The Sobibor camp was the smallest of all Nazi owned concentration camps during World War II (Bulow). Construction of Sobibor lasted three months, from March until May of 1942 (USHMM), and was undertaken by eighty Jews from ghettos around Lublin (HEART). It was built around the Eastern part of the Lublin district of Poland (USHMM), very close to the Chelm-Wlodawa railway line that was used to transport the Jews into Sobibor. Sobibor was also five kilometers away from the Bug River which is the present-day border between Poland and Ukraine (HEART). Deportation into Sobibor first started on May 3rd, 1942 (USHMM). This paper will discuss the structure, security, prisoner life, and the shutting down of the Sobibor death camp.
Camp Structure In …show more content…
The authorities of Sobibor consisted of twenty to thirty police officers and German SS officials and ninety to one hundred and twenty men on a police guard unit. All officials were former Soviet or Ukrainian prisoners or Poles that were specially chosen for the job. All guards were trained at the Trawniki training camp in Lublin and were taught to be deceiving and cautious of how they went about their jobs (USHMM). According to SS- Oberscharfuhrer Kurt Bolender, “He used to wear a white coat to give the impression he was a physician. Michel announced to the Jews that they would be sent to work. But before this they would have to take baths and undergo disinfection, so as to prevent the spread of diseases. After undressing, the Jews were taken through ‘the tube’,” …show more content…
Six hundred prisoners were left at the camp and almost all of them committed suicide by jumping into the electric fences to avoid punishment from the guards (USHMM). Heinrich Himmler ordered the camp be shut down shortly after this uprising (Bulow). After Sobibor was liberated and every prisoner had either escaped or been executed, the camp was torn down and trees were planted over the entire area to hide the horrors that had occurred there. Twelve men were taken to trial for their participation in the mass murders of thousands
Camp Structure In …show more content…
The authorities of Sobibor consisted of twenty to thirty police officers and German SS officials and ninety to one hundred and twenty men on a police guard unit. All officials were former Soviet or Ukrainian prisoners or Poles that were specially chosen for the job. All guards were trained at the Trawniki training camp in Lublin and were taught to be deceiving and cautious of how they went about their jobs (USHMM). According to SS- Oberscharfuhrer Kurt Bolender, “He used to wear a white coat to give the impression he was a physician. Michel announced to the Jews that they would be sent to work. But before this they would have to take baths and undergo disinfection, so as to prevent the spread of diseases. After undressing, the Jews were taken through ‘the tube’,” …show more content…
Six hundred prisoners were left at the camp and almost all of them committed suicide by jumping into the electric fences to avoid punishment from the guards (USHMM). Heinrich Himmler ordered the camp be shut down shortly after this uprising (Bulow). After Sobibor was liberated and every prisoner had either escaped or been executed, the camp was torn down and trees were planted over the entire area to hide the horrors that had occurred there. Twelve men were taken to trial for their participation in the mass murders of thousands