The Screaming Silence — A Sobibor Story

Part of Those Who Were There.

In 2023, I was captivated by the Netflix documentary The Devil Next Door. The story of John Demjanjuk unexpectedly brought me back to memories of my childhood, but it also opened a door into a part of history I realised I knew remarkably little about.

Six months later, I found myself unable to stop thinking about Operation Reinhard and, in particular, one of its killing centres, Sobibor. Unlike Auschwitz, which I was aware of, I had no real knowledge of Sobibor or Operation Reinhard. The more I began to learn, the more I wanted to visit.

I read Richard Rashke's Escape from Sobibor and was fortunate enough to speak with him over Zoom. I began making contact with the children of survivors, listening to their memories and learning about the lives of those who had somehow managed to escape a living hell.

I was also incredibly fortunate to be introduced to author Chris Webb, one of the world's most published authors on the subject. He has since become a close friend. His knowledge, guidance and generosity were invaluable in the preparation for my first journey to eastern Poland and in the research that followed.

I am equally indebted to Łukasz, curator of the Sobibor Museum. His intimate knowledge of the area, the terrain and the history of this place has been enormously important to my understanding of the landscape and the events that unfolded within it.

Over the past three years, I have been tracing the footsteps and stories of those who escaped Sobibor. Following their routes has taken me beyond the historical record and into the landscape itself.

One of the central themes of this work has become the relationship between nature and survival.

The forests surrounding Sobibor were not simply a backdrop to these events. For some, they became a means of escape - a place of concealment, uncertainty and, ultimately, survival. The landscape holds traces of what happened, even when the physical evidence has disappeared.

The forest has eyes.

It is a unique place. Quiet, beautiful and deeply unsettling. A landscape that can appear unchanged while carrying the memory of unimaginable events. It is a place that, I believe, needs to be understood more deeply.

The Screaming Silence is the first step towards completing Those Who Were There, a long-term body of work exploring the lesser-known stories of the Holocaust.

This project is not simply about what happened in these places. It is about those who lived through them, those who escaped, those who survived, and the landscapes that witnessed it all.

An exhibition and accompanying book are planned for October 2027.