Summary

In the story “The Death of Schillinger,” Schillinger is a chief commanding officer who rules labor sector D with an iron fist. The men of the narrator’s bunk learn that Shillinger has been killed in unusual circumstances. It is a Sonderkommando foreman who tells the men about a restless transport coming into the camp. The Polish Jews know what is going to happen to them. The foreman believes everything would have gone well if Schillinger hadn’t taken a fancy to one of the women. He tries to take her hand but she scoops up gravel and throws it into his face. In pain, Schillinger drops his revolver. The woman picks it up and shots Schillinger in the stomach. She also shoots the chief, wounding him in the face. The men manage to get the inmates into the gas chambers...