Railroad spike from Treblinka concentration camp
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 6.750 inches (17.145 cm) | Width: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm) | Depth: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm)
Archival History
The spike was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by the Estate of Robert L. White.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Estate of Robert L. White
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Rail screw spike used for the railways at Treblinka concentration and extermination camp in Poland. Rail screws secure timber railway ties for railroad tracks. Treblinka was located about fifty miles north of Warsaw on the main Warsaw-Bialystok railroad line. A forced labor camp was established there in November 1941 by the SS and the German police authorities of the Generalgouvernement in German controlled Poland. In July 1942, Treblinka II, a killing center, was built near the village of Wolka Okraglik along the Malkinia-Siedlce railway line. The Germans built a rail spur to connect the two camps. Nearly 1 million Jews were killed at Treblinka II before it was closed in the fall of 1943. As Soviet troops moved into the area in late July 1944, camp authorities shot the remaining prisoners and evacuated the camp.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Heavily corroded iron rail screw spike with a cylindrical rod with spiral threading, and then a short blank shank section circled by a dome shaped protrusion near the head. The cube shaped head has a worn, beveled top with three embossed numbers. The numbers may refer to date of manufacture or metal composition.
front, around the dome, embossed : 33 19 8[?]
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Railroad rails--Design and construction--Poland.
- Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland.
- Concentration camps--Poland--Design and construction.
- World War, 1939-1945--Transportation--Poland.
Genre
- Tools and Equipment
- Object