Jerusalem Dispatch: Israel This Week

Treblinka Death Camp: What the Nazis Could Not Erase (08.14.26)

Aug 14, 2026

August 8 - 14, 2026

Treblinka Death Camp: What the Nazis Could Not Erase

I am writing this from Warsaw, having just returned from the Nazis’ death camp in east-central Poland. Its name: Treblinka.

There is almost nothing to see there. That is the point.

Treblinka murdered 800,000 to 925,000 people, overwhelmingly Jews deported from the Warsaw ghetto I walked through two days ago. Unlike Auschwitz, Treblinka was built with almost nothing to house or employ anyone.

It existed for one purpose only.

Most who arrived were dead within hours.

Then, in late 1943, the Germans tore the camp down, planted trees over the killing field, and built a farmhouse on top of it, hoping the evidence itself would disappear along with the people.

It very nearly worked. Today the site holds no barracks, no gas chamber, no fence. Only a field of 17,000 jagged granite stones, each one standing for a destroyed Jewish community, surrounding a single monument. Concrete markers trace where the fence once stood, and the path victims were forced to walk to their deaths…

…a corridor the guards gave the name, “Road to Heaven.”

I stood on that path for a long time. Nothing about it looks like anything. That absence is what stays with you.

I keep circling back to something I saw two days ago on Złota Street in Warsaw: mezuzah casts made from the doorframe indentations left when Jewish families’ mezuzahs were torn down. An entire museum built from what is missing. Treblinka is that same principle at continental scale — an entire camp built, then erased, leaving only the shape of its absence.

Historian Emanuel Ringelblum, a few kilometers from where I am writing tonight, buried tin boxes of testimony specifically so this kind of erasure would fail. He was right to worry.

Concealment is not a relic of 1943.

This week alone: a new report calls antisemitism “systemic” on Canadian campuses. A Florida man charged with a synagogue hate crime told police he was inspired by a video attacking Israel’s prime minister. American officials quietly swapped President Trump’s plane in Turkey after a credible Iranian assassination threat. None of it looks like Treblinka. That is exactly what should concern us — atrocity rarely announces itself as atrocity in advance.

On 7 October 2023, roughly 1,200 people were murdered and 251 taken hostage — the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust. I stood at one of its sites today. Hamas’s founding charter cites a hadith calling for hunting down Jews “who hide behind rocks and trees.” That is not a border dispute.

It is the same objective Treblinka was built to accomplish, updated for this century.

Jeremiah calls it “a time of trouble for Jacob” unlike any other — and promises, in the same breath, that he will be saved out of it. I believe that promise. I also believe it does not excuse silence in the meantime.

Ringelblum buried the truth so it could not be erased. Tonight, standing where an entire camp was erased and nearly succeeded, that feels like the only fitting response left to me: refuse concealment. Refuse to look away.

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I am writing this in the middle of a Holocaust journey put together by Bridges For Peace which was kind enough to let me tag along. To see an interactive map of our journey, click on this link:

https://bfp-holocaust-tour-map-brianschrauger.netlify.app/

To see a Field Guide I put together for the trip, go to this link on Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17mkzmD1p7emhhbmC71_5vYAP9QmTStRL/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111656565580705041243&rtpof=true&sd=true

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Be sure to note the order of this week’s stories — and the categories into which they are divided. The reason for the order of stories, and their different categories, is to help us understand the story behind the story, to see the arc, or the movie of the news, not just a single frame.

This is the lineup below:

Jewish Life Today
Analyses and Commentary
Top Stories of the Week
Antisemitism in the News – and already where we live
On a Lighter Note: Satire and Humor (because we need this too)
Biblical Reminders

Don’t stop reading here!...

A Spiritual Warfare Prayer

Abba, I come to You mindful of walls that still bear the marks of what was torn away, and doorframes still shaped by what was stolen. Thank You for Emanuel Ringelblum and every witness who insisted the truth be buried where it could be found again, rather than let a regime of lies have the final word. Give me that same resolve this week.

Treblinka was a death camp where the men who ran it tore it down themselves, building a farmhouse over the killing field, hoping the evidence would disappear along with the seven hundred thousand souls, at least, they murdered there. Thank You that the attempt to erase their evil failed. Even so, please do not allow me to tolerate attempts to erase evil in my own culture, in my own life. Let me never be one who tolerates its burial, pretending it never happened. Where I am tempted to look away from what must be known and exposed, hold open my eyes, direct me in the path of Your exposure.

Protect the vulnerable ones about whom I am hearing: Mali and Liel, missing in Vienna — bring them home safely. Every Jewish student on some Canadian or American campus tonight who no longer feels safe being known. The families of every synagogue targeted simply for being a synagogue.

Guard President Trump and every leader targeted simply for standing where he stands. Guard the engineers and airmen keeping Israel’s skies secure, and guard every ordinary Israeli living under a threat they did not choose.

In every place where silence has ever been mistaken for safety, make me bold. Not timid. Not silent. Let me not conceal outbreaks of antisemitism that I see, and let my witness serve You the way Ringelblum’s tin boxes still do.

In the Name of Your precious Son, Yeshua, Amen.

Jewish Life Today

SEARCH INTENSIFIES FOR ISRAELI MOTHER AND DAUGHTER MISSING IN VIENNA. Mali and Liel Yahalomi vanished after their hotel room was found completely empty; Austrian police say there is “no indication of foul play,” but no leads either. Sources: https://vinnews.com/2026/08/12/search-for-israeli-mother-and-daughter-missing-in-vienna-intensifies-after-hotel-room-found-empty/ and https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-august-12-2026/

ISRAEL’S DEFENSE MINISTRY AWARDS CONTRACT FOR NEXT-GENERATION LOW-COST ATTACK DRONES. Ondas beat out established players Elbit Systems and Rafael to build the “Digital Bat” tactical drone platform for the IDF. Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-905239

CIVILIAN DRONE TRIGGERS SECURITY ALERT, GROUNDS FLIGHTS AT BEN-GURION AIRPORT. A control-room employee spotted the drone approaching the airport and activated security protocols; it turned out to belong to a videographer filming promotional footage for a construction company. Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-905223

Analyses and Commentary

FDD ANALYSIS: “ISRAEL WANTS PEACE BUT HAMAS MUST DISARM COMPLETELY.” Comment: worth reading in full, given how much rides on whether “phased” ever actually becomes “complete.” Source: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/08/11/israel-wants-peace-but-hamas-must-disarm-completely/

AS TWO ARAB STATES REPORTEDLY PLOT WAR, HOW FORTIFIED ARE ISRAEL’S BORDERS? Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/daily-briefing-aug-11-as-2-arab-states-reportedly-plot-war-how-fortified-are-israels-borders/

HOW ISRAELI INTEL TRIGGERED THE TOP-SECRET TRUMP PLANE PLOY. Source: https://www.timesofisrael.com/daily-briefing-aug-12-how-israeli-intel-triggered-top-secret-trump-plane-ploy/

Antisemitism in the News – and Already Where We Live

IRAN FM ARAGHCHI TO FRANCE: “YOUR BACKING OF ISRAEL’S GENOCIDE IN GAZA...HAS DESTROYED WHATEVER MORAL HIGH GROUND YOU IMAGINED YOU HAD.” Source: https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/irans-araghchi-slams-france-hypocrisy-over-human-rights

FLORIDA MAN CHARGED WITH SYNAGOGUE HATE CRIME SAYS HE WAS MOTIVATED BY VIDEO OF MAMDANI ATTACKING NETANYAHU. Brayton Laschinger admitted to throwing a brick through a synagogue window because it was, in his words, “a Jewish temple.” Source: https://nypost.com/2026/08/08/us-news/mamdani-video-motivated-florida-man-charged-in-antisemitic-hate-crime-cops/

NEW REPORT: ANTISEMITISM ON CANADIAN CAMPUSES IS “SYSTEMIC” AND GOING UNADDRESSED. 95.7 percent of Jewish students said they had experienced or witnessed antisemitism in the past year; 70 percent said their university does not take it seriously. Source: https://www.cp24.com/news/canada/2026/08/08/systemic-students-speak-out-about-antisemitism-on-canadian-campuses/

HAMAN’S LIES: EXPOSING THE ANCIENT ROOTS OF ANTISEMITISM AND WHY THE SPIRIT OF ESTHER MUST ARISE. Comment: The propaganda assault against Israel is not merely political. It is spiritual. It is the newest expression of an ancient hatred—a hatred that has pursued the Jewish people through every century, every empire, and every civilization. And it carries profound prophetic significance. Source: https://www.amazon.com/Hamans-Lies-Exposing-Ancient-Antisemitism/dp/1960870785

WHAT IS ANTISEMITISM? Be sure to see the video report addressing this question at https://endtimes.substack.com/p/what-is-antisemitism

On a Lighter Note…

ISRAEL’S “DANCING WITH THE STARS” PAYS TRIBUTE TO TRUMP AND MELANIA. Two professional dancers dressed as the President in his signature blue suit and red tie, and the First Lady in the navy outfit she wore to the inauguration. Source: https://www.foxnews.com/media/israels-dancing-stars-routine-goes-viral-trump-melania-tribute

Biblical Reminders

“’Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,’ declares Adonai, ‘will Israel ever cease being a nation before me.’”

…Jeremiah 31:35-37

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

…Esther 4:14

“The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”

…Proverbs 28:1

“Because of Adonai’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

…Lamentations 3:22-23

Kris

Thank-you Brian, for sharing what you are seeing and hearing from God at Treblinka. And I stand with you. We will not be silenced about Israel in this last generation. Ironically, I am headed to a prayer meeting this morning where we are specifically praying for Israel. The catch is it is a Church that teaches replacement theology. Go figure. I am not sure what to expect but I have my Bible ready at Isaiah 54-The Future Glory of Zion!! Israel will not be erased!! Not now. Not ever!!! 💫

3 replies

Susan diffee

2hEdited

Thank you, Brian for getting me off my comfy chair in Oklahoma, and taking me with you on your journey across the world. Incredible! May I never be the same….or forget!

I read this post yesterday and I have not been able to stop thinking about it, so I came back to it this morning…

So very humbling.

Thank you for always inviting us along…whether in the present, or back in time. You do an excellent job of communicating, (in a way you do so beautifully)!

It opens my eyes to a great big world (precious stories of Gods people) I otherwise would never know.

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

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