Sonderkommando

The Sonderkommando were groups of Jewish prisoners within Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust who were forced to assist with the mass extermination process. Their roles included managing gas chambers, handling victims’ bodies, and disposing of remains. While they were victims of the Nazi regime, they were coerced into these functions under threat of death, and their position exposed them to extreme trauma and moral suffering. Their existence highlights the horrific complexities of the Holocaust, where victims were sometimes forced into roles that involved participating in the machinery of genocide.