The revolt of the Jews of the Sonderkommando in the German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was held on 7 October 1944, is one of the most tragic events in the history of the Holocaust. At the same time, it testifies to the courage of the Jewish prisoners.
The Sonderkommando (German: special squad) was a group of prisoners, mainly consisting of Jews, forced by the German Nazis to perform the most gruesome task within the camps – the removal of the bodies of the murdered in the gas chambers. At first, the number of such Kommandos at Auschwitz-Birkenau was around 80 persons, but by 1944, the Sonderkommando numbered up to 900 prisoners.
At the end of the summer of 1944, when the number of transports to this camp decreased, the Germans began to kill the Sonderkommando prisoners as well. In September they exterminated about 200 of them. Being aware of their fate, the remaining members of those squads decided on organised resistance. Prisoners of war from the Soviet Union, also forced to work in the Sonderkommando, took part in the preparations. The main organisers of the rebellion were Polish Jews Zalmen Gradowski, Jankiel Handelsman, Josef Deresinski and Josef Darębus.
The plan was desperate, but had rational, achievable goals. It involved obtaining explosives, which was accomplished with the support of Jewish girls working in the dismantling of old aircraft. The plan was then to blow up the crematoria, set fire to the barracks and escape through the cut camp wires. The revolt was to begin on 7 October.
On the morning of that day, information reached the members of the Sonderkommando that another 300 of them were planned to be exterminated. The signal for the revolt to begin was to set fire to one of the crematoria. Prepared for everything, the Jews armed themselves with stones, hammers, and axes. When the SS men came after 1pm to take away the prisoners, the fight began. Crematorium IV was set on fire and the organised resistance moved to Crematorium II.
Despite the heroic struggle, the revolt ended in defeat of the Jews. Approximately 250 participants were killed in the fight and another 200 were later executed. After the mutiny, the number of people in the Sonderkommando fell from 663 to 212. The four women who had supplied the explosives were publicly hanged. It happened three weeks before the Soviets entered the camp.