Following
the Wannsee Conference in January 1942, the annihilation the Jews
of Europe (an action that had been decided upon the previous year)
proceeded apace. Aktion Reinhard, named for Reinhard Heydrich, Chief
of the Reich Security Main Office, was the operation designed to
kill the more than 2,000,000 Jews living in what the Nazis called
the General Government, which comprises most of present-day Poland.
Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka were constructed to achieve this
end. These camps, which operated from mid-1942 through 1943 before
being destroyed by the Nazi's, were killing centers rather than
concentration camps. The vast majority of those sent there were
Jews who were murdered within hours of their arrival by carbon monoxide
gas. It is estimated that 600,000 were killed at Belzec; 250,000
at Sobibor; and more than 800,000 at Treblinka.
Sobibor is located in relative isolation near Poland's border with
Belarus. At the center of the camp today is a paved path through
thick vegetation that ends at a large ash mound. Along the way is
a clearing for meditation that includes a chimney monument and a
powerful statue of an adult and child.
The pictures below were taken on June 24, 2000.
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