From Westerbork, a total of 34.313 persons were transported to Sobibor. This number has been established by the Dutch Red Cross and was a.o. based on the original Westerbork transport lists. These 34.313 were not all Dutch Jews, but also Jews from Germany and Poland who had fled or immigrated to Holland. Between March 2nd, 1943 and July 20th, 1943 nineteen transports left for Sobibor. Of the 34.313 Jews who were transported to Sobibor, only 18 survived the war; 15 women and 3 men.
In his book Vernietigingskamp Sobibor (Death camp Sobibor) Jules Schelvis speaks of 700 persons who, upon arrival, were selected for labor in Dorohucza, a camp for cutting peat, in the Lublin region. Besides these people, other Jews were selected upon arrival for labor in Lublin and Osawa. Of the Jews that were sent to Sobibor from Westerbork, it has been established that more than 33.000 were killed on the same day they arrived there. Schelvis was one of the people who were selected for labor in Dorohucza. He arrived in Sobibor on June 4, but left that same day with 80 other “chosen”.
Of the 18 Dutch survivors, 16 were selected upon arrival to work in different camps. The other two survivors were forced to work in the Sobibor extermination camp itself. These two women, Selma Wijnberg and Ursula Stern were both part of the same transport (the transport of April 6, 1943) and both lived through the revolt of October 14, 1943. Ad van Liempt wrote a book about Selma Wijnberg: Selma, the woman who survived Sobibor.
