Railroad signal lantern with a reflector from Sobibor railroad station

Enclosed, oil burning, railroad signal lantern with a reflector used at the railroad station in Sobibor, Poland, before and during World War II. The lantern reflected light in a pre-determined manner to convey information about trains and rail lines. In 1941, German authorities began preparations for Operation Reinhard, the systematic extermination of all Jews living in German occupied Poland. In March 1942, SS and police authorities began construction of Sobibor killing center, the second of three such facilities. The center was built in a wooded area near the town of Sobibor, along a spur of the existing Chelm-Wlodawa rail line. In May, regular train transports of Jewish people from German occupied regions began arriving at the center. The prisoners were herded off the trains and forced into a receiving area where they were stripped of their possessions, forced to undress, and pushed into rooms labeled as showers where they were killed with poison gas. In November 1943, the guards shot the remaining prisoners and dismantled the killing center. It is estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 Jews were murdered at Sobibor.