Auschwitz-Birkenau

Auschwitz was created in 1940, with Rudolf Hoess as the first commandant. The second was Liebehenschel in 1943 and ended with Richard Baer in 1944. Auschwitz had many sub camps but Auschwitz itself was known as the largest death camp. Of the 7,000 Nazi camp workers only 1,000 were put on trial after the war.

The main camp’s buildings were adapted by the Germans. There were old polish military barracks and these could contain 15,000 to 20,000 prisoners. German criminals who were caught, were sent to Auschwitz to be camp guards. On June 14th 1940 the first group of Polish were transported from Tarnow to Auschwitz. These mainly were the intelligentsia and members of the resistance.

When people arrived at Auschwitz they had their belongings taken way, and were sent to the baths. They were then photographed. However, some prisoners were unrecognisable due to their extreme exhaustion. After the photos, they were given a number, which was tattooed on their forearm. Also, they were given striped prison uniforms which had a symbol to show which category they were in. This included political prisoners, priests, anti-socials and many others. They were also given symbols if they were Jewish, French or polish as well as if they had tried to escape. It is estimated that 232 thousand children and young people age of 18 were taken to Auschwitz out of around 1.3 million or more.

The food was rationed and was usually 1,300 to 1,700 calories however due to the hard work and bad conditions this led to exhaustion very quickly. Many of the prisoners had a very unlikely chance of surviving a few months.

Inside the camp, many prisoners made self-help groups mainly according to nationality. At least 802 prisoners tried to escape, with half of them being Polish. Only 144 escapees were known as successful and survived the war. This is how lots of our information about Auschwitz is known.

The buildings they lived in were designed to hold 700 prisoners but actually held up to 1,200 prisoners. Usually prisoners has no bed or any furniture in their rooms and so had to sleep on straw-stuffed mattresses laid on the floor. There were so many people in each room that they had to sleep on their side. Can you imagine that? Luckily in February 1941, three-tiered bunks were introduced as well as wooden wardrobes, tables, score stools and coa-fired tile stoves.

Prisoners got water from two wells and went to the loo in an outdoor toilet provided. After the rebuilding of the camp, each building had lavatories, usually on the ground floor, containing 22 toilets and washbasins with drains and 42 spigots installed above them. The fact that prisoners from the upstairs and downstairs had to use a single toilet meant that access was strictly limited. 

In late 1941 and early 1942 Auschwitz began working as a death camp for Jews. The second part of the camp was built over 140 hectares and had about three hundred barracks and other buildings were made. These buildings were made for the purpose of extermination. This was a process beginning with a ramp and ending with gas chambers and crematorium. Prisoners planned for extermination were not written on the camp list. The prisoners were separated by sex and those who could count and work. The rest were put into the gas chambers. The gas chambers would release Zyklon B and it would only take twenty minutes to work. The crematorium could burn 4,500 corpses in twenty four hours .The victims glasses were taken away, their long hair was cut, and gold and silver teeth were removed.

In 1944 Germany began to destroy records of their crimes before the red army arrived. This involved destroying documents, dismantling some sites and others being burnt or blown up for example the gas chambers. In January 1945, the orders were issued to fully evacuate the camp. This led to many  prisoners being led on foot from Auschwitz and their sub camps in the direction of Reich. This march was known as the death march as many people died during the course of the evacuation. The several thousand who were left behind were freed by the red army in January 27, 1945.

Historians do not know exactly how many people were victims at Auschwitz. Seventy to seventy five percent were sent directly to the gas chambers without being put in the records. They also estimate 1 to 1.5 million people died at Auschwitz with 1.1 million of them Jews, over 140,000 Polish, 20,000 Roma, 15,00 prisoners of war and 10,00 to 20,000 prisoners of other nationality. Among those people included in the records, 50% had died of starvation, exhaustion, executions and disease.