Jules Schelvis

Jules Schelvis (7 January 1921 – 3 April 2016) was a Dutch historian, writer, Holocaust survivor, and Nazi hunter. He lost his wife and most of his family during The Holocaust. Schelvis was a plaintiff and expert witness during the trial of John Demjanjuk.^[1][2]

World War II

Schelvis was rounded up in Amsterdam along with his family on 26 May 1943 during the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany.^[1] He was deported to Westerbork and after 6 days boarded the Holocaust train to Sobibor. The journey lasted for 4 days. At the ramp, Schelvis was separated from his family and selected to join the work unit sent to Lublin Reservation labour camp in Dorohucza to build latifundia of General Plan Ost. The Poles and Dutchmen, covered in lice, received one litre of soup per day, and sometimes dog meat. From there he was sent to the Radom Ghetto, to work in the weapons factory, where he witnessed the ghetto liquidation action on 8 November 1943. He was sent on a death march to Tomaszów Mazowiecki. From there he eventually reached Vaihingen near Stuttgart, where he was liberated by the French army on 8 April 1945.^[1]

Notable works

• Sobibor : a history of a Nazi death camp (Original Dutch title: Vernietigingskamp Sobibor), 1993, Amsterdam: Bataafsche Leeuw. ISBN 978 90 6707 629 6
• Binnen de poorten, 1995, Amsterdam: Bataafsche Leeuw. ISBN 978 90 6707 369 1
• Sobibor. Transportlijsten, 2001, Amsterdam: Bataafsche Leeuw. ISBN 90 6707 516 7

References