Treblinka became one of three killing centers created as part of Operation Reinhard (also known as Aktion Reinhard or Einsatz Reinhard). It was first established as a forced-labor camp.
In November 1941, under the auspices of the SS and Police Leader for the Warsaw District in the General Government, View This Term in the Glossary SS and police authorities established a forced-labor camp for Jews, known as Treblinka. This camp was later referred to as Treblinka I. It also served the SS and police authorities as a labor education camp for non-Jewish Poles whom the Germans perceived to have violated labor discipline. Both Polish and Jewish inmates, imprisoned in separate compounds, were deployed as forced labor. The majority of the forced laborers worked in a nearby gravel pit.
In July 1942, the authorities of Operation Reinhard completed the construction of a killing center, referred to as Treblinka II. Treblinka II was intended for the extermination of Warsaw's Jews and was located in the Warsaw District of the General Government. View This Term in the Glossary However, because it was part of Operation Reinhard, it was administered by Odilo Globocnik. Globocnik was the SS and Police Leader of the Lublin District.
When Treblinka II commenced operations, the two other Operation Reinhard killing centers, were already in operation. These killing centers were Belzec and Sobibor.
Treblinka labor camp and killing center were established during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. They were located in the Warsaw District of the General Government View This Term in the Glossary (Generalgouvernement).
The labor camp was known as Treblinka I. It was constructed around a gravel pit that had been worked on before the war and was located about 3.5 miles from the Treblinka village railway station. While this was a sparsely populated area, it was in close proximity to an important railway junction in a larger village called Malkinia Gorna. The Malkinia Gorna railway junction was located about mid-way on the approximately 100-mile rail line between Warsaw and Bialystok. Its location provided good rail connections between districts of the General Government View This Term in the Glossary and the cities of Warsaw, Lublin, Radom, and Bialystok.
Operation Reinhard authorities chose the site for the Treblinka killing center in this remote area. Treblinka II was opened approximately a mile south of the labor camp. It was located near the village of Wolka Okraglik along another railway line, the Malkinia-Siedlce connection. The Germans improved the rail connections between these various points by building a rail spur that led from the labor camp to the killing center and that was also connected to the Malkinia station.
The site of the killing center was heavily wooded and hidden from view. It was laid out in a trapezoid covering an area of 1,312 by 1,968 feet (an area equivalent to almost 34 soccer fields). Pine branches woven into the eight-foot tall barbed-wire fence and trees planted around the perimeter serve as camouflage, blocking any view into the camp from the outside. Watchtowers 26 feet high (almost 2.5 stories) were placed along the fence and at each of the four corners.
The killing center was divided into three parts: the reception area, the living area, and the killing area. The living area contains housing for German staff and the guard unit. It also contained administrative offices, a clinic, storerooms, and workshops. One section contained barracks that housed Jewish prisoners selected from incoming transports to provide forced labor. This forced labor was intended to support the camp's function: mass murder.