| Sobibor |
| Established: March 1942 Revolt: October 14, 1943* Total Survivors of Camp: 50 Total Deaths: 225,000 - 350,000** * After the revolt on October 14, 1943 the camp was dismantled. 300 inmates escaped during the revolt, of these 50 survived the war. ** All of the prisoners killed at Sobibor were Jewish. |
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| Sobibor was established as part of Operation Reinhard. Killings began in mid-April 1942, halted in July for repairs and enlargement of the gas chambers, resumed in October using carbon monoxide. The Revolt of October 1943 was lead by Jewish Soviet POWs and resulted in an order by Himmler to level the camp. The sole purpose of Sobibor was the fast killing of Jews. No papers, records of victims or railroad documents pertaining to Sobibor have been found. Sobibor was built by Jews who were killed after construction was completed. Most victims were Jews from Poland and German-occupied USSR. Daily transports arrived from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Holland, France, Austria, and other occupied countries, with 1,500-2,000 Jews. A small number of Jews were kept alive to cook, clean, launder, polish, sew and sort, store and ship victims belongings for the SS. Bodies of the victims were burned in open pits. Alexander Pecherski led the revolt that brought about the end of Sobibor death camp. Percherski wsa a former political commissar of the Red Army. The revolt left 11 SS guards dead, 38 Ukrainian guards dead or wounded, and 40 Ukrainian guards on the run. In the revolt 600 inmates ran for freedom; 400 made it out of the camp; about 200 were killed by land mines that surrounded the camp; some were killed by pursuing aircraft, SS, police, and troops; some were killed by Polish members of the Home Army; leaving 100 to reach freedom and/or Soviet partisans; an estimated 35 of the prisoners surveved to the end of the war. Four days after the revolt, the camp was destroyed. A Side Note: The movie "Escape from Sobibor" provides an account of the rebellion and can be rented. |