Poland Unveils Monument at Treblinka; Dr. Goldmann Attends Ceremony

In the presence of high officials of the Polish Government and a Jewish delegation headed by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, a monument was dedicated today at Treblinka, a concentration camp 50 miles northeast of this capital, where the Nazis annihilated 700,000 Jews.

Dr. Goldmann, representing not only the World Jewish Congress but also the Conference on Material Claims Against Germany of which he is chairman, was accompanied by Dr. Moises Goldman, chairman of the South American executive of the World Jewish Congress; Dr, Gerhard Riegner, director of the WJC’s Geneva office; and Armand Kaplan, of Paris, secretary of the WJC’s French section.

Upon their arrival here, they were greeted by Jean Pietrusinski, director of the office of the Polish Government’s Council of Ministers, who is also secretary-general of the Polish Council for the Protection of Monuments of Resistance and Martyrdom. Among the greeters were also representatives of the Jewish Social and Cultural Association, central body of Jews in Poland.

The WJC delegation visited the Jewish community of Lodz, inspecting the Jewish institutions in that city, including the Jewish school and youth clubs. Over the weekend, they went to Auschwitz and the adjoining Birkenau camps, where millions of Jews were gassed and cremated. Dr. Goldmann laid wreaths at Auschwitz and Birkenau on behalf of the Congress and the Claims Conference. Then the Jewish visitors went to nearby Cracow, where they attended Sabbath services at the famous Rema Synagogue, and visited the centuries-old Jewish cemetery adjoining that house of worship.

Treblinka ranked next only to Auschwitz in the number of Jews murdered in one place by the Nazis. Coming chiefly from the Warsaw and Bialystok areas, those victims were driven by the Nazis straight into the gas ovens at Treblinka. The camp itself occupied an area of only about a square mile.