Solidarity and Animosity among Sonderkommando Prisoners in Auschwitz-Birkenau

Abstract

ABSTRACT A detailed analysis of testimonies of the survivors of Auschwitz-Birkenau’s Sonderkommando (Special Squad), which had to assist the SS murderers in perpetrating their crimes of mass murder conducted in Birkenau’s gas chambers, delivers a new insights in the social structure of that very special work Kommando. Differing social, national, cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as the different languages spoken by the members of the Sonderkommando, let to the establishment of different groups within the Kommando. Within and in-between these groups arose a special social dynamic, that oscillated between solidarity and animosity. Central conflicts arose between Polish and Greek Jews and with the Soviet prisoners of war, or between Greek and Hungarian Jews. Another source of conflict was that in order to form the social structure within the camp and the Kommando, the SS established a system of ‘Functionaries.’ As in other parts of the camp, the functionaries of the Sonderkommando made use of their privileges in very different ways: while some supported other prisoners, the resistance movement and the uprising, others are remembered by the survivors as cruel. However, despite all the conflicts and the dreadful reality of the Sonderkommando’s work, the analyzed testimonies of the survivors belonging to different of the groups within the Kommando show, that solidary relations played an important role for the members of the Sonderkommando; not only within the Kommando but also towards prisoners from other parts of the camp. The testimonies show that the solidarity among the Sonderkommando prisoners had many forms: the support of religious Jews to live according to their belief, friendships, the support of weaker or younger prisoners within or without the Kommando, the establishment of a set of rules for the daily conduct and last but not least: the courageous resistance activities that led to the uprising of 7 October 1944.