In the autumn of 1939, the SS initiated Aktion Reinhard, a plan to build three specially designed concentration camps – Belzec, Treblinka, and Sobibor – to facilitate the killing of Jews in Poland.  In July 1942, the SS opened the final Reinhard camp, Treblinka II, one mile from the labor camp of Treblinka I, which housed non-Jewish prisoners.  Between late July 1942 and February 1943, the Germans deported roughly 265,000 Jews from the Warsaw ghetto, 346,000 Jews from the Radom District, 110,000 Jews from the Bialystok District, and 33,300 Jews from the Lublin District to Treblinka II for immediate death.

On August 2, 1943, 750 prisoners who were kept alive to facilitate the operations of the camp revolted against the SS.  News of resistance and Nazi defeats in Africa had made its way to the camp, but it was the fear of the SS liquidating the workers at the end of operations that led to the formation of the “Organizing Committee.” Dedicated to resistance and escape, the Committee was made up of both Jewish and non-Jewish prisoners.

A detailed plan was laid out for the day of the uprising, but early on, a shot was fired which alerted the SS. Fierce fighting broke out, which resulted in the deaths of roughly half of those who tried to burn the camp and escape. This number included most of the Committee members, who stayed within the fences to protect those prisoners who tried to flee. Many of those who made it out of the camp were recaptured and killed. Only 60-70 of the prisoners who escaped from Treblinka survived until the end of the war.