- A killing center at the edge of Nazi-controlled Europe.
- A death camp-- the primary mission was murder.
- The place of no return
for thousands of Jewish prisoners...
- They are weak. They are sickly.
They are in no condition to overcome these hardships.
- Where any attempt to escape leads to more death.
- If one person attempted to escape,
they held everyone responsible.
- But in their darkest hour,
they will hatch a daring escape plan
to fight tyranny...
- It became the biggest escape of World War II.
- And win their freedom.
[dramatic music]
♪
Some of the greatest stories ever told
start behind bars.
♪
Locked up in the most notorious prisons
in the world,
spied on by guards and fellow prisoners...
it takes a devious mind to find a way out.
♪
It could lead you to freedom,
or it could cost you your life.
♪
But wouldn't you try
when you have nothing left to lose?
♪
[cell door closes]
♪
An isolated forest in eastern Poland
is the end of the line
for a railroad that stretches across Nazi-occupied Europe
from the shores of the Netherlands
to the Ukrainian border.
The final stop--
a secret Nazi death camp named Sobibor.
In 1942, as part of Hitler's Final Solution,
the Nazis are trying to exterminate all the Jews
in occupied Poland.
To accomplish this sinister goal,
they operate three specialized death camps--
Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor.
♪
- A concentration camp
was a place where people weren't put to work
in the service of the Germans.
A death camp--the primary mission was murder.
♪
- But by 1943,
after a crushing defeat by the Soviets,
the Nazi war machine is breaking down
and on the run.
To cover their tracks,
the Nazis began to dismantle their killing centers
and murder the remaining prisoners.
- Rumor was that the Russians were not far away
and that the reason the Nazis were eliminating death camps
is because the Russians were coming.
- And there is another grisly reality.
The death camps are so effective,
they're running out of victims.
- At the end of ten months,
there were no Jews left in the region to murder,
and that meant that that killing was coming to a close.
- But as long as there are any Jewish people left,
the Nazis continue to operate Sobibor.
From the railway platform,
Sobibor stretches out 150 acres,
the size of 45 football fields.
A central watchtower with armed guards
looms over the camp.
Two impenetrable barbed-wire fences with a patrol path
keep prisoners trapped inside.
Anyone lucky enough to sneak out
faces a ring of guard stations
and a deadly 15-meter minefield.
Sections of the fences are covered by pine branches
to keep the camp's hideous secret from escaping.
It's a sinister machinery of death.
♪
The average lifespan upon arrival is under an hour.
The vast majority are led from the train platform
into the camp, where they are stripped of their possessions,
clothing, hair, and lives,
executed in a gas chamber large enough
to hold 500 people at a time.
♪
But even death factories require workers.
- The Jews would be unloaded off the trains,
and it was here that the prisoners
had the greatest chance of survival.
If they could figure out
some skill that the Germans would need to run the camp--
a tailor or a carpenter
or a leather worker, a painter--
they would shout out as the prisoners were lined up.
- Those worker Jews strived as hard as they could
to become indispensable.
And that way,
if the Nazis wanted to torture them and kill them,
they wouldn't take the essential workers.
They would take those that were easily replaced.
- At any time, about 600 Jewish workers
are kept alive to keep the camp running.
They're kept in check
by 30 or so German SS officers,
or Schutzstaffel--
the elite and feared paramilitary enforcers
of the Nazi party.
Under the SS, 120 Ukrainian civilians
and former Soviet POW guards
make sure Sobibor runs as designed.
- Sobibor was constructed like a machine.
Everything had a position, a role, a purpose, a function,
and the Nazis operated it like a Swiss clock.
- To maximize its cruel efficiency,
the camp is set up with a garrison
and three distinct sub-camps.
The garrison houses SS officers and guards.
Next to that is camp one,
where 400 Jewish prisoners live and maintain workshops.
Camp two contains the sorting barracks,
where all the confiscated possessions
are stored.
Finally, at the end of a 300-foot path
called The Road to Heaven is camp three,
which contains a gas chamber
powered by the exhaust of a covered tank engine.
Machinery like this makes death inevitable.
♪
But back at camp one, one prisoner keeps hope alive
that escape is possible,
a man determined to find a way out for everyone.
♪
- Leon Feldhendler is considered a leader
among the 600 Jews
who were part of the labor force in Sobibor.
He's a charismatic individual.
- Feldhendler was the son of a rabbi.
He arrived quite early in Sobibor's history,
and his entire family was sent to the gas chambers,
but he survived claiming that he was a carpenter.
- He looks out for everyone in the camp,
and he's constantly looking
for a way in which they could escape.
- But time is running out
for Feldhendler and the other prisoners.
♪
By June of 1943, activity is slowing down at Sobibor.
- There were fewer and fewer trains coming in.
There were rumors the camp would be dismantled
and that they would be gassed and killed.
- Feldhendler is unsure whether to believe the rumors.
Are they really going to liquidate the camp?
He needs to know for certain before trying an escape
that could get people killed.
Then on June 26th, he gets his answer.
A rare train arrives, carrying the last 300 prisoners
of the Belzec death camp.
When the 300 arrive, instead of being gassed,
they are immediately shot on the train platform.
♪
These victims bring with them a foreboding message
that inspires other prisoners
to start looking for a way out.
One such prisoner is Chaim Engel,
whose family was also murdered at the camp.
Engel works in the sorting barracks,
forced to search the clothes for valuables.
He discovers a handwritten note
in the pocket of a recently murdered Belzec prisoner.
- He'd written a note saying, "If you find this note,
"it means that we, the Jews who have worked at Belzec,
"have been murdered.
"Although the Germans promised us a different future,
don't believe them and take revenge for us."
- Engel panics and shows the note to Feldhendler.
It's the spark that ignites the flame of resistance.
- Feldhendler concluded,
"We are all going to be exterminated."
♪
- If Belzec was shut down and liquidated,
it's only a matter of time
before the Nazis do the same with Sobibor.
Feldhendler starts looking
for fellow Jews he can join forces with.
He handpicks a dozen or so prisoners that he trusts.
- And so he put together what he called the Organization.
♪
- The Organization is an escape committee.
Each member has knowledge of or access
to different parts of the camp.
Feldhendler tells them
they must come up with a way to escape.
♪
Over the next few weeks,
the men consider different plans,
but there was a problem.
♪
Feldhendler knows that the Nazis treat
every escape attempt with extreme severity.
- If one person attempted to escape,
they held everyone responsible,
and they could say, "We will shoot one of ten prisoners."
[gunshot]
- This means that even if some of them escape,
the rest are doomed.
Feldhendler knows the only right way to escape
is to try to get every prisoner out of the camp.
Another problem the Organization has
is that they lack any military or tactical experience.
They're farmers and artisans.
At this point, it's going to take a miracle.
But that's just what they get.
♪
- That miracle
came on September 23, 1943.
♪
- Alexander "Sasha" Pechersky is a Russian army lieutenant--
tall, handsome, experienced.
He and a contingent of Soviet Jewish POWs
arrive at Sobibor and are selected for work.
- He had escaped every place they put him.
The last place left was Sobibor.
Leon Feldhendler saw an opportunity.
♪
- Feldhendler knows he needs Pechersky,
his comrades, and their military experience
for the escape,
so he makes contact,
first by passing notes, then in person.
A translator helps Pechersky and Feldhendler talk
by translating between Russian and Yiddish.
When Pechersky asks how many are to escape,
Feldhendler tells him, "All of them."
Pechersky agrees on one condition--
the Organization is kept small until the very end.
Feldhendler accepts, and Pechersky gets to work.
♪
Pechersky knows they'll never be able to tunnel
and sneak 600 people out.
The camp is too secure.
This is going to require something a lot bolder.
As a soldier, Pechersky knows that the best tactic
is to exploit your enemy's greatest weakness.
In the case of these Nazis, it's greed.
The SS regularly help themselves
to the Jews' confiscated luxury items
after they've been cleaned and repaired by the prisoners.
When the SS officers pick up these items,
Alexander Pechersky comes up
with an audacious escape plan--
eliminate their Nazi captors
and walk right out the front gate.
Feldhendler and the Organization are stunned.
- In 1943, Sobibor, Poland, is home
to an escape-proof death camp so secretive,
few even know it exists.
But a plot is brewing to escape
and expose this nightmare to the world.
[dramatic music]
♪
Rumors swirl that the camp and all its prisoners
will be liquidated within a month.
Lieutenant Sasha Pechersky lays out the plan
to Leon Feldhendler
and a small group of co-conspirators.
The plan involves three stages.
♪
First, equip.
The prisoners must arm themselves with weapons
so they can kill trained SS officers.
Second, execute.
In the hour before evening roll call,
a few prisoners will lead a dozen SS officers
to workshops at set times
to pick up refurbished luxury goods.
Out of sight, kill teams,
led by Russian prisoners loyal to Pechersky,
will execute the senior SS officers
and as many lower-ranking SS as possible.
Pechersky knows they can't kill all 30 SS officers,
but killing the SS leadership
would make it more difficult to mount a counterattack.
And if they're caught in the act,
he's hoping the lack of Nazi leaders
will cause the 120 guards to stand down.
♪
The third and final stage--exit.
They will cut the power and phone lines,
and Pechersky's men, disguised as SS officers,
will lead the prisoners out the front gate,
where everyone can disappear into the forest.
It's an ambitious plan that will take time to prepare,
so first things first-- weapons.
- Over the course of several weeks,
the workers in the warehouse collect up knives,
like pocket knives and butchers' knives--
every knife that they can find--
and they'd smuggle back to camp one.
The other way that they get weapons is the forest brigade.
Those prisoners
who were charged with chopping down wood--
they bring their axes by the carpenter's shop every day,
where they're sharpened.
♪
- Other equipment that was going to prove essential
for the escape was rifles.
And they know some Ukrainian rifles
are locked up in one of the barracks.
- This is where one member of the Organization
comes up big--
Shlomo Szmajzner, a young Polish Jew
whose job as the foreman of the maintenance mechanics
gives him access to almost every part of the camp.
This includes a guard barrack where rifles are stored.
- He says to the guard outside
that he needs to go inside to repair a stove.
The guard thinks nothing of it
because he's the shop machinist.
Once he gets inside, he's able to steal the rifles.
And his plan is to hide them up the chimney,
but they prove to be too long, and they just won't fit.
So very quickly he needs to come up with another plan.
- Szmajzner quietly wraps the rifles in canvas sacks,
then slowly drops them out the back window.
- He then very calmly exits the building,
says goodbye to the guard, goes around the side,
and retrieves rifles that will be essential
for the forthcoming escape.
- The Organization is in business.
They are armed.
But the idea of killing Germans
still seems like an impossibility.
And who can blame them?
The SS rule with an iron fist.
Three Nazis in particular
rule over every aspect of their lives
and are at the top of their hit list.
Camp one is overseen by Karl Frenzel.
He monitors roll call
and sadistically lords his power over the prisoners.
The camp two boss is Rudolf Beckmann--
in charge of the sorting barracks
and communications office.
Last but not least is Gustav Wagner--
in charge of camp three,
as well as who is selected for work.
Wagner has the power to say who lives and who dies.
He is the worst of the worst.
♪
- Every camp had a devil.
Sobibor had Gustav Wagner--
6'4", 240 pounds,
arms almost stretching down to his knees,
so incredibly vicious.
He was always looking for Jews who were breaking the rules
so he could punish them.
- Wagner was known for his attention to detail.
They knew that if he were there,
it would be much more difficult
for them to succeed in their plans.
- Further complicating Pechersky's plan
is that before they can dream of taking out the SS,
they have to take care of the kapos--
Jewish prisoners the Nazis used to monitor
and discipline the rest of the Jews.
- The kapos were prison foremen,
and there were bad kapos and good kapos,
as there are bad and good people who exercise power--
unjust power over others.
- Some kapos are part of the Organization,
but there is one kapo who is just as bad
as any of the Nazis--
the one they call Berliner.
- Berliner had apparently ratted on his fellow Jews
to the Germans involving another escape.
He was such a liability to the plan
that they had to get rid of him
before the actual escape plan was hatched.
♪
- Pechersky is very clear.
It may be unfortunate, but the lives of everyone else in camp
will depend upon the execution of this specific individual.
- The prisoners have to make
the biggest decision of their lives.
Are they willing to kill one of their own?
♪
Finally, they make the choice about Berliner.
- Pechersky said, "He's got to go."
Feldhendler said, "We'll take care of it."
♪
- They come up with a shrewd way
to get the bad kapo out of the picture.
They beat him to within an inch of his life
but without leaving physical marks.
- They went for the spleen and the kidneys
until he was unconscious.
The next morning at roll call, the good kapo said,
"Herr Kapitan, there is one kapo sick in bed,
and I don't think he's going to last."
So they carried him out, and Frenzel says,
"Take him to camp three."
- Camp three means the gas chamber
and the end for Berliner.
- So it worked. They got rid of this guy.
These planners were smart.
- With their first hurdle out of the way,
Pechersky and Feldhendler can concentrate
on taking out their main obstacle--
the SS officers.
And the clock is ticking.
It's only a matter of days before Sobibor
and all of its prisoners are to be totally annihilated.
- A group of prisoners at Sobibor death camp
is plotting a mass escape that will free the entire camp.
Their plan--
to eliminate the camp's SS officers--
requires secrecy and precision.
[dramatic music]
Only an inner circle knows the details.
Knowing how the plan will work is key.
♪
So is when.
♪
The team chooses a single hour,
4:00 to 5:00 p.m. on October 13th,
to enact the plan.
This date is chosen for several reasons.
- The prisoners had heard rumors of October 15th
as the date that they would liquidate Sobibor prison.
- Targeting October 13th gives them a two-day buffer
in case something goes wrong.
It's also an ideal date
when it comes to camp personnel.
- A number of Germans
were going on leave for the holidays.
And so that would naturally reduce
the number of Germans that were there.
- This timing cuts the SS numbers in half,
from 30 to about 15.
This comes with a bonus they did not expect.
Young Shlomo Szmajzner discovers that Gustav Wagner,
the most brutal and feared guard,
will be one of the SS on leave.
♪
- They scheduled the escape for the 13th of October,
precisely at a time when Wagner wasn't there.
- It's a stroke of luck they can hardly believe.
The Organization crosses Wagner off their hit list.
With Wagner out of the picture,
their plan might just have a chance.
♪
For the rest of the Nazis, timing is everything.
They come up with a strict schedule
for the executions and other steps of the plan.
♪
At 4:00 p.m.,
each SS officer will be asked to arrive
at a particular workshop or warehouse
to pick up their ill-gotten clothing and jewelry items.
♪
The killings must start promptly.
- They would begin in the shops,
but at 4:30 on the dot, they would stop.
♪
- As soon as the killing is done at 4:30,
they will cut the phone and power lines.
Any SS who have avoided death
will find it hard to manage the prisoners in the dark
and impossible to call for outside help.
- The lack of electricity will confuse the guards
and allow them just that much more time
to put distance between themselves and the camp.
♪
- At 5:00 p.m., good kapo will blow roll call as usual.
Pechersky and Feldhendler will finally let
the rest of the 300 prisoners in on the plan.
Then they will make their exit through the front gates
just before dusk.
- By 5:00 in the middle of October,
they knew they would have the cover of darkness
to help them in getting away from the camp.
- With such a narrow window of time,
the plan to stand a chance,
they have to figure out a way to synchronize.
- Timing was absolutely critical
to pulling off the escape plan.
The only way that they could have done this
is if everyone had watches.
- But the jewelers in the camp gathered the watches
off arriving prisoners,
and they had a collection of watches.
They had to provide watches to the individuals
who were involved in the uprising.
- Another key to keeping things on track
is the youngest member of the Organization--
Thomas "Toivi" Blatt.
His job is to make sure the Nazis show up on time
by reminding them to pick up their new coats,
jewelry, and boots.
- By luring the German officer away from the other men,
he put that officer in a position to be murdered
by one of the other prisoners.
♪
- So everything now was ready for a final meeting.
♪
And they met in the carpenter's shop.
They all accepted the escape plan.
- The Organization has to wait until morning.
But when morning comes, something happens
that threatens to derail the entire plan.
♪
- So October 13th, everyone was primed--
the sleepless night the night before,
energy up, adrenaline flowing.
[footsteps approaching] - And then, without warning,
more German troops arrive at Sobibor.
Pechersky and Feldhendler can't believe their eyes.
♪
- For some unknown reason,
a load of SS officers
came to the prison and simply started looking around.
- This would be far too many Germans to take on.
All the Organization's precise planning
may be ruined.
Are the soldiers here to liquidate the camp
or to crush the escape?
Did someone betray the plan?
The escape committee goes into quiet panic.
♪
- They arrived about 9:00 in the morning,
completely threw off their schedule.
By noon, when the SS officers hadn't left,
Pechersky decides it's too late.
There's too much going on. It's too much confusion.
- Pechersky calls off the escape.
Then the grim reality sets in
that they might not get another chance to escape.
If the extra German troops
have come to help with extermination,
all the prisoners might be dead by nightfall.
♪
[dramatic music]
- The prisoners of the Sobibor death camp
are about to set in motion a mass breakout.
The whole plan begins to crumble
when an unexpected contingent of armed German soldiers
marches in through the main gate.
These soldiers must be here to shut down the escape
and liquidate the camp.
♪
[light music plays]
But as they observe the Nazis throughout the day,
the prisoners realize something--
the new arrivals are not here to kill anyone.
The Germans have only arrived for a social visit
with their fellow soldiers.
- There was some partying going on,
but it certainly wasn't to put down an attempted escape,
because the Germans really didn't have any idea
about what was being planned.
♪
- The relief is palpable.
Pechersky and Feldhendler will live to fight another day.
[dramatic music]
When the German visitors leave the camp later that day,
Pechersky, Feldhendler, and the Organization
know they've been given a second chance.
They reschedule the escape for the next day,
October 14th, at 4:00 p.m.
The plan is back on.
♪
This would be their last chance.
Everyone in the Organization remains fully committed.
♪
The morning of the escape,
Pechersky stakes out the carpenter's workshop
with Feldhendler to make sure everything is ready
and to direct and monitor the escape.
Everything looks clear.
As 4:00 nears, Pechersky gives the go-ahead,
and the plan is set in motion.
It's now or never.
♪
- Knives are distributed to the main prisoners,
who are going to take part in killing the German guards,
and the axes are distributed as well.
- The kill teams hide weapons and themselves
around the camp.
They're ready to pounce.
♪
With watches synchronized,
the prisoners go into action exactly at 4:00 p.m.
The killings begin in the tailor barracks,
with the deputy commandant
and highest-ranking officer on the day, Johann Niemann.
They want to cut off the head of the snake.
Thomas Blatt makes sure Niemann is on time.
- Niemann wanted a new uniform.
♪
And they told him, "Come by at 4:00."
And he went in to have the coat fitted,
and when Niemann's back was turned
and was getting his arms in the coat,
they set upon him with axes and killed him.
♪
- The kill team is suddenly quiet.
This could actually work.
♪
Pechersky gets a sign from Blatt
and gives the signal-- full steam ahead.
♪
The Organization unleashes a flurry
of precise and brutal attacks.
One SS officer after another
is led to a pre-appointed out-of-sight kill spot
and executed.
Their bodies are hidden behind tables
or in closets in the workshops.
Pechersky and Feldhendler monitor things
from the carpenter's barracks.
- Things were going smoothly, except for Beckmann.
♪
- The team has killed 10 out of nearly 15 SS officers,
including top-ranking leaders.
But one of the most important on their list,
Rudolf Beckmann, slips through their fingers.
Instead of going to his scheduled kill spot,
Beckmann returns to his office in camp two.
- He was the chief communicator in the camp.
He had one of the rare telephones in the camp,
and he had access to the outside.
So it was essential that they get to Beckmann.
- If Beckmann remains alive,
the whole plan will unravel.
Someone has to step up.
♪
- They put together a kill team
to go into the administration building.
Chaim Engel said that he would be part of the kill team
to go and take care of this.
- Engel's future wife, Selma,
who worked beside him in the sorting barracks,
hands him a knife.
- He's not a violent man, but he thinks about
all of the people who have been killed in Sobibor
and that this is an act of revenge for them.
♪
- The impromptu kill team
enters Rudolf Beckmann's office.
Before the Nazi realizes what's happening,
they headlock him and take his pistol.
He goes for the phone, but the team stops him.
♪
Then Chaim Engel gives his own message to the SS...
♪
Stabbing and killing Rudolf Beckmann.
- The whole time he's screaming,
"This is for my father!
"This is for my mother!
This is for my sister and my brother!"
♪
- The plan is succeeding.
In total, they are able to kill 11 SS officers.
The only snag--SS officer Karl Frenzel is a no-show,
and nobody knows where he is.
As the overseer of camp one,
killing Frenzel is an important part of the plan,
but the clock is ticking.
Pechersky knows they've reached
the point of no return,
and he pushes the plan on to the next step--
cutting the power.
♪
- To attack the electricity
means the lights and the telephone,
which means not only internal communication
but the capacity to call for additional troops.
- No power and no phones
will make searching for escapees harder,
especially when night falls.
Time to move on to the final stage of the plan...
♪
Exiting the camp.
But that's just when things start to unravel.
♪
As roll call nears,
though the prisoners did their best to hide them,
one of the guards doing his rounds
comes upon the dead body of an SS officer.
- They were used to dead bodies of Jews,
not of Germans, not of SS men.
And this was the tip-off,
and this also would have called forth the alert
from the entire camp.
- When Pechersky notices a ruckus among the guards,
he realizes they just lost their advantage.
Roll call and escape needs to happen now.
Pechersky runs outside, giving the signal to a kapo
who is in on the plan to blow his whistle,
calling the prisoners to roll call
almost 20 minutes early.
- The plan was for them all come to roll call,
and they would all escape.
- The prisoners begin to assemble,
though the vast majority of them
are still in the dark about the escape.
The remaining Germans realize what's happening.
The Ukrainian guards
are not backing down as he hoped.
Pechersky sees them moving to cut off
all access to the main gate.
If the prisoners don't go now,
the guards will destroy their one chance for freedom.
On the spot, Pechersky gives a rousing speech.
- He shouted for all to hear,
"Brothers, sisters, the time has come.
"Anybody survive here,
let them tell the world what went on."
- Pechersky tells them they must all take their lives
in their own hands and flee
and rush the gate and fences.
If they can make it out
and to the forest edge 100 yards away,
they'll have a chance at survival.
♪
His speech inspires the prisoners.
They begin to rush the fences.
Then at the worst possible time, Karl Frenzel,
the SS officer who missed his date with death,
finally shows up.
♪
And he's armed.
♪
- Frenzel begins firing into the crowd.
Pechersky pulls his pistol and shoots...
[gunshots] But misses.
And in that moment, he thinks to himself,
the devil will get him.
- As the sun begins to set,
the prisoners of Sobibor have only two choices--
topple the fences and take their chances in the minefield
or stay and die.
- It's nighttime on October 14, 1943.
And the mass escape attempt has transformed Sobibor death camp
from the height of Nazi discipline
into a place of utter chaos...
all within one hour.
[dramatic music]
Pechersky's plan to quietly exit through the main gate
has failed.
It's now a frantic full-scale uprising.
The Germans use a backup generator
to power a few camp floodlights,
frustrating the prisoners' plan
to escape in total darkness.
This only adds to the chaos.
- People are trying to figure out
almost on a moment's notice, "What do I do?
"Do I escape?
"Do I stay here and hope that the Germans
will have mercy on me?"
It's really pandemonium.
- Though the main gate is now blocked,
there is still one chance to get out of Sobibor...
over the fence.
Hundreds of prisoners decide to make a break for it.
♪
- The carpenters-- they put the ladder up.
People rush the fences until they collapse.
Other Jews walked over, ran over them,
and went across the minefield.
The mines were exploding.
♪
There were bodies and pieces everywhere.
- The race over the fences and minefield,
all in an effort to get to the forest's edge,
becomes a horror show. [gunfire]
Dozens of the escapees are shot by Frenzel and the guards
before they get over the fence.
Others don't make it much further.
- Many were killed in the minefield.
But that, of course, created a path
for the others to follow.
[gunshots]
- Toivi got caught in the fence.
♪
- Getting caught on the fence
ends up saving young Thomas Blatt's life.
While he's trapped,
other prisoners run ahead and trigger the mines.
♪
Once Blatt frees himself,
he has a clearer path to escape,
through a field covered with exploded mines
and prisoners' bodies.
♪
Pechersky, Feldhendler, Engel, and Szmajzner
join in the chaotic exit.
They and about 300 prisoners make it to the forest.
They're able to breathe...
but only for a moment.
It's here, in the midst of their momentary victory,
that the Organization disbands.
♪
- Once the Jews got into the forest,
they all followed Pechersky,
and they gathered all in one place.
They wanted him to lead them,
but he was a soldier,
and he had an allegiance to the Red Army.
So he left with all of his men.
♪
- Losing Pechersky is a blow to all prisoners,
especially because the Germans are now on the hunt.
The whole exit takes only 12 minutes,
leaving the remaining Nazis and guards
in a state of shock.
- This came as a total surprise to the Germans,
something they couldn't anticipate
because they had already internalized
that these were subhuman people.
They were the great men. They were the giants.
They were the master race.
- Frenzel was shocked.
He couldn't call. The phones were down.
He actually orders one of the other soldiers
to run down to the train station
and place a call,
but everyone's terrified that there are Jews out there
who are just waiting to pounce
on a lone guard or a lone sentry,
and so nobody really wants to do it.
So Frenzel is actually the one who runs down the road
by himself to the train station
in order to place a call requesting backup.
- The Nazis initiate a ruthless manhunt
for over 300 Jews hiding or running in the forest.
- On the orders of Berlin,
they went into the woods immediately
and started to pick up the stragglers
and just killed them in the woods.
[gunshot]
♪
- After midnight, two additional military units
arrive in Sobibor and take control.
The manhunt swings into full gear.
For the Germans, the risk is not just the loss of prisoners
but what happens if the secret of Sobibor
gets out to the civilized world.
[gunshot]
- In October 1943,
hundreds of prisoners from the Sobibor death camp
participate in the greatest mass escape of World War II.
Many are shot during the escape
or die in the minefields around the camp.
Others are caught and killed during a massive manhunt
run by the SS and German army units
in the days following the uprising.
For the prisoners that made it to the forest,
there is no guarantee that they are now safe.
Without Pechersky and his soldiers,
the escapees are left to fend for themselves.
- Sobibor wasn't surrounded
by places you could easily disappear to.
There were no large villages around,
no cities that you could get into and somehow disappear.
There were dogs. There were soldiers.
And there also were villagers
who were prepared to turn you in for very steep rewards.
The lucky ones were prepared with money
and with some valuables so you were in a situation
where you could bribe.
- They are weak. They are sickly.
They are in no condition
to overcome these hardships.
The camps are located
in the heart of very anti-Semitic Poland,
where you've got no friends on the outside,
even if you can escape.
- Pechersky, Feldhendler, Engel, Szmajzner, and Blatt
all eventually make their way to freedom,
one way or the other.
But most do not.
Of the 600 Jewish prisoners at Sobibor,
400 tried to escape.
80 are immediately killed in combat
or in the minefields.
Of those who make it away from the camp,
262 are captured and executed
by the Nazis or by Polish locals.
Only 53 fully escape and find freedom.
The Nazis know that more than a few prisoners
have fully escaped,
so they quickly work to hide the evidence
of their crimes against humanity.
- It was a huge shock for the German authorities
that this happened.
They decided to close down Sobibor.
They murdered all of the Jews that remained there,
and they ceased operation.
They basically plowed it over as if it had never existed.
- Thanks to those who successfully escaped,
the Nazi death camp
and the Jewish lives that were taken there
become known to the world.
- In the end, about 50 people who were part of the escape
actually survived the war and went on to tell the story.
It was the kind of antidote to this notion
that Jews were entirely passive
and, you know, walked willingly to their deaths.
It was a demonstration of courage and resistance.
- It became the biggest escape of World War II.
And therefore, I consider it the crown jewel
of resistance in Europe.
♪
- The escape from Sobibor death camp
is bittersweet--
successful on the one hand...
but shrouded in tragedy.
For those who managed to survive the war
and tell the world about the horrors of Sobibor,
their escape offers the ultimate revenge...
the survivors, not the killers,
are writing the history.
♪