The Revolt of Sonderkommando Prisoners

The transcript of the podcast

On October 7th 1944 a revolt took place in Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp in the Sonderkommando. A special work group made up largely of Jewish prisoners, whom the Germans forced to work in gas chambers, burning pit areas and crematoria. Dr. Igor Bartosik of the Memorial Research Centre talks about the background of resistance in the Sonderkommando, and the revolt itself.

The Sonderkommando was a specific group of Auschwitz prisoners. Particularly the Jews who were forced by the Germans to work in the gas chambers and crematoria. When we consider the subject of resistance in Auschwitz, is there any particularity to this resistance within the Sonderkommando, and what might we call the resistance movement within this workgroup?

This is a very interesting question. First of all, we must start by saying that at first glance, from the outside, as a historian or researcher of the subject, it may seem difficult to form a conspiracy group in such a closely guarded and isolated circle. These people are terrorised and forced to do gruesome work, most of them losing their families or loved ones. In this situation, it is very easy to fall into apathy and depression, and it would be understandable, in this case, if these people did not take actions that serve the common good or higher values. However, it is true that in the Sonderkommando, we are dealing with a conspiracy and activities directed against the regime in the camp. Virtually every level that we come to know as the resistance movement inside Auschwitz is also focused like a lens on the activities of the Sonderkommando prisoners.

What then, are the manifestations of this resistance that we see?

They certainly tried to sabotage the work carried out, attempted to delay it. It was indeed dangerous. As Henryk Tauber recalls in his account, there were cases in which prisoners who delayed carrying out their tasks were killed by SS men, often with particular cruelty. Tauber recalls an incident where one of the Sonderkommando prisoners, who did not work fast enough, as expected by crematorium manager Otto Moll, was forced into a pit of boiling human fat. We know from the testimonies of other Sonderkommando prisoners, for example, Miklos Nyiszli, that Moll shot at the prisoners without warning. It was simply all aimed at intimidating and forcing them to carry out their tasks as quickly as possible. We know that the sabotage committed by the various prisoners involved the destruction of valuables. We know that there were cases when a Sonderkommando prisoner, a dentist who extracted gold crowns, pushed one deep down the victim's throat so that it would not fall into the hands of the SS. Similar was the case with valuables, which were drowned for example, in latrines or pits near the sites of the gas chambers and crematoria. All this was done to ensure that the spoils were as limited as possible for the SS. This too, can undoubtedly be called sabotage. An attempt to delay the work and also destroy valuables that the SS were very interested in.

The Sonderkommando prisoners had very little chance of contact with other prisoners. Did they have any opportunities to smuggle various items they found in the changing rooms of the gas chambers into the camp?

There was undoubtedly an unwritten rule that Sonderkommando prisoners returning from the crematorium area could take with them some of the most necessary and basic items, such as personal hygiene items, or food obtained from the luggage of people murdered in the gas chambers. However, it was definitely impossible to smuggle these things in too large quantities, as it would have aroused the suspicion of the SS. And of course, one could not smuggle valuables into the camp. We know for a fact that although the Sonderkommando prisoners had limited opportunities for contact, they were not entirely confined within their barracks and space. For this reason, these contacts were mostly between Sonderkommando prisoners and some of the functionary prisoners, and this is how valuables and things that could be of interest in terms of conspiratorial activity reached the camp, such as vast quantities of banknotes that might later be useful during escapes from the camp.

We know that medicines and surgical instruments were sometimes delivered, that is, various orders and different ways of fulfilling them. Additionally, it is known that in 1944, ordinary Sonderkommando prisoners, upon realising that there was a BIIc camp just across the road that mainly housed Hungarian Jewish women in the so-called depository who were emaciated, hungry and lacking the most basic personal hygiene items, prepared small packages and tried to throw them over the wall surrounding the courtyard of the Sonderkommando barrack across the road, such that these items would fall into the BIIc section. David Olère immortalised this throwing of basic necessities for the female prisoners in his painting, which clearly shows that it was quite a common attitude and not, let's say, an exceptional situation. Of course, it involved a lot of risks, but they took it anyway.

What is crucial for us today, in terms of also learning about the Holocaust, was this manifestation of resistance and documenting what they saw.

Yes, these people in this dramatic situation managed to muster the courage to keep a record of their experiences and what they witnessed, and I am referring above all to the manuscripts. After all, Zalman Gradowski's manuscript is a masterpiece. I know that some people may break it down into its constituent parts and analyse it from a literary point of view, but as far as I am concerned, a man who writes with such sensitivity about the surrounding world, with such passion, commitment and love for fellow humans, is truly a triumph of man over evil.

Gradowski's manuscripts are truly remarkable; they perpetuate what Lewenthal wrote in his manuscript, “In the future, historians and psychologists will wrack their brains over these words of ours. They will attempt to penetrate the soul of a Sonderkommando prisoner.” Were it not for the material they left us firstly, many of the events that transpired there would be shrouded in secrecy and ignorance. And secondly, we as historians, thanks to these memoirs, now have a tool with which we can show the Sonderkommando prisoners as irrefutably tragic victims of the camp. These manuscripts are also of great value. Furthermore, the manuscripts sometimes include notes that refer to transports that arrived for extermination. Here, I am referring particularly to the notes of October 1944. The specific days on which people arrived for extermination are listed, the crematoria in which they were annihilated are mentioned, and approximate figures are given of how many people were exterminated then. And above all, there is, shall we say, documentation of the extermination in the form of photographs taken in July 1944 by Sonderkommando prisoners. Perhaps the idea of documenting the extermination by using photography originated earlier, but we must take into account that it was technically impossible to take photographs inside the gas chamber or furnace hall in the crematorium. To put it simply, the photography technique was such that you would have to use flash, which was practically impossible in such locations. However, when the burning of corpses in the open air was resumed during the extermination of Hungarian Jews in 1944, it was possible to take these photographs, and the prisoners took advantage of the opportunity. These photographs depicting women going to their deaths in the gas chamber of crematorium number V, and the incineration pits that can be seen behind the building, are undoubtedly one of the most valuable pieces of evidence of extermination ever produced in all the death camps.

Did the Sonderkommando prisoners attempt to escape and did any of them succeed?

The first documented escape attempt by Sonderkommando prisoners was in December 1942. We know of the escape of two prisoners at the beginning of December, followed by a second escape on December 9, presumably when five prisoners made a desperate attempt to escape while being transferred from Birkenau to Auschwitz I to die in the gas chamber. Although it is likely that such escapes had also occurred earlier. Perry Broad, an SS man from the political department of the camp and hence a man who was very familiar with the question of escapes, mentions this in his memoirs. I was even tempted to make a conjecture, a theory, that most likely the case that Broad describes in his memoirs of the escape of two prisoners who, under cover of night and smoke, jumped into the forest and escaped from Birkenau, probably took place at the beginning of September 1942. It coincides more or less with the time of escape of the two prisoners and the night in 1942, which is clearly stated in the telegram sent out after the escaped prisoners, which indicated that they escaped during the night hours. Well, since the only group that could work at night at that time was the Sonderkommando, it is most likely that the first escape was in September. However, it is confirmed explicitly in the documents as December.

We later learn that there was also an escape attempt in March 1943. Two prisoners escaped, presumably while dumping ashes into the Vistula River, crossed the river and then attempted to hide in the forest near the village of Jedliny, on the opposite side of the Vistula River towards the west. We also know that one of the SS men from the guard company, Jochum, forced his way across the Vistula and, unfortunately, captured the fugitives. The next escape documented in camp records is, of course, the escape of Sonderkommando prisoners during the revolt of October 7th 1944. It is undoubtedly also a mass escape that was not particularly successful.

We will get to the events of the revolt in a moment. One more question. The Sonderkommando prisoners also have contact with a small group of SS men while working in this isolated part of the camp. On the one hand, they supervise the extermination process, while on the other, they benefit from the Sonderkommando prisoners, thanks to whom they have the chance to enrich themselves. Do we have traces of this corruption? How did it take place, and were the Sonderkommando prisoners used by the SS for this?

Yes, it seems to me that it is a somewhat under-exposed aspect, and in my opinion, of great importance to the history of the Sonderkommando. It is a known fact that the temptation to get hold of the victims' valuables was overwhelming. This is indisputable. The SS men had a problem in that it was difficult for them to pick up the valuables from the concrete floor of the gas chamber because they always worked in a group in the crematorium area. The group watched each other and, if they wanted to obtain valuables, they certainly wanted to do so without the presence of third parties, without their knowledge and witnesses. From the accounts of Tauber, Dragon, or Filip Müller, we know that this corruption took place in such a way that, when the Sonderkommando prisoners collected valuables from the concrete floor of the gas chamber, and according to what witnesses from the Sonderkommando recalled, although people left their clothes and personal belongings there, many of them did not part with their valuables until the last moment, they hung onto them even when entering the gas chamber. Later, when these people were dead, the valuables fell on the concrete floor, and the Sonderkommando prisoners first collected them in pots and mess tins. Then in the crematorium area, they placed the valuables in special chests that looked like a moneybox with a movable lid, which could be opened from the outside, but nothing could be removed from it. And it was the duty of the Sonderkommando prisoners to put these valuables into the moneybox. Naturally, they threw some into it and some into their pockets.

After a while, when the Sonderkommando prisoners had gathered a little more valuables, they could try to bribe the SS men. For instance, Sonderkommando prisoners would suggest to an SS man that his uniform should be ironed because it was crumpled and dirty. He would give the jacket to be ironed, and at that point the Sonderkommando prisoners would place their ransom in the pockets. Everything was done without words, without any particular discussion. However, both the SS man and the Sonderkommando prisoners were keen on this arrangement. For the Sonderkommando prisoners, the involvement of the SS man in this illegal trade meant he no longer posed as much of a threat to them, as he already had trusted people through whom he could benefit from the valuables, while for the SS man, it was a way to enrich himself.

You mentioned manifestations of resistance within the Sonderkommando, which was carried out by some organised group. Who constituted the core of the conspiracy created within the Sonderkommando?

The first Sonderkommando, which existed from the spring of 1942 to December 1942, consisted primarily of Slovak Jews, who were the first to be sent there. Later, this Sonderkommando also included Jewish prisoners who arrived in transports from Western Europe in 1942. However, the core of the conspiracy was made up of Slovak Jews, who were already familiar with the functioning of the camp and its realities and had certain contacts among the functionary prisoners who also came from Slovakia.

In December 1942, probably anticipating the partial or total liquidation of the Sonderkommando because work on the exhumation of the mass graves near bunker number I was drawing to an end, the Sonderkommando prisoners decided to stage a revolt and escape. They planned to carry it out during the night hours. There is no doubt here that the rebellion planned at the time was primarily orchestrated by Slovakian Jewish prisoners, as they were the predominant group. Of course, the revolt was forestalled by an SS action, which meant that prisoners from the Sonderkommando were taken to crematorium number I in Auschwitz and killed in the gas chamber.

When the second Sonderkommando was set up, of course it was set up successively from December 1942, more or less until March 1943, two underground core groups emerged. The first core of the conspiracy comprised Jews who arrived in transports in December 1942 and January 1943. These were primarily prisoners brought from north-eastern Poland, for example the Łomża area, and transports that arrived from Ciechanów, and so on. Among them are two people who are known to us by name, and who are undoubtedly seen as pillars of the conspiracy. Namely Salmen Gradowski, or Salmen Lewenthal. In addition, Kapo Kaminski, who was Oberkapo of the entire Sonderkommando from December 1943 onwards, can also be included in this group as an insider of conspiratorial activities. These are people who are later known to us because they either produced manuscripts or were active in underground activities.

The second underground group was made up of Polish communists who arrived in the transport from Paris, France, at the beginning of March 1943. Among them, Jankiel Handelsman. They were people familiar with the principles of conspiratorial work because most of them were associated with underground political activity and communist activity. Therefore, when they found themselves in the camp, they could quickly adapt to the situation and try to undertake underground work. In a way, one can assume that it is somewhat interesting that the two conspiratorial groups infiltrate and cooperate with each other, given that the Jews brought from the north-eastern part of Poland are people with a traditional attitude to life, many of them religious, such as Lejb Langfus, also an author of manuscripts.

On the other hand, we have Jews brought from Western Europe, who were still ideologically and communistically rooted, i.e. rather secularised, but as the reality and history of the Sonderkommando show, these differences became blurred between these people and, practically speaking, without any ideological differences they were able to cooperate. Moreover, when speaking of people involved in the conspiracy in the Sonderkommando, we must mention the Soviet prisoners of war. In April 1944, a group of nearly 20 Soviet prisoners of war were brought from Majdanek, where they manned the crematorium. They were accompanied by the German Kapo supervisor Karl Toepfer, and we know from the manuscripts of Lewenthal that the Sonderkommando prisoners welcomed their arrival with great hope because they were soldiers. They were men acquainted with the operation of firearms, who had experienced battle and whose courage, bravery and skill would be of great use to the Sonderkommando prisoners in carrying out their conspiratorial plans.

Where can one discern the origins of the plan for the revolt that finally took place on October 7th 1944, and what were the reasons for conceiving a revolt?

The genesis of the revolt can be traced back to February, March or, at the latest, April 1944. Why? The beginning of 1944 saw a change of commandant and a certain shift in doctrine regarding the functioning of the camp, and above all, a significant decrease in the number of transports sent for extermination. Consequently, in December 1943, the SS carried out the first of such large-scale selections among the Sonderkommando prisoners since December 1942. More than two hundred of them are deported in a transport to Majdanek and shot there. Practically speaking, this is when the Sonderkommando prisoners realise that another blow may follow at any time. They feel very threatened, and the death of their colleagues is confirmed by the Soviet POW’s I mentioned, brought in a transport from Majdanek at the beginning of April 1944. Therefore, it is probably the critical moment they realise that the only chance of survival is to obtain some weapons and fight the SS if the situation becomes critical.

It is certainly a riddle who came up with the idea to smuggle gunpowder from the Union factory that had been operating since autumn 1943 into the Sonderkommando. The question as to whether this impulse came from outside, that is, from the camp resistance movement and the heroic Jewish women who worked there, or from the Sonderkommando prisoners themselves, will remain a mystery to us. However, it is a fact that gunpowder was smuggled out of the Union factory, it reached the Sonderkommando via clandestine routes from the women directly involved in the theft of gunpowder, which was of course protected by the installation of buttons for artillery shells. The girls were Ela Gertner, Regina Szafirsztejn and Estera Wajcblum. Physically, however, this gunpowder reached the Sonderkommando through Rosa Robota, a prisoner employed at Effekten Lager II, or so-called Canada II, where belongings of Jews murdered in the gas chambers were sorted.

Prisoners from this work unit would arrive at the extermination sites in carts and load people's belongings left in the changing room onto the vehicles or carts. This was the moment contact could be made between the Sonderkommando prisoners and Róża Robota, employed there. We know from the accounts of Sonderkommando prisoners, for instance, Eliezer Eisenschmidt, that after some time there was so much gunpowder that they constructed primitive grenades, simple explosives placed in tinned food cans filled with gunpowder, breaking materials in the form of sharp pieces of glass, sharp stones, and some nails, and everything was covered with plaster, and of course, a fuse was attached in the form of a string or, alternatively, some piece of cloth soaked in gunpowder. It was to be used against SS men during the battle. Later, however, the idea was also put forward to detonate some of this gunpowder in the crematorium ovens during the revolt, thus halting the extermination in Birkenau, at least for some time.

One questionable issue, which is as yet unconfirmed, is whether the Sonderkommando prisoners had firearms in their possession. Certain accounts indeed suggest that some of the Sonderkommando prisoners may have possessed such weapons, and I will say yes, obtaining them was not an impossible feat. We know that when the so-called Zerlege Betrieb, a plant for the dismantling of planes that had been shot down and brought here for demolition near the Birkenau site, was first set up in 1944, it operated under the management of the Luterwerke factory. We know that Soviet prisoners of war who worked in the area sometimes found firearms belonging to airmen in the nooks and crannies of fuselages that had been shot down and therefore had personal weapons. These weapons could have been smuggled into the camp. They could have fallen into the hands of Sonderkommando prisoners. However, there is no explicit confirmation of this fact, so I would be somewhat cautious in passing judgment here.

We also have the account of Filip Müller, who claimed that after the revolt of the Ukrainian SS company, the executed Ukrainian SS men were transferred for incineration to crematorium number I, which was still open at that time, that is July 1943, and Filip Müller maintained that Sonderkommando prisoners found hand grenades in the clothes of these SS men. However, this fact was also later disputed, not by historians, but eyewitnesses. One of the Sonderkommando prisoners, who also worked in the crematorium at the time, was in contact with Filip Muüller, I mean Alter Weisenberg, he claimed that this was not true, that it was not a fact.

What other weapons did the Sonderkommando prisoners have at their disposal besides primitive grenades, which they created with smuggled gunpowder?

They certainly made provisions in the event of self-defence. As far as we know, some people tried to get knives that could be easily hidden, for example in the shoe top or some nooks and crannies of clothing. However, these knives needed to have blades long enough to stab an SS man when attacked. Some prisoners tried to carry heavy objects with them, a hammer, a small axe, whatever, objects that could be easily hidden but useful as a weapon in a critical situation against the SS men. However, I would like to point out one thing here. It is worth noting that there was not a single instance in which Sonderkommando prisoners attacked an SS man working at the crematorium. In the accounts, or even from my personal conversations with Henryk Mandelbaum, it seems that no one gave it much thought, probably because they realised that, to all intents and purposes, killing these SS men would not change anything in the prisoners' situation. There may be repression, but in reality, this will not change much regarding the Sonderkommando prisoners' situation.

Indeed, an attack occurs when it makes sense, when it's outside the camp, as was the case during the transport of ashes to the Vistula in August 1944, when two Greeks attacked the guards and tried to get to the other side of the Vistula. Then the person who physically took the photographs in the Sonderkommando, Alex Errera, was shot, and so this attack outside the camp, outside the guarded area, surely made sense. In contrast, in the camp itself, which is fenced off and guarded by watchtowers, it would be practically suicide for a Sonderkommando prisoner and would not bring any useful or positive effects.

What were the plans of the Sonderkommando prisoners regarding the revolt, as we know that the major planned uprising was stopped?

Yes, the Sonderkommando prisoners were seen by the leaders of the camp conspiracy as people who could play a key role in the event of a general uprising in the camp. They were above all, determined people, well-fed, reasonably strong and a hermetic group, that is, they knew each other very well. It is then much easier to create a strike group than it is to deal with a community of several or several thousand prisoners. So, the Sonderkommando was seen as the core and using this core to strike the SS men could be the first phase of a general uprising in the camp. I know that the leaders of the camp conspiracy considered such an uprising in July 1944, and it was associated with the Bagration offensive moving westward at a much faster pace, and had it not been stopped on the Vistula line, it was likely that Marshal Rokossowski's troops would have reached Auschwitz probably at the turn of July and August 1944, which was when a possible uprising was considered. A revolt in such a large camp at the rear of the front could have severely disorganised the German defences, but as Operation Bagration was stopped the uprising planned for July 1944 was put on hold.

The plan for this uprising was as follows; the Sonderkommando prisoners were to attack the SS men in the evening as they headed for their positions in the guard towers located just outside the camp fence. In doing so, the first weapons would be acquired, and with these weapons, attack various sectors of the camp, liquidate the SS men stationed at the Blockführerstube and watchtowers, acquire more weapons, and involve more prisoners in the general uprising in the camp. So that's the way it was meant to proceed in July 1944, but as I said, it was put on hold. We know following the suspension, that a period of chaos ensues as far as the Sonderkommando conspiracy is concerned. The consequence of this action, which was halted at the last minute, as recalled by Henryk Tauber, was the unmasking of some of the Sonderkommando prisoners. Some associate the death of Kapo Kaminski with the very fact that the revolt was stopped at the last moment, leading to some prisoners being unmasked and thus later becoming victims of action by the SS.

Also, Errera's escape was probably caused by the very chaos that ensued at the time. It is rather difficult to suppose that Alex, a Greek Jew who neither knew the terrain nor the language assumed he would survive in hiding for several months. He probably hoped that the offensive would be launched and that within a few days or so, the leading forces of the Soviet army would reach Auschwitz. Therefore, he made a desperate attempt to escape at the beginning of August, during which he died. In a way, one can see that the Sonderkommando prisoners are at a crossroads because, on the one hand, such a general revolt in the camp, where several or a dozen thousand people would join the fight, was a situation that gave them a chance of survival, as it would have been a powerful revolt. The Sonderkommando prisoners would have disappeared into the crowd of other prisoners.

In contrast, an isolated action carried out by the Sonderkommando alone is extremely difficult, and the chance of survival is significantly lower. Therefore, it is difficult to deny the right of the Sonderkommando prisoners to a possible revolt also aimed at saving themselves. After all, they were ordinary people who also wanted to live and saw their hope in revolt and escape. It is evident that it would have been easier to carry out a revolt in such a situation had there been a general uprising in the camp. So one can see from the manuscript of, say, Leventhal that he is embittered and even reproaches the camp conspiracy, that it did not provide adequate assistance to the Sonderkommando prisoners and that they were only needed when it was necessary to acquire valuables needed for escapes, when it was necessary to document the criminal activities of the SS, for example photographs, then the Sonderkommando was good. But when it comes to the possibility of saving themselves, no one takes their side. It is clear in Leventhal's manuscript that he is embittered by the situation.

And in doing so, the noose begins to tighten. The extermination of the Hungarian Jews came to an end, and then the crematoria continued to work intensively for several weeks in the second half of August 1944 and then in September, a period when significantly fewer transports were sent to their deaths. The SS decided to reduce the number of Sonderkommando prisoners, which at the time reached a record high of over 870 prisoners. The first selection was carried out and resulted in the deaths of almost 230 Sonderkommando prisoners, probably on September 23rd 1944. They were killed in what was known as Canada I, that is the storehouses for items taken from people dying in the gas chambers, and the prisoners were killed in a chamber used for disinfection. They were killed using Zyklon В.

The SS tried to conceal the murder of these Sonderkommando prisoners from the other prisoners of the special commando because it had been announced earlier that the more than 200 people would be transferred to work in one of the sub camps. To conceal this crime, the corpses were transported in trucks to crematorium number III. The staff who worked there at the time were ordered to go upstairs to their living quarters, and the SS men placed the corpses in the crematorium furnaces by themselves. Nevertheless, when the Sonderkommando prisoners later examined the ash pits, they found objects among the ashes of the burned men that indicated their fellow prisoners most likely had these items with them when they were taken from the Birkenau site the day before. So, the Sonderkommando knew right away that this noose was tightening and action would have to be taken swiftly, otherwise, soon there simply might not be enough time.

What were the reasons for the revolt that finally broke out October 7th 1944? The foundation has been laid, but did everything proceed as the Sonderkommando conspiracy had imagined?

Another selection was planned. Again, they announced that 300 prisoners would be transferred to work in one of the sub camps, but knowing the fate of the people taken two weeks earlier, the Sonderkommando had no illusions that this would be another liquidation operation. It was announced that this time the crew managing crematorium number V would be downsized and accommodated in crematorium number IV, which then was closed. The fear within the Sonderkommando was growing. The search for salvation began, and the assumption was that, as was the case on September 23rd 1944, the Sonderkommando would most likely be reduced again by the prisoners who had been assigned to work there in recent months, particularly those who had been assigned to work in the Sonderkommando in May of 1944 during the extermination of Hungarian Jews.

One other detail later influenced the course of events that took place on October 7th 1944. According to memoirs and manuscripts, a verbal altercation, followed by fisticuffs, ensued the day before October 7th 1944 between one of the Soviet prisoners of war who worked in crematorium number 3 and an SS man from the crematorium staff. A scuffle broke out, and eventually, the SS man drew his pistol and shot the prisoner. At the same time, the SS Commander Fuhrer announced that the Soviet POW’s would be sent away on the next transport from the camp area. Of course, they realised what this implied and assumed and feared that they might be included in this transport departing on October 7th.

During conversations held within the Sonderkommando, it was agreed that the revolt would still be put on hold because the plan to destroy the crematorium ovens was still on the minds of the Sonderkommando prisoners. Moreover, they assumed that an operation carried out at night would be a better and more convenient way to start a revolt within the crematorium area. It would give the escapees a slightly better chance of breaking out of the camp area and saving themselves. Meanwhile, the selection of October 7th was announced for noon, which also meant that the prisoners were placed in very unfavourable circumstances because it was the middle of the day, with at least 7 more hours until nightfall, meaning that the time for pursuit was extended. The Sonderkommando leadership gave carte blanche to the prisoners who found themselves in this transport to mount resistance against the SS men. However, it was assumed that firstly, there could be no unmasking, that is, they could not use the grenades in their possession, and that if the SS were to be attacked it would be done primarily with simple tools, white weapons.

In the afternoon, shortly after 1pm, an assembly was announced in the area of crematorium number IV. The SS-men summoned the prisoners for roll call and began to read out the names of prisoners included in the transport. Once the names were read out, the prisoners stopped coming forward to join the column that was to leave the crematorium. It starts to get messy and noisy, shouting ensues, and at some point, the Sonderkommando prisoners throw themselves at the SS men. Of course, they attacked them with simple tools, so a clash between an armed man wielding a machine gun, rifle, or even a small firearm and a man armed with a hammer or bottle is not an incident destined to end in a clear-cut result. The SS men opened fire, some prisoners tried to get through and hide in the area of crematorium number V. It is known that some people used bizarre spots as places of refuge, such as the chimney of the then decommissioned crematorium furnace, or a pile of wood, among others. Some of them fell at the exit gate leading from the courtyard of crematorium number IV. When the SS opened fire on the prisoners fleeing from the courtyard of crematorium IV, some retreated into the building and set fire to the bunks and straw mattresses there. It was presumably an act of desperation as the general signal urging all prisoners to revolt in the camp, to rise, was supposed to be the setting of this building on fire. So, it may have been set on fire because they hoped the shooting, the commotion in the area of crematorium number IV heard throughout the camp, plus the burning crematorium, would encourage people to fight.
But, of course, it was only a theoretical assumption. Eventually, the prisoners who found themselves there later left the building from the raging fire and died from the gunshots of the SS men.

The situation was brought under control fairly quickly at crematorium number IV. The prisoners were terrorised, locked first in the undamaged gas chamber of crematorium number IV. As soon as the fire broke out, the camp's fire brigade was called in from Auschwitz I to put out the fire. There is even an interesting detail that when the firefighters arrived at crematorium number IV, unrolled the hoses and were about to start the motor pump, one of the prisoners, a fireman, tried to sabotage the operation of the engine to delay the action to the extent possible so the fire would spread over the crematorium and destroy it considerably. Eventually, however, a pistol was held to his head by an SS man, the pump switched on momentarily, and the firefighting operation got underway. Witnesses from the fire brigade recalled that the prisoners were taken to the square in front of the crematorium, laid out on the ground and randomly executed, which was also mentioned in the accounts of Sonderkommando prisoners who were in the area.

That's pretty much how the revolt played out in crematorium number IV and crematorium number V. What then happened at crematorium number II? One could hear the shooting from afar and see the fire and smoke from the burning crematorium number IV. The Soviet prisoners felt threatened and anxious, while an SS unit was advancing towards the crematoria. It was probably a question of securing the area, as the SS were afraid the fight, the revolt, might spread to crematoriums number II and III. The POW’s panicked, probably thinking the unit was coming to wisk them off, and not thinking much of it, one of them stabbed Kapo Karl Toepfer, who, by the way, had a rather poor opinion among the Sonderkommando prisoners. The Kapo was pushed into the crematorium furnace. Attempts were further made to lure SS men into the building, but already sensing danger, they left crematorium number II and refused to go inside.

The prisoners in crematoria II and III tried to make contact with each other, but this did not work, and seeing that a certain line had been crossed from which there was no return, the Jewish prisoners from the Sonderkommando in crematorium number II decided to carry out the operation planned earlier, at least to a limited extent. Firstly, they wanted to detonate explosives in the furnaces. Three prisoners stayed in the crematorium area to carry out the detonation, while the remaining eighty or more headed south, broke through the camp fence, ran through the area so-called Klerenlagen, and seizing the opportunity they also cut the wires in the women's section, hoping the female prisoners would join the escape, and then the escapees headed south.

The problem was how to force through the so-called große Postenkette, a large guard chain of primitive wooden towers that surrounded the entire Birkenau area like a ring during the day. It was simply a matter of allowing the prisoners to move about fairly freely in the unfenced area where they worked. On the other hand, a large chain of posts ensured that no one could get beyond this area. When the Sonderkommando prisoners moved towards these posts, apparently one of the SS men panicked, threw away his rifle and ran away as fast as he could. The escapees ran southwards. They opted for this direction because it was the only possible escape direction. Besides, to the south of Birkenau, about 20 km from the camp, are the first peaks of the Beskids mountain ranges. Presumably, the Sonderkommando prisoners who saw the mountains from the crematorium area, assumed that the mountains would be a convenient place to hide. They also assumed that there might be some partisan groups they could join and continue the fight.

However, they did not realise, first of all, that when they made an attempt to revolt and escape, an emergency unit from Auschwitz I was summoned, which was heading towards the village of Pławy in lorries. Secondly, there were farm ponds just behind the camp to the south, which made escape difficult because the prisoners had to sneak through causeways. The Sonderkommando prisoners were probably taken by surprise by the SS pursuit unit on the grounds of the camp farm in Puławy, under construction at the time. They were probably shot at with bullets from machine guns, and these bullets ignited one of the barracks of a farm building located on the grounds of a homestead in Puławy. I would also like to add that as the prisoners were running towards the south, they encountered a three-person SS patrol on one of the roads around the camp area and stabbed them to death. This escape group was intersected at one of the ponds, shots were fired at the prisoners, and some were killed at this particular crossing between the edge of the pond and the causeway. About 80 of them were killed there. However, 3 people who were not shot then, separated from this escape. Two were Sonderkommando prisoners, one a Soviet POW Alexander Szerkalenko, the other a certain Majer Pliszko, and the third Mosza Sobotko. It is worth noting that Majer Pliszko was not a Sonderkommando prisoner, but his brother was, and seeing his Sonderkommando colleagues escaping, decided to join them. However, we do not know the fate of these escapees, none of them survived. Some Sonderkommando prisoners mentioned that a Soviet prisoner of war was brought to the crematorium area and shot after a few weeks, so it was probably Alexander Sherkalenko I just mentioned earlier.

How many prisoners died as a result of the revolt, as some died during the fight and others during the escape or as a result of SS repression?

It is simply impossible to determine precisely how many prisoners died in crematoriums 4 and 5 and how many in crematorium 2 or as a result of repressions or fighting. We cannot quantify these figures precisely and accurately. All I can say is that the Sonderkommando decreased by about 450 people. We are not able to say whether this number also included the two escapees who survived, and there is also Kapo Toepfer.

On October 8th 1944, a telegram was sent from Auschwitz urging the pursuit of escaped prisoners and mentioned the escapees from October 7th 1944, who I referred to earlier Szerlalenko, Sobotko and Pliszk. But also mentioned Kapo Toepfer. He was burned in the crematorium furnace. His body was not found; however, police procedures are such that he must also be included in the pursuit documents in this circumstance. The telegram also stated that he had probably been killed and his body burnt in the crematorium, but they had to issue a call for pursuit and search for these people since he was not there. Therefore, we assume that about 450 prisoners were shot during the Sonderkommando revolt, the fight and escapes, and during the execution.

However, the Germans did not completely liquidate the Sonderkommando because this group was still needed, right?

Yes, they did not liquidate the Sonderkommando, it was still needed. Nonetheless, an investigation was launched. One thing that undoubtedly mattered here was that, firstly, when the SS men broke into crematorium number 2, there were still 3 prisoners there who intended to blow up the crematorium furnaces. Explosive materials was found on them. Leventhal's accounts also show that these primitive grenades, which the Sonderkommando had constructed, were also used by the escapees heading in south. When the SS found these primitive grenades on the bodies of the escapees or on those prisoners who had been captured in crematorium number 2, it became clear instantly that the trail would lead to the detonator factory, the Union factory. The search of the prisoners' living quarters and for the prisoners themselves was launched immediately. The first interrogations began, and the result was that within a few days, three or a dozen Sonderkommando prisoners were taken from the Birkenau area and thrown into block 11. They were interrogated and tortured. Consequently, the SS men traced the female prisoners I mentioned earlier, who worked at the Union factory and supplied gunpowder to the Sonderkommando. The Sonderkommando had already been reduced in size, but they still worked for 3 weeks at the crematoria and on transports that continued to be sent to Auschwitz for extermination.