Berek Lajcher

Dr. Berek Lajcher
Photograph from the university years
Born(1893-10-24)24 October 1893
Częstochowa, Piotrków Governorate, Vistula Land
Died2 August 1943(1943-08-02) (aged 49)
Treblinka extermination camp, Poland
OccupationMedical doctor
Known forHolocaust resistance

Berek Lajcher (24 October 1893 – 2 August 1943)[1] was a Jewish physician and social activist from Wyszków before the Holocaust in Poland, remembered for his leadership in the prisoner uprising at Treblinka extermination camp. More than 800,000 Jews, as well as unknown numbers of Romani people, were murdered at Treblinka in the course of Operation Reinhard in World War II.[2]

Lajcher was a graduate of the Warsaw University Faculty of Medicine in 1924, and a retired officer of the Polish Army from the Polish–Soviet War. After the German invasion of Poland during World War II, Lajcher was expelled by the Nazis along with all Polish Jews from Wyszków, and relocated to Węgrów, from where he was deported to Treblinka, the secret forest camp where Jewish men, women and children were being murdered in gas chambers.[1]

Lajcher became the leader and clandestine organizer of the Treblinka revolt. On 2 August 1943, after a long period of preparation, the prisoners stole some weapons from the arsenal and made an attempt at an armed escape from the Totenlager.[3] Lajcher was killed in the fighting. Several Trawniki guards were killed and some 150 Jewish prisoners escaped.[4] Gassing operations at the camp ended soon after the revolt. Lajcher was remembered by survivors incorrectly as either Dr. Lecher (sic),[4] or Dr. Leichert from Wegrów.[1][5]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Weinfeld - Berek Lajcher was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Staff writer (February 4, 2010). "The number of victims". Treblinka Extermination Camp. Muzeum Walki i Meczenstwa w Treblince. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  3. ^ Holocaust Encyclopedia (January 6, 2011). "Treblinka: Chronology". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Samuel Rajzman (1945) [March 10, 2009]. "Uprising in Treblinka". Punishment of war criminals, 120-125. 79th Cong., 1st sess. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1945. Holocaust History.org [cit.] U.S. Congress. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on June 3, 2013. Retrieved October 27, 2013. The flames devoured all the storerooms for clothes and shoes. Of the 700 workers on the camp grounds, only 150 to 200 succeeded in escaping.
  5. ^ H.E.A.R.T (varied authors) (2010). "Alphabetical Listing of [better known] Treblinka Survivors and Victims". Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Retrieved August 30, 2013.