Sonderkommando

  • The title is taken from a  letter written by Marcel Nadjari ,a Jewish-Greek survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau. Marcel  was a member of the Sonderkommando in Birkenau from May 1944 to November 1944. The letter is an eye witness account of his experiences as a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz Birkenau. He had the task of of removing

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  • Before I go into the main story, I just want to point out the most disturbing aspect of the picture above. At the very front is a lady carrying a baby. We know now what her fate would have been. It is a disturbing sight on an old photograph, so just imagine how disturbing this

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  • Before I go into the main story, I want to start with an extract of the testimony of Marcel Nadjari, who was a member of a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz. The Sonderkommandos were groups of Jewish prisoners forced to perform a variety of duties in the gas chambers and crematoria of the Nazi camp system. “The

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  • David Olère  was a  Jewish Polish-born French painter and sculptor best known for his explicit drawings and paintings based on his experiences as a Jewish Sonderkommando inmate at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. He began to draw at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the last days of the camp, when the SS became less attentive. His work has an invaluable

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  • Cleaning the Gas Chambers

    +++++++++++++++++WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES+++++++++++++++++ The Nazis used forced labor to clean the Gas chambers. It was done by the so-called Sonderkommando, mostly made up of Jewish inmates who were selected because they were often young and still reasonably fit, fit enough to carry out physical labor. Being forced to clean the gas chambers was actually

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  • Desperation and Survival

    I have often wondered how the Sonderkommandos coped with their  work. Sonderkommandos were  forced labour units made up of  Nazi death camp prisoners. usually Jews.They were forced to help with the disposal of gas chamber victims among other duties. Sometimes even removing family members. It is not like they had a choice, it was either work

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