Both sections of the camps were surrounded by two or three barbed-wire fences, some of which were camouflaged with tree branches so that it was impossible to observe from outside what was going on inside the camp. This path was called Heaven Street (Himmelstrasse) or The Tube (Schlauch). A narrow path, from 2 to 4 meters wide, fenced on both sides and running for about 100 meters, led from the area where the victims had to undress to the gas chambers in the extermination area. burial pits, fire pits for burning the corpses, and the quarters of the Jewish prisoners who were employed at various jobs in this part of the camp. Camp B, called the "extermination area," included the gas chambers. Camp A included the railway platform, the staff housing, the quarters of the Jewish prisoners, the camp offices, warehouses, and an open square for handling the people who arrived on the transports and for dealing with their belongings. The camp was divided into two separate sub-camps. They occupied a relatively small area, from one-quarter to one-half sq. The three camps were erected according to the same basic plan, and Sobibor and Treblinka were virtually identical in structure (see the following sketch of the Treblinka camp). They, too, had been on the staff of Operation Euthanasia. Eberl, and Franz Stangl, who succeeded him, was the first commandant of the Sobibor camp. The first commandant of the Treblinka camp was Dr. At that time he was appointed supervisor of the three camps, with his office located in Lublin. Wirth was commandant of the Belzec camp, the first that was put into operation, and served in that post until August 1, 1942. This was the method they had used in Operation Euthanasia and which they now introduced in Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. Wirth and his men had technical and professional experience in killing people by gas. The key member of the group of transferred personnel was Sturmbannfu"hrer Christian Wirth. Himmler made ninety-two of the 400 people in the T-4 organization available to Globocnik. These activities had been stopped in the fall of 1941 in the wake of pressure from church groups and public opinion in Germany. The key people and professional staff at Operation Reinhard headquarters and the staff of the camps came from the T-4 organization, which had conducted Operation Euthanasia-the killing of mental patients and the chronically ill in the Reich. The intention was to concentrate all the annihilation activities of Operation Reinhard under a unified command. These three camps were placed under the command of the SS and Police Leader of the Lublin district (SS und Polizeifu"hrer-SSPF), SS General Odilio Globocnik, even though the Treblinka camp was located in territory under the control and responsibility of the SS and Police Leader of the Warsaw district. The first camp, at Belzec, was set up alongside the Tomaszow-Lwow railroad and went into operation in March 1942 the second, Sobibor, was erected near the Brest-Litovsk-Wlodawa-Chelm railway line and became operational in April 1942 the third, Treblinka, was set up near the Warsaw-Bialystok railway and started operating on July 23, 1942. "Operation Reinhard" Camps The Erection of the Camps At the same time that preparations were being made for the destruction of the Jews in the General-Government in Poland, in what was called Operation Reinhard (Einsatz Reinhard), three death camps were being erected in the Lublin region-at Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. McVay's award-winning Nizkor Project is one of the largest collections of Holocaust-related materials in the world.-Ben Austin YAD VASHEM ARCHIVES CAMPS - 1 THE NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS Structure and Aims * The Image of the Prisoner The Jews in the Camps PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTH YAD VASHEM INTERNATIONAL HISTORICAL CONFERENCE Jerusalem, January 1980 YAD VASHEM JERUSALEM 1984 SEVENTH SESSION Chairman: Bela Vago JEWISH PRISONER UPRISINGS IN THE TREBLINKA AND SOBIBOR EXTERMINATION CAMPS YITZHAK ARAD A. Note: The materials in this section were transcribed by Mr. Sobibor Extermination Camp: Table of Contents| Prisoner Uprisings| Photographs
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