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Dov Freiberg (15 May 1927 – 1 March 2008) born Berek Freiberg, was a
Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...
, writer, and witness at the
Eichmann trial The Eichmann trial was the 1961 trial of major Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann who was Operation Eichmann, captured in Argentina by Israeli agents and brought to Israel to stand trial. Eichmann was a senior Nazi party member and served at t ...
and the Demjanjuk case. Freiberg was a prisoner at
Sobibor extermination camp Sobibor ( ; ) was an extermination camp built and operated by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Reinhard. It was located in the forest near the village of Żłobek Duży in the General Government region of Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), ...
where he participated in the Sobibor uprising. After the revolt, he managed to escape into nearby woods and survived until the Soviet Army entered in July 1944.


Biography

Dov Freiberg was born to Moses and Rebecca Freiberg in 1927 in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. The first years of his childhood were spent in the industrial city of Łódź, where his father was a factory worker. At the beginning of the Nazi occupation his father and brother tried to escape eastward, but his father was shot by the
Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...
when his convoy was attacked. A few months later his mother moved with her four children to her parents' house in Warsaw, which was situated in the ghetto that had been established in November 1940 in the heart of the Jewish Quarter. A year later, in autumn 1941, when conditions in the ghetto had worsened and tens of thousands of its residents had died or were killed, this spurred him to escape from the ghetto with the assistance of a smuggler; Freiberg escaped to the remote town Turobin in the district of Lublin, where the Jews, including the family of his father, lived with a sense of relative calm. On 17 May 1942, two days after his 15th birthday, the town was surrounded suddenly by the SS accompanied by local assistants and
Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...
. Most of the town's Jews, along with the Jews of other nearby towns, were brutally deported to the
Sobibor extermination camp Sobibor ( ; ) was an extermination camp built and operated by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Reinhard. It was located in the forest near the village of Żłobek Duży in the General Government region of Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), ...
.


Sobibor extermination camp

Upon Freiberg's arrival in Sobibor, some Jewish prisoners managed to squeeze into the group of slave laborers temporarily reprieved from their intended deaths in the gas chambers, and Freiberg was employed with other members of this group initially as a sorter of clothing and belongings. He was then forced to do other tasks including cutting the hair of the women before they went to the gas chambers. Freiberg managed to survive the regime of daily abuse, starvation and cruel treatment for about 17 months. In October 1943, Freiberg participated in the Sobibor prisoners' revolt and he managed to escape into nearby woods and joined the Joseph Serchuk's Jewish partisan unit in the Lublin area of occupied Poland until the Soviet Army liberated the region in July 1944. After the war, he moved to
Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
for a short period of time and from there moved to Germany. Once in Germany he joined a training group consisting of Holocaust survivors, where he met his future wife – Sarah, a
refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
from the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. This group tried to travel in the summer of 1947 on the
ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...
'' Exodus'' to Mandate Palestine. The ''Exodus'' was captured by the British and sent back to Germany. In 1948, Freiberg together with the training group managed to settle in a
kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...
in the northern Sharon where he received military training and fought in the
1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...
. Freiberg then settled in Ramle, where he joined the army for military service and served as a sapper in the Engineering Corps. During his military service his daughters Rivkah and Yael were born. Freiberg testified at 1961 at the Eichmann trial, where he told about the horrors of the extermination camp Sobibor. Four years later, in 1965, he was invited to
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
to testify at the trial in
Hagen Hagen () is a city in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, on the southeastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme meet the Ruhr (river), Ruhr. In 2023, the ...
, where SS officers were tried for acts committed in Sobibor. Freiberg was a popular lecturer, and he lectured frequently before students, soldiers, officers, and educational organisations for
Holocaust studies Holocaust studies, or sometimes Holocaust research, is a scholarly discipline that encompasses the historical research and study of the Holocaust. Institutions dedicated to Holocaust research investigate the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinar ...
. Freiberg went twice with youth delegations to Poland as a survivor. He was also invited by Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...
to formally participate in the official visit to Poland. Freiberg testified at the Demjanjuk trial in 1986 in
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, testifying against Demjanjuk's release, claiming that he should be tried for his crimes at the Sobibor death camp. Freiberg's wife Sarah died at the end of 2007, and he died a few months later in March 2008 at the age of 79 (or 80) in
Ramla Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs. The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph S ...
, Israel.


Books

Freiberg wrote four books including: * ''Relic from Sobibor'' (in
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
: שריד מסוביבור), published in 1988, which tells his history from the outbreak of World War II, through
the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
, illegal immigration to Israel aboard the ''Exodus'' and up until the day of arrival in Israel. The book was a great success and was published in eight Hebrew editions, as well as in an English translation as ''To Survive Sobibor'' by Gefen Books. * ''Journey to the Past with Gefen Shibolim'' was published in 1993 and describes his experiences with the campaign conducted by a group of high school students in 1991; the trip included a visit to Freiberg's first camp site Sobibor 48 years after his escaping from the camp. * ''Be one person'' was published in 1996. It describes coping with life in Israel as a Holocaust survivor as well as his testimony at the Eichmann trial. * ''Between Two Worlds'' was published in 2001. It describes the duality of his life between the world of the Holocaust and the world that followed after.


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freiberg, Dov 1927 births 2008 deaths Writers from Warsaw Warsaw Ghetto inmates Sobibor extermination camp survivors Polish emigrants to Israel Polish male writers Jewish Polish writers