SONDERKOMMANDO PRISONERS AS EYEWITNESSES OF CRIME

In the first days after the liberation of Auschwitz, the state law enforcement authorities intended to determine the scale of crimes committed in that concentration camp. The first to start, already in February, was the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission for the Investigation of the Crimes of the German-Fascist Aggressors. Witnesses in this investigation included Sonderkommando prisoners that escaped during the evacuation.

Former Sonderkommando prisoners, including Henryk Tauber, Shlomo Dragon and Henryk Mandelbaum, also gave evidence as witnesses in the trial of the former Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss.

For many years after the war Sonderkommando prisoners were engaged in commemorative and educational actions. They cooperated with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, where they submitted many testimonies contributing thus to knowledge of the way the gas chambers and crematoria functioned. They wrote memoirs and/or published extensive interviews. They also appeared in several documentary films.

Men sitting at a table bent over documents in focus. In front of them a man with his back turned to the photographer.

Source: A-BSMA

Sonderkommando prisoner Henryk Tauber, who had escaped from evacuation column and next returned Auschwitz/Oświęcim, testifying before the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission for the Investigation of the Crimes of the German-Fascist Aggressors.

A man is sitting at a table. Face focused, serious expression. Dark hair. A jacket and a shirt.

Source: A-BSMA

Sonderkommando prisoner Henryk Tauber, who had escaped from evacuation column and next returned Auschwitz/Oświęcim, testifying before the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission for the Investigation of the Crimes of the German-Fascist Aggressors.

Source: A-BSMA

Henryk Mandelbaum meeting educators at the ruins of crematorium V on the 60 anniversary of the Sonderkommando revolt (October 2004).

Recollection of Sonderkommando prisoner Henryk Mandelbaum:

A few days after liberation I was told that in the press an investigation in Oświęcim/Auschwitz had been announced. They were looking for witnesses. I travelled there and gave testimony.

Source: Igor Bartosik, Adam Wilma, Ja z krematorium Auschwitz. Rozmowa z Henrykiem Mandelbaumem byłym więźniem, członkiem Sonderkommando w KL Auschwitz [I was at the Auschwitz crematorium: a conversation with Henryk Mandelbaum, former prisoner and member of the Sonderkommando at Auschwitz], Oświęcim 2017, p. 82-83.