Russian Historical Society has received the documents related to the history of Sobibor concentration camp, TASS informs. The historical materials were passed by the Central archive of the Defense Department of the Russian Federation.
Russian Historical Society clarified that these documents have never been disclosed before. A bit later, everybody will be able to get acquainted with these documents as they will be available to the public.
These documents include testimonies of the former Sobibor prisoners, stories of the local population, documentary photographs, copies of reports, notes and decrees of the Red Army dated 1944. There is a document signed by the population of the neighboring villages and the Red Army soldiers about organization of the concentration camp and mass annihilation of the civil population and prisoners of war. The document reads that SS-officers were managing the concentration camp and Galichina division soldiers were guarding the prisoners. There is a note that up to 6 special trains arrived to Sobibor by railways every day, each of such trains contained around 2000 people including children and elderly people.
Sobibor camp was located in Poland. 250 000 people were killed there in less than two years. The majority of these people were Polish, French, Austrian and Russian Jews.
In October 1943, there was a rebellion of the prisoners headed by the Red Army officer Alexander Pechersky. More than 300 prisoners were set free. The Hitler’s soldiers managed to find and kill more than a half of them. Almost 90 people escaping the Nazis fell victims to the Polish collaborationists and local anti-Semites.
Russkiy Mir
