Operation Treblinka is widely regarded by historians as a historical fabrication devised by , codenamed Poraj, and certain Polish World War II veterans. It was later popularized by historian . This narrative claims that Rażmowski and his Home Army partisan unit played a decisive role in the Jewish prisoner revolt at the Treblinka extermination camp in August 1943.
This account likely emerged in the context of the antisemitic campaign during March 1968 in Poland. For years, Rażmowski's version of events faced little public scrutiny. However, contemporary historians largely dismiss it as unreliable, as it lacks supporting evidence. The real involvement of the Home Army in activities concerning Treblinka and its prisoners remains a matter of debate among scholars.
Uprising in Treblinka
The Treblinka extermination camp, located near the village and railway station of Treblinka in Gmina Kosów Lacki, was established by Nazi German occupiers during World War II. It was one of the three death camps created as part of Operation Reinhard. Using gas chambers, Nazi Germans systematically exterminated Jews brought from ghettos in occupied Poland, including from the Warsaw Ghetto. Jews were also murdered in the camp, who were brought from other countries occupied by the Third Reich. The exact number of victims is unknown. Historians estimate that between 700,000 and 900,000 Jews were killed at Treblinka.
A small number of Jews were separated from the incoming transports, primarily skilled workers and young men, who were then employed in the camp's labor brigades. These prisoners were referred to by the SS as "working Jews" (German: Arbeitsjuden). They performed various tasks for the camp and its staff, and were also forced by the Nazis to directly participate in the extermination process. Their duties included leading victims out of the trains, escorting them to changing rooms, sorting seized clothes and belongings, and cutting the hair of women being led to their deaths. The most tragic position was that of several hundred Jews held in the extermination zone, commonly referred to as the "upper camp" or "camp of the dead" (German: Totenlager, Yiddish: Tojtlager). Their task was to clear and clean the gas chambers, extract gold teeth from the dead victims, bury bodies in mass graves, and later burn the remains. The "working Jews" – ultimately also condemned to death – were exposed to hunger, disease, and the brutality of the guards.
In late February and early March 1943, a group of Treblinka prisoners formed a resistance movement, led by Julian Chorążycki (a doctor from Warsaw and captain in the Polish Armed Forces) and (a former Czechoslovak Army officer). After Chorążycki's death, , an engineer, took over the leadership. The resistance decided to act as the extermination process at the camp was nearing its end, with the Nazis planning to kill the remaining prisoners. The uprising began on 2 August 1943. The conspirators managed to secretly retrieve weapons from a German storage facility, but due to the premature start of the fight, they were unable to fully surprise the guards and take control of the camp. During the battle and chaotic escape, between 350 and 400 Jews were killed. The resistance managed to injure one German soldier, kill or injure several Trawniki men, and set fire to parts of the camp. Around 400 Jews escaped that day, though only about 70 survived until the end of the occupation.
Alleged Operation Treblinka
Testimony of Władysław Rażmowski The alleged Operation Treblinka was first introduced to the public by , codenamed Poraj – a wartime veteran and former deputy commander of the Home Army's Węgrów District, as well as leader of a partisan unit operating near Treblinka. In 1969, Rażmowski published an account in the journal Dzieje Najnowsze titled Akcja Treblinka (Operation Treblinka).
Rażmowski claimed that the Home Army had prepared an attack on the Treblinka extermination camp. However, before the command could issue orders, in July 1943, Rażmowski was allegedly approached by Kazimierz Grodzicki, a communist and member of the Polish Workers' Party, requesting help in freeing "some of the Warsaw Ghetto insurgents" from the camp. Rażmowski reportedly agreed without informing his superiors and personally reconnoitered the camp's vicinity. According to him, the attack was planned to coincide with a prisoner revolt, which, as he described, was to start at 12:00 PM on August 2.
Poraj allegedly designated three platoons for the attack, each originating from a different district but all operating under his general command.These units were reportedly commanded by Henryk Oleksiak, codenamed Wichura, Henryk Małkiński, codenamed Kulesza, and Antoni Wróblewski, codenamed Orwid (). These units reportedly consisted of 52 partisans armed with rifles and machine guns. Rażmowski recounted that they took up positions around 11:00 AM. At about 12:00 PM, he claimed, the camp erupted into "chaotic gunfire and commotion", as a crowd of prisoners ran through the camp gate toward Polish positions. Allegedly, the revolt began when the Germans started leading prisoners to the gas chambers. One Polish subunit was said to have fired on the watchtowers, while members of the other two divided the escapees into smaller groups and assigned them guides. notes that in both of Rażmowski's accounts, the Polish partisans' courageous and decisive actions starkly contrast with the portrayal of Jewish prisoners. According to Rażmowski, the prisoners initially panicked, fleeing chaotically, and later, paralyzed by fear, hid in the woods near the camp. Despite the looming threat of pursuit, they allegedly hesitated to continue their escape. The camp guards purportedly attempted pursuit but were held back by accurate Polish fire. According to Rażmowski, after nearly an hour of fighting, the partisans withdrew without losses. They later assisted about 200 Jews in escaping and crossing the Bug river.
Rażmowski published another account of Operation Treblinka in 1990, which differed significantly in many details from his original 1969 version. In this later account, he claimed that the uprising in the camp began at 4:00 PM, a time closer to the historical record. He attributed this delay to the supposed fact that the Jewish conspirators were waiting for a group of comrades who had been working outside the camp earlier that day.
Rażmowski further claimed that he personally managed to bring order to the chaos that had gripped the escaping prisoners. He also alleged that, in the final phase of the confrontation, a partisan unit led by Lieutenant Stanisław Siwek, codenamed Śliwa, who had been unaware of the planned action and conducting exercises near the Bug river that day, spontaneously joined the battle. According to Rażmowski, Śliwa and his soldiers assisted Jewish escapees in crossing the river and later engaged in combat with the pursuing German forces.Rażmowski cited a written account by Siwek as the source of this story. In that account, Siwek claimed that during the fighting, he and several of his subordinates were captured by the Trawniki men from the camp's staff. However, he also stated that all of them managed to escape captivity later that night ().
Publications by Jan Gozdawa-Gołębiowski The story fabricated by Rażmowski was popularized by , a historian and veteran of the Home Army. In his works, Gozdawa-Gołębiowski relied primarily on Porajs memoirs but supplemented them with additional elements, at times significantly modifying the account provided by the veteran. Between 1973 and 2002, Gozdawa-Gołębiowski authored at least four texts on the topic, which were published in both academic and non-academic sources, including one in Polish diaspora press.
Gozdawa-Gołębiowski devoted one of the subchapters in his monograph Obszar Warszawski Armii Krajowej (1992) to the alleged Operation Treblinka. In this text, he claimed that as early as late 1942 or early 1943, the commander of the Regional Inspectorate I, Sub-district East of the Warsaw District of the Home Army, Major Bronisław Patlewicz, codenamed Nieczuja, ordered the training of sabotage units tasked with liberating the camp. The Home Army allegedly managed to establish contact with the camp's underground and even smuggled several dozen pistols and four Sten submachine guns into the camp.The extremely low probability that such events could have occurred, according to , is indicated by the fact that it would have been a larger amount of weapons than the Home Army supplied to the insurgents of the Warsaw Ghetto.
A failed attempt to attack the camp reportedly occurred on an unspecified day in April 1943, supposedly without the knowledge of Nieczuja. Second Lieutenant , codenamed Przebój, was said to have led this action, with a platoon from the Sokołów Podlaski district under the command of Henryk Oleksiak, codenamed Wichura, and a sabotage unit led by Lucjan Gawryś, codenamed Ryś, brought to the Treblinka area. Ultimately, the attack did not take place due to reconnaissance results or, in another version, because German alarms made Przebój conclude the operation was unfeasible. Nonetheless, Wichuras platoon allegedly shelled and threw grenades at the camp gate before retreating.The account of the attack, as noted by the brother of Wichura – Marian Oleksiak, codenamed Sęp – confirms that such an event took place. However, while Rażmowski and Gozdawa-Gołębiowski framed this event within the broader context of actions by the Home Army to assist the prisoners of Treblinka, Sęp claimed that the attack was solely his brother's initiative from start to finish. His testimony, however, cannot be fully considered reliable. Furthermore, there are no mentions of such an attack in Home Army documents or testimonies from surviving prisoners (). Around this time, Dr. Julian Chorążycki, a leader of the camp's conspiracy, was killed, paralyzing the preparations for the uprising. Thus, Gozdawa-Gołębiowski concluded, "both sides simultaneously called off the action".
In early June 1943, the commander of Sub-district East, Colonel , codenamed Szeliga, was said to have submitted a new plan to attack Treblinka to the command of the Warsaw District of the Home Army. This time, the task was reportedly assigned to a partisan unit led by Poraj. Gozdawa-Gołębiowski claimed that the final decision of the district's command is unknown. He then referenced Poraj'''s account, according to which the attack on Treblinka allegedly resulted from an independent decision by Poraj, influenced by the pleas of the communist Kazimierz Grodzicki. He also repeated the story of establishing contact with the camp's underground through a Jew who, after losing his family, voluntarily reported to the camp. Attempting to shield Poraj from accusations of complete insubordination, the historian argued that the decision to attack was not entirely contrary to the Home Army's preparations for the operation.