TREBLINKA: - Holocaust Handbooks

Chapter VIII: Indirect Transports of Jews to the Eastern Territories 259
“The transit camp Sobibór is to be converted into a concentration
camp. In the concentration camp a plant for the repair of captured munitions
is to be established.”
This instruction, directed to officials who could not have been unclear
about the actual character of the Sobibór camp, was a Reich secret: for what
reason should Himmler have used the expression “Durchgangslager” (transit
camp)? In order to pull the wool over the eyes of his underlings – who knew
all about it for a long time?
Deportations of Dutch Jews to Sobibór took place around the time of
Himmler’s order: on July 2, a transport with 2,397 persons arrived, on July 9
another with 2,417. 757 That Sobibór had the function of a transit camp also
emerges from the statements of several former Dutch-Jewish deportees:
Cato Polak, deported on March 10, 1943, remained in Sobibór one or two
hours and was then transferred to Lublin with 30 women and 12 men. They returned
home to Holland by way of Trawniki – Auschwitz – Bergen-Belsen –
Theresienstadt. 758
Bertha Jansen-Ensel and Judith Eliazar, who had arrived in Sobibór on
March 10, 1943, were likewise transferred to Lublin. Both returned to their
homeland via Auschwitz. Although they had alluded to gas chambers and
cremations, they declared: 759
“Sobibor was no camp, rather a transit camp.”
Jules Schelvis, deported to Sobibór on June 1, 1943, was transferred to
Trawniki three hours after his arrival there and returned to Holland via Auschwitz.
760
Mirjam Penha-Blitz gave a statement that was summarized as follows: 761
“Deported by train from Westerbork on March 10, 1943. Arrival in Sobibor
about March 13, 1943 (via Birkenau – without a stop – to Sobibor).”
Four or five hours after arrival at the camp, the witness was deported to
Lublin. Her return home occurred via Birkenau.
Sientje and Jetje Veterman, sent to Sobibór on April 6, 1943, were sorted
out together with 28 other women for work and transferred to Trawniki with
them. They returned to the Netherlands by way of Auschwitz-Birkenau. 762
Elias Alex Cohen, deported to Sobibór on March 17, 1943, spent only a
few hours in the camp and was sent to Lublin with 35 other Jews. 763 Sophie
Verduin, deported on March 10, 1943, was transferred to Lublin after a few
757
Het Nederlandsche Roode Kruis. Afwikkelingsbureau Concentratiekampen. Sobibór. ROD,
c[23.62.]09, p. 1
758
Ibid., ’s-Gravenhage, Nov. 4, 1945, Verklaring 49, ROD, c[23.62.]09, p. 10.
759
Ibid., Verklaring 134, pp. 13f.
760 Ibid., Verklaring 177, p. 15.
761 Ibid., Verklaring 178, p. 16.
762 Ibid., Verklaring 180, p. 17.
763 Ibid., Verklaring 186, p. 18.