(AP-Washington Post) Aron Heller - Samuel Willenberg and Kalman Taigman, 87-year-old Israelis, are believed to be the last two survivors of the Treblinka extermination camp in occupied Poland where 875,000 people were systematically murdered in World War II, almost all of them Jews. Only 67 people are known to have survived the camp, fleeing in a brazen revolt on Aug. 2, 1943, shortly before Treblinka was destroyed. Along with Belzec and Sobibor, Treblinka was designed with the sole intention of exterminating Jews. Victims, transported there in cattle cars, were gassed to death almost immediately upon arrival. Only a select few - mostly young, strong men like Willenberg and Taigman, who were both 20 at the time - were assigned to maintenance work instead.
2010-11-05 09:53:47Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive