The Treblinka extermination camp, one of three such camps established under Operation Reinhard, was built in a sparsely populated area along the main railroad line between Warsaw and Bialystok. The camp was camouflaged in a forest and concealed from the surroundings. The construction work, begun in late May, was carried out by German companies that used Jewish and Polish forced labor. Giant burial pits were excavated on the campΓÇÖs grounds. The camp was built in the form of a rectangle, 600 meters long and 400 meters wide, and was encased in a double barbed-wire fence. High watchtowers were positioned at the corners of the rectangle and along the fences. The camp was partitioned into three zones: housing, reception, and extermination. The last-mentioned was totally separate. Three gas chambers, designed to look like shower rooms in every respect, were installed in brick buildings. Groups of Jews were undressed and made to run to the gas chambers through a "chute" with fences on either side. A Diesel motor pumped carbon monoxide gas into the chambers; death by asphyxiation was achieved in about half an hour. Mass murder in Treblinka began on July 23, the day after construction was completed, with groups of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto.
