How Sobibor Was Different From Other Death Camps

Summary

The content discusses the significance of the Sobibor extermination camp beyond its famous uprising, emphasizing its ruthless efficiency and the importance of remembering the stories of those who did not survive.

Abstract

The article reflects on Daniel Finkelstein's memoir, "Two Roads Home," which recounts his Jewish family's experiences in Nazi death camps and the Gulag. It highlights the lesser-known aspects of the Sobibor camp, where Finkelstein's relatives perished. Despite the camp's high death toll and the notorious prisoners' revolt of October 14, 1943, Sobibor remains less recognized than other camps, partly because few survived to share their experiences. The memoir underscores that Sobibor's extreme brutality, where new arrivals were typically gassed within three hours, contributed to its relative obscurity compared to Auschwitz, where some prisoners were initially spared for labor.

Opinions

The author believes that Sobibor's reputation as the site of a famous uprising overshadows its role as one of the most lethal Nazi death camps.
The memoir "Two Roads Home" is praised for shedding light on the often-overlooked history of Sobibor and the miraculous survival of the author's family.
The article suggests that the lack of survivors significantly contributes to the lesser-known status of Sobibor compared to camps like Auschwitz.
The author expresses admiration for the memoir, filling eight pages with notes on its content, indicating a deep engagement with and appreciation for the book.

It deserves to be known as more than the site of a famous uprising on Oct. 14, 1943

Trail of Memory at the Sobibor Memorial in Poland / Bmalina on Wikimedia Commons Public Domain

This week, I’ve been reading Daniel Finkelstein’s brilliant new memoir, Two Roads Home: Hitler, Stalin and the Miraculous Survival of My Family (Doubleday 2023), which deals with his Jewish family’s life in Nazi death camps and in the Gulag. The “miraculous” in his subtitle seems no exaggeration.

I’ve been taking notes on Two Roads Home in one of the blue chemistry notebooks I use for such purposes — which I like because they give you 40 lines per page instead of the 32 for college-ruled — and in a few days, I’ve filled eight pages with facts and ideas from it. Some of the most memorable involve the Sobibor extermination camp in German-occupied Poland.

Three of Finkelstein’s family members died in Sobibor, the site of a famous prisoners’ revolt on Oct. 14, 1943. Many people know the camp mainly for that uprising, the subject of the 1987 made-for-TV movie Escape from Sobibor and a 2001 documentary by Claude Landzmann.

Two Roads Home shows why it should be remembered it for much more. Here are a few lines from the book, which I hope to review soon:

“More people died in Sobibor than in almost any other camp, and its very ruthlessness is the reason why it is not better known. Some of those sent to Auschwitz were not killed immediately, but were instead put to work. Those who did not die were able to tell their story as survivors. In Sobibor, no one was put to work. Arrivals were almost all taken directly to the gas chambers. The lifespan of a Jew arriving in Sobibor was around three hours.”

You might like my review of another acclaimed memoir of life under the Hitler and Stalin, Under a Cruel Star:

How Sobibor Was Different From Other Death Camps

It deserves to be known as more than the site of a famous uprising on Oct. 14, 1943

A Writer Unbroken by Auschwitz

She escaped during a forced march and later translated books by Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, and other titans