Treblinka Museum and Memorial

In the forest near Kosów Lacki stand some 17,000 stones. Carved into 225 of them are the names of towns from which the Germans deported Jews to the Treblinka II extermination camp. In less than eighteen months, the museum estimates, 800,000 to 900,000 people were murdered here. The Treblinka Museum covers the sites of both former camps, the death camp and the penal labour camp, and is one of Europe's most important Holocaust memorials.

History: two camps in one forest

The penal labour camp, known as Treblinka I, came first. It operated from 1941 until July 1944 and held Poles and Jews, who were forced to work in a nearby gravel pit, among other places. Around 20,000 people passed through it, and roughly half of them died.

In the summer of 1942, about two kilometres away, the Germans opened Treblinka II, the last death camp of "Operation Reinhard". The first transport arrived on 23 July 1942 from the Warsaw Ghetto. The camp covered about 17 hectares and was run by 30–40 Germans and Austrians with 100–120 guards. Most victims came from Poland, but others were brought from Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Greece, Yugoslavia and Macedonia; Roma and Sinti were also killed here.

On 2 August 1943 the prisoners staged an armed revolt. Of roughly 840 people in the camp at the time, nearly 200 managed to escape. The names of 143 former prisoners who survived the war are known. In the autumn of 1943 the Germans dismantled the camp, ploughed the land and sowed it with lupins to hide what had happened.

What to see

• The central monument by Franciszek Duszeńko: a granite block split by a vertical crack, with a menorah on its eastern side. In front of it, a stone reads "Never again" in several languages.
• The field of stones: about 17,000 rocks of different sizes spread over some 22,000 m². The only stone bearing a personal name commemorates Janusz Korczak and the children of his orphanage, murdered in August 1942.
• A symbolic ramp and railway line made of concrete sleepers, and 11 stones naming the countries the victims came from.
• Black basalt filling the hollow where bodies were burned.
• The Execution Site near the former labour camp, with a red sandstone wall inscribed "In tribute to the murdered".

The memorial was designed by Adam Haupt, Franciszek Duszeńko and Franciszek Strynkiewicz and unveiled on 10 May 1964. Two-metre rough-hewn stones mark the boundary of the former death camp.

Did you know?

For almost 20 years after the war the site was left unprotected, and treasure hunters dug up the mass graves. The so-called Black Road between the two camps is now closed to visitors because fragments of Jewish gravestones were used in its surface.

Tripto tip

The camp grounds are open daily: from April to October 9:00–18:30, shorter hours in winter. Admission is PLN 10, and free on Mondays. The permanent exhibition is currently closed while a new museum building is being constructed, so check the museum's announcements before you go. Dogs are not allowed (except assistance dogs), and there is no cloakroom or left-luggage. Allow at least 1.5–2 hours and wear comfortable shoes: the two camps are about two kilometres apart along a forest road.