Crematoria

After the victims had been gassed, thier bodies had to be disposed of. Sonderkomandos (primarily Jewish labor groups who worked the crematoria) were charged with taking the bodies out of the gas chamber after the remaining gas had time to disperse and taking them into the crematoria to be burned.

Each crematorium loaded one body at a time into the small slots that heated up and reduced the bodies to ashes.

Near the end of the war, in Auschwitz, the victims were being gassed at the full potential to ensure that as many of the Jews could be killed before the arrival of the Allies as possible. During this time, not only were the gas chambers being worked as fast as possible but so were the crematoria.

Thier solution was to burn the excess bodies in the open air.

Magda Schalam tells about her first exposure to the gas chambers.