Edek

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Edek , whose life data is unknown, was a boy playing the accordion in the Treblinka extermination camp , who was then around fourteen years old. Whether Edek was his real first name has not been conclusively determined, and further information about his family and his background is unknown. He was involved in the preparation of the Treblinka uprising on August 2, 1943.

Edek's name

Samuel Willenberg , a survivor of the Treblinka uprising, explains in his book entitled Treblinka Camp , published in April 2009 , that with the arrival of camp manager Franz Stangl, lists of names were introduced for prisoners who worked in the camp. The inmates decided to give their real names. It is therefore very likely that his first name was Edek, a form of call for Eduard that is quite common in Poland. His family name and life prior to his stay in the camp are not known.

Edek and his accordion

Edek was transported from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp . The boy could not be overlooked on the transport: “ A huge accordion covered his body, his sad eyes revealed themselves. “When he arrived at the extermination camp with his accordion, the SS selected him for their prisoner orchestra, while his parents and siblings were immediately murdered. One of the prisoners who survived Treblinka was Richard Glazar from the Czech Republic. He said: "With his accordion, which covered almost the whole body, he looked - he was not aware of this - like part of Treblinka's inventory."

Edek became a member of the prisoners' orchestra, which at times had to play operetta music in front of the gas chambers in order to drown out the death screams. During evening roll calls, the orchestra played marching music and Polish and Yiddish folk songs. At larger events, the orchestra led by Artur Gold had to make music for the SS personnel; during the day he and other Jewish boys had to clean and lay out their uniforms, shine the SS personnel's shoes, make the beds, and close the rooms clean.

Edek's role in the prisoner uprising

Edek played an important role in the prisoner uprising on August 2, 1943 in the Treblinka camp. It could only take place on a Monday, as the SS barracks and depot were completely cleaned by Edek and others on Mondays, and they were unattended by guards; only in this way could the 400 insurgent prisoners get hold of ammunition. The so-called “court Jews” had access to the SS barracks : “The singer Salve, the little Edek, the younger, about fifteen-year-old cleaning boy Heniek, the older cleaning boy and Zinker Chaskel, and then the one who took out the rubbish for the horse, cart and stable had to worry about. ” Edek damaged the depot lock by inserting a metal splinter. When prisoners, who were locksmiths by profession, repaired the lock under the supervision of the SS, they succeeded in making an impression. Those who had access to the barrack were able to test the copied key to the ammunition depot and to steal and hide two boxes of hand grenades without attracting attention. Prisoners who knew about weapons found that the detonators on the hand grenades were missing, so the boxes were initially returned unnoticed. How the prisoners got hold of the detonators is not documented. The boxes of 30 hand grenades were of particular importance because the explosion of a hand grenade signaled the start of the uprising at 4 p.m.

In the course of the uprising, those over 30 gave the younger resistance fighters instructions to flee, presumably so that they had a chance of survival. Around 200 to 250 insurgents then fled. The goal of destroying the entire camp was not achieved, but many facilities were damaged by fires. Most of them were shot while fleeing or taken back to the camp, where they were executed with the fighters captured there. In autumn 1943 the camp was razed to the ground and attempts were made to cover up traces.

Of the resistance fighters, 54 survived who testified in two Treblinka trials in the early 1970s as witnesses at the Düsseldorf Regional Court. According to the latest information, only the names "of a little more than 60 survivors of the extermination camp are known". The fate of Edek after the uprising is not known.

literature

  • Richard Glazar: The Trap with the Green Fence. Survival in Treblinka. With a foreword by Wolfgang Benz . Fischer publishing house. Frankfurt am Main 1992. ISBN 3-596-10764-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The facts about Edek included in this article are essentially based on Richard Glazar, a survivor of the Treblinka extermination camp. Glazar gave precise descriptions of the extermination camp in the two Treblinka trials. Wolfgang Benz: The Holocaust ; Munich: CH Beck, 2008 7 ; ISBN 978-3-406-39822-3 ; P. 113.
  2. ^ Samuel Willenberg: Treblinka camp. Revolt. Escape. Warsaw Uprising. Pp. 95/96. Unrast-Verlag, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-89771-820-3 .
  3. ↑ a b Richard Glazar: How heavy does “nothing” weigh? ; in: Die Zeit, issue 43/1983 of October 21, 1983; Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  4. ^ A b Ernst Klee : The cultural lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 (= The time of National Socialism. Vol. 17153). Completely revised edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-17153-8 , p. 113.
  5. ↑ Glazar: Survival in Treblinka . P. 34 (see literature).
  6. ↑ a b Treblinka trial judgment of September 3, 1965, 8 I Ks 2/64 ( Memento of March 21, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on September 25, 2009.
  7. ^ Willenberg: Treblinka camp . P. 144.
  8. ↑ According to Glazar, Surviving in Treblinka , p. 59, court Jews were those “who moved in the forecourt of the living quarters of the SS and the guards and those from the 'ghetto', from the workshops, the kitchen and garage as well as from the 'Big box office' ”.
  9. ↑ Glazar: Survival in Treblinka . P. 112.
  10. ↑ Glazar: Survival in Treblinka . P. 112 f.
  11. ↑ Glazar: Survival in Treblinka . P. 114.
  12. ↑ Glazar: Survival in Treblinka . P. 136.
  13. ↑ Glazar: Survival in Treblinka . P. 188.
  14. ^ Foreword by the Stanisław Hantz educational institute ; in: Willenberg: Treblinka Lager . P. 9.
personal data
SURNAME Edek
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Concertina player in the Treblinka extermination camp
DATE OF BIRTH around 1929