The Sonderkommando Revolt
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On October, 1944 SS officers murdered many prisoners during roll call un- beknowest to the others. In retaliation, a week later during roll call the prisoners, with weapons obtained from four Jewish women, attacked the SS sergeant performing roll call and shot him dead. The prisoners in line when they saw the officer fall made a run for the front gate. The guard towers shot most of them with their automatic weapons. In all 450 prisoners died trying to escape. Only a handful of prisoners actually escaped. Total casualties for the German's included four SS sergeants dead and twelve enlisted men. On January 6, 1945, four Jewish women who had smuggled weapons to the Sonderkommando were hung at Auschwitz. These were the last official German executions here. |