Russian, Israeli leaders visit exhibition on Sobibor death camp rebellion
MOSCOW. Jan 29 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have visited the exhibition "Sobibor: Victorious Over Death," which is now open at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow.
The exhibition, timed to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is dedicated to the events of 1943, when a rebellion took place at Sobibor, a Nazi death camp for Jews and prisoners of war, and to Soviet officer Alexander Pechersky, who planned the uprising.
Putin and Netanyahu looked at a map of the camp drawn according to descriptions provided by survivors. One of the stands at the exhibition chronicles in great detail the events of October 1943, when, thanks to the mutiny, 420 people escaped, and tells visitors about the fates of those who failed to get away.
Putin and Netanyahu learned about Pechersky's further fate. His personal documents and letters, as well as photos and materials of the Soviet committee that investigated the event, are on display. Another stand describes how the events were covered in the Soviet press.
Putin and Netanyahu also saw Pechersky's written recollections of these events, photos of the village that now stands on the site of the concentration camp, a documentary about Sobibor, and an interview with the son of an inmate who survived the rebellion.
"It is a tragic story. But this is also a story of tremendous heroism," Netanyahu said.