Two Treblinka survivors digested their
horrible time in Treblinka by creating a model of the camp each:
Yankel Wiernik and
Chaim Sztajer. They built their models by remembrance.
Chaim Sztajer's model is exhibited
in Melbourne, his home after
leaving Europe.
Yankel Wiernik's model is exhibited in the
Ghetto Fighters' House Holocaust and Jewish Resistance
Heritage Museum in Israel.
In order to honour the victims who perished in Treblinka,
two younger men decided to create a new Treblinka model each.
They built their models separately, not knowing of each other.
These new models are more detailed and in scale.
Mr.
Laponder used
Yankel Wiernik's
remembrance and depiction for his own model which is exhibited
in the Cape Town Holocaust Center. In addition he
used several maps and testimonies from different sources.
In 2003 his newest model will be finished. It is a
commission of the Beth Shalom Holocaust Center in Nottingham / England
where it will be exhibited. His new model is based on air photos
taken by the former German
Luftwaffe.
Having read the book "Trap with a Green
Fence" written by survivor
Richard Glazar,
Mr.
Peters decided to build a model of Treblinka.
After meeting the author in Switzerland along with intense
correspondence with Mr.
Glazar the model could be finished. It is Treblinka
acording to Mr.
Glazar who unfortunately passed away before
he could see "his" model.
Besides Mr.
Glazar's information he used several maps,
testimonies and his imagination to create his model.
Glazar, a man of most exact memory, was obviously
wrong re the borders of the camp.
Although he was forced to be a member of the "Camouflage Command" he didn't realize
the real course of the border. Therefore this model shows the border not
quite exact but according to
Richard Glazar's remembrance.
The Laponder Model
The Peters Model
The Sztajer model
The Wiernik Model
© ARC 2005