IMAGES OF WAR: NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMP OVERSEERS Sonderkommandos, Kapos & Trawniki

The Sonderkommandos were tasked with unloading deportees, confiscating their belongings, and assigning labour details; under SS supervision, they also operated the gas chambers and crematoria. They were overseen by Kapos, many of whom were prisoner functionaries drawn from violent criminal groups and notorious for their brutality. A third category of auxiliaries, the Trawniki (Trawnikimänner), consisted of Central and Eastern European collaborators recruited largely from Soviet POW camps. While some fulfilled paramilitary roles, many were directly involved in the implementation of the Holocaust, particularly in the seizure and deportation of Jews from ghettos to extermination sites. The visual and textual evidence presented in this Images of War volume underscores the scope and efficiency of this multilayered “overseer” system, whose members sought SS favour through ruthless competition that further fragmented and victimised the prisoner population.

The Naval & Military Press stock Third Reich titles that provide a platform for authors and publishing houses who present an uncritical and historical portrayal of all aspects of the Nazi state and the German war effort during WW2.We do not condone in any way Fascism or the acts of genocide and the war crimes that were perpetuated by the German state and its minions between 1933 and 1945.