Sobibor Uprising (Part 3)

Significant to the plan was that only a very small group of the prisoners even knew of the revolt. It was to be a surprise to the general camp population at roll call.

It was decided that the following day, October 13, would be the day of revolt.

We knew our fate. We knew that we were in an extermination camp and death was our destiny. We knew that even a sudden end to the war might spare the inmates of the "normal" concentration camps, but never us. Only desperate actions could shorten our suffering and maybe afford us a chance of escape. And the will to resist had grown and ripened. We had no dreams of liberation; we hoped merely to destroy the camp and to die from bullets rather than from gas. We would not make it easy for the Germans.⁸

October 13

The day had finally arrived. Tension was high. In the morning, a group of SS arrived from the nearby Ossowa labor camp. The arrival of these additional SS not only increased the man power of the SS in the camp but could preclude the regular SS men from making their appointments in the workshops. Since the additional SS were still in the camp during lunchtime, the revolt was postponed. It was rescheduled for the following day - October 14.

As the prisoners went to bed, many were afraid of what was to come.

Esther Grinbaum, a very sentimental and intelligent young woman, wiped away her tears and said: "It's not yet the time for an uprising. Tomorrow none of us will be alive. Everything will remain as it was - the barracks, the sun will rise and set, the flowers will bloom and wilt, but we will be no more." Her closest friend, Helka Lubartowska, a beautiful dark-eyed brunette, tried to encourage her: "There is no other way. Nobody knows what the results will be, but one thing is sure, we will not be led to slaughter."⁹

The day had come. Excitement among the prisoners was so high that no matter what happened, the revolt could not be postponed, for the SS were sure to notice the change in mood in the prisoners. The few weapons that had been made were already handed out to those doing the killing. In the morning, they all had to try to look and act normal while waiting for the afternoon to come.

• Noon
  All battle team commanders (the prisoners who were to actively participate in the revolt were broken up into battle teams of two to three persons each) had each individually met with Sasha for final instructions.

  Frenzel entered the carpentry shop and noticed one prisoner is wearing especially nice clothing. The inmate was wearing nice clothes in preparation for the revolt. Many other prisoners were wearing extra clothes as well as carrying extra food and valuables. Frenzel asks the prisoner if he's going to a wedding.¹⁰ Did this make Frenzel suspicious?

• 2:00 p.m.
  Something unusual happened. SS Unterscharführer Walter Ryba, armed with a submachine gun, came into Lager I and took four prisoners away with him. SS didn't usually carry such heavy weapons. Could he know about the planned revolt?

• 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
  Sasha finds out that SS Ryba was only carrying the submachine gun because a Ukrainian guard had not also accompanied the prisoners.

  Many of the battle teams take their positions.

  My assignment was to liquidate Scharführer Greischutz, who was in charge of the Ukrainian guard. I was happy for the opportunity given to me to kill a German. We had prepared axes, which we had sharpened in the smithy. We took up our position an hour earlier. At four o'clock we were sitting in the rooms and waited.¹¹

• 4:00 to 5:00 p.m.
  The killings began. (Though there are discrepancies in the accounts as to which SS officer was killed at what location, the following is a summary of the SS deaths.)
  • Vorlager: Leon Feldhendler was stationed here to help orchestrate the revolt in this section of the camp.

    Unterscharführer Josef Wulf: Wulf was the first SS man killed during the revolt. Once he entered the storeroom, one prisoner offered him a coat and another helped him into it. While he was putting on the coat, two other prisoners hit him on the head with axes. Wulf's dead body was then hidden among piles of clothes and the blood was cleaned up.

    Steubel: Steubel was also lured into the storeroom and killed.

    Scharführer Vallaster: Killed during revolt; circumstances of death not known.

    Scharführer Kurt Beckman: While the attempt to lure Beckman to the storeroom for a new leather coat started successfully, on his way he abruptly turned around and went to his office. A little later, three prisoners went to Beckman's office where they surprised him and stabbed him with daggers. Since they did not have time to hide his body or clean up the blood, they left the body behind the desk.

    Unterscharführer Walter Ryba: Not part of the planned killings, Ryba entered the SS garage and was killed by a prisoner working there. Sasha worried that Ryba's body, which was very close to the SS and Ukrainian living quarters, would be discovered.

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