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On October 14, 1943, a revolt broke out in the German death camp in Sobibór resulting in escape of 300 inmates. About 60 of them survived the war. Three among of the group took part in the ceremony organized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage at the Museum of the Former Death Camp in Sobibór on the 70th anniversary of these events. Philip Bialowitz, Thomas Blatt, and Jules Schelvis – participants in the uprising – were decorated by the President of the Republic of Poland with the Officer's Crosses of the Order of Merit.

Following ecumenical prayer for the victims of Sobibór, which was jointly said by the Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, Orthodox Archbishop of Chełm and Lublin regions Abel, Bishop of Siedlce Zbigniew Kiernikowski, Auxiliary Bishop of Lublin Mieczysław Cisło, and Reverend from the Evangelical-Augsburg Parish in Lublin Grzegorz Brudny, the Voivod of the Lublin Region Jolanta Szołno-Koguc welcomed the guests. Next the State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Piotr Żuchowski, Minister of Education of Israel Schai Mosche Piron, State Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Maarten Johannes van Rijn, Ambassador of the Republic of Slovakia Vasil Grivna, and the former prisoners delivered their speeches. Lighting candles near the victims’ mass graves finished the ceremony. During his speech, Piotr Żuchowski announced which one of the concepts submitted to the competition on the new memorial in Sobibór was selected for completion. It is the project by Marcin Urbanek, Piotr Michalewicz, and Łukasz Mieszkowski from Warsaw. Piotr Żuchowski gave also a copy of an identification tag belonging to her 7-year-old brother, a Sobibór prisoner. The metal tag belonging to 7-year-old David Zak from the Netherlands was found during the archaeological research conducted on the grounds of the former camp. The ceremony was an opportunity to see a new open-air exhibition documenting the history of the German death camp in Sobibór. The exhibition was organized by the State Museum at Majdanek.