The Pawiak Jail is now a museum and an employee, Michael Kolschinski, opened its doors for us even though we arrived after opening hours. Mr. Kolschinski guided us on a tour of the museum and told us his personal story. His father helped smuggle Jews out of the ghetto, hid them in his home while endangering himself and his family and cared for additional hiding places on their route. For his actions he was decorated ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ by “Yad Vashem”.

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When rumors began to arrive in the ghetto about the true fate of those sent for ‘resettlement’ there were only 60,000 Jews left. They finally understood work permits would not exempt them from expulsion. The younger generation organized the ZOB - Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa – Fighting Jewish Organization – underground. Under the leadership of 23-year-old Mordechai Anilevitz, the ZOB declared its resistance to expulsion from the ghetto.

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In January 1943 ZOB members opened fire on German soldiers that came to round up more Jews. After two days the Germans retreated. This small victory encouraged the underground to prepare for the next battle.

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The Warsaw Ghetto Revolt erupted on April 19th 1943. 750 underground fighters, with inferior manpower and arms, began an assault on the German police and military. The Jewish fighters withstood fierce battles for almost a month until May 16th.

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The last significant battle took place in the ZOB’s underground bunker on 18 Mila Street. It is unknown how the Germans found the hideout. They blew up all five exits and began gassing the occupants of the bunker. Most of the Jewish fighters, including Mordechai Anilevitz, refused to be taken captives and took their own lives. 56,000 Jews were arrested in the ghetto. 7,000 of them were executed immediately. A monument in memory of the fighters was erected on a mound of earth on Mila Street, the remains of the bunker. It felt very satisfying to meet a group of Jewish British teenagers being educated on the history of the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt on the site of the monument. The spot where the revolt broke out, what was one of the entrances to the ghetto, is the site of a monument sculptured by Lean Marek Suzin in 1946. Nearby, Nathan Rapoport erected another monument in 1948 commemorating the heroes of the ghetto. From there begins the “Route of the Brave” composed of stones leading to the Umschlagplatz, commemorating the actions of the heroes of the ghetto.

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Treblinka

The Treblinka death camp was established for one purpose only – destruction. The day after construction was over it began absorption of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto as well as 17,000 other Jewish communities all over Europe. Within one year of its operation (22.7.1942 – 2.8.1943), 870,000 Jews from 10 European countries were murdered in Treblinka. It was a well-planned factory with one production line – converting Jews to ashes.

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The camp was built 70 Km North East of Warsaw in a rural area. Access to the camp is through a tranquil green forest. This fact assisted in deceiving victims to believe they were being routed to a transit station to labor camps. The efficiency of the death camp is evident in its ability to murder the 2,500 occupants of a shipment in the gas chambers within two hours.

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Bodies were burned in pits dug in the ground. Every day the sky was covered with a black cloud of smoke and every night pit fires could be seen from a distance between the trees of the surrounding forest.

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Once every two weeks a train left the camp to Berlin carrying gold, money, furs and other belongings harvested from the victims. Treblinka was one of the peaks of evil of the nazi monster. Disassembly of the camp began immediately after the prisoners’ revolt in August 1943 and was as efficient as camp operation itself.

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Today there is no trace of the atrocities carried out at Treblinka and the campgrounds have been converted to a memorial site. A sequence of rectangular concrete blocks leads to the main camp area, simulating the train tracks on which the victims arrived. A symbolic cemetery was erected in a clearing in the forest with tombstones carrying the names of Jewish communities massacred. A single large monument in the center screams out “Never Again!”

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