Sobibor was a Nazi death camp located in the Lublin province of Poland.  An estimated 250,000 Jews were murdered in its five carbon monoxide gas chambers and disposed of in mass burial pits outside of the camp.  These Jews were mainly from Poland, Lithuania, and Belorussia.

On October 14, 1943, Jewish laborers in Sobibor revolted and killed several SS supervisors and Ukrainian guards.  Ultimately the uprising was controlled, and all but 300 of the rebels were captured and shot in nearby swamps.  Greatly upset by this rare uprising, Heinrich Himmler ordered the remaining Sobibor prisoners killed, the camp leveled, and the area planted over with trees.