''Sonderkommandos'' (, ''special
unit
Unit may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''
* Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation
Music
* ''Unit'' (alb ...
'') were
work units made up of
German Nazi
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
death camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber victims during
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
. The death-camp ''Sonderkommandos'', who were always inmates, were unrelated to the ''
SS-Sonderkommandos
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe duri ...
'', which were ''
ad hoc
Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with ''a priori''.)
Com ...
'' units formed from members of various
SS offices between 1938 and 1945.
The German term was part of the vague and
euphemistic
A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...
language which the Nazis used to refer to aspects of the
Final Solution
The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...
(e.g., ''
Einsatzkommando
During World War II, the Nazi German ' were a sub-group of the ' (mobile killing squads) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellectu ...
'', "deployment units").
Death factory workers
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H26996, KZ Dachau, Verbrennungsofen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H26996%2C_KZ_Dachau%2C_Verbrennungsofen.jpg)
''Sonderkommando'' members did not participate directly in killing; that responsibility was reserved for the SS, while the ''Sonderkommandos'' primary duty was disposing of the corpses. In most cases, they were inducted immediately upon arrival at the camp and forced into the position under threat of death. They were not given any advance notice of the tasks they would have to perform. To their horror, sometimes the ''Sonderkommando'' inductees would discover members of their own family amid the bodies. They had no way to refuse or resign other than by committing suicide. In some places and environments, the ''Sonderkommandos'' might be euphemistically called ''Arbeitsjuden'' (Jews for work). Other times, ''Sonderkommandos'' were called ''Hilflinge'' (helpers). At
Birkenau
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
the ''Sonderkommandos'' numbered up to 400 people by 1943 and, when Hungarian Jews were deported there in 1944, their numbers swelled to more than 900 persons, in order to keep up with the increased rounds of murder and extermination.
Because the Germans needed the ''Sonderkommandos'' to remain physically able, they were granted much less squalid living conditions than other inmates: they slept in their own barracks and were allowed to keep and use various goods such as food, medicines and cigarettes brought into camp by those who were sent to the gas chambers. Unlike ordinary inmates, they were not normally subject to arbitrary killing by guards. Their livelihood and utility were determined by how efficiently they could keep the Nazi death factory running. As a result, ''Sonderkommando'' members survived longer in the death camps than other prisonersbut few survived the war.
As they had detailed knowledge of the Nazis' practice of mass murder, the ''Sonderkommando'' were considered ''Geheimnisträger''bearers of secrets. As such, they were held in isolation away from prisoners being used as slave labor (see
SS Main Economic and Administrative Office
The SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (german: SS-Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt; SS-WVHA) was a Nazi organization responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects of the (a main branch of the ; SS). It ...
). Every three months, according to SS policy, almost all the ''Sonderkommandos'' working in the death camps' killing areas would be gassed themselves and replaced with new arrivals to ensure secrecy. However, some inmates survived for up to a year or more because they possessed specialist skills. Usually the task of a new ''Sonderkommando'' unit would be to dispose of the bodies of their predecessors. Research has calculated that from the creation of a death camp's first ''Sonderkommando'' to the liquidation of the camp, there were approximately 14 generations of ''Sonderkommando''.
However, according to historian Igor Bartosik, author of ''Witnesses from the Pit of Hell. History of the Auschwitz Sonderkommando'' (2022) published by the
Auschwitz Museum
The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum ( pl, Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau) is a museum on the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Oświęcim (German: ''Auschwitz''), Poland.
The site includes the main concentration camp at Auschwitz ...
, the renewed exterminations of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Sonderkommandos are a myth, since such an extermination only took place there once.
Eyewitness testimony
Fewer than 20 of several thousand members of the ''Sonderkommandos'' are documented to have survived until liberation and to have testified about the events (although some sources claim more). Among them were
Henryk (Tauber) Fuchsbrunner,
Filip Müller
Filip Müller (3 January 1922 – 9 November 2013) was a Jewish Slovak Holocaust survivor and ''Sonderkommando'' at Auschwitz, the largest Nazi German concentration camp during World War II, where he witnessed the murders of tens of thousand ...
, Daniel Behnnamias,
Dario Gabbai
David Dario Gabbai (September 2, 1922 – March 25, 2020) was a Greek Sephardi Jew and Holocaust survivor, notable for his role as a member of the Sonderkommando at Auschwitz. He was deported to the camp in March 1944 and put to work in one of the ...
,
Morris Venezia,
Shlomo Venezia, Antonio Boldrin, Alter Fajnzylberg,
Samuel Willenberg
Samuel Willenberg, ''nom de guerre'' Igo (16 February 1923 – 19 February 2016), was a Polish Holocaust survivor, artist, and writer. He was a ''Sonderkommando'' at the Treblinka extermination camp and participated in the unit's planned revol ...
, Abram Dragon,
David Olère
David Olère (January 19, 1902 in Warsaw – August 21, 1985 in Paris) was a 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 con ...
,
Henryk Mandelbaum
Henryk Mandelbaum (December 15, 1922 – June 17, 2008) was a Polish Holocaust survivor. He was one of the prisoners in the '' Sonderkommando KL Auschwitz-Birkenau'' in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp who had to work in the crematory. ...
and
Martin Gray. Another six or seven are confirmed to have survived, but they have not given witness (or at least, such testimony is not documented). Buried and hidden accounts by members of the ''Sonderkommando'' were later found at some camps.
Between 1943 and 1944, some members of the Birkenau ''Sonderkommando'' were able to obtain writing materials and record some of their experiences and what they had witnessed. These documents were buried in the grounds of the crematoria and recovered after the war. Five men have been identified as the authors of these manuscripts:
Zalman Gradowski
Zalman Gradowski or Chaim Zalman Gradowski (1910 – 7 October 1944) originally from Suwałki, was a Polish Jewish prisoner of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during the Holocaust in occupied Poland. On November 2, 1942, he was dep ...
, Zalman Lewental, and
Leib Langfus, who wrote in
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
; Chaim Herman, who wrote in French; and
Marcel Nadjary, who wrote in Greek. Of the five, only Nadjary survived until liberation; Gradowski was killed in the revolt at Crematorium IV on 7 October 1944 (see below), or in retaliation for it; Lewental, Langfus, and Herman are believed to have been killed in November 1944.
Gradowski wrote the following note, found buried at an Auschwitz crematorium site:
The manuscripts are kept primarily in the archive of the
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Memorial Museum. Exceptions are Herman's letter (kept in the archives of the ''Amicale des déportés d'Auschwitz-Birkenau'') and Gradowski's texts, one of which is held in the
Russian Museum of Military Medicine
The Russian Museum of Military Medicine (russian: Военно-медицинский музей Министерства обороны Российской Федерации) is situated in the center of Saint Petersburg, Russia, in front of V ...
in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, and another in
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
, Israel.
Some of the manuscripts were published as ''The Scrolls of Auschwitz'', edited by Ber Mark. The Auschwitz Museum published some others as ''Amidst a Nightmare of Crime''.
The Scrolls of Auschwitz have been recognised as some of the most important testimony to be written about the Holocaust, as they include contemporaneous eyewitness accounts of the workings of the gas chambers in Birkenau.
Revolts
''Sonderkommando'' prisoners participated in uprisings on two occasions.
Treblinka
The first revolt occurred at
Treblinka
Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...
on 2 August 1943. Prisoners used a duplicate key to open the camp arsenal and steal 20 to 25 rifles, 20 hand grenades, and several pistols. At 3:45 p.m., 700 Jews launched an attack on the camp's ''SS'' guards and
trawniki
Trawniki is a village in Świdnik County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the present-day gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Trawniki. It lies approximately south-east of Świdnik and south-east of the regio ...
s that lasted for 30 minutes. They set buildings and a fuel tanker ablaze. Armed Jews attacked the main gate, while others attempted to climb the fence. About 200 Jews escaped from the camp, but the well-armed guards slaughtered hundreds of others. They phoned for ''SS'' reinforcements from four towns, and these set up roadblocks and pursued escapees in cars and on horses. Only about 100 prisoners ultimately escaped.
Partisans of the ''
Armia Krajowa
The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...
'' (Polish: Home Army) transported some of the surviving escaped prisoners across the
Bug River
uk, Західний Буг be, Захо́дні Буг
, name_etymology =
, image = Wyszkow_Bug.jpg
, image_size = 250
, image_caption = Bug River in the vicinity of Wyszków, Poland
, map = Vi ...
,
while others were
helped and fed by Polish villagers. Of the 700 Sonderkommando who took part in the revolt, 100 managed to survive and escape from the camp, and around 70 of these are known to have survived the war.
These include
Richard Glazar,
Chil Rajchman
Chil (Enrique) Meyer Rajchman a.k.a. Henryk Reichman, nom de guerre ''Henryk Ruminowski'' (June 14, 1914 – May 7, 2004) was one of about 70 Jewish prisoners who survived the Holocaust after participating in the August 2, 1943 revolt at the Treb ...
,
Jankiel Wiernik
Jankiel (Yankel, Yaakov, or Jacob) Wiernik ( he, יעקב ויירניק; 1889–1972) was a Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivor who was an influential figure in the Treblinka extermination camp resistance. He had been forced to work as a ''Son ...
, and
Samuel Willenberg
Samuel Willenberg, ''nom de guerre'' Igo (16 February 1923 – 19 February 2016), was a Polish Holocaust survivor, artist, and writer. He was a ''Sonderkommando'' at the Treblinka extermination camp and participated in the unit's planned revol ...
, who co-wrote the ''Treblinka Memoirs''.
[ ''Also in:'' ]
Auschwitz
In October 1944, the ''Sonderkommando'' rebelled at
Crematorium IV in
Auschwitz II
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
. For months, young Jewish women workers had been smuggling small packets of
gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...
out of the Weichsel-Union-Metallwerke, a munitions factory in an industrial area between the main camp of Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II. The gunpowder was passed along a smuggling chain to ''Sonderkommando'' in Crematorium IV. The plan was to destroy the gas chambers and crematoria and launch an uprising.
However, on the morning of 7 October 1944, the camp resistance warned the ''Sonderkommando'' in Crematorium IV that they were to be killed, and the ''Sonderkommando'' attacked the ''SS'' and
''Kapos'' with two machine guns, axes, knives, and grenades, killing three and injuring about a dozen more. Some of the ''Sonderkommando'' escaped from the camp, but most were recaptured later the same day.
Of those who did not die during the uprising itself, 200 were later forced to strip and lie face down before being shot in the back of the head. A total of 451 ''Sonderkommandos'' were killed that day.
Media portrayals
The earliest portrayals of the ''Sonderkommando'' were generally unflattering.
Miklos Nyiszli, in ''Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account'', described the ''Sonderkommando'' as enjoying a virtual feast, complete with chandeliers and candlelight, as other prisoners died of starvation. Nyiszli, an admitted collaborator who assisted
Josef Mengele
, allegiance =
, branch = Schutzstaffel
, serviceyears = 1938–1945
, rank = ''Schutzstaffel, SS''-''Hauptsturmführer'' (Captain)
, servicenumber =
, battles =
, unit =
, awards =
, command ...
in his medical experiments on Auschwitz prisoners, would appear to have been in a good position to observe the ''Sonderkommando'' in action, as he had an office in Krematorium II. But some of his inaccurate physical descriptions of the crematoria diminishes his credibility in this regard. Historian
Gideon Greif characterized Nyiszli's writings as among the "myths and other wrong and defamatory accounts" of the ''Sonderkommando'', which flourished in the absence of first-hand testimony by surviving ''Sonderkommando'' members.
Primo Levi
Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was an Italian chemist, partisan, writer, and Jewish Holocaust survivor. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works ...
, in ''
The Drowned and the Saved
''The Drowned and the Saved'' ( it, I sommersi e i salvati) is a book of essays by Italian-Jewish author and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi on life and death in the Nazi extermination camps, drawing on his personal experience as a survivor of Au ...
'', characterizes the ''Sonderkommando'' as being "akin to collaborators." He said that their testimonies should not be given much credence, since they had much to atone for and would naturally attempt to rehabilitate themselves at the expense of the truth. But, he asked his readers to refrain from condemnation: "Therefore I ask that we meditate upon the story of 'the crematorium ravens' with pity and rigor, but that judgment of them be suspended."
Filip Müller
Filip Müller (3 January 1922 – 9 November 2013) was a Jewish Slovak Holocaust survivor and ''Sonderkommando'' at Auschwitz, the largest Nazi German concentration camp during World War II, where he witnessed the murders of tens of thousand ...
was one of the few ''Sonderkommando'' members who survived the war, and was also unusual in that he served on the ''Sonderkommando'' far longer than most. He wrote of his experiences in his book ''Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers'' (1979). Among other incidents he related, Müller recounted how he tried to enter the gas chamber to die with a group of his countrymen, but was dissuaded from suicide by a girl who asked him to remain alive and bear witness.
Since the late 20th century, several other more sympathetic accounts of the ''Sonderkommando'' have been published, beginning with Gideon Greif's own book ''
We Wept Without Tears'' (1999 in Hebrew, 2005 in English), which consists of interviews with former ''Sonderkommando'' members. Greif includes as his prologue
Gunther Anders' poem "And What Would You Have Done?", which says that one who has not been in that situation has little right to judge the ''Sonderkommando'': "Not you, not me! We were not put to that ordeal!"
The first depiction of the ''Sonderkommando'' revolt was titled ''Ikh leb'' (I live), a play written by Jewish author Moshe Pinchevski. It was also the first post-World War 2, Yiddish-language performance at the Idisher Kultur Farband Teater in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
, in 1945.
A theatre play that explores the moral dilemmas of the ''Sonderkommando'' was ''
The Grey Zone
''The Grey Zone'' is a 2001 movie written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson and starring David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, and Daniel Benzali. It is based on the book ''Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account'' w ...
'', directed by
Doug Hughes
Douglas Hughes is an American theatre director.
Early life
Hughes is the son of acting couple Barnard Hughes (1915–2006) and Helen Stenborg. He attended Harvard University, starting as a biology major and graduating with a degree in English.
C ...
and produced in New York at
MCC Theater
MCC Theater (Manhattan Class Company) is an off-Broadway theater company located in New York City, founded in 1986 by artistic directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey and William Cantler. Blake West joined the company in 2006 as executive direc ...
in 1996. The play was later adapted as a
film of the same title by producer
Tim Blake Nelson
Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor and playwright.
Described as a "modern character actor", his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' (2000), Gideon in ''Minority Report'' (2002), Dr. Pendan ...
. The film took its mood, as well as much of its plot, from Nyiszli, portraying members of the ''Sonderkommando'' as crossing the line from victim to perpetrator. ''Sonderkommando'' Hoffman (played by
David Arquette
David Arquette (born September 8, 1971) is an American actor and former professional wrestler. He is best known for his role as Dewey Riley in the slasher film franchise ''Scream'', for which he won a Teen Choice Award and two Blockbuster Enter ...
) beats a man to death in the undressing room under the eyes of a smiling SS member. Nelson emphasizes that the subject of the film is that very moral ambiguity. "We can see each one of ourselves in that situation, perhaps acting in that way, because we are human. But we're not sanctified victims."
A "novelized" memoir, ''
A Damaged Mirror
''A Damaged Mirror'' is a 2014 "novelized" memoir by Yael Shahar and Ovadya ben Malka. The book explores the moral dilemmas of a former member of the Birkenau Sonderkommando, Ovadya ben Malka. The book was reissued in 2015 with a new Foreword by ...
'' (2014), by Yael Shahar and Ovadya ben Malka, explores the lengths to which a former ''Sonderkommando'' will go to obtain forgiveness and closure: "The fact that good people can be forced to do wrong doesn't make them less good," the survivor says of himself, "but it also doesn't make the wrong less wrong."
''
Son of Saul
''Son of Saul'' ( hu, Saul fia) is a 2015 Hungarian historical drama film directed by László Nemes, in his feature directorial debut, and co-written by Nemes and Clara Royer. It is set in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, a ...
'', a 2015 Hungarian film directed by
László Nemes, and winner of the
2015 Cannes Film Festival
The 68th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 2015. Joel and Ethan Coen were the Presidents of the Jury for the main competition. It was the first time that two people chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers each received a separate ...
Grand Prix, details the story of one ''Sonderkommando'' attempting to bury a dead child he takes for his son.
Géza Röhrig
Géza Röhrig ( hu, Röhrig Géza, ; May 11, 1967) is a Hungarian actor and poet. He is best known for his role in the 2015 film ''Son of Saul'', which won the Grand Prix at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Lang ...
, who starred in the film, reacted with anger to the suggestion, made by a journalist, that members of the ''Sonderkommando'' were "half-victim, half-hangman".
There has to be a clarification," he said. "They are 100% victims. They have not spilled blood or been involved in any sort of killing. They were inducted on arrival under the threat of death. They had no control of their destinies. They were as victimised as any other prisoners in Auschwitz.
Gallery
See also
*
Ala Gertner
Ala Gertner (March 12, 1912 – January 5, 1945), referred to in other sources as Alla, Alina, Ella, and Ela Gertner, was one of four women hanged in the Auschwitz concentration camp for her role in the ''Sonderkommando'' revolt of October 7, 1944 ...
*
David Olère
David Olère (January 19, 1902 in Warsaw – August 21, 1985 in Paris) was a 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 con ...
*
Filip Müller
Filip Müller (3 January 1922 – 9 November 2013) was a Jewish Slovak Holocaust survivor and ''Sonderkommando'' at Auschwitz, the largest Nazi German concentration camp during World War II, where he witnessed the murders of tens of thousand ...
*
Henryk Mandelbaum
Henryk Mandelbaum (December 15, 1922 – June 17, 2008) was a Polish Holocaust survivor. He was one of the prisoners in the '' Sonderkommando KL Auschwitz-Birkenau'' in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp who had to work in the crematory. ...
*
Henryk Tauber
''Henryk (Tauber) Fuchsbrunner'' (8 July 1917 – 3 January 2000) was a Polish Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp during the Holocaust, who gave detailed testimony at the end of World War II. Tauber was his mother's maiden name. His p ...
*
Kommando
A ''Kommando'' (, "unit" or "command") is a general term for special police and military forces in German, Dutch, and Afrikaans speaking nations.
It was also the term in the World War II era ''Luftwaffe'' for special units used to test new air ...
*
Leib Langfus
*
Morris Venezia
*
Rose Meth
*
Roza Robota
Roza Robota (1921 – 6 January 1945) or Róża Robota in Polish, referred to in other sources as Rojza, Rózia or Rosa, was the leader of a group of four women Holocaust resistors hanged in the Auschwitz concentration camp for their role in the ...
*
Shlomo Venezia
*
''Shoah'' (film)
* ''
Son of Saul
''Son of Saul'' ( hu, Saul fia) is a 2015 Hungarian historical drama film directed by László Nemes, in his feature directorial debut, and co-written by Nemes and Clara Royer. It is set in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, a ...
''
*
''Sonderaktion'' 1005
* ''
The Grey Zone
''The Grey Zone'' is a 2001 movie written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson and starring David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, and Daniel Benzali. It is based on the book ''Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account'' w ...
''
* ''
Ypatingasis būrys''
Notes
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
*
*
* .
* .
*
* .
*
*
*
* Eyewitness accounts from members of the ''Sonderkommando''. Publications include:
#
#
#
#
# . A play and subsequent film about the ''Sonderkommandos'', ''
The Grey Zone
''The Grey Zone'' is a 2001 movie written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson and starring David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, and Daniel Benzali. It is based on the book ''Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account'' w ...
'' (2001) directed by
Tim Blake Nelson
Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor and playwright.
Described as a "modern character actor", his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' (2000), Gideon in ''Minority Report'' (2002), Dr. Pendan ...
, was based on this book.
# ''Dario Gabbai (Interview Code 142, conducted in English)'' video testimony, interview conducted in November 1996,
Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation
Survivor(s) may refer to:
Actual survivors
*
*Last survivors of historical events
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* Survivors, characters in the 1997 ''KKnD'' video-game series
* ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Found ...
USC Shoah Foundation Institute University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
.
#
#
#
External links
* History of th
Jüdische SonderkommandoSonderkommando-studien.de (further content: Zum Begriff Sonderkommando und verwandten Bezeichnungen • „Handlungsräume“ im Sonderkommando Auschwitz. • Der „Sonderkommando-Aufstand“ in Auschwitz-Birkenau – Photos )
Information about Auschwitz ''Sonderkommandos'' members French website ''Sonderkommando.info''
{{Authority control
Nazi concentration camp occupations