Escape from Sobibor by Rashke Richard

Author:Rashke, Richard [Rashke, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

October 12, 1943

PEC HE RS K Y PICKED HIS WAY through the Blackies’ barracks on the pretext of testing the doors for warp. Each barracks had two rooms. In the larger, the rank and file slept on bunk beds, warmed by two wood stoves with round plates that could be removed to heat water. Along the walls were gun racks partly filled with Mausers, each holding five or six rounds. In the smaller room, the Ukrainian officers slept in single beds. There was one wood stove there, and the guns were stored in a closet.

No one was inside the officers’ quarters. So Pechersky quickly closed the door behind him and took a rifle from the closet rack. As quietly as he could, he slipped back the bolt. The chamber was empty. He searched the closet for bullets, but found none. So he assumed that if the officers’ guns were not loaded, the rifles of the rank and file wouldn’t be, either.

Pechersky was pleased. He doubted that the empty guns would be a big advantage for the prisoners, but the news would encourage the Organization. Just one more small sign that luck was on their side.

They met briefly that night. Pechersky rehearsed the basics of the plan:

Kill all the Germans you can in Camp II between three-thirty and four-thirty. Feldhendler is in charge. Cut all the phone wires in two places just before four, and the electricity just before roll call. Kill the Germans in the Camp I shops between four and four-thirty. If we get caught before the roll call whistle, it’s every man for himself. Line up four abreast, Russians up front. Follow Porzyczki to the main gate. Walk right out of the camp. If we get caught, break for the fences. The Russians will take the arsenal.

Pechersky then added a few new details: Porzyczki will assign the Russians to work in the new barracks in Camp I. The carpenters will hide planks and a ladder in the weeds behind their shop in case the prisoners can’t get out of Camp I. The first ones over the fence will lay the planks over the ditch. Off-duty Ukrainians don’t have ammunition in their rifles. Don’t hesitate to knife them if they get in the way.

Pechersky paused, waiting for questions. “We break tomorrow,” he said at last. The room was as tense as a hair trigger. “Wear extra clothes. It will be cold in the forest. See Feldhendler. He’ll get whatever you need.”

Shlomo was swept up in the excitement of the plan. “I can steal some rifles,” he said. The words slipped out like a piece of butter. He hadn’t planned to say them; in fact, he hadn’t even thought about smuggling guns. His boldness made him shiver. He had no idea how he could get them.

“Have some Russians meet me in the kitchen just before roll call,” he told the Politruk. “I’ll have the guns then.”

Pechersky didn’t want to tell the boy that if he wasn’t dead by roll call, he’d be fighting for his life in some corner of the camp.

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