Death camp survivor to speak at Chabad event
 

By Ian Thompson
February 21st, 2011

VACAVILLE — One of the few survivors of the only successful death camp revolt during the Holocaust will be in Vacaville on March 6 to speak about his experiences.

Philip Bialowitz, now a retired jeweler, is one of eight people still living from the 1943 revolt at the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland, where Jewish prisoners and Russian POWs overpowered their guards and escaped.

He will speak about his experiences at 3 p.m. at The Hampton Inn & Suites, 800 Mason St. in Vacaville.

Sobibor was a Nazi death camp where more than 250,000 Polish Jews were murdered before the revolt.

Bialowitz was 16 in April 1943 when he and his brother Simcha, two sisters, a niece and others from his town were trucked to Sobibor.

On his website, Bialowitz wrote that there was only one line and that led to the gas chambers.

The two brothers escaped death when a German officer asked if anyone had a trade or profession, and Simcha told the officer he was a pharmacist and Philip was his assistant.

They became two of 600 slave laborers who were forced to process Jews being sent to the gas chambers. In September, captured Soviet Army soldiers were added to the workforce.

On Oct. 14, the Jews and the Russians staged their revolt. Only about 200 managed to escape the guards through the minefields around the camp. Of those, only 48 survived the war.

After escaping, Bialowitz was hidden in a barn by a Roman Catholic Polish family. In 1950, he emigrated to the United States.

Bialowitz has frequently lectured in both North America and Europe about his life and talks about the importance of mutual respect among people of different beliefs.

He has also written a memoir called “A Promise at Sobibor: A Jewish Boy's Story of Revolt and Survival in Nazi-Occupied Poland.”

Bialowitz's talk is part of the Chabad of Solano County's series of education programs, which included a talk by one of the Jewish survivors who was saved by Oskar Schindler.

Sponsorships are also available that include two tickets, reserved seating and a pre-lecture reception with the speaker. For advance discounted tickets, go to http://www.JewishSolano.com or call 448-8057. For more information, e-mail [email protected].