Sobibor was a Nazi German extermination camp that was part of Operation Reinhard; the official German name was SS-Sonderkommando Sobibor. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Extermination camps were two types of facilities that Nazi Germany built during World War II for the systematic killing of millions of people in what has become Operation Reinhard ( Aktion Reinhard or Einsatz Reinhard in German) was the code name given to the Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the Sonderkommandos were work units of Nazi Death camp prisoners forced to aid the killing process during The Holocaust. Jews, including Jewish Soviet POWs, and possibly Gypsies were transported to Sobibór by rail, and suffocated in gas chambers that were fed with the exhaust of a petrol engine. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing consisting of a sealed chamber into which a Poisonous or Asphyxiant gas is introduced Today Internal combustion engines in cars, Trucks motorcycles aircraft construction machinery and many others most commonly use a four-stroke cycle. At least 250,000 people were killed at Sobibór.
After a successful revolt in October 1943 about half of the 600 prisoners in Sobibór escaped; the camp was closed and planted with trees days afterwards. A memorial and museum are at the site today. A memorial is an object which serves as a memory of something usually a person (who has died or an event A museum is a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development open to the public which acquires conserves researches communicates and exhibits the
Sobibór is also the name of the village outside which the camp was built, which is now part of Lublin Voivodship in Poland. Sobibór is a Village in the administrative district of Gmina Włodawa, within Włodawa County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland Lublin Voivodeship (also known as Lublin Province or województwo lubelskie or simply Lubelskie) is a voivodeship, or Province, in eastern Poland Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland
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The camp
Beginning in 1940, the Nazis established 16 forced labor camps in the Lublin district of Poland. A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in Penal labor. Lublin is the largest city in eastern Poland and the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 355954 The Lublin district was intended to become an agricultural center. Except for Krychow forced labor camp, the camps used existing structures such as abandoned schools, factories, or farms to imprison the laborers. Krychow was the largest of the 16 camps and had been built before World War II as a detention camp for Polish prisoners. In 1942, Sobibor extermination camp was built near the forced labor camps. [1]
In mid-April 1942 when the camp was nearly completed, experimental gassings took place. About 250 Jews from Krychow forced labour camp were brought there for this purpose. Christian Wirth, the commander of Belzec, arrived in Sobibor to witness these gassings, accompanied by the chemist Dr Karl Blaurock. Christian Wirth ( 24 November, 1885 - 26 May, 1944) was a senior SS officer during the program to exterminate the Jewish In May 1942, Sobibor began gassing operations. Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Trains entered the railway station, and the Jews onboard were told they were in a transit camp, and were forced to undress and hand over their valuables. They were then led along the 100 meter long "Road to Heaven" (Himmelstrasse) which led to the gas chambers, where they were killed using carbon monoxide released from the exhaust pipes of tanks. Carbon monoxide, with the chemical formula CO is a colorless odorless tasteless yet highly toxic Gas. A tank is a tracked, Armoured fighting vehicle designed for Front-line combat which combines Operational mobility and tactical
SS-Oberscharführer Kurt Bolender described the way the gassing operations ran during his trial:
Before the Jews undressed, Oberscharführer Hermann Michel made a speech to them. Oberscharführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between the years of 1932 and 1945. On these occasions, he used to wear a white coat to give the impression he was a physician. A physician, medical practitioner or medical doctor who practices Medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human Health Michel announced to the Jews that they would be sent to work. But before this they would have to take baths and undergo disinfection, so as to prevent the spread of diseases. Disinfectants are Antimicrobial agents that are applied to non-living objects to destroy Microorganisms, the process of which is known as disinfection. A disease is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions and can be deadly After undressing, the Jews were taken through the "Tube", by an SS man leading the way, with five or six guards at the back hastening the Jews along. 6 and six may mean 6 (number, a number numeral and glyph 6, the year 6 AD 6 BC, the year 6 BC After the Jews entered the gas chambers, the guards closed the doors. The motor was switched on by the former Soviet soldier Emil Kostenko and by the German driver Erich Bauer from Berlin. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. After the gassing, the doors were opened and the corpses were removed by a group of Jewish workers.
The victims were mostly Jews, from Poland (especially Lublin and eastern Galicia - 145,000-150,000), the Czech Republic and Slovakia (31,000), Germany and Austria (10,000), France (4,000), Lithuania (14,000), and the Netherlands (34,313). Lublin is the largest city in eastern Poland and the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 355954 Galicia (Галичина ( Halychyna) Galicja is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, The Czech Republic ( ˈt͡ʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka short form in Česko ˈt͡ʃɛskɔ also called Czechia, Slovakia (long form Slovak Republic; Slovak:, long form, is a Landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands
Dutch victims included 18-year-old Helga Deen, whose diary was discovered in 2004, 14-year-old Ilse Wagner, a close friend of diarist and Holocaust victim Anne Frank, and magician Michel Velleman. Helga Deen ( Stettin, Germany April 6 1925 – Sobibor, July 16 1943) was the author of a diary discovered in 2004 which Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank ( (12 June 1929 – early March 1945 was a Jewish girl born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany Ben Ali Libi (real name Michel Velleman) ( Groningen, 5 January 1895 &mdash Sobibor, 2 July 1943) was a Although official estimates put the number of dead around 250,000, survivors from the camps like Esther Raab (whose life is dramatized in Richard Raschke's play, Dear Esther) recall the Nazi celebration for the death of the millionth Sobibor Jew.
The camp was split into four sections:
Garrison Area: This included the main entrance gates and the railway platform where the victims were taken off the trains. The Commander's lodge was opposite the platform and was on the right side to the Guardhouse and on the left by the armoury.
Lager (Camp) I: This was built directly west and behind the Garrison Area. It was made escape proof by extra barbed wire fences and a deep trench filled with water. The only opening was a gate leading into the area. This camp was the living barracks for Jewish prisoners and included a prisoner's kitchen. Each prisoner was given about 12 square feet (1. 1 square meters) of sleeping space.
Lager (Camp) II: This was a larger section and included an assortment of vital services for both the killing process and the everyday operation of the camp. 400 prisoners, including women, worked here. Lager II contained the warehouses used for storing the objects taken from the dead victims, including hair, clothes, food, gold and all other valuables. This Lager also housed the main administration office. It was at Lager II that the Jews were prepared for their death. Here they undressed, women's hair was shaved, clothing searched and sorted, and documents destroyed in the nearby furnace. The victim's final steps were taken on a path framed by barbed wire. It was called the "Road to Heaven," (Himmelstrasse) and led directly to the gas chambers.
Lager (Camp) III: This was where the victims met their end. Located in the north-western part of the camp, there were only two ways to enter the camp from Lager II. The camp staff and personnel entered through a small plain gate. The entrance for the victims descended immediately into the gas chambers and was decorated with flowers and a Star of David.
Camp guards
While the camp officers were Germans (including Austrians and Volksdeutsche), guards were representatives of different ethnic groups and nationalities, including but not limited by the former Soviet prisoners of war (POWs) and representatives of different ethnic groups of USSR (Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Moldovans, representatives of Central Asia nationalities, etc. The German people (Deutsche are an Ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent and speaking the German language as Austrians (Österreicher are a nation and an ethnic group originating from the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states ( March of Austria, This page describes the origins and historical use of the term Volksdeutsche. A soviet (сове́т, "council" originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia. The Russian people (Русские— Russkie) are an East Slavic Ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries Ukrainians (Українці Ukrayintsi,) are an East Slavic Ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly— Citizens Tatars ( Tatar: Tatarlar/Татарлар sometimes spelled Tartars, are a Turkic -speaking ethnic group or multiple ethnic groups Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova ( Republica Moldova) is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south ). [2]
Most of the Soviet POW before they were sent as guards to the concentration camps have undergone a special training in Trawniki which originally was a holding center for refugees and Soviet POWs, whom the Sipo security police and the SD had designated either potential collaborators or dangerous persons. Trawniki is a Village in Świdnik County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. The Sicherheitspolizei (security police often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the state political and criminal investigation security The Sicherheitsdienst (SD Security Service was primarily the Intelligence service of the SS and the NSDAP. [3]
Though it has never been conclusively proven, it was alleged that John Demjanjuk, a former Soviet POW, worked as a watchguard at Sobibor. John Demjanjuk, born Ivan Demjanjuk (born April 3, 1920) is an Ukrainian-born retired auto worker and naturalized United States citizen who gained notoriety
The uprising
Sobibór was the site of one of two successful uprisings by Jewish prisoners in a Nazi extermination camp — there was a similar revolt at Treblinka on August 2, 1943. Treblinka II was a German Extermination camp in occupied Poland during World War II. Events 338 BC - A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau in October 1944 which led to one of the crematoria being blown up was unsuccessful and all the escapees were killed. "Auschwitz" redirects here For the town see Oświęcim Auschwitz-Birkenau () was the largest of Nazi Germany
On October 14, 1943, members of the Sobibór underground, led by Polish-Jewish prisoner Leon Feldhandler and Soviet POW Alexander "Sasha" Pechersky, succeeded in covertly killing eleven German SS officers and a number of camp guards. Events 1066 - Norman Conquest: Battle of Hastings - In England on Senlac Hill seven miles from Hastings, the forces Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Leon Feldhendler (died April 1945 was the son of a Rabbi from Lublin. Alexander “Sasha” Pechersky ( February 22, 1909 &ndash January 1990 was the organizer of a prisoner uprising at the Sobibor extermination camp in 1943 The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the Although their plan was to kill all the SS and walk out of the main gate of the camp, the killings were discovered and the inmates ran for their lives under fire. About half of the 600 prisoners in the camp escaped.
Only about 50 escapees survived the war, however. Some died on the mine fields surrounding the site, and some were recaptured and shot by the Germans in the next few days, but survivors' accounts also indicate that some of the escapees were killed by the Polish underground and civilians, including a massacre of ten former prisoners on or about October 17, 1943, in the forest to the south west of the camp. A land mine is an Explosive device designed to be placed on or in the ground to explode when triggered by an operator or the Proximity of a vehicle person Events 539 BC - King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Most of those who did survive were hidden from the Germans by other Poles, at the risk of their own lives. Feldhandler was murdered by Polish antisemites who shot him through the door of his apartment in January 1945. Pechersky was imprisoned by the Soviet NKVD, but later released. The NKVD ( НКВД, ru Народный Комиссариат Внутренних Дел ''Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del'') or People's Commissariat
The revolt was dramatized in the 1987 British TV movie Escape from Sobibor, directed by Jack Gold. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Escape from Sobibor is a made-for-TV film which aired in 1987 on CBS. Jack Gold (born on June 28, 1930) is a British film and Television director. An award-winning documentary about the escape was made by Claude Lanzmann, entitled Sobibor, 14 octobre 1943, 16 heures (Sobibor, Oct. Claude Lanzmann (born 1925 in Paris) is a Paris -based filmmaker 14, 1943, 4 p. m. ).
Aftermath
Within days after the uprising, the SS chief Heinrich Himmler ordered the camp closed, dismantled and planted with trees. Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS.
Karl Frenzel, commandant of Sobibór's Lager I, was convicted of war crimes in 1966 and sentenced to life, but ultimately released on health grounds. Karl Frenzel, SS - Oberscharführer, (born August 28, 1911) is a Nazi commandant convicted of war crimes but ultimately released War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war" including but not limited to "murder the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied He died in 1997.
Franz Stangl, chief commandant of Sobibór and later of Treblinka fled to Syria with the aid of a priest in the Vatican who supplied money, a red cross passport, and arranged work for him. Franz Stangl ( March 26, 1908 &ndash June 28, 1971) was an SS officer commandant of the Sobibór and of Treblinka Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Roman Catholic Church, together with the Pope A passport is a document issued by a national government which certifies for the purpose of international travel the identity and nationality of its holder Following problems with his employer taking too much interest in his adolescent daughter, Stangl went to Brazil in the 1950s. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive He worked in a car factory and was registered with the Austrian consulate under his own name. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich He was eventually caught, arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. Life imprisonment or life incarceration is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime often for most In 1971 he died in prison in Düsseldorf a few hours after concluding a series of interviews with British historian Gitta Sereny. Düsseldorf (ˈdʏsəldɔɐf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Gitta Sereny (born March 13 1921) is an Austrian -born British Biographer, Historian and journalist whose writing focuses mainly on
Gustav Wagner, the deputy Sobibór commander was on leave on the day of uprising (survivors such as Tom Blatt say that the revolt would not have succeeded had he been present). Wagner was arrested in 1978 in Brazil. He was identified by Sobibor escapee Stanisław Szmajzner, who greeted him with the words "Hallo Gustl"; Wagner replied that he remembered Szmajzner and that he had saved him and his three brothers. The court of first instance agreed to his extradition to Germany but on appeal this extradition was overturned. The European Court of First Instance, created in 1989 is a court of the European Union. Extradition is the official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal In Law, an appeal is a process for requesting a formal change to an official decision In 1980 Wagner committed suicide; coming only a short time after his release and somewhat suspicious photographs has led many to suggest that he may have been killed.
Memorial
Following the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the revolt in 2003, the grounds of the former death camp received a grant largely funded by the Dutch government to improve the site. The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary Representative democracy, a Constitutional monarchy and a New walk ways were introduced with signs indicating points of interest but close to the burial pits, bone fragments still litter the area. In the forest outside the camp is a statue honoring the valiant fighters of Sobibor.
 Sobibór railway station |  Commemorative plaque at Himmelstrasse |  Memorial at the entry of the camp |  Memorial inside the camp |
References
- From the Ashes of Sobibor by Thomas Blatt
- Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka by Yitzak Arad
See also
Further reading
- Freiberg, Dov 2007, "To Survive Sobibor", Gefen Publishing House. Thomas "Toivi" Blatt (b 1927 was one of the few survivors who successfully escaped Sobibór, a German extermination camp This article is a list of Nazi-German concentration camps.In the table below Extermination camps are marked with pink The Gefen Publishing House is an English language Publishing firm located in Jerusalem, Israel as well as having a department in New York ISBN 978-9652293886
- Lev, Michael 2007, "Sobibor", Gefen Publishing House. Michael Lev was born in 1917 in the Ukraine He studied Yiddish language and literature in Moscow and worked at a Yiddish publishing house where his first publications appeared The Gefen Publishing House is an English language Publishing firm located in Jerusalem, Israel as well as having a department in New York ISBN 978-9652294081
- Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Berg. Berg Publishers is an academic publishing company based in Oxford England that was founded in 1983 by Marion Berghahn D Phil PhD ISBN 978-1845204181.
- Sereny, Gitta (1974). Into That Darkness: from Mercy Killing to Mass Murder. ISBN 0070562903.
External links
- SOBIBOR United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- The Sobibor Death Camp
- Sobibor - The Forgotten Revolt website of Thomas Blatt, one of the few survivors
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