SOBIBÓR - Holocaust Handbooks

308 J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR
Another event which is inexplicable from the mainstream Holocaust
point of view has been noted by Jules Schelvis: 939
“The intriguing question is why, in the spring and summer of
1943, the transports from Western Europe headed for Sobibór rather
than Auschwitz/Birkenau, which was in fact closer.”
Schelvis acknowledges both the argument that the German war industry
near Auschwitz at the time needed Jewish manpower and that the
alleged extermination facilities at Auschwitz-Birkenau would have had
sufficient capacity to handle these Dutch Jews. 940 Hence, the reason for
the deportations of these people to Sobibór remains mysterious.
The transports from Westerbork ran along the line Breslau (Wroc-
�aw) – Oppeln – Czestochowa – Kielce– Radom – D�bin – Lublino –
Cholm (Che�m). Going south from Czestochowa, along the line Zawiercie
– Szczakowa – Mys�owice, the Auschwitz camp is only some
100 km away – instead, the transports went east, another 400 km, to
reach Sobibór. Schelvis himself then gives us a solid indication for the
answer to this apparent riddle: 941
“Mirjam Penha-Blits was on the same train. [942] She explained
that the transport was apparently supposed to go to Auschwitz; after
two days’ travelling in passenger wagons that is where it arrived.
For unknown reasons it stood stationary there; nothing else happened.
No one was allowed to leave the wagons. After a few hours
the train departed, and two days later we arrived at Sobibór.”
In the summary of this account, supplied by the Dutch Red Cross,
one can read: 943
“Deported by train from Westerbork on 10 March 1943, arrival
at Sobibór around 13 March 1943 (via Birkenau – without lay-over
– to Sobibór).”
The train thus passed through the alleged extermination camp at Birkenau
only to continue east for hundreds of kilometers – but why? The
answer is found in a general memorandum dated 5 May 1943 and written
by SS-Gruppenführer Wilhelm Harster, head of security police and
SD in Holland: 944
“1) General policy:
939 J. Schelvis, op. cit. (note 70), p. 14.
940 Ibid., pp. 14f.
941 J. Schelvis, op. cit. (note 71), p. 73.
942 The train from The Hague which reached Sobibór on 13 March 1943.
943 Het Nederlandsche Roode Kruis, op. cit. (note 124), p.16.
944 T-544.