This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen

Tadek describes First Sergeant Schillinger—the chief commanding officer of one of the labor divisions at Birkenau—as someone who took his job very seriously. Schillinger enjoyed torture and murder, and his name is remembered in connection to “many other Auschwitz murderers who boasted that they had personally succeeded in killing […] at least ten thousand people each” (144). One day, word circulates that Schillinger has died, and the camp buzzes with rumors about the strange circumstances. However, Tadek learns that Schillinger went to the crematorium because he was attracted to a young woman who was to be killed. Schillinger attempted to take her away, but she threw gravel in his face, grabbed his gun, and shot him. Chaos ensued and the captives were rushed into the gas chamber. As Schillinger, dying, was carried to the car, he cried, “O God, my God, what have I done to deserve such suffering?” (146). Later, right before the camp was evacuated, the workers at the crematorium were shot and killed.