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World Holocaust Memorial Center marks 76th anniversary of Jewish uprising(2020.02.10)



On October 30, 2019, Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Memorial Center, will commemorate the 76th anniversary of the Jewish uprising in Sobibór, a former Nazi death camp in Germany. The event will be held at the Yad Vashem Synagogue and will include a presentation by Yael Frieberg Atzmoni, a representative of the second generation of Sobibór survivors, and Yossi Gevir, director of Yad Vashem's government and external affairs department. Naama Galil of Yad Vashem's Department of Memorial and Community Relations will also speak on the history of the camp and the Sobibór uprising.


Sobibór's Rebellion and Desertion

      In October 1943, two Jewish prisoners, Leon Feldhendler and Lieutenant Alexander Alexander (Sasha) Pechersky, planned and led a massive rebellion and escape of 300 Jews imprisoned and exterminated in Sobibór. Nearly half of the prisoners were killed during the escape, and many others were pursued after the escape. About 50 people survived by hiding in the nearby forest.

      Sobibór was one of the three "Operation Reinhard" extermination camps, which began operating in April 1942. Historians estimate that between 170,000 and 250,000 Jews were killed in Sobibór by the time the camp closed after the 1943 uprising. The Germans destroyed the camp to eliminate all evidence of its existence.



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