Between the years 1942 and 1943, under the code name Operation Reinhard, more than one and a half million Jews were gassed in the concentration camps. This is the story of Operation Reinhard, recording the history of the death camps from their construction in 1941 to their destruction in 1943. Using sources previously overlooked, such as German and Polish official records and testimonies from Nazi war criminal trials, the book describes the camps' physical layouts, the process of extermination used, and the actions of the SS men and the Ukrainian guards who operated the camps. It tells the tale of the death camps' inmates, the underground organizations, the revolts and escapes, and the details concerning the day-to-day survival of those spared instant death in the gas chambers. The work acts as a testimony to the experience of Operation Reinhard's victims and bears witness to the tragedy which unfolded.

Table of Contents

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. Himmle'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