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Treblinka: Reconstruction of the Living Camp
Reconstruction Treblinka: The Living Camp - Continued
Figure 15 presents a composite of a Franz Album and aerial photo. In the aerial image dated May 1944, only one new building is present, the aforementioned barn. All the other
structures can be positively identified in the ground shot taken in 1943: A is the bakery built in early 1943; B is a well; C, a large, low roofed building, was probably a stable; D is a barracks type building; E is probably a workshop. Both the bakery and the workshop were of masonry construction. The stable had been burned down as can be seen in later aerial photography. It can also be seen that the stable was dug out allowing the roof to span a cellar-like excavation. This was a common a building procedure that would keep the interior substantially warmer in winter time. Two buildings visible on the ground pictures had been demolished by the time the aerial photo was taken: the zoo and a barracks-type building. The 1944 barn structure was built on nearly the same site as the former zoo. To determine more clearly the state of the Camp before it was razed, it became necessary to analyze additional Kurt Franz and aerial photographs in detail. A key to the reconstruction was determining where the zoo had been in 1943. This is possible because Franz took several pictures of and around this structure, including one before the bakery had been built. A number of glimpses were afforded of other buildings on these photographs. Situating the zoo would also help to determini the positioning of other structures. Here again, the methodology used required triangulation as well as a re-creation of the zoo's plan and relative dimensions
(see Appendix A ). In Figure 16,
the zoo appears as the central structure in the picture. It was constructed on an octagonal plan, with an open, wire-screened central portion (Figure 17). Eight rafters were extended beyond the roof's edge and attached to posts to which wire screening was nailed. In Figure 16, the Franz photo at the bottom of the figure (second photo) shows the zoo before the bakery was built. The camera positions in Figures 15 and 16 are very close. Note the well which appears in both figures. The bakery was not yet built so it is possible to see two or three barracks-type buildings that were previously hidden. In Figure 16, pictures taken from camera stations B and C served to triangulate the position of the zoo (those pictures can be seen in Figure 18). The zoo structure is superimposed on the aerial photograph where one can see that the barn, built later, was constructed almost atop the site of the earlier building after the camp was demolished.
Aspects of what was mentioned above in Figure 18, can be seen: namely, the decorative birch fence together with the settees and tables also constructed of white birch. Several barracks buildings can be seen, particularly from Station C. These belonged to the Ukrainian guard force. The ladder placed against the roof was a serendipitous find and was used for rough scaling of the building. Noteworthy in the ground photographs are the number of trees, ranging from small saplings to mature specimens. In particular, there are two towering pines just in front of and just behind the zoo. These would have been ideal for precise triangulation, but they are gone from the aerial pictures. This would indicate that the ground pictures were taken in the fall of 1942. During the spring and summer of 1943, Stangl had the Jewish work force clear much of the remaining woods in the living camp area. It is also possible that the fires set by the prisoners during the uprising in August of 1943, may have damaged the trees which were subsequently felled as a part of an effort to erase all signs of the camp's existence. This would account for the lack of tree cover around the zoo and its vicinity by the time the aerial photographs were taken in 1944.
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