Major Crimes and True Crime

Ester Wajcblum, Ella Gärtner, Regina Safirsztain and Róza Robota I have written before about the Auschwitz Sonderkommando uprising. Among those killed was Zalmon Gradowski, whose story is particularly heartbreaking. The Sonderkommando were Jewish prisoners forced to work in the gas chambers-driving people in, stripping the bodies of clothing and valuables, shaving their hair, and feeding them into the crematoria. This was done on an industrial scale, with Auschwitz burning up to 8,000 people a day. Words scarcely capture the horror. This post is about the uprising itself, and the extraordinary courage of four Jewish women prisoners: Ester Wajcblum, Ella Gärtner, Regina Safirsztain, and Róza Robota. The Auschwitz killing machine functioned with cold efficiency. Most prisoners were murdered upon arrival, their belongings-including even gold teeth- seized for sorting. The four women had each arrived with their families, all of whom perished in the selection process. They alon...