Sobibor Interviews 1983-1984, interview 05, Kurt Thomas

Interview with Kurt Thomas (Brno 11 April 1914). Thomas was taken to Sobibor via the ghetto of Theresienstadt. In the sorting barracks he had to sort clothes and belongings of victims who had been gassed. As an orderly he later managed to save the lives of several prisoners by letting them rest longer than allowed. When he had climbed across the fence during the uprising he refused to hurry: "I don't have to run anymore, I am a free man". Born Kurt Ticho, he attended grammar school in his hometown. He served as a telegraph operator in the Czech army. After the war he saw to it that SS Frenzel was arrested in Berlin. Kurt Thomas died on 8 June 2009 in Columbus, Ohio.