From the Book: Pavel Polyan. Life and Death in the Hell of Auschwitz: Chroniclers from the Jewish «Sonderkommando» and their Scrolls. Moscow: AST, 2018. Pp. 126–136

Abstract

In the history of the World War II and the Holocaust, the question of the “sonderkomme” is one of the most painful: in death camps such units consisted of Jewish prisoners who had to drive doomed fellow consanguineous into gas chambers, and then handle the corpses. The survivors testified about the Nazi atrocities but has repeatedly been accused of voluntary collaboration with the enemy. The author provides a number of documentary evidence that allows us to take a broader look at the phenomenon itself and avoid personal attacks and biased assessments.