Rarely, some people survived the death gas chambers. The whole point was to make sure no one came out alive once he or she entered, but occasionally, through mechanical failure, lack of poison, or last-minute cancellation of the gassing, someone made it out alive.
In late 1944 in Auschwitz, Gena Turgel was crammed into a small, freezing, locked room with other female prisoners, certain that they were going to be gassed to death. It's unknown if there wasn't enough Zyklon B gas pellets to kill them or if the mechanism that released it jammed, but the gas never came. After what seemed like forever, guards came and led them out. Gena made it through the war and died at the age of 95.
In one instance, when removing victims of a successful gassing, prisoners found a 16 year old Hungarian girl alive under a pile of bodies. A prisoner doctor attempted to help her, but an SS guard spotted her soon after and shot her. She had been close to a vent in the floor and lay in a pocket of air and moisture from condensation on the floor.
In October of 1944, a group of 700 young boys were locked into a gas chamber in Birkenau. Though they were already recorded as dead, a request for laborers to unload trains came up before the poison was introduced. The chamber was opened and 51 able bodied boys were taken out and lived at least through the day. I’d appreciate an upvote if you find it helpful and informative.
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