Comments on Treblinka Statements by Caroline Sturdy Colls

Caroline Sturdy Colls

C. Mattogno:
Belzec in Propaganda,
Testimonies, Archeological
Research, and History

J. Graf, C. Mattogno, T. Kues:
Sobibor. Holocaust
Propaganda and Reality

In November 2010 I published a blog entry on an online video concerning the research activity of a young British archaeologist from the University of Birmingham, Caroline Sturdy Colls, who had set out to refute "Holocaust Deniers" by locating the mass graves at the Treblinka "extermination camp" using "the most up-to-date scientific techniques."[1] Recently, a news report was published boldly stating that "mass graves at Nazi death camp Treblinka prove Holocaust deniers wrong." In this we read:[2]

"A British forensic archaeologist has unearthed fresh evidence to prove the existence of mass graves at the Nazi death camp Treblinka. Some 800,000 Jews were killed at the site, in north east Poland, during the Second World War but a lack of physical evidence at the site has been exploited by Holocaust deniers. Forensic archaeologist Caroline Sturdy Colls has now undertaken the first co-ordinated scientific attempt to locate the graves."

It is worth recalling that the same triumphant claim that the "Holocaust deniers" finally and once and for all had been "refuted" was heard in connection with Kola's surveys at Belzec and Sobibór, which in reality turned out to refute the official version of events relating to these two camps. (For this see the two books of TBR's “Holocaust Handbooks” series on Belzec and Sobibor as shown to the right.)

The above quoted news item was more or less a push for a radio program, "Hidden Graves of the Holocaust," featuring Sturdy Colls as well as Yitzhak Arad and former Treblinka inmate Kalman Taigman, which was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on 23 January 2012, 20:00 GMT.[3] In anticipation of this radio program, on the same date, a podcast interview was uploaded by the University of Birmingham "Ideas Lab."[4] In this we can listen to the following description of the methods employed by Sturdy Colls and her team, as well as some vague descriptions of their findings:

Somewhat more on the findings of Sturdy Colls could be gleaned from the BBC 4 radio documentary "Hidden Graves of the Holocaust." Starting at the mark 23:20 minutes we hear:

While here we learn virtually nothing about the supposed remains of the Treblinka "gas chambers," we are provided with some tantalizing information on the camp's burial pits. Needless to say, a critical assessment of the findings made by Sturdy Colls can only be made after she has published at least a preliminary report or a detailed article on the same, but we may nonetheless with appropriate caution note down some preliminary observations on what has been revealed so far. The most interesting information, however, is not to be found in the radio interviews, but in a short article by Sturdy Colls herself which was published on the website of the BBC on 23 January.[5] In this we read:

Two composite aerial images of Treblinka by Mrs. Sturdy Colls.
(click on the picture to view it in full size)

Even more important is the fact that this article is illustrated with two composite maps on which the outlines of the findings made by Sturdy Colls have been superimposed on a modern-day aerial photograph of the former camp site and a 1944 aerial photograph of the same area respectively. In the figure to the right I have placed these two composite maps side by side, moved the main legend and the scale, and slightly increased the picture size in order to allow for easier comparison of scale. On the map to the left I have also arbitrarily numbered the "probable burial/cremation pits" from 1 to 10. (Click on the picture to view it in full size).

The information furnished by the two interviews, the article and the maps allow us to make the following observations:

1. The pit which Sturdy Colls mentions "in particular" and which is stated to have a surface area of "26 meters by 17 meters," that is a total of 442 square meters, is, judging by the dimensions, most likely identical with the rather irregular pit #3, located some 25 m south of the large cenotaph. This is clearly the largest in surface of the 10 pits identified.
2. As far as the surface area is concerned, two of the 33 mass graves identified by Andrzej Kola at Belzec (pits #1 and 27) were larger (with 480 and 540 square meters respectively), whereas two more (#7 and 14) were almost of the same size (364.5 and 370 square meters respectively).[6] Of the six burial pits identified by Kola at Sobibór, two (pit #2 and 4) were larger or even significantly larger (with surface areas of 500 and 1,575 square meters respectively), whereas two other graves were nearly of the same surface size (pits #1 and 6, with 400 and 375 square meters respectively).[7] Yet whereas at Belzec some 435,000 and at Sobibór some 80,000 corpses are alleged to have been interred,[8] the number of uncremated bodies buried at Treblinka is supposed to have amounted to at least some 700,000. Would it then not make sense for the Germans to use mass graves of a larger size at Treblinka than at the other two Reinhardt camps?
   

   For details about the alleged
   extermination camp
   at Treblinka see:
   J. Graf, C. Mattogno:
   Treblinka: Transit Camp
   or Extermination Camp?

3. The eyewitnesses Eliahu Rosenberg and Chil Rajchman, who to the knowledge of this author are the only witnesses to have provided detailed statements on the dimensions of the mass graves in the "death camp proper," claim pits of sizes vastly larger than the largest pit mapped by Sturdy Colls. Eliahu Rosenberg claimed in 1947 that the mass graves measured 120 m × 15 m × 6 m, giving a surface area of 1,800 square meters and a total volume 9,900 cubic meters.[9] Chil Rajchman, whose 1944 testimony[10] is prominently featured in the "Hidden Graves of the Holocaust" radio program – including a particularly bizarre passage from it concerning burning blood – states:[11]

   "The pits were enormous, about 50 metres long, about 30 wide and several storeys deep. I estimate that the pits could contain about four storeys."

   The burial pits thus measured 1,500 square meters according to the witness Rajchman and maybe as much as (1,500 × 12 =) 18,000 cubic meters in volume! How come that the largest of the pits discovered by Sturdy Colls corresponds to less than one third of the surface size claimed by Rajchman and to one fourth of the surface area claimed by Rosenberg?

4. It is indeed unfortunate that the top modern equipment used by Sturdy Colls for some reason or other was not able to detect depths exceeding 4 meters. Perhaps it would have been wise of her to dispense of some of the piety with regards to "Jewish burial laws" and utilize probe drillings to measure the depth of the pits, as was done by Kola at both Belzec and Sobibór. Of the pits identified by Kola in these two camps, the deepest pit (#3 at Sobibór) measured 5.80 m, whereas the depth of the remaining pits averaged some 4 m.

   Generously assuming Rosenberg's estimate of 6 meters (Rajchman's estimate of some 12 meters can be safely dismissed as an exaggeration), and even more generously assuming (for the sake of argument) 6 meters to be the effective depth, with the pit walls being vertical instead of sloping (an obviously unrealistic assumption, which is moreover contradicted by Sturdy Colls statement that this pit had a "ramp" at the west end and a "vertical edge to the east," implying that three out of four side walls were oblique – but again, for the sake of argument…) pit #3 would have a volume of (26 × 17 × 6 =) 2,652 cubic meters. Assuming an average capacity of 8 corpses per cubic meters,[12] this means that the pit in question could have contained in total (2,652 × 8 =) 21,216 corpses. Since the so-called Höfle document from an exterminationist viewpoint shows that nearly 713,555 were murdered at Treblinka up until the end of 1942 – in reality this document only proves that this number of Jews was deported to the camp up until that time – and since virtually all sources maintain that non-experimental cremations on a significant scale did not commence at Treblinka until 1943, at least 700,000 corpses would have had to have been interred in the camp, necessitating no less than (700,000/21,216 =) 33 pits of the same size as pit #3, with a total surface area of 14,586 square meter, or nearly 1.5 hectares. Needless to say the mass graves would have had to be separated by soil walls of considerable thickness, thereby increasing the surface area required by the graves.

   

   Above: Montage of the 10 identified pits placed within a square 100 × 100 meters. Relative dimensions have been kept unchanged from the maps produced by Caroline Sturdy Colls.

5. Pits #1 and 2, which together appear to have a surface area of some 600-700 square meters, are located in the western part of the camp site, near the torn-up railroad sidespur, clearly outside of the "death camp proper." These may be identical with the mass graves mentioned by the witness Abraham Kszepicki, in which the bodies of Jews who had died en route to the camp were buried during the first months of operation.[13]
6. The four pits #5-8 are placed in a (not very straight) row. Sturdy Colls states in the radio documentary that there are "five" pits of "considerable size" "in a row" and in the area which witnesses state "was the main body disposal area, […] behind the gas chambers." Either Sturdy Colls mistakenly said five when she meant four, or maybe she counted one of the other pits, perhaps #6, with its "neck" in the middle, as two separate pits. Regardless of which, it is clear that the pits #5-8 cover a surface area which corresponds to roughly 175-200% that of #3, that is, somewhere in the range of 750-900 square meters.
7. Altogether, pits #3-10 as mapped by Sturdy Colls cover a surface hardly exceeding 1,800 square meters. If we assume, again for the sake of argument, the no doubt overly generous average effective depth of 6 meters with vertical pit walls – and once more I want to remind my readers that the pits identified at Belzec and Sobibór averaged some 4 m in depth – this would mean that the "probable burial/cremation pits" in the "death camp proper"/"upper camp"/"camp 2"[14] had a total volume of some (1,800 × 6 =) 10,800 cubic meters. The pits at Belzec as identified by Kola have a total estimated volume of 21,310 cubic meters,[15] whereas those at Sobibór have a total estimated volume of 14,718 cubic meters.[16] The no doubt greatly exaggerated estimate of 10,800 cubic meters could have contained at most some (10,800 × 8 =) 86,400 corpses (assuming instead a more realistic average effective depth of 5 m this figure would change to 72,000 – and this still disregards the likely enlargement of the original grave volumes due to clandestine diggings and other causes). According to Yitzhak Arad, some 312,500 Jews were murdered in Treblinka merely "during the first five weeks of the killing operation."[17] According to the files of the Jewish Council in Warsaw, 251,545 Jews from the ghetto in that city were deported to Treblinka between 22 July 1942 and 12 September 1942.[18] And as already mentioned, the Höfle document states that 713,555 were deported to Treblinka up until the end of 1942. Judging by the information revealed, only a small fraction of this enormous number of people could have been buried in the identified "probable burial/cremation pits," even taking into account the two pits in the reception camp, which, given the reported structure of the camp, could not have been used for any hypothetical "gas chamber" victims.
8. Sturdy Colls's statement that "the failure to provide persuasive physical evidence [of mass graves] led some to question whether it could really be true that hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed here" implies that the presence of mass graves itself would be enough to refute the "deniers." However, it is clear that mass graves of considerable size must have existed at Treblinka, even if it was in fact only a transit camp. Holocaust historian Dieter Pohl estimates that up to 5 % of the deportees to the Reinhardt camps perished en route due to suffocation, dehydration, crushing caused by panicking deportees etc.[19] Considering that the reception of transports at Treblinka during the intense initial months of operation is claimed to have been grossly mismanaged by the first camp commandant, Dr. Irmfried Eberl (who, apparently because of this reason, was fired and replaced by Franz Stangl), which led to the delay of transports at way stations[20] – and this in the summer heat of July and August – there is little reason to doubt this estimate with regard to Treblinka. Since some 800,000 Jews in total were deported to Treblinka during the camp's period of operation (July 1942 – August 1943), this would mean a total of some 40,000 en route deaths. Moreover, there are reasons to assume that a smaller percentage of the deportees were subjected to "euthanasia" due to contagious or mental diseases, or for being too weak for further transport. To this should be added a smaller number of deaths among the camp inmates caused by epidemics etc., as well as those killed by guards in connection with attempts at escape or uprisings.
9. The vague mention of a "more complex picture of the disposal patterns used by the Nazis" is interesting. Were uncremated corpses also detected by the survey, and if so, how many?
10. Sturdy Colls labeled the pits "probable burial/cremation pits," indicating that one or more of the pits may have been used for cremations and not for interment (at Sobibór Kola identified such a pit with an area of 10 × 3 m and a depth of up to 90 cm). In this context the smaller, more rectangular pits #4 and 5 may be the most likely candidates. The dimensions of an identified cremation pit could give important hints about the actual cremation capacity at Treblinka.
11. It is noteworthy that none of the pits or structural remains are located under the  stone/concrete covered memorial areas (cf. the map to the left, where these areas are visible as a bluish gray). Sturdy Colls did not mention whether or not she was able to map these area with her geophysics equipment.[21] This issue, like many others, will have to await further clarification. The covered area inside the "death camp proper" appears to correspond to roughly 1 hectare.

12. It may be worth making a quick comparison of the maps furnished by Sturdy Colls with the "reconstruction" of Treblinka proposed by exterminationist air-photo analyst Alex Bay.[22] Concerning the mass graves Bay writes:[23]

    "Unfortunately, the aerial photography does not contain enough information to delineate the boundaries of the graves. The May [1944] coverage is sufficient only for crudely identifying the places where deep disturbances in general are probable, but the exact boundaries cannot be established.

    In Figure 42 aerial photography is presented in which nine 50 by 25 meter [164 × 82 feet] pits have been drawn to scale along the east and west sides. The positioning and size of these pits is purely speculative."

    The dimensions of 50 × 25 m for the pits are taken from Bay's number one eyewitness, Yankiel Wiernik, and his 1944 publication A Year in Treblinka. Wiernik writes indeed that "The dimensions of each ditch were 50 by 25 by 10 meters"[24] but this almost certainly refers to ditches located not in the "death camp proper," but in the reception camp. The scene wherein Wiernik provides the above-mentioned dimensions takes place on the second day after his arrival in the camp, and the following chapters imply that he first visited the "death camp proper" or Camp II, as he calls it, only several days later.

    

    Location of alleged gas chamber building according to Bay and Sturdy Colls.
    (click on the picture to view it in full size)

    In the figure to the right I have placed Bay's Figure 42 side by side with the Sturdy Colls composite map based on the 1944 air photo. (Click on it to open a full-size version.) The scales of the two maps have been harmonized. To Bay's map I have also added the letters A and B to indicate the solid black outlines drawn by Bay to mark out the two alleged gas chamber buildings. Even considering Bay's admission that the positioning and size of his mass graves "is purely speculative," it is clear that his vision of what the "death camp proper" might have looked like differs considerably from Sturdy Colls' map. As for the locations of the two alleged gas chamber buildings, which Bay goes to painstaking length to identify (based on the aerial photos and witness statements), the four structures marked out by Sturdy Colls (in blue) and designated "probable location of gas chambers" are located some 100 m south of the sites pinpointed by Bay. The alignment of these structures is also rather different from that asserted by Bay. Together with the considerable difference in surface size between the mass graves posited by Bay and the pits identified by Sturdy Colls, this says something of the competence of Bay as well as the reliability of his star witness Wiernik.

13. As for the "probable location of gas chambers" we learn virtually nothing other than that Sturdy Colls has identified two brick structures. On the composite maps, however, four structures are marked out, of which the largest (near the eastern exit of the "Road to heaven") is likely to be the one identified by Sturdy Colls as the "new gas chamber building." The three other structures, two of which are relatively large, are located close to each other. One must suppose that one of the two larger structures has been identified by Sturdy Colls as the "old gas chamber building." According to the most elaborate exterminationist effort to map Treblinka based on aerial photos and eyewitness testimony – the 2004 map by Peter Laponder (who also refers to ground photos taken inside the "death camp proper" as found in Kurt Franz's photo album "Schöne Zeiten")[25] – the only structures located adjacent to the "old gas chamber building" were a water pump shelter, a tiny guardhouse, and a watchtower. Yet on the composite map we have two larger structures next to each other. We will have to wait and see if the geophysical survey has revealed anything about the layout of these structures. If that is not the case, we can only hope that Sturdy Colls soon returns to the camp site to excavate the detected structural remains. 

All in all, the information revealed by these interviews about the findings of the 2011 geophysical survey at Treblinka provides us with more questions than answers. We can only wait and hope that a preliminary report on the research results is not too long in coming. One thing is sure, however, namely that little indicates that the findings of Caroline Sturdy Colls have actually "proven Holocaust deniers wrong" with regard to Treblinka. On the contrary: the information revealed seems to hint that the findings of Caroline Sturdy Colls may well spell doom for the official historiography on Treblinka.

Endnotes