Inside the Gas Chambers: Eight Months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz

Shlomo Venezia’s memoir offers a rare, first-hand account of life inside Auschwitz as a member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners forced to handle the bodies of gas chamber victims. Born into a poor Jewish-Italian family in Thessaloniki, Greece, Venezia was deported to Auschwitz after the German occupation, where his mother and sisters were killed upon arrival. Unaware of the role he was accepting, he became part of the Sonderkommando in exchange for extra food, and was thrust into the heart of the Nazi extermination system. His account describes the horrifying daily tasks, the brutality of figures like Otto Moll, and the desperate acts of resistance, including the 1944 revolt. Although most Sonderkommando were eventually murdered to keep their knowledge secret, Venezia survived and later shared his story. His testimony stands as a powerful witness to the atrocities committed and the resilience of those forced to endure them.