SOBIBÓR - Holocaust Handbooks

J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR 25
“Unfortunately it has not been possible to gather any details on
the subject of the chambers in which human beings were annihilated.
The reason is that none of the former detainees of the camp,
which had been questioned during the investigations, were directly
present in the vicinity of the chambers; on the other hand, we must
stress that workers employed in other parts of the camp did not have
access to the part of the camp which comprised the chambers. The
evidence collected leads to the conclusion that the chambers were
located in a building above ground and consisted of wood on the inside.
The outer walls of this building were made of cement. It probably
contained 5 chambers, which could accommodate some 500 persons.
They were killed by means of exhaust gases produced by an
engine located next to the chambers and linked to them by means of
pipes.”
This version is still somewhat at variance with today’s description,
according to which the “gassing building” initially contained three and
later six rooms.
The number of victims for this camp was given as around 250,000,
about a quarter of the figure of one million stated in the series Documents
and Materials a year earlier. This latter figure apparently seemed
too unbelievable even to the commission.
In chapter 5.1.1. we will consider the forensic investigations which
revealed the presence of human remains in the camp and which described
the alleged technology of incineration of corpses at Sobibór as
presented in the report by the commission.
Once this book was published, Sobibór disappeared from view for a
long time. Only two decades later did chroniclers and witnesses come to
the fore once more.
2.3.3. Yuri Suhl (1967)
A collection of accounts describing the Jewish resistance against National
Socialism, edited by Yuri Suhl, appeared in the USA in 1967. 26 It
contains, among other items, Alexander Pechersky’s account “Revolt in
Sobibór.” This account had been published in the USSR as early as
1946, but since it had been written in Yiddish, it had remained largely
26 Yuri Suhl, They fought back. The Story of the Jewish Resistance in Nazi Europe, Crown
Publishers, New York 1967; MacGibbon & Kee, London 1968.