(Author Note: Bodies that had been buried in mass graves eventually began to putrefy in the hot Polish summers. By the end of summer, 1942, the commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, ordered Jewish prisoners to dig up the mass graves, layer the bodies with wood and other combustibles, and then burn them in large open pits over a metal grate. This method was soon replaced with burning bodies in crematoriums.) (See Chapter Endnotes for additional information.)
