Sobibor Uprising Was a Major Success

Sobibor uprising was a major success because it forced the SS to destroy the camp immediately after the uprising thus putting an end to serial mass murder that took place there (after about 250,000 were murdered by gas in Sobibor). Most of the victims were from Poland, about 33,000 arrived from the Netherlands, and several thousand came from Germany.

The Sobibor uprising was a revolt of about 600 prisoners that occurred on October 14, 1943. It was the second uprising in a killing center by Jewish prisoners against following the revolt in Treblinka on August 2nd. Unlike the latter which was only partially successful, it was a major success (in Treblinka, the insurgents failed to destroy the death factory).

In the spring of 1943, when fewer Jewish transports arrived at the Sobibor camp, the prisoners realized that the camp’s liquidation was approaching, which meant their execution. Now they had nothing to lose – so they started planning a revolt. But they (wisely) decided to wait until the competent leaders arrived.

On September 23, 1943, a group of 80 Soviet POWs arrived at the camp, including Alexander Pechersky (a Jew), who was a lieutenant in the Red Army. He and his comrades had the necessary competencies for making the revolt a success.

The operation was to begin at 16:00, and the escape was planned for 17:00 near sunset on October 14th. The revolt began as planned; the rebels killed several SS guards… unfortunately, when SS mechanic Oberscharf;hrer Erich Bauer arrived in a truck and noticed a dead guard lying on the ground among the prisoners and immediately shot at the prisoners with his pistol.

Like in Treblinka, chaos erupted and about 600 prisoners escaped without coordination. Ukrainian guards panicked began firing from the watchtowers and the SS guard fired a machine gun at the prisoners.

In the desperate attempts of the escaping prisoners to overcome the wire fences and minefields, they were caught in the guards’ crossfire, as they were stopped by wire fences and stepped on mines. 365 inmates managed to escape from the camp, but only 200 reached the nearby forest.

Ultimately, 47 escapees survived the war (fewer than in Treblinka). The SS demolished the camp down to its foundations and levelled the area to cover up their crimes. In the place where the death factory stood, they established an innocuous-looking farm and planted a pine forest over the remnants of the killing center.