October 7, 1944
Sonderkommando Revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau
Historical context
On this day, October 7, 1944, Jewish Sonderkommando prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau attacked SS guards and set fire to Crematorium IV.
Archive record
Read the event, then follow its documented sources and archive threads.
- Date
- October 7, 1944
- Verified sources
- 1
- Archive threads
- 6
On this day, Jewish prisoners forced to work in the Birkenau gas chambers and crematoria rose against the SS. Learning that many of them were about to be killed, men at Crematorium IV attacked guards with tools and set the building on fire. Prisoners at Crematorium II also fought. Some cut the fence and fled; the SS hunted them down.
USHMM records that about 450 Sonderkommando prisoners died during the uprising. Other museum accounts give about 250 killed in the fighting and about 200 shot afterward, and that three SS men were killed. Four women who had smuggled gunpowder from a munitions workshop were hanged on 6 January 1945. This article dates the 7 October rising.
Research trail
Sources and further reading
- Auschwitz: Key Dates · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · Holocaust Encyclopedia View source
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