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FIGHTERS ON THE FRONT AND IN THE FORESTS 321
The rest of the men were taken to camp #3.
Somewhat earlier, in February, 1943, a Jewish
guard, another man, and a woman prisoner had
tried to run away. In revenge, the Germans shot
all 150 Jews of camp #3 who worked in the crematoria.
Our Jews from Chelm were sent to this
camp #3.
Forced to do such terrible work, the Jews decided
they would not kill their own sisters and
brothers, and they began to dig an underground
escape route. After they had managed to dig 100
feet, they were betrayed, and Unterscharfuhrer
Neyman shot every one of them. Unterscharfuhrer
Neyman was a sort of political leader
in camp and never failed to say some "good
word" to the prisoners.
Now we prisoners of the first camp feared
we were to be the next ones killed. But the chief
of the camp, Frentzl, called us together and said,
"Criminals wanted to attack us and therefore they
paid with their lives. You are decent people and if
you work for us, you will be treated well." Frentzl
took 30 men from our camp and put them to work
in camp #3.
About the same time, another event happened.
A group of Jewish prisoners were working
in the woods. A German sent two Jews under
a Ukrainian guard to fetch some water and
the prisoners killed the guard and ran away.
While the German went to look for the guard,
12 more Polish Jews ran away. The Germans shot
some of the remaining Jews in the woods and
sent the others back to camp. Then Germans took
10 Jews to the second camp and shot them. Before
the unfortunate Jews died, they yelled to us,
the witnesses to their murder, "Fight the Germans!
Avenge our death!"
The Germans now feared more prisoners
would run away despite the efficiency of their
protective measures: The camp was surrounded
by guard-towers manned by armed Ukrainian
guards; the walls were protected by three rows
of barbed wire; beyond the wires, there was a
moat, 10 feet by 10 feet, filled with water; and
minefields nearly 30 yards deep surrounded the
entire camp. Yet the Germans adopted new measures,
putting barbed wire on the barrack win-
dows and posting guards in and outside the
buildings.
Nevertheless, some prisoners again managed
to escape. Two Jewish Communists escaped. In
reprisal, the Germans shot 20 more Jews. In 1943,
a Dutch journalist managed to organize the escape
from the camp of 72 more Jews, and the Germans
again shot down many Jews in reprisal.
On August, 1943, 600 Jewish war-prisoners
from Minsk were brought to Sobibor. They were
officers and soldiers of the Red Army. The Germans
selected 80 of them for forced labor and
the rest were gassed and burned. Among the survivors
was the commissar Sashke, a dear youth
from Rostov. He was the one who had masterminded
and organized the mass escape, carefully
selecting his collaborators in the plot in order to
avoid betrayal. This was his plan: in one moment
to interrupt all lines of communication and electricity,
kill the German hangmen, and break out
of captivity. He prepared for the revolt by having
the Jews who worked in the smithy make axes
and knives. They also intended to take the arms
of killed Germans.
October 14, 1943, was chosen as the date for
the uprising. At a set time (5 p.m.), the shoemakers
and tailors of camp #1 asked their German
clients to come and try on the things that they
had ordered. At the same time, the electrician of
the camp, also a prisoner there, cut all wires of
communication and the lighting. When
Greyshut, the chief of the guards, came to the
shoemaker, the latter killed him with an axe as
he entered. The trainmaster, Klyat, was killed in
the same place. Another German came riding on
a horse and went into the room of the tailors.
While a young boy was holding his horse, and
the German was having his measurements taken,
he was hit over the head with an axe and his
body hidden under a bed. The same was done
in camp #2. Unterscharfuhrer Wolf was killed in
the storehouse and his body was hidden among
the stored things. His brother was killed in the
same place.
When Unterscharfuhrer Beckman came to his
office, he grabbed for a weapon, but was dealt
with in the same mannerkilled by Heinrich