- Construction of the Sobibor extermination camp was started in March 1942. It followed a similar construction as the first extermination camp Belzec. In April 1942, Franz Stangl was appointed commander of the Sobibor camp and his first task was to speed up the construction, which at that time was still lagging behind the schedule. Stangl performed his task scrupulous and the camp was ready to receive it's first victims in mid-April 1942.

- The first experimental gassing at Sobibor happened right after the camp was ready. 250 Jews were brought in and killed in the gas chambers. After this, the first transport to the extermination camp Sobibor arrived in the early days of May 1942. The first transports arrived mainly from the Lublin area, Germany, Austria, Slovakia and from the Czech Republic. It is estimated that at least 90 000 to a 100 000 people died as a result of these transports. All of them were murdered in the gas chambers of Sobibor.

- As a result of these huge transports to the camp, the gas chambers were enlarged and as a result, 1 300 people could be killed at the same time, when compared to the 600 people that the old gas chambers could hold. After the enlargement of the gas chambers, people from all over the Europe arrived to Sobibor, only to die there immediately after arrival. The last known transport before the revolt, arrived in the latter part of September 1943. On 14th of October 1943, the revolt of Sobibor commenced when the deputy commandant Johann Niemann was killed with an axe.

- Approximately 300 prisoners managed the escape from the camp, even when the revolt didn't go nearly as planned. Many of the prisoners were not aware of any revolt and as the shooting began, many tried to cross the minefield and died as a result. Ten German and eight Ukrainian guards were killed in the revolt and one German guard was wounded seriously. Many of the 300 prisoners who managed to cross the minefields and escape, were hunt down and killed by the Germans. Only 58 former prisoner of Sobibor camp, with their names in general knowledge, are known to survive the Second World War. After the revolt, many of the escaped prisoners, managed to join partisan units operating in the area.

- After the revolt, the extermination camp Sobibor was decided to be dismantled and the remaining prisoners were to be murdered. Most of the barracks however were not destroyed by the SS and survived the war. The ramp in the railway station of Sobibor was used in 1947, when the Ukrainian population was resettled and they destroyed most of the wooden buildings, in search of a fire wood for their camp fires. Also the watchtower from the former camp remained and was used by the forester to observe forest fires. In 2005 however, the watchtower no longer exists and has collapsed during the past few years. The old railway ramp itself was used till 1960 and the Sobibor railway station was in use till 1999, when the traffic ceased to this destination.

- It is estimated that during the seventeen months that the camp was operational, 150 000 to 250 000 people died here. After the war, the first commandant of Sobibor Franz Stangl, managed to hide his identity and managed to escape from Germany, finally settling down to Brazil in 1951. There he worked and lived with his family, using even his own name. In 1967 he was tracked down and brought to face a trial in West-Germany. He was found guilty in October 1970, of being responsible for the death of at least 900 000 people. He was sentenced to a life imprisonment. Franz Stangl died in the prison due to a heart failure in 1971.

- During the over 17 months of the camps existence, hundreds of thousands of victims and stories about suffering...you cannot hide behind your camera here.

- The place does not need any empty words.