The Sonderkommandos of World War II

Hitler and the Nazi party that came into power during his reign over Germany fashioned many cruel and unspeakable systems throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s. During the Holocaust, the acts that the Jewish people were subjected to, and forced to perform, were often grotesque, but there may have been no disturbing an appointed position than those of the Sonderkommandos.

The Sonderkommandos were Jews plucked from the prisoners coming into the Nazi death camps, such as Treblinka and Auschwitz, who were primarily responsible for disposing of the bodies of those people who were killed in the gas chambers, or other means, by the camps' guards. Other duties included leading the incoming prisoners to the gas chambers, falsely informing them that they were merely showering, before being sent back to their families and assigned to in-camp duties. They did not carry out the gassings themselves, but when the fumes cleared, the Sonderkommandos would go into the gas chambers, remove the bodies, process them, by removing anything of value on the body, including gold teeth, and then send them on to the crematorium.

The men who were appointed to Sonderkommando positions were always young males, who appeared to be in good physical shape and healthy. There were many different reasons why the Sonderkommandos were willing to take their positions. There were some chosen men who did it simply in order to buy themselves more time and also to receive the special rewards that came with the post, such as considerably better living conditions, including more and better food, and medicine and cigarettes, which mostly came from what was seized from other Jews as they came into the camps. Others believed it would be possible to protect their family and friends if they took the position. Some were just afraid of death, and once chosen by the SS guards, to deny the position was to earn a spot in the gas chambers with everyone who rode in with you, or to be shot on the spot by one of the guards who picked you.

Due to the fact that the Sonderkommandos worked in such close proximity to Nazi guards and leaders, and were aware of the means by which the Nazis were slaughtering and getting rid of the Jews bodies, they were executed at regular intervals, and replaced with an all new troupe of kommandos, picked as more prisoners were transported into the camps. These new recruits first job would be to dispose of those who held the posts before them.

Hardly any Sonderkommandos survived to see the end of the war, and therefore could offer no testimony against the Nazis or regarding what they had witnessed. The few who did survive were, not surprisingly, not well thought of amongst Holocaust survivors, or the rest of the world's Jewish population. Even though the members of the Sonderkommaando claimed that they were victims of Nazi rule just like the others who were transported into the death camps, and had no choice but to take their positions, the Jewish people had difficulty in forgiving them for aiding the Nazis in committing acts of genocide against their own people.