Link to text at Yad Vashem
Alexander Peczorski, a Russian Jew who was imprisoned at Sobibor, an extermination camp, helped to plan the revolt that took place there on October 14, 1943. He, along with Leon Feldhander, devised an attack on the SS camp officers, luring them into storehouses by telling them they were to receive new coats and boots. Once inside, prisoners attacked the officers with axes and knives. Eleven SS men were killed, including the camp commander. Three hundred prisoners managed to escape into the Polish forests surrounding the camp; of these, two hundred avoided recapture. Many escapees perished before the end of the war, however; most did not survive hiding in the forests during the harsh Polish winter. Peczorski did survive and later wrote a memoir of his experience.
Alexander Peczorski, a Russian Jew who was imprisoned at Sobibor, an extermination camp, helped to plan the revolt that took place there on October 14, 1943. He, along with Leon Feldhander, devised an attack on the SS camp officers, luring them into storehouses by telling them they were to receive new coats and boots. Once inside, prisoners attacked the officers with axes and knives. Eleven SS men were killed, including the camp commander. Three hundred prisoners managed to escape into the Polish forests surrounding the camp; of these, two hundred avoided recapture. Many escapees perished before the end of the war, however; most did not survive hiding in the forests during the harsh Polish winter. Peczorski did survive and later wrote a memoir of his experience.
