The killer’s gaze: witnessing mass murder through gas chamber peepholes

On gas chamber doors of Nazi death camps were peepholes that allowed the killers to watch mass murder. The devicesalso created the physical and psychological distancing they sought in switching to killing by gas. The images became spectacle as the peephole lens allowed for detachedand pseudo-cinematic experiences. Watching the perpetrators were the Sonderkommando, who, though denied using the peephole, crossed beyond the gas chamber door to remove dead bodies afterwards. Neither group could gain complete knowledge of what happened inside the gas chamber, but piecing together their fragmented experiences gives insight into a moment that remains inherently unknowable.