The Stuff of Nightmares

"Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka."
The Operation Reinhard Death Camps.
By Yitzahak Arad.

ISBN 0 253 34293 7

The first of these camps, Belzec, become operational in March, 1942 and Sobibor, the last of the camps, stoped receving transports in October 1943.

In between these dates, between two and three million people were exterminated in these three camps. This inculdes at least 1.7 million jews. However other groups were murdered as well. There is an account of about 1000 Gypsies being brought to the gates of Treblinka. they were guarded by two Ukrainian guards who asked for a receipt. This request being "honoured with a sarcastic smile." When the two guards learnt from other Ukrainian guards in the camp that this was an extermination camp. They paled.

The seceret was well kept, many did not know where they were being sent and belived to the end that they were being relocated to the east in Russia.

After the transports stoped, the camps were erased, all the buried bodied burnt and the buildings dismantled.

There were instances of defience, uprisings and even love. But so much was destroyed and erased about these camps that most of the stories have been lost forever.

Only two people survived Belzic; about 70 survived from Treblinka and 2-300 from Sobibor.