Wednesday, January 12, 2022 - 4:00 pm Pacific Time
Thomas "Toivi" Blatt was born April 15, 1927, in Izbica, a small town near Lublin, Poland. In 1943, Blatt and his family were deported to the Sobibor Death Camp. Upon arrival, Thomas was randomly selected by an SS officer to be his shoe shiner and separated from his father, mother, and younger brother, who were immediately killed. Thomas joined the underground Jewish resistance in the camp and on Oct 14, 1943, was a part of the Sobibor uprising and escape. Many of the 300 prisoners were killed during the uprising, either shot by Nazi guards or killed by the landmines surrounding the camp. Miraculously, Thomas was among the few to survive a camp that murdered hundreds of thousands. After the war, Thomas immigrated to Israel, and then to the U.S., and channeled his painful memories into a lifelong mission to tell the world what happened.
Join our Vice President of Education & Exhibits, Jordanna Gessler, and our Collection Manager, Christie Jovanovic, as they explore the story of Thomas Blatt and take a closer look at some of the artifacts recovered from Thomas’s time imprisoned at Sobibor, as well as other objects in this collection that help to illustrate this incredible story of resilience and survival.