Jankiel Wiernik

 Testimony about Treblinka at the Eichmann Trial 1961

(Selected Extracts)

Jankiel Wiernik arrived in Treblinka death camp on the 23 August 1942 and he escaped during the revolt on the 2 August 1943.

Jankiel Wiernik was a master builder and he along with others built many of the structures in Treblinka, which he described at the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem in 1961:

“When I came there, there were only three gas chambers. The large kitchen was not there yet. I constructed various barracks, I built the guardroom. I built the door, the entrance gate.”

He described the arrival process:

“This is where they remained standing. In the courtyard, there were the two large barracks. They brought the women in to the left, and the men were kept outside. They made the women remove all their clothes.

The men remained standing outside. On either side, there were two large written notices to the effect that money and valuables had to be handed over, and whoever failed to do so would be put to death.

The women’s hair was cut off. At the end, a small area was fenced off their hair was cut off and then they were taken to the gas chambers.

Read the full article here:
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/trials/wierniktestimony.html

The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team

www.HolocaustResearchProject.org