Sigmund Sobolewski

Sigmund Sobolewski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈɕiɡmunt sɔbɔˈlɛfskʲi]) (born May 11, 1923)[1] is a Polish Catholic who was the 88th prisoner to enter Auschwitz on the very first transport to the concentration camp on June 14, 1940, and remained a prisoner for four and a half years during World War II. Now residing in Canada, he is an opponent of Holocaust denial and is notable for having confronted modern neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers.

Auschwitz, 1940-44

Sobolewski, the son of the mayor of a small Polish town, who was also an officer in the Polish army, was detained at Auschwitz at the age of 17 as a result of the anti-Nazi activities of his father.[2] Fluent in German, Sobolewski was pressed into service as a translator.

"I survived also because I was young," said Sobolewski. "I didn't realize the seriousness of what was going on. Most of the people who survived were simple people; workers, peasants from Polish villages who couldn't read and write, but who were used to the hard work. Lawyers, doctors, technicians, university graduates: many of them after three or four weeks in Auschwitz had committed suicide because they realized their chances of surviving were very, very slim."[3]

He is the sole surviving witness of the October 7, 1944 revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau, when a group of Jewish prisoners blew up Crematorium Number 4 and attempted to escape. Sobolewski was on the fire brigade and was ordered to put out the fire. He witnessed the execution of 450 Jewish Sonderkommandos in retaliation.[4]

In a 1999 interview, he said, "I survived only to live with the nagging question, 'What distinguished me from [the Jews]?'"[5]

Holocaust activism

Sobolewski (who was also known in Canada as Sigmund Sherwood or Sigmund Sherwood-Sobolewski) traveled the world following the war and settled in Canada in 1949.[6] In 1967, he was engaged as an activist opposed to neo-Nazism. While living in Toronto, he was among the demonstrators at an event attended by 6,000 people at the Toronto Coliseum to "denounce the rise of neo-Nazi forces in Germany."[7] He went on a 7,000-mile trip across Europe to demand that West Germany compensate members of his Former Prisoners Association, all of whom had been in Nazi camps.[8] He also initiated his activity protesting against neo-Nazism by donning a facsimile of his Auschwitz prison uniform and picketing the appearance of a German neo-Nazi leader on Canadian television.

In 1983, while a hotel owner in Fort Macleod, Alberta, he offered to pay for a trip to Auschwitz for Jim Keegstra, the Alberta teacher who taught the myth of a Jewish world-conspiracy and was a Holocaust denier. Keegstra declined the offer.[9] In 1989, then living in Fort Assiniboine, Alberta, he organized the first-ever Remembrance Service at Edmonton's Holy Rosary Polish Catholic Church attended by local Jewish representatives. He told a reporter after that program that while it was bad to be a Catholic in Auschwitz, "to be a Jew there was hopeless," and that he was concerned that the "Nazi crimes against humanity will be forgotten and swept under the carpet." He noted that he had advertised in a local newspaper for an assistant to help him with his memoirs, and received 43 responses. Only four of the respondents, he said, had heard of Auschwitz.[10]

In 1990, he retraced the route he travelled unwillingly 50 years earlier from Tarnów to Auschwitz-Birkenau to campaign for the creation of four "meditation gardens" at that death camp.[11] That same year, he organized a picket of Aryan Fest, a neo-Nazi festival organized by Terry Long in Alberta.[12] In 1991, he was among those in Chicago to accuse Polish Cardinal Józef Glemp, during his trip there, of being insensitive to Holocaust survivors.[13]

Later life

Sobolewski works as a realtor in Alberta, and also travels the world lecturing audiences on his experiences in Auschwitz and warning against Holocaust denial,[3] including a speaking engagement as recently as 2009 to high school students in Alabama.[14]

His life is the subject of the biography Prisoner 88: The Man in Stripes by Rabbi Roy Tanenbaum.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Staff Writer (10 May 2011). "Auschwitz Prisoner 88 celebrates 88th birthday". MACLEOD GAZETTE. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Magan Crane, "A prisoner in World War II," The Capital, April 13, 1999.
  3. 1 2 Andrew Tomlison, "Living through the Holocaust: One concentration camp survivor remembers Auschwitz", Gauntlet, November 1, 2001.
  4. ↑ "The only organized revolt at Auschwitz: The sole surviving witness marks the 50th anniversary of the historical rebellion." CBC News, October 6, 1994 (audio).
  5. ↑ Ramon Gonzalez, "Auschwitz survivor tells his story", Western Catholic Reporter, April 26, 1999.
  6. ↑ "Toronto businessman pilgrim to Auschwitz," Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, April 14, 1967, p. 37.
  7. ↑ Peter Lust, "Rally in Toronto Flails Nazi Revival," Canadian Jewish Chronicle Review, February 3, 1967.
  8. ↑ "Auschwitz Group Offered 'Bribe'," Calgary Herald, April 13, 1967, p. 2.
  9. ↑ "Keegstra offered trip to Auschwitz," Calgary Herald, May 17, 1983, p. E10.
  10. ↑ Carol Ritch, "Catholics, Jews Recall Auschwitz Anniversary," The Jewish Star (Edmonton Edition), February 1989, Vol. IX, p. 1.
  11. ↑ Carol Ritch, "'Oasis' Project at Auschwitz Moves Slowly," The Jewish Star (Edmonton Edition), March 1990, Vol. X, p. 1.
  12. ↑ "Auschwitz: Protesting hatred. An Auschwitz survivor comes face to face with neo-Nazis in rural Alberta." CBC News, September 9, 1990 (audio).
  13. ↑ Scott Fornek, "Prayer, pride, protest mark Glemp's visit," Chicago Sun-Times, September 30, 1991.
  14. ↑ Andy Powell, "Survivor tells students about Auschwitz," The Gadsden Times, March 31, 2009.
  15. ↑ Prisoner 88: The Man In Stripes book listing at University of Calgary Press (accessed 2012-05-18).
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