Treblink The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

The author Elie Wiesel said, “There are victories of the soul and spirit. Sometimes, even if you lose, you win”. People often wonder how there was barely any resistance to the Nazis without realizing that the resistance was hidden just under the Germans nose’s. One such resistance group was called the Jewish Fighting Organization. The group was otherwise known as the ZOB. The Jewish Fighting Organization aimed to gain control of the Warsaw Ghetto because they could no longer stand by and watch their family and friends be deported to concentration camps.

When the Nazi's called for more people to report for deportation, the ZOB handed out leaflets describing the horror that awaited those who left. The night before the deportation of factory workers was to occur, the ZOB burned down the factory and machinery. On January 18, 1943, SS troops surrounded the Ghetto and began to march in. The ZOB replied with gunfire. In a battle that lasted three days, 50 German soldiers were killed or wounded. Even though ZOB casualties had been high, the Germans retreated. From this brief show of ability and force, the ZOB earned respect and received more outside support including 49 more revolvers, 50 grenades, and some explosives from the Polish Underground. With a group of 1,000 fighters, the resistance created teams of ten, usually 8 men and 2 women, who fought together. Half of the members of each team had their own arms. Following the insurrection, Himmler ordered the SS Brigadier General in charge of operations at the Warsaw Ghetto, Jurgen Stroop, that "the roundups in the Warsaw Ghetto must be carried out with relentless determination and in as ruthless a manner as possible. The tougher the attack, the better. Recent events show just how dangerous these Jews are."

70 years ago (Ochayon) a new Ghetto was established. The Germans built Ghetto’s to hold Jews before they could take them out to a camp. They could be taken to a Death camp, Work camp, or a concentration camp. All the camps had a different reasons for different Jews. The Ghetto was located in Warsaw, Poland and became the largest Ghetto in Europe. It was opened in September, 1939 (“Ghetto”). The German soldiers created it in Warsaw for a certain reason. Usually people think that the Germans build Ghetto’s to take up space in a town. Because Warsaw had the largest Jewish population in Europe pre World War II (Ochayon), they held Jews throughout Poland (“Ghetto”).

When people think of the word ghetto today they think of an impoverished area of a city. The ghettos of World War II have a similar but nonetheless different definition. The ghettos of World War II were small parts of cities sectioned off to keep Jews in a confined area before eventual extermination. The Jews held there were more than just impoverished like today’s residents of ghettos. They were starved, beaten, and overworked. Ghettos were seen as just a step to Hitler’s final solution, or the extermination of Jews from Nazi occupied territory. The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest ghetto in Nazi occupied Europe. It held 400,000 Jews in 1.3 square miles. From the Warsaw Ghetto only 11,500 Jews survived. The Warsaw Ghetto was a place that

However, this would all change due to the brave individuals in one Ghetto. The Warsaw Ghetto was home to nearly 445,000 in 1941 and measured about 1.3 square miles (Meed). This Ghetto was by far one of the largest in population during the Holocaust. The Warsaw Ghetto was eventually going to be “liquidated” as nearly 1,000 Jews were loaded on trains to be liquidated each day (Goss). Throughout 1942 the Warsaw Ghetto was slowly “liquidated” and by the end of that year, it left 55,000 Jews in that camp nearly 80% of the Ghetto's original population (Goss). Many who were left in these Ghettos were without their family and all alone. Guilt spread and many felt responsible for not saving their loved ones. This guilt would turn into resistance and lead to the creation of groups such as ZOB, which translates to the Jewish Fighting Organization, and ZZW, which translates to the Jewish Military Union. These organizations gathered weapons to fight back against the Nazi regime. By 1943 Nazi officials ordered the transfer of 8,000 more residents of the Warsaw Ghetto. This would lead to the very first resistance in January of that year. When guards came to collect Jews, many openly attacked these guards and even hid so as not to be taken. By the end of four days, the guards left with only 5,000 Jews. This was seen as a success for those who lived there and spread the idea of resistance

In conclusion on jan.16, 1942, the Lodz Jews were transferred into the chelmno killing center. Hundreds of Jews , mainly children’s, the elderly, and the sick were killed by sept.1942 over 70,000 Jews and about 5,000 Jews were transferred to chelmno to be killed in a mobile gas van because they either didn’t do what they were supposed to do or they stole food. Some they were sent because they were caught teaching children’s by the Nazis

German authorities chose an area near the villages of Treblinka and Malkinia to build the labor camp of Treblinka. Malkinia was located on the main Warsaw-Bialystok rail line which was about fifty miles northeast of Warsaw. In November of 1941 Treblinka was established as a forced labor camp for Jews. It also served as a Labor-Education camp for non-Jewish Poles that were thought to have violated labor discipline. In July of 1942 authorities finished the construction of the killing center. The killing center was called Treblinka II and it was about one mile from the labor camp near the Polish village of Wólka Okrąglik along the Małkinia-Siedlce rail line (“Treblinka”).

After an order was sent out by Hitler himself, the S.S. soldiers sent off huge numbers of prisoners to Treblinka, a death camp. Some resisted, resulting in immediate and unavoidable death. The other prisoners remaining were to be sent to labor camps to be worked to death. Not wanting to be sent to their ultimate deaths, a group of young, rebellious prisoners set up the Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa (Jews Fighting Organization). The Z.O.B. was led by Mordecai Anielewicz, a 23 year old Jew. He spread word to others to “resist going on railroad cars” when

At Treblinka, the death was omnipresent. The camp was created in 1941 as one of the featured sites for Operation Reinhard, the German and Poland’s plan to murder more than 2 million Jews. The camp consisted of two locations; the first was a forced labor sight titled Treblinka I, the second was an extermination site called Treblinka II. In Treblinka II prisoners were lead to gas

The Jewish combat Organization was led by Adolf Liebeskind , Gole Mire, Yitzhak Zuckerman and Mordechai Anielewicz. When the Nazis entered the ghetto on January 18, 1943, to transfer a group of Jews to a camp, the ZOB unit ambushed them. The fight lasted for several days before the Germans withdrew. For the next few months the Nazis suspended deportation from the Warsaw

They had also enlisted for help in the Polish military underground movement, they had obtained a large amount of firearms and flammable explosives from this organization. As the Nazis called for an operation to liquidate the Jews, the organizations were ready to fend off the German troops. However, they did not succeed. The Nazi troops started going through all of the Ghettos buildings to force all of the Jews out of hiding. As for in that period of time approximately three-hundred thousand Jews were murdered or deported to the Treblinka death

I chose the concentration camp Treblinka, it was established in November of 1941. With the support of the SS and Police Leader for District Warsaw in “Generalgouvernement”, SS and police authorities established a forced-labor camp for Jews (Treblinka). Later on it became Treblinka I. In addition to it being a labor camp, it also served as a “Labor Education Camp” for non-Jewish Poles, who the Germans believed to have violated labor discipline. Jewish and Polish prisoners were put into separate compounds of the camp, and deployed at forced labor. The killing center known as Treblinka II was completed in July of 1942, about a mile from the Treblinka I, and a rail spur was added that led from Treblinka I to Treblinka II. The Treblinka camp

Throughout the summer of 1942, nearly 300,000 Jews were deported from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka death camp. During this summer, a resistance organization known as the Z.O.B. was formed. It was headed by the 23 year old Mordecai Anielewicz, and was comprised primarily of young men. The deportations halted in September, and the Z.O.B. began collecting whatever weapons they could manage to smuggle into the

“Before, they killed us with hatred and without method; today they are exterminating us without hatred but with method, and this is serious. It is no longer men we are up against, it is machines (Treblinka).” Treblika was designed as a Nazi extermination camp occupied in Poland. The camp was consisted of two separate units; Treblinka I was a forced-labor camp, and the second camp, Treblinka II, was an extermination camp. It was operated between 1941 to 1944 and approximately 850,000 men, women and children were murdered, including more than 800,000 Jews. (Niss) However, under the Nazis’ dreadful torture, some Jews gathered together to plan for the revolt.

Before the war, Warsaw was a major centre for Jewish life with a population of more than 350,000 Jews, 30% of the populace. Once it was invaded, on the 1st September 1939, it wasn’t long before preparations started to be made for the anointment of a Jewish ghetto. Warsaw Jews were ordered to wear a white armband with a blue star of David to identify themselves, which was the first step to separating the Jews from the Aryans. The ghetto was officially established on the 12th October 1940, and was cordoned off from the rest of the city to become a 1.3 square mile area surrounded by a 10ft high brick wall. From July 1943, SS and police units carried out mass deportations from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka Killing Centre. As a result of