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tortured and emaciated masses are then transported to the execution site in
Treblinka to die.
The entire scientific concentration camp system “tried out” so far is put
to full use in said camps, where the human masses are “prepared” to go on
their last earthly journey.
It is known from a Polish eyewitness that the regime in these transit
camps is so horrible that all the people arriving in Treblinka are solely human
wrecks. In Kiełbasin the Germans constantly shoot at the herded crowds. The
circumstance must be emphasised is that the system of arousing and intensifying
fear and utter helplessness is methodical and planned down to the
most minute details. The camp area is devoid of barracks, latrines and other
essential facilities. Surrounded with barbed wire entanglements and watchtowers
from which machine guns are constantly fired, the camp square is subject
to frost, snowstorms and wind. One can only dream about cots or even
planks to sleep on. Mothers with babies at their breast, children, the elderly,
the sick and everybody else all lie on the snow and ice. Gunshots and moans
fill the air. Red stains of human blood, which streams in torrents, contrast
with the white snow. The well-aimed shots hit babies, children cuddled up to
their parents and those looking for rescue and freedom. Corpses of the desperate
and hopeless daredevils who dared look for freedom are impaled on the
barbed wire fence. They found freedom but only after being shot in the stomach,
chest or genitals. The horrible pain caused by these sophisticated shots
accompanies the desired, dreamed-of death, which finally liberates these poor
human beings from the torment of life. Their faces contorted by pre-mortal
agony, the corpses are standing, leaning or lying on the ground, next to
their spilt intestines, bowels and frozen blood. More and more people seek
freedom beyond the wire surrounding the camp hell. The alert watchmen,
the “heroic” SS-men, know their duty – the SMGs control the entire square.
Horrible nights follow no less horrible days. Enormous searchlights light the
site of mass torture. Small, multi-shaped stars of snow dance in the beam of
light coming from the lights, their whiteness becoming clearer, richer. They
fall down slowly to cover, like a symbol, those who are the most miserable
due to their helplessness. The packed, tight mass of people makes a shocking
impression in the flood of nocturnal light. Sleep, full of hallucinations, interrupted
by moans and screams of the wounded victims as well as by the miserable
whining of the chilled babies and children and above all, the piercing
