- was a complex of German Nazi concentration and extermination camps operating during
World War II
- Auschwitz consisted of three camps.
Auschwitz I-Stammlager
- the camp was established on the basis of Heinrich Himmler's order of 4/27/1940
- it was in the former barracks of the Austrian and later Polish army
- On May 20, the first transport of thirty criminal prisoners of German origin from the
Sachsenhausen concentration camp arrived.
- To build the first temporary fence of the camp, the leadership used a work unit of 39 Polish
prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp.
They worked there until June 14, 1940, when they were deported back to Dachau.
On the same day, the number of prisoners increased by 728 people from the first transport
from Tarnów, consisting mainly of Polish resistance fighters and intellectuals.
- As the buildings of the future camp were not yet ready, these prisoners were temporarily
housed in the nearby building of the former Polish Tobacco Monopoly
- After the prisoners were moved to the tribal camp, this building, called the Stabsgebäude,
first housed the offices of the camp administration and later the quarters for the SS guards,
the weapons store and the laundry room for the SS
- Most of the prisoners from the first transports initially worked mainly on the construction
and expansion of the camp. By March 1941, 10,900 of them, mostly Poles, were interned in
the camp.
In next years
- Auschwitz I functioned mainly as a male camp. From October 1941 to March 1942, a
separate camp for Soviet prisoners of war was established there.
- Soviet POWs lived in worse conditions than other prisoners and were treated particularly
harshly by the guards. In March 1942, when only 945 of the original 10,000 prisoners
remained alive, they were transferred to the newly established Birkenau camp.
- The camp consisted of 22 buildings.
- The inscription Arbeit macht frei (Work sets you free) was placed above the entrance gate
to the camp. In this inscription created by prisoners (under the direction of Jan Liwacz), one
of the letters (the "b" in the word Arbeit) is reversed.[17] According to some witnesses, this
was done on purpose as a small act of resistance. Others state that it was just a mistake, or
even that the letter B was sometimes spelled that way in Poland.
Auschwitz II. Birkenau
- Its construction began in October 1941 on the territory of the village of Březinka
- On October 1, 1941, a special construction office was created for the construction of
Březinka, the head of which was appointed SS-Sturmbannführer Karl Bischoff.
1. Plan of Birkenau
• According to this plan, the 81 ha camp was to accommodate 100,000 prisoners. It was to
be divided into three main parts: the quarantine camp (Quarantänelager, future section BI),
camp I and camp II (Lager I, Lager II, future section BII) with a total of 174 brick barracks.
- The work was started by Soviet prisoners of war together with work teams composed of
other prisoners in the autumn of 1941. At first they were employed in dismantling buildings
from the former village and collecting material for the construction of barracks.
- On March 1, Soviet prisoners of war from the Auschwitz I were permanently placed here.
- One of the first transports that arrived here directly (that is, not from the mother camp)
was the transport of 1,112 French Jews from Compiègne on March 30, 1942.
2.Plan of birkenau
The 2nd plan was to accommodate 200,000 prisoners. It had 170 hectares and a total of 600
houses.
Two crematoria, a sauna building and a section with 30 houses were created. The entire area
was surrounded by a wire charged with electric voltage.
What can we see today?
45 brick and 22 wooden buildings have been preserved. The remains of the gas chambers
are also visible. We can also see fencing, chimneys.
Auschwitz was one of the camps with a relatively high number of escaped prisoners
The end of the war
Towards the end of the war, it became clear that the advancing Red Army would also
liberate the area around Auschwitz during its advance, which forced the Nazis to act and try
to erase the traces of the crimes. Before they left, the crematoria and gas chambers were
blown up (dismantled). The residential blocks were set on fire with the people inside, and
according to the overall plan, the entire camp was to be razed to the ground. However,
thanks to the rapid advance of the Red Army, the entire plan was not carried out, so only
some parts of the camp were burned down.
On January 18, 1945, the Nazis sent over 58,000 people to forced labor in the Reich. Only a
minimum number of prisoners remained in the camp, mostly sick.
Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army
