I thanked God
When we were assigned to a Kommando
Working inside the camp.
The Aussenkommandos,
Sent outside to do
Hard labor,
Were death sentences.
As I worked,
Laying cobblestones into the mud,
I watched.
The men of the Sonderkommando
Moved like ghosts
Among the living.
Carried corpses,
Ushered the selected.
Why do they do it?
I wondered.
The men of the Sonderkommando
Moved like ghosts
Among the dead.
Carried corpses,
Stoked the furnaces.
Doing dirty work for the Nazis,
I said.
They are monsters.
The men of the Sonderkommando
Moved like ghosts
Among themselves.
Spread the ashes,
And began again.