Project 'Long shadow of Sobibor' Survivors: Interview 04 Selma (Saartje) Engel-Wijnberg Project 'Late gevolgen van Sobibor'

Selma Engel was born Saartje Wijnberg on May 15, 1922, in Groningen. Her parents ran a kosher hotel in Zwolle during the crisis years. Being Jewish, Selma went into hiding during the German occupation. She was rounded up and deported to Sobibor as a penitentiary measure in April 1943. She lived in this extermination camp for six months, working in the sorting barracks and, sometimes, in the woods. In Sobibor, Selma met Khaim Engel, a Pole and her future husband. Together they escaped on October 14, 1943 during the revolt. They hid for nine months in a barn not far from Khelm. They were not well received in the Netherlands after the war; Khaim even went into hiding for a while. They emigrated with their two young children via Israel to the United States. Although Khaim, in contrast to Selma, could not feel at home there, the two of them managed to build up a good life in the US. For a long time Selma was angry with the Dutch because she and her husband were treated so badly after the war.