On the Eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Knesset Hosts Pre-Screening of 'Sobibor'

Today (Wednesday), the Knesset hosted a pre-premiere screening of Konstantin Khabensky's film about the uprising in the Sobibor concentration camp. Symbolically, the event took place on the eve of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, which is observed in Israel tonight. Among the guests were Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Members of Parliament, representatives of the Pechersky Foundation, with whose support the film was produced, Russian diplomats, and public figures from both Russia and Israel. Valentina Matvienko, Speaker of the Russian Federation Council, addressed the guests via video link.

The film "Sobibor," which marks the directorial debut of renowned Russian actor Konstantin Khabensky, is set to be released in Russian theaters on May 3. Khabensky himself portrays the lead role of Soviet officer Alexander Pechersky. The cast also features Christopher Lambert, Maria Kozhevnikova, Felice Jankell, Dainius Kazlauskas, Wolfgang Cerny, and others.

Notably, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) will provide financial support to the Pechersky Foundation to facilitate the film's international distribution.  "We hope this film will inspire audiences to learn more about the heroic and successful uprising by Sobibor concentration camp prisoners, a unique event in the history of World War II. Today, as the history of the Holocaust is frequently distorted for cynical political interests, and with fewer and fewer survivors of those horrific events remaining among us, it is more important than ever to preserve the memory of the prisoners' heroic deed led by Alexander Pechersky, whose courage paved their way to freedom," said EAJC President Michael Mirilashvili.

The Sobibor extermination camp was established in southeastern Poland in 1942 and operated until the prisoner uprising in 1943. During this period, approximately 250,000 people were murdered there. In 1943, an underground resistance group was formed in Sobibor, led by Alexander Pechersky, a Jewish Soviet army officer. On October 14, approximately three hundred prisoners escaped from the camp, though most of them subsequently perished. All prisoners remaining in Sobibor were executed, and the camp itself was soon demolished.