The leaders of the ghetto underground archives (under the historian Emanuel Ringelblum) entrusted Rachel Auerbach with the task of recording the testimony given by Krzepicki (between 28 December 1942 to 7 March 1943). Krzepicki’s report – he was then 25 years old – was the first eyewitness account of the crimes perpetrated at Treblinka. The manuscript (in Yiddish) had been buried in the rubble of the ghetto along with other documents from the second part of the Ringelblum archives. It was recovered on December 1, 1950 by Polish construction workers beneath the ruins of 68 Nowolipki Street. The original manuscript is now at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw (File #290). It was first published in the Jan. – June, 1956 issue of the Institute’s Yiddish-language publication, Bleter far Geshikhte (Vol. XI, No.1-2, 1956, Warsaw).

Dr Rachel Prais, a veteran researcher from the Yad Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust Research who has accomplished a research on the handwriting: Krzepicki’s was not the first to reach the ghetto, [however] it is by far the most

comprehensive and detailed testimony on Treblinka (323 handwritten pages). The little that was published of Krzepicki until now is only a small fraction of the full document, and

as Dr. Prais shows, has missed most of who he was and what he had to say about Treblinka and the Jews transported to the camp

Krzepicki’s expresses outrage against the Jews’ surrender and helplessness on the way to the camp and in it. His comments are insightful, sometimes harsh, always searing

Krzepicki’s testimony leads us stepwise along the twisting path of the deportees’ consciousness, from the lack of clarity following their abduction to the unbridled, stark horror of the camp to which they arrived. He is derisive and contemptuous

of their clinging to scraps of hope based on the false information fed them by the Germans. His observations are often laced with bitter sarcasm, as when he describes an SS man’s speech promising newly-arrived Jews that they would work in their trades. “Some people began to applaud

the German. The majority of the Jews who had heard the honeyed speech really calmed down and once again began to believe that they were in a work camp… and people regained their places, like children in a classroom.” Still, Krzepicki did show some sympathy for children and women in Treblinka. One story in particular rattled him: “A boy of about eight years, who had come with his father, was standing there pleading. He did not want to undress until he had said goodbye to his father. His father was standing on the other side of the door, unable to reach him. He was under one guard and his son under another. But a miracle happened to him. A Ukrainian corporal who was standing in the barracks made a move. He had understood the Polish words and carried out the child’s wish. He led the child outside to his father who took him

in his arms and kissed his soft cheeks and sat him back down on the ground. The little rascal, now calm, went back into the barracks with the Ukrainian and undressed himself. His last wish had been fulfilled. “I could not allow myself to think about

this. I had neither the time nor the head for it, nor could I take it to heart. Something in me always warned me: Steel yourself, don’t let yourself fall apart.” He also related how the older women met with their fate. “Some sought consolation in God and prepared themselves to die with God’s name on their lips. Some pleaded for help, prayed for a miracle, a rescue; others had given up all hope... The women’s sobbing was reminiscent of the sobbing that one hears at funerals. Here people were sobbing at their own funeral