Revolt in Treblinka

From Prologue: April in Israel, a clear, calm spring morning: streets basking in the warm rays of the sun, the aroma of citrus flowers, heavy traffic. I must get to work. Sitting with my wife and my daughter in the car, I grow irate as the trip drags on. Then a siren splits the air. Everything, cars, trucks busses, comes to a stop. Drivers and passengers step into the street, where they stand in taut silence. More distant sirens echo. Their wail blankets the entire country. They augur the beginning of Holocaust Day: a minute of silence for the memory of six million murdered Jews. I look at my wife, my daughter, the people around me. A sudden fog has come over them. Cars, buildings, people have vanished. Green silhouettes appear before my eyes: a dense forest. I peer through a small grating laced with barbed wire; it belongs to a railroad freight car. I hear the clicking of wheels and feel the train jounce. The light of early dawn filters in. -Samuel Willenberg, at 16, upon the outbreak of war, Willenberg volunteered for the army. He was wounded at Chelmno and spent much of the occupation in Opatow. On escaping from Treblinka, he became involved in sabotage actions in Warsaw and took part in the Warsaw Uprising, following which he continued to fight on the outskirts of the city.