Warsaw, Poland – Archaeologist At Treblinka Nazi Death Camp Finds Evidence Of Gas Chambers

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    FILE - Israeli youths stand amongst stones at the Treblinka Nazi Death Camp memorial, eastern Poland, April 14, 2008.  REUTERS/Kacper PempelWarsaw, Poland – An archaeologist featured on a TV documentary series unearthed what may be some of the only physical evidence of the gas chambers at the death camp.

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    In the series “One is Treblinka: Hitler’s Killing Machine” Caroline Sturdy Colls, a forensic archaeologist from Staffordshire University in the UK, uncovers new scientific evidence on the existence and mechanism of the death camp.

    While Auschwitz has become shorthand for the Holocaust and a pilgrimage site for more than a million visitors each year, very few pay homage to the victims at the other death factory, Treblinka.

    The reason is simple.

    The complex, 65 miles northeast of Warsaw, consisted of Treblinka I, primarily a forced labor camp, and Treblinka II, the site of the killing machine, closed in 1943 after 24 months of operation.

    During that timespan, its 10 gas chambers asphyxiated 900,000 men, women, and children. The grisly work done, the Nazis went to extraordinary lengths to erase every trace of the camp’s existence.

    SS chief Heinrich Himmler’s men destroyed all structures, filled in and leveled the earth above, and even installed a Ukrainian “farmer” in a newly built farmhouse. Viewed from the ground and from the air, Treblinka appeared as peaceful farmland and forest, without barracks or gas chambers and marked later only be a stone monument.

    Given the absence of visual evidence, Holocaust deniers around the world focused on Treblinka to claim that it was really a transit camp rather than a killing ground. Six years ago, Colls arrived determined to dig underneath the placid surface.

    The documentary Treblinka follows the painstaking work of Colls and her small team, whose task was to pinpoint the most promising excavation sites. Through sophisticated aerial photography, which created a picture of the landscape without foliage, the team detected faint imprints on the ground that pointed to the original foundation of the camp.

    Inch by inch, the team carefully dug two trenches, which yielded no evidence.

    Finally, in a third trench, Colls found human bones, but, more importantly, broken tiles imprinted, incongruously, with the Star of David.

    What was the significance of this strange discovery? Two of the few living Treblinka survivors testified that the Nazis disguised the front of gas chambers to resemble a mikvah, or ritual bathhouse, complete with tiles bearing the Star of David.

    Colls at times breaks down at the horror of her discoveries, but the film’s emphasis is on the scientific approach she brings to the project. Indeed, the Smithsonian Channel is presenting Treblinka as part of its month-long Women in Science series.


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    12 Comments
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    hashomer
    hashomer
    9 years ago

    I understand that the Nazis destroyed the camp soon after the inmate revolt there. Forensic chemistry might also find trace elements of the gas used there, as well as ash heaps of human remains.

    birgas
    birgas
    9 years ago

    Amazing discovery by the archeologist Colls and her team! The evidence will surely cause headaches for the Holocaust deniers, but they’ll continue to deny, No solid evidence ever will make these haters admit to its existence!

    9 years ago

    This woman is a righteous gentile who should received an award from Yad Vashem.

    Wise-Guy
    Wise-Guy
    9 years ago

    I expect this to make Headlines throughout the Arab world….
    And front-page-news in Iran…

    (I have a vivid imagination.)

    5TResident
    Noble Member
    5TResident
    9 years ago

    Deniers will deny that water is wet or that fire is hot if that is what suits them. It’s not about documented facts, it’s about hate. Hate doesn’t need logic.

    Buchwalter
    Buchwalter
    9 years ago

    I will tell you another amazing discovery . I was in Buchenwald and the crematorium burned 24 hrs and healthy humans were beaten to death by the SS and every morning there heaps of dead bodies in mud who died during the night and two inmates came one lifted the hands and the legs and hoop they were thrown in cart and taken to the creatoriumto be incinerated

    sane
    sane
    9 years ago

    No forensic evidence needed. Franz Stangl, the commandant of Treblinka was captured in the late 1960’s and convicted to life in prison. While awaiting his appeal, he was interviewed for over a period of six months by Gitta Serreny – a journalist. He readily admitted to the atrocities committed there, and he in fact would regularly inspect the gassing installations. The interview is recorded in her seminal book, “Into That Darkness” – a must read. The book, gives insight into one of the great mass murderers in history. Also, has amazingly insightful interviews with Treblinka survivors.