Witnesses from the Pit of Hell: History of the Auschwitz Sonderkommando

by Igor Bartosik

The book is a monographic study of the history of the Sonderkommando in Auschwitz, special labor detail made up of prisoners who were forced to burn corpses in the camp’s crematorium. Based on the accounts of survivors and on the analysis of a hundred archival documents, the publication is a reconstruction of the events, from 1940, when the first crematorium furnace in Auschwitz Main Camp was put into operation, to 1945, when camp was evacuated and approximately 100 Sonderkommando members were led in the march of death.

Publication includes documents, most of which were published for first time. Monography proves that, contrary to conventional opinion and despite the destruction of traces of the Nazi crimes, there is a large number of valuable historical sources.

The author presents to a reader a tragic history of eyewitnesses of crimes, their life and work in the crematorium site, and their extremely tragic situation which they faced every day. Documents annotated with a historical commentary make up the most complete analysis of the Sonderkommando history.

There were about 1,800–2,000 prisoners forced to work in the Sonderkommando during the camp’s operation. Approximately 50–60 of them survived.

Genres: Holocaust

225 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Sofia Thornblad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after having toured Birkenau with the author. His review of documentation is concise. I do however wish that he had brought a little bit more emotion to his analysis. Especially having met him in person and spoken with him about the Holocaust.
That being said, this is supposed to be a review of documentation as opposed to an in-depth tour which includes personal stories etc. I highly recommend this book to anyone who already has an in-depth knowledge of the Holocaust and wishes to gain precise information about Sonderkomando at Auschwitz.