THE REVOLT
Leon Felhendler, 1942 Alexander (Sasha) Aronowich Pechersky, 1942
The Leaders in the Sobibor Revolt -
October 14, 1943 was a warm, sunny day and nothing
disrupted the routine. Only a very small group knew that this was to be the
fateful day. The Nazis in the camp went about their business as usual. At
precisely 4:00 P.M., the stage was set. Everything now depended on the nerves of the attackers, their faith in themselves and
luck.
Acting commandant SS Untersturmfuhrer Niemann rode up on his
horse and entered the tailor shop. Mundek was ready, holding the new uniform.
The German without suspicion, unhooked his belt with its pistol in the holster
and causally threw it on the table.
As tailors have done for ages, he patted and turned Niemann
at his will. Finally he told him to stand still while he marked the alterations
with crayon. Then the blow fell. The Nazi dropped like a fallen tree, his head
spilt. Shubayev rushed to Sasha’s quarters and delivered the first pistol. They
embraced. Now there was no turing back.
At 4:15, Oberscharfuehrer Graetschus, the German in charge
of the Ukrainian guards, arrived at the cobblers shop to pick up his order.
While Yizhak held the Nazis leg in a firm grip, pretending to pull the boots,
Arcady Wajspeper and Siemion Rosenfeld slipped out from the back room and split
the Skull of the Nazi with the ax. Then his deputy the Ukrainian KIatt entered,
calling his boss to the telephone. He too was attacked and killed.
In Lager II Toivi standing at attention was informing a SS
Untersturmfuehrer that a new leather coat, exactly his size had been set aside
for him In the warehouse. The German took the bait and want without hesitation
in the direction of the warehouse.
Meanwhile, in one of the many
partitions of the warehouse, a few conspirators were stocking packets against
the wall, each containing ten articles of clothing. At the side lay the
bait - a shiny, black leather coat. Wolf entered. “Attention!” barked Bunlo.
The prisoners froze. “Help the Herr Unterscharfuehrer with the coat!”, ordered
the Kapo. An inmate fetched the coat and held it for the German. The Nazi put
his arm into the sleeves and in a spilt second the scenario changed. Held as if
in a straight jacket, he could not move his arms. A strike of the ax by
Cybulski and he fell. The executions in Lager II had begun: the trap was
waiting for the next Nazi. The conspirators want out to summon other Nazis, and
when the miners’ carts with food rations were en route to Lager Ill, 55
Unterscharfuehrer Valaster, the driver, was flagged down and told that Wolf
urgently needed him. He left to be killed.
Another team readied for a new
attack on SS Oberscharfuehrer Beckman. The prisoner Pozycid knocked at his
office door asking permission to enter for some job clarification. Permission
granted, they entered. Immediately, Pozycki nw,obLed him by a headlock and hi
was knifed to death. In the adjoining room 55 Scharfuehrer Valaster’s body was
lying on the floor.
Unexpected 55 Unterscharfuehrer
Wafter Ryba had wandered into the car garage in the garrison area where he was
killed.
____________________
From the main tower in the center of
Lager II came the sound of a bugle announcing the end of the days work. As
groups returned to the man square in Lager I, the marching songs in Jewish,
German, Polish, Dutch, Ukrainian and Russian echoed far beyond the barbed wires
of the Sobibor forest.
Everything appeared like any other
day. In the Lager I, a mass of prisoners unaware of what was about to happen
stood in line for their “coffee” and breed as they did every day. Their life or
death would be determined in a matter of minutes.
At that moment SS Frederick Gaulich
entered the area. The prisoner Leitman immediately asked him to come to the
newly built barrack because of some problem with the bunks. The moment Gaulich
entered the barrack his fate was sealed; he was killed with an ax.
The first dead German was discovered.
Returning from Chelm, SS Bauer, drove to the garment warehouse with two
prisoners, Jakub Biskubicz and David. While unloading cases of vodka from the
truck, one guard looked into the office and noticed a dead German.
Jakub Biskubicz describes how this
discovery initiated the third phase of the revolt:
“A Ukrainian came running and
called to Bauer, ‘A German is dead!’ Bauer did not immediately understand what
he meant. But David also who heard him, started to run at the direction of
Lager I. Bauer ran after him and shot at him twice. I remained alone,”
Sasha heard the gunfire and
understand that something bad had happened. On Sashes orders, Pozycid blew his
whistle for roll call. Although it was fifteen minutes early, the Kapo’s
authority was never disputed and the prisoners began to gather.
Now the news spread like a wildfire.
Some Jews ware returning to their barracks where they pulled out their white
prayer shawls from their hiding places and came out assembling new the kitchen
reciting “Caddish”. Prayed for the dead — for themselves.
Sashe jumping up on a table he made
a short speech in Russian, his native language. His voice was clear and loud so
that everybody could hear, but also composed and slow. He told the prisoners
that most of the Germans in the camp had been killed. There was no turning
back. A terrible war was ravaging the world and each prisoner was part of that
struggle. He promised that dead or alive, they would be avenged, and so would
the tragedy of all humanity. He repeated twice that those prisoners who, by
some miracle survive, should forever be a witness to this crime. He ended with
a call: “Forward Comrades! Death for the fascist!!!”
The prisoners from various countries
and speaking diverse languages, understood. From the mist of the assembled Jews
a single, strange and impatient voice was heard: “FORWARD! HURRAH! HURRAH!”
In a flash, the entire camp burst with the defiant call.
Tom Blatt recounted: The
Remaining Germans - Bauer Richter, Frenzel, Wencland and some guards with machine
guns, who had initially been in shock now effectively blocked the main gate.
People were killed and the front line Jews mostly unarmed fell back, then a new
wave of determined fighters pushed again forward towards in a suicidal thrust.
Someone was trying to cut an opening
in the fence with a shovel. Within minutes, more Jews arrived. Not waiting in
line to go through the opening under the hail of fire, they climbed the fence.
Though we had planned to touch the mines off with bricks and wood we did not do
it. We couldn’t wait; we preferred sudden death to a moment more in that hell
Corpses were everywhere. The noise
of rifles, exploding mines, grenades and the chatter of machine guns assaulted
the ears. The Nazis shot from a distance while in our hands were only primitive
knives and hatchets.
We ran through the exploded mine field holes, jumped over a single wire
marking the end of the mine fields, and we were outside the camp. Now to make
it to the woods ahead of us. It was so close. I fell several times, each time
thinking I was hit. And each time I got up and ran further... 100 yards...50
yards... 20 more yards... and the forest at last. Behind us - blood and ashes. In the grayness of the approaching evening, the
towers’ machine guns shot their last victims.