by Yitzhak Arad
Chapter Twenty-Seven
1. Donat, p. Ill, the testimony of Kszepicki.
2. Rahske, p. 62.
3. Kszepicki, p. 100.
4. Reichman, p. 12.
5. Reder, p. 53.
6. A. Lichtman, p. 36.
7. Rozenberg, pp. 7–8; see also Wiernik, p. 42, and Helman, p. 13.
8. YVA, 1830/138, testimony of Mordechai Goldfarb, p. 25 (hereafter, Mordechai Goldfarb); see also Rückerl, p. 195, A. Lichtman, p. 45, and Pechersky, p. 48.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
1. Strawczinski, pp. 34–35.
2. Wiernik, p. 34.
3. Wilenberg-Moreshet, p. 50.
4. Ibid., p. 46.
5. YVA, 127/3688, p. 11, testimony of Yitzhak Lichtman (hereafter, Yitzhak Lichtman).
6. Rajgrodzki, pp. 109–110.
7. Reichman, pp. 54–55.
8. Rückerl, pp. 231–232.
9. A. Lichtman, pp. 32–33.
10. Novitch, p. 60.
11. A. Lichtman, p. 11.
12. Reichman, pp. 26–27, 53.
13. Rozenberg, p. 7; Wiernik, p. 29.
14. Lindwaser, p. 1111.
15. Rozenberg, p. 7.
16. Freiberg, p. 6.
17. Rashke, p. 103.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
1. Dokumenty i Materialy, Obozy, p. 204.
2. Reder, pp. 56–57.
3. Ibid., pp. 41, 54, 60–61.
4. Freiberg, p. 4.
5. A. Lichtman, p. 49.
6. Rashke, pp. 110–111.
7. Blatt, pp. 56–57, 66, 68–69.
8. A. Lichtman, pp. 19–20; Freiberg, p. 13; Rashke, pp. 98–99.
9. Pechersky, pp. 28–29, 32.
10. YVA, M-l/E-651, p. 4, testimony of Chaskel Menche.
11. A. Lichtman, p. 49.
12. Rashke, p. 102.
13. Pechersky, pp. 30–35.
14. YVA, S-3688/127, p. 3, The Stone Collection.
15. Krzepcki, p. 108.
16. Strawczinski, pp. 30–33.
17. Ibid., p. 34.
18. Rückerl, p. 213; Zaremba, p. 26.
19. Rückerl, pp. 215, 234.
20. Rajgrodzki, pp. 104–108.
21. Ibid., p. 113.
22. Ibid., p. 111; see also Sereni, pp. 194–195; Helman, p. 13; Rozenberg, p. 11.
23. Strawczinski, p. 14; Rajgrodzki, p. 109.
Chapter Thirty
1. Documents from Lublin, pp. 317, 319–320.
2. David Kahana, Yoman getto Lvov (“The Lvov Ghetto Diary”), Jerusalem, 1978, p. 66.
3. Tadeusz Pankiewicz, Apteka w getcie Krakowskim (hereafter, Pankiewicz), Krakow, 1982, p. 128.
4. Gerszon Taffet, Zaglada Zydow Zolkiewskich (hereafter, Taffet), Lodz, 1946, p. 27.
5. Yitzhak Lichtman, p. 1; see also Abraham Margolis, YVA, 3688/127, p. 2.
6. YVA, M-10, the underground newspaper Nowe Tory (“New Tracks”).
7. Ibid.; YVA, M-10, the underground newspaper Yediot (“News”).
8. Wiernik, p. 10.
9. Plock—Toldot Kehilla Atikat Yomin Be-Polin (“Plock—The History of an Ancient Community in Poland”), testimony of Marian platkiewicz (hereafter, Platkiewicz), Tel Aviv, 1967, p. 546.
10. Krzepicki, p. 86; Taigman, p. 2.
11. Pankiewicz, pp. 129–130.
12. YVA, M-10, the underground newspaper Oif der Vach (“On Guard”).
13. YVA, 3688/127-0, the testimony of Abraham Wang.
14. Reder, pp. 35–37.
15. Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Diaspora, Grodno, Jerusalem, 1973, pp. 564–565.
Chapter Thirty-One
1. Krolikowski, pp. 49–50.
2. Feinzilber, p. 141.
3. Rückerl, pp. 56–60.
4. Bleter fun Geshichte (“Pages from History”), Warsaw, Volume XVII, 1969, pp. 174–176.
5. Ibid., pp. 176–177.
6. YVA, 3468/244, p. 6, testimony of Shlomo Alster (hereafter, Alster).
7. YVA, 3688/127, pp. 1–2, testimony of Israel Trager.
8. Novitch, p. 49.
9. Strawczinski, p. 17.
10. Taigman, pp. 7–8; see also Wilenberg-Moreshet, p. 30.
11. Wiernik, pp. 40–41.
12. YVA, 03/2352, p. 50, the Sobibor collective testimony (hereafter, Collective Evidence), Jacob Biskubicz.
13. Ibid., p. 62.
14. Ibid., pp. 62–63.
15. Pechersky, pp. 40–41; see also Collective Evidence, p. 24.
16. YVA, 03/2952, pp. 21, 24, 34, 38.
17. The Archives of the Central Committee of PZRP (Polish United Workers Party), “Delegation of the Polish Government in Exile,” 202/III file 7, p. 126. Documents from the year 1942.
Chapter Thirty-Two
1. Fun Letzten Churbn (“From Last Destruction”), No. 3, Munich, October-November, 1946, pp. 46–48. (A testimony from Treblinka.)
2. Kszepicki, pp. 133–134; Kogon, p. 218.
3. The Czestochowa Book, New York, 1958, pp. 57–59.
4. Tshenstochow p. 163.
5. Akcje i Wysiedlenia, p. 290.
6. Kogon, p. 229; Abraham Lewin, Pinkaso shel Hamore Mihudia (“Notes from the Teacher of Jehudia”), Tel Aviv, 1969, p. 115; Gutman, pp. 242–243.
7. Strawczinski, pp. 23–24.
8. Ibid., pp. 24–25.
9. Shperling, p. 14; Taigman, p. 10.
10. Sereni, p. 196.
11. Wilenberg-Moreshet, pp. 36–37.
12. Wiernik, pp. 42–45; Rozenberg, pp. 9–10.
13. Arie Neiberg, Haacharonim (“The Last”), Merchavia, 1958, pp. 98, 190–191.
14. Taffet, pp. 27–29.
15. Pankiewicz, p. 130.
16. Reder, pp. 63–64.
17. YVA, 0016/6, p. 3.
18. Ibid., p. 15.
19. Novitch, p. 109.
20. B.Z.I.H., October-December 1957, No. 24, p. 16. Based on a report of the Gendarmerie in Chelm on January 7, 1943; Rückerl, p. 186.
21. Blatt, pp. 69–70; Freiberg, p. 8; YVA, 062/27, p. 3, testimony of Hanel Salomea (hereafter, Salomea).
22. A. Lichtman, p. 51; Dokumenty i Materialy, Obozy, p. 205, testimony of Feldhendler.
23. A. Lichtman, p. 38; Blatt, p. 73.
24. Sobibor-Bolender, Band 4, p. 708.
25. Rashke, p. 147; Adam Rutkowski, Ruch oporu w Hitlerowskim Obozie Stracen Sobibor, B.Z.I.H., 1968, No. 65–66, p. 20 (hereafter, Rutkowski).
26. A. Lichtman, p. 24.
Chapter Thirty-Three
1. Strawczinski, p. 26; Rajgrodzki, p. 109; Platkiewicz, p. 549.
2. Strawczinski, p. 47.
3. Wilenberg-Yad Vashem, p. 34.
4. Ruch Podziemny w ghettach i obozach, Materialy i Dokumenty, 1946, C.Z.K.H., B. Ajzensztain, Powstanie w Treblince, p. 189 (hereafter, Ajzensztain). According to the testimony of Richard Glazer, as recorded by Gitta Sereni, p. 210, the reason for Bloch’s transfer was that Küttner, the Lower Camp commander, began to suspect certain unusual activities among the prisoners, and, instinctively, his suspicion fell on Bloch. Therefore, he sent him to the extermination area.
5. Tanhum Greenberg, “The Uprising in Treblinka,” in Moreshet V, 1966 (hereafter, Greenberg-Moreshet), pp. 59–60, states that some pistols were purchased from outside the camp by people from the “Camouflage Team.” But there is no confirmation and no additional corroboration of this statement.
6. Ibid., p. 60; Wilenberg-Moreshet, p. 53.
7. Sereni, p. 206.
8. Greenberg-Moreshet, p. 60.
9. Wilenberg-Moreshet, p. 47.
10. YVA, 2941/64-T, p. 4, testimony of Eugeny Turowski.
11. Strawczinski, pp. 49–50.
12. Greenberg-Moreshet, p. 61; Greenberg testified that he, as a former soldier, was called to Rakowski, the “camp elder,” who showed him a grenade and asked him whether the grenade was good for action. It was he who found that there was no detonator inside.
13. Strawczinski, pp. 51–52; Greenberg-Moreshet, p. 61.
14. YVA, 0-16/118, p. 43; testimony of Moshe Kleiman; Wilenberg-Moreshet, p. 51.
15. Wilenberg-Moreshet, p. 52; Strawczinski, p. 50; Stanislav Kon, “The Uprising in Treblinka” (hereafter, Kon), in Sefer Milchamot Ha-Getaot (“The Ghetto War Book”), Yitshak Zukerman and Moshe Basok, eds., Tel Aviv, p. 536.
16. Wilenberg-Moreshet, p. 54.
17. Strawczinski, pp. 54–55; Sereni, p. 182.
18. Platkiewicz, p. 548; Ajzensztain, p. 189.
19. A. Goldfarb, p. 26.
20. Wiernik, pp. 45–46; Rozenberg, p. 12.
21. Wiernik, p. 38.
22. A. Goldfarb, pp. 28–29.
23. Wiernik, p. 54.
24. Ibid., p. 52.
25. Reichman, p. 61; Taigman, p. 19; Rajgrodzki, p. 115.
Chapter Thirty-Four
1. Wiernik, p. 56.
2. Dokumenty i Materialy, Obozy, p. 188, testimony of Shmuel Rajzman; Strawczinski, p. 56.
3. YVA, 0-3/1560, p. 7, testimony of Sonia Lewkowicz (hereafter, Lewkowicz); Zabecki, p. 84.
4. Strawczinski, p. 56.
5. Shmuel Rajzman, “The Uprising in Treblinka,” in Kehillat Wengrow Sefer Zikaron (“Memorial Book of the Community of Wengrow”), Tel Aviv, p. 221; Sereni, p. 246.
6. Kon, p. 537.
7. Wiernik, p. 54.
8. A. Goldfarb, p. 25.
9. Wiernik, p. 57.
Chapter Thirty-Five
1. Lewkowicz, p. 1.
2. Wiernik, pp. 57–58.
3. Sereni, p. 238; Zabecki, p. 94.
4. Platkiewicz, p. 550.
5. Kudlik, p. 7; Kon p. 537.
6. Platkiewicz, p. 549; Wilenberg-Moreshet, p. 56.
7. Shneidman, p. 4; Taigman, p. 14.
8. Rozenberg, p. 13.
9. Wiernik, pp. 57–58; A. Goldfarb, p. 25; Helman, p. 14.
10. Rozenberg, p. 3; Wiernik, p. 58.
11. Strawczinski, p. 57; Shneidman, p. 4.
12. Platkiewicz, pp. 549–550; Wilenberg-Moreshet, p. 57.
13. Sereni, pp. 241–242.
14. Strawczinski, pp. 58–59; Kudlik, p. 7.
15. Wilenberg-Moreshet, pp. 56–58.
16. Lewkowicz, p. 5; Wiernik, pp. 59–60; Rozenberg, p. 13; A. Goldfarb, p. 26; Reichman, pp. 62–63; Rajgrodzki, p. 116.
17. Rajgrodzki, p. 116.
18. Sereni, pp. 239–240.
Chapter Thirty-Six
1. Krolikowski, p. 53; see Zabecki, p. 95.
2. Sereni, p. 247.
3. Rajgrodzki, pp. 116–117.
4. Reichman, p. 63.
5. Platkiewicz, p. 551.
6. YVA, 0-16/106, p. 8, testimony of Leon Perelsztain.
7. Lewkowicz, p. 5.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
1. Rutkowski, p. 13.
2. There are several different versions of the exact wording of the note. Dokumenty i Materialy, Obozy, pp. 207, 213.
3. A. Lichtman, p. 37.
4. YVA, 016/1187, pp. 9–12, testimony of Hersz Cukierman (hereafter, Cukierman).
5. Novitch, p. 68, testimony of Bialowicz; Rutkowski, pp. 14–15.
6. Cukierman, pp. 13–14.
7. YVA 0-16/464, testimony of Feldhendler’s wife (hereafter, Feldhendler’s wife); Blatt, p. 77; Rutkowski, p. 16; Matz, p. 313.
8. The testimony of Dov Freiberg at the Eichmann trial, “The Attorney-General of the Government of Israel v. Adolf Eichmann” (hereafter, Eichmann Trial), Jerusalem, 1977, Book B, p. 1040.
9. Feldhendler’s wife, pp. 13–14; Rutkowski, p. 15.
10. Rutkowski, p. 16.
11. Eichmann Trial, p. 1040; Feldhendler’s wife, pp. 11–12, Rutkowski, p. 22; Cukierman, pp. 18–19.
12. A. Lichtman, p. 25.
13. A. Lichtman, p. 25; Cukierman, pp. 18–19; Rashke, p. 149.
14. A. Lichtman, p. 30; Rutkowski, p. 21; “Museum of Combatants and Partisans,” Tel Aviv, 1974, testimony of Moshe Bahir (hereafter, Bahir), p. 12; YVA, 0-3/4141, p. 3, testimony of Izak Rotenberg.
15. Blatt, p. 65; Cukierman, p. 20.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
1. Pechersky, pp. 13–15.
2. Ibid., p. 17.
3. Ibid., p. 25.
4. Ibid., pp. 32–34.
5. Ibid., pp. 22–24.
6. Ibid., pp. 26–27.
7. Ibid., p. 41; Rutkowski, pp. 27–28, states that Wajspapir, a prisoner of war, was also a member of the Underground Committee.
8. YVA, 0-33/1047, pp. 45, testimony of Semion Rosenfeld (hereafter, Rosenfeld).
9. Valentin Tomin and A. Sinelnikov, Vozvrashchenie nezhelatelno (hereafter, Tomin-Sinelnikov), Moscow, 1964, pp. 135–136.
10. Pechersky, pp. 30–31.
11. Tomin-Sinelnikov, pp. 144–147, 151–152.
12. Pechersky, p. 31.
13. Ibid., pp. 31–32.
14. Rückerl, p. 195; Tomin-Sinelnikov, pp. 153–155.
15. Pechersky, p. 44.
16. Ibid., pp. 31–32.
17. Ibid., pp. 38–39.
18. Ibid., pp. 39–40.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
1. Pechersky, pp. 40–41; Blatt, p. 78.
2. Rückerl, p. 195; Pechersky, p. 48; Rashke, p. 201.
3. Pechersky, p. 42. Pechersky, does not mention the meeting held on October 11.
4. Ibid., p. 42.
5. Ibid., p. 44; Rashke, pp. 205–206.
6. Rosenfeld, p. 5.
7. Pechersky, pp. 43–44.
8. Rashke, p. 207.
9. Bahir, p. 14; Rutkowski, p. 31.
10. Rashke, pp. 209–210; Rutkowski, pp. 330–31; Blatt, p. 78; Pechersky does not mention October 13 as the day fixed for the uprising, nor the subsequent postponement.
11. YVA, 033/1052, Pechersky’s memoirs in Russian, p. 81. These memoirs are based on the booklet published in Moscow in 1946, with some small additions. It was written by Pechersky in 1972 in his home town of Rostov (hereafter, Pechersky-Russian).
12. A. Lichtman, pp. 54–59.
13. Pechersky-Russian p. 81.
Chapter Forty
1. Lichtman, pp. 55–56; Rashke, p. 211; Rutkowski, p. 32.
2. Pechersky-Russian, p. 82.
3. Ibid., pp. 82–83.
4. Pechersky, pp. 47–49.
5. Blatt, p. 79; Pechersky-Russian, p. 86.
6. Rashke, p. 216.
7. Ibid., pp. 216–217.
8. Pechersky-Russian, p. 84; Rosenfeld, p. 6.
9. Pechersky, pp. 49–50.
10. Ibid., pp. 51–53.
11. Pechersky-Russian, p. 85.
12. YVA, 0-3/4137, p. 2, testimony of Yehuda Lerner; Pechersky-Russian, p. 85.
13. Rashke, p. 222, writes that Klat was killed by Rosenfeld and Vajspapir. However, Rosenfeld testified that his duty was to kill Frenzel and, in his description of his activity during the uprising, he does not mention killing Klat.
14. Blatt, p. 80.
15. Rashke, p. 225; Collective Evidence Sobibor, pp. 74–75, testimony of Abraham Margolis.
16. A. Lichtman, p. 55.
17. Pechersky, pp. 50–51.
18. Ibid., pp. 53–54.
19. Ibid., p. 54; Rashke, pp. 227–228.
20. YVA, 2688/127-0, pp. 4–5, Pechersky’s story as told on a Soviet radio station.
21. Rosenfeld, pp. 5–6.
22. Pechersky-Russian, p. 87.
23. Collective Evidence, pp. 76–77.
24. Pechersky, p. 55.
25. Ibid., p. 56.
26. Sobibor-Bolender, Band 4, pp. 808–809.
27. Mordechai Goldfarb, p. 26.
28. Collective Evidence, p. 72; Eichmann Trial, p. 1061.
29. YVA, TR-10/730, pp. 140–143, the Sobibor-Bolender trial.
30. A. Lichtman, pp. 56–57.
31. Sobibor-Bolender, Band 7, pp. 1338–1339.
32. Pechersky-Russian, pp. 89–90.
Chapter Forty-One
1. Novitch, pp. 166–167.
2. Collective Evidence, p. 72.
3. Sobibor-Bolender, Band
9, pp. 1795–1798.
4. Ibid., Band 3, pp. 562–564.
5. Ibid., Band 3, p. 564; Band 6, p. 113; YVA, TR-10/567, p. 141.
6. Zeszyty Majdanka, VI (hereafter, Zeszyty Majdanka VI), Lublin, 1972, pp. 186–188, monthly reports of the First, Second, and Third Squadrons of the Mounted SS and Police, covering the period September 26 to October 25, 1943.
7. This description of the operation plan by the pursuit forces is based on the above-mentioned reports (note 6), testimonies of survivors, and the tasks of the units taking part in the action. (The Border Police was permanently assigned to guarding the bridges and crossing points on the Bug River.)
8. A. Lichtman, p. 58; Mordechai Goldfarb, p. 27.
9. Zeszyty Majdanka VI, p. 186.
10. Pechersky, pp. 58–62.
11. Blatt, p. 83; the Yiddish publication in the Soviet Union Sovietish Heimland (“Soviet Homeland”), 1970, No. 5, pp. 134–136, carried an article by Pechersky, who quotes a former prisoner of Sobibor, Boris Tabarinsky: “Our group included fifty people. You decided that we should split into small groups [as it was] easier to hide. It was clear that everyone wanted to remain in your group. You selected the Soviet boys and said that you were going with them to look for food. . . .” Tabarinsky was included in Pechersky’s group.
12. Alster, pp. 15–16.
13. Pechersky, p. 64.
14. Feldhendler’s wife, p. 21.
15. Zeszyty Majdanka VI, p. 186.
16. Ibid., p. 187.
Chapter Forty-Two
1. Zabecky, p. 95, writes about the warning issued to the local population; Taigman, p. 8.
2. YVA, microfilm JM-3686.
3. Blatt, pp. 87–100.
4. Alster, pp. 16–19.
5. Salomea, p. 4.
6. A. Goldfarb, pp. 27–29.
7. Taigman, p. 15; Rajzman, p. 11; Reichman, p. 67.
8. Mordechai Goldfarb, pp. 29–32.
9. A. Lichtman, p. 63.
10. Freiberg, p. 16.
Chapter Forty-Three
1. Krystyna Marczewska, Wladyslaw Wazniewski, “Treblinka w swietle akt Delegatury Rzadu na Kraj (hereafter, Papers of the Delegatura), Biuletyn glownej Komisji Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce, XIX, Warsaw, 1968, pp. 129–130.