Escape from a Nazi Death Camp

Narrator: In a concentration camp...

where death was the only way out...

the condemned found hope...

We kill as many Germans as we can.

[GRUNTING]

achieved the incredible...

and escaped.

I can't imagine that it really was true

what the Germans did to us.

It's a story few people know.

But the survivors are determined

to keep the memory of Sobibor alive.

And now they are journeying back to hell

one last time.

Escape From a Nazi Death Camp is made possible

October, 2013, Poland.

Hundreds of people are gathering

to commemorate the 70th anniversary

of the Sobibor escape.

Toivi Blatt has traveled over 6,000 miles from California

to take part.

My original name is Thomas Blatt.

Actually, in Yiddish, it's Toivi Blatt.

And I am born in a little village

in Izbica, Poland.

Now I would be about 86 years old.

Young Toivi: As a teenager, I heard stories

of what was happening in Germany.

Hitler's rise to power.

The Nazis.

I thought we would be safe.

I was wrong.

In 1939, Germany invaded Poland,

and my family went into hiding.

Raus, Juden!

Raus, raus, raus!

I remember being in this truck

with my family,

with my brother, with mother and father.

My mother was very educated.

Young Toivi: She was a teacher.

A very good person.

My little brother was just seven.

We lived close to Sobibor,

so we knew what happened to Jews there.

Narrator: Historian Howard Tuck

has been visiting Sobibor for over 20 years

and has interviewed many of the survivors.

Heinrich Himmler, who was head of the SS,

was faced with a major problem.

On orders from Hitler,

he was told to exterminate the Jews of Poland,

and they had to come up with a plan.

Essentially, it was killing centers,

extermination camps,

that were to be located in eastern Poland,

and the prime purpose of those camps

was the eradication of Jews.

By the time Toivi's family arrives,

the SS have perfected a system

that can process, gas and burn the prisoners

within one hour of arrival.

Young Toivi: I remember seeing a sign that said "SS"--

Sonderkommando, SS special forces.

I was thinking, "God, what will happen here?"

There was also a green house.

It's still here.

Narrator: The house, now owned by a Polish family,

looks ordinary.

But in 1943,

it belonged to the SS commandant.

Until now, no survivor of this camp

has ever stepped inside.

Quickly, please!

Karl Frenzel is the SS officer

in charge of slave labor at Sobibor.

Instinctively I felt...

Young Toivi: ...that I would stand a better chance

with the men.

I said good-bye to my mother

and moved to my father to the other side.

And my little brother, he moved.

He was with my father.

We--We passed halfway.

Anyone with a trade, step forward now.

Narrator: The SS needs slave labor

to carry out jobs around the camp.

Just a few skilled workers will be spared.

The rest, gassed.

Over there.

Take the rest to Lager III.

Narrator: The scale of the Nazi operation is vast.

Every day, thousands of Jewish prisoners

flood into Sobibor,

most arriving by train.

Tuck: Almost on a daily basis,

up to 60 cattle trucks full of Jews

were brought here from various villages and towns around Poland,

and then eventually from places like Holland,

and even as far away as from Paris.

Narrator: 84-year-old Sobibor survivor Philip Bialowitz

remembers the railway well.

In 1943, the Nazis forced him

to become a camp porter.

His brother, Symcha,

was the only other member of his family to be spared.

70 years later, he has flown from New York

to see Sobibor one last time.

[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS]

Young Philip: I was assigned with other boys

to help them with their heavy luggage.

And when I helped them with their luggage,

they offered me a tip for my services.

My heart was bleeding, knowing the truth--

that in a half an hour, they would be reduced to ashes.

Narrator: In order to control and process such large numbers,

the prisoners must be kept calm.

SS officers trained in psychological warfare

deceive the prisoners into thinking

they are being resettled.

[MAN SINGING IN GERMAN OVER SPEAKER]

Young Philip: When they arrived, waltz music was playing

over the loudspeaker,

and a German officer gave a little speech to them.

Willkommen, meine Damen und Herren...

und Kinder.

I apologize for any inconvenience on your journey.

Next.

Watch and jewelry, please.

Very soon you will be taken: to your living quarters to relax.

First I recommend that you take some of these postcards

and send them your dear ones in Holland,

telling them that you have arrived safely.

Now, you will be expected to work here,

but we want you to be healthy.

There has been an outbreak of typhus

in some of the other camps.

So first you will be taken for a shower.

[PEOPLE SCREAMING]

[SCREAMS CONTINUE]

[SCREAMS STOP]

Tuck: In Sobibor, as with many of the other camps,

it was all about deception.

This was the whole point of Sobibor being in existence.

It was a death factory.

Narrator: Those that survive live only as slaves,

forced to carry out the Nazis' dirty work.

600 prisoners chop wood for the ovens,

burn personal effects,

and sort mountains of stolen jewelry and clothes.

If they get sick or don't work hard enough,

they are killed.

Selma Engel was just 20 when she arrived at Sobibor.

Her family had already been transported to Auschwitz.

My age is very old.

I am 91 1/2.

I was born in 1922, in Holland.

The only girl from four children,

and the youngest.

[COUGHING]

I was sick.

I got typhus.

Young Selma: And you have to go to work when you are sick,

or they would send you to the gas chamber.

All of you who are sick, leave now!

Raus, Judenpack!

Schnell!

[GUNSHOT]

[GUNSHOT]

Frenzel was one of the most feared SS in the camp.

Cruel, clever, a monster.

Are you sick?

Let me have a look.

Not today.

[SHOUTS IN GERMAN]

Killing was nothing.

When somebody got shot, it was nothing.

Narrator: Most prisoners accept

that they will die in Sobibor

and that escape is impossible.

The camp is run by around 20 SS soldiers

who give orders to over 100 Ukrainian guards

manning the fences and towers.

Their numbers are bolstered: by a third group of Nazi enforcers

living among the prisoners.

The Germans were very, very clever.

They had camp overseers: who themselves were Jewish-- the kapos.

Many of those were working with the Germans for small favors,

in an attempt to win the respect of the Germans

so they may just stay alive for a few extra days.

Narrator: The most feared kapo is Berliner,

A German Jew,

notorious for his betrayals and cruelty.

Young Toivi: Inside the incinerator,

we would sometimes find coins and jewelry

that had been hidden in the old clothes that we'd burnt.

Anything we found was supposed to go to the guards.

Hurry up!

You have anything for me?

Perhaps you found a little something

in the ashes today?

Some gold, maybe?

No, Herr Governor.

I have found nothing.

Are you sure?

I swear it.

turn out your pockets.

Try this one.

You'd better come with me.

Narrator: In search of the smallest glimmer of hope,

prisoners like 27-year-old Chaim Engel

look to their highly-respected camp leader,

Leon Feldhendler.

Shalom, Chaim.

The rabbi's son has been in Sobibor longer than most.

How far do you think it is to the woods, Leon?

800, 900 meters?

It's too far away for you to think about.

Narrator: Faced with death,

the prisoners defy the Germans

by living while they can.

It may be surprising to know that, actually,

despite the fact that they're in this factory of death,

the prisoners are trying at very least

to form personal relationships.

We know of stories of them even dancing on occasion

behind the back of the guards.

Selma falls in love with Chaim.

It was wonderful.

I had never had a man before: who was so in love with me.

But we never believed that we'd get out of there,

I know this is the end.

That's the end.

Their only hope is that,

as long as the SS need their labor,

they'll live another day.

But then something critical happens.

A train pulls in at the station here at Sobibor,

and inside the cattle trucks are prisoners

who have been working for the Germans

down the road at Belzec.

Narrator: Instead of being gassed,

they are immediately shot on the platform.

But one of the victims has written a note,

suggesting that the workers at Sobibor

aren't needed anymore, either.

The bodies of the workers from Belzec

are burned in Sobibor's ovens.

But the note escapes the flames.

Leon, you must read this.

It is handed to Leon Feldhendler,

the leader of the Polish Jews.

"We are all prisoners in Belzec.

"The Germans used us to close down the camp.

"They said we would go to a new work camp.

"But now we are here at Sobibor,

"and we know this must be the end for us.

"You too will be killed.

"Don't be fooled like we were.

Take vengeance."

Narrator: The horrific truth

is that the Nazi death camps are so effective,

the SS are running out of Jews to kill.

Just months earlier, the Warsaw ghetto--

home to Poland's largest remaining Jewish population--

is razed to the ground: If they are getting rid of the workers at Belzec

and shutting it down...

then we're the next.

They know that the next stop is going to be Sobibor,

and they are going to be murdered in this place.

And it's that that is the real trigger

to the idea of an escape from this camp.

Narrator: Rumors swirl through the camp,

including a tip-off from a Ukrainian guard

that a date for Sobibor's liquidation has been set--

October 15, 1943.

If he is to save his people,

Feldhendler knows he must find a way

to do what has never been done before--

successfully plan a mass escape

from a Nazi death camp.

In Sobibor, smaller groups have tried,

but the results are catastrophic.

We have had an attempted escape

by some of your fellow prisoners

on the logging detail.

Very unfortunate.

Regrettably, we must remind you

that this will not be tolerated!

Every tenth member of each work detail

will be executed along with these men.

Narrator: 12 prisoners are taken away

and executed.

We could poison the SS.

Or dig a tunnel from the kitchen.

No.

A tunnel can be easily discovered,

and we would be able to get only a few of us out.

We know what the SS do when a few escape.

Tuck: The problems he faces

is that none of the prisoners in here

have a military mind, none of them understand

how to plot and to plan this.

There must be a way.

Leon, the people are too weak.

They are too scared.

There must be a way.

There's-- There's always a way.

Narrator: The miracle is a transport

packed with captured Russian soldiers.

Enemy combatants are normally sent to POW camps,

but as these men are Jews,

they are diverted to the death camps.

A few have been spared to assist the SS

in a new construction project.

Translator: My name is Semjon Rosenfeld.

I now live in Israel.

We arrived at Sobibor in September, 1943.

We had fought the Nazis in many battles together.

Many had been killed.

Most were young.

Now we looked to our commanding officer,

Lieutenant Pechersky.

Up!

Up on your feet!

Now, understand this--

you will work hard here.

Unless...

you want to join your comrades in Lager III?

What is your name?

Lieutenant Alexander Aronovich Pechersky...

Herr Kapitan.

Tuck: When he arrives, he's a beacon.

Pechersky hasn't been broken by the Germans.

He's still defiant.

Frenzel: Take them to the barracks!

Semjon's translator: He was tall and handsome.

Handsome men are always brave.

Tuck: Pechersky is truly somebody

who the prisoners can look to and admire

and know if anybody can lead them out of this place,

then it's gonna be him.

Narrator: Within days of the Russian arrival,

Feldhendler arranges a meeting.

Pechersky, yes?

Privyet.

Privyet.

We have information: that the SS are planning to kill us all.

To kill us all.

They set a date-- the 15th of October.

So what do you propose?

A breakout.

You mean you and your friends?

Me and my men?

It has to be the whole camp.

How many is that?

[SIGHS] 600.

[WHISTLES]

Feldhendler: Yes?

Tuck: They know from previous escape attempts

that when one or two prisoners try and escape,

that the Germans will take reprisals.

So he is adamant that this has to be a mass breakout from the camp.

We'll do it.

And nobody talks about this meeting.

Narrator: Pechersky is appointed the military leader

of the Sobibor escape committee.

With a handpicked team,

he examines the facility for any weaknesses.

What he sees: is one the most heavily fortified prison camps of World War II,

with security features: ordered by the leader of the SS himself.

Selma: One day, Himmler came to see the gas chamber.

He had to see how it worked.

Young Selma: There was a small window

in the ceiling of the gas chamber

where he spied on a group of 100 Dutch girls being killed.

[WOMEN SCREAMING]

Narrator: Crucially, Himmler also spots

some of the few remaining security lapses.

On looking at the camp, he decreed

that the fortifications be improved here,

and that included extra barbed wire.

And the most vital part was the minefield

that was going to be laid in the fields surrounding the camp.

It was the only camp which had live mines

around the perimeter,

the only one of the Second World War.

Narrator: But the real challenge

is what lies beyond the mines.

Tuck: Even when you escape,

if you manage to get through all of that,

you are then in enemy-occupied Poland.

You're around a local population

who fear of helping any of the Jews

because they know that if they're caught assisting them,

they are going be shot and their family are going be shot

and perhaps the entire village are going be shot.

Narrator: Himmler has turned Sobibor into a fortress.

But after considering a number of plans,

Pechersky and his team: think they may have spotted a weakness.

So why are we here?

Like clockwork.

Every time.

Like clockwork.

Narrator: SS officers visit the Jewish-run workshops

at the same time every day: to loot the most valuable items.

They also make appointments: to have furniture built and clothes tailored.

Make the usual adjustments.

Pechersky intends to use the Nazis' greed and punctuality

to destroy the SS leadership of the camp.

I have a question for you.

In a battle, who gets targeted first by the enemy?

It's the officers.

We kill them,

the men are leaderless.

So between 4: 00 and 5:00 p.m.,

we kill as many Germans as we can.

The commandant, Wagner, Frenzel, all of them.

The SS men will be invited into the cobbler's

to try on boots.

Or a nice, long coat at the tailor's.

They're greedy, they will come.

Electricity and phone lines will be cut.

They won't be able to call or wire for help.

Gives us more time to escape.

If all goes to plan,

the prisoners will meet: at the yard of Lager I,

and then we--: we climb the wire.

Then it's every man for himself.

They plot for a simultaneous situation

where guards are lured into buildings by prisoners,

and at that point, they are murdered,

therefore cutting off the German ability

to be able to organize any resistance to the breakout itself.

Narrator: Only a select handful of prisoners know the plan.

If the SS discover their plot,

everyone will be killed.

And if anyone is going to betray them,

it's the notorious kapo-- Berliner.

Shalom, rabbi.

How are your flock?

I've been hearing things.

Uh, really?

What do you make of the Russians?

Berliner, you know me.

I don't think anything about the Russians.

That's best.

[OWL HOOTING]

Who are the biggest threats within the camp?

Among the SS, Wagner and Frenzel.

And there is another one.

[INDISTINCT]

The Berliner.

A kapo.

He is a traitor.

You need to get rid of him.

Our men will do it.

Narrator: Berliner may be a fellow Jew,

but the lives of hundreds of people are at risk.

They're going to get Berliner.

Okay, so where's the trouble?

This young man told me there was trouble.

[GRUNTING AND SCREAMING]

Young Toivi: They pinned him to the ground and beat him.

None of us had killed a man before.

He took a long time to die.

Narrator: The death of a Jewish kapo

means little to the Germans.

But with Berliner gone,

the escape committee can accelerate

their preparations for the breakout.

In workshops controlled by Jewish prisoners,

they quickly prepare axes and knives.

They have to escape before October 15,

the date for the camp's rumored liquidation.

Within days, they are ready.

So the plan is set for the 13th of October, 1943,

but critically, something goes wrong on that day.

Leon!

Leon!

- Germans!

- What Germans?

- Lots of them!

- Where?

This way!

Quick!

Tuck: Into the railway sidings at Sobibor pulls in a train,

and that train is packed with German guards.

Pechersky and Feldhendler: immediately think that they've got the day

of the liquidation of this camp wrong.

Those German guards are here to liquidate the camp.

Narrator: The escape plan is postponed

until Feldhendler can work out

exactly why the Germans have arrived.

All day he waits anxiously to see what will happen.

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKER]

[LAUGHTER]

But there is no sign of a mass execution.

Instead, the soldiers celebrate and relax.

The soldiers leave that night,

and the message is passed around

that the escape is back on for the next day.

Only a chosen few know the plan,

and Chaim Engel is one of them.

Tomorrow you must wear only your warmest clothes.

Don't ask.

On October 14, 1943,

the prisoners go about their normal duties.

Most have absolutely no idea

what's about to happen in the camp.

But a few, like Toivi,

are counting down the hours until the attacks begin.

I cannot even imagine that I was there.

I cannot imagine that I didn't go crazy.

Young Selma: That morning, Chaim told me the truth,

There was going to be a breakout.

Just like he told me,

I put on all my warmest clothes.

It was only afterwards that I thought

the Germans might see me and get suspicious.

"Why she is wearing all these fine clothes?"

Narrator: The escape plan relies

on precision timing.

[SHOUTS IN GERMAN]

All the SS hierarchy must be killed

between 3: 30 and 5:00 p.m.

Russian soldier Semjon Rosenfeld

waits patiently for the signal

to move into position.

[SEMJON SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

Translator: At 1:00 p.m., the foreman came

and said he needed some men for some urgent work.

The foreman said, "I need two people,"

and pointed at Pechersky and me.

The foreman was in on it.

Narrator: Pechersky establishes a command center

in the carpentry shop.

Translator: When we entered the carpenter's shop,

Pechersky took me aside and showed me a cupboard.

Frenzel ordered the cupboard for his wife.

This cupboard.

He's coming at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon.

We will kill him.

Narrator: On the other side of the camp,

the escape plan is about to go into action.

SS Officer Wolf is invited to try on a new coat

in the sorting warehouse.

Philip has been assigned to watch the building.

Two axmen are hiding inside,

along with Philip's elder brother, Symcha.

The first assassination is a success.

There can be no going back now.

If their plot is discovered,

everyone will be killed.

From their position in the carpenter's,

Pechersky has an ideal view of other workshops

where assassinations are due to take place.

He's coming.

Semjon's translator: At exactly 4:00 p.m.,

Niemann, the deputy camp commander,

headed towards the tailor's and went inside.

The tailor had fixed a time: for something Niemann was having made.

[STRUGGLING]

[NIEMANN SCREAMS]

[DOGS BARKING]

Narrator: The deputy commandant is dead,

but Frenzel--the biggest threat to their plans--

is running unusually late.

Semjon's translator: I was given the job

of killing Frenzel.

I was waiting for him,

but he didn't come.

Narrator: Minutes later,

the head of the Ukrainian Guards, Graetschus,

is led to the cobbler's for a boot fitting.

Apart from Frenzel's absence,

everything is going to plan.

But then there's another problem.

At the men's barracks,

one of the assassins gets cold feet.

Young Selma: One boy was supposed to go

and kill two Germans: in the SS administration block.

And a young man said, "I am not going.

I am afraid, and I don't go."

Young Selma: So Chaim said he would.

Do what you have to do, but come back.

Narrator: The administration block

is a high-risk target,

crawling with guards.

Translator: One guy had to cut the only telephone line

between the camp and Sobibor station.

Tuck: The most critical parts of the plan

are the cutting of the telephone wire

and the cutting of the power supply

to the camp itself.

This is vital because it will prevent the Germans

from telephoning out: and being able to send reinforcements

of guards and personnel here: to quash the actual revolt itself.

Narrator: Around the camp,

the assassinations continue.

Translator: Two Germans had been killed

in the tailor's,

two more had been killed in the cobbler's.

Narrator: It has been ten minutes

since Chaim left to kill the officers

in the administration block.

I didn't know where he was, so I went looking for him.

[MAN SCREAMING]

And I heard screaming.

[SCREAMING CONTINUES]

I was sure it was Chaim.

[SCREAMING CONTINUES]

Narrator: Selma can't be sure if the screams

coming from inside the administration block

are her boyfriend Chaim's: or the Nazis he's meant to kill.

Are you hurt?

What are you doing here?

The blood.

Oh, the blood.

It's okay.

It is his blood, not mine.

Narrator: Pechersky and the Russian assassins

are out of time.

Roll call is at 5: 00 p.m.,

and they can't wait for Frenzel any longer.

Semjon's translator: He was the only German

that didn't come at the appointed time.

He had been sent to do something urgently.

Pechersky waved his hand,

and we went to lead the roll call.

[HORN BLOWING]

We have to go now.

[HORN BLOWING]

It's done.

How many?

10 or 11, I think.

The commander is gone.

- Frenzel?

- He never came.

Doesn't matter.

11 is good.

By 5: 00, the prisoners have all convened in the yard.

There's hustle and bustle, the atmosphere of excitement.

Narrator: But everything is about to go wrong.

An SS officer returning from a supply run

parks his truck near the administration block.

The body of SS Officer Walter Ryba lies nearby.

[GUNSHOTS]

[SIRENS WAILING]

As soon as they hear those shots ring out,

they presume that the German guards

are trying to liquidate: and to be able to finish the revolt itself.

We have to go now.

We've killed most of the Germans, they're dead.

Now we have to rise up and leave.

If we must die, let's die with honor.

And if you survive,

tell the world about this place

and what has happened here.

[SHOUTING]

Semjon's translator: We knew that people would die.

Nobody was given a 100% guarantee.

Tuck: What you now have is people

trying to get over the top of the barbed wire fencing,

they're trying desperately to rip open

or to cut holes in the barbed wire fence.

And amongst all this confusion,

it takes a while for the German guards

to actually cotton on to what is happening around them,

the utter confusion and the noise of it all.

And when they do,

it then becomes a one-sided match.

[IMITATES BULLETS WHIPPING BY]

Narrator: The escape is in jeopardy.

The plan demands that no SS should survive

to coordinate a response.

But Frenzel is alive.

I saw Frenzel, and Frenzel started shooting already.

In the middle of the chaos,

a breach in the fence is finally made.

Just yards from freedom,

he is trapped in the barbed wire.

Tuck: Those few prisoners who are beginning to get out of the camp,

they're entering into the minefield itself,

and there are bodies flying everywhere

as the mines are going off around them.

Narrator: Toivi can only watch

as the first escapees are torn apart by the minefield.

The death toll at Sobibor rises

as more mines are triggered by the fleeing prisoners.

But their tragic sacrifice clears a path for others.

And getting up, I was thinking I was hit.

But I wasn't.

Narrator: Around the camp's perimeter,

groups of prisoners run for their lives.

Many are killed in the attempt,

but over 200 men and women: make it through the wire and past the minefields.

Tuck: For those lucky ones who reached the woods--

in some cases, you can read accounts

of where they sat in utter peace,

and this would have felt like freedom.

It would have felt as if they were free men.

Narrator: Toivi, Philip, Selma and Chaim

live as fugitives in the forests of Poland and Ukraine,

relying on the kindness of strangers

prepared to give them shelter and food.

Of the 200 prisoners who make it out of the camp,

over 150 are caught by search squads.

But incredibly, almost 50 cheat death

and survive till the war's end,

making this the most successful escape

from any Nazi camp in World War II.

For the SS, the escape from Sobibor

is a hammer blow.

As soon as the head of the SS-- Heinrich Himmler--

heard about the escape, he was furious

and immediately ordered: that this camp be completely destroyed.

Narrator: Sobibor is razed to the ground

and a forest is planted over its remains.

But the Nazis couldn't destroy

all the evidence of their terrible crimes.

70 years after their incredible escape,

some of the last living witnesses

have returned to Sobibor one last time

to remember the victims.

After the war, Toivi Blatt got married

and had three children: and now lives in California,

but he never got over the guilt

of surviving Sobibor.

Determined to find justice for his family and others,

Toivi dedicated his life: to telling the world about Sobibor

and promoting reconciliation.

In 1983,

he confronted Karl Frenzel,

who had been released from prison

after serving only 16 years of a life sentence.

I hesitated.

To go or not to go.

I had a bad feeling, but I did go.

Leon Feldhendler survived the breakout

and fled to a nearby town.

But on April 2, 1945,

he was fatally shot by unidentified gunmen.

At the end of the war,

Philip Bialowitz first moved to Germany

and then New York, where he had a family

and established a successful business.

Selma and Chaim evaded capture

until the end of the war.

We run, we run, we run,

till we came to America, and then I stopped.

They got married, had two children

and settled in Connecticut.

Selma: We were very close, we did everything together,

and it was a good life that we had together.

He was my life.

He was my life.

I miss him every day.

Semjon Rosenfeld was one of a number of Russian soldiers

who successfully escaped...

including Lieutenant Alexander Pechersky.

Semjon's translator: We found each other in 1963,

and after this, we met every five years.

And we were friends.

Narrator: Semjon rejoined the Soviet Army in 1944

and helped storm Berlin a year later.

On the wall of the Reichstag,

just a short distance from Hitler's bunker,

he left a message of defiance...

in memory of those that escaped Sobibor,

and for the thousands that didn't.

Escape From a Nazi Death Camp is made possible

To learn more about this program,

visit pbs.org.

Escape From a Nazi Death Camp is available on DVD.

To order, visit shopPBS.org

or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.