Sobibor . The second camp , Sobibor , was created in March of 1942 , near the village and the station of train of Sobibor, not far from the line of railroad Chelm-Wlodawa, in a secluded area, surrounded by swamps and forests.
Obersturmfuehrer ( Lieutenant ) SS Richard Thomalla , a member of the staff of the Office Building of the SS, was responsible for the construction , but was replaced one moon after the first Commander of the Field , Obersturmfuehrer Stangl SS, who was responsible for finishing the job .
Summary
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- 1 Characteristics of the field
- 2 Areas
- 3 gas chambers
- 4 Sources
Characteristics of the field
Sobibor was designed and built in the shape of a 400 by 600 meter rectangle . He was surrounded by a fence of wire thorn three meters high with tree branches hooked to the wire to camouflage the field. It was divided into three different areas, each separated from the other by more wire of hawthorn .
Areas
- The administrative area – formed by the Vorlager (“front field”, the part closest to the train station), and Field I, in addition to the railway platform , with space for twenty freight wagons, and houses of the German and Ukrainian field staff. Camp I, with a fence that separated it from the rest, contained the homes of some Jewish prisoners and the workshops in which they worked.
- The reception area, or Field II. This was the place where the Jews were taken when they reached the camp. Here they went through various stages before being killed – their clothes were stripped , women’s hair was cut , and valuables were confiscated.
- The extermination area , Camp III. It was located in the northwest part of the field, and it was the most isolated part. In it were the gas chambers , the pits, and the dwellings of the Jewish prisoners who worked there. A path between three and four meters wide and 150 meters long linked Camp II and the extermination area. It was surrounded on both sides by barbed wire, and camouflaged with tree branches to hide it from view . The way , or ” tube”It was used to lead the terrified naked victims to the gas chambers after being” processed. “There was also a narrow path that linked the platform with the graves; it was used to transport those who arrived too sick or weak to walk , and for those who arrived dead.
Gas chambers
The gas chambers were inside a building of brick . Initially there were three, each measuring sixteen square meters, with a capacity of between 160 and 180 people. They entered through doors on a platform in front of the brick building, and a second door was used to remove the corpses after the murder was over. The gas, carbon monoxide , was produced by a 200 horsepower engine located in a nearby shed .
