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Subject: Holocaust Almanac: Treblinka Judgement
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Archive/File: camps/aktion.reinhard/treblinka german.court

                       EXCERPTS FROM JUDGMENTS
                         (URTEILSBEGRUNDUNG)

Passed on September 3, 1965 in the trial of Kurt Franz and nine others 
at the court of Assizes in Dusseldorf (First Treblinka Trial) (AZ-LG
Dusseldorf: II 931638, p. 49 ff.), and the trial of Franz Stangl at 
the court of Assizes at Dusseldorf (Second Treblinka Trial) on 
December 22, 1970 (pp. 111 ff.,AZ-LG Dusseldorf, XI-148/69 S.)

Number of Persons Killed at the Treblinka Extermination Camp:

At least 700,000 persons, predominantly Jews, but also a number of 
Gypsies, were killed at the Treblinka extermination camp.

These findings are based on the expert opinion submitted to the Court
of Assizes by Dr. Helmut Kraunsnick, director of the Institute for
Contemporary History (Institute fur Zeitgeschichte) in Munich. in
formulating his opinion, Dr. Kraunsnick consulted all the German and
foreign archival material accessible to him and customarily studied
in historical research. Among the documents he examined were the
following:

(1) The so-called Stroop report, a report by SS Brigadefuhrer [Brigadier]
    Jurgen Stroop, dealing with the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto.
    This report consists of three parts: namely, an introduction, a
    compilation of daily reports and a collection of photographs.

(2) The record of the trial of the major war criminals before the 
    International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.

(3) The official transportation documents (train schedules, telegrams,
    and train inventories) relevant to the transports to Treblinka. 

The latter documents, of which only a part were recovered after the war,
were the subject of the trial and were made available to Dr. Krausnick
by the Court of Assizes.

Dr. Krausnick's report includes the following information:

According to the Stroop report a total of approximately 310,000 Jews
were transported in freight trains from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka
during the period from July 22, 1942 to October 3, 1942. Approximately
another 19,000 Jews made the same journey during the period from January,
1943 to the middle of May, 1943. During the period from August 21, 1942
to August 23, 1943, additional transports of Jews arrived at the Treblinka
extermination camp, likewise by freight train, from other Polish cities,
including Kielce, Miedzyrec, Lukow, Wloszczowa, Sedzizzow, Czestochowa,
Szydlowiec, Lochow, Kozienice, Bialystok, Tomaszow, Grodno and Radom.
Other Jews, who lived in the vicinity of Treblinka, arrived at Treblinka
in horse-drawn wagons and in trucks, as did Gypsies, including some
from countries other than Poland. In addition, Jews from Germany and
from other European countries, including Austria, Czechoslovakia, 
Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece were transported to Treblinka, 
predominantly is passenger trains.

It has not been possible, of course, to establish the exact number
of people transported to Treblinka in this fashion, because only a
part of the transportation documents, particularly those relevant to
the railroad transports, are available. Still, assuming that each
of the trains consisted of an average of 60 cars, with each freight
car holding an average total of 100 persons and each passenger car
an average total of 50 (i.e., that each freight train might have
carried an approximate total of 6,000, and each passenger train
an approximate total of 3,000 Jews to Treblinka) the total number
of people transported to Treblinka in freight trains and passenger
trains might be estimated at approximately 271,000. This total would
not include the 329,000 from Warsaw. Actually, however, these figures 
in many instances were much larger than the ones cited above. Besides,
many additional thousands of Jews - and also Gypsies - arrived in
Treblinka in horse-drawn wagons and on trucks. Accordingly, it must
be assumed that that the total number of Jews from Warsaw, from other 
parts of Poland, from Germany and from other European countries,
who were taken to Treblinka, plus the total of at least 1,000 Gypsies
who shared the safe fate, amounted to far more than 700,000, even if
one considers that several thousands of people were subsequently
moved from Treblinka to other camps and that several hundred inmates
succeeded in escaping from the camp, especially during the revolt
of August 2, 1943. In view of the foregoing, it would be scientifically
admissible to estimate the total number of persons killed in
Treblinka at a minimum of 700,000.

The court of Assizes sees no reason to question the opinion of this
expert, who is known in the scholarly world for his studies on the
National Socialist persecution of the Jews. The expert opinion he
has submitted is detailed, thorough, and therefore convincing.

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