village of Treblinka. The railway station played a significant role in the functioning of the Treblinka II Extermination Camp. Between 1942 and 1943, trains carrying Jews and Roma deported to the Treblinka II Extermination Camp, located approximately 4 km away, stopped here [1].

A typical transport consisted of 60 wagons, of which 58 were intended for deportees and two for the armed escort. On average, 80–120 people were transported in each freight wagon, sometimes more, which means that a single transport could include approximately 4,600–7,000 deportees. The journey took place under inhumane conditions—overcrowding, suffocation, lack of water and sanitation—which led to extreme exhaustion, suffering, and the death of some deportees. At the station, transports were divided into smaller units of no more than 20 wagons, which were then directed via a siding onto the camp site. On 1 September 1942, a ban was introduced on passenger trains stopping at the station and on the sale of tickets. These restrictions were intended to hinder possible escapes by deportees and to limit the presence of bystanders. Two German railway workers, assigned exclusively to handling transports of the deported Jewish population, lived in the station building. Polish railway workers also lived in the station buildings.

Witness accounts indicate that, despite the ban, local residents appeared at the station. Trade took place there, including the sale of water to exhausted deportees. This occurred sporadically with the consent of guards responsible for the transports. At the same time, regulations imposed by the occupying authorities provided for the death penalty for assisting Jews. Testimonies of deported individuals contain numerous references to the sale of water at the station. Jankiel Wiernik wrote: “I saw peasants peddling bottles of water at 100 zlotys a piece. […] 500 zlotys for one kilogram of rye bread”.[2] Similar scenes were described by Abraham Jakub Krzepicki: “500 and 1,000 zlotys were paid for a little water. […] I paid 500 zlotys […] and received a mug (about half a litre) of water.” [3] Eddie Weinstein also recalled that Poles working at the station brought water to the wagons, but charged for it: “Poles who worked at the station approached an SS soldier and asked for permission to distribute water to the thirsty people, and he agreed. They carried buckets of water over the cars and filled the bottles that passengers pushed at them, but they charged dearly for each bottle.” [4]

Accounts also include examples of compassion and attempts to provide help. The stationmaster Franciszek Ząbecki recorded: “People from nearby cottages, especially women, brought water in buckets, handing it to the thirsty, lamenting and weeping over their fate.” [5] Elsewhere, he also mentioned assistance provided by the families of railway workers: “The wives of station employees […] ran with buckets to the wagons, weeping, in order to give at least a drop of water to small children.” [6] Such actions involved serious risk. Ząbecki also described instances of assistance given to individuals who managed to escape from transports—hiding them, providing clothing and documents, and indicating routes of escape [7].

On 20 August 1942, the Germans shot Jan Maletka, a railway worker who abandoned his assigned duties and approached the wagons to give water to imprisoned Jews. He was noticed by one of the guards, who opened fire, resulting in Maletka’s death. As part of the Pilecki Institute’s project “Called by Name”, Jan Maletka was commemorated at the former Treblinka railway station [8].

It happened that people who died during transports and those who were shot while attempting to escape from transports to the Treblinka II Extermination Camp were buried in mass graves outside the camp area, near the railway tracks [9] [10].

In August 1944, German troops retreating ahead of the Red Army blew up the station building. Before its destruction, the railway worker Franciszek Ząbecki, stationmaster and member of the Home Army, removed part of the documentation of the Eastern Railway Directorate (Ostbahn) [11]. After the war, these documents constituted important evidence in the trials of members of the staff of the Treblinka II Extermination Camp.

[1] Arad, Icchak, Obozy śmierci akcji „Reinhardt”: Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka, Warszawa 2021, p. 179.

[2] Wiernik, Jankiel, Rok w Treblince. A Year in Treblinka, Warszawa 1944, p. 50.

[3] Krzepicki, Abraham Jakub, Człowiek uciekł z Treblinek… Rozmowy z powracającym, Warszawa 2017, p. 70.

[4] Weinstein, Eddie, Quenched Steel. The Story of an Escape from Treblinka, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 2002, p. 37.

[5] Ząbecki, Franciszek, Wspomnienia dawne i nowe, Warszawa 1977, pp. 38–41.

[6] Ibid., p. 46.

[7] For a broader discussion, see: Samuel, Monika, ‘Stacja Treblinka w relacjach świadków. Wybór źródeł’, 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. 589–614.

[8] Maletka, Jan, ‘Zawołani po imieniu’, Instytut Pileckiego, https://instytutpileckiego.pl/pl/zawolani-po-imieniu/upamietnieni/jan-maletka [accessed 19 March 2026].

[9] Różycki Sebastian, Kopówka Edward, Zalewska Natalia, Obóz zagłady Treblinka II. Topografia zbrodni, Treblinka–Warszawa 2021, s. 99.

[10] https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn507881

[11] Ząbecki, Wspomnienia dawne i nowe, pp. 106–107.