Sarah's Chess Journal

         my journal, blog, web log, blog.....about

         The History and The Culture of Chess



Sobibor
March 07, 2004

 

A friend of mine and I had been discussing the difficulties the Russian chess players have had to face.

 

I had recalled a book I read once called  Escape From Sobibor  in which a Russian soldier engineered that most famous escape, forever branding into my soul the indomitable spirit that Russians must possess.

 

Afterwards, I did a little research and found this...

 

I copied this from this site

please visit it.

 

~*~

 

Kalmen Wewryk - the following are excerpts of his story To Sobibor and Back. An Eyewitness Account: 

 

I remember a certain transport from Holland - ach, this was horrible! There were too many Jewish children to be 'processed' rapidly so they were in a long, steadily shrinking circular line from morning to night. Such beautiful children, gorgeous little blonde girls with pigtails, decently dressed. These poor unfortunates were well-fed, with pretty, round little faces. Their parents must have loved them so, must have lavished such care on them, and now ... 

 

Many of them carried small suitcases or bags. It was pitiful, so sad! The SS men were watching over them. We weren't supposed to even glance at those Berelach and Yosselech and Estherlech; saying one word to them was out of the question! Some of the kids were crying; they probably understood. The soil was sandy, so some children made circles in the sand and they played with pebbles and branches. After all, they were only children. 



If an SS man would have caught one of us glancing, even sideways, at those children, showing any interest at all in them, we would instantly have been taken to the gas chamber. But we managed to see what was going on. The Ukrainians and the SS were very nervous and wild that day. They were usually wild, but now they outdid themselves. Some children's eyes were full of fear - they were wide-eyed with fear. It was a day straight out of hell! And every minute less and less of them, less and less. The line got shorter and shorter. And my Berelechs and Yosselechs and Estherlechs became smoke in those accursed skies. 



After it was all over, the SS men went to get drunk in their casino ... 

 

~*~

 

What's this got to do with chess?

 

maybe nothing

 

or maybe everything

 

Archives by Title

links

personal

Sarah's Serendipitous Chess Page
The Life and Chess of Paul Morphy
Sarah's Chess History Forum

chess - general

Chesslinks Worldwide

chess - history

Mark Week's History on the Web
Chess Journalists of America
Chess History Newsgroup
Hebrew Chess
Chess Tourn. & Match History
Super Tournaments of the Past
La grande storia degli scacchi
Bobby Fischer
Bil Wall's Chess Pages
comments