Sobibor Perpetrator Collection Press Kit

Seated (from left to right) are Karl Pötzinger, Johann Niemann, and Siegfried Graetschus, workers responsible for burning the bodies of victims as part of the Nazi “euthanasia” program (known as T-4). Brandenburg, Germany. Summer 1940. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Auxiliary guards pose under the supervision of Johann Niemann (center) in the courtyard of the camp commandant’s building. Belzec killing center, spring 1942.

Between 1941 and 1944, German SS and police trained more than 5000 auxiliary guards (also known as Wachmänner or Trawniki men, named for the site of their training camp). These civilian recruits were primarily young ethnic Ukrainians from German-occupied Poland. Deployment in the operations of the "Final Solution" became a key function of these auxiliaries. The Trawniki men served as guards for the Operation Reinhard killing centers at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Gate of the Sobibor killing center, 1942-43. Transports of Jews entered the camp through this gate. (The train tracks were located further to the right.) The fence on either side of the gate was covered with tree branches in order to camouflage the mass murder operations.

During testimony in a West Germany court on January 29, 1962, survivor Mordechai Goldfarb described this scene: “‘Sonderkommando Sobibor,’ that’s what is said in white letters on a black sign, black flags fluttering on both sides of the sign.” —US Holocaust Memorial Museum

View of the Sobibor killing center, early summer 1943. Taken from a guard tower, this photograph shows “Lager I” (workshops for forced labor) and “Vorlager” (living quarters for camp personnel). Two Jewish prisoners can be seen on the left between the large wood piles. To the right, between inner and outer fences, two auxiliary guards are visible on patrol. Both fences run perpendicular to the train station, located in the back right (with a white roof).

Between 1941 and 1944, German SS and police trained more than 5000 auxiliary guards (also known as Wachmänner or Trawniki men, named for the site of their training camp). These civilian recruits were primarily young ethnic Ukrainians from German-occupied Poland. Deployment in the operations of the "Final Solution" became a key function of these auxiliaries. The Trawniki men served as guards for the Operation Reinhard killing centers at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum

SS personnel relax on the patio of the officers’ dining room at Sobibor (known as the “Kasino”), 1943.

Depicted (from left to right) are SS officer Arthur Dachsel, camp commandant Franz Reichleitner, deputy commandant Johann Niemann, and likely Erich Schulze and Erich Bauer (in charge of gassing operations), as well as two female civilian kitchen workers,and a visiting member of the German customs service (Zollgrenzschutz). The drinking glasses on the table attest to the frequent use of alcohol by German camp staff and might have been stolen from murdered Jews. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Johann Niemann posing on horseback on the arrival ramp at the Sobibor killing center, summer 1943. This photograph was shot from the train tracks and shows (in the lower left corner) the edge of the wooden station ramp where deportation trains arrived for mass murder of passengers. In the background, a barracks can be seen that was used to house auxiliary guards. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Group photo of auxiliary (Trawniki) guards at the Sobibor killing center, spring 1943.

Shot on the training ground in front of “Lager III,” visible in the background are the roofs of killing operations buildings and barracks in which Jewish women were forced to have their heads shaved. The roof with the chimney was part of the gas chamber. At the time this photo was taken, Ivan Demjanjuk served as a guard in Sobibor; according to German forensics experts, it is possible that Demjanjuk is the individual in the middle of the first row.

Between 1941 and 1944, German SS and police trained more than 5000 auxiliary guards (also known as Wachmänner or Trawniki men, named for the site of their training camp). These civilian recruits were primarily young ethnic Ukrainians from German-occupied Poland. Deployment in the operations of the "Final Solution" became a key function of these auxiliaries. The Trawniki men served as guards for the Operation Reinhard killing centers at Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum

In 1943, staff from the Sobibor killing center went on a field trip to Berlin. This photo shows Sobibor personnel with officials of the Führer chancellery (Kanzlei des Führers).

Next to Johann Niemann (center) are (from left to right) likely Arnold Oels (head of the section responsible for Operation Reinhard and T-4 “euthanasia” staff), Dietrich Allers (Oels’ superior at the T-4 office), Werner Blankenburg (with glasses, a high-ranking chancellery official overseeing Operation Reinhard and T-4), and Trawniki auxiliary sergeant (Zugwachmann) Franz Bienemann. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum