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In July and
August, Jewish prisoners in the Sobibor extermination camp
established a resistance cell under Leon Feldhendler to prepare a
prisoners’ uprising and a general escape. In the second half of
September, Jewish prisoners of war from the Red Army were brought to
the camp. One of them, Lt. Aleksandr (Sasha) Pechersky, was
recruited by the resistance and installed as its commander. The plan
was for the prisoners to kill the SS men, obtain weapons, and break
through the fence at an area that was not mined.
The
painstakingly prepared uprising broke out on October 14. In its
course, 11 SS men and several Ukrainians were killed and some 300
prisoners managed to escape, most of whom were killed by their
pursuers. Those who had not joined the escape for various reasons
were all murdered. Only 50 escapees survived to witness liberation
day. After the uprising, the Germans abandoned the idea of turning
Sobibor into a concentration camp and closed it down. |
