Revenge at Birkenau

This is more than just a story—it is believed to be true. A woman at Birkenau killed a Nazi guard while she was being forced to take off her clothes on the way to the gas chambers. But who was she?

For months, young Jewish women like Ester Wajcblum, Ella Gärtner, and Regina Safirsztain secretly took tiny bits of gunpowder from a weapons factory inside Auschwitz. They gave it to Róza Robota, another prisoner working in the camp. Even with guards watching, they hid the gunpowder in small cloth or paper packages and carefully passed it on. Róza then gave it to a secret group called the Sonderkommando—prisoners forced to work in the crematoria. Their plan was to use the gunpowder to blow up the gas chambers and start a fight.

On October 7, 1944, when the prisoners found out many of them were going to be killed, the Sonderkommando at Crematorium IV fought back. The Germans quickly stopped the rebellion. About 250 prisoners died in the fight, and another 200 were killed later.

A few days after, the SS learned that four Jewish women had helped by giving explosives. They were caught and killed. But their courage is still a strong symbol of fighting back against the terrible things at Auschwitz. Continue reading

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