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The Revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau(October 7, 1944)
At Auschwitz-Birkenau, prisoners of the Sonderkommando — the special squad whose job it was to burn the corpses of the murdered victims — learned of the plans to kill them. On October 7, 1944, a group of them rebelled, killing three guards and blowing up crematoria IV. Several hundred prisoners escaped, but most were later recaptured and killed. Ella Gartner, Regina Safir, Estera Wajsblum, and Roza Robota supplied the gunpowder used by the Sonderkommando and were hanged in front of the remaining inmates. As the trap door opened, 23-year-old Roza Robota shouted "Be strong, have courage."
Sources: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; Rosa Robota: Jewish Heroine of Auschwitz; USHMM Photo |
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