Sigmund Sobolewski
Encyclopedia
Sigmund Sobolewski (ˈɕiɡmunt sɔbɔˈlɛvit͡ʂ) (born 1923) is a Polish
Catholic
who was the 88th prisoner to enter Auschwitz on the very first transport to the concentration camp on June 14, 1940, and remained a prisoner for four and a half years during World War II
. Now residing in Canada
, he is an opponent of Holocaust denial
and is notable for having confronted modern neo-Nazis
, anti-Semites
and Holocaust deniers.
Sobolewski, the son of the mayor of a small Polish town who was also an officer in the Polish army, was detained at Auschwitz at the age of 17 as a result of the anti-Nazi activities of his father. Fluent in German
, Sobolewski was pressed into service as a translator.
"I survived also because I was young," said Sobolewski. "I didn't realize the seriousness of what was going on. Most of the people who survived were simple people; workers, peasants from Polish villages who couldn't read and write, but who were used to the hard work. Lawyers, doctors, technicians, university graduates: many of them after three or four weeks in Auschwitz had committed suicide because they realized their chances of surviving were very, very slim."
He is the sole surviving witness of the October 7, 1944 revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau when a group of Jewish prisoners blew up Crematorium Number 4 and attempted to escape. Sobolewski was on the fire brigade and was ordered to put out the fire. He witnessed the execution of 450 Jewish Sonderkommando
s in retaliation.
"I survived only to live with the nagging question, 'What distinguished me from them (the Jews)?'", he said in an interview.
He traveled the world following the war and settled in Alberta, Canada. In 1967, he initiated his activity protesting against neo-Nazism by donning a facsimile of his Auschwitz prison uniform and picketing the appearance of a German neo-Nazi leader on Canadian television. In subsequent decades he would do the same to protest Holocaust denier Jim Keegstra and, in 1990 to picket Aryan Fest, a neo-Nazi festival organized by Terry Long
in Alberta.
Sobolewski works as a realtor in Alberta but also travels the world lecturing audiences on his experiences in Auschwitz and warning against Holocaust denial.
His life is the subject of the biography Prisoner 88: The Man in Stripes by Rabbi Roy Tanenbaum.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
who was the 88th prisoner to enter Auschwitz on the very first transport to the concentration camp on June 14, 1940, and remained a prisoner for four and a half years during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Now residing in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, he is an opponent of Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
and is notable for having confronted modern neo-Nazis
Neo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
, anti-Semites
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
and Holocaust deniers.
Sobolewski, the son of the mayor of a small Polish town who was also an officer in the Polish army, was detained at Auschwitz at the age of 17 as a result of the anti-Nazi activities of his father. Fluent in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Sobolewski was pressed into service as a translator.
"I survived also because I was young," said Sobolewski. "I didn't realize the seriousness of what was going on. Most of the people who survived were simple people; workers, peasants from Polish villages who couldn't read and write, but who were used to the hard work. Lawyers, doctors, technicians, university graduates: many of them after three or four weeks in Auschwitz had committed suicide because they realized their chances of surviving were very, very slim."
He is the sole surviving witness of the October 7, 1944 revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau when a group of Jewish prisoners blew up Crematorium Number 4 and attempted to escape. Sobolewski was on the fire brigade and was ordered to put out the fire. He witnessed the execution of 450 Jewish Sonderkommando
Sonderkommando
Sonderkommandos were work units of Nazi death camp prisoners, composed almost entirely of Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber victims during The Holocaust...
s in retaliation.
"I survived only to live with the nagging question, 'What distinguished me from them (the Jews)?'", he said in an interview.
He traveled the world following the war and settled in Alberta, Canada. In 1967, he initiated his activity protesting against neo-Nazism by donning a facsimile of his Auschwitz prison uniform and picketing the appearance of a German neo-Nazi leader on Canadian television. In subsequent decades he would do the same to protest Holocaust denier Jim Keegstra and, in 1990 to picket Aryan Fest, a neo-Nazi festival organized by Terry Long
Terry Long (white supremacist)
Terry Long is the former leader of the Aryan Nations in Canada.He ran for public office in British Columbia as a member of the Western Canada Concept party....
in Alberta.
Sobolewski works as a realtor in Alberta but also travels the world lecturing audiences on his experiences in Auschwitz and warning against Holocaust denial.
His life is the subject of the biography Prisoner 88: The Man in Stripes by Rabbi Roy Tanenbaum.