TEL AVIV, Israel — The last known survivor of the Sobibor death camp who took part in the revolt and escaped from the German death camp in occupied Poland died at age 97, The Times of Israel reports.
Semion Rosenfeld died Monday at a hospital in Rehovot, near Tel Aviv. He had been living in a retirement community in Yad Binyamin in central Israel and left behind two sons and five grandchildren.
He was born in a small town called Ternivka in 1922 and joined the Red Army in 1940. His entire family was reportedly killed by the Nazis and buried in a mass grave near the town while he was away fighting in World War II.
He was captured by the Germans in 1941 while serving in the Soviet Army, BBC News reports. He was sent to the death camp because of his Jewish heritage.
Rosenfeld was part of the 300 people who escaped from the camp during a revolt in October 1943. About one-third of the people were immediately captured and out of the 200 left, only 47 survived the war.
More than 250,000 Jews were believed to have been killed at the Sobibor death camp from 1942 to 1943.
Rosenfeld reportedly lied to the Nazis about having a profession, a tactic which may have saved his life, The Times of Israel reports.
After escaping the camp, he reportedly hid in the woods with some other prisoners until 1944 before rejoining the Red Army and participating in the capture of Berlin.
The Nazis took apart the death camp not much longer after the revolt, planting trees to hide its existence.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to Facebook to honor Rosenfeld.
“Seymon Rosenfeld, Holocaust survivor and the last from Sobibor, has passed away,” Netanyahu wrote. “Semyon was born in 1922 in a small village in Ukraine. He joined the Red Army, was taken captive by the Nazis, but managed to escape the death camp and continue to fight the Nazis. May his memory be blessed.”
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article described the site as a "Poland death camp." A more accurate way to describe it would have been a German "death camp in occupied Poland." The article has been updated.
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