In October 1944, Saul Ausländer (Géza Röhrig) works as a ''Sonderkommando'' Hungarian-Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz concentration camp. His job is to salvage valuables from the clothing of the dead, drag bodies from the gas chambers and scrub the chambers before the next group arrives to be gassed. He works stoically, seemingly having been numbed by the daily horrors. One day following the gassing, he finds a boy who survived the gas, but is unconscious. From a distance, Saul witnesses a Nazi physician check vital signs, then methodically suffocates the boy and calls for an autopsy. Saul steps forth and insists on carrying the body himself to the prison doctor, Miklós (Sándor Zsótér), a fellow Hungarian prisoner and a forced assistant to Josef Mengele. He asks Miklós to not perform the autopsy so he can give the boy a proper Jewish burial. Miklós declines his plea, but allows him time alone with the boy before the autopsy and subsequent cremation. Saul returns later and steals the boys body and goes in search of a Rabbi to perform the ritual. He goes to Rabbi Frankel () in the crematorium, who dismisses Saul's concern and suggests that Saul perform the burial himself.