by Yitzhak Arad
In Sobibor, as in Treblinka, it was a sleepless night for the prisoners who knew what was going to happen the next day.
On October 13, the day that had been set for the uprising, a group of SS men from the Ossowa labor camp came to Sobibor. The reason for their visit was unknown, but their arrival changed the whole situation. It strengthened the SS force in the camp and raised the question of whether the SS men from the camp staff would be at their usual working places or would respond to the invitations to the workshops and stores where, according to the plan, they were to be liquidated. When at noontime the SS men from Ossowa had not yet left the camp, the Underground leadership decided to postpone the uprising, and in the late afternoon, when the SS men from Ossowa did finally leave, it was too late to rescind the postponement. That evening the Underground leadership met again and decided that the uprising would be carried out the following day, according to the existing plan.10
As he closed the last meeting of the Underground Committee, Pechersky said:
Friends, you should remember that we cannot hope for any outside help. The front line is still far away, somewhere in the area of Kiev. We have no contact with the partisans. Therefore we can rely only on our own strength.11
During the night the knives and small hatchets that had been prepared and especially sharpened in the smithy were distributed to members of the battle teams. There was a hidden tension among those who were privy to the secret of the uprising. In spite of Pechersky’s warning not to reveal anything to the prisoners and even to Underground members that were not assigned to the killing operation, the information leaked out to a circle of prisoners during the late evening and night. Some of those who knew about the plan warned their relatives and close friends to be ready for escape the next day. This information cause excitement, fear, and hope. Ada Lichtmen described the talks and feelings of a group of women late that evening:
When it became known to our small group that the next day, October 14, the uprising would finally happen, it caused excitement and nervousness among us. Esther Grinbaum, a very sentimental and intelligent young woman, wiped away her tears and said: “It’s not yet the time for an uprising. Tomorrow none of us will be alive. Everything will remain as it was—the barracks, the sun will rise and set, the flowers will bloom and wilt, but we will be no more.” Her closest friend, Helka Lubartowska, a beautiful dark-eyed brunette, tried to encourage her: “There is no other way. Nobody knows what the results will be, but one thing is sure, we will not be led to slaughter.” The little Ruzka interrupted the conversation: “What silly talk. What have we to lose—one day more of a life of suffering. Whatever will be, let it be.” Esther Turner approached the group and said enthusiastically, “Girls, at least something is going to happen. I have a feeling that everything will go smoothly and will succeed. . . .” Sala, a blond with blue eyes, who was always quiet, interfered: “Stop chattering like old women. We have to prepare ourselves, and that’s that.” It was wise advice. The talk stopped, but the whispers continued during the night. We made preparations for the escape. We could not fall asleep, and the night was a nightmare. Sala was singing quietly, sentimental songs; others were crying silently.12
Many did not sleep that night. The leaders of the Underground also could not fall sleep. Pechersky wrote:
That night I and Leitman did not sleep. Lying side by side on the wooden bank we discussed details of the uprising plan. We were thinking whom to send to Camp II. I remembered the face of Boris Tsibulsky while working in Camp IV when we heard the children’s scream [on their way to the gas chambers]. . . . I decided that he was the man to be sent there. As we knew him, his hands would not tremble in time of action. We also discussed different alternatives in case something unexpected would occur.13
But for the majority of the prisoners, and for the German and Ukrainian staff, who did not suspect anything about the imminent events, that night was a perfectly ordinary one.
40
October 14, 1943: The Uprising in Sobibor
October 14 was a clear, sunny autumn day. It began as any routine day—with the morning roll call and the prisoners dispersing to their workplaces. The atmosphere was tense, however. Many felt that something unusual was going on that day. A sharp eye would have noticed that some of the prisoners had put on their best clothes and boots. Those who were privy to the secret of the impending uprising removed money and valuables from their hiding places in the hope that this would increase their chances for survival once they were outside the camp. The Underground Committee even directed the members of the Underground to remove any valuables in the workshops or warehouses and distribute them among the trustworthy prisoners.1
Pechersky was at his command post in the carpentry workshop from the morning hours. Through the window he had a good view of the square in Camp I. With him was another prisoner of war, Semion Rosenfeld. The main group of about twenty Underground members, mainly prisoners of war, were working in the nearby barrack, under the command of Leitman, preparing wooden bunks. These prisoners had been selected by Pechersky, Leitman, and Yanek to carry out the liquidation of the SS men and the breakout from the camp. Among them were Boris Tsibulsky, Alexander Shubayev, and Arkady Vaispapir. Feldhendler, who was to command the action in Camp II, had taken up his position in the warehouse in that part of the camp from the morning hours. Communications between Pechersky and Feldhendler were handled by some young putzers who were able to move freely between Camps I and II. Yanek was in charge of coordinating the “invitations” of the SS men to the workshops in Camp I. According to the plan, this was scheduled between 16:00 and 16:30 hours.
At ten o’clock in the morning, at a short meeting of Pechersky, Yanek, and Leitman, Yanek informed the others that the SS men had been asked to the workshops. Untersturmführer Josef Niemann, the acting commander of the camp, was scheduled to come to the tailor workshop at four o’clock to be measured for a suit. At the same time, Oberscharführer Goettinger, the commander of Camp III, was to come to the shoemaker shop. Frenzel would be coming to the carpentry between 16:00 and 16:30 to check on a new cupboard. Other SS men were asked to come to the workshops at intervals of fifteen to thirty minutes later.
Alexander Pechersky, commander of the uprising in Sobibor.
Pechersky was satisfied, everything seemed to be under control. He asked Leitman to send him the commanders of the battle teams one by one so that he could brief them about their assignments.2 The first to arrive was Shubayev. Pechersky told him that at three o’clock he, together with another prisoner of war called Senia would go to the tailor shop, armed with axes. Their task was to kill the Germans who would come there. When Tsibulsky came, Pechersky explained to him that his task was the most important. He, together with two other prisoners of war, would be taken by Capo Pozyczka to Feldhendler in Camp II. They were to liquidate the Germans there. Pechersky stressed that Tsibulsky would be the first to start the whole operation. The first blow that he would inflict, the first murder of an SS man, would raise the prisoners’ spirits and symbolize the point of no return. Once the liquidation of the SS men began, only one way remained for the prisoners—to go ahead with the uprising and escape. The alternative was death in immediate reprisal for the killings. Tsibulsky assured Pechersky that he would carry out his assignment.
Arkady Vaispapir was next. Pechersky told him that he and Yehuda Lerner, a Polish Jew who had come to Sobibor with the Minsk transport, would take up a position inside the shoemaker shop. They had to eliminate the three SS men who had been asked to the workshop. Nachum Plotnicky and Alexey Vaitsen’s assignment was to command a group of Underground members at the head of the prisoners’ columns while they were marching from the evening roll call toward the gate at the last stage of the uprising. They also had to command the take-over of the SS arms store, distribute the captured weapons to the Underground members, and fight the camp guards until the unarmed prisoners could reach the forest. Only then would they, too, retreat to the forest. Two other prisoners of w
ar, Jefim Litwinov and Boris Tabarinsky, were put in charge of a battle team that was to cut the barbed-wire fence near the camp commander’s house, in case the escape through the gate would be impossible and prisoners would have to use this route from the camp.3
All the briefings were completed by noon. Zero-hour was approaching. Everything seemed to be ready.
In the afternoon there was an unexpected development. At two o’clock, Unterscharführer Walter Ryba came to Camp I and took Capo Pozyczka and three other prisoners and led them away. Ryba was armed with a submachine gun, which was peculiar because usually the SS men carried only pistols. This raised Pechersky’s suspicion that the Germans suspected that something was going on in the camp. He connected this with Frenzel’s visit to the carpentry workshop at noontime, when his attention was drawn to Yanek’s new clothes. Frenzel mockingly asked Yanek whether he was preparing for a wedding. He left without asking further questions. The fact that Pozyczka was taken away also endangered an important part of the uprising plan. It was he that had to take Tsibulsky’s battle team to Camp II. Extremely disturbed about the whole matter, Pechersky asked Yanek to find out where Pozyczka had been taken. Pechersky passed an hour of nerve-wracking tension until Capo Czepik came and informed him that Pozyczka and the other prisoners with him had been taken to Camp IV to pile up wood. Since Ryba was not accompanied by a Ukrainian guard, he had taken a submachine gun. This calmed Pechersky’s suspicions, but the problem of who would take Tsibulsky’s team to Camp II remained.
Pechersky asked Czepik to take Tsibulsky and his men to Camp II. Czepik answered that he was not authorized to leave Camp I, and proposed that the uprising be postponed until the next day, when Pozyczka would return to his usual post. Pechersky rejected this proposal; things had already gone too far and any delay would gravely endanger the entire plan. Too many prisoners already knew about the planned uprising and about its leaders, and it could leak out to the German camp authorities at any moment. Pechersky insisted on carrying out the plan and ordered Czepik to take Tsibulsky and his men to Camp II using any excuse he could muster. At twenty past three, Czepik entered the barrack where Leitman was working and took Tsibulsky and two other men with him to Camp II.4 Upon their arrival in the warehouse in Camp II, Feldhendler briefed them and gave his final directions.
The quiet liquidation of the SS staff in the camp started around 15:30. There are many contradictions in the testimonies about who killed whom, as well as about the sites and sequence of the liquidation action. The four SS men who usually worked in Camp II had to be liquidated between 15:30 and 16:00. Feldhendler, who was in charge of the operation in Camp II, had based his plan on the greed of the SS men for goods in the warehouse where the property of the victims was sorted and prepared for transport. The SS men frequently visited these storerooms and selected clothes and valuables for themselves or for their families. They asked prisoners who worked there to find them special items and to call them when something of value turned up.
According to Feldhendler’s plan, Tsibulsky and his team would take up their hidden positions inside the storeroom and then the SS men would be invited, one by one, by one of the putzers to try on a new leather coat.
The first SS man invited into the storeroom was Unterscharführer Josef Wulf. He did not suspect a thing. When he entered the storeroom, everything looked normal. There were some prisoners piling the clothes in bins. One of them approached Wulf with a coat, another prisoner stood behind him to help him into it. At that moment, Tsibulsky and another prisoner of war stepped out of their hiding place behind a bin and cracked Wulf’s head with their axes. Wulf fell without a sound. The dead body was dragged into a bin and covered with clothes. The blood on the floor was covered with sand. Wulf’s pistol was taken by Tsibulsky.
The die was cast, the first SS man had been killed—the Underground had crossed the point of no return. The prisoners in the barrack who were not members of the Underground only then became aware of what was happening. To prevent any leaks about the killing, Feldhendler forbade any of the prisoners to leave the barrack. An Underground member was posted as guard at the entrance to the warehouse.5
Another prisoner, Tovia Blatt, who knew about the uprising, was sent to guard the entrance gate to Camp II. That gate was usually guarded by prisoners, whose duty it was to prevent free movement of other prisoners and removal of clothes and other goods from the warehouse to Camp I. That afternoon a Dutch Jew was guarding the gate. It was Blatt’s duty to ensure that this Dutch Jew would not find out what was going on in the nearby storeroom and sound an alarm.
A few minutes after Wulf’s death, Scharführer Kurt Beckman, who was in charge of the camp office located in the administration building in Camp II, passed close to the warehouse. A young putzer approached him and asked whether he wanted a new leather jacket that seemed to be made just for him. He was asked to come to the warehouse to try it on. For a moment the SS man seemed to hesitate. He started to walk in the direction of the storeroom, but then suddenly turned and walked to his office.6
Feldhendler sent the putzer Drescher, who could move freely between Camp I and Camp II, to report to Pechersky. Drescher came to the carpentry workshop and told Pechersky about the killing of Wulf and the unsuccessful attempt with Beckman. The time was close to four o’clock, and Pechersky had waited for this report before starting the action in Camp I. He told Drescher to go back and tell Feldhendler to handle Beckman as he saw fit and wished him success.7
The operation in Camp I started as planned at four o’clock. Exactly at that time the deputy commander of the camp, Untersturmführer Niemann, rode his mare into Camp I and reined up in front of the bakery. He dismounted, left the horse to one of the prisoners, and entered the tailor shop. There Josef, the head of the tailor shop and a member of the Underground Committee, brought him his new uniform and began to take the fitting. At that moment, Shubayev approached from behind and hit Niemann on the head with an axe. Niemann died on the spot. His body was dragged into the back room and stuffed under a bunk, and the bloodstains on the floor were wiped away and covered. The presence of Niemann’s horse close to the tailor shop for longer than the time needed for a uniform measurement could arouse suspicion, so one of the Underground members took it to the stables.8
Shubayev came running to the carpentry and handed over Niemann’s pistol to Pechersky. They embraced and kissed each other. Pechersky thanked him and said, “Even if someone would want to turn back, it would be impossible for him.” Shubayev returned to the tailor shop, where other SS men were scheduled to arrive.9
After Shubayev’s departure, Pechersky’s girlfriend Luka came to the carpentry workshop. Pechersky told her what was happening, to be ready for escape within half an hour, and to change into men’s clothes. Although she had been very close to Pechersky, he had never revealed to her the preparations until that very last minute. Luka was surprised about the uprising and expressed her fears for the outcome. She embraced Pechersky, burst into tears, and left. After a short time, she returned dressed in men’s clothes.10
The liquidation of the SS men was gaining momentum. Oberscharführer Goettinger, who was in charge of Camp III, came into the shoemaker’s shop. Jakub, the head of the shop and a member of the Underground Committee, handed him a pair of boots and asked him to try them on. Goettinger asked Jakub to prepare a pair of slippers for his wife which he would take with him when he left for leave to Germany within the next five days. While the conversation was going on, Arkady Vaispapir approached from behind and smashed Goettinger’s head with an axe.11
The next one to be killed in the tailor shop was Scharführer Greischutz, the commander of the Ukrainian guard in the entire camp. Even though he was an SS man, he used the Ukrainian tailor shop, where he got high priority from the Jewish tailors there. Yehuda Lerner testified:
My assignment was to liquidate Scharführer Greischutz, who was in charge of the Ukrainian guard. I was happy for the opportunity given to me to kill a German. We had prepared axe
s, which we had sharpened in the smithy. We took up our position an hour earlier. At four o’clock we were sitting in the rooms and waited. According to the plan the first one to arrive was Niemann. He came in time and entered the room where the tailors working for the Germans were sitting. . . . Five minutes later the German entered that I and my friend awaited. He said that he hoped his winter overcoat was ready. The tailor brought the coat and started to fit it on him. It turned out that the German was closer to me than to my friend. I was sitting and sewing a button on a coat for a Ukrainian and the axe was between my legs. I got up, keeping the coat over the axe, approached the SS man from behind and split his head. . . . We put the body beneath the table the tailors were working at.12
Shortly afterward, the Ukrainian Klat was killed.13 In Camp II, the action continued. Two more SS men came into the warehouse and were killed there. One of them was Steubel.14 In this part of the camp, only Scharführer Beckman, who was in his office in the forester’s house, still remained. Time was running out; it was close to roll call. Feldhendler, decided that they could wait no longer. If Beckman would not come to the warehouse, he had to be killed in his own office. Capo Pozyczka’s younger brother and two other Underground members were sent by Feldhendler to carry out this mission. The young Pozyczka knocked on the office door and asked Beckman’s permission to enter to discuss some problem that had come up in the warehouse. Beckman, who knew Pozyczka, told him to enter. He was quite surprised to find that, in addition to Pozyczka, two more Jews entered the room. But it was too late. They caught him and stabbed him to death with daggers. Beckman’s body remained behind the desk, as there was no time to hide it.15