Escape From Sobibor Page #7

- I don't know. He's not

there, Scharfhrer Bauer.

- Well, I haven't got all

day. Get 2 men to unload this.

Yes, sir!

Here's Porchek.

- Where have you been? - They took me

to the north camp. I couldn't get out of it.

So far, we've been very lucky,

but Frenzel is missing and we

may have trouble with Beckmann.

Go over to compound two.

Leon needs help.

I just can't believe it.

We're actually killing SS-men.

I mean that's a hard thing

to believe. Killing them.

It's beautiful. I

just can't believer it.

- Mmm... Magnificent.

The aroma alone... Words fail me.

Tell me how you do it.

You are a plumber, are you not?

Of course you are.

Only a Jewish plumber could

concoct something so obviously delicious.

So tell me how you do it.

- You do speak, don't you?

Yes, sir.

What's your Christian name?

I'm just trying to be friendly.

What's your Christian name?

- I have no Christian

name, only a Jewish name.

My name is Hershel Zuckerman

and don't you forget it!

We can't wait any longer,

it's almost time for roll-call

Go to Beckmanns office. If

everything looks alright, kill him.

You come right back here, get Kalimali and

the other Russians, take them to compound 1.

- Chaim, this one we didn't plan.

- I know. Thank you.

Here, use this.

No, please let him use this one.

Good luck.

I'll be back.

- Two more, eh?

- Come on, move! Move!

Sergeant Beckmann.

What are you doing here...?

Kill him. Do it! Do it!

We'll put him behind the desk.

- It went well. We killed 5. - That

makes 10 all together. - Eleven.

Here are some pistols. Leon has the rest.

Good man, Kalimali.

- What's in the box?

-2 rifles.

- Ammunition?

- Just one clip. Each.

Go to the kitchen. You take him.

Ask Shlomo if he has any ammunition.

- Right.

So far, we've been too lucky.

Someone is bound to catch on soon.

- Judah, you'd better sound the bugle. Now.

- Still no sergeant Frenzel.

If he shows up at roll-call

we can get him there.

If not... God help us.

Follow me!

Columns of fours. We do it every day.

Line up!

Follow me!

- Are you wearing it?

- Did you think I would not?

It's going to be cold at night.

- Where is Shlomo? Have you seen him?

- He'll be here. He'll be here.

Put the bullets here. You see.

Here. I don't know how to use this.

- Is everything going alright?

- Yes. Everything's fine.

- How long do we stay here?

- Until I blow the whistle for roll-call.

- More than 10 minutes before roll-call.

- I don't think we can wait that long.

Look what's happening.

- We must go.

- Now...? Now!

Come on, line up in fours!

Line up in fours!

Line up!

Everybody in line!

Come on!

Beckmann...?

Beckmann! Hey!

Hello?

Hello!

Everybody in line!

- Scharfhrer Bauer! Niemann

is dead in the shoe shop.

And Fallaster. Both murdered.

- No.

Stop! Stop!

We'll never make it to the front gate now.

Listen to me. Our day has come.

Most of the SS are dead.

It's everyone for himself now.

Those of you who survive, bear witness.

Let the world know what has happened here.

God is with you.

Now let nothing stop you.

Move! Move!

Come on!

Go on! Go on, save yourselves.

You are free.

- The gate is down! Move! Move! Move!

- Come on, Leon!

- Get up! Get up! -

Leon! - Move! Move!

Leon, come on, we must go1

Cover me.

- Shlomo!

- Are you hurt? - No, Shlomo.

Then get out. Take Moses with you,

and I'll find you in the forest.

Go!

No. No, Samuel! Get up! Get up!

Samuel, we're almost at the woods.

Over 300 prisoners escaped safely

to the forest.

Here, Eda and Itzhak Lichtman

found each other.

On the run, they managed to stay alive.

After the war they were

married and emigrated to Israel,

where they till live

in Holon, near Tel Aviv,

close to other Sobibor survivors.

Toivi with 2 other boys was

hidden by a Polish farmer

who eventually shot them for the money.

With a bullet in his jaw,

Toivi pretended to be dead

and managed to stay

alive until liberated.

Thomas "Toivi" Blatt

married and has 3 children.

Today he lives in Santa

Barbara, California.

Yet he returns each year to Sobibor

in remembrance of his family who died there.

Chaim and Selma made it to a small farm

where they were given

shelter until the liberation.

Happily married for more than 40 years,

and the parents of 2 grown children,

Chaim and Selma Engel

now live in Connecticut.

Stanislaw "Shlomo" Szmajzner

joined the partisans and

became an active fighter

against the Nazis in Poland.

There is no record of what happened

to his younger brother Moses.

After the war, Shlomo emigrated to Brazil,

where he married and raised 2 sons.

In South America he

was largely responsible

for the discovery of sergeant

Gustav Wagner in 1978.

Brazilian law did not allow for

sergeant Wagner's extradition,

but a year later he was

found, stabbed to death.

The records list Wagner's death:

suicide.

Captain Franz Reichleitner

was re-assigned to Trieste,

and was killed by partisans less than

Esther Terner managed

to hide from Germans

and hostile Polish nationals

until the Russian liberation.

She moved to the United States

and now lives with her

husband, Irving, in New Jersey.

Esther has testified in many

war-crimes trials in West-Germany.

Including the trial of sergeant Eric Bauer

who died in prison.

Esther and Thomas Blatt testified

at the trial of sergeant Frenzel

who was convicted and is still

alive, serving a life sentence.

Sasha Pechersky and many of his

men made it back to Russian lines

to rejoin the fight against the Nazis.

In 1963 Sasha gave key testimony in a

war-crimes trial against

11 Ukrainian guards at Sobibor.

Today at 77, Sasha is

retired and lives with

his wife Olga on Rostov-on-the-Don

in the Soviet Union.

Luka vanished in the Polish countryside.

All efforts, including Sasha's,

to locate her proved unsuccessful.

The good-luck shirt she gave to Sasha

is now displayed in a Russian museum

honouring those who fought and died

for freedom during World War 2.

Leon Feldhendler fought his

way back to Lublin in Poland

where he remained safe

until the liberation.

There he ran a small business

employing and helping many Jews

who had survived the

camps, including Sobibor.

14 months after the escape, in a

confrontation with a group of Anti-Semites,

Leon was murdered by his

countrymen because he was a Jew.

October the 14th 1943. Sobibor.

A Nazi death camp where over

one quarter of a million Jews were killed.

But in the revolt that day, over 300

of the 600 prisoners made it to freedom.

Something which had never happened before,

and would never happen again in World War 2.

Within days, SS-chief Himmler

ordered the camp closed,

dismantled and planted with pine trees.

In that forest now stands

this monument to the dead.

It is also a reminder

of the valiant fighters of Sobibor

who were among those who began to make

the idea a vow "never again" a reality.

# translation:
matopotato #

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote