Sonderkommando

Sonderkommandos were work units of Nazi death camp prisoners forced to aid the killing process. The term itself in German means "special unit" and was used in other contexts (e.g., Einsatzgruppen or police-units nowadays), but it has become known in other languages primarily in the context of concentration camps.

Inmates issued with Sonderkommandos did not participate directly in the killing (though they did accompany the victims to the gas chambers—killing was reserved for the guards), and their primary responsibility was disposing of the corpses. They were forced into the position, and accepted it because it meant a few more days or weeks of life. After their terms, each group of Sonderkommandos was killed and the first task of the following group was to dispose of their corpses.

They also led the revolts in Treblinka and Auschwitz.

Finally, a small handful survived.

Testimonies

For personal accounts of an inmate issued with Sonderkommandos there are a number of books including:

• Eyewitness Auschwitz by Filip Müller, Madison Books, 1979, ISBN 0812826019.

• We Wept Without Tears: Testimonies of the Jewish Sonderkommando from Auschwitz by Gideon Greif, Yale University Press, 2005, ISBN 0300106513.

• The Holocaust Odyssey of Daniel Bennahmias, Sonderkommando by Rebecca Fromer, University Alabama Press, 2003, ISBN 0817350411.

• There is a film about the Sonderkommandos, The Grey Zone (2001) directed by Tim Blake Nelson from his play and based on the book by Miklos Nyiszli, Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account, Arcade Publishing, 1993, ISBN 1559702028.

See also

• kommando
• German concentration camps
• Only german texts: short history of the jüdische Sonderkommando - www.sonderkommando-studien.de/ (further content: Zum Begriff Sonderkommando und verwandten Bezeichnungen • „Handlungsräume“ im Sonderkommando Auschwitz. • Der „Sonderkommando-Aufstand“ in Auschwitz-Birkenau - Photos )

Unrelated usages

• A song in this name by the heavy-metal band GWAR