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This is a list of survivors of the Sobibor extermination camp. The list is divided into two groups. The first comprises the 58 known survivors of those selected to perform forced labour for the camp's daily operation. The second comprises those deported to Sobibor but selected there for forced labor in other camps.

Survivors among Sobibor's forced labourers

This list is as complete as current records allow. There were 58 known Sobibor survivors: 48 male and 10 female. Except where noted, the survivors were Arbeitshäftlinge, inmates who performed slave-labour for the daily operation of the camp, who escaped during the camp-wide revolt on October 14, 1943.

The vast majority of the people taken to Sobibor did not survive but were shot or gassed immediately upon arrival. Of the Arbeitshäftlinge forced to work as Sonderkommando in Lager III, the camp's extermination area where the gas chambers and most of the mass graves were located, no one survived.

Survivors among those selected at Sobibor for forced labour in other camps

Selections sometimes took place at the point of departure, often well before people were forced to board the trains, but there are also reports of selections from trains already en route to the camps. In his June 20, 1942 report, Revier-Leutnant der Schutzpolizei Josef Frischmann, in charge of the guard unit on the train, wrote that "51 Jews capable of work" were removed from the transport at Lublin station. The train had departed Vienna on June 14, 1942, ostensibly for Izbica, but the remaining 949 people on board were delivered to their final destination in Sobibor.

The precise number of those spared upon arrival in the Sobibor extermination camp is unknown, but there were occasional selections there, for forced labour in other camps and factories, amounting to a total of several thousand people. Many of those selected subsequently perished due to harsh conditions in the slave-labour details. A number of them were murdered after internal selections, following transfers to Majdanek and Auschwitz, where people were also routinely murdered by hanging or shooting for arbitrary offences. Thousands of Jews initially selected for slave-labour were among those killed in the Lublin district during Aktion Erntefest, and many were shot or succumbed on the death marches in the closing stages of the Nazi regime. However, some of the people selected at Sobibor ultimately survived beyond the total defeat and unconditional surrender of the Nazis in May 1945.

On August 17, 1943, a survivor from Sabinov in Slovakia, who has remained anonymous, wrote a report in which he described his selection in Sobibor, together with approximately 100 men and 50 women, upon arrival. For slave-labour in the drainage works in the vicinity of Sobibor they were taken to Krychów. He had arrived following the violent clearance of deported Slovakian Jews and the few remaining Polish Jews from the Rejowiec ghetto on August 9, 1942. He described how a few additional skilled workers, technicians, blacksmiths and watchmakers were separated upon arrival in Sobibor. He further wrote that fire was visible in the night sky in the vicinity of Sobibor, and that the stench of burning hair permeated the air.

Approximately 1,000 people were selected from the 34,313 named deportees who had been deported from the Netherlands via Westerbork to Sobibor between March 2 and July 20, 1943. Only 16 of them, 13 women and three men, survived. From the group of approximately 30 women selected from the train which left Westerbork with 1,015 people on March 10, 1943, 13 survived the various camps. Although they were split up after arrival in Lublin and returned to the Netherlands via different camps and routes, this was the largest single group of survivors from any one of the 19 trains which departed the Netherlands. Upon arrival they were separated from the other deportees and shortly afterwards taken by train to Lublin, where they spent the next months in various work details divided over Majdanek and the Alter Flugplatz camp, on the site of an airfield. Eventually, eleven of the women were transferred to Milejów, where they worked for a brief period in a Wehrmacht operated provisions factory, but were soon taken to Trawniki, with a larger group of men and women of mixed nationality, in the immediate aftermath of Aktion Erntefest in November 1943. Here, their first assignment was assisting in body disposal and sorting the looted possessions of those murdered at the Trawniki camp. After body disposal had nearly been completed, the remaining men were also murdered. Elias Isak Alex Cohen was the only survivor of the March 17, 1943 transport. He was taken to Majdanek with a group of approximately 35 people selected based on profession. His experiences include a period operating machinery in the ammunition factory in Skarżysko-Kamienna, where the poisonous materials and lack of protections decimated the forced-labourers. Jozef Wins was the only one to return to the Netherlands from the May 11 transport. He was among a group of 80 men taken to Dorohucza. Jules Schelvis was the sole survivor of the 3,006 people on the deportation train of June 1, 1943, He too was taken to Dorohucza, with a group of 80 other men. From the remaining 14 trains, people were also selected but no one survived the Holocaust.

See also

• List of victims of Sobibor

Notes

1. The statement in French is available in PDF in NIOD Toegang 804, Inventaris 18, page 56ff.
2. A facsimile of Frischmann's Erfahrungsbericht can be found in NIOD Toegang 804, Inventaris 54, page 175. A description of this transport, including a list of names of the deportees, can be found at Yad Vashem.
3. A German and English transcript of the statement is available in PDF in NIOD Toegang 804, Inventaris 54, page 148ff.
4. Including Selma Wijnberg and Ursula Stern, who remained in the camp until their successful escape during the revolt, there are 18 known survivors from the transports out of Westerbork to Sobibor who were alive after May 8, 1945: Elias Isak Alex Cohen, Judith Eliasar, Bertha Ensel, Celina Ensel, Sophia Huisman, Mirjam Penha née Blits, Cato Polak, Surry Polak, Suzanne Polak, Bertha van Praag, Debora van Praag, Jules Schelvis, Sophia Verduin, Jetje Veterman, Sientje Veterman and Jozef Wins. In early reports Jeannette de Vries née Blitz is included among the survivors, bringing the preliminary total to 19, a number repeated in some later publications. Jeannette de Vries-Blitz was not deported to Sobibor, however. She was deported to Auschwitz on May 19, 1944. From there her path through various camps paralleled that of Mirjam Penha-Blits and Judith Eliasar. They were liberated in the Neuengamme sub camp in Salzwedel.
5. Among those who were selected at Sobibor from the March 30, 1943 transport, but perished before May 8, 1945 are: Henderiene den Arend-van der Reis, Auguste Berliner, Flora Blok, Hilde Beate Blumendal, Marga Cohen, Sophia Cohen, Hester Fresco, Klaartje Gompertz, Fanny Landesmann, Naatje Roodveldt-Moffie, Lotje Stad, Judith Swaab, Annie Troostwijk-Hijmans, Lena Verduin, and Charlotte Zeehandelaar-Andriesse.

References

1. ^ Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Oxford: Berg. p. 231. ISBN 978-1-84520-419-8.
2. ^ Cüppers, Martin; Gerhardt, Annett; Graf, Karin; Hänschen, Steffen; Kahrs, Andreas; Lepper, Anne; Ross, Florian (2020). Fotos aus Sobibor (in German). Metropol Verlag. p. 341. ISBN 978-3-86331-506-1.
3. "Biuletyn Informacji Publicznej".
4. ^ Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Oxford: Berg. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-84520-419-8.
5. ^ Sobibor Interviews: Survivors of the revolt
6. ^ Cüppers, Martin; Gerhardt, Annett; Graf, Karin; Hänschen, Steffen; Kahrs, Andreas; Lepper, Anne; Ross, Florian (2020). Fotos aus Sobibor (in German). Metropol Verlag. p. 342. ISBN 978-3-86331-506-1.
7. "Biuletyn Informacji Publicznej".
8. Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Oxford: Berg. pp. 232–233. ISBN 978-1-84520-419-8.
9. ^ Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Oxford: Berg. p. 233. ISBN 978-1-84520-419-8.
10. ^ Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Oxford: Berg. p. 234. ISBN 978-1-84520-419-8.
11. Cüppers, Martin; Gerhardt, Annett; Graf, Karin; Hänschen, Steffen; Kahrs, Andreas; Lepper, Anne; Ross, Florian (2020). Fotos aus Sobibor (in German). Metropol Verlag. p. 343. ISBN 978-3-86331-506-1.
12. Catharina Gokkes in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
13. Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Oxford: Berg. pp. 172, 182, 188. ISBN 978-1-84520-419-8.
14. Miriam Novitch, Sobibor: Martyrdom and Revolt (Paperback 1980), pages 86, 88
15. Loe de Jong, The Kingdom of the Netherlands During World War II, Part 8b, page 883
16. Bem, Marek (2015). Sobibor Extermination Camp: 1942-1943 (PDF). Stichting Sobibor. pp. 298, 383, 413, 421, 438. ISBN 978-83-937927-2-6.
17. Webb, Chris (2017). Sobibor Death Camp: History, Biographies, Remembrance. Columbia University Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-3-8382-6966-5.
18. Rashke, Richard (2013). Escape from Sobibor. Delphinium Books. p. 522. ISBN 978-1-4804-5851-2.
19. jewishgen.org Moshe Hochman, Eyewitness Testimony of Moshe Hochman
20. Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Oxford: Berg. pp. 234–235. ISBN 978-1-84520-419-8.
21. ^ Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Oxford: Berg. p. 235. ISBN 978-1-84520-419-8.
22. Bem, Marek (2015). Sobibor Extermination Camp: 1942-1943 (PDF). Stichting Sobibor. p. 331. ISBN 978-83-937927-2-6.
23. From Chelm to Sobibor . . . statement by Chaim Powroznik, in Chelm on January 10, 1944, referenced by USHMM
24. NIOD Toegang 804, Inventaris 18
25. Bem, Marek (2015). Sobibor Extermination Camp: 1942-1943 (PDF). Stichting Sobibor. pp. 70, 298. ISBN 978-83-937927-2-6.
26. ^ Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Oxford: Berg. p. 236. ISBN 978-1-84520-419-8.
27. Cüppers, Martin; Gerhardt, Annett; Graf, Karin; Hänschen, Steffen; Kahrs, Andreas; Lepper, Anne; Ross, Florian (2020). Fotos aus Sobibor (in German). Metropol Verlag. p. 344. ISBN 978-3-86331-506-1.
28. Cüppers, Martin; Gerhardt, Annett; Graf, Karin; Hänschen, Steffen; Kahrs, Andreas; Lepper, Anne; Ross, Florian (2020). Fotos aus Sobibor (in German). Metropol Verlag. p. 345. ISBN 978-3-86331-506-1.
29. ^ Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Oxford: Berg. p. 237. ISBN 978-1-84520-419-8.
30. Gertrud Poppert, née Schönborn in the German Federal Archives Memorial Book
31. Toivi Blatt interviews Sasha Pechersky about "Luka" in 1980; retrieved on 8 May 2009.
32. Naedele, Walther F. (April 15, 2015). "Esther Raab, 92, Holocaust survivor". Philly.com. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
33. Last survivor of Sobibor death camp dies aged 96; retrieved on 3 June 2019.
34. ^ Arad, Yitzhak. Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps. Indiana University Press. 1987.
35. Arthur Solomonov (2008-09-01). "Aleksej Waizen: I knew it every second that I could be killed (Алексей Вайцен: Каждую секунду я знал, что меня могут убить)". The New Times (Russia).
36. BBC History of World War II. Auschwitz; Inside the Nazi State. Part 4, Corruption.
37. "Arkady Wajspapir, key figure in Sobibor Uprising, dies at 96". JTA. January 12, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
38. Schelvis, Jules (2007). Sobibor: A History of a Nazi Death Camp. Oxford: Berg. p. 242. ISBN 978-1-84520-419-8.
39. Bem, Marek (2015). Sobibor Extermination Camp: 1942-1943 (PDF). Stichting Sobibor. pp. 66, 298. ISBN 978-83-937927-2-6.
40. ^ Jules Schelvis, Vernietigingskamp Sobibor (5th Ed. 2004), pages 76, 237, 257, 260, 342
41. ^ NIOD Toegang 804, Inventaris 54
42. Vienna to Sobibor train, June 14, 1942
43. ^ Afwikkelingsbureau Concentratiekampen Sobibor (1946)
44. Sobibor Interviews: Dutch Survivors.
45. Memorial Center Camp Westerbork
46. Henderiene den Arend-van der Reis in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
47. Auguste Berliner in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
48. Flora Blok in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
49. Hilde Beate Blumendal in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
50. Marga Cohen in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
51. Sophia Cohen in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
52. Hester Fresco in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
53. Klaartje Gompertz in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
54. Fanny Landesmann in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
55. Naatje Roodveldt-Moffie in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
56. Lotje Stad in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
57. Judith Swaab in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
58. Annie Troostwijk-Hijmans in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
59. Lena Verduin in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
60. Charlotte Zeehandelaar-Andriesse in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
61. History Sobibor, Dutch Sobibor Foundation.
62. Elia Aron Cohen, De Negentien Treinen naar Sobibor
63. Thomas Blatt, The Forgotten Revolt
64. Jules Schelvis, De Transportlijsten
65. Jules Schelvis, Binnen de Poorten
66. Mirjam Blits, Auschwitz 13917
67. Dutch Red Cross Sobibor (1947) (PDF)
68. Onderzoek - Vernietigingskamp Sobibor NIOD Toegang 804

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• Sobibor extermination camp
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