Seems like the the working jews got to socialize a lot. visit at night, men and women together and freedom to leave baracks. Was this true in Sobibor, or used to move the plot along faster? Hard to believe this was going on in a death camp-
shareYes they socialised. Yitzhak Arad's book 'Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka' says p.226 that in 1943 the Germans applied a policy across all the death camps (not just Sobibor) that prisoners of both sexes could meet up in the evenings and talk and have love affairs. That way, the prisoners might be deterred from "thinking about their end, about escape, or about any kind of resistance." So it was a deliberate anti-rebellion policy by the Germans.
shareThanks Alan- This is the first I've ever heard about letting death camp prisoners socialize. I guess it was just for the coppos(sp). Does anyone know how extensive visiting was allowed.
shareWhen I visited Auschwitz we were told there was strictly no socializing between the sexes.
If it harms none, do what thou wilt.
I was a little surprised by the degree of association. Practices may have varied from camp to camp. But certainly men and women were much more segregated in Auschwitz. Think of the graphic novel Maus, where Vladek Spiegelman has to take extraordinary measures just to send a message to his wife, held elsewhere in the huge complex.
I also was surprised that Red Army POWs like Sasha were not segregated from the other prisoners, even though they were Jews and perhaps for that reason were lumped in with them. They could and did impart military knowledge to other prisoners. When they first arrive the Germans notice their military bearing and their unbowed attitude, but it doesn't cause them to take precautions.
My impression is that Sobibor was rather badly run by the Germans compared to other camps, and this partly explains the successful break-out.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."