Newsgroups: alt.revisionism,soc.history
Subject: Holocaust Almanac: Treblinka: Excerpts from Judgements
Followup-To: alt.revisionism
Organization: The Nizkor Project
Keywords: Franz,Krausnick,Stangl,Stroop,Treblinka

(Reproduced with thanks to Danny Keren)

                          EXCERPTS FROM JUDGMENTS
                            (URTEILSBEGRUNDUNG)

Passed on September 3, 1965 in the trial of Kurt Franz and nine others at
the court of Assizes in Dusseldorf (First Treblinka Trial) (AZ-LG
Dusseldorf: II 931638, p.  49 ff.), and the trial of Franz Stangl at the
court of Assizes at Dusseldorf (Second Treblinka Trial) on December 22,
1970 (pp.  111 ff.,AZ-LG Dusseldorf, XI-148/69 S.)

     Number of Persons Killed at the Treblinka Extermination Camp:
     -------------------------------------------------------------

At least 700,000 persons, predominantly Jews, but also a number of Gypsies,
were killed at the Treblinka extermination camp.

These findings are based on the expert opinion submitted to the Court of
Assizes by Dr.  Helmut Kraunsnick, director of the Institute for
Contemporary History (Institute fur Zeitgeschichte) in Munich.  in
formulating his opinion, Dr.  Kraunsnick consulted all the German and
foreign archival material accessible to him and customarily studied in
historical research.  Among the documents he examined were the following:

(1) The so-called Stroop report, a report by SS Brigadefuhrer [Brigadier]
    Jurgen Stroop, dealing with the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto.
    This report consists of three parts: namely, an introduction, a
    compilation of daily reports and a collection of photographs.

(2) The record of the trial of the major war criminals before the 
    International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.

(3) The official transportation documents (train schedules, telegrams,
    and train inventories) relevant to the transports to Treblinka. 

The latter documents, of which only a part were recovered after the war,
were the subject of the trial and were made available to Dr.  Krausnick by
the Court of Assizes.

Dr. Krausnick's report includes the following information:

According to the Stroop report a total of approximately 310,000 Jews were
transported in freight trains from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka during
the period from July 22, 1942 to October 3, 1942.  Approximately another
19,000 Jews made the same journey during the period from January, 1943 to
the middle of May, 1943.  During the period from August 21, 1942 to August
23, 1943, additional transports of Jews arrived at the Treblinka
extermination camp, likewise by freight train, from other Polish cities,
including Kielce, Miedzyrec, Lukow, Wloszczowa, Sedzizzow, Czestochowa,
Szydlowiec, Lochow, Kozienice, Bialystok, Tomaszow, Grodno and Radom.
Other Jews, who lived in the vicinity of Treblinka, arrived at Treblinka in
horse-drawn wagons and in trucks, as did Gypsies, including some from
countries other than Poland.  In addition, Jews from Germany and from other
European countries, including Austria, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia
and Greece were transported to Treblinka, predominantly is passenger
trains.

It has not been possible, of course, to establish the exact number of
people transported to Treblinka in this fashion, because only a part of the
transportation documents, particularly those relevant to the railroad
transports, are available.  Still, assuming that each of the trains
consisted of an average of 60 cars, with each freight car holding an
average total of 100 persons and each passenger car an average total of 50
(i.e., that each freight train might have carried an approximate total of
6,000, and each passenger train an approximate total of 3,000 Jews to
Treblinka) the total number of people transported to Treblinka in freight
trains and passenger trains might be estimated at approximately 271,000.
This total would not include the 329,000 from Warsaw.  Actually, however,
these figures in many instances were much larger than the ones cited above.
Besides, many additional thousands of Jews - and also Gypsies - arrived in
Treblinka in horse-drawn wagons and on trucks.  Accordingly, it must be
assumed that that the total number of Jews from Warsaw, from other parts of
Poland, from Germany and from other European countries, who were taken to
Treblinka, plus the total of at least 1,000 Gypsies who shared the safe
fate, amounted to far more than 700,000, even if one considers that several
thousands of people were subsequently moved from Treblinka to other camps
and that several hundred inmates succeeded in escaping from the camp,
especially during the revolt of August 2, 1943.  In view of the foregoing,
it would be scientifically admissible to estimate the total number of
persons killed in Treblinka at a minimum of 700,000.

The court of Assizes sees no reason to question the opinion of this expert,
who is known in the scholarly world for his studies on the National
Socialist persecution of the Jews.  The expert opinion he has submitted is
detailed, thorough, and therefore convincing.

In the fall of 1969 another expert, Dr.  Scheffler, submitted for the
second Treblinka trial an opinion which was based on more recent research,
estimating the total number of victims at about 900,000.

Following are some verbatim quotes from the German court's ruling as to how
the murders took place:


>From that stage on both male and female victims received the same
treatment.  So that these people would not have the time to think or offer
resistance, they were driven through the "tube" by guards stationed there,
who struck out at them with canes, whips, rifle butts and with their fists
to hurry them along.  The victims had to run through the "tube" four and
five abreast, completely naked and with arms raised; this was the way in
which they were herded into the gas chambers.  The capacity of each gas
chamber was utilized down to the last square centimeter.  Under a rain of
constant blows and abuse so many people were sqeezed into the chamber that
no one was able to move any more.  Often, infants and young children would
simply be tossed into the rooms above the heads of the adults standing in
the chamber.  When it was no longer possible to sqeeze additional people
into the chambers, the doors were sealed and the German squad leader
ordered the Ukrainian in the engine room (he might say "Ivan, water!") to
switch on the engine, whose exhaust fumes were then conducted into the
chamber [In a different place, it is specified that engines of captured
Soviet tanks were used].  The killing process itself lasted about 30 to 40
minutes.  After that time the engine was shut and someone went to the doors
to listen for signs of life in the chambers.  If no sign of life could be
detected, the command was given to open the trap doors on the outer walls,
and the transfer of the corpses began.  On occasion some victims showed
signs of life even after the gassing had been completed.  Such people would
be shot on the platform or perhaps on the way to the ditch or the cremation
grill.  The shooting was done either by the German squad leader or by one
of the Ukrainian guards.  Others shot at the mass graves included newcomers
who could not be pushed into the already overcrowded gas chambers, but who
were too few in number to warrant the expense of a separate gassing
operation.

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