On arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the trains would pull up on the unloading ramp in front of the awaiting SS officers and guards, kapos and the Sonderkommando.The Jews were thrown out of the railway wagons and made to leave their belongings behind them. They were then ordered to form lines ready for the selection process. This was when the Nazis selected which Jews would be sent straight to their deaths in the gas chambers and which Jews would remain alive temporarily.More than 80 percent of those who arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau were immediately murdered. The majority of the remainder died as a result of overwork, mistreatment, disease or lack of food.