Treblinka was a famous death camp,
where Jews and many others were killed. The difference between a death
camp and a concentration camp is that a death camp is where people are
just plainly murdered and a concentration camp is where they are used as
labor and if they do not cooperate, they are killed. During the period
from September 1942 to September 1944, more than two million people were
exterminated. Two to three trainloads brought 3,500-4000 doomed prisoners
a day. Each train consisted of sixty cars and was brought every half-hour.
On an average six to eight hundred prisoners were killed in a day.
The main way of exterminating
prisoners was through the gas chamber. Before prisoners were brought into
the gas chamber, they were made to undress to make more room for people.
They were taken down to a room called the "Undressing Room" and there they
had to undress and be on their way to the chamber. In the gas chamber,
the walls, floors, and ceiling were made of cement. On the opposite
side of the entrance door was another door where the bodies of the poisoned
people were removed. As many as 500 men, women, and children were pushed
into the chambers. When the chamber was filled to capacity, the Germans
came to the door and started beating the naked people with rubber whips
and setting the dogs free against them. About 700 to 800 (maximum) could
fit in at one time.
There are many other ways
that people were killed. They were dragged along the camp roads. They were
dragged at their feet over sharp stones of the camp pavement. They were
drowned in water-tubs. In the summer of 1940, many Poles, Jews, and Spaniards
were selected to be drowned in tubs or small barrels. Prisoners were sometimes
bathed to death. Cold water was brought in and they were made to sit in
there until they died (usually took about 30 minutes). Inmates were even
hung by trees, for punishment they were hanged by their arms being held
at their backs on some of the many trees on the camp. People were casually
thrown down the stone quarries. This method was used to kill people as
cheap as possible. Inmates were also beaten to death. Prisoners were beaten
with axes, sticks, and shovels. Children were exterminated by heart- injections.
About 420 Jewish children (ages 4 to 7) were sent into the camp, where
doctors and their helpers with heart- injections exterminated them.
