ARC Main Page Treblinka Camp History

Mapping Treblinka

Last Update 4 September 2006

     




In order to give an idea of the size, layout and operation of the death camp, several maps over the years have been compiled. These were mainly based on the evidence as remembered by some survivors, but also according to evidence of some of the perpetrators. Although these maps do correspond in the main aspects of the camp, there are discrepancies regarding shape and minor details of features.

What makes the death camp so unique in comparison with concentration/death camps like Auschwitz in this aspect is the fact that there was an attempt to by the Nazis to cover the existence of the camp and its functions as the Russians were advancing. The fencing was dismantled, the mass graves filled in, earth mounds were levelled, the extermination and sorting yard were ploughed over, and Lupins were planted to cover the telltale scarring of the ground. Also most of the structures that remained standing after the revolt were dismantled or utilised as a decoy in order to make the area appear as an ordinary farm.

Therefore little remained when the Polish Commission Into War Crimes in Poland investigated the area in 1945 with some camp survivors. Accordingly a survey map was drawn up (see insert) which still reflects much of the perimeter of the area as it found on the actual site today.
Apart from three other survivors who produced a map seemingly based on this survey map of the area, showing some camp features, most other maps disregarded the actual trapezoid shape of the camp. Therefore we have an array of maps, which are oblong or slightly trapezoid, which outer shape effects the placing, and size of the features inside the camp. At first glance some look radically different, while in other maps only smaller details are different.

These discrepancies are due, not so much to erroneous recall by witnesses, but mostly for the following reasons:

  1. According to witnesses' reports, it was impossible to see from one section of the camp to another, since most of the fences were camouflaged thereby obscuring the view.
  2. In addition the camp was purposely situated on a slight hillock inside the remains of a forest area (for camouflage and deception reasons) making it impossible for interns to determine whether the camp was square, rectangle or trapezoid (it was in fact an irregular trapezoid).
  3. The camp went through different stages of layout and construction, features were added and fencing changed.
  4. Except a few inmates, most were restricted to their section of the camp. Therefore some maps as drawn by the witnesses, probably without much input from other sources, are incomplete, especially in the death camp section.
  5. Aerial photographic evidence (1943-44), which shows the camp after its eradication, only came to light in around 1990 with the advent of opening up of East German archives.
  6. The most important fact was that the Nazis obliterated the camp. Although they did work according to a trail and error method of which Treblinka was the most perfected of their death camp efforts, there was in all probability not an "official" Nazi map drawn up of the camp by the Aktion Reinhard death camps "architect" SS-Hauptsturmführer Richard Thomalla. If so, it would in any case have been destroyed as with most other evidence. However the fact that both the camp commandant and his deputy have sworn to the accuracy of maps as brought against them in court speaks volumes.


A new map was therefore drawn taking into account the combined evidence of the Wiernik model, all available Treblinka death camp maps, a topographical map of the area, the aerial photos and witness accounts. Other maps and evidence may still come to light, but these would probably only affect smaller detail in the proposing of a reconstruction of a new Treblinka map.

Below are some maps of which features were used in the redrawn of a proposed new Treblinka map. Various other maps of the camp were also consulted not to mention all the witness reports.

To make a comparison between all camp structures easier, most of the maps are turned so that the railway is at the bottom. The north - south direction is usually apparent by the north arrow.


EMISSARY MAP
This map was transmitted to the Central Secretariat of the movement Gordonia in Rumania by the emissary from Poland who visited Polish cities and also Galicia in order to establish contact with the remnants of the members of that movement.
The map was prepared by him in Poland. It was drawn according to specifications by the secretaries of Gordonia in Rumania. It was finally sent to the secretaries of the kibbutzim organisation in Palestine.
Signed: Chief Secretary of Gordonia in Rumania, September 1943
Source: Julius Kuhl Collection, Wiener Library


ONE OF THE FIRST MAPS


WIERNIK MAP #1
Plan of the extermination area of Treblinka, drawn in 1944 by survivor Yankiel Wiernik.


WIERNIK MAP #2
Plan of Treblinka, drawn in 1945 by survivor Yankiel Wiernik. From: Filip Friedman, This was Oswiecim!, The United Jewish Relief Appeal, London 1946, p. 81-84.


SURVEY MAP 1945


KUDLIK, WIERNIK, TRAUTSOLT MAP
One of the first maps, drawn by survivors in 1945. One of the only survivor maps which - regarding the shape - corresponds with the site as it appears today as well as aerial photo evidence.
Source: Zdzislaw Lukaszkiewicz. Oboz stracen w Treblince. PIW, Warszawa 1946.


KUDLIK, LAKS, PLATKIEWICZ MAP
Improved version of Kudlik's first map, from 1945.


1946 MAP
Treblinka map drawn in 1946 by survivor Moszek Laks, named "Mietek".


GLAZAR MAP
Richard Glazar was member of the camouflage commando with a keen eye for detail. His map is basically the same as three other maps and contains some discrepancies in the placing of featured as well as the overall shape of the camp.
The extermination site ("Upper Camp") was not known to him and is therefore not reliable in its detail.
Click here for the Treblinka model according to Mr. Glazar's remembrance.
Click for the interactive map


WILLENBERG MAP
Samuel Willenberg was part of the camouflage commando who had access to most of the camp, except for the extermination area. He included every detail to scale - and being an excellent draughtsman - his map of the camp may be considered as one of the most reliable regarding the scaling of its features. However the extermination area for instance was also not known to him and is therefore not reliable. The outer shape of the camp resembles almost the actual site's shape.


SKETCH #1
General layout of the camp, sketched for Oneg Szabat, the underground archive of the Warsaw ghetto.
This map was drawn by a Czestochowa resident, who managed to escape from Treblinka, returned to Czestochowa in October 1942 and informed the people of the death camp. Nobody believed in his story.
The author could have been a certain Brokman or Henrik Sperlin. Both were deported to Treblinka in September. They may have even been on the same train, and possibly escaped together.


SKETCH #2
General layout of the camp, sketched for Oneg Szabat, the underground archive of the Warsaw ghetto.
This map was drawn by a Czestochowa resident, who managed to escape from Treblinka, returned to Czestochowa in October 1942 and informed the people of the death camp. Nobody believed in his story.
The author could have been a certain Brokman or Henrik Sperlin. Both were deported to Treblinka in September. They may have even been on the same train, and possibly escaped together.


SKETCH #3, WITH LEGEND
General layout of the camp, sketched for Oneg Szabat, the underground archive of the Warsaw ghetto.
This map was drawn by a Czestochowa resident, who managed to escape from Treblinka, returned to Czestochowa in October 1942 and informed the people of the death camp. Nobody believed in his story.
The author could have been a certain Brokman or Henrik Sperlin. Both were deported to Treblinka in September. They may have even been on the same train, and possibly escaped together.


KRZEPICKI MAP
Jakub Abraham Krzepicki was deported to Treblinka on 25 August 1942. 18 days later he could escape, hiding himself in clothes which were sent back to Lublin in a freight car.


TEIGMAN SKETCH
Survivor Kalman Teigman drew this sketch of the "station" and the undressing facilities.


WIERNIK-MODEL MAP
Survivor Jacob Wiernik was a carpenter, most of his time restricted to the extermination area. He made a model of the camp and it's features of which this map is a stylised version. The model gives us a unique insight into the layout of the extermination area.


TREBLINKA TRIAL MAP
This map was drawn and used as evidence against the Lager- Kommandant Franz Stangl, during the Second Treblinka Trial in 1970. Stangl declared this plan to be "absolutely correct". There are a number of interesting smaller details in the Stangl map which does not appear in other maps such as placing of trees, gates, cellars etc.
(A rough camp map as drawn by his deputy Kurt Franz is also available, mainly showing the areas where staff was on duty. See "SS-Perpetrators"!)


TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP
Official Polish topographical map of the deathcamp site as it appears today. The perimeters of the camp correspond in general with the Survey Map of 1945 as well as the aerial photos.
The monument, which is apparently erected nearly the spot where the New Gas Chambers stood, is indicated as well as the area where some of the mass graves were located. Naturally contouring of the area is also shown.


1944 AERIAL PHOTO
Aerial photo of the remains of the Treblinka camp taken in September 1944 (i.e. ± 11 months after the dismantling of the camp) and after attempts at disguising the site as a farm.
Scarring of certain features are impossible to eradicate and can still be discerned. From this a calculated reconstruction for the New Treblinka Map is attempted but in certain areas the position of features and fencing still remains unsolved.

Source: Aerial Photos from the National Archives, Washington DC.


1944 DRAWING
This impressive drawing is based on a 1944 aerial photo, taken by the German Luftwaffe. The artist Arie A. Galles created this drawing. It is part of his work of art suite "Fourteen Stations/Hey Yud Dalet", exhibited at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey.

See the artist's website: http://fermi.phys.ualberta.ca/~amk/galles/index.html


NEW TREBLINKA MAP PRE-OCTOBER 1942
This is probably the first map of the camp in which the features are drawn to scale (as close as possible) and the actual shape and size of the camp taken into consideration.
Note: The map is intended to show how the camp was in a constant development and improvement. Although the map was drawn, taking several testimonies in consideration, it is not accurate as evidence of the appearance of the camp at that time is too sketchy.
Copyright: P. Laponder.


NEW TREBLINKA MAP AUGUST 1943
The proposed new map as discussed in more detail in the section of the camp's features. This is probably the first map of the camp in which the features are drawn to scale (as close as possible) and the actual shape and size of the camp taken in consideration.
Note: This redrawn map should by no means be considered as an exact representation of the camp - this would never be entirely possible. There are simply too many discrepancies in all of the maps and witnesses' reports (due to causes as explained in points above).
Copyright: P. Laponder


NEW TREBLINKA MAP WITH MEMORIAL
This is probably the first map of the camp in which the features are drawn to scale (as close as possible) and the actual shape and size of the camp taken into consideration.
Note: This redrawn map should by no means be considered as an exact representation of the camp - this would never be entirely possible.
Copyright: P. Laponder.


TODAY'S AERIAL PHOTO


INFORMATION SIGN FOR VISITORS


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