Career
He arrived in November 1942 aboard Holocaust train from Kalabosin (see: Kiełbasin Sammellagger servicing Grodno Ghetto, possible spelling error). After "selection" his family members perished. He was sent to work in the Sonderkommando slave labour unit
In order to bear witness for future generations, Gradowski wrote a secret diary, describing his life and the fate of Jews in the camp.
He buried his notebook in the camp itself. In it, Gradowski gave a detailed description of the extermination process in Birkenau.
Gradowski was one of the key figures in the Sonderkommando underground at Auschwitz, where he was murdered in 1944.