Sobibor

Sobibor was a Nazi death camp located in the eastern Polish province of Lublin, approximately 100 kilometers northeast of Lublin city center. Operational from April 1942 until October 1943, Sobibor served as one of the most efficient extermination centers during the Holocaust, where approximately 250,000 people, primarily Jewish, were systematically murdered. The camp was designed as a gas chamber and crematorium complex, with a specialized method of killing known as the "Sobibor method," involving the use of carbon monoxide gas in sealed chambers.

The camp was administered by the SS and was staffed by a mix of German officers, local Polish collaborators, and forced laborers from the Jewish population. The selection process for victims was conducted in a nearby camp, where those deemed unfit for forced labor were immediately transported to Sobibor. Upon arrival, victims were stripped, given a number, and led to the gas chambers, where they were killed within minutes. The bodies were then incinerated in the crematoria, and the ashes were disposed of in mass graves.

After the war, Sobibor was abandoned, and its existence was largely forgotten until the late 1960s when Polish historian Janusz Litwin discovered the site. In 1979, a memorial was established at the former camp, commemorating the victims and serving as a reminder of the atrocities committed there. The site is now a museum and memorial, open to the public for educational purposes. Sobibor remains a poignant symbol of the Holocaust and the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany during World War II.