Escape from Sobibor

Based on the book by Richard Rashke, and unpublished manuscripts From the ashes of Sobibor” by Thomas Blatt and “Inferno in Sobibor by Stanislaw Szmajzner, this made for television (originally as a miniseries) drama tells the true story of a heroic escape by Jewish prisoners in the Nazi death camp in the forests of Sobibor, a Polish village, in October 1943. During the camp’s operation from May 1942 to October 1943, approximately 250,000 Polish and Russian Jews were exterminated in the five gas chambers - only the skilled survived to work as labourers under the watchful and often brutal Nazi guards. But even those who did survive knew they were on borrowed time. Escape was the only answer. The traumatised prisoners, led by Leon Feldhendler (Alan Arkin) along with the support of the prisoners of war Russian soldiers under the command of Alexander Percherski (Rutger Hauer), hatch a fantastic plan of escape. However, this ambitious plan is not just for a handful of prisoners, it is a chance for all 600 prisoners to make a bid for freedom and survival. This uprising proved to be the largest and most successful of its kind during World War II. For forty years the world was unaware of the events - the Nazis destroyed the camp and all of its records in a cover-up by burning it to the ground. An intense human drama displaying some of the brutality, but also the determination, spirit and courage of those who survived the Holocaust and this most amazing escape. Cast also includes Joanna Pacula, Hartmut Becker, Simon Gregor and Jack Shepherd.