Theodor van Eupen | |
|---|---|
 Announcement about the founding of TreblinkaArbeitslager run by Eupen | |
| Born | 24 April 1907 Düsseldorf, Germany |
| Died | 11 December 1944(1944-12-11) (aged 37) Lipówka, nearJędrzejów, Poland[1] |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Service |  Schutzstaffel (SS) |
| Rank | Sturmbannführer |
| Unit | SS-Totenkopfverbände |
| Commands | Deputy commandant ofTreblinka extermination camp |
Theodor van Eupen (24 April 1907 – 11 December 1944) was a member of theSS ofNazi Germany. AHolocaust perpetrator, he served as the commandant of theTreblinka Iforced-labour camp (Arbeitslager) inoccupied Poland during its entire course of operation. Unlike the parallelTreblinka extermination camp (Treblinka II) subordinate to theOperation Reinhard authorities in Berlin, Treblinka I was controlled by theSS and Police Leader inWarsaw.[2] The labour camp was liquidated on 23 July 1944, ahead of the Soviet advance. By then, more than half of its cumulative number of some 20,000 inmates had died fromsummary executions, hunger, disease, and mistreatment.[3] The regular workforce consisted of 1,000–2,000 prisoners, terrorized by staff of about a dozen SS-men and 100Wachmänner guards.[4]
Born inDüsseldorf, Eupen received a law degree before World War II similar to other notable members of theNazi Party such asHans Frank, head of the semi-colonialGeneral Government.[5][6] Eupen joined theSchutzstaffel with the card number 4528. After theinvasion of Poland, he was promoted to the position of Commandant of Treblinka I in the summer of 1941, ahead of the camp's official founding which took place in November 1941. He supervised the building of barracks as well asbarbed wire fencing 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall, around theperimeter.[4]
Treblinka I was a gravel quarry equipped with heavy machinery, essential to the production of concrete and road construction. Before theGerman occupation, the mega quarry was owned by the Polish industrialist Marian Łopuszyński who built arailway track connecting the mine withMałkinia–Sokołów Podlaski junction. Setting up a penal colony there was the idea ofSturmbannführer Ernst Gramss who first ran it as his own personal business venture in occupied Poland. The quarry became vital during the Germanattack on the Soviet Union, supplying gravel for the strategic road-building programme around the German–Soviet border.[4][7]
Eupen was in charge of Treblinka I officially from 15 November 1941 (date of the camp's founding by WarsawSS Governor Dr. Ludwig Fischer), until its closing on 23 July 1944. He worked closely with theSS and police commandanture in Warsaw during thedeportation of Jews to thegas chambers of Treblinka II in early 1943, in order to have the slave labour brought to him from theWarsaw Ghetto for necessary replacements. He claimed to have been a German-Dutch aristocrat and liked to have his wife and two little sons visit him in occupied Poland. Eupen was feared even by his ownSS subordinates penalized by being sent to the Eastern Front for even the smallest infractions. He arranged to have a garden built by his house with a pond and water fowl.[4]
Reportedly well-mannered,[4] Eupen nevertheless had a reputation of a notorious sadist who often personally executed prisoners,[6] "taking shots at them, as if they were partridges" wroteFranciszek Ząbecki, the Polish station master.[7] Prisoners who worked 12- to 14-hour shifts received watery soup for breakfast, similar soup for lunch, and the roasted-grain beverage with rye bread for supper, each loaf shared by the 10 of them. During the liquidation of the camp, some 500–700 inmates were executed by theSS in the forest, and all structures were burned to the ground.[4] Eupen's luck ended shortly thereafter.
He was killed byPolish partisans nearJędrzejów in mid December 1944,[1][7] ambushed on the road. He jumped out of the car and ran on foot as far as Lipówka village where he crawled under a pile of hay. The partisans machine-gunned his hiding place and learned who he was only from the documents they found on his corpse.[4]
The next day, the corpse and 3 other Germans killed in the ambush were recovered from the lake by a specially arrived German unit and transported to Lipówka and then to Jędrzejów, where he was to be buried on 13 December 1944. According to Norbert Michta, the Germans then selected 13 people from among the local population to be shot. However, the Nazis managed to be convinced that the attack was the work of Russian paratroopers unknown to the people, and W. Ważniewski, on the basis of Reports and German documents, reports that they took nine village leaders from nearby villages hostage, but after four days they released them.[citation needed]
On 13 December, the Germans launched operation "Schneesturm", which was aimed at liquidating Soviet partisans staying in the vicinity of the Sancygniów forests, attacked from three directions, from the Mountains through Lipówka to Teodorów, from the side of Działoszyce and from the side of Książ Wielki through Janowice and Rzemiędzice, they pacified several surrounding villages, m.in Trzonów, located 6 km from the assassination site, Bugaj, Gaik-hamlet Zaryszyna, Sadek and killed at least 64 inhabitants of these villages and burned many buildings.[citation needed]
with list of Catholicrescuers of Jews imprisoned at Treblinka, selected testimonies, bibliography, alphabetical indexes, photographs, English language summaries, and forewords by Holocaust scholars.