Chapter 3, The New Death Factories Summary and Analysis

The chapter title refers to the new crematoria of Auschwitz II-Birkenau. By autumn of 1942 the original Auschwitz crematorium is in a state of disrepair and is employed far more than its design intended. Often nonfunctional, it requires constant repair to operate. Therefore the Nazis begin to use two old farmhouses—renamed Bunker 1 and Bunker 2, near Auschwitz II-Birkenau as extemporized gas chambers. Thousands are gassed in the buildings and then buried in mass graves nearby. The summer heat, however, causes the mass graves to swell and deliquescing corpses frequently break the surface. The vast decomposition also contaminates the groundwater, angering the citizens of the nearby town. A special contingent of Sonderkommando is organized to exhume the mass graves and incinerate the decomposing corpses in great, open pit fires. From time to time Muller...