Rita Munley Gallagher
Treblinka: Road to Extermination. Photo by Rita Munley Gallagher
In the postwar Polish People's Republic, the government bought most of the land where the extermination camp had stood.
Treblinka: New Life in the Shadows. Treblinka was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp operated between 23 July 1942 and 19 October 1943 as part of Operation Reinhard, the deadliest phase of the Final Solution. During this time, it is estimated that between 700,000 and 900,000 Jews were killed in its gas chambers, along with 2,000 Romani people. More Jews were killed at Treblinka than at any other Nazi extermination camp apart from Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Treblinka: Never Again. Photo by Rita Munley Gallagher
The construction of a monument was inaugurated with the laying of the cornerstone at the site of the former gas chambers, with a granite tower cracked down the middle and capped by a mushroom-like block carved with abstract reliefs and Jewish symbols.
Treblinka: Flowers in the Gloom. Photo by Rita Munley Gallagher
Now, in the shadowy terrain surrounding the monument, bright flowers bloom.
Treblinka: Berries in the Shade. Photo by Rita Munley Gallagher
Today, in the grounds bordering the sorrowful markers, sweet red berries grow.
An amateur photographer, Rita Munley Gallagher, PhD, RN, is a retired nursing and healthcare consultant living in Washington, DC. She was previously employed by the American Nurses Association (ANA) in Silver Spring, MD as Senior Policy Fellow in the National Center for Nursing Quality. Prior to employment with ANA, Gallagher had over ten years’ experience in the education of health care professionals in the academic setting. In addition to the National Press Club Dr. Gallagher is active in a number of civic and professional organizations including Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma), the American Nurses Association (ANA), the Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association (MWPHA), the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the Police Emerald Society (PES). Dr. Gallagher and her husband, NPC Silver Owl G. Michael “Gus” Gallagher, traveled to the site in Poland, the backdrop of these photos.