Semjon Rosenfeld

Semjon Rosenfeld (2015)

Semjon Moiseyevich Rosenfeld (also Rozenfeld , the first name also in the spellings Semion , Semyon or Simjon , born October 10, 1922 in Ternovka , Ukrainian SSR ; † June 3, 2019 in Rechovot , Israel ) was the last known survivor of the Sobibor extermination camp and des Uprising against the SS guards. He was actively involved in the Sobibór uprising.

Life

Little is known about the early life of Ukrainian-born Rosenfeld. His father was a tailor.

As a soldier of the Red Army , he fell into German captivity , after two years was in a POW camp in Minsk detained before the assassination in the camp Sobibor on 22 September 1943 together with Alexander Pechersky was deported. When Rosenfeld arrived at the camp, it was only by chance that he was sorted out among the surviving prisoners who were working in the camp. Although the SS guards were looking for furniture makers and carpenters, he had stepped out of line and shouted out loud that he was a "glassmaker". An SS guard then pushed him into the group who had to work in the camp last. In the camp, Rosenfeld was used to haul heavy stones until he managed to escape during the Sobibór uprising on October 14, 1943.

Rosenfeld was actively involved in the uprising and was part of the resistance group that Pechersky founded and led in early October. His job was to kill the camp commandant Karl Frenzel together with another resistance fighter . However, Frenzel did not come to the expected place. As a result, Rosenfeld also fled and was hit on the leg 150 meters from the camp by a bullet that left a bleeding flesh wound. Despite this injury, he was able to reach the forest, where he met Dov Freiberg . After the Red Army liberated the area in the summer of 1944, Rosenfeld rejoined them. He was wounded again and was taken to a hospital in Berlin, where the war ended for him.

Rosenfeld then returned to his home in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic . Once there, he discovered that the National Socialists had murdered a large part of his family. He married the daughter of an uncle who had also fought in the ranks of the Red Army. With her he had two sons. In 1990 he emigrated to Israel. Most recently he lived in a nursing home with the support of the Jewish Agency for Israel .

Honors

Semjon Rosenfeld (2016)

In the last years of his life, Rosenfeld was honored several times for his commitment. Nevertheless, he remained humble: In an interview broadcast in March by the Israeli broadcaster Kan , Rosenfeld said that fate had made him a hero.

In 2013, the President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski , awarded him the Polish Order of Merit Cavalier Cross .
On May 16, 2018, Hennady Nadolenko, the Ukrainian ambassador to Israel, honored him with the Ukrainian Order of Merit 3rd Class.

After his death, he and his life were reported around the world: USA (New York Times), Germany (Spiegel Online), Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.

literature

Jules Schelvis : Sobibór extermination camp . Unrast-Verlag , Hamburg / Münster 2003, ISBN 3-89771-814-6 , p. 167.

Web links

Palko Karasz: Semyon Rozenfeld, Last Known Survivor of Death Camp Escape, Dies at 96. In: The New York Times . June 5, 2019 (English, picture by Rosenfeld and Alexander Petscherski ).; accessed on June 14, 2019

Individual evidence

↑ Semyon Rozenfeld, Last Known Survivor of Death Camp Escape, Dies at 96. In: PressFrom.info. June 6, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .
↑ Ilanit Chernick: Last Living Survivor of Sobibor Uprising Dies at 96. In: The Jerusalem Post . June 4, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .
^ Jules Schelvis : Sobibór extermination camp . P. 92.
^ Jules Schelvis: Sobibór extermination camp . P. 282.
↑ The last survivor of the Sobibor Nazi camp died. In: orf.at . June 3, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .
^ Jules Schelvis: Sobibór extermination camp . P. 175.
^ Jules Schelvis: Sobibór extermination camp . P. 180.
^ Anne Lepper: Obituary for Semyon Rozenfeld: The last survivor from the Sobibor murder camp. In: one day on Spiegel Online . June 14, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .
↑ The last survivor of the Sobibor extermination camp died. In: derStandard.at . June 3, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .
↑ Shimon Briman: An Israeli hero of the Sobibor death camp uprising was awarded the Order of Ukraine. In: Ukrainian Jewish Encounter. May 19, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .

personal data
SURNAME	Rosenfeld, Semjon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Rosenfeld, Semion; Rosenfeld, Simjon; Rozenfeld, Semyon; Rosenfeld, Moiseyevich Semjon (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	last known survivor of the Sobibor extermination camp
DATE OF BIRTH	October 10, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ternovka , Ukrainian SSR
DATE OF DEATH	3rd June 2019
Place of death	Rechovot , Israel

[1] Semyon Rozenfeld, Last Known Survivor of Death Camp Escape, Dies at 96. In: PressFrom.info. June 6, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .

[2] Ilanit Chernick: Last Living Survivor of Sobibor Uprising Dies at 96. In: The Jerusalem Post . June 4, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .

[3] Jules Schelvis : Sobibór extermination camp . P. 92.

[4] Jules Schelvis: Sobibór extermination camp . P. 282.

[5] The last survivor of the Sobibor Nazi camp died. In: orf.at . June 3, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .

[6] Jules Schelvis: Sobibór extermination camp . P. 175.

[7] Jules Schelvis: Sobibór extermination camp . P. 180.

[8] Anne Lepper: Obituary for Semyon Rozenfeld: The last survivor from the Sobibor murder camp. In: one day on Spiegel Online . June 14, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .

[9] The last survivor of the Sobibor extermination camp died. In: derStandard.at . June 3, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .

[10] Shimon Briman: An Israeli hero of the Sobibor death camp uprising was awarded the Order of Ukraine. In: Ukrainian Jewish Encounter. May 19, 2019, accessed June 14, 2019 .