The morning was beautiful so we sat in the sunshine having breakfast. Sean bought us chocolate croissants from the Biedronka supermarket just outside the campsite so we were all happy.

We got the vans packed up and we moved on to our next destination of Sobibor – another Jewish extermination camp. 

On the way we travelled through towns which have houses along the street and then long strips of land behind them – originally each would have had that as their own bit of land to farm.

Also the roads are very straight as the land is very flat and the pieces of land are all organised along them. That must have happened a long time ago.

We arrived along a terrible potholed road. Of course we found the railway siding outside the new museum. This is where the prisoners were unloaded from. 

The Nazis had destroyed the camp as much as they could so it was not really understood what happened here until quite recently. Archeology in 2014 found the gas chambers – there were 8 rooms connected with a corridor and a room for the engine producing the exhaust fumes. 

The museum was opened in 2023. 

Around 180,000 people were killed at this camp. 

It was good to hear that there were uprisings from the prisoners at this site. In October 1943 an organised group attacked the guards and 300 managed to get out. Unfortunately most died or were killed. However 60 survived to the end of the war. It was this revolt that instigated the Nazis to destroy the camp. These were the instigators and survivors.

There were displays of the prisoner’s personal items including some with names and addresses. 

Prisoners had been brought in from places as far away as Paris and the Netherlands. They had usually been brought from the ghettos.

There was a document that all guards who worked here had to sign saying they were to maintain total secrecy about the camp and what went on here. They all knew they were doing wrong here.

Not many soldiers were punished for what they did. This Ukrainian was only convicted in 2011 – and then died in a nursing home in 2012.

One of the survivors told a story that they had to make a display of some of the best items stolen from the prisoners. It was for Himmler when he did a tour of the camp.

There was even a set of accounts on the profit made from the plunder of prisoners belongings. They made 178,745,960.59 Marks – a huge amount of money in those days. Prison guards would have pocketed more. 

We went outside to see the huge boundary walks of the various parts of the camp. 

In the first part the prisoners items were organized before being shipped to Germany. 

In the next part was a path through the trees where the prisoners were marched into the gas chambers.

The remains of the gas chambers could be seen through glass. The Germans had destroyed as much as they could and then covered everything in sand and planted trees to try to hide everything.

There was a huge monument of white stones with each stone representing a person killed in the holocaust. It is vast. 

After all that shocking information we drove back along the potholed road and up to the town of Wlodawa. We went to a point on the river Bug that is the border with Belarus. There were cameras all up the Polish side. 

Glenn tried to throw a stone across to Belarus, but didn’t make it. 

The boards told the story of a succession of bridges that had been built and destroyed by Germans and Soviets during the wars.

We stood in the little pergola where the heightened road would have come through. There was a gap in the trees in the other side where the road would have gone. 

Street art celebrating Polish artillery stationed here

It was getting on so we drove 30 miles west to our campsite in Poleski National Park. It’s well known as a bird spot here so Glenn will be in his element. We arrived to find it amongst trees – a very quirky spot with 1 very nice toilet and shower. There is a small kitchen hut beside a lovely round stone fire pit and an above ground pool. There’s lots of little solar lights. Glenn went on a bike ride to check out the area abd found a lake.

We had drinks while Sean made a nice chicken curry. A family had made a fire at the fire pit and were toasting sausages there. After they had gone we went over and sat beside it. Lisa and Glenn did the dishes in the little hut right beside us. It was a good end to a very solemn day.