Venezia - Inside the gas chambers: eight months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz

I dedicate this book to my two families: my family from before the war, and my family from after it. My first thoughts go to my dearest mother only forty-four years old at the time of these events and my two young sisters, Marica and Marta, then fourteen and eleven, respectively. I often think sadly of the difficult life my mother had, being widowed very young with five children. Making many sacrifices, and struggling against almost insuperable difficulties, she brought us up in accordance with wholesome principles, such as being honest and respecting people. These sacrifices and these sufferings all counted for nothing, as they were wiped out at the same time as were my young sisters, no sooner than they had climbed out of the cattle cars onto the Judenrampe of Auschwitz-Birkenau on April 11, 1944.

My other family came into being after the great tragedy. My wife Marika and my three sons, Mario, Alessandro, and Alberto, know many things better than I do and base their lives on the essential principles of honesty and respect for others. My wifes tenacity has meant that they have managed to grow up into men I can be proud of. Marika has also taken great care of me, and lightened the burden of the infirmities that ensued from my imprisonment in the camps. She deserves more than my silent affection. Thank you, Marika, for all you have done up until now and all that you continue to do with our six grandchildren: Alessandra, Daniel, Michela, Gabriel, Nicole, and Rachel, and our daughters-in-law, Miriam, Angela, and Sabrina.

Your husband, father, and grandfather,
Shlomo Venezia

The whole truth is much more tragic and terrible.

Zalmen Lewental

Shlomo (age twenty) at Athens in 1944, a few weeks before his deportation. (D.R.)

Portrait of Shlomo at Auschwitz, wearing the blue and white scarf of former deportees (March 2003). (D.R.)

Aerial view of part of the Auschwitz complex with Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The railway situated between the two camps, the Judenrampe, was used as an arrival and selection ramp for transports of Jews until May 1944, when it was replaced by the Bahnrampe, which brought victims right into the camp, near Crematoria II and III. (Mmorial de la Shoah/CDJC.)

Aerial photo taken by the RAF on a reconnaissance mission over Birkenau, August 23, 1944. At the top of the picture, smoke is rising from the mass graves of Crematorium V. (The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives.)

Detailed view of Crematoria II and III at Birkenau, annotated by Jean-Claude Pressac. (Mmorial de la Shoah/CDJC.)

Plan of Auschwitz-Birkenau (Yad Vashem/Fondation pour la Mmoire de la Shoah.)

A	main guard service with watch tower
BI	first sector of the camp
BII	second sector of the camp
BIII	third sector of the camp, under construction (Mexico)
BIa	womens camp
BIb	initially, mens camp; from 1943, womens camp
BIIa	quarantine camp
BIIb	family camp for the Jews from Theresienstadt
BIIc	camp for the Jews from Hungary
BIId	mens camp
BIIe	Gypsies camp (Zigeunerlager)
BIIf	prisoners hospital
C	Kommandantur and barracks for the SS
D	storage area for objects pillaged from murdered prisoners (Kanada)
E	ramp where the transports were unloaded and selection took place
G	pyres where corpses were burned
H	mass graves for Soviet prisoners of war
K II	Crematorium II gas chamber and ovens
K III	Crematorium III gas chamber and ovens
K IV	Crematorium IV gas chamber and ovens
K V	Crematorium V gas chamber and ovens
M 1	first provisional gas chamber (white house)
M 2	second provisional gas chamber (red house)
S	showers and registration (Sauna)
	Latrines and washbasins