SOBIBÓR - Holocaust Handbooks

J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR 63
3. Origins and Evolution of Claims about
Sobibór
Józef Marsza�ek notes that the espionage service of the Delegatura,
which was that branch of the Polish Government in exile in London
during World War II which operated within Poland, and the intelligence
service of the Polish National Army (the AK, or Armia Krajowa) “had a
good knowledge of the Treblinka and Be��ec death camps, much less so
with respect to Sobibór,” 104 which is to be understood mainly in a quantitative
way. Bogdan Chrzanowski affirms that “the underground press
wrote rather vaguely about another camp of immediate extermination,
i.e. Sobibór, even though first indications had already surfaced in August
of 1942.” 105
Wartime information about this camp was indeed sparse and vague
from the first such item onward, which was written by Ruta Sakowska:
106
“In early July of 1942, Oneg Szabat’s [107] group managed to
identify the location of the second extermination camp located in the
General Government: Sobibór. The first news item about Sobibór –
which went into operation in early May – was brought into the Warsaw
ghetto by two couriers of the Dror, [108] ‘Frumka’ P�otnicka und
‘Chawka’ Folman. In early June of 1942, on orders of the Dror, they
went to the Lublin region, i.a. to Werbkowice near Hrubieszów,
where there was a commune of Jewish youths. The two women arrived
at Rejowiec on 6 June 1942. However, the Rejowiec Jews were
104 Józef Marsza�ek, “Rozpozna�ie obózów �mierci w Be��cu, Sobiborze i Treblince przez
wywiad Delegatury Rz�du Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na Kraju i Armii Krajowej,” in: Biuletyn
G�ównej Komisji zbrodni przeciwko narodowi polskiemu Instytutu Pami�ci Narodowej,
vol. XXXV, Warsaw 1993, p. 47.
105 Bogdan Chrzanowski, “Eksterminacja ludno�ci �ydowskiej w �wietle polskich wydawnictw
konspiracyjnych,” in: Biuletyn �ydowskiego Instytutu Historicznego w Polsce, No.
1-2/133-134, p. 103.
106 Ruta Sakowska, Die zweite Etappe ist der Tod. NS-Ausrottungspolitik gegen die polnischen
Juden gesehen mit den Augen der Opfer, Edition Entrich, Berlin 1993, pp. 40f.
107 Hebrew for “Joy of the Sabbath,” code name of a group of Jews dedicated to chronicling
life in the Warsaw Ghetto, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyneg_Shabbos_(group).
108 Hebrew for freedom, name of a group of socialist Zionists in the Warsaw ghetto.