Sonderkommando

[ zon-der-kuh-man-doh; German zawn-duhr-kaw-mahn-daw ]

noun

1. a group of prisoners assigned to collect belongings and dispose of the bodies of other prisoners who had died or been killed.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Sonderkommando¹

< German: special detachment, equivalent to sonder- separate, special + Kommando detachment, mission, command < Italian commando; command, commando

Example Sentences

“I was a wrestler. I used to dream of using my strength to fight the Nazis. But they made me a Sonderkommando—it was my job to bring bodies from the gas chambers to the ovens for cremation. Every night, in my dreams, I am still doing this very thing...”

From Literature

But the clandestine pictures known as the Sonderkommando photographs carry the gravest weight of all.

From New York Times

One small group, surely the unluckiest of survivors, was assigned to the Sonderkommando, the unit ordered to move corpses from the gas chambers to the ovens.

From Washington Times

He heard someone say “sonderkommando” and jumped out a window to run back to his barracks.

From Los Angeles Times

Auschwitz’s Sonderkommando prisoner work units threw many bodies into open pits and burned them there.

From Washington Times