October 14, 1943. The revolt was planned and led by Jewish prisoner Leon Felhendler and Soviet-Jewish prisoner of war Alexander Pechersky. Jewish prisoners launched an armed revolt at the Sobibor extermination camp on October 14, 1943. Inmates secretly killed 12 SS officers and 2 guards with hand weapons like knives and hatchets before attempting a mass breakout. Around 300 prisoners managed to escape the camp, though many were later tracked down and killed by German SS, police, and military units.
Following the rebellion, the Nazis shut down, dismantled, and leveled the camp. Only about 47 camp survivors remained alive by the end of World War II.
Sobibor was not merely a concentration camp. Its sole purpose was mass murder as part of Operation Reinhard, the Nazi plan to annihilate the Jewish population of Poland. The camp was hidden deep in a wooded area and surrounded by double barbed-wire fences woven with pine branches to block outside views. The site was divided into a reception area (Vorlager) and multiple distinct compounds (Lagers) separated for administration, forced labor, and the gas chambers.
The camp operated from May 1942 until October 14, 1943. Between 170,000 and 250,000 people—mostly Jews from Poland and other European countries—were murdered there. The vast majority of arriving prisoners were forced off trains and gassed within hours of arrival.
After the October 14, 1943, revolt, the Nazis shut down and completely demolished the camp, planting pine trees over the site to erase evidence.
