Polish Killing & Atrocity Centers

Located east of Lublin, Sobibor was in existence as a concentration camp from May 1942 to October 1943. Over 250,000 were killed at Sobibor, mostly Jews. Only 64 survived. Sobibor, part of Aktion Reinhard, was one of the crueler camps. The Camp was designed for one purpose: to kill as many Jews as possible in the year that it was open. Gassings, knifings, sewing rats in clothing, and mock 'parachute experiments' (with umbrellas) were the mode of death. Babies were observed ripped in half or thrown away. In the first 2 months, over 100,000 were killed, so many that 3 new gas chambers had to be added. One of the most famous attempted escapes of the War occurred there, detailed in the book, Escape from Sobibor. The revolt of 10-14-43 prompted an end to the camp. With outside help from the Judenrat at Zokiew, plans were made with resistance members in Sobibor. At 4:30pm, the 11 guards and commandant of the camp were called to the workhouses, and summarily killed: only 1 guard survived. Some Ukrainian guards subsequently escaped. All phone lines and vehicles were destroyed.

Of the 600, 300 escaped, 150 were killed and the rest escaped to the forests of Parczew, joining partisans. Arriving Ukrainian guards the next morning fired on remaining prisoners who fought back. By the end of the war, over half of the refugees were still alive. The Lager was erased, as Belzec, and farmland was planted over the area to hide evidence of the quick, mass brutal murders. Some surviving Jews were hunted like others as late as April 1945 by soldiers of the Polish National Army. .