Auschwitz was opened in April 1940. It was located 37 miles west of Kralcow. It was the largest Nazi death camp. Another name for Auschwitz is Stammlager. There were five gas chambers and crematoria were in operation at one time. There were about five to six million people that died here daily. Those who were not gassed and cremated here, died from cruel labor and starvation. Auschwitz had many sub camps. Here are some of them – Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majchanek (Auschwitz 3). Auschwitz could hold more than 200,000 prisoners at one time. It was made to kill over 300,000 Jews and other people the SS hated. Auschwitz was a concentration, forced labor, and extermination camp. When you first walked in the banner above the gate said – ARBEIT MACHT FREI (work makes one free). Construction of the camp was under the command of Rudolf Hoss, in May 1940. Auschwitz had 36 two storied brick buildings and wooden barracks (beds). Five or six people had to squeeze in one bed and there was as many as 500 prisoners in one room! It was almost impossible to escape from Auschwitz. The camp was surrounded by electrically charged barbwire fence. There were SS men standing in towers all over the camp and when someone tried to escape the men would shot them.
Auschwitz and its sub camps Auschwitz 2 was mainly for families or women. Auschwitz 3 was mainly for the forced labor workers. At the end of 1943 the prisoner population at Auschwitz and its sub camps was over 80,000. The camp population reached 105,168 in August 1944. The last roll -call on January 18, 1945 showed 64,000 inmates. 30% of this was Poles and 57% were Jews. Of 405,000 people who were tattooed 65,000 survived at these camps. It has been estimated that about 200,000 people passed through Auschwitz and its sub camps that survived. Auschwitz was intended to be filled with Russian POW’s. About 10,000 Russians died here from forced labor work. The main camp population grew from 18,000 in December 1942 to 30,000 in March 1943. Auschwitz 2 began in Brzezinka in October 1941. It had the largest prisoner population. It was divided in in to 9 sections. Auschwitz- Brikenau began operating as an extermination camp in March 1942. Trainloads of prisoners came to Auschwitz daily. Prisoners had to wait days in locked boxcars to get into Auschwitz. They didn’t get food the whole time they were in there. April 27, 1940 Heinrick Himmler head of SS German police, ordered a new concentration camp near the town of Oswecim. In June 1940, Nazis brought transports of prisoners into the new camp. March 1, 1941 prisoner population reached 10,900 mostly containing Polish. Soon Auschwitz became know as the harshest Nazi camp.
March 1942, a women’s camp was opened at Auschwitz with 6,000 inmates. In August 1942, it was moved to Brikenau. By January 1944, 27,000 women were at Birkenau. Small kids were killed immediately because they were too young to work. Mothers who held their babies in their arms were gassed. Grandmothers that were with their grandchildren were killed, too. The food was very bad at Auschwitz. You couldn’t drink the water because it was to contaminated. 340,000 died from beatings, starvation, or sickness.
The food they got was watery soup with rotten vegetables or meat, a few ounces of bread, a bit of margarine, tea or a bitter drink resembling coffee. The forced labors inside the camp worked in the kitchen or as barbers. Women often sorted the piles of shoes, cloths and other prisoners’ belongings. Day as a life as a prisoner was divided in lengthy series, duties and commands. This is their daily routine- ordinary day- wake up at dawn, straightening their bed, morning roll call, and journey to work hours of hard labor. Standing in a line for a meal, return to camp, block inspection, and evening roll call. “In a camp, a small time unit, a day for example, filled with hourly tortures appeared endless.” Said Victor Frank. July 12, 1944, 92,208 prisoners were in Auschwitz. Newly arriving people were taken to special buildings called Badeanstulten. The prisoners had to undress and took to the “Barbers” where their hair was shaved off. They took ice-cold or boiling hot showers and washed with bad smelling blue-green liquor. After that they were tattooed. The tattoo that was on the arm was sewed on the left arm of their clothes, too. The men had to wear rags that were striped black and white. The women had to wear black and white work dresses.
More than 20,000 people could be gassed and cremated each day. At Auschwitz 2 the gas chambers used both carbon monoxide and Zyklon B. The first gas chambers were two farmhouses turned into gas chambers. In October 1944 one of the gas chambers was blown up. Gassing in Auschwitz continued until November 1944. On January 18, 1945 almost 60,000 prisoners, mostly Jews, were forced on death marches to Wodzislaw. SS guards shot people who fell behind. Often on death marches prisoners were provided with no food or very little. 58,000 prisoners were divided and put on death marches. Most of them were killed on marches- others were murdered before they even left the camp. Auschwitz was the largest graveyard in human history. Roll- call occurred early in the morning and late afternoon, which prisoners came back from work. Sometimes in the middle of the night they had roll- call. The prisoners had to stand there in cold, rain, and snow and if they moved they were sent to be gassed. The arriving of prisoners were told that they would go and take showers but really it was a gas chamber. They were soon all killed. Those who selected to die were undressed and shoved in the chamber. It takes 20 minutes for all the prisoners to die.
It was the medical experimentation black in Auschwitz. German doctors who also participated in selections applied for permission to come work in Block 10 with human subjects. “Block 10 was a balance of horrors.” A prisoner assigned here might under go skin testing for reaction to relatively began substances, or receive an injection to the heart for immediate dissection. Dr. Mengle the most evil man in Auschwitz was here working. He did experiments on twins, dwarfs, and kids. He soon was arrested in 1955 and died mysteriously in his cell in 1957.

Kristin Brown 7^th Social Studies Rossville Jr. High Holocaust Project Spring 2003

Bibliography