Editing Treblinka extermination camp (section)

==Operational command of Treblinka II==
===Irmfried Eberl===
[[File:Irmfried Eberl.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Irmfried Eberl]], the first commandant of Treblinka II, removed because of his alleged incompetence in running the camp]]
SS-''Obersturmführer'' [[Irmfried Eberl]] was appointed the camp's first commandant on 11 July 1942. He was a [[psychiatrist]] from [[Bernburg Euthanasia Centre]] and the only physician-in-chief to command an extermination camp during World War II.{{sfn|Friedländer|2009|p=432}} According to some, his poor organisational skills caused the operation of Treblinka to turn disastrous; others point out that the number of transports that were coming in reflected the Nazi high command's wildly unrealistic expectations of Treblinka's ability to "process" these prisoners.{{sfn|Arad|1987|p=87}} The early gassing machinery frequently broke down due to overuse, forcing the SS to shoot Jews assembled for suffocation. The workers did not have enough time to bury them, and the [[mass grave]]s were overflowing.<ref name="USHMM" /> According to the testimony of his colleague ''Unterscharführer'' [[Hans Hingst]], Eberl's ego and thirst for power exceeded his ability: "So many transports arrived that the disembarkation and gassing of the people could no longer be handled."{{sfn|Friedländer|2009|p=432}}{{sfn|Arad|1987|p=87}} On incoming Holocaust trains to Treblinka, many of the Jews locked inside correctly guessed what was going to happen to them.<ref name="Chrostowski" /> The odour of decaying corpses could be smelled up to {{cvt|10|km|mi|abbr=off}} away.{{sfn|Rees|2005|loc=BBC}}

Oskar Berger, a Jewish eyewitness, one of about 100 people who escaped during the 1943 uprising, told of the camp's state when he arrived there in August 1942:

{{blockquote|When we were unloaded, we noticed a paralysing view – all over the place there were hundreds of human bodies. Piles of packages, clothes, suitcases, everything in a mess. German and Ukrainian SS-men stood at the corners of the barracks and were shooting blindly into the crowd.<ref name="Chrostowski">{{Citation |last=Chrostowski |first=Witold |year=2004 |title=Extermination Camp Treblinka |publisher=Vallentine Mitchell |location=London |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzdnAAAAMAAJ&q=Berger |id=Google Books search inside |access-date=11 September 2013 |isbn=0-85303-456-7 |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813121921/https://books.google.com/books?id=hzdnAAAAMAAJ&q=Berger |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

When Globocnik made a surprise visit to Treblinka on 26 August 1942 with Christian Wirth and Wirth's adjutant from Bełżec, [[Josef Oberhauser]], Eberl was dismissed on the spot.{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=291}} Among the reasons for dismissal were: incompetently disposing of the tens of thousands of dead bodies, using inefficient methods of murder, and not properly concealing the mass-murder. Eberl was transferred to Berlin, closer to operational headquarters in [[Hitler's Chancellery]],<ref name="Eberl" /> where the main architect of the Holocaust, Heinrich Himmler, had just stepped up the pace of the programme.{{sfn|Rees|2005|loc=BBC}}{{sfn|Sereny|2013|p=98}} Globocnik assigned Wirth to remain in Treblinka temporarily to help clean up the camp.<ref name="Eberl" /> On 28 August 1942, Globocnik suspended deportations. He chose Franz Stangl, who had been the commandant of the Sobibór extermination camp, to assume command of the camp as Eberl's successor. Stangl had a reputation as a competent administrator with a good understanding of the project's objectives, and Globocnik trusted that he would be capable of resuming control.<ref name="Eberl">{{cite web |url=http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ar/treblinka/camprestructure.html |title=The Removal of Dr Eberl and the Re-Organisation of the Camp – August 1942 |publisher=H.E.A.R.T Holocaust Research Project.org |work=Treblinka Death Camp |year=2009 |access-date=1 November 2013 |author1=Webb, Chris |author2=Smart, Victor |quote=''Source:'' Arad, Donat, Sereny et al. |archive-date=7 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207070451/http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ar/treblinka/camprestructure.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Franz Stangl===

Stangl arrived at Treblinka in late August 1942. He replaced Eberl on 1 September. Years later, Stangl described what he first saw when he came on the scene, in a 1971 interview with [[Gitta Sereny]]:
{{blockquote|The road ran alongside the railway. When we were about fifteen, twenty minutes' drive from Treblinka, we began to see corpses by the line, first just two or three, then more, and as we drove into Treblinka station, there were what looked like hundreds of them – just lying there – they'd obviously been there for days, in the heat. In the station was a train full of Jews, some dead, some still alive&nbsp;... that too, looked as if it had been there for days.{{sfn|Sereny|2013|p=157}} }}

Stangl reorganised the camp, and the transports of Warsaw and Jews from the [[Radom Ghetto]] began to arrive again on 3 September 1942.<ref name="USHMM" /> According to Israeli historian [[Yitzhak Arad]], Stangl wanted the camp to look attractive, so he ordered the paths paved in the ''Wohnlager'' administrative compound. Flowers were planted along ''Seidel Straße'' as well as near the SS living quarters.{{sfn|Arad|1987|p=186}} He ordered that all arriving prisoners should be greeted by the SS with a verbal announcement translated by the working Jews.<ref name="Eberl" /> The deportees were told that they were at a transit point on the way to Ukraine.{{sfn|Klee|1988|p=246}} Some of their questions were answered by Germans wearing lab coats as tools for deception.{{sfn|Kopówka|Rytel-Andrianik|2011|p=96}} At times Stangl carried a whip and wore a white uniform, so he was nicknamed the "White Death" by prisoners. Although he was directly responsible for the camp's operations, according to his own testimony Stangl limited his contact with Jewish prisoners as much as possible. He claimed that he rarely interfered with the cruel acts perpetrated by his subordinate officers at the camp.<ref name="Wistrich">[[Robert S. Wistrich]]. ''Who's Who in Nazi Germany'', pp.&nbsp;295–296. Macmillan, 1982.</ref> He became desensitised to the murders, and came to perceive prisoners not as humans but merely as "cargo" that had to be destroyed, he said.{{sfn|Arad|1987|p=186}}

====Treblinka song====
According to postwar testimonies, when transports were temporarily halted, then-deputy commandant Kurt Franz wrote lyrics to a song meant to celebrate the Treblinka extermination camp. In reality, prisoner Walter Hirsch wrote them for him. The melody came from something Franz remembered from [[Buchenwald concentration camp|Buchenwald]]. The music was upbeat, in the key of [[D (musical note)|D major]]. The song was taught to Jews assigned to work in the ''Sonderkommando''.{{sfn|Kopówka|Rytel-Andrianik|2011|p=90|loc=section 2}} They were forced to memorise it by nightfall of their first day at the camp.<ref>Claude Lanzmann (director, ''[[Shoah (film)|Shoah]]'', New Yorker Films, 1985, DVD disc 3, ch. 1<!--check disc 3, ch 1-->; Claude Lanzmann, ''Shoah: An Oral History of the Holocaust'', New York: Pantheon Books, 1985, 95.</ref><ref>For more about the song, see Erin McGlothlin, "The Voice of the Perpetrator, the Voices of the Survivors", in Erin Heather McGlothlin, Jennifer M. Kapczynski (eds.), ''Persistent Legacy: The Holocaust and German Studies'', Rochester: Campden House, 2016, 40–49.</ref> ''Unterscharführer'' [[Franz Suchomel]] recalled the lyrics as follows: "We know only the word of the Commander. / We know only obedience and duty. / We want to keep working, working, / until a bit of luck beckons us some time. Hurrah!"<ref name="perp">Suchomel's lyrics in German: ''"Wir kennen nur das Wort des Kommandanten / und nur Gehorsamkeit und Pflicht / Wir wollen weiter, weiter leisten / bis daß das kleine Glück uns einmal winkt. Hurrah!"'' {{cite web |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13518094.html |title=Der zähe Schaum der Verdrängung |last1=Von Brumlik |first1=Micha |date=17 February 1986 |website=Der Spiegel |publisher=Spiegel-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH & Co. KG. |access-date=16 June 2015 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924235014/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13518094.html |url-status=live }} {{cite web |author=Webb, Chris |year=2007 |url=http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ar/arperpsspeak.html |title=The Perpetrators Speak |publisher=H.E.A.R.T HolocaustResearchProject.org |work=Belzec, Sobibor & Treblinka Death Camps |access-date=30 October 2013 |archive-date=6 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906021944/http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ar/arperpsspeak.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

A musical ensemble was formed, under duress, by [[Artur Gold]], a popular Jewish [[Polish culture in the Interbellum|prewar composer]] from Warsaw. He arranged the theme to the Treblinka song for the {{nowrap|10-piece}} prisoner orchestra which he conducted. Gold arrived in Treblinka in 1942 and played music in the SS mess hall at the ''Wohnlager'' on German orders. He died during the uprising.{{sfn|Kopówka|Rytel-Andrianik|2011|p=90}}

===Kurt Franz===
After the Treblinka revolt in August 1943, and termination of Operation Reinhard in October 1943, Stangl went with Globocnik to Trieste in northern Italy where SS reinforcements were needed.{{sfn|Arad|1987|p=371}} The third and last Treblinka II commandant was [[Kurt Franz]], nicknamed "Lalka" by the prisoners ({{langx|pl|the doll}}) because he had "an innocent face".<ref name="Berliner/Biala">{{cite web |url=http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/revolt/berliner.html |title=Meir Berliner – A Brave act of Resistance at Treblinka – Revolt & Resistance |work=Treblinka |publisher=HolocaustResearchProject.org |access-date=31 October 2013 |author1=Stein, Joel |author2=Webb, Chris |archive-date=11 August 2017 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170811004455/http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/revolt/berliner.html |url-status=live }} ''Also in:'' {{harvp|Bryant|2014|p=103}}.</ref> According to survivor testimonies, Franz shot and beat prisoners to death for minor infractions or had his dog Barry tear them to pieces.<ref name="HRP-HS">{{cite web |url=http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/survivor/sperling.html |title=Hershl Sperling – Personal Testimony of the Treblinka Death Camp |work=Treblinka |publisher=HolocaustResearchProject.org |access-date=23 May 2014 |author1=Stein, Joel |author2=Webb, Chris |archive-date=20 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121220142429/http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/survivor/sperling.html |url-status=live }} ''Also in:'' {{harvp|Bryant|2014|p=103|loc=testimonies of Jakob Jakubowicz and Leo Lewi in Düsseldorf, 1964}}.</ref> He managed Treblinka II until November 1943. The subsequent clean-up of the Treblinka II perimeter was completed by prisoners of nearby Treblinka I ''Arbeitslager'' in the following months. Franz's deputy was ''[[Hauptscharführer]]'' [[Fritz Küttner]], who maintained a network of informers among the prisoners and did the hands-on murders.{{sfn|Kopówka|Rytel-Andrianik|2011|p=86}}

Kurt Franz maintained a photo album against orders never to take photographs inside Treblinka. He named it ''Schöne Zeiten'' ("Good Times"). His album is a rare source of images illustrating the mechanised grave digging, brickworks in Małkinia and the Treblinka zoo, among others. Franz was careful not to photograph the gas chambers.{{sfn|Kopówka|Rytel-Andrianik|2011|p=86}}

The Treblinka I gravel mine functioned at full capacity under the command of Theodor van Eupen until July 1944, with new forced labourers sent to him by ''Kreishauptmann'' Ernst Gramss from Sokołów.{{sfn|Kopówka|Rytel-Andrianik|2011|p=49}} The mass shootings continued into 1944.{{sfn|Kopówka|Rytel-Andrianik|2011|p=112}} With Soviet troops closing in, the last 300 to 700 prisoners disposing of the incriminating evidence were executed by ''Trawnikis'' in late July 1944, long after the camp's official closure.{{sfn|Arad|1987|pp=373–375}}<ref name="USHMM-Treblinka" /> Strebel, the ethnic German who had been installed in the farmhouse built in place of the camp's original bakery using bricks from the gas chambers, set fire to the building and fled to avoid capture.{{sfn|Kopówka|Rytel-Andrianik|2011|p=112}}