User:Botterweg14/sobibor revolt

Background
Some stuff summarizing sobibor

Uprising
On the afternoon of 14 October 1943, members of the Sobibor underground covertly killed most of the on-duty SS officers and then led roughly 300 prisoners to freedom. This revolt was one of three uprisings by Jewish prisoners in extermination camps, the others being those at Treblinka extermination camp on 2 August 1943 and at Auschwitz-Birkenau on 7 October 1944.

Lead up
In the summer of 1943, rumors began to circulate that Sobibor would soon cease operations. The prisoners understood that this would mean certain death for them all, since the final cohort of Bełżec prisoners had been gassed at Sobibor after dismantling their own camp. The Sobibor prisoners knew this since the Bełżec prisoners had sown messages into their clothing:

"We worked at Bełżec for one year and did not know where we would be sent next. They said it would be Germany… Now we are in Sobibór and know what to expect. Be aware that you will be killed also! Avenge us!”"

An escape committee formed in response to these rumors. Their leader was Leon Feldhendler, a former member of the judenrat in Żółkiewka. His job in the sorting barracks gave him access to additional food, sparing him from the hunger which robbed other workers of their mental acuity. However, the escape committee made little progress that summer. In light of previous betrayals and the ever-looming threat of collective punishment, they kept their discussions limited to roughly seven Polish Jews. This insularity severely limited their capacity to form a plan, since none of their members had the military or strategic experience necessary to carry out a mass escape. By late September, their discussions had stalled.

On September 22, the situation changed dramatically when twenty-some Jewish Red Army POWs arrived at Sobibor on a transport from the Minsk Ghetto and were selected for labor. Among them was Alexander Pechersky, a political commissar who would go on to lead the revolt. The members of the escape committee approached the newly arrived Russians with both excitement and caution. On one hand, the Russians had the expertise that would allow them to pull off an escape, but on the other hand, it wasn’t clear whether there was sufficient mutual trust.

Feldhendler introduced himself to Pechersky using the alias “Baruch” and invited him to share news from outside the camp at a meeting in the women's barracks. Feldhendler was shocked to discover Pechersky's limited ability to speak Yiddish, the common language of Eastern European Jews. However, the two were able to communicate in Russian, and Pechersky agreed to attend. At the meeting, Pechersky gave a speech and took questions while his friend Solomon Leitman translated into Yiddish. (Leitman was a Polish Jew who had befriended Pechersky in the Minsk Ghetto.) Members of the escape committee were in particular struck by Pechersky’s response to a question about whether Soviet partisans would liberate the camp: “If we want anything to happen, it will be up to us.”

Over the next few weeks, Pechersky met regularly with the escape committee. These meetings were held in the women’s barracks under the pretext of him having an affair with a woman known as "Luka". At first, Pechersky and Leitman discussed a plan to dig a tunnel from the carpenter’s workshop in Lager I, which was close to the perimeter fence. This idea was abandoned as too difficult. If the tunnel was too deep, it would hit the high water table and flood. Too shallow, and it would detonate one of the mines. Furthermore, it was agreed that the plan would need to give all of the prisoners a chance at escaping, and it was deemed impossible to get 600 people through a tunnel without being caught.

The ultimate idea for the revolt came to Pechersky while he was assigned to the forest brigade, chopping wood near Lager III. While working, he heard the sound of a child in the gas chamber screaming "Mama! Mama!". Overcome with his feeling of powerlessness and reminded of his own daughter Elsa, he decided that the plan could not be a mere escape. Rather, it would have to be a revolt.

Over continued talks with Leitman, Pechersky developed what became the ultimate plan. At evening roll call on the designated date, the kapos would announce that the SS had ordered a special work detail in the forest outside the camp. Then, the entire group would calmly march to freedom out the front gate. If the watchmen found this unusual, they wouldn't be able to confirm their suspicions or coordinate a response since all of the SS officers would be dead, having been individually lured to secluded locations around the camp and discreetly killed. In order to lure them, prisoners would schedule appointments with them at specific times to receive spoils found in the luggage of the gas chambers. Pechersky appreciated the irony that the SS officers would be undone by their own greed and punctuality.

The revolt
On the afternoon of 14 October 1943, members of the Sobibor underground covertly killed most of the on-duty SS officers and then led roughly 300 prisoners to freedom. This revolt was one of three uprisings by Jewish prisoners in extermination camps, the other being that of Treblinka extermination camp on 2 August 1943 which freed up to 100 escapees. A similar revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau on 7 October 1944 led to one of the crematoria being blown up, but nearly all the insurgents were killed.

Previous escape attempts
From the time that Sobibor was open, prisoners constantly thought of escape. Several of these attempts succeeded -the ukrinian guards one -the two guys on bem 246-7 -forest brigade

“In early 1943, Leib Feldhendler, the son of the rabbi from the village of Żółkiewka, arrived at the camp in a transport of Jews from Izbica. When Leib realised what was happening in the camp, he set out to devise a plan of organised uprising. In so doing, he convinced the Sobibór prisoner-labourers that their fate should be to die in battle, during an open revolt, and not in the gas chambers.” [Bem 261]

Collective punishment for attempts

However, after several attempts failed or were betrayed by informers the thought of escape came to be regarded as unrealistic.

Kapos betrayed two prisoners who planned to sacrifice their lives in order to burn down the barracks. A cook

One thwarted attempt was the “poison plot” organized by Symcha Bialowicz who worked in the camp pharmacy. Over the course of a month, Bialowicz gradually siphoned off 500g of morphine which was intended to find its way into the Nazis’ lunch. However, the plot was betrayed by one of the Jewish cooks who warned one of the watchmen, who immediately reported it to the SS. Most of the conspirators were executed, though Bialowicz himself survived because he had covered his tracks well enough to convince Gustav Wagner that he wasn’t involved.

Bowling alley plot

Dutch Escape

A handful of inmates managed to escape while assigned to the Waldkommando felling and preparing of trees for the body disposal pyres.

Preparations
Over continued talks with Leitman, Pechersky developed what became the ultimate plan for the revolt. At roll call on the designated date, the kapos would assemble the prisoners, announce that the SS had ordered a special work detail, and calmly march them all out the front gate. If the Hiwi guards noticed anything unusual, they wouldn't be able to confirm their suspicions or coordinate a response since all of the SS officers would be dead-- having been lured to secluded locations around the camp and discreetly killed. In order to lure them, prisoners would schedule appointments with them at specific times to receive spoils found in the luggage of the gas chambers. Pechersky appreciated the irony that the SS officers would be undone by their own greed and punctuality.

timing

dates

supplies

trust (kapos)

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Covert killings
The revolt began in the late afternoon on 14 October, 1943. At 4pm, Deputy Commandant SS-Untersturmführer Johann Niemann rode up to the Camp I tailor's barracks on his horse. Earlier in the day, head tailor Moshe Hochman had sent him a message, offering him an appointment to get fitted for a leather jacket taken from a murdered Jew. The conspirators had prioritized Niemann's execution, since he was acting commandant while Commandant Reichleitner was on leave. Even if the rest of the plan failed, they anticipated that Niemann's death alone would cause enough chaos to allow some chance of escape.

While admiring the jacket, Niemann spotted a prisoner known as "Kali Mali", one of the Soviet Jews who had arrived with Pechersky. Niemann asked what he was doing there, but was satisfied with Hochman's explanation that he was simply there to repair a table. At Hochman's request, Niemann removed his pistol holster and put the jacket on. Hochman asked Niemann to turn around, ostensibly to check if the back of the jacket needed any alternations. When Niemann complied, Kali Mali and Yehuda Lerner crept up behind him with axes and split his head open. Niemann screamed loudly as he was hit, startling his horse who was waiting outside. From his command post in the nearby carpenter's barracks, Pechersky heard both Niemann's scream and the horse's reaction. He was momentarily concerned that the commotion would attract other SS officers. However, a prisoner named Srulek calmed the horse and led it back to its stable. Inside the tailor's barracks, Niemann's body was shoved under a table.

Over the next hour, an SS officer was killed roughly every six minutes. SS-Oberscharführer Siegfried Graetschus and head watchman Sturmfhürer Ivan Klatt were killed by Yehuda Lerner and Arkady Wajspapier in the watchmens' shoe shop. Two other SS men named Konrad and Vallaster were killed in the main shoe shop, by a team that included Boris Tsibulsky and Itzhak Lichtman. Several other SS men were killed in the Camp II sorting barracks, including Josef Wolf. However, specifics about the killings in Camp II are unknown.

Problems and improvisation
However, not everything went according to plan. While Pechersky had meticulously planned for the SS officers to be killed in discreet locations, someone impulsively killed Unterscharführer Walter Ryba in the well exposed vorlager garage. Moreover, several SS officers did not show up for their scheduled appointments. Among these was SS-Oberscharführer Rudolf Beckmann, who had walked right up to the storage barracks where he was to be killed, but turned around and walked back to the administration building. A child prisoner relayed this news to Pechersky in Camp I, who in turn relayed it to Feldhendler in Camp II. Chaim Engel overheard Feldhendler discussing the situation with Kapo Hersh Pozyczki, the younger brother of Oberkapo Pozyczki, and volunteered to kill Beckmann Engel and the younger Pozyczki went together to the administration building and knocked on the door of Beckmann's office. When Beckmann answered the door, Pozyczki grabbed him and held his arms behind his back. Engel stabbed Beckmann repeatedly, calling out "For my father! For my brother! For all the Jews!" Beckmann struggled as Engel stabbed him, squealing loudly enough to be heard by Engel's girlfriend Selma Wijnberg, waiting in the yard outside. As Beckmann struggled, Engel's knife slipped and cut his own hand. Once Beckmann was dead, the two prisoners pushed his body under the desk, not having time to better hide him or thoroughly clean up.

Another officer who did not show up was SS Oberscharfuhrer Karl Frenzel, regarded as one of the most dangerous officers in the camp. Pechersky had arranged for Leitman to kill Frenzel in the Camp I carpenter's shop. However, Frenzel dallied in the shower and did not show up. Leitman waited for him in the carpenter's shop, where he took the opportunity to kill another SS officer named Gaulstich. While watching for Frenzel, Leitman saw Gaulstich return from Camp IV along with Oberkapo Pozyczki and Kapo Spitz. Leitman requested that Gaulstich come inside to inspect some cabinets. Leitman killed Gaulstich.

During the killing, the conspirators had to keep an eye on certain distrusted prisoners. Thomas Blatt was assigned to watch over a particular Dutch Jew, and given a knife in case anything went wrong. Blatt wasn't sure he could use the weapon on a fellow prisoner, and tried to keep the Dutchman occupied with a conversation about the decline in transport frequency. The Dutchman became suspicious after noting an SS officer named Josef Wolf enter the sorting barracks and not come out. Toivi summoned another prisoner named Sender who led the Dutchman away at knifepoint. Another liability was the German Kapo Spitz. Kurt Thomas had been assigned to "babysit" Spitz that morning, but later in the afternoon, Spitz was summoned to Camp IV along with Oberkapo Pozyczki. Pechersky and Pozyczki had to intervene when Kapo Spitz moved to follow Gaulstich inside. As a German Jew, Spitz was considered a liability and was not included in the plan. Later, when Gaulstich was killed by Leitman, Oberkapo Pozyczki held Spitz at knifepoint to prevent him from intervening. Spitz once again found himself held at knifepoint when he objected to Pozyczki beginning roll call early.

While the killings proceeded, Szlomo Smajzner went to the Vorlager to take additional guns from the watchmens' barracks. During the last organizational meeting on October 12, he had offered to do so himself. As the camp machinist, Smajzner was often called to the Vorlager to clean and repair the stoves there, so he was able to enter the barracks carrying a replacement stovepipe over his shoulder. He entered the watchmens' barracks and helped himself to six rifles and ammunition. However, he could only fit two of the rifles inside the stovepipe, so he wrapped the others in a blanket. Once he was ready to go, he decided that it might be safer to hunker down in the Vorlager and not return to Camp I until the bugle call. That way, it would seem like he'd been acting alone if he was caught. Just before the bugle at 5pm, he found two child prisoners and ordered them to carry the blanket with the rifles. They were scared, so he forced them to do it at knifepoint. After the bugle call, he delivered the rifles to the Russians, but demanded that they let him keep one for himself.

The breakout
Around 5pm, Pechersky became concerned that the revolt would be discovered. Even though Frenzel was still alive, Pechersky and Leitman decided that they would have to begin the open revolt earlier than planned. They sent a barber named Judah to climb the forester's tower and blew the bugle announcing the end of the workday. At this point, many prisoners were already back in Camp I. For instance, Esther Raab had left her gardening job early and gathered in the laundry with other women including Eda Lichtman, Zelda Metz, and Hella Weiss. Over in Camp II, the workers were confused by the early bugle call and lined up haphazardly. Feldhendler was concerned that their unusual and disorderly lineup would attract attention from the guards, so he decided to lead the march back to Camp I on his own. He lined them up and they marched, singing the German sentimental tune Es war ein Edelweiss{sfn|Rashke|1982|p=309}}

Many prisoners had no idea what was going on, while others knew something was up but were missing details. As they gathered in the Camp I yard, the news spread. Pechersky was alarmed by the restless mood and had Oberkapo Pozyczki blow the roll call whistle. They were anxious and slow to line up. When a watchman prodded them to line up faster, a group of prisoners shouted him "don't you know the war is over" and killed him right out in the open. Realizing that the yard had become a powder keg, Pechersky jumped on a table and made a speech remembered by Toivi Blatt as follows:

"Our day has come. Most of the Germans are dead. Let's die with honor. Remember, if anyone survives, he must tell the world what has happened here!"

As the prisoners began to disperse, they heard shots from Camp II. These shots were Erich Bauer, who had returned from a supply run to Chelm and parked outside the administration building where Beckmann lay dead. Just before the bugle sounded, Bauer had grabbed two child prisoners, one named David, the other Jakob Biskubitz to unload vodka from his truck. At approximately the moment when Pechersky was making his speech over in Camp I, a watchman exited the administration building shouting "Ein deutsch kaput!" Thinking that the children were responsible, Bauer fired, killing David but missing Jakob. When the prisoners in Camp I heard these shots, the yard exploded, and prisoners ran in every direction. At that moment a watchman rode into the camp on a bicycle and was dragged off his bike by some prisoners and killed. Kurt Thomas dragged the body behind one of the barracks, hoping none of the guards in the towers would notice.

There was a moment of confusion in which the watchmen in the towers didn't react. Itzhak Lichtman reported seeing some of the remaining SS men hiding, perhaps thinking that the camp was being attacked by partisans. But after a moment, the guards began shooting into the crowd. Szlomo Szmajzner fired his rifle and hit a watchman in a tower ("I did not do that; God did.") Pechersky and Feldhendler ran around trying to shepherd the prisoners out; many ran back to the barracks and pechersky and feldhendler couldn't convince them to go (rashke quotes pechersky as saying that things would have gone better if there had been a more orderly march to the gate rashke 471) [isn't there an explanation of this in schelvis somewhere?]

A large group of prisoners ran to the south fence of Camp I, behind the carpenters shop. The carpenters had left ladders, pliers, and axes lying in the weeds, as a backup plan in case the main gate proved inaccessible. Prisoners who took this way out included Esther Raab, Samuel Lerer, Mordechai Goldfarb, Hella Weiss, Zelda Metz, Eda Lichtman, and Abraham Margulies. These prisoners scaled the fence, traversed the ditch, and began running through the minefield. As they ran, the mines exploded, killing some of the escapees and attracting the attention of the watchmen in the towers who began shooting. Esther Raab felt bullet graze her head above her right ear. She kept running, but felt herself losing strength. She reached out to hold onto a woman running next to her, but the woman pushed her off and shouted "leave me alone!"

Another group of prisoners headed for the the Vorlager. Many prisoners tried to escape through the main gate or over the south fence, while a group of Soviet prisoners attempted to raid the armory.. There, they were met with Frenzel, who at this point had gotten out of the shower and was getting himself a pre-roll call drink in the canteen. Attracted by the commotion, Frenzel had grabbed a machine gun and run outside. Seeing the crowd of prisoners heading to the main gate, he opened fire, spraying the crowd of prisoners. Pechersky fired at Frenzel using Vallaster's pistol but missed. A group of prisoners attempted to rush the main gate, but were met with another SS officer there shooting into the crowd. Some scattered, but others were pushed forward by the force of those behind them. They trampled the main gate and flooded out the gate..

Others in the Vorlager tried to escape over the barbed wire to the west of the main gate, behind the SS officers' houses called the Swallow's Nest and the Merry Flea. They correctly guessed that the SS officers would not have placed mines so close to their own houses. Many prisoners who attempted to get out this way got stuck on the barbed wire. Among these prisoners was Thomas Blatt, who survived because the fence collapsed on top of him. As he lay on the ground, he saw the prisoners in front of him blown up as they crossed the minefield. Blatt freed himself by slipping out of his coat was stuck on the barbed wire and running across the exploded mines into the forest

Roughly 300 prisoners escaped to the forest.

pechersky was shocked that they'd made it to 5pm and judged that (rashke's words, though there might be a similar quote in pechersky's testimony) "the yard was ready to explode", so he ordered porczyski to blow the whistle for roll call -->

Covert killings
The revolt began in the late afternoon on 14 October, 1943. At 4pm, Deputy Commandant SS-Untersturmführer Johann Niemann rode up to the Camp I tailor's barracks on his horse. Earlier in the day, the head tailor had scheduled an appointment with him to be fitted for a leather jacket taken from a murdered Jew. The conspirators had prioritized Niemann's execution, since he was acting commandant while Commandant Reichleitner was on leave. Even if the rest of the plan failed, they anticipated that Niemann's death alone would cause enough chaos to allow some chance of escape.

While admiring the jacket, Niemann spotted one of the Russian prisoners standing by with an axe. Niemann asked what he was doing there, but was satisfied with the tailor's explanation that he was simply there to repair a table. At the tailor's request, Niemann removed his pistol holster and put on the jacket. The tailor asked Niemann to turn around, ostensibly to check if any alterations were needed in the back. When Niemann complied, two prisoners crept up behind him with axes and split his head open. Niemann screamed loudly as he was hit, startling his horse who was waiting outside. From his command post in the nearby carpenter's barracks, Pechersky heard both Niemann's scream and the horse's reaction. For a moment, he was concerned that the commotion would attract other SS officers. However, a prisoner from the nearby bakery calmed the horse and led it back to its stable. Inside the tailor's barracks, Niemann's body was shoved under a table.

Over the next hour, an SS officer was killed roughly every six minutes. Other than Niemann, those killed in Camp I include SS-Unterscharführer Josef Vallaster, SS-Oberscharführer Siegfried Graetschus, Sturmfhürer Ivan Klatt, SS-Unterscharführer Friedrich Gaulstich, and Fritz Konrad (rank unknown). Those killed in Camp II include SS-Scharführer Josef Wolf and SS-Oberscharführer Rudolf Beckmann. Unterscharführer Walter Ryba was killed in the Vorlager. Other officers killed include Max Bree, Anton Nowak, Thomas Steffl, Ernst Stengelin. The details of many of these killings are unknown.

While Pechersky had meticulously planned for the SS officers to be killed in discreet locations, several killings did not go as planned. Unterscharführer Walter Ryba was killed by an impulsive prisoner in the outdoor Vorlager garage. This killing alarmed Pechersky, and may have factored into his decision to begin the breakout earlier than planned. SS-Oberscharführer Rudolf Beckmann's killing was also improvised, though it was okayed by Leon Feldhendler. The conspirators had originally planned to kill Beckmann in a Camp II storage barracks, but on his way to the appointment, Beckmann had suddenly turned around and headed back to the administration building. Chaim Engel volunteered to kill Beckmann in his office, after overhearing Feldhendler discussing the situation with Kapo Hersh Pozyczki, the younger brother of Oberkapo Pozyczki. Engel and the younger Pozyczki went together to the administration building, and Engel stabbed Beckmann while Pozyczki restrained him. When Engel stabbed Beckmann, he shouted "For my father! For my brother! For all the Jews!" Beckmann struggled as Engel stabbed him, causing Engel's knife to slip and cut his own hand. Once Beckmann was dead, the two prisoners pushed his body under the desk, not having time to better hide him or clean up.

SS-Unterscharführer Friedrich Gaulstich's death was another unplanned killing, though it was carried out with the assistance of Pechersky himself. Pechersky had been waiting in the carpenter's barracks for SS-Obserscharführer Karl Frenzel, who was due to be killed there by Solomon Leitman. While waiting, Pechersky and Leitman spotted Gaulstich returning from Camp IV with Oberkapo Pozyczki and Kapo Spitz. Leitman requested that Gaulstich come inside to inspect some cabinets and killed him while Pechersky and Pozyczki distracted Spitz.

Other actions
During the killing, the conspirators had to keep an eye on certain distrusted prisoners. Thomas Blatt was assigned to watch over a Dutch Jew who the conspirators did not trust. Blatt distracted the Dutchman with idle conversation, hoping he would not have to use the knife that he had been given. After SS-Scharführer Josef Wolf entered a storage barracks and didn't come out, the Dutchman became suspicious. However, Blatt summoned another prisoner named Sender and did not end up having to use his knife. Another liability was the German Kapo Spitz. The camp nurse Kurt Ticho had been assigned to "babysit" Spitz, but Spitz was summoned to Camp IV shortly before the killings began. Spitz was brought back to Camp I by SS-Unterscharführer Gaulstich, and almost walked in on Gaulstich's assassination in the carpenter's barracks. To prevent him from intervening, Oberkapo Pozyczki held Spitz at knifepoint. Spitz once again found himself held at knifepoint when he objected to Pozyczki beginning roll call early.

While the killings proceeded, Szlomo Smajzner went to the Vorlager to take additional guns from the watchmens' barracks. During the last organizational meeting on October 12, he had offered to do so himself. As the camp machinist, Smajzner was often called to the Vorlager to clean and repair the stoves there, so he was able to enter the barracks carrying a replacement stovepipe over his shoulder. He entered the watchmens' barracks and helped himself to six rifles and ammunition. However, he could only fit two of the rifles inside the stovepipe, so he wrapped the others in a blanket. Once he was ready to go, he decided that it might be safer to hunker down in the Vorlager and not return to Camp I until the bugle call. That way, it would seem like he'd been acting alone if he was caught. Just before the bugle at 5pm, he found two child prisoners and ordered them to carry the blanket with the rifles. They were scared, so he forced them to do it at knifepoint. After the bugle call, he delivered the rifles to the Russians, but demanded that they let him keep one for himself.

The breakout
Around 5pm, Pechersky became concerned that the killings would be discovered. He was surprised that the plan had worked so far, and with eleven SS officers dead, not all of them well-hidden, he judged that they didn't have much time before the surviving SS grew suspicious. However, he was reluctant to begin the open revolt before killing SS-Oberscharführer Karl Frenzel, regarded as one of the most dangerous officers in the camp. Pechersky had arranged for Solomon Leitman to kill Frenzel in the Camp I carpenter's shop, but Frenzel dallied in the shower and did not show up. Pechersky and Leitman discussed the issue and decided that they would have to begin the open revolt early, and kill Frenzel during the breakout if possible. They sent a barber named Judah to climb the forester's tower and blow the bugle announcing the end of the workday.

At this point, many prisoners in Camp I had already left their jobs and were standing around in the roll call yard or hiding in the adjacent buildings. In Camp II, the workers were confused by the early bugle call and gathered haphazardly for the march back to Camp I. Feldhendler was concerned that their unusual and disorderly lineup would attract attention from the guards, so he decided to lead the march on his own. He lined them up and they marched, singing the German sentimental tune Es war ein Edelweiss

As the prisoners gathered in the Camp I yard, news of the revolt began to spread among them. Most prisoners had been entirely ignorant of the plot, while others had known only pieces. Pechersky was alarmed by the restless mood and had Oberkapo Pozyczki to blow the roll call whistle early. The prisoners were once again slow and disorderly. When a watchman prodded them to line up faster, a group of prisoners shouted "don't you know the war is over" and killed him right out in the open. Realizing that the yard had become a powder keg, Pechersky jumped on a table and made a speech remembered by Toivi Blatt as follows:

"Our day has come. Most of the Germans are dead. Let's die with honor. Remember, if anyone survives, he must tell the world what has happened here!"

As the prisoners began to disperse, they heard shots from Camp II. These shots were fired by SS-Oberscharführer Erich Bauer, who had returned from Chelm with a truck full of vodka. Just before the bugle sounded, Bauer had ordered two child prisoners to unload the vodka and carry it into the storeroom in the administration building where Beckmann had been killed. At approximately the moment when Pechersky was making his speech over in Camp I, a watchman ran over to Bauer shouting "Ein deutsch kaput!" Thinking that the children were responsible, Bauer fired his pistol, killing one of the children but missing the other. When the prisoners in Camp I heard these shots, the yard exploded, and prisoners ran in every direction. A group of them dragged a watchman off his bicycle and killed him. Kurt Thomas dragged the watchman's body behind one of the barracks, hoping none of the watchmen in the towers would notice.

There was a moment of confusion in which the watchmen in the towers didn't react. Itzhak Lichtman reported seeing some of the remaining SS men hiding, perhaps thinking that the camp was being attacked by partisans. But after a moment, the watchmen began shooting into the crowd. At this point, several of the prisoners shot with the rifles procured by Szmajzner and with pistols taken from the dead SS officers. Szlomo Szmajzner hit a watchman in a tower; he later recalled, "I did not do that; God did."

Most prisoners only learned of the revolt as the fighting began and had to make a split second decision without knowing exactly what was going on. Pechersky and Feldhendler ran around the yard trying to shepherd these prisoners out, but around 175 others nonetheless stayed back.

A large group of prisoners ran to the south fence of Camp I, behind the carpenters shop. The carpenters had left ladders, pliers, and axes lying in the weeds, as a backup plan in case the main gate proved inaccessible. Prisoners who took this way out included Esther Raab, Samuel Lerer, Mordechai Goldfarb, Hella Weiss, Zelda Metz, Eda Lichtman, and Abraham Margulies. These prisoners scaled the fence, traversed the ditch, and began running through the minefield. As they ran, the mines exploded, killing some of the escapees and attracting the attention of the watchmen in the towers who began shooting. Esther Raab felt bullet graze her head above her right ear. She kept running, but felt herself losing strength. She reached out to hold onto a woman running next to her, but the woman pushed her off and shouted "leave me alone!"

Another group of prisoners headed for the the Vorlager. Many prisoners tried to escape through the main gate or over the south fence, while a group of Soviet prisoners attempted to raid the armory.. There, they were met with Frenzel, who at this point had gotten out of the shower and was getting himself a pre-roll call drink in the canteen. Attracted by the commotion, Frenzel had grabbed a machine gun and run outside. Seeing the crowd of prisoners heading to the main gate, he opened fire, spraying the crowd of prisoners. Pechersky fired at Frenzel using Vallaster's pistol but missed. A group of prisoners attempted to rush the main gate, but were met with another SS officer there shooting into the crowd. Some scattered, but others were pushed forward by the force of those behind them. They trampled the main gate and flooded out the gate..

Others in the Vorlager tried to escape over the barbed wire to the west of the main gate, behind the SS officers' houses called the Swallow's Nest and the Merry Flea. They correctly guessed that the SS officers would not have placed mines so close to their own houses. Many prisoners who attempted to get out this way got stuck on the barbed wire. Among these prisoners was Thomas Blatt, who survived because the fence collapsed on top of him. As he lay on the ground, he saw the prisoners in front of him blown up as they crossed the minefield. Blatt freed himself by slipping out of his coat was stuck on the barbed wire and running across the exploded mines into the forest

Roughly 300 prisoners escaped to the forest.

Revolt notes
rashke 257-258 - watchmen apathetic, indifferent, drunk, not gonna act independently against the prisoners but also unlikely to help them

rashke 257 - dusk/nighttime escape would help them get away

rashke 257 - 15-20 germans on duty at any given time; furlough system meant that many would be aay

rashke 256 - pechersky worrying that the locals wouldn't be used to killing rashke 247-251 killing berliner

rashke 202 - feldhendler having a job in lager ii

rashke 286 - pechersky had originally wanted to kill frenzel himself but feldhendler pointed out that he was needed as a commander

frenzel noticed the carpenter's foreman was unusually well dressed that day and quipped "is there going to be a wedding here?" rashke 292

another scare when a nazi with a machine gun (rashke doesn't explicitly say ryba) led oberkapo porzyczki away; sasha kept an eye out for anything unusual; bunio confirmed that porzyczki had just been brought to take charge of something in the north camp 293; bunio had to take kali mali to camp ii 294

unclear timing: Friedman, a German Jew, cut the wires but see {{sfn|Rashke|1982|p=306} (I'm confused)


 * overall/various

Schelvis notes that there is some uncertainty about exactly who killed who. Arkady Wajspapir claimed that he and Lerner killed Graetschus, while Novitch reports that it was Lerner and Menche; Menche claimed credit himself; Rashke thinks it was Rosenfeld and Wajspapir; Szmajzner thinks it was just Szol, and Toivi Blatt thinks it was just Alexey Vaisen

Schelvis thinks Kurt Ticho made an error in identifying the bicycle watchman as Alex Kaiser, since that person turns up later involved in liquidating sobibor (i think it's interesting there's also the photo in the webb book that has him in Trieste, seemingly in the same uniform as some german/austrian ss officers, though the captions there have lots of weird errors; also interesting that Ticho's 1997 video testimony identifies the guard as klatt, though he seems unsure of it then)

More contradictions: Schelvis reads Pechersky's testimony as saying that Chaim Engel killed Ryba, and checked this with Engel who denied it; I checked and Pechersky's actual testimony only gives the name "Engel" and says the person was a locksmith from Warsaw, so even on the offchance that Pechersky actually got one name right, no reason to think it's Chaim Engel; also weird though that Schelvis in the main text says that Engel and Porczyski killed Steffl though Engel says he only killed beckmann

Pechersky watched from the carpenter's shop

Reichleitner on leave, so Niemann in charge

sasha told luka about the revolt while it was going on ; she gave him a shirt

toivi was told to watch over a dutch jew who wasn't trusted; toivi had a knife in his boot but wasn't sure he could use it; he went over and engaged the guy in conversation ; the dutch guy got suspicious when Wolf entered the sorting the barracks and didn't come out + he wanted to check it out, but Toivi summoned a guy called Sender who led the dutch guy away at knifepoint; kurt thomas babysat Kapo Spitz (german) the morning of the revolt


 * Niemann

Niemann killed first since he was in charge; even if plan discovered would cause a hitch while other officers figure out who was in charge ; rashke doesn't have him killed first, but agrees with schelvis that his death was planned early with the idea that his absence would throw the other officers into chaos

3:30 tailor foreman Mosche Hochman invited Niemann to try on a leather coat in the tailor's shop; he arrived on a horse and had the baker Srulek hold the reins; they brought Niemann to the back where he spotted Kali Mali; they reassured him that Kali Mali was just fixing the hat maker's table;

Niemann took off his holster belt and put on the jacket; Hochberg told him to turn around so he could check if the jacket needed any alterations in the back;

Niemann turned and Kali Mali split his head open with an axe; the body was shoved under a table when niemann was killed, he let out a brief scream, which was enough to startle his horse; Pechersky heard the scream from his vantage point; rashke has yehuda lerner as the one who killed niemann; lerner was a varsovian polish jew who had met pechersky and lajtman in minsk

Srulek took the horse back to the stables ; rashke gives "cilly" has name of Niemann's horse ;


 * prisoner Josef Dresche (or Drescher) tried to summon Frenzel to the carpenter's shop, but found he was in the shower; this was bad news since frenzel was regarded as one of the most dangeorus

on 471, rashke quotes sasha as presupposing that frenzel was supposed to inspect a barracks (not necessarily a contradiction, but i vaguely remember an alternate story where kurt ticho had summoned him to inspect the men's barracks, not the carpenter shop)

pechersky was reluctant to start the breakout with frenzel still alive but was persuaded otherwise by lajtman

frenzel still hadn't shown at roll call


 * SS Sigfried Graetschus was then killed by Yehuda Lerner and Arkady Wajspapier; a prisoner (schelvis says the hatmaker Chaskiel Menche) went ham on his body, stabbing him repeatedly with a pair of scissors while calling out the name of relatives killed there; rashke concurs, but thinks that the hatmaker was stabbing niemann's body and mentions shlomo helping restrain and gag him

rashke reports graetschus ("greischutz") being killed in the separate watchmens' shoe shop, though still by wajspapir; he reports klatt showing up unexpectedly looking for graetschus

ivan klatt showed up next and was killed too

after killings, took pistols from the dead


 * shlomo went to camp i with a stovepipe over his shoulder to steal guns; he entered the watchmens' barracks and helped himself to six rifles; he could only fit two inside the stovepipe because the bolts were open and he couldn't figure out how to close them; he wrapped the others in a blanket; decided to hunker down there until the bugle call so that it would seem like he'd been acting alone if he was caught; just before the bugle at 5pm, he found two putzers and had them carry the rug with the rifles; they were scared so he made them do it at knifepoint; back in camp i, he handed the guns over to the soviets but insisted that he get to keep one


 * Beckmann

Beckmann was summoned to the sorting barracks to try on a leather coat; he walked towards it but then turned and left and went back to his office in the admin building; drescher reported this to pechersky

chaim overheard organizers discussing the beckmann situation in the camp 2 utensil barracks and volunteered

Chaim Engel and Kapo Hersh Pozyczki (younger brother of Oberkapo Pozyczki) killed beckmann and (according to schelvis) also steffl in the forester's house/admin building in lager 2

Pozyczki restrained Beckmann while Chaim stabbed him; Chaim called out "For my father! For my brother! For all the Jews!"; he was splattered with blood, and cut himself after striking Beckmann's bones; they dropped the body under his desk, not having time to better hide him or thoroughly clean up;

selma heard beckmann squealing from outside the building and waited anxiously for him to come out; he emerged covered in blood; she bandaged his hand and cleaned him up and helped him sneak past bauer


 * Konrad and Vallaster were then killed in the shoe barracks;

rashke on vallaster: boris and grisha were the russians there; szol surname and itzhak lichtman were the locals; vallaster was hard of hearing, ran miner's train and worked in camp iii; the blow didn't land, so szol restrained him while boris finished him off


 * Josef Wolf was killed in one of the Camp II sorting barracks, by Soviets Cybulski and Grisha (2x check since scope isn't totally clear in schelvis text);


 * Around 4:45, SS Gaulstich returned to Camp I from the Nordlager with Oberkapo Pozyczki and Kapo Spitz. Pechersky and Lajtman spotted them through the window of the carpenter's barracks, where they were still waiting for Frenzel. Seizing the opportunity, Lajtman requested that Gaulstich come inside to inspect some cabinets. When Kapo Spitz made a move to follow Gaulstich inside, Pechersky and Pozyczki intervened, as Spitz was not trusted. Pozyczki took Spitz aside outside the barracks and held him at knifepoint while Lajtman killed Gaulstich.{{sfn|Rashke|1982|pp=305-306}


 * Bree was also killed (schelvis gives no details)


 * Stengelin was also killed (no details known; name only known through comment by Suchomel)


 * Ryba was killed in the garage; this was an unplanned spontaneous killing that alarmed pechersky because it was too out in the open and put the plan at risk; unknown who did it or why, though schelvis suggests that Ryba may have caught on to the plan


 * bauer returned to camp

r307 just says that selma saw bauer pull up next to the admin building while chaim was killing beckmann

at that moment from his supply run, and [something] prodded him to start shooting at the putzers unloading his truck; (rashke has better details about this); jakob biskubicz was one of them


 * end of the workday

schelvis suggests that Pechersky was alarmed by ryba's killing and had Oberkapo Porczyski blow the whistle for begin roll call early, at 4:45

rashke suggests that this was actually at 5pm, and that pechersky was following lajtman's advice to get out while things still looked okay; says judah the barber climbed the forester's tower and blew the bugle

many prisoners were already back (i.e. in Camp I) from work, e.g. esther raab who'd left work early, and hid in the laundry with Eda Lichtman, Zelda Metz, Hella Weiss, a.o. ; as they waited in the yard and some of the adjacent buildings, news of what was going on spread

the sixty or so workers from Camp IV were behind schedule and didn't make it back to Camp I before the open revolt broke out

the camp ii workers lined up haphazardly; there were no ss or watchmen around, so leon decided to lead the march back to camp i (for the appearance of normalcy to the watchmen in the towers); and had them sing Es war ein Edelweiss while marching

pechersky was shocked that they'd made it to 5pm and judged that (rashke's words, though there might be a similar quote in pechersky's testimony) "the yard was ready to explode", so he ordered porczyski to blow the whistle for roll call

he jumped on a table and shouted: "Our day has come. Most of the Germans are dead. Let's die with honor. Remember, if anyone survives, he must tell the world what has happened here"

in camp ii, bauer had grabbed putzers Jakob Biskubitz (check spelling) and David (last name?) to help unload his vodka truck; a watchman ran up to him saying "Ein deutsch kaput!" and Bauer fired, killing David but missing Jakob;

in rashke's term "a tornado hit the yard" (i.e. camp 1)

at that moment a watchman rode into the camp on a bicycle and was dragged off his bike by some prisoners and killed; Kurt Thomas helped drag the body behind one of the barracks, hoping none of the guards in the towers would notice. rashke names this guard as albert kaiser

many prisoners were oblivious, others knew something was up but were missing deets. they were restless and slow to line up. a watchman prodded them to line up faster, and a group of prisoners called out "don't you know the war is over" and killed that watchman right out in the open

carpenters in Camp I had prepared ladders, pliers, and axes as an alternate way of getting through the fence in the weeds between the carpenter's shop and the south fence esther raab, samuel lerer, mordechai goldfarb, hella weiss, zelda metz, eda lichtman, and abraham margulies (a.o.) took this route out [343 for lerer] the mine field erupted as they ran through it, attracting the attention of the watchmen in the towers, who started shooting;

esther raab as among those escaping by the carpenter's shop; a bullet grazed her head above her right ear, but she kept running; she felt weak and reached to hold onto someone running next to her who pushed her off shouting "leave me alone!"

there was a moment of chaos in which the watchmen didn't react; Itzak Lichtman reported some of the remaining SS men hiding, perhaps thinking that the camp was being attacked by partisans; then they started reacting, shooting into the crowd; Szlomo Szmajzner fired his rifle and hit a watchman in a tower ("I did not do that; God did.")

pechersky and feldhendler ran around trying to shepherd the prisoners out; many ran back to the barracks and pechersky and feldhendler couldn't convince them to go (rashke quotes pechersky as saying that things would have gone better if there had been a more orderly march to the gate rashke 471)

a large crowd headed for the Vorlager; many of them made for the main gate; an ss officer there fired into the crowd; those in the front tried to turn back but were pushed forward by the force of those behind them; the main gate was trampled down and people escaped;

others in the vorlager tried to climb the barbed wire but got stuck on the fence or blown up by the mines beyond it; some escaped right behind the germans' quarters (swallow's nest and merry flea) where there were no mines

blatt was one of these (schelvis claims in lager 1?), but survived because the fence collapsed on top of him, leaving him lying on the ground watching those in front of him getting blown up by mines, he freed himself by slipping out of his coat thtat was stuck on the barbed wire and running across the exploded mines into the forest

shlomo saw his cousins and girlfriend get hit, and lost track of his brother moses

frenzel had gotten out of the shower and was getting himself a pre-roll call drink at the canteen when the revolt broke out; the shots made him grab his machine gun and run outside; he sprayed the crowd as it headed for the main gate; he hit kitty gokkes in the leg though she still made it out; Pechersky fired at Frenzel with Vallaster's pistol but missed

schelvis thinks that the soviets raided the armory; ss karl werner dubois was severaly injured with an ax or a club rashke thinks that they were repelled by frenzel ; rashke describes it as a confusing issue, assuming that the priosners would have acquired machine guns if they'd gotten access to the armory; the german report from the following day says that the prisoners seized the armory, which rashke thinks may have been a face-saving invention

schelvis estimates that 365 at least made an attempt to escape; 159 remained in the camp, some with weapons and fought back

The revolt
On the afternoon of 14 October 1943, members of the Sobibor underground covertly killed most of the on-duty SS officers and then led roughly 300 prisoners to freedom. This revolt was one of three uprisings by Jewish prisoners in extermination camps, the other being that of Treblinka extermination camp on 2 August 1943 which freed up to 100 escapees. A similar revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau on 7 October 1944 led to one of the crematoria being blown up, but nearly all the insurgents were killed.

Previous escape attempts
From the time that Sobibor was open, prisoners constantly thought of escape. Several of these attempts succeeded -the ukrinian guards one -the two guys on bem 246-7 -forest brigade

“In early 1943, Leib Feldhendler, the son of the rabbi from the village of Żółkiewka, arrived at the camp in a transport of Jews from Izbica. When Leib realised what was happening in the camp, he set out to devise a plan of organised uprising. In so doing, he convinced the Sobibór prisoner-labourers that their fate should be to die in battle, during an open revolt, and not in the gas chambers.” [Bem 261]

Collective punishment for attempts

However, after several attempts failed or were betrayed by informers the thought of escape came to be regarded as unrealistic.

Kapos betrayed two prisoners who planned to sacrifice their lives in order to burn down the barracks. A cook

One thwarted attempt was the “poison plot” organized by Symcha Bialowicz who worked in the camp pharmacy. Over the course of a month, Bialowicz gradually siphoned off 500g of morphine which was intended to find its way into the Nazis’ lunch. However, the plot was betrayed by one of the Jewish cooks who warned one of the watchmen, who immediately reported it to the SS. Most of the conspirators were executed, though Bialowicz himself survived because he had covered his tracks well enough to convince Gustav Wagner that he wasn’t involved.

Bowling alley plot

Dutch Escape

A handful of inmates managed to escape while assigned to the Waldkommando felling and preparing of trees for the body disposal pyres.

Preparations
Over continued talks with Leitman, Pechersky developed what became the ultimate plan for the revolt. At roll call on the designated date, the kapos would assemble the prisoners, announce that the SS had ordered a special work detail, and calmly march them all out the front gate. If the Hiwi guards noticed anything unusual, they wouldn't be able to confirm their suspicions or coordinate a response since all of the SS officers would be dead-- having been lured to secluded locations around the camp and discreetly killed. In order to lure them, prisoners would schedule appointments with them at specific times to receive spoils found in the luggage of the gas chambers. Pechersky appreciated the irony that the SS officers would be undone by their own greed and punctuality.

timing

dates

supplies

trust (kapos)

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Covert killings
The revolt began in the late afternoon on 14 October, 1943. At 4pm, Deputy Commandant SS-Untersturmführer Johann Niemann rode up to the Camp I tailor's barracks on his horse. Earlier in the day, head tailor Moshe Hochman had sent him a message, offering him an appointment to get fitted for a leather jacket taken from a murdered Jew. The conspirators had prioritized Niemann's execution, since he was acting commandant while Commandant Reichleitner was on leave. Even if the rest of the plan failed, they anticipated that Niemann's death alone would cause enough chaos to allow some chance of escape.

While admiring the jacket, Niemann spotted a prisoner known as "Kali Mali", one of the Soviet Jews who had arrived with Pechersky. Niemann asked what he was doing there, but was satisfied with Hochman's explanation that he was simply there to repair a table. At Hochman's request, Niemann removed his pistol holster and put the jacket on. Hochman asked Niemann to turn around, ostensibly to check if the back of the jacket needed any alternations. When Niemann complied, Kali Mali and Yehuda Lerner crept up behind him with axes and split his head open. Niemann screamed loudly as he was hit, startling his horse who was waiting outside. From his command post in the nearby carpenter's barracks, Pechersky heard both Niemann's scream and the horse's reaction. He was momentarily concerned that the commotion would attract other SS officers. However, a prisoner named Srulek calmed the horse and led it back to its stable. Inside the tailor's barracks, Niemann's body was shoved under a table.

Over the next hour, an SS officer was killed roughly every six minutes. SS-Oberscharführer Siegfried Graetschus and head watchman Sturmfhürer Ivan Klatt were killed by Yehuda Lerner and Arkady Wajspapier in the watchmens' shoe shop. Two other SS men named Konrad and Vallaster were killed in the main shoe shop, by a team that included Boris Tsibulsky and Itzhak Lichtman. Several other SS men were killed in the Camp II sorting barracks, including Josef Wolf. However, specifics about the killings in Camp II are unknown.

Problems and improvisation
However, not everything went according to plan. While Pechersky had meticulously planned for the SS officers to be killed in discreet locations, someone impulsively killed Unterscharführer Walter Ryba in the well exposed vorlager garage. Moreover, several SS officers did not show up for their scheduled appointments. Among these was SS-Oberscharführer Rudolf Beckmann, who had walked right up to the storage barracks where he was to be killed, but turned around and walked back to the administration building. A child prisoner relayed this news to Pechersky in Camp I, who in turn relayed it to Feldhendler in Camp II. Chaim Engel overheard Feldhendler discussing the situation with Kapo Hersh Pozyczki, the younger brother of Oberkapo Pozyczki, and volunteered to kill Beckmann Engel and the younger Pozyczki went together to the administration building and knocked on the door of Beckmann's office. When Beckmann answered the door, Pozyczki grabbed him and held his arms behind his back. Engel stabbed Beckmann repeatedly, calling out "For my father! For my brother! For all the Jews!" Beckmann struggled as Engel stabbed him, squealing loudly enough to be heard by Engel's girlfriend Selma Wijnberg, waiting in the yard outside. As Beckmann struggled, Engel's knife slipped and cut his own hand. Once Beckmann was dead, the two prisoners pushed his body under the desk, not having time to better hide him or thoroughly clean up.

Another officer who did not show up was SS Oberscharfuhrer Karl Frenzel, regarded as one of the most dangerous officers in the camp. Pechersky had arranged for Leitman to kill Frenzel in the Camp I carpenter's shop. However, Frenzel dallied in the shower and did not show up. Leitman waited for him in the carpenter's shop, where he took the opportunity to kill another SS officer named Gaulstich. While watching for Frenzel, Leitman saw Gaulstich return from Camp IV along with Oberkapo Pozyczki and Kapo Spitz. Leitman requested that Gaulstich come inside to inspect some cabinets. Leitman killed Gaulstich.

During the killing, the conspirators had to keep an eye on certain distrusted prisoners. Thomas Blatt was assigned to watch over a particular Dutch Jew, and given a knife in case anything went wrong. Blatt wasn't sure he could use the weapon on a fellow prisoner, and tried to keep the Dutchman occupied with a conversation about the decline in transport frequency. The Dutchman became suspicious after noting an SS officer named Josef Wolf enter the sorting barracks and not come out. Toivi summoned another prisoner named Sender who led the Dutchman away at knifepoint. Another liability was the German Kapo Spitz. Kurt Thomas had been assigned to "babysit" Spitz that morning, but later in the afternoon, Spitz was summoned to Camp IV along with Oberkapo Pozyczki. Pechersky and Pozyczki had to intervene when Kapo Spitz moved to follow Gaulstich inside. As a German Jew, Spitz was considered a liability and was not included in the plan. Later, when Gaulstich was killed by Leitman, Oberkapo Pozyczki held Spitz at knifepoint to prevent him from intervening. Spitz once again found himself held at knifepoint when he objected to Pozyczki beginning roll call early.

While the killings proceeded, Szlomo Smajzner went to the Vorlager to take additional guns from the watchmens' barracks. During the last organizational meeting on October 12, he had offered to do so himself. As the camp machinist, Smajzner was often called to the Vorlager to clean and repair the stoves there, so he was able to enter the barracks carrying a replacement stovepipe over his shoulder. He entered the watchmens' barracks and helped himself to six rifles and ammunition. However, he could only fit two of the rifles inside the stovepipe, so he wrapped the others in a blanket. Once he was ready to go, he decided that it might be safer to hunker down in the Vorlager and not return to Camp I until the bugle call. That way, it would seem like he'd been acting alone if he was caught. Just before the bugle at 5pm, he found two child prisoners and ordered them to carry the blanket with the rifles. They were scared, so he forced them to do it at knifepoint. After the bugle call, he delivered the rifles to the Russians, but demanded that they let him keep one for himself.

The breakout
Around 5pm, Pechersky became concerned that the revolt would be discovered. Even though Frenzel was still alive, Pechersky and Leitman decided that they would have to begin the open revolt earlier than planned. They sent a barber named Judah to climb the forester's tower and blew the bugle announcing the end of the workday. At this point, many prisoners were already back in Camp I. For instance, Esther Raab had left her gardening job early and gathered in the laundry with other women including Eda Lichtman, Zelda Metz, and Hella Weiss. Over in Camp II, the workers were confused by the early bugle call and lined up haphazardly. Feldhendler was concerned that their unusual and disorderly lineup would attract attention from the guards, so he decided to lead the march back to Camp I on his own. He lined them up and they marched, singing the German sentimental tune Es war ein Edelweiss{sfn|Rashke|1982|p=309}}

Many prisoners had no idea what was going on, while others knew something was up but were missing details. As they gathered in the Camp I yard, the news spread. Pechersky was alarmed by the restless mood and had Oberkapo Pozyczki blow the roll call whistle. They were anxious and slow to line up. When a watchman prodded them to line up faster, a group of prisoners shouted him "don't you know the war is over" and killed him right out in the open. Realizing that the yard had become a powder keg, Pechersky jumped on a table and made a speech remembered by Toivi Blatt as follows:

"Our day has come. Most of the Germans are dead. Let's die with honor. Remember, if anyone survives, he must tell the world what has happened here!"

As the prisoners began to disperse, they heard shots from Camp II. These shots were Erich Bauer, who had returned from a supply run to Chelm and parked outside the administration building where Beckmann lay dead. Just before the bugle sounded, Bauer had grabbed two child prisoners, one named David, the other Jakob Biskubitz to unload vodka from his truck. At approximately the moment when Pechersky was making his speech over in Camp I, a watchman exited the administration building shouting "Ein deutsch kaput!" Thinking that the children were responsible, Bauer fired, killing David but missing Jakob. When the prisoners in Camp I heard these shots, the yard exploded, and prisoners ran in every direction. At that moment a watchman rode into the camp on a bicycle and was dragged off his bike by some prisoners and killed. Kurt Thomas dragged the body behind one of the barracks, hoping none of the guards in the towers would notice.

There was a moment of confusion in which the watchmen in the towers didn't react. Itzhak Lichtman reported seeing some of the remaining SS men hiding, perhaps thinking that the camp was being attacked by partisans. But after a moment, the guards began shooting into the crowd. Szlomo Szmajzner fired his rifle and hit a watchman in a tower ("I did not do that; God did.") Pechersky and Feldhendler ran around trying to shepherd the prisoners out; many ran back to the barracks and pechersky and feldhendler couldn't convince them to go (rashke quotes pechersky as saying that things would have gone better if there had been a more orderly march to the gate rashke 471) [isn't there an explanation of this in schelvis somewhere?]

A large group of prisoners ran to the south fence of Camp I, behind the carpenters shop. The carpenters had left ladders, pliers, and axes lying in the weeds, as a backup plan in case the main gate proved inaccessible. Prisoners who took this way out included Esther Raab, Samuel Lerer, Mordechai Goldfarb, Hella Weiss, Zelda Metz, Eda Lichtman, and Abraham Margulies. These prisoners scaled the fence, traversed the ditch, and began running through the minefield. As they ran, the mines exploded, killing some of the escapees and attracting the attention of the watchmen in the towers who began shooting. Esther Raab felt bullet graze her head above her right ear. She kept running, but felt herself losing strength. She reached out to hold onto a woman running next to her, but the woman pushed her off and shouted "leave me alone!"

Another group of prisoners headed for the the Vorlager. Many prisoners tried to escape through the main gate or over the south fence, while a group of Soviet prisoners attempted to raid the armory.. There, they were met with Frenzel, who at this point had gotten out of the shower and was getting himself a pre-roll call drink in the canteen. Attracted by the commotion, Frenzel had grabbed a machine gun and run outside. Seeing the crowd of prisoners heading to the main gate, he opened fire, spraying the crowd of prisoners. Pechersky fired at Frenzel using Vallaster's pistol but missed. A group of prisoners attempted to rush the main gate, but were met with another SS officer there shooting into the crowd. Some scattered, but others were pushed forward by the force of those behind them. They trampled the main gate and flooded out the gate..

Others in the Vorlager tried to escape over the barbed wire to the west of the main gate, behind the SS officers' houses called the Swallow's Nest and the Merry Flea. They correctly guessed that the SS officers would not have placed mines so close to their own houses. Many prisoners who attempted to get out this way got stuck on the barbed wire. Among these prisoners was Thomas Blatt, who survived because the fence collapsed on top of him. As he lay on the ground, he saw the prisoners in front of him blown up as they crossed the minefield. Blatt freed himself by slipping out of his coat was stuck on the barbed wire and running across the exploded mines into the forest

Roughly 300 prisoners escaped to the forest.

pechersky was shocked that they'd made it to 5pm and judged that (rashke's words, though there might be a similar quote in pechersky's testimony) "the yard was ready to explode", so he ordered porczyski to blow the whistle for roll call -->

Covert killings
At 4pm, Deputy Commandant SS-Untersturmführer Johann Niemann rode up to the Camp I tailor's barracks on his horse. Earlier in the day, the head tailor had scheduled an appointment with him to be fitted for a leather jacket taken from a murdered Jew. The conspirators had prioritized Niemann's execution, since he was acting commandant while Commandant Reichleitner was on leave. Even if the rest of the plan failed, they anticipated that Niemann's death alone would cause enough chaos to allow some chance of escape. While admiring the jacket, Niemann spotted one of the Russian prisoners standing by with an axe. Niemann asked what he was doing there, but was satisfied with the head tailor's explanation that he was simply there to repair a table. At the tailor's request, Niemann removed his pistol holster and put on the jacket. The tailor asked Niemann to turn around, ostensibly to check if any alterations were needed in the back. When Niemann complied, two prisoners crept up behind him with axes and split his head open. Niemann's body was shoved under a table and his blood was covered up with sawdust.

Over the next hour, an SS officer was killed roughly every six minutes. Other than Niemann, those killed in Camp I include SS-Unterscharführer Josef Vallaster, SS-Oberscharführer Siegfried Graetschus, Sturmfhürer Ivan Klatt, SS-Unterscharführer Friedrich Gaulstich, and Fritz Konrad (rank unknown). Those killed in Camp II include SS-Scharführer Josef Wolf and SS-Oberscharführer Rudolf Beckmann. Unterscharführer Walter Ryba was killed in the Vorlager. Other officers killed include Max Bree, Anton Nowak, Thomas Steffl, Ernst Stengelin. The details of many of these killings are unknown.

The conspirators had originally planned to kill SS-Oberscharführer Rudolf Beckmann in a Camp II storage barracks, but on his way to the appointment, Beckmann had suddenly turned around and headed back to the administration building. Chaim Engel volunteered to kill Beckmann in his office, after overhearing Feldhendler discussing the situation with Kapo Hersh Pozyczki, the younger brother of Oberkapo Pozyczki. Engel and the younger Pozyczki went together to the administration building, and Engel stabbed Beckmann while Pozyczki restrained him. When Engel stabbed Beckmann, he shouted "For my father! For my brother! For all the Jews!" Beckmann struggled as Engel stabbed him, causing Engel's knife to slip and cut his own hand. Once Beckmann was dead, the two prisoners pushed his body under the desk, not having time to better hide him or clean up.

While the killings proceeded, Szlomo Szmajzner went to the Vorlager to acquire additional guns from the watchmens' barracks. During the last organizational meeting on October 12, he had offered to do so himself. As the camp machinist, Smajzner was often called to the Vorlager to clean and repair the stoves there, so he was able to enter the barracks carrying a replacement stovepipe over his shoulder. He entered the watchmens' barracks and helped himself to six rifles and ammunition. However, he could only fit two of the rifles inside the stovepipe, so he wrapped the others in a blanket. Once he was ready to go, he decided that it might be safer to hunker down in the Vorlager and not return to Camp I until the bugle call. That way, it would seem like he'd been acting alone if he was caught. Just before the bugle at 5pm, he found two child prisoners and ordered them to carry the blanket with the rifles. They were scared, so he forced them to do it at knifepoint. After the bugle call, he delivered the rifles to the Russians, but demanded that they let him keep one for himself.

The breakout
As roll call drew closer, Pechersky became increasingly concerned that the revolt would soon be discovered. He was surprised that the plan had succeeded so far, but nonetheless several killings had not gone as intended. In particular, while his plan had required that the SS men be killed discreetly, an impulsive prisoner had killed Unterscharführer Walter Ryba in the outdoor Vorlager garage. Pechersky considered beginning the breakout early, but was reluctant to do so while SS-Oberscharführer Karl Frenzel was still alive. Frenzel, regarded as one of the most dangerous officers in the camp, had dallied in the shower and was late for his appointment in the carpenter's shop. Close to 5pm, Pechersky and Leitman finally decided to give up on Frenzel and sent the bugler Judah to climb the forester's tower and blow the bugle announcing the end of the workday.

At this point, many prisoners in Camp I had already left their jobs and were standing around in the roll call yard or hiding in the adjacent buildings. In Camp II, the prisoners were confused by the early bugle call and gathered haphazardly for the march back to Camp I. Feldhendler was concerned that their unusual and disorderly lineup would attract attention from the guards, so he decided to lead the march on his own. He lined them up and they marched, singing the German sentimental tune Es war ein Edelweiss As the prisoners gathered in the roll call yard, rumors about the revolt began to spread among them. When a watchman prodded them to line up faster, a group of prisoners shouted "don't you know the war is over" and killed him right out in the open, to the shock of many others. Realizing that the yard had become a powder keg, Pechersky attempted to inform the group of what was going on. Toivi Blatt recalled Pechersky's speech as follows:

"Our day has come. Most of the Germans are dead. Let's die with honor. Remember, if anyone survives, he must tell the world what has happened here!"

As the prisoners began to disperse, they heard shots from Camp II. These shots were fired by SS-Oberscharführer Erich Bauer, who had returned from Chelm with a truck full of vodka. Just before the bugle sounded, Bauer had ordered two child prisoners to unload the vodka and carry it into the storeroom in the administration building where Beckmann had been killed. At approximately the moment when Pechersky was making his speech over in Camp I, a watchman ran over to Bauer shouting "Ein deutsch kaput!" Thinking that the children were responsible, Bauer fired his pistol, killing one of the children but missing the other. When the prisoners in Camp I heard these shots, the yard exploded, and prisoners ran in every direction. A group of them dragged a watchman off his bicycle and killed him. Many prisoners had to make a split second decision without knowing exactly what was going on. The plan had been kept on a need-to-know basis, so even those who were aware of the revolt knew few details. Pechersky and Feldhendler ran around the yard trying to shepherd prisoners out, but around 175 nonetheless stayed back.

As the crowd surged forward, there was a moment of confusion in which the watchmen in the towers didn't react. Itzhak Lichtman reported seeing some of the remaining SS men hiding, perhaps thinking that the camp was being attacked by partisans. After a moment, the watchmen began shooting into the crowd, and some of the prisoners shot with the rifles procured by Szmajzner and with pistols taken from dead SS officers. Szlomo Szmajzner hit a watchman in a tower, later recalling "I did not do that; God did."

One group of prisoners ran behind the carpenters shop. The carpenters had left ladders, pliers, and axes lying in the weeds next to the south fence, as a backup plan in case the main gate in the Vorlager proved inaccessible. These prisoners scaled the fence, traversed the ditch, and began running through the minefield towards the forest. As they ran, the mines exploded, killing some of the escapees and attracting the attention of the watchmen in the towers who began shooting. Esther Raab felt bullet graze her head above her right ear. She kept running, but felt herself losing strength. She reached out to hold onto a woman running next to her, but the woman pushed her off and shouted "leave me alone!"

A larger group of prisoners headed for the the Vorlager. These prisoners tried to escape through the main gate or over the south fence, while a group of Soviet prisoners attempted to raid the armory.. There, they were met with Frenzel, who at this point had gotten out of the shower and was getting himself a pre-roll call drink in the canteen. Attracted by the commotion, Frenzel had grabbed a machine gun and run outside. Seeing the crowd of prisoners heading to the main gate, he opened fire, spraying the crowd of prisoners. Pechersky fired at Frenzel using Vallaster's pistol but missed. A group of prisoners attempted to rush the main gate, but were met with another SS officer there shooting into the crowd. Some scattered, but others were pushed forward by the force of those behind them. They trampled the main gate and flooded out the gate.

Others in the Vorlager tried to escape over the barbed wire behind the SS officers' barracks, correctly guessing that there would be fewer mines there. Many prisoners who attempted to get out this way got stuck on the barbed wire. Among these prisoners was Thomas Blatt, who survived because the fence collapsed on top of him. As he lay on the ground, he saw the prisoners in front of him blown up as they crossed the minefield. Blatt freed himself by slipping out of his coat which was stuck on the barbed wire and running across the exploded mines and into the forest.

Roughly 300 prisoners escaped to the forest.

Revolt notes
rashke 286 - pechersky had originally wanted to kill frenzel himself but feldhendler pointed out that he was needed as a commander

frenzel noticed the carpenter's foreman was unusually well dressed that day and quipped "is there going to be a wedding here?" rashke 292

another scare when a nazi with a machine gun (rashke doesn't explicitly say ryba) led oberkapo porzyczki away; sasha kept an eye out for anything unusual; bunio confirmed that porzyczki had just been brought to take charge of something in the north camp 293; bunio had to take kali mali to camp ii 294

unclear timing: Friedman, a German Jew, cut the wires but see {{sfn|Rashke|1982|p=306} (I'm confused)


 * overall/various

Schelvis notes that there is some uncertainty about exactly who killed who. Arkady Wajspapir claimed that he and Lerner killed Graetschus, while Novitch reports that it was Lerner and Menche; Menche claimed credit himself; Rashke thinks it was Rosenfeld and Wajspapir; Szmajzner thinks it was just Szol, and Toivi Blatt thinks it was just Alexey Vaisen

Schelvis thinks Kurt Ticho made an error in identifying the bicycle watchman as Alex Kaiser, since that person turns up later involved in liquidating sobibor (i think it's interesting there's also the photo in the webb book that has him in Trieste, seemingly in the same uniform as some german/austrian ss officers, though the captions there have lots of weird errors; also interesting that Ticho's 1997 video testimony identifies the guard as klatt, though he seems unsure of it then)

More contradictions: Schelvis reads Pechersky's testimony as saying that Chaim Engel killed Ryba, and checked this with Engel who denied it; I checked and Pechersky's actual testimony only gives the name "Engel" and says the person was a locksmith from Warsaw, so even on the offchance that Pechersky actually got one name right, no reason to think it's Chaim Engel; also weird though that Schelvis in the main text says that Engel and Porczyski killed Steffl though Engel says he only killed beckmann

Pechersky watched from the carpenter's shop

Reichleitner on leave, so Niemann in charge

sasha told luka about the revolt while it was going on ; she gave him a shirt

toivi was told to watch over a dutch jew who wasn't trusted; toivi had a knife in his boot but wasn't sure he could use it; he went over and engaged the guy in conversation ; the dutch guy got suspicious when Wolf entered the sorting the barracks and didn't come out + he wanted to check it out, but Toivi summoned a guy called Sender who led the dutch guy away at knifepoint; kurt thomas babysat Kapo Spitz (german) the morning of the revolt


 * Niemann

Niemann killed first since he was in charge; even if plan discovered would cause a hitch while other officers figure out who was in charge ; rashke doesn't have him killed first, but agrees with schelvis that his death was planned early with the idea that his absence would throw the other officers into chaos

3:30 tailor foreman Mosche Hochman invited Niemann to try on a leather coat in the tailor's shop; he arrived on a horse and had the baker Srulek hold the reins; they brought Niemann to the back where he spotted Kali Mali; they reassured him that Kali Mali was just fixing the hat maker's table;

Niemann took off his holster belt and put on the jacket; Hochberg told him to turn around so he could check if the jacket needed any alterations in the back;

Niemann turned and Kali Mali split his head open with an axe; the body was shoved under a table when niemann was killed, he let out a brief scream, which was enough to startle his horse; Pechersky heard the scream from his vantage point; rashke has yehuda lerner as the one who killed niemann; lerner was a varsovian polish jew who had met pechersky and lajtman in minsk

Srulek took the horse back to the stables ; rashke gives "cilly" has name of Niemann's horse ;


 * prisoner Josef Dresche (or Drescher) tried to summon Frenzel to the carpenter's shop, but found he was in the shower; this was bad news since frenzel was regarded as one of the most dangeorus

on 471, rashke quotes sasha as presupposing that frenzel was supposed to inspect a barracks (not necessarily a contradiction, but i vaguely remember an alternate story where kurt ticho had summoned him to inspect the men's barracks, not the carpenter shop)

pechersky was reluctant to start the breakout with frenzel still alive but was persuaded otherwise by lajtman

frenzel still hadn't shown at roll call


 * SS Sigfried Graetschus was then killed by Yehuda Lerner and Arkady Wajspapier; a prisoner (schelvis says the hatmaker Chaskiel Menche) went ham on his body, stabbing him repeatedly with a pair of scissors while calling out the name of relatives killed there; rashke concurs, but thinks that the hatmaker was stabbing niemann's body and mentions shlomo helping restrain and gag him

rashke reports graetschus ("greischutz") being killed in the separate watchmens' shoe shop, though still by wajspapir; he reports klatt showing up unexpectedly looking for graetschus

ivan klatt showed up next and was killed too

after killings, took pistols from the dead


 * shlomo went to camp i with a stovepipe over his shoulder to steal guns; he entered the watchmens' barracks and helped himself to six rifles; he could only fit two inside the stovepipe because the bolts were open and he couldn't figure out how to close them; he wrapped the others in a blanket; decided to hunker down there until the bugle call so that it would seem like he'd been acting alone if he was caught; just before the bugle at 5pm, he found two putzers and had them carry the rug with the rifles; they were scared so he made them do it at knifepoint; back in camp i, he handed the guns over to the soviets but insisted that he get to keep one


 * Beckmann

Beckmann was summoned to the sorting barracks to try on a leather coat; he walked towards it but then turned and left and went back to his office in the admin building; drescher reported this to pechersky

chaim overheard organizers discussing the beckmann situation in the camp 2 utensil barracks and volunteered

Chaim Engel and Kapo Hersh Pozyczki (younger brother of Oberkapo Pozyczki) killed beckmann and (according to schelvis) also steffl in the forester's house/admin building in lager 2

Pozyczki restrained Beckmann while Chaim stabbed him; Chaim called out "For my father! For my brother! For all the Jews!"; he was splattered with blood, and cut himself after striking Beckmann's bones; they dropped the body under his desk, not having time to better hide him or thoroughly clean up;

selma heard beckmann squealing from outside the building and waited anxiously for him to come out; he emerged covered in blood; she bandaged his hand and cleaned him up and helped him sneak past bauer


 * Konrad and Vallaster were then killed in the shoe barracks;

rashke on vallaster: boris and grisha were the russians there; szol surname and itzhak lichtman were the locals; vallaster was hard of hearing, ran miner's train and worked in camp iii; the blow didn't land, so szol restrained him while boris finished him off


 * Josef Wolf was killed in one of the Camp II sorting barracks, by Soviets Cybulski and Grisha (2x check since scope isn't totally clear in schelvis text);


 * Around 4:45, SS Gaulstich returned to Camp I from the Nordlager with Oberkapo Pozyczki and Kapo Spitz. Pechersky and Lajtman spotted them through the window of the carpenter's barracks, where they were still waiting for Frenzel. Seizing the opportunity, Lajtman requested that Gaulstich come inside to inspect some cabinets. When Kapo Spitz made a move to follow Gaulstich inside, Pechersky and Pozyczki intervened, as Spitz was not trusted. Pozyczki took Spitz aside outside the barracks and held him at knifepoint while Lajtman killed Gaulstich.{{sfn|Rashke|1982|pp=305-306}


 * Bree was also killed (schelvis gives no details)


 * Stengelin was also killed (no details known; name only known through comment by Suchomel)


 * Ryba was killed in the garage; this was an unplanned spontaneous killing that alarmed pechersky because it was too out in the open and put the plan at risk; unknown who did it or why, though schelvis suggests that Ryba may have caught on to the plan


 * bauer returned to camp

r307 just says that selma saw bauer pull up next to the admin building while chaim was killing beckmann

at that moment from his supply run, and [something] prodded him to start shooting at the putzers unloading his truck; (rashke has better details about this); jakob biskubicz was one of them


 * end of the workday

schelvis suggests that Pechersky was alarmed by ryba's killing and had Oberkapo Porczyski blow the whistle for begin roll call early, at 4:45

rashke suggests that this was actually at 5pm, and that pechersky was following lajtman's advice to get out while things still looked okay; says judah the barber climbed the forester's tower and blew the bugle

many prisoners were already back (i.e. in Camp I) from work, e.g. esther raab who'd left work early, and hid in the laundry with Eda Lichtman, Zelda Metz, Hella Weiss, a.o. ; as they waited in the yard and some of the adjacent buildings, news of what was going on spread

the sixty or so workers from Camp IV were behind schedule and didn't make it back to Camp I before the open revolt broke out

the camp ii workers lined up haphazardly; there were no ss or watchmen around, so leon decided to lead the march back to camp i (for the appearance of normalcy to the watchmen in the towers); and had them sing Es war ein Edelweiss while marching

pechersky was shocked that they'd made it to 5pm and judged that (rashke's words, though there might be a similar quote in pechersky's testimony) "the yard was ready to explode", so he ordered porczyski to blow the whistle for roll call

he jumped on a table and shouted: "Our day has come. Most of the Germans are dead. Let's die with honor. Remember, if anyone survives, he must tell the world what has happened here"

in camp ii, bauer had grabbed putzers Jakob Biskubitz (check spelling) and David (last name?) to help unload his vodka truck; a watchman ran up to him saying "Ein deutsch kaput!" and Bauer fired, killing David but missing Jakob;

in rashke's term "a tornado hit the yard" (i.e. camp 1)

at that moment a watchman rode into the camp on a bicycle and was dragged off his bike by some prisoners and killed; Kurt Thomas helped drag the body behind one of the barracks, hoping none of the guards in the towers would notice. rashke names this guard as albert kaiser

many prisoners were oblivious, others knew something was up but were missing deets. they were restless and slow to line up. a watchman prodded them to line up faster, and a group of prisoners called out "don't you know the war is over" and killed that watchman right out in the open

carpenters in Camp I had prepared ladders, pliers, and axes as an alternate way of getting through the fence in the weeds between the carpenter's shop and the south fence esther raab, samuel lerer, mordechai goldfarb, hella weiss, zelda metz, eda lichtman, and abraham margulies (a.o.) took this route out [343 for lerer] the mine field erupted as they ran through it, attracting the attention of the watchmen in the towers, who started shooting;

esther raab as among those escaping by the carpenter's shop; a bullet grazed her head above her right ear, but she kept running; she felt weak and reached to hold onto someone running next to her who pushed her off shouting "leave me alone!"

there was a moment of chaos in which the watchmen didn't react; Itzak Lichtman reported some of the remaining SS men hiding, perhaps thinking that the camp was being attacked by partisans; then they started reacting, shooting into the crowd; Szlomo Szmajzner fired his rifle and hit a watchman in a tower ("I did not do that; God did.")

pechersky and feldhendler ran around trying to shepherd the prisoners out; many ran back to the barracks and pechersky and feldhendler couldn't convince them to go (rashke quotes pechersky as saying that things would have gone better if there had been a more orderly march to the gate rashke 471)

a large crowd headed for the Vorlager; many of them made for the main gate; an ss officer there fired into the crowd; those in the front tried to turn back but were pushed forward by the force of those behind them; the main gate was trampled down and people escaped;

others in the vorlager tried to climb the barbed wire but got stuck on the fence or blown up by the mines beyond it; some escaped right behind the germans' quarters (swallow's nest and merry flea) where there were no mines

blatt was one of these (schelvis claims in lager 1?), but survived because the fence collapsed on top of him, leaving him lying on the ground watching those in front of him getting blown up by mines, he freed himself by slipping out of his coat thtat was stuck on the barbed wire and running across the exploded mines into the forest

shlomo saw his cousins and girlfriend get hit, and lost track of his brother moses

frenzel had gotten out of the shower and was getting himself a pre-roll call drink at the canteen when the revolt broke out; the shots made him grab his machine gun and run outside; he sprayed the crowd as it headed for the main gate; he hit kitty gokkes in the leg though she still made it out; Pechersky fired at Frenzel with Vallaster's pistol but missed

schelvis thinks that the soviets raided the armory; ss karl werner dubois was severaly injured with an ax or a club rashke thinks that they were repelled by frenzel ; rashke describes it as a confusing issue, assuming that the priosners would have acquired machine guns if they'd gotten access to the armory; the german report from the following day says that the prisoners seized the armory, which rashke thinks may have been a face-saving invention

schelvis estimates that 365 at least made an attempt to escape; 159 remained in the camp, some with weapons and fought back