Sonderkommandos

Sea of Ashes: Nazi Extermination Centers in Occupied Poland

From Bullets to Gas

In 1941 Germany invaded Eastern Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Latvia, an area with one of the largest Jewish populations in the world. Behind the invading army were death squads known as Einsatzgroupen who rounded up the Jewish population - estimated 2 million plus and shot them in large open pits.The bodies were later retrieved and burned to destroy evidence.

In 1941 a more "efficient" extermination method was developed from Germany's T-4 Euthanasia program using carbon monoxide gas.

, was developed using gas vans. Later the method used in the gassing of Germany's physical and mentally impaired using carbon monoxide gas, was used in developing extermination centers throughout occupied Poland.

There were six official extermination centers, known as Operation Reinhardt - Treblinka, Belzec, Sobabor, C and Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were set up to deceive the people as they arrived. Telling them they were going to take showers and hot coffee would be waiting for them. After 1942 the “final solution” was implemented. Carbon monoxide, then later Zyclon B was used.

This paper is a combination of the different extermination centers I visited to paint a picture of the overall process. There were variables in each center but basic concepts are followed.

THE PROCESS

Selection

People were selected for the gas chamber sometimes directly off a train transport, when a prisoner was sick or could no longer work, some were selected during a morning rollcall, or those who resided in a medical barrack. Most were sent to the gas chamber immediately after they arrived at the center.

Transport Ramp at Sobibor Extermination Center (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Selection Ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination Center (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Undressing and turning over valuables

After selection process the Jews were told to undress and hand over all valuables. Their hair was cut off and they were lead onward to the gas chamber. In Auschwitz-Birkenau the people were lead to an underground undressing room, the Germans told the Jews arriving on the transport that they were going to the showers and then to work. They instructed them to remember the hook upon which they hung their clothing on so they could retrieve them afterwards.

Illustration of Underground Undressing Room at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Underground Undressing Room - Crematory II, Auschwitz-Birkenau (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Sonderkommandos: Of Auschwits-Birkenau

Sonderkommandos were prisoners, usually young Jewish men, selected from a transport and made to work in the crematorium. They were intimate with the act of killing. They observed the act of killing directly, closely, and over long periods of time. They were present with the condemned in their last moments when they entered the undressing room, when they lined up to go into the gas chamber, and they were with the corpses minutes after they were gassed when their baodies were removed from the chambers and were “processed”. Pulled teeth from the dead victims mouth, they searched hidden cavities for valuables, they removed rings from fingers, and clipped hair that was bundled and shipped. They burnt the corpse in open pits or in crematory ovens, they crushed the bones and disposed of the ashes.

Gas Van

The first gas killings were done in large vans. People were packed into the back of the van and the exhaust pipes connected to a hole in the back. The driver would drive around for about 20 minutes. Bodies were then taken out and the van rinsed of excrement, vomit and blood.

Gas Chamber

When gas chambers were first used carbon monoxide was used, by was of gas vans After undressing and leaving their valuables the people were crammed into a gas chamber.

Gas Chamber at Auschwitz 1. Ceiling opening where Zyclon B gas was poured. Zyclon B canisters. (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Gass Chamber and Carbon Monoxide tanks at Majdanek. (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Fragment of the piping that carried exhaust fumes to the gas chambers at Belzec Extermination Center. (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

“First women were pushed into the gas chamber and packed as tight as they could, Then the men would go after that until the chamber was full to its capacity. Knowing it was going to be filled, they held the children back. As the chamber was filled to capacity the sonderkommandos would grab the children by their legs and arms, and shove them over the heads of people. We kept poking the people in the gas chamber so they would move farther back. The kids had to go further back, then they slammed the door and gave a signal to the SS man upstairs, to put the gas in.”

- Sam Itzkowitz (survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau)

Processed

After the bodies were pulled out of the gas chamber they were taken to an area to be "processed" which meant to have their body cavities checked for hidden valuables, to extract any gold teeth, and to cut off the hair of the victim to be bagged and shipped to Berlin.

Dissecting table at Majdanek used for checking for valuables in cavaties (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Crematorium

After the body was processed for valuables it was stacked by the ovens to be cremated.

Ravensbruck Crematorium (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Dachau Crematorium (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Crematory II at Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination Center (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Ovens and Smoke stack at Majdanek Crematorium (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Crematorium at Auschwitz I (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Burn Pits

When crematories were not available the bodys were burned in open pits.

Burning Pit at Treblinka Extermination Center (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Selection Area at Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination Center (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

Crematory II, Auschwitz-Birkenau (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

“One day I was in the crematorium. I saw a middle aged man, very lean, very skinny, going up to the door where they were pulling out bodies. The big bodies couldn’t be picked up because they were heavy. He walked through the dead bodies, through the corpse, and he picked up small children and every one he picked up was just like a limp and he kissed every one of the children and he would recite the kaddish. I could see his lips moving as he walked to the ovens and laid it upon another prisoner and then shoved it into the fire. One after the other."

Ash Pit and gas chamber remains in background - Crematory II, Auschwitz-Birkenau (photo by Terry Riversong 2022)

“Did you cry,” Joseph Sachar, a Greek Jew who arrived in Auschwitz in 1944, was asked. His reply “Yes, but without tears”

Resources

Auschwitz-Birkenau Archives
'From The Heart of Hell' by Zalmen Gradowsky
'We wept without Tears' by Gideon Greif
'If This Is A Man" by Prima Levi
Testimony of Sam Itzkowitz

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