Sobibor

16 Stories

Expert's 'Toughest Day' at Nazi Death Camp Involved This Find

Children's identity tags, some burned with their bodies, found at Sobibor

(Newser) - Four children from Amsterdam stepped off a train in Nazi-occupied eastern Poland and into the death camp of Sobibor, the last place they'd ever know. Killed in 1943, 6-year-old Lea Judith De La Penha, 8-year-old Deddie Zak, 11-year-old David Juda Van der Velde, and 12-year-old Annie Kapper left behind...

He Long Denied Role in 28K Deaths. Now, This

Historian says this is John Demjanjuk

(Newser) - Two newly released photos might confirm what John Demjanjuk long denied—his service as a Nazi death camp guard, the LA Times reports. The Ukrainian-born American claimed he was never at the Sobibor death camp, where more than 167,000 Jews were murdered, and died in 2012 appealing a conviction...

Death Camp's Last Survivor Won't See It Transformed

Former Sobibor prisoner Semion Rosenfeld dead at 96

(Newser) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has paid tribute to the last known survivor of the uprising at the Sobibor extermination camp following his death at a Tel Aviv retirement home at age 96. "May his memory be a blessing," Netanyahu writes of Semion Rosenfeld, one of only 47...

These May Be the 3 Deadliest Months in Human History
These May Be the
3 Deadliest Months
in Human History
in case you missed it

These May Be the 3 Deadliest Months in Human History

In terms of people killed by their fellow man

(Newser) - When it comes to people killed by human hands, it's likely "the deadliest three months in human history," as USA Today puts it. That would be August through October 1942, according to a new peer-reviewed study. Researchers used detailed train transportation records to estimate 1.47 million...

One of Last Known Sobibor Survivors Has Died
One of Last Known
Sobibor Survivors Has Died
obituary

One of Last Known Sobibor Survivors Has Died

Arkady Waispapir was 96

(Newser) - Almost everyone who entered Sobibor perished inside. Now, one of the last known survivors of the camp in Poland has died. Arkady Waispapir was 96. The BBC reports an estimated 250,000 Jews were thought to have been killed at the concentration camp, which was the site of a famous...

In Nazi Death Camp, a Mysterious Link to Anne Frank

Pendant identical to hers found at Sobibor, believed to belong to girl the same age

(Newser) - Researchers excavating the remains of one of the most notorious Nazi death camps have uncovered a pendant that appears identical to one belonging to Anne Frank, Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial said Sunday. Yad Vashem says it has ascertained the pendant belonged to Karoline Cohn—a Jewish girl who...

Survivor of Nazi Camps' Only Mass Escape Has Died
Survivor of Nazi Camps'
Only Mass Escape Has Died
OBITUARY

Survivor of Nazi Camps' Only Mass Escape Has Died

Thomas Blatt worked to ensure Sobibor couldn't be erased

(Newser) - After an extraordinary life of tragedy and triumph, Holocaust survivor Thomas Blatt passed away at home in Santa Barbara on Saturday, reports the Los Angeles Times . He was 88 and suffered dementia. Though 250,000 who arrived at Sobibor concentration camp never left, Blatt was one of 50 Jews to...

Gas Chambers Discovered at Razed Death Camp

Sobibor dig also uncovers inscribed wedding ring

(Newser) - After seven years of searching, archaeologists digging in Poland have found the exact location of the Sobibor death camp's gas chambers. Less had been known about this concentration camp's chambers, which were razed by the Nazis along with the rest of the site following a prisoner uprising in...

'Escape Tunnel' Found Under Concentration Camp

It ran from barracks under a barbed wire fence at Sobibor

(Newser) - Archaeologists think they've found the first evidence of prisoners trying to dig their way out of a Nazi death camp. The find comes after more than a decade of excavations at the Sobibor camp in Poland; Nazis leveled the place after its prisoners revolted in 1943, LiveScience explains. In...

FBI: Demjanjuk's Nazi ID Likely a Soviet Fake

25-year-old report up-ends war crimes trial

(Newser) - In the midst of closing arguments in John Demjanjuk's Nazi war crimes trial in Munich, a shocking revelation: AP yesterday reported on the existence of a newly declassified FBI report that claims Demjanjuk's Nazi ID card was "quite likely fabricated" by the Soviet Union. Throughout three decades of hearings...

Survivors Weep at Demjanjuk Trial

Names of Sobibor victims read aloud in court

(Newser) - Survivors of Nazi concentration camps and relatives of victims shed tears today at the trial of accused guard John Demjanjuk. The plaintiffs heard a partial list of the 27,900 victims of the Sobibor death camp, where the prosecution alleges Demjanjuk worked. The defendant, strapped to a stretcher, held firm...

Stretcher-Bound Demjanjuk Begins Trial
 Stretcher-Bound 
 Demjanjuk Begins Trial 
NAZI WAR CRIMES

Stretcher-Bound Demjanjuk Begins Trial

Defense accuses court of 'double-standard' in prosecution

(Newser) - Accused Nazi guard John Demjanjuk started his trial for complicity in 27,900 Holocaust murders in Munich today first in a wheelchair, and then on a stretcher. The Red Army POW/Ohio autoworker even forced a halt to proceedings when he flailed and gasped for breath in the courtroom. “It’...

Demjanjuk Farce Is a Funny Kind of Justice
Demjanjuk Farce Is
a Funny Kind of Justice
OPINION

Demjanjuk Farce Is a Funny Kind of Justice

Prosecution seems to be more about German guilt than alleged war criminal's

(Newser) - The world's eyes will be on alleged Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk when he stands trial in Germany next month, but this dying old man is a strange candidate to be the last Nazi to be tried, writes Scott Raab. Demjanjuk—regardless of whether he is guilty of serving at...

Demjanjuk Charged With 27,900 Holocaust Deaths

(Newser) - German prosecutors formally charged John Demjanjuk today with 27,900 counts of being an accessory to murder at a Nazi death camp during World War II, reports the AP. The 89-year-old retired auto worker, who was deported from the US in May, faces 15 years for every count. Prosecutors accuse...

Demjanjuk Fit to Stand Trial, Germany Rules

Accused Nazi death-camp guard, 89, is officially stateless

(Newser) - John Demjanjuk is physically able to stand trial for his alleged role as an accessory to murder in a Nazi death camp, German officials ruled today. The family of the retired Ohio autoworker, 89, had said ill health made him unfit, but the only condition doctors imposed was a limit...

Demjanjuk Deported, Leaves Ohio for Germany

(Newser) - The US has formally deported John Demjanjuk, who left Cleveland for Munich this evening by medical transport plane and should arrive in Germany tomorrow, the Plain Dealer reports. The attorney for the accused Nazi death camp guard said it may be several months before his client is tried on accessory...

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