The Escape from Sobibor Essay Example

The Escape from Sobibor Essay During the Holocaust, there were many concentration and death camps. Some were used for labor, others for the sole purpose of eliminating the Jews. Some of the death camps were very well know like Auschwitz. Others were very small but were there for the same purpose. Sobibor was a very small death camp outside of the small town of Sobibor, in Poland. Nothing was very special about this camp; It was small, the living conditions were terrible, a lot of people were infected with disease, some people worked, most people died. It was a typical death camp. The only difference was that the Jews in this camp led a revolt, and won. Using the help of Russian POWs and good team work, they were able to escape the inevitable death that awaited them. I believe that the escape from Sobibor Death Camp was only possible do to excellent team work, careful planning, communication, cooperation, and trust. From the time of its creation in June of 1942 to the time of the revolt on October 14, 1943, Sobibor was responsible for the deaths of over 260,000 Jews (not to mention gypsies, POWs, and other inferior races). If you were sent to Sobibor, rest-assure you were going to die unless you had some sort of working skill which was essential to the Germans needs. Jewish prisoners were brought to Sobibor on large cargo trains. They would pull up to the stations to the sounds of symphony orchestras playing. Some times Jews were brought to Sobibor in luxury trains so that they wouldnt panic while being transported to the camp. These two things were done to fool the Jews into thinking that nothing bad was going to happen to them. None of the Jews had a clue as to what it going to happen to them. The Jews would exit the trains and all of their belongings would be stripped away from them. Families were torn apart and forced into lines of women and men. The SS officers would walk up and down the rows of people asking if anyone had different working skills. Those people were taken separately into the main grounds of the camp and were immediately put to work. The people not taken to work were immediately gassed and cremated. No one that worked in the camp realized what the camp was really for. They believed it was a labor camp and when they were put t o work, they thought that the rest of their family was put to work in another part of the camp. In actuality, the workers family members who did not ask for jobs were probably already dead and cremated. We will write a custom essay sample on The Escape from Sobibor specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Escape from Sobibor specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Escape from Sobibor specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The thought of a mass revolt was barely even mentioned in between the prisoners until the Russian POWs arrived. Alexander Petjerski, who was renamed Sasha by the Jews, was the leader of these 70 soldiers. He was a man of great pride who one day at Sobibor he was challenged by an SS to complete a task so as to not be whipped; when he won, he refused two prizes that the SS offered. All POWs sent to death camps were usually killed as soon as they were sent there. The only reason these 70 men were still alive was there was a paper work botch up and they were sent to do labor. About 120 other men from their group were sent to death, though for some reason, 70 were not. When they first arrived, Sasha had already began going over an escape route in his head and was already making plans. There was one attempt at an escape with the digging of a underground tunnel. This was ruined when a large rain fall caused the tunnel to collapse. He hadnt planned on telling the Jews about his plan because he didnt think that they could be trusted. He had no idea that there was already plans for a mass escape that was being put together by a very small group of Jewish prisoners lead by Leon Felhendler. But before the Jews could start working with the POWs, they had to check up on them to make sure they could be trusted and to see if they were willing to cooperate. After about three weeks, the Jews believed that they could trust the POWs, so Felhendler and Sasha exchanged ideas about the plans that they had about the escape. This trust they had for each other became stronger when they all realized what was happening to the people who werent sent to work. This trust ne eded to be with everyone involved in organizing the revolt because they needed to keep it secret so that word about the revolt isnt accidentally heard by an SS. As the day of the mass revolt moved near, people were becoming more scared of what was going to happen. Some people were afraid that they wouldnt succeed and all of them would be killed because of their attempt to escape. It is not yet time for the 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. Said Ester Grinbaum, who was one of the very few women informed about the revolt. Her best friend, Helka Lubartowska, who was in the same barracks with Ester tried to comfort her, There is no other way. Nobody knows what the results will be but one thing is for sure, we will not be led to slaughter. All of the people stuck by each other and gave each other support. Weapons were made and carefully handed to other people. Plans were carefully laid out. The day of escape from Sobibor was upon all of the prisoners of the camp. The original planned date for the revolt was for October 14, 1943. One teenager who was a prisoner at the camp realized only 3 hours before the killings were going to start that another small group of SS had arrived at the camp. For this, the revolt would have to be postponed because there would be too many armed guards and the Jews would all surely perish. The revolt was postponed for the next day. The Jews didnt get down on themselves because they knew that it only meant one more day until freedom. On the day of the revolt, the plans were done and ready to be executed (no pun intended). The plan was to kill as many of the SS as possible so the revolt would be much easier because of less armed defenses. This would have been a extremely hard plan accept for the fact that the Jews did have the resources to make weapons. In the morning before the revolt, while prisoners were off doing their work, they collected anything that could be used as a weapon. One boy while working in the storage warehouse, put guns and ammo clips into a tube case that would usually be used for carrying large rolled up papers. All equipment was brought to Sasha and Felhendler. From there, they distributed the weapons strategically to people that worked in different parts of the camp so that the weaponry would be spread evenly. Prisoners working in the silver and goldsmith shops made daggers and axes and these were given out evenly to all of the prisoners who were part of the planning. Now that the weapons w ere ready and in place, the time for the killing was upon them. Sasha, Felhendler, and a very small group of other prisoners had come up with plans to kill the SS officers one by one. The plan was to lore the SS into different indoor areas and kill them with non-projectile weapons such as knifes and axes. The bodies would have to be carefully hidden and all blood would have to be cleaned so as not to leave a sign of a struggle. The killing of most of the SS was planned out because the Jews knew where these officers were going to be at certain times of the day. Some SS were going to be in certain buildings because they had a Jew making them a coat or making them a special pair of boots. Sasha and Felhendler made sure to ask anyone working in the shops if they were doing any special jobs for SS. When they said they were, they were given the job of killing and disposing of that specific SS officer. Some officers who were killed were not part of the original plan. They went in to different shops where other SS had to be killed so the Jews killed them too. Each time an SS was killed, children prisoners would run to where ever Sasha was and tell him. By the time of the actual revolt, 11 of the 17 SS officers had been killed completely unnoticed. When it came time for the actual revolt, the prisoners were ecstatic. By now, they had all been told what was going to happen and for the most part, they thought they had a pretty good chance of pulling it off. At about the middle of the day, the prisoners all assembled in the main yard for the daily head count. Without warning, Felhendler ran out of line and yelled, Our day has come. Most of the Germans are dead. Lets die with honor. Remember, if anyone survives, he must tell the world what has happened here. With that, the prisoners all screamed Hurrah, and the great escape from Sobibor began. Now it was every man for himself. The people who took part in the planning of the revolt stayed in the main part of the camp trying to fight back the Germans as much as they could using guns and other weapons. One group of men stayed side by side shooting none stop until all three of them were dead. It was that kind of comradeship that was a main asset to this mass revolt. As the Jews ran through the fields towards the forests, they didnt know that it was a mine field. When mines were stepped on, limbs and life was lost. Jews would pick up fallen brethren and run towards the forest to freedom. When they got to the forest, they all stuck together in small groups until they could find food and shelter. I believe that the use of excellent team work, good communication, careful planning, cooperation, and trust were the main reasons the revolt at Sobibor was successful. Team work was shown when Jews worked in pairs to kill the SS quickly and quietly. Good communication was shown when the word of the killings got around the camp very quickly. Careful planning was obviously shown because the Jews were able to kill 11 people in one morning totally unnoticed. When Sasha and Felhendler made plans for different aspects about the revolt, no one really opposed the two men because they knew they were wise and knew what they were talking about. People cooperated to the fullest extent and it paid off in the end. The aspect of trust is most important because without trust, none of the other aspects of good team work are possible.