| Today, signs orient visitors to Treblinka, a hell where approximately 900,000 Jews perished, many of them
from the Warsaw Ghetto. Our somber mood contrasted sharply with the
beauty of the day and the Polish families who were picnicking in the
area outside the camp. We ignored them. |
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We walked up the same paths taken by the victims, past
the site where a small railroad station had stood. At that
time the fraud was perpetuated by signs that pointed in the
direction of European cities. The station even had a ticket
window. Everything had been a deception to foster compliance and
facilitate mass murder. At the height of its operation,
Treblinka's gas chambers and flames consumed 30,000 people a day. |
| Other than support facilities to maintain the
monument, the gas chambers and barracks are gone. Only gigantic
concrete railroad ties and stones of various sizes memorialize what
happened here. We continued our silent walk into the Camp,
along the rail line, past larger stones inscribed with the names of
the nations from which Jews were transported. |
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The largest stone monument dominates the center of the
death camp. Behind is a long, flat rectangular monument
that identifies the location of the burning pit, the site of our
memorial service. |
| Fields of stones meander away from Treblinka's
center. Stones large and small represent the cities and
villages of all those who perished here. |
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During the quiet hours we spent at Treblinka, many
Marchers walked among the stones to seek the names of the small
villages and cities from which their ancestors had come. But
the stones mean much more than the names of towns and cities.
They represent communities, the hopes, joys and fears experienced by
people in their daily lives.
We forgot the warm sun on our faces that day and paused to listen
to the people whose lives were ripped from them. We listened
and could hear them rejoice at the birth of their children and the
celebration of holidays. We walked among them and in our
thoughts kept them alive. |
| Blue jackets flooded out into the stones. The presence
of Marchers proclaimed that brutality had failed and goodness had
triumphed. |
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