One of the greatest instances of Jewish resistance occurred in one of the seven major extermination camps, Sobibor. “The Sobibor death camp was one of Nazis’ best kept secrets” (Rosenberg Screen 1). The secrecy was so successful and powerful that its victims and survivors were being disbelieved and forgotten. But Sobibor did exist and Jewish revolts against Nazis did occur. The Sobibor death camp is located in a small isolated village called Sobibor with close access to railways. Partisans in Sobibor resisted individually and in groups. The partisan groups that revolted against the Nazis were extremely more successful than individual attacks. “The individual attacks and the individual escapes lacked the zest of defiance and craving for life that others, looking back in time, expect and want to see” (Rosenberg Screen 1). A major Jewish partisan group was formed by the influence of two men, Leon Feldhendler and Lieutenant Alexander Pechorsky. When both of these men met each other, many of the prisoners in Sobibor started to have hope and joined this partisan group to liberate themselves. After this partisan group was formed, plans were made for October 13, 1943, which is the date one of the greatest Jewish revolts.
This Sobibor partisan group proves that the Jews were not cowards and some did fight for themselves, their family, and all the rest of the Jews. These Jewish rebellions had a different personality and morality than other Jews who did not rebel. These characteristics add to the explanation of there desire to rebel. Stories of resistance against the Nazis are not well known, especially this instance with the Sobibor resistance. There are many reasons why this is the case but here we will attempt to change that around and give these partisans the respect they deserve.
The story all starts when “Leon Feldhendler, a man in his early thirties who had been chairman of the Jewish Council in Zolkiew, organized an Underground organization at Sobibor to plan an escape” (Arad Screen 1). During September 1943, a group of Soviet Jewish prisoners of war were brought to Sobibor from Minsk. One was a tall, thirty-five years old Red Army lieutenant named Alexander "Sasha" Pechorsky. “Pechorsky grabbed Feldhendler’s attention and the Underground recruited him into its ranks and put him in command, with Feldhendler as his deputy” (Arad Screen 1). The number of the conspirators involved with the Underground was kept to a minimum with less than 10% of the total 550 prisoners in Sobibor.
The next task for the Underground was to develop a plan of attack to revolt against the Nazis. “The plan called for killing of as many Germans and Ukrainians as possible within one hour, and then ignite a total revolt by the rest of the by now uninformed prisoners. The escape plan was divided into three phases:
Phase I - prepare the assault teams [3:30-4:00 P.M.]
Phase II - eliminate the Nazis noiselessly [4:00-5:00 P.M.]
Phase III - mobilization of all prisoners for an open revolt and mass escape [5:30 P.M]” (Blatt Screen 2).
In the first phase, members of the Underground who had access to the warehouses and sorting sheds were told to remove and to deliver knives and small axes to the command posts. Next, six combat groups, with three people in each, were placed for the preparation for the secret killing of the Nazis. In the second phase, the Germans were to be lured, trapped, and executed in selected places. The youthful prisoners had a large responsibility in this revolt because the Nazis would not over examine or inspect them. They had an advantage over other older prisoners. They stole weapons and were message carriers, luring the Nazis to the traps. Another large task that was done during Phase II was to cut the telephone wires at both ends and the middle to prevent Nazis calling other camps for help or backup. Next was the elimination of all the Nazis. The Nazis would be quietly killed mainly with the use of the whips. If everything went well to that point, Kapo Pozycki would blow a whistle for the regular roll call. The Jews would then form in formation toward the main gate. “The guards would think it was a German order for some work assignment; this would allow the prisoners to come as close as possible to the main gate without arousing suspicion” (Blatt Screen 2). The gate would then be broken down and the actual revolt would begin.
On October 14, 1943, Feldhendler and Pechorsky’s plan was actually happening. With some minor unexpected incidents, the plan moved on and the news about the revolt spread to the rest of the prisoners who had no idea on what was happening. Many of the Jews who just realized what was happening grabbed their prayer books and starting reciting the prayer for the dead, “Kaddish.” To give courage to all the prisoners for the main revolt, Pechorsky told them that most of the Germans have already been killed and there is no turning back. He yelled, “Forward Comrades! Death for the fascist!!!" (Blatt Screen 2). Even though the prisoners spoke many different languages, all understood and burst with Pechorsky’s rebellious speech.
Guards with machine guns were blocking the main gate. A huge wave of determined fighters pushed forward towards firing machine guns. While some prisoners were taking out the guards, someone was trying to cut an opening in the fence with a shovel. Then a large group of Jews arrived and instead of waiting in line to go through the opening, they climbed the fence with the extreme urge to escape. They ran through the mine field with no worries of death; they have finally seen the end of the tunnel and the end of their sacrifice. “The plan was to use bricks and wood to set off the mines before crossing the field but the prisoners could not wait to escape; they preferred sudden death to a moment more in that hell” (Blatt Screen 2).
Approximately 300 prisoners made it to the forests, which is right after the mine field. The 300 prisoners split into smaller groups and Pechorsky’s group consisted of 50 prisoners. On October 17, Pechorsky chose several men, which included most of the men with rifles. He told the rest of the group that he and the others he had chosen were going to do some investigating. Pechorsky promised that he will come back to the rest of the group but he never did. After waiting for a long time, the group realized that Pechorsky was not going to come back, thus they split into even smaller groups and headed off in different directions. “Within four days of the escape, 100 of the 300 escapees were caught. The remaining 200 continued to flee and hide. Only 50 to 70 survived the war” (20th Century History). Though this number is small, it is still much larger than if the prisoners had not revolted, for surely, the entire camp population would have been exterminated by the Nazis. Also, “Nine S.S. men were murdered, one S.S. man missing, and two foreign guards shot to death” (Pais 32).
It can be easily seen from this example that many Jewish prisoners had the courage and the motivation to drive against the Nazis. Some might think that these rebellions were not successful because only a few prisoners actually escaped and survived. But, if that small number of survivors did not rebel, they would have died otherwise. These rebellions and partisans also wanted to make a statement to the rest of the prisoners in other camps and to the generations after the Holocaust. These partisans, especially Pechorsky and Feldhendler, plan was not only to escape from the camp but also to encourage other prisoners in other death camps to rebel against the Nazis. They also wanted to show the community that there were cases when the Jews rebelled against the Nazis.
The current generation might be thinking why this courageous story is not well known. “Perhaps the least known of all is the Sobibor death camp, even though several hundred thousand Jews were killed there” (Pais 28). One reason why Sobibor catches much less public attention is because when the Russians reached the camp, they found no signs of survivors. In the fall of 1943, orders had come to destroy the camp without leaving any trace by planting saplings on the entire terrain. “It was as if the Final Solution had never taken place there. Sobibor was Himmler's best kept secret” (Pais 29). A second reason is that among the millions of pages of German documents, there are only three short documents referring to Sobibor. Finally, there are only a few survivors or Germans who could accurately tell what happened in Sobibor. “As a result of all three of these circumstances, only a small fraction of literature on camps is devoted to Sobibor” (Pais 29).
The last major issue to address is what made a Jewish partisan different than an ordinary prisoner. One of the Jewish partisans that were involved with Pechorsky and Feldhendler’s revolt is Yehuda Lerner. There is a lot to learn about Lerner in the interview with Claude Lanzmann. During the interview, Lerner states, “I would prefer to be shot or hanged rather than die of hunger; so I escaped several times” (Deplechin 132). Many of the prisoners did not have this same mentality that Lerner or other partisans had. Most of them would rather starve to death instead of being shot or hanged. Lanzmann then asks Lerner “Was it easy to escape?” Lerner replies, “A man who wants to live. A man who wants to live, for him nothing is difficult” (Deplechin 132). This response is so powerful that it shows how mentally powerful Lerner and other partisans actually were. Lerner escaped many times and was always recaptured by a German but his final time was a success. Also seen in the personalities of resistors is that they set their goals in historical terms by looking in the future. “Their urge was to achieve something that men who came later would always remember and respect” (Marrus 105). It is too bad that the men who rebelled against the Nazis at Sobibor are currently not receiving the appreciation and respect they deserve.
It is now easily seen that there were courageous Jews with brave personalities that made them heroes. They were not afraid to fight for who they are and rebel against what is wrong, the Nazis. These partisans were not any ordinary person. They had a lion’s heart and the strength of a bear. They were the prime being and they deserve their respect, along with the rest who died during the Holocaust. After reading this, hopefully no one will ever forget these courageous men who risked their life to escape from the tragic death camp, Sobibor.