Auschwitz was the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp, located about 35 miles from Krakow. At its height, Auschwitz became an extensive establishment of camps organized into three main groups: the first, Auschwitz I, was the main camp and was dedicated primarily to the central administration, the Gestapo and various armament firms; the second, Auschwitz II (called Birkenau after the name of a nearby hamlet), was the extermination center; and the third, Auschwitz III, (Buna/Monowitz), was the labor camp associated with the construction and operation of the huge synthetic rubber and chemical complex operated by IG Farben. In addition, there was a network of smaller labor camps.
The first camp was established in April 1940 by order of Himmler. The first prisoners arrived on June 14, 1940, and by the end of 1941 it could accommodate about 18,000 prisoners. In the summer of 1941, Himmler, in connection with the implementation of the "Final Solution", decided that the Birkenau section of Auschwitz would become the center for the extermination of the Jews. Construction began immediately. Beginning in 1941, the Buna Works were built in Monowitz for the manufacture of synthetic rubber. The Auschwitz III camp was assigned to IG Farben in May 1942 for use in connection with these chemical works.
Beginning in early 1942 and continuing until December 1944, special trains filled with Jews from all occupied countries arrived almost daily in Auschwitz-Birkenau, most of whom were gassed immediately. By the fall of 1944, the final result of the war was foreseen, and many Jews were sent to forced labor and concentration camps in Germany and Austria. In the middle of January 1945, the Russian Army was nearing Krakow, and the Nazis began to withdraw quickly. About 58,000 prisoners were driven out of the various camps on death marches, which very few survived.
It is estimated that 1,500,000 persons (mostly Jews) were murdered in the gas chambers. Of the 405,000 prisoners who were actually registered at Auschwitz, very few survived. Of the 16,000 Soviet prisoners of war who were sent to Auschwitz, only 96 survived.
Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-Rom Edition, Keter Publishing
Erik Lordahl, German Concentration Camps 1933-1945, History and Inmate Mail (2000). Referred to as Lordahl.
Feig, Hitlers Death Camps (1979)
Copyright © 2001 Edward Victor