Finding Treblinka Project

This ongoing research project aims to use innovative forensic archaeological techniques to investigate the former Nazi extermination and labour camps at Treblinka. Since 2007, the team have devised new methodologies that account for the ethical and religious sensitivities, successfully located mass graves, gas chambers and other buildings, curated new exhibitions, and identified new archival evidence and witness testimonies.

Project Lead: Caroline Sturdy Colls

This project received funding from the Claims Conference on Material Claims Against Germany (2020-2023) and Horizon Europe (HERA programme; 2016-2019). 

Described as the most ‘perfected’ of the Nazi Operation Reinhard death camps, Treblinka (now situated in Poland) became the massacre site of over 800,000 European Jews, Poles, gypsies and political prisoners during the Holocaust. Located 108km from Warsaw, in the north-east portion of the General Government, this remote, previously unassuming area of forest adjacent to the River Bug housed an extermination centre (Treblinka II), comprising a complex of gas chambers, barracks, mass graves and, later, cremation pyres. At its peak, Treblinka II was capable of ‘processing’ between 10,000-12,000 people each day.

However, despite Treblinka’s significance in the implementation of the Final Solution, Operation Reinhard and the history of the Holocaust as a whole, knowledge of the site’s former function has faded from general public consciousness. Few attempts were made after the war to assess the physical evidence relating to the camps and it has long been argued that the Nazis successfully destroyed all traces of the extermination camp when they abandoned it in 1943.

The limited information at the site concerning its layout is indicative of how little is understood about its extent, whilst the somewhat abstract symbolic memorial alludes little to its former function. The history of Treblinka I, the penal labour camp site, has often been overlooked given the extent of the extermination that occurred further north. On the basis that it was deemed impossible that the landscape of Treblinka had been sterilized of all traces of the Nazi’s actions, an ongoing programme of archaeological research was instigated in order to identify, record and interpret surviving physical evidence.

Through the application of a variety of interdisciplinary methods, we have sought to reveal new insights into the nature and extent of the camps. The methodology used to record the physical remains includes desk-based research, site identification and recording, as well as detailed investigation involving GPS surveys, topographical mapping, non-intrusive geophysical surveys (using ground penetrating radar) and other techniques.

  • Interviews with survivors and witnesses have been undertaken and a large body of archival material has been collated.
  • Through integrated field survey and the correlation of aerial images and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data, the current marked camp boundary has been shown to be incorrectly located. Thus, the camp appears to have been considerably larger than previously thought and this has implications for the existence of features relating to the Living Camp part of the site (part of which is currently located in a forested area outside of the marked camp boundary).
  • Non-invasive geophysical survey has allowed the location of a number of mass graves and cremation pits to be determined in the extermination camp. These areas were then avoided during more invasive work so as to comply with Jewish Halacha Law. These graves will hopefully be marked in the future.
  • Targeted topographic and geophysical survey across the site has helped to identify the locations of key structures and features associated with the operation of the camp including the Lazarett, railway platform (which was substantially larger than the symbolic platform that is present), the Tyrolean Guard Tower, waste pits, and the camp entrance.
  • Targeted excavations were carried out in 2013 in order to confirm the nature of some of the structures identified in the geophysical survey results. Deep sand and rubble deposits were identified in specific areas of the site. This material appears to have been levelled across the former death camp area, likely in an attempt by the Nazis to hide their crimes. Earlier evidence was identified beneath these deposits, including in situ structural remains.
  • An apparent structure measuring 22 x 15m was identified in the Ground Penetrating Radar survey, undertaken in 2010. Targeted excavation in the middle of this area in 2013 confirmed that this structure was the Old Gas Chamber building. The discovery of tiles, sections of wall and other building furnishings proved that this building was modelled on a bathhouse. The tiles found were manufactured by Dziewulski i Lange.
  • Further evidence of a structure was identified in the geophysical survey results, across an area measuring 44 x 20m, which we believe to be the remnants of the New Gas Chambers.
  • An important assemblage of artefacts has been recovered from the test pit excavations and walkover survey. These artefacts include personal effects, building materials, tiles, domestic utensils, and military artefacts. The finds are currently under specialist analysis and conservation, and represent an important assemblage that will enhance our understanding of the site.
  • Geophysical survey and targeted test pits at Treblinka II have demonstrated the complexity of the buried environment and the considerable disturbance that was present across the entire site.
  • Cremated and non-cremated human remains were located on the surface of the extermination camp area and also during the excavations. These remains were scattered remains, not buried in mass graves. All of these remains were reinterred by a representative from the Office of the Chief Rabbi of Poland.
  • The first accurate map of Treblinka labour camp (Treblinka I) was created following detailed non-invasive survey work in 2012. 
    Previously unidentified mass graves were located at the Execution Site, south of the labour camp, enabling several to be marked for the first time. 
  • A permanent exhibition was installed within the Treblinka Museum in 2015 and new outdoor information panels were installed at the Labour Camp and Execution Site in order to disseminate the results of the archaeological work. 
  • This project has also involved innovative collaborations with artists who have responded to and worked alongside the project lead to develop two exhibitions: “Finding Treblinka: Artists Respond” and “Supply/Request”. These works have been exhibited at the Treblinka Museum, The Wiener Library and Stockport War Memorial Gallery. 
  • A major new monograph about this project will be published by Cornell University Press in 2025 entitled “Finding Treblinka: Forensic and Archaeological Perspectives”. 
  • In 2022, Professor Caroline Sturdy Colls was awarded a Medal of Honour by the Treblinka Museum: The Nazi German Extermination and Forced Labour Camp (1941-1944) for her contribution to knowledge about these sites.  

 

Project Publications

Sturdy Colls, C. (Forthcoming, 2025). Finding Treblinka: Forensic and Archaeological Perspectives. Ithaca: Cornell University Press (Co-Sponsored by USHMM and the Claims Conference). 

Sturdy Colls, C. and Branthwaite, M. (Forthcoming). Representing and Exhibiting Archaeological Findings Through Artistic Practice. In: Ehrenreich, R., Klinger, J., Pizzorno, G. and Sturdy Colls, C. Material Culture of Difficult Histories.  

Sturdy Colls, C and Ehrenreich, R. (2021) Value in Context: Material Culture and Treblinka.  Current Anthropology. https://doi.org/10.1086/716741 

Sturdy Colls, C. and Colls, K. (2020). The Heart of Terror: A Forensic and Archaeological Assessment of the Old Gas Chambers at Treblinka. In: Vareka, P. and Symonds, J. Archaeologies of Totalitarianism, Authoritarianism, and Repression: Dark Modernities. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, p.83-105.  

Abate, D. and Sturdy Colls, C. (2018). ‘A Multi-Level and Multi-Sensor Documentation Approach of the Treblinka Extermination and Labour Camps’. Journal of Cultural Heritage 34, pp.129-135.  

Sturdy Colls, C. and Branthwaite, M. (2017). ‘This is proof”? Forensic evidence and ambiguous material culture at Treblinka extermination camp’. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 23. DOI 10.1007/ s10761-17-0432-3.  

Sturdy Colls, C. (2016). ‘Earth conceal not my blood’: forensic and archaeological approaches to locating the remains of Holocaust victims’ In: Dreyfus, J-M. and Anstett, E. Human remains in society: Curation and exhibition in the aftermath of genocide and mass-violence. Manchester: Manchester University Press.  

Sturdy Colls, C. (2016). ‘Une cartographie de la terreur nazie: études archéologiques dans les camps de travail et d’extermination de Treblinka’. In: Guilaine, J. and Semelin, J. Violences de guerre, violences de masse. Une approche archéologique. Paris: Le Decouverte.  

Sturdy Colls, C. (2015). Holocaust Archaeologies: Approaches and Future Directions. New York: Springer.  

Sturdy Colls, C. (2015). ‘Badania archeologiczne w Obozie Zaglady i Karnym Obozie Pracy w Treblince’. In: Kopówka, E. Treblinka: Historia i Pamięc. Siedlce: Muzeum Walki i Męczeństwa w Treblince.  

Sturdy Colls, C. (2015). ‘Learning from the Present to Understand the Past: Forensic and Archaeological Approaches to Sites of the Holocaust’ in International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Killing Sites. Berlin: Metropol Verlag, pp.61-78.  

Sturdy Colls, C. and Branthwaite. (2015). Treblinka: Archaeological and Artistic Responses. Centre of Archaeology Book Series: Special Issue. Amazon Createspace.  

Sturdy Colls, C. (2014). ‘Gone but not forgotten: Archaeological approaches to the landscape of the former extermination camp at Treblinka, Poland’, Holocaust Studies and Materials 3. pp.253-289.  

Sturdy Colls, C. (2013). Ocena archeologiczna teren bylego Obozu Zaglady w Treblince/Archaeological Survey of the Former Extermination Camp at Treblinka. Co wiemy o Treblince? Stan Badan. Warsaw (in Polish and English).  

Sturdy Colls, C. (2012). Holocaust Archaeology: Archaeological Approaches to Landscapes of Nazi Genocide and Persecution. Journal of Conflict Archaeology 7(2), pp.71-105.  

Sturdy Colls, C. (2012). O tym, co minelo, lecz nie zostalo zapomniane. Badania archeologiczne na terenie bylego obozu zaglady w Treblince. Zaglada Zydow. Studia i Materialy 8, pp.77-112. 

 

Recent Public Lectures  

2024 Holocaust Memorial Lecture, “From Treblinka to Trawniki” at Keene State College  

2024 Holocaust Memorial Lecture, “The Evolution of Mass Murder: Forensic Archeological Perspectives on Mass Violence at Treblinka Labor and Extermination Camps” at Washington University in St Louis