page_title: Sobibor extermination camp
section_title: Layout
hierarchical_section_title: Sobibor extermination camp / Establishment / Layout
caption_attribution_description: English: This isn't to scale and ongoing archaeological work might improve our understanding of the layout of the camp.
context_page_description: Sobibor was an extermination camp built and operated by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Reinhard. It was located in the forest near the village of Sobibór in the General Government region of German-occupied Poland.
  As an extermination camp rather than a concentration camp, Sobibor existed for the sole purpose of killing Jews. The vast majority of prisoners were gassed within a few hours of their arrival. Those not gassed immediately were forced to assist in the operation of the camp and most died or were killed in turn within a few months. In total, some 170,000 to 250,000 people were murdered at Sobibor, making it the fourth-deadliest Nazi camp after Belzec, Treblinka, and Auschwitz.
  The camp ceased operations after the prisoner revolt, which took place on 14 October 1943. The plan for this revolt involved two phases. In the first phase, teams of prisoners were to assassinate all of the SS officers separately and discreetly. In the second phase, all 600 prisoners would assemble for roll call and walk to freedom out the front gate. However, the plan was disrupted after only 12 of the SS officers had been killed.
context_section_description: Sobibor was divided into five compounds: the Vorlager and four Lagers numbered I-IV.
  The Vorlager (front compound) contained living quarters and recreational buildings for the camp personnel. The SS officers lived in cottages with colorful names such as Lustiger Floh (The Merry Flea), Schwalbennest (The Swallow’s Nest), and Gottes Heimat (God’s Own Home). They also had a canteen, a bowling alley, a hairdresser, and a dentist, all staffed by Jewish prisoners. The watchmen (Trawniki men), drawn from Soviet POWs, had separate barracks, and their own separate recreational buildings, including a hair salon and a canteen.
  The Nazis paid great attention to the appearance of the Vorlager. It was neatly landscaped, with lawns and gardens, outdoor terraces, gravel-lined paths, and professionally painted signs. This idyllic appearance helped hide the nature of the camp from prisoners, who would arrive on the adjacent ramp. Survivor Jules Schelvis recalled feeling reassured upon arrival by the Vorlager's "Tyrolean cottage-like barracks with their bright little curtains and geraniums on the windowsills".
  Lager I contained barracks and workshops for the prisoners. These workshops included a tailor's shop, a carpenter's shop, a mechanic's shop, a sign-painter's shop, and a bakery.  Lager I was accessible only through the adjacent Vorlager, and its western boundary was made escape-proof with a water-filled trench.
  Lager II was a larger multi-purpose compound. One subsection called the Erbhof contained the administration building, as well as a small farm. The administration building was a pre-war structure previously used by the local Polish forestry service. As part of the camp, this building was adapted to provide  accommodation for some SS officers, storage for goods stolen from victims' luggage, as well as a pharmacy, whose contents were also taken from victims' luggage. On the farm, Jewish prisoners raised chickens, pigs, geese, fruits and vegetables for consumption by the SS men.
  Outside the Erbhof, Lager II contained facilities where new arrivals were prepared for their deaths. It contained the sorting barracks and other buildings used for storing  items taken from the victims, including clothes, food, hair, gold, and other valuables. At the east end was a yard where new arrivals had their luggage taken from them and were forced to undress. This area was beautified with flower beds to hide the camp's purpose from newcomers. This yard led into the narrow enclosed path called the Himmelstrasse (road to heaven) or the Schlauch (tube), which led straight to the gas chambers in Lager III. The Himmelstrasse was covered on both sides by fences woven with pine branches.
  Lager III was the extermination area. It was isolated from the rest of the camp, set back in a clearing in the forest and surrounded by its own thatched fence. Prisoners from Lager I were not allowed near it, and were killed if they were suspected of having seen inside. Due to a lack of eyewitness testimony, little is known about Lager III beyond the fact that it contained gas chambers, mass graves, and special separate housing for the sonderkommando prisoners who worked there.
  Lager IV (also called the Nordlager) was added in July 1943, and was still under construction at the time of the revolt. Located in a heavily wooded area to the north of the other camps, it was being developed as a munitions depot for processing arms taken from Red Army soldiers.
caption: The layout of Sobibor, as it appeared in Summer 1943.
exif: {}