Fleshing out Chil Rajchman's Story

By Lishae
  • Period: to

    The Third Reich

    The Weimar Republic ended in 1933 when the Nazi party gained their power. Laws, education, the economy, and culture were all controlled by the Nazis.
  • Invading Poland

    Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, which began WWII in Europe.
  • Completion of Treblinka

    The death camp known as Treblinka was completed in 1941. It was later referred to as Treblinka I and Treblinka II, with Treblinka II being the camp where the exterminations occurred. At Treblinka I was a forced labor camp.
  • Period: to

    Operation Reinhard

    This was the German's plan to eliminate Jews. Their four main goals were to resettle Jews that currently occupied Poland, use them for their manual labor, take their personal property (Money, clothes, jewelry, etc), and to secure their assets (land, apartments, factories, etc).
  • Treblinka

    Treblinka
    This map is more complex and contained more buildings than Rajchman describes in his book. To the left of the train platform stood several wooden structures which consisted of the kitchen and workshops. To the right was the sleeping quarters of the men and the SS. He described the "road" to the gas chambers to be filled with white sand and trees lining the path. He also explained the building that housed the gas chambers had roughly ten, while another building had three older chambers.
  • Revolt in Treblinka

    In the early summer of 1943 there was talk about revolting because the camp was near completion and the Jews working the camp feared extermination. On August 2, 1943 the men gained access to guns and tried to escape. Many were shot and killed in their attempt but Rajchman managed to escape. He lived in the forest and asked others for help. Unlike many who escaped, he was one of the few who was not captured by the SS.
  • Treblinka II Closed

    The Nazis dismantled camp II in 1943. They tried to destroy any evidence of their crimes.
  • Treblinka I Closed

    They closed camp I in early 1944 due to the advancement of Allied troops.
  • The Allies

    The Allies had made significant progress of discovering camps. The Nazis did what they could to destroy the evidence by demolishing the camps.