Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps

by Yitzhak Arad

Overview

" . . . Mr. Arad reports as a controlled and effective witness for the prosecution. . . . Mr. Arad's book, with its abundance of horrifying detail, reminds us of how far we have to go."—New York Times Book Review

" . . . some of the most gripping chapters I have ever read. . . . the authentic, exhaustive, definitive account of the least known death camps of the Nazi era." —Raul Hilberg

Arad, historian and principal prosecution witness at the Israeli trial of John Demjanjuk (accused of being Treblinka's infamous "Ivan the Terrible"), uses primary materials to reveal the complete story of these Nazi death camps.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253213051
Publisher:	Indiana University Press (Ips)
Publication date:	03/22/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Biographical Statement(s):
(tentative only - subject to change)

Yitzhak Arad, Chairman of Yad Vashem, Holocaust Remembrance Authority, is a lecturer in Jewish History at the University of Tel Aviv and author of Ghetto in Flames: Story of the Vilna Ghetto.

Table of Contents

PART ONE THE EXTERMINATION MACHINE
1. The Final Solution: From Shooting to Gas
2. Operation Reinhard: Organization and Manpower
3. Belzec: Construction and Experiments
4. Construction of Sobibor
5. Construction of Treblinka
6. Preparing for the Deportations
7. Expulsion from the Ghettos
8. The Trains of Death
9. Belzec: March 17 to June, 1942
10. Sobibor: May to July, 1942
11. Treblinka: July 23 to August 28, 1942
12. Reorganization in Treblinka
13. The Mission of Gerstein and Pfannenstiel
14. Jewish Working Prisoners
15. Women Prisoners
16. Improved Extermination Techniques and Installations
17. The Annihilation of the Jews in the General Government
18. Deportations from Bialystok General District and Ostland
19. Transports from Other European Countries
20. The Extermination of Gypsies
21. The Economic Plunder
22. Himmler's Visit to SObibor and Treblinka
23. The Erasure of the Crimes

PART TWO LIFE IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH
24 Portraits of the Perpetrators
25 The Prisoners' of Daily Life
26 The Prisoners and the Deportees
27 Faith and Religion
28 Diseases, Epidemics, and Suicide
29 Social Life

PART THREE ESCAPE AND RESISTANCE
30 The Cognizance and Reaction of the Victims in Occupied Poland
31 Escapes from the Trains and Spontaneous Acts of Resistance
32 Escapes from the Camps
33 The Underground in Teblinka
34 The Plan for the Uprising in Treblinka
35 August 2, 1943: The Uprising in Treblinka
36 Pursuit and Escape from Treblinka
37 Ideas and Organization for Resistance in Sobibor
38 The Underground in Sobibor
39 The Plan for Uprising in Sobibor
40 October 14, 1943: The Uprising in Sobibor
41 Pursuit and Escape from Sobibor
42 Survival amoung the Local Population
43 Reports about the Death Camps in Polish Wartime Publications
44 An Evaluation of the Uprisings and Their Results
45 Operation Erntefest
46 The Liquidation of the Camps and the Termination of Operation Reinhard

Epilogue

APPENDIX A The Deportation of the Jews from the General Government, Bialystok General District, and Ostland

APPENDIX B The Fate of the Perpetrators of Operation Reinhard

Bibliographic Key to the Notes

Notes

Index

Editorial Reviews

"With meticulous scholarship and precise exposition Tel Aviv historian and Yad Vashem director Arad recounts all facets of Operation Reinhard, the destruction of 1.5 million Jews in occupied Poland from 1941 to 1943. . . . This comprehensive, judicious, and moving history is a remarkable contribution to Holocaust studies and is strongly recommended"—Library Journal

"Drawing on a wealth of evidence . . . Arad lets the terrible record speak for itself... Mr. Arad reports as a controlled and effective witness for the prosecution . . . Mr. Arad's book, with its abundance of horrifying detail, reminds us of how far we have to go."—New York Times Book Review

"This is the authentic, exhaustive, definitive account of the least known death camps of the Nazi era."—Raul Hilberg, author of The Destruction of the European Jews

From the Publisher

This is the authentic, exhaustive, definitive account of the least known death camps of the Nazi era.

Raul Hilberg

Drawing on a wealth of evidence . . . Arad lets the terrible record speak for itself... Mr. Arad reports as a controlled and effective witness for the prosecution . . . Mr. Arad's book, with its abundance of horrifying detail, reminds us of how far we have to go.

New York Times Book Review

This is the authentic, exhaustive, definitive account of the least known death camps of the Nazi era.

Raul Hilberg]]>

With meticulous scholarship and precise exposition Tel Aviv historian and Yad Vashem director Arad recounts all facets of Operation Reinhard, the destruction of 1.5 million Jews in occupied Poland from 1941 to 1943. Arad describes the founding, organization, personnel, prisoners, and victims of the three death camps and provides detailed chapters on the uprisings and escapes from Treblinka and Sobibor. He effectively employs extensive excerpts from Jewish, Polish, and German contemporary documents and later testimony by witnesses and participants. Arad is scrupulously careful to point out the limits of the available evidence. This comprehensive, judicious, and moving history is a remarkable contribution to Holocaust studies and is strongly recommended for academic and public libraries. James B. Street, Santa Cruz P.L., Cal.

Library Journal