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"Those of you who may survive, bear witness, let the world know what happened here."

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Sobibor Nazi Camp, in Poland, where "Sasha" led a mass escape of himself and 300 inmates.  They escaped through a barbed wire fence.  11 Nazi staff were killed.  Of the 300 inmates that escaped only about 50 survived the rest of the war.

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Escaping Hell -75 Years since the Jewish Revolt at Sobibor

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Sobibor Camp was in Poland. It was build by Richard Thomalia and Erwin Lambert. It was functioning from May 1942 to October 1943. It was called an extermination camp. 170,000 to 250,000 Jews were killed at this camp. They were killed as they arrived there. The ones that were not killed were made to work. Most Jews were gassed. After the revolt, the camp was demolished, and so was the evidence of it being there.

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Alexander was a soldier. He was an officer in the Red Army, so he decided to lead the escape from Sobibor Camp. They could not tell many people because they were afraid the plan would be leaked. They planned on killing the camp soldiers, as many as they could. The inmates made excuses for the camp soldiers to come to them and then they killed them. They used weapons that they made by hand. Alexander and his men cut telephone lines. They inmates all got together and cut barbed wire and broke through the gate. They all ran. Many of the people that escaped were killed in the forest by mines or were shot from watch towers. Only about 50 to 60 made it out alive.

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He was a son of a jewish lawyer. He was born February 22, 1909 and died 1990. Alexander worked as an electrician for a locomotive repair factory. He went to college and became an accountant.

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Alexander never received any recognition for his revolt from his own country.

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Alexander received a Medal for Battle Merit in 1951, Medal "For the Victory over Germany in Great Patriotic War", 1941-1945.

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Alexander Pechersky Momorial in Tel Aviv

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He is being recognized more now after his death. A plaque was put in Russia for him. They replaced his gravestone with a new one. The new one has his picture on it. There is an Alexander Pechersky Foundation that helps others remember him and his work.

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Alexander was not able to be a witness against the nazis in the Nuremberg Trials. The Soviet government would not allow this to happen. Later in 1963 he was a witness to convict 11 Ukrainian soldiers that worked at Sobibor.

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These are the guard towers that soldiers sat in around the concentration camps to keep the inmates in. Many inmates trying to escape were shot by men in these.

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Alexander was given a shirt while escaping by a woman named Luka.

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Luka and the shirt she gave alexander pechersky

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Haaretz | Israel News

A Dutch Ph.D. student believes that Liselotte Karoline Rosenstiel, a young German Jew, was the mysterious lover of the revolt's commander

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A ragged and stained shirt is the only item left that belonged to "Luka," who 80 years ago escaped from Sobibor, a Nazi killing ground for Jews. Luka gave the shirt to the head of the uprising, Alexander Pechersky, telling this former accountant from Ukraine: "Wear it during the escape, it will bring you luck." Not long after, all traces of Luka were lost.

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Her name was Luka: Identity of a leader of the Sobibor uprising is revealed

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A Dutch Ph.D. Student Believes That Liselotte Karoline Rosenstiel, a Young German Jew, Was the Mysterious Lover of the Revolt's Commander

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Quote about Luka..." Although I knew her only about two weeks, I will never forget her. I informed her minutes before the escape of the plan. She has given me a shirt. She said," it's a good luck shirt, put it on right now, and I did."