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| Records from the Oneg Shabbat archive detail the systematic deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp. Here from the beginning of the Gros Action on July 22, 1942, to August 11th, 1942. |
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| This aerial photograph, often labeled 'after November 30, 1943,' likely dates to the Spring of 1944. Patches of melting snow are still visible, collecting in a characteristic pattern along the paths and ground depressions. Although the camp was dismantled in November 1943, a disguised farmhouse was constructed to conceal the evidence of the crimes committed here. There is a stark contrast between the areas surrounding the Treblinka death camp (encircled) and the site itself. The surrounding land shows a very regular patchwork of fields prepared for spring sowing, whereas the area within the right portion of the circle remains irregular. This scarred section of land marks the location of the mass graves, where the remains of nearly one million Jews were buried after being cremated on open-air pyres. |
Records from the Oneg Shabbat archive detail the systematic deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp. On July 26, 1942, my grandfather, Gabriel Rozental, was seized at a soup kitchen on Ogrodowa Street while waiting for a meal. He was taken to the Umschlagplatz and deported to Treblinka; on that day alone, 6,400 Jews were transported to the death camp.
My grandmother, Helena Rozental (née Polirsztok), sought to evade deportation by living and working in a brush factory within the ghetto. However, on August 3, 1942, she too was taken to the Umschlagplatz. Records show that 6,458 Jews were sent to Treblinka that day.
Two days later, on August 5th, a transport of 6,623 Jews included Janusz Korczak, Stefania Wilczyńska (Pani Stefa), 10 teachers, and 239 children from their orphanage, alongside children from several other institutions in the Little Ghetto.
Today, the ashes of my grandparents, Helena and Gabriel Rozental, and more than 100 members of the Polirsztok, Rozental, and Wójcikiewicz families, lie scattered across Treblinka—forever joined with the ashes of the Old Doctor, his staff, and the children they refused to abandon.
During the infamous Grossaktion Warschau (the Great Action), which took place between July 22 and September 21, 1942, approximately 265,000 Jews were transported from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka death camp.
