Holocaust Memorial. Sobibor was an infamous Nazi death camp. Over 250,000 people, most of them Jews, were murdered here during World War II. It stood in the Lublin district of Poland, about three miles west of the Bug River, near the Ukrainian border. Sobibor was one of three killing centers (the others were Belzec and Treblinka) built in 1942 to implement Adolf Hitler's "Final Solution", the annihilation of Europe's Jews. The complex was divided into four sub-camps and surrounded by minefields; a long fenced-in path nicknamed "The Funnel" led to Camp III, where six gas chambers were located. The path was lined with trees and other flora so the victims could not glimpse their impending fate. Most people transported to Sobibor died within two hours of their arrival. A core group of about 600 prisoners was kept alive to help run the camp. Acts of resistance were common throughout Sobibor's history. On July 23, 1943, eight Jews on wood-cutting detail fled into the nearby forest, and dozens were shot in retaliation. The following month saw a transport of prisoners from Treblinka, some of whom spread the word about the major uprising that had just taken place there. A new underground group was formed to launch a similar plan. On October 14, 1943, the inmate population of Sobibor revolted, killing 20 S.S. and Ukrainian guards and cutting escape routes through the fences. Despite heavy machine-gun fire and a suicidal sprint through the minefields, 300 prisoners made it safely to the forest; 48 were still alive at the end of the war. It was the most successful mass escape from a Nazi death camp. After this incident Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler ordered Sobibor closed as a killing center and the last Jews were executed there on November 23. The notorious Camp III was razed and planted with pine trees, but the rest of the compound served as an S.S. barracks until July 1944, when Red Army and Polish forces liberated the area. Some of the camp buildings still exist. A memorial was dedicated on the site in 1961 and there is now a museum as well. The uprising was the subject of a TV movie, "Escape From Sobibor" (1987).