Franciszek Zabecki – The Station Master at Treblinka

Eyewitness to the Revolt – 2 August 1943

Observing from the railway station in Treblinka on a hot Monday, 2 August 1943, at 15.45 we saw huge wreaths of smoke mixed with tongues of fire in the skies over the death camp. It was different smoke from that which we saw every day, that smoke of martyrdom.  

At the same time the sound of shots and detonations grew nearer. We began to realize that a revolt had broken out in the camp and that the camp had been set on fire by the Jews and that fighting was going on there.

Several hundred Jewish workers from the camp staff had organized the uprising. At the same time as SS men and Ukrainians (two changes of guards) had gone by cars and bicycles to swim in the River Bug, the Jews, who had previously captured a small quantity of weaponry from the armoury, set fire to the barracks and threw grenades. They shot at the guards, destroyed the gate, and broke out from the camp, escaping wherever they could.

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