The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 3, Spring 2020 | Page 55

and Scroll
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the tailors’ workshop, Alexander
Shubayev, one of Pechersky’s fellow
soldiers, dispatched Johann
Niemann, the SS deputy commandant,
with an ax-blow to the
head. His body was pushed under
a bed. A second Nazi followed
fifteen minutes later. He, too, was
slain. Shortly thereafter, Lerner
and Arkady Wajspapir finished
off Siegfried Graetschus, who
directed Sobibor’s Ukrainian
contingent. Another Nazi succumbed
while he looked at a pair
of boots. In all, about a dozen
SS met their end through these
ruses. Runners kept everyone informed
of the progress made ....
Just before 4:30, the insurgents
cut the telegraph and telephone
cables, preventing the remaining
Germans from notifying their superiors
.... When the Kapo called
everyone to line up for roll-call
near the front of the camp, no
SS men showed up. Then, the inmates
realized what was at hand
and became restless ... scores of
Jewish prisoners surged toward the
front gate. German and Ukrainian
fire claimed many of them
before they could get to it. The
Soviets, including Pechersky, and
those who had hidden arms
shot back. Some frantically cut
through the barbed wire. Others,
far more desperate, climbed
the fence and took their chances
with the mines the Germans
had planted outside the wire.
After getting through the fence,
Pechersky recalled, he ran across