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> TESTIMONIES OF TREBLINKA SS-MEN
> 
> All of the documents on this Web page were retrieved from the archives of
> Shamash: The Jewish Internet Consortium. The comments inside the square [ . .
> . ] brackets were written by Daniel Keren for the Shamash archives.
> 
> 
> 
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> Testimony of Treblinka's second commandant, Stangl.
> Quoted in "BELZEC, SOBIBOR, TREBLINKA - the Operation Reinhard Death Camps",
> Indiana University Press - Yitzhak Arad, 1987, p. 184:
> 
> Michel [the sergeant-major of the camp] told me later that Wirth suddenly
> appeared, looked around on the gas chambers on which they were still working,
> and said: 'right, we'll try it out right now with those twenty-five working
> Jews. Get them up here'. They marched our twenty-five Jews up there and just
> pushed them in and gassed them. Michel said Wirth behaved like a lunatic,
> hitting at his own staff with his whip to drive them on...
> 
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> 
> Willi Mentz testifies about his days in Treblinka.
> Quoted in 'The Good Old Days' - E. Klee, W. Dressen, V. Riess, The Free Press,
> NY, 1988., p. 245-247:
> 
> When I came to Treblinka the camp commandant was a doctor named Dr. Eberl. He
> was very ambitious. It was said that he ordered more transports than could be
> "processed" in the camp. That meant that trains had to wait outside the camp
> because the occupants of the previous transport had not yet all been killed.
> At the time it was very hot and as a result of the long wait inside the
> transport trains in the intense heat many people died. At the time whole
> mountains of bodies lay on the platform. The Hauptsturmfuehrer Christian Wirth
> came to Treblinka and kicked up a terrific row. And then one day Dr. Eberl was
> no longer there...
> 
> For about two months I worked in the upper section of the camp and then after
> Eberl had gone everything in the camp was reorganized. The two parts of the
> camp were separated by barbed wire fences. Pine branches were used so that you
> could not see through the fences. The same thing was done along the route from
> the "transfer" area to the gas chambers...
> 
> Finally, new and larger gas chambers were built. I think that there were now
> five or six larger gas chambers. I cannot say exactly how many people these
> large gas chambers held. If the small gas chambers could hold 80-100 people,
> the large ones could probably hold twice that number...
> 
> Following the arrival of a transport, six to eight cars would be shunted into
> the camp, coming to a halt at the platform there. The commandant, his deputy
> Franz, Kuettner and Stadie or Maetzig would be here waiting as the transport
> came in. Further SS members were also present to supervise the unloading: for
> example, Genz and Belitz had to make absolutely sure that there was no one
> left in the car after the occupants had been ordered to get out.
> 
> When the Jews had got off, Stadie or Maetzig would have a short word with
> them. They were told something to the effect that they were a resettlement
> transport, that they would be given a bath and that they would receive new
> clothes. They were also instructed to maintain quiet and disciplined. They
> would continue their journey the following day.
> 
> Then the transports were taken off to the so-called "transfer" area. The women
> had to undress in huts and the men out in the open. The women were than led
> through a passageway, known as the "tube", to the gas chambers. On the way
> they had to pass a hut where they had to hand in their jewelery and valuables.
> 
> 
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> 
> Kurt Franz testifies on his days in Treblinka.
> Quoted in 'The Good Old Days' - E. Klee, W. Dressen, V. Riess, The Free Press,
> NY, 1988., p. 247-249:
> 
> I cannot say how many Jews in total were gassed in Treblinka. On average each
> day a large train arrived. Sometimes there were even two. This however was not
> so common.
> 
> In Treblinka I was commander of the Ukrainian guard unit as I had been in
> Belzec. In Treblinka as in Belzec the unit consisted of sixty to eighty men.
> The Ukrainians' main task was to man the guard posts around the camp
> perimeter. After the uprising in August 1943 I ran the camp more or less
> single-handedly for a month; however, during that period no gassings were
> undertaken.
> 
> It was during that period that the original camp was demolished. Everything
> was leveled off off and lupins were planted...
> 
> 
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> 
> 13
> 
> Testimony of SS Oberscharfuehrer Heinrich Matthes about Treblinka.
> Quoted in "BELZEC, SOBIBOR, TREBLINKA - the Operation Reinhard Death Camps",
> Indiana University Press - Yitzhak Arad, 1987, p. 121:
> 
> During the entire time I was in Treblinka, I served in the upper camp. The
> upper camp was that part of Treblinka with the gas chambers, where the Jews
> were killed and their corpses laid in large pits and later burned.
> 
> About fourteen Germans carried out services in the upper camp. There were two
> Ukrainians permanently in the upper camp. One of them was called Nikolai, the
> other was a short man, I don't remember his name... These two Ukrainians who
> lived in the upper camp served in the gas chambers. They also took care of the
> engine room when Fritz Schmidt was absent. Usually this Schmidt was in charge
> of the engine room. In my opinion, as a civilian he was either a mechanic or a
> driver...
> 
> All together, six gas chambers were active. According to my estimate, about
> 300 people could enter each gas chamber. The people went into the gas chamber
> without resistance. Those who were at the end, the Ukrainian guards had to
> push inside. I personally saw how the Ukrainians pushed the people with their
> rifle butts...
> 
> The gas chambers were closed for about thirty minutes. Then Schmidt stopped
> the gassing, and the two Ukrainians who were in the engine room opened the gas
> chambers from the other side.
> 
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> A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
> Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
> College of Education, University of South Florida © 2005.