--- title: "Sobibor" description: "Sobibor was a Nazi extermination camp where up to 250,000 Jews were murdered. Learn about its operation, the 1943 prisoner revolt, camp closure, and postwar rediscovery." url: "https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/sobibor" date: "2026-07-27T05:50:09+00:00" language: "en-GB" --- ![Sobibor was a Nazi extermination camp located in former occupied Poland](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-slider.jpg) # Sobibor ## History of Sobibor Concentration Camp Victims: 200.000 + prisoners lost their lives [](#) [](#) - [ Sobibor](#) Remember the victims of Sobibor ![ A Star of David, a yellow star as a tool of exclusion of the Jews](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/32/D-Day-normandy-beyond-Jodenster-32c9fec7.png?src=images/jews/D-Day-normandy-beyond-Jodenster.png&thumbnail=550,579,&hash=3d6ad4d5) Sobibor was an extermination camp built and operated by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Reinhard (the codename of the secretive German plan in World War 2 to exterminate Polish Jews in the General Government district of German-occupied Poland. This deadliest phase of the Holocaust was marked by the introduction of extermination camps.) It was located in the forest near the village of Sobibór in the General Government region of German-occupied Poland. "Survival is a privilege which entails obligations. I am forever asking myself what I can do for those who have not survived". ##### *Simon Wiesenthal* - [ History ](#history) - [ Termination ](#liberation) - [ Testimony ](#testimony) - [ Commanders ](#commanders) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-001.jpg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-003.jpg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-004.jpg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-005.jpg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-006.jpg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-007.jpg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-009.jpg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-008.jpg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-002.jpg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-010.jpg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-011.jpg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-012.jpg) [](#) [](#) - [](#) - [](#) - [](#) - [](#) - [](#) - [](#) - [](#) - [](#) - [](#) - [](#) - [](#) - [](#) Copyright: USHMM, Bundesarchiv, Camps, Arolsen Archives and others (used with permission) ### Establishment and operational history ### Purpose and scale of the camp **Sobibor** was a **Nazi extermination camp**, not a concentration camp. Established as part of [**Operation Reinhard**](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust), its sole purpose was the mass murder of Jews. Unlike concentration camps, **Sobibor** had no long-term detention function: the overwhelming majority of those deported there were murdered within hours of arrival. Between **170.000** and **250.000** people, almost all of them Jews, were murdered at **Sobibor**. This makes **Sobibor** one of the deadliest extermination camps of the **Holocaust**. Only a small number of prisoners were temporarily spared from immediate death. These individuals were forced into labor roles essential to the camp’s operation, such as sorting victims’ belongings, cutting hair, maintaining facilities and removing bodies from the gas chambers. Survival beyond a few months was rare. ### Establishment and killing operations (**1942**–**1943**) **Sobibor** became fully operational in **May 1942** (most sources cite **16** - **18 May**). Deportation trains entered a specially constructed railway siding that ended at an unloading platform within the camp. Upon arrival, Jews were told they were in a transit camp and that they would be sent onward to labor. The deception continued through every stage of the process. Prisoners were forced to surrender valuables, separated by sex and ordered to undress. Women and girls had their hair cut by Jewish prisoner-workers known as Friseure (barbers); among them was [**Toivi (Thomas) Blatt**](https://www.normandy1944.info/blog/ww2-books/from-the-ashes-of-sobibor), who was **15** years old at the time. Victims were then driven in groups along a narrow, fenced passage approximately **100** meters long, euphemistically called the “**Road to Heaven**” (Himmelfahrtsstraße), leading directly to the gas chambers. There they were murdered using carbon monoxide, produced by a gasoline engine whose exhaust was piped into the chambers. Before the Jews undressed, **SS-Oberscharführer Hermann Michel** made a speech to them. On these occasions, he wore a white coat to give the impression that he was a physician. **Michel** told the Jews they were going to work, but first had to bathe and be disinfected to prevent disease. After undressing, the Jews were taken through the “Tube,” with an SS man in front and **five** or **six** Ukrainians behind, driving them forward. Once inside the gas chambers, the doors were closed. The motor was started by **Emil Kostenko**, a former Soviet soldier and by **Erich Bauer**, a German driver from Berlin. After the gassing, the doors were opened and the corpses removed by Jewish Sonderkommando prisoners. Treatment during deportation varied. Local Jews from occupied Poland often arrived in states of extreme terror, while deportees from Western Europe, such as the Netherlands, were subjected to more elaborate deception. Transports from Westerbork traveled in relatively orderly conditions, sometimes with Jewish doctors and nurses on board, adequate food and medical supplies. For many, **Sobibor** did not initially appear to be a place of immediate death. ### The **Sobibor Revolt** (**14 October 1943**) On **14 October 1943**, prisoners staged one of the most significant armed uprisings in the history of Nazi camps. The revolt was organized by Jewish prisoners, including **Leon Feldhendler** and **Alexander Pechersky**, a Soviet Jewish POW. **The plan had **two** phases:** 1. **Assassination phase**: Small teams of prisoners would lure SS officers into workshops and kill them silently. 2. **Escape phase**: All prisoners, **550** people, would assemble for evening roll call and march out through the camp’s main gate. The plan unraveled when the killings were discovered prematurely. By that point, **12** German SS men had been killed. With no chance of an orderly departure, prisoners fled in chaos, climbing fences and running through a minefield while under machine-gun fire. > Approximately **320** prisoners escaped the camp. Many were later captured or killed, but the revolt succeeded in fatally disrupting **Sobibor’s** operation. ### The **Sobibor Revolt** in numbers **Jewish prisoners** - Prisoners in the camp at the time of the revolt: **550** - Unable or unwilling to escape (including **30** in Lager I): **150** - Killed during escape (combat or mines): **80** - Initial escapees: **320** - Captured during German manhunt and executed: **170** - Prisoners who evaded recapture: **150** - Killed later as partisans or soldiers: **5** - Killed in hiding, often by hostile locals: **92** - Liberated at war’s end: **53** - Additionally, **9** Jews survived from earlier individual escapes, bringing the total number of **Sobibor** survivors to **62**. ### German and auxiliary forces - Germans and Ukrainian guards on duty: **137** - Germans killed (including **2** Volksdeutsche guard leaders): **12** - Germans wounded: **1** - Ukrainian guards killed: **8** - Ukrainian guards wounded: **12** - Ukrainian guards unaccounted for (likely fled): **28** *Statistics compiled with the assistance of **Thomas Blatt**, **Sobibor** survivor, historian, author and his daughter, **Rena Blatt**.* ### Closure and destruction of the camp In the aftermath of the revolt, **Sobibor** effectively ceased functioning. On **19 October 1943**, SS leader [**Heinrich Himmler**](https://www.normandy1944.info/home/commanders/life-and-death-of-heinrich-himmler) formally ordered the camp’s closure. Jewish forced laborers were transferred from Treblinka to dismantle **Sobibor**. They destroyed the gas chambers and most camp buildings, leaving only a few barracks for potential use by the Baudienst forced labor service. This work was completed by the end of October. Between **1** and **10 November 1943**, all of these Jewish laborers were murdered to eliminate witnesses. The camp site was then plowed over and planted with pine trees in an attempt to erase all traces of its existence. ### Postwar neglect and rediscovery For decades after **World War II**, **Sobibor** remained largely neglected, both physically and in **Holocaust** scholarship. The site lay in the Soviet Union and public commemoration was minimal. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, renewed attention was given to **Sobibor**. The Sobibor Museum was established at the site and systematic archaeological excavations began, continuing into the **21st century**. These excavations uncovered foundations of the gas chambers, personal belongings of victims and other crucial evidence. In **2020**, the first known photographs of **Sobibor** during its operation were published as part of the so-called Sobibor perpetrator album, further deepening historical understanding of the camp. ### Camp statistics - In operation from: May 1942 - 10 November 1943 - Prisoners during operation: ± 650 slave labour prisoners people - Recorded deaths: 200.000 + people --- ### Location map ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/templates/yootheme/assets/images/consent_placeholder_map.svg) ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/templates/yootheme/assets/images/consent_icon_openstreetmap.svg)OpenStreetMap service required to load this map. ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/templates/yootheme/assets/images/consent_icon_openstreetmap.svg)OpenStreetMap service required to load this map. Location: Sobibor, Poland --- [ Official website or memorial ](http://www.sobibor-memorial.eu/en) --- Page updated on: 17 July 2026 ##### Real eyewitness testimony from Sobibor ##### Selma Engel - Sobibor survivor > "A warm thank you to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for their willingness to help in allowing their testimonies to be featured on my website". [**Visit their website here**](https://www.ushmm.org/ "United States Holocaust Memorial Museum") ### When did Sobibor cease to exist? ### The camp ceased operations on 10 November 1943, following its dismantlement by orders of the SS. ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/patches/ss-sleeve-patch.png) [](#) [](#) ##### Sobibor camp commmanders An overview of the people who ordered and inflicted the atrocities on the prisoners. ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/commanders/german/Franz-Stangl.jpg) ### Franz Stangl 28 April 1942 - 30 August 1942 ![](https://www.normandy1944.info/images/commanders/german/Franz-Reichleitner.jpg) ### Franz Reichleitner 1 September 1942 - 17 October 1943 [](#) [](#) [](#) ###### Other concentration camps [ ![Dachau](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/29/D-Day-Normandy-beyond-Dachau-05-294e35fc.jpg?src=images/photos/color/dachau/D-Day-Normandy-beyond-Dachau-05.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=51b41554) ### Dachau Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/dachau) [ ![Auschwitz](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/f3/d-day-normandy-beyond-auschwitz-007-f3ac14cd.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Auschwitz/d-day-normandy-beyond-auschwitz-007.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=a7f70b59) ### Auschwitz Oswiecim, Poland ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/auschwitz) [ ![Natzweiler-Struthof](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/43/Entrance-at-Natzweiler-Struthof-after-liberation-4371364c.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Majdanek/Entrance-at-Natzweiler-Struthof-after-liberation.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=5b77a022) ### Natzweiler-Struthof Natzweiler, France ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/natzweiler-struthof) [ ![Workcamp Geesbrug](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/ce/kamp-geesburg-concentration-camp-grounds-ce4229ff.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Geesburg/kamp-geesburg-concentration-camp-grounds.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=ba09cad2) ### Workcamp Geesbrug Geesbrug, The Netherlands ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/workcamp-geesbrug) [ ![Sobibor](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/aa/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-002-aaccdbd1.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Sobibor/d-day-normandy-beyond-sobibor-002.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=37bd7805) ### Sobibor Sobibor, Poland ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/sobibor) [ ![Kamp Schoorl](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/3c/kamp-schoorl-concentration-camp-grounds-3cb46d65.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Schoorl/kamp-schoorl-concentration-camp-grounds.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=8f45bba9) ### Kamp Schoorl Schoorl, The Netherlands ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/kamp-schoorl) [ ![Majdanek](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/de/majdanek-concentration-camp-history-prisoners-group-dee8c783.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Majdanek/majdanek-concentration-camp-history-prisoners-group.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=5c642390) ### Majdanek Lublin, Poland ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/majdanek) [ ![Neuengamme](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/05/Entrance-to-the-SS-barracks-with-the-first-wooden-guard-tower-neuengamme-05be6f2a.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Neuengamme/Entrance-to-the-SS-barracks-with-the-first-wooden-guard-tower-neuengamme.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=296b9bba) ### Neuengamme Hamburg, Northern Germany ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/neuengamme) [ ![Camp Erika](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/72/camp-erika-netherlands-road-entrance-to-camp-724886e3.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Erika/camp-erika-netherlands-road-entrance-to-camp.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=994d1cbc) ### Camp Erika Ommen, The Netherlands ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/camp-erika) [ ![Mauthausen](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/dd/d-day-normandy-beyond-Mauthausen-main-gate-dd7bcf90.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Mauthausen/d-day-normandy-beyond-Mauthausen-main-gate.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=dbd10bca) ### Mauthausen Mauthausen, Upper Austria ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/mauthausen) [ ![Buchenwald](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/4f/D-day-normandy-beyond-Liberated-Prisoners-Buchenwald-April-18-1945-003-4faefff1.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Buchenwald/D-day-normandy-beyond-Liberated-Prisoners-Buchenwald-April-18-1945-003.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=183f2b27) ### Buchenwald Weimar, Germany ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/buchenwald) [ ![Ravensbrück](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/d5/d-day-normandy-beyond-ravensbruck-001-d51ec609.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Ravensbruck/d-day-normandy-beyond-ravensbruck-001.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=e44759c8) ### Ravensbrück Fürstenberg/Havel, Germany ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/ravensbrueck) [ ![Bergen Belsen](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/92/d-day-normandy-beyond-bergen-belsen-011-9261470b.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Bergen/d-day-normandy-beyond-bergen-belsen-011.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=f9c5da8a) ### Bergen Belsen Lower Saxony, Northern Germany ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/bergen-belsen) [ ![Westerbork](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/9d/D-day-normandy-beyond-Westerbork-008-9d0ea87e.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Westerbork/D-day-normandy-beyond-Westerbork-008.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=c36763f2) ### Westerbork Westerbork, the Netherlands ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/westerbork) [ ![Kamp Vught](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/47/d-day-normandy-beyond-vught-001-47dd1820.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/vught/d-day-normandy-beyond-vught-001.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=9cd240bb) ### Kamp Vught Vught, Netherlands ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/kamp-vught) [ ![Amersfoort](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/4b/D-day-normandy-beyond-Amersfoort-004-4bf094d7.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Amersfoort/D-day-normandy-beyond-Amersfoort-004.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=a9a794c0) ### Amersfoort Amersfoort, The Netherlands ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/amersfoort) [ ![Sachsenhausen](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/ad/d-day-normandy-beyond-Sachsenhausen-010-ad5676b5.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Sachsenhausen/d-day-normandy-beyond-Sachsenhausen-010.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=8555e6e1) ### Sachsenhausen Oranienburg, Germany ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/sachsenhausen) [ ![Mittelbau Dora](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/11/d-day-normandy-beyond-concentration-camps-dora-mittelbau-026-11ce5fed.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/dora/d-day-normandy-beyond-concentration-camps-dora-mittelbau-026.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=8afd68fd) ### Mittelbau Dora Nordhausen, Germany ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/mittelbau-dora) [ ![Flossenbürg](https://www.normandy1944.info/media/yootheme/cache/34/d-day-normandy-beyond-concentration-camp-flossenburg-germany-001-3471f7e3.jpg?src=images/photos/Holocaust/Flossenburg/d-day-normandy-beyond-concentration-camp-flossenburg-germany-001.jpg&thumbnail=350,210,&hash=4f9217c9) ### Flossenbürg Flossenbürg, Germany ](https://www.normandy1944.info/holocaust/concentrationcamps/flossenbuerg) [](#) [](#) #### Cite this historical page I aim to provide accurate, open-access accurate historical records. 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