Krematoria IV

On October 7, 1944, members of the Sonderkommando – the special detachment of jewish prisoners who were forced to empty the gas chambers after a mass gassing and undertake the burning of the corpses – organised the only armed revolt that ever took place at Auschwitz.

They succeeded in destroying Gas Chambers and Crematorium IV. More than 450 heroic prisoners who took part in the revolt itself were murdered by the SS, either during the revolt itself or subsequently for the purpose of retaliation.