List of survivors of Sobibór

This is a list of survivors of the Sobibór 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 Sobibór but selected there for forced labor in other camps. In contrast, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states that at least 167,000 people were murdered in the Sobibór extermination camp. The Dutch Sobibor Foundation lists a calculated total of 170,165 people and cites the Höfle Telegram among its sources while noting that other estimates range up to 300,000.[1][2]

Survivors among Sobibór's forced labourers

This list might be incomplete, but it is as complete as current records allow. There were 58 known Sobibór 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 Sobibór 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.

Male
Female
Name Birth Death Age Nationality Ethnicity Arrival Notes
Bahir, MosheMoshe Bahir[3][4] Jul 19, 1927 Nov 2002 75 Polish Jewish May 24, 1942 Witness at the Eichmann trial. Changed name from Moshe Szklarek.
Antonius Bardach May 16, 1909 Approx 1959 50 Polish Jewish Mar 30, 1943 [3]
Philip Bialowitz Nov 25, 1929 Alive Polish Jewish April 28, 1943 Brother of Symcha Bialowitz.[3][4]
Symcha Bialowitz Dec 6, 1912 Feb 2014 101 Polish Jewish Apr 28, 1943 Brother of Philip Bialowitz.[3][4]
Rachel Birnbaum 1926 Mar 2013 87 Polish Jewish Hid in the forest upon arriving at the camp.[5]
Jakob Biskubicz Mar 17, 1926 Mar 2002 75 or 76 Polish Jewish Jun 1942 Joined the Parczew partisans.[3][4]
Blatt, Thomas "Toivi"Thomas "Toivi" Blatt [3][6] Apr 15, 1927 October 31, 2015 88 Polish Jewish Apr 23, 1943 Escaped in revolt. Witness in post-war testimony against SS Staff Sergeant Karl Frenzel. Wrote Sobibor memoir From the Ashes of Sobibor and assisted with the writing of Escape from Sobibor.
Herschel Cukierman [3] Apr 15, 1893 July 1979 86 Polish Jewish May 1942 Father of Josef Cukierman.
Cukierman, JosefJosef Cukierman[3] May 26, 1930 Jun 15, 1963 33 Polish Jewish May 1942 Son of Herschel Cukierman
Josef Duniec Dec 21, 1912 Dec 1, 1965 52 Polish Jewish March 30, 1943 Died of a heart attack before he was expected to testify at the Sobibor trial.[3]
Leon Cymiel [4] Feb 20, 1924 1997 73 Polish Jewish Also spelled Szymiel. Testimony available at ushmm.org
Shlomo Elster [3] Dec 1, 1908 1992 83 Polish Jewish November 1942
Engel, ChaimChaim Engel[3][7] Jan 10, 1916 Jul 4, 2003 87 Polish Jewish Nov 6, 1942 Killed SS-Oberscharführer (Staff Sergeant) Rudolf Beckmann during revolt. Escaped with Selma Wijnberg-Engel and survived the rest of the war in hiding. The two later married.[8]
Engel-Wijnberg, SelmaSelma Engel-Wijnberg[3][7] May 15, 1922 Alive 93 Dutch Jewish April 9, 1943 Escaped with Chaim Engel during the revolt. They survived the rest of the war in hiding together. The two later married.[8]
Feldhendler, LeonLeon Feldhendler[3][4] 1910 Apr 6, 1945 34 or 35 Polish Jewish early 1943 One of the main organizers of the revolt. After fighting as a partisan, made his way back to Lublin, where he killed by local anti-Semites.
Freiberg, DovDov Freiberg[3][4] May 15, 1927 March 2008 80 Polish Jewish May 15, 1942 Witness at the Eichmann trial.
Catharina Gokkes [3][4][9] Sep 1, 1923 Sep 20, 1944 21 Dutch Jewish Apr 9, 1943 Escaped Sobibor and joined Parczew partisans; died before hostilities in the region ceased.[10][lower-alpha 1][12][13]
Herman Gerstenberg [3] Oct 8, 1909 Jun 8, 1987 77 Polish Jewish Mar 14, 1943 Changed his last name to Posner or Pozner.
Mordechai Goldfarb [3][4] Mar 15, 1920 Jun 8, 1984 64 Polish Jewish Nov 6, 1942 Joined the Parczew partisans.
Josef Herszman 1925 2005 80 Polish Jewish 1942 [3][4]
Moshe Hochman Polish Jewish [3][4]
Honigman, ZyndelZyndel Honigman[3] Apr 10, 1910 Jul 1989 79 Polish Jewish Nov 1942 Escaped from the camp, not as part of the camp-wide revolt. Joined the Parczew partisans.
Abram Kohn Jul 25, 1910 Jan 19, 1986 75 Polish Jewish May 1942 [3]
Josef Kopp 1944 or 1945 Polish Jewish 1942 Allegedly escaped by killing a Ukrainian guard on July 27, 1943 while on duties outside of the camp in the nearby village of Zlobek; did not survive World War II.[3]
Chaim Korenfeld May 15, 1923 Aug 13, 2002 79 Polish Jewish Apr 28, 1943 [3][4]
Powroznik, ChaimChaim Powroznik[4] 1911 unknown Polish Jewish Testimony available.[14][lower-alpha 2]
Chaim Leist Bet. 1906 & 1911 Oct 2005 Polish Jewish Apr 23, 1943 [3]
Lerer, SamuelSamuel Lerer[3][4] Oct 1, 1922 March 3, 2016 93 Polish Jewish May 1942 Identified gas chamber executioner Hermann Erich Bauer after the war in Berlin, leading to his arrest.
Lerner, JehudaJehuda Lerner[3][4][6] Jul 22, 1926 2007 81 years Polish Jewish Sep 1943 He and Red Army P.O.W. Arkady Moishejwicz Wajspapir killed two guards, SS-Oberscharführer Siegfried Graetschus and Volksdeutscher Ivan Klatt, with axe blows during the revolt. Joined the Parczew partisans.
Lichtman, AdaAda Lichtman Jan 1, 1915 unknown Polish Jewish Jun 1943 Joined the Parczew partisans. Witness at the Eichmann trial.[3][4]
Jitschak Lichtman Dec 10, 1908 1992 83 or 84 Polish Jewish May 15, 1942 Joined the Parczew partisans. Married Ada Lichtman (Fischer).[3][4]
Yefim Litwinowski Soviet Jewish Sep 22, 1943 Red Army soldier.[3]
Abraham Margulies Jan 25, 1921 1984 62 or 63 Polish Jewish late May 1942 Joined the Parczew partisans.[3]
Chaskiel Menche Jan 7, 1910 1984 73 or 74 Polish Jewish Jun 1942 [3]
Mojzesz Merenstein Jan 15, 1899 Dec 1985 86 Polish Jewish [4]
Zelda Metz May 1, 1925 1980 54 or 55 Polish Jewish Dec 20, 1942 Pretended to be Catholic upon escape.[3]
Pechersky, Alexander "Sasha"Alexander "Sasha" Pechersky[3][4] Feb 22, 1909 Jan 19, 1990 80 Ukrainian Jewish September 22, 1943 Chief organizer and leader of the revolt. Red Army soldier. Joined the Parczew partisans.
Nachum Platnitzky 1913 unknown Belorussian Jewish Surname also listed as Plotnikow; living in Pinsk, Belarus after the war.[4]
Shlomo Podchlebnik [3] Feb 15, 1907 Feb 1973 66 Polish Jewish Apr 28, 1943 He and Josef Kopp escaped by killing a Ukrainian guard on July 27, 1943 while on duties outside of the camp in the nearby village of Zlobek.
Gertrud Poppert–Schönborn June 29, 1914 c. Nov 30, 1943 29 German Jewish Gertrud "Luka" Poppert–Schönborn never seen following mass escape.[4][15][16]
Terner Raab, EstherEsther Terner Raab[3][4][17] Jun 11, 1922 April 13, 2015 92 Polish Jewish Dec 20, 1942 Née Terner, she became known as Esther Raab after her 1946 marriage to Irving Raab. She identified gas chamber executioner Erich Bauer after the war in Berlin, leading to his arrest.
Simjon Rosenfeld 1922 Alive Soviet Jewish Sep 22, 1943 Israel [3][4]
Rotenberg, AjzikAjzik Rotenberg[3] 1925 1994 69 Polish Jewish May 12, 1943 Joined the Parczew partisans. Murdered in 1994 in Israel by two Palestinian terrorists.
Serchuk, JosephJoseph Serchuk 1919 Nov 6, 1993 74 Polish Jewish Surname also spelled Serczuk.
David Serchuk 1948 Polish Jewish Surname also spelled Serczuk.
Alexander Shubayev 1945 Belorussian Jewish Red Army soldier. Killed deputy commandant Johann Niemann with an axe to his head. Joined the Parczew partisans; killed. Surname also spelled Szubajew.[3][18]
Stern, UrsulaUrsula Stern[3] Aug 28, 1926 1985 58 or 59 German Jewish Apr 9, 1943 Joined the Parczew partisans. Witness at Hagen trial. Changed name to Ilana Safran after the war.
Stanisław Szmajzner Mar 13, 1927 Mar 3, 1989 61 Polish Jewish May 12, 1942 Joined the Parczew partisans.[3][4]
Boris Tabarinsky 1917 unknown Belorussian Jewish Sep 22, 1943 [3][4]
Thomas, Kurt TichoKurt Ticho Thomas[3][4] Apr 11, 1914 Jun 8, 2009 95 Czech Jewish Nov 6, 1942 After the war, he brought charges against SS officers Hubert Gomerski and Johann Klier.
Israel (Shrulke) Trager Mar 5, 1906 Aug 1, 1969 63 Polish Jewish Mar 1943 [3]
Aleksej Waizen May 30, 1922 Alive Ukrainian Jewish autumn 1943 [3]
Wajspapir, Arkady MoishejwiczArkady Moishejwicz Wajspapir[3][6][18] 1921 Alive Russian Jewish Sep 22, 1943 He and Jehuda Lerner killed two guards with axe blows, SS-Oberscharführer Siegfried Graetschus and Volksdeutscher Ivan Klatt, during the revolt. Red Army soldier. Joined the Parczew partisans.
Wang, AbrahamAbraham Wang[3] Jan 2, 1921 1978 57 Polish Jewish Apr 23, 1943 Escaped on Jul 27, 1943, along with four other prisoners.
Hella Weiss Nov 25, 1925 Dec 1988 63 Polish Jewish Dec 20, 1942 Joined the Parczew partisans. Later joined the Red Army.[3][4]
Kalmen Wewerik Jun 25, 1906 unknown Polish Jewish Nov 1942 Joined partisans after the revolt.[3]
Regina Zielinsky Sep 2, 1924 Sep 2014 Polish Jewish Dec 20, 1942 [3]
Meier Ziss Nov 15, 1927 Alive Polish Jewish May 1942 [3][4]

Survivors among those selected at Sobibór 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 Sobibór.[10][lower-alpha 3]

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.[10]

On August 17, 1943, a survivor from Sabinov in Slovakia, who has remained anonymous, wrote a report in which he described his selection in Sobibór, 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 that a few additional skilled workers, technicians, blacksmiths and watchmakers were separated upon arrival in Sobibor, as well. 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.[10][lower-alpha 4]

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.[lower-alpha 5] 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.[lower-alpha 6] 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 murdered, as well. 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.[2][10][21][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]

Aftermath

With few exceptions the survivors lost immediate family and relatives who were murdered in the camp. They returned to their native towns and countries to find little comfort.[46][47][48] Several of the survivors almost immediately gave statements about their experiences. They have written about their personal experiences and published researched monographs on the history of the camp. These statements and publications continue to be used in historical research and were used in court cases against perpetrators. The survivors themselves also testified at trials such as the Sobibor Trial in Hagen and participated in the prosecution in the capacity of Nebenkläger, co-claimant, under the German criminal law system. A right of which descendants of people murdered in Sobibór also availed themselves in the 2009 trial of Trawniki Wachmann Ivan Demjanjuk.[49]

Victims of Sobibór

In contrast to this short lists of survivors, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states that at least 167,000 people were murdered in the Sobibór extermination camp. The Dutch Sobibor Foundation lists a calculated total of 170,165 people and cites the Höfle Telegram among its sources, while noting that other estimates range up to 300,000. For practical reasons it is not possible to list all the thousands of people murdered at the camp. The operatives of the Nazi regime not only robbed Jews of their earthly possessions and their lives but attempted to eradicate all traces of their existence as they engaged in the genocidal policies of the Final Solution.[1][2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ursula Stern, as cited in Jules Schelvis Vernietigingskamp Sobibor, page 337, statement November 8, 1965 (Hagen) StA.Do-XI'65-513, facsimile of the statement in NIOD 804, Inv. 18, p. 282ff.[11]
  2. ↑ The statement in French is available in PDF in NIOD Toegang 804, Inventaris 18, page 56ff.[11]
  3. ↑ A facsimile of Frischmann's Erfahrungsbericht can be found in NIOD Toegang 804, Inventaris 54, page 175.[19] A description of this transport, including a list of names of the deportees, can be found at Yad Vashem.[20]
  4. ↑ A German and English transcript of the statement is available in PDF in NIOD Toegang 804, Inventaris 54, page 148ff.[19]
  5. ↑ 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.[10][21][22][23]
  6. ↑ 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,[24] Auguste Berliner,[25] Flora Blok,[26] Hilde Beate Blumendal,[27] Marga Cohen,[28] Sophia Cohen,[29] Hester Fresco,[30] Klaartje Gompertz,[31] Fanny Landesmann,[32] Naatje Roodveldt-Moffie,[33] Lotje Stad,[34] Judith Swaab,[35] Annie Troostwijk-Hijmans,[36] Lena Verduin,[37] and Charlotte Zeehandelaar-Andriesse.[38]

References

  1. 1 2 Sobibor: Chronology at the USHMM
  2. 1 2 3 History Sobibor at the Dutch Sobibor Foundation.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Sobibor Interviews: Survivors of the revolt
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 TV film Escape from Sobibor (1987). 
  5. ↑ Rachel Brinbaum in the Holocaust Survivors and Victims of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
  6. 1 2 3 BBC History of World War II. Auschwitz; Inside the Nazi State. Part 4, Corruption.
  7. 1 2 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Selma Wijnberg
  8. 1 2 Ad van Liempt, Selma (2010)
  9. ↑ Catharina Gokkes in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jules Schelvis, Vernietigingskamp Sobibor (5th Ed. 2004), pages 76, 237, 257, 260, 342
  11. 1 2 NIOD Toegang 804, Inventaris 18
  12. ↑ Miriam Novitch, Sobibor: Martyrdom and Revolt (Paperback 1980), pages 86, 88
  13. ↑ Loe de Jong, The Kingdom of the Netherlands During World War II, Part 8b, page 883
  14. ↑ From Chelm to Sobibor . . . statement by Chaim Powroznik, in Chelm on January 10, 1944, referenced by USHMM
  15. ↑ Gertrud Poppert, née Schönborn in the German Federal Archives Memorial Book.
  16. ↑ Toivi Blatt interviews Sasha Pechersky about "Luka" in 1980 Retrieved on 2009-05-08
  17. ↑ Naedele, Walther F. (April 15, 2015). "Esther Raab, 92, Holocaust survivor". Philly.com. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  18. 1 2 Arad, Yitzhak. Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps. Indiana University Press. 1987.
  19. 1 2 NIOD Toegang 804, Inventaris 54
  20. ↑ Vienna to Sobibor train, June 14, 1942
  21. 1 2 Afwikkelingsbureau Concentratiekampen Sobibor (1946)
  22. ↑ Sobibor Interviews: Dutch Survivors.
  23. ↑ Memorial Center Camp Westerbork
  24. ↑ Henderiene den Arend-van der Reis in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  25. ↑ Auguste Berliner in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  26. ↑ Flora Blok in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  27. ↑ Hilde Beate Blumendal in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  28. ↑ Marga Cohen in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  29. ↑ Sophia Cohen in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  30. ↑ Hester Fresco in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  31. ↑ Klaartje Gompertz in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  32. ↑ Fanny Landesmann in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  33. ↑ Naatje Roodveldt-Moffie in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  34. ↑ Lotje Stad in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  35. ↑ Judith Swaab in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  36. ↑ Annie Troostwijk-Hijmans in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  37. ↑ Lena Verduin in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  38. ↑ Charlotte Zeehandelaar-Andriesse in Digital Monument to the Jewish Community in the Netherlands
  39. ↑ Elia Aron Cohen, De Negentien Treinen naar Sobibor
  40. ↑ Thomas Blatt, The Forgotten Revolt
  41. ↑ Jules Schelvis, De Transportlijsten
  42. ↑ Jules Schelvis, Binnen de Poorten
  43. ↑ Mirjam Blits, Auschwitz 13917
  44. ↑ Dutch Red Cross Sobibor (1947) (PDF)
  45. ↑ Onderzoek - Vernietigingskamp Sobibor NIOD Toegang 804
  46. ↑ Elie Aron Cohen,Human Behaviour in the Concentration Camp
  47. ↑ Martin Bossenbroek, De Meelstreep (2001)
  48. ↑ The Long Shadow of Sobibor
  49. ↑ Nebenklage Sobibor

External links

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