Because the Germans needed the "Sonderkommandos" to remain physically able, they were granted much less squalid living conditions than other inmates: they slept in their own barracks and were allowed to keep and use various goods such as food, medicines and cigarettes brought into camp by those who were sent to the gas chambers. Unlike ordinary inmates, they were not normally subject to arbitrary killing by guards. Their livelihood and utility was determined by how efficiently they could keep the Nazi death factory running. As a result, "Sonderkommando" members survived longer in the death camps than other prisoners – but few survived the war.