“Most people only dream their nightmares. However, I and my fellow survivors actually lived this experience,” said Philip Bialowitz, one of only seven remaining survivors of the Nazi extermination camp, Sobibor, where an estimated 250,000 Jews, including most of his family, were murdered. “We fought hard for our dignity and our lives. The inhumanity of the Nazis knew no limits.”
“Shema” by Primo Levi
You who live secure
In your warm houses
Who return at evening to find
Hot food and friendly faces:
Consider whether this is a man,
Who labors in the mud
Who knows no peace
Who fights for a crust of bread
Who dies at a yes or a no.
Consider whether this is a woman,
Without hair or name
With no more strength to remember
Eyes empty and womb cold
As a frog in winter.
Consider that this has been:
I commend these words to you.
Engrave them on your hearts
When you are in your house, when
you walk on your way,
When you go to bed, when you rise.
Repeat them to your children.
Or may your house crumble,
Disease renders you powerless,
Your offspring avert their faces from you.
Here is a link to a website about Philip Bialowitz where I got this information. Any response to his story, the movie, the poem?
Lit Terms 2
6 years ago
11 comments:
"Escape from Sobibor" reminded me of the lesson we learned about the country that came together to get their Jews to safety. In Sobibor there were just a few Jews who were planning to escape, but, in the end, all 600 had to go.
Would I call that altruistic, though?
Surely, altering the plan so that all of the prisoners had a chance at freedom was a great thing to do. That was not the original intention, however. Had those 13 men not tried to escape the first time and (along with a partner) been shot after being re-captured, the Sobibor veterans would not have adjusted their plans. So, is it altruistic if they only freed everyone to help save themselves?
Hmm.
This movie really opened my eyes to how cruel and manipulating the Nazis were. Despite everything the people in Sobibor were put through they still didn't lose faith or courage to fight back and make a plan to escape. It also made you really connect to the different characters and feel happiness at their freedom or loss at their death.
-Kate
"Escape from Sobibor" was a very good movie. I felt like it was a very good depiction of the murder and how they were treated. I also liked the way it showed how the Jews tried to make life as normal as possible within the camps. (romance, good friends, etc.)
I thought that "Escape from Sobibor" was an excellent movie. I thought that it showed how terrible life in the camps really were. Even though the prisoners went through so much they were able to gather the strength to band together and create the first and only successful revolt. I am amazed at how they never lost hope.
-Nick
I definitely think what the Jews did at Sobibor was altruistic. They realized that after the first group tried to escape, failed and had to decided for someone else to die with them, that even if their escape was a success, those left behind would have to pay for it. They knew the only way was to try and escape with all 600. They put their lives at risk, making sure every one got out. They stayed behind trying to get those who were not willing to move to go, making it very easy for them to get shot. They stayed behind to shoot and distract the Nazi's from shooting at the other Jews. They were willing to lose everything, to save every one else. What they did was very altruistic. If only others had been willing to do the same.
I was surprised on the way the Sobibor was run. The way that they all had a chance to meet in barracks and how they seemed to walk around the camps. I think that is one of the reasons that the escape was possible. That and the fact that they had Russian soldiers with them.
This movie had a great visual of what a death camp was like. It showed how they took only skilled workers and then sent the rest to die. It was sad seeing families split up, but throughout I liked how people turned toward one another for protection, and even love. You would think that people wouldn't be able to have feelings for someone else when your wife and kid died in that camp. The Jews were trying to make their life at the camp as normal as possible. This movie made me see how the Nazis treated them and how everything worked within the camps.
It was a GREAT movie
I really wish I heard that guy talk about his experience from Sobibor. :( That would've been cool
I loved the movie "Escape from Sobibor." I think the film did an excellent job portraying the terrible living conditions for the people in the camps, and the unbelievable revolt against the camp by its captors.
"Escape from Sobibor" is an amazing story. It's hard to believe that it actually happened.
I have to say that it's actually my favorite movie we have watched in class.
Through out the semester, I always wondered why the Jews didn't fight back. There were hundreds/thousands of them in a camp, and just a few soldier. But now I know that the Jews in one camp did. The plan was so sudden for most of them, and I respect their bravery for immediately agreeing to go along.
Like Adam said, I also loved how the Jews tried to keep their lives as normal as possible by making friendships and even falling in love.
-Snezhanna
I thought this was an amazing movie. Honestly, the best Holocaust movie I have seen. It will be suprising when the day comes that I see a movie that portrays the pain inside a concentration camp better. I really liked how much courage and faith the people had, especially the main people who authorized the escape. It really shows what kind of harships you can overcome with courage and drive to a better life.
In the novel "Cage" I felt it didn't do the Holocaust justice, especially describing Aushwitz. One of the reasons I enjoyed "Escape from Sobibor" so much was that I felt it served the Jews that died there justice. It showed their living conditions and how carelessly the Nazis appeared to throw unwanted lives away.
-Laura Hoffmann
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