Auschwitz Extermination Camp - Oswiecim (Poland)

Auschwitz Extermination Camp - Oswiecim (Poland)

The railroad tracks with platform for unloading can be seen leading though the center of the Auschwitz II Birkenau camp. The women's barracks were
to the left and the barracks for men to the right of the tracks. Behind the men's barracks, toward the forest, where the Roma
and Sinti were housed. The five crematoria were located at the edge at the forest and the path along the tracks lead to them.

History of the camp

After the occupation of Poland by the Third Reich, the name of the city of Oswiecim was changed to Auschwitz by the Germans, and became the name of the camp as well.
Auschwitz functioned throughout its existence as a concentration camp, and over time became the largest such Nazi camp.
In the first period of the existence of the camp, it was primarily Poles who were sent here by the German occupation authorities.
These were people regarded as particularly dangerous: the elite of the Polish people, their political, civic, and spiritual leaders, members of the intelligentsia, cultural and scientific figures, and also members of the resistance movement, officers, and so on.
Over time, the Nazis also began to send groups of prisoners from other occupied countries to Auschwitz.

Beginning in 1942, Jews whom the SS physicians classified as fit for labor were also registered in the camp. From among all the people deported to Auschwitz, approximately 400,000 people were registered and placed in the camp and its sub-camps (200,000 Jews, more than 140,000 Poles, about 20,000 Gypsies from various countries, more than 10,000 Soviet prisoners of war, and more than 10,000 prisoners of other nationalities).
Over 50% of the registered prisoners died as a result of starvation, labor that exceeded their physical capacity, the terror that raged in the camp, executions, the inhuman living conditions, disease and epidemics, punishment, torture, and criminal medical experiments.
Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust. It was established by the Nazis in 1940, in the suburbs of the city of Oswiecim which, like other parts of Poland, was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War. The name of the city of Oswiecim was changed to Auschwitz, which became the name of the camp as well.

Over the years, the camp was expanded and consisted of three main parts: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and Auschwitz III-Monowitz. It also had over 40 sub-camps. At first, Poles were imprisoned and died in the camp. Afterwards, Soviet prisoners of war, Gypsies, and people of other nationalities were also incarcerated there. Beginning in 1942, the camp became the site of the greatest mass murder in the history of humanity, which was committed against the European Jews as part of Hitler's plan for the complete destruction of that people.
The majority of the Jewish men, women and children deported to Auschwitz were sent to their deaths in the Birkenau gas chambers immediately after arrival.

At the end of the war, in an effort to remove the traces of the crimes they had committed, the SS began dismantling and razing the gas chambers, crematoria, and other buildings, as well as burning documents. Prisoners capable of marching were evacuated into the depths of the Reich. Those who remained behind in the camp were liberated by Red Army soldiers on January 27, 1945.

A July 2, 1947 act of the Polish parliament established the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on the grounds of the two extant parts of the camp, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau.

More information is available here

Important note

Photos provided on this website are not an endorsement of any political idea or of war. War is one of the most regrettable human activities.

All photos on this page are copyright Robert Mary and may only be reproduced with my express permission. You may contact me here

Timeline of the camp

May 1940 - The Nazis, on orders from Heinrich Himmler, establish a concentration camp in abandoned Polish army buildings in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city annexed to the Third Reich. Later that year, its name is changed to Auschwitz. It serves as the main camp – also known as "Auschwitz I." Arriving prisoners see the infamous phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Shall Set You Free) written on the gate above the entrance.

1940-1941 - Poles and Jews living near Auschwitz are evicted, their homes demolished or taken over by SS guards.

September 1941 - First test of Zyklon B gas used to kill prisoners at Auschwitz.

October 1941 - The Nazis build a second camp three kilometres away from Oswiecim in the village of Brzezinka. This becomes known as the Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp (or simply "Birkenau"). By 1944, it held more than 90,000 prisoners. The majority of the mass exterminations at Auschwitz take place here.

January 1942 - First gas chamber goes into operation at Auschwitz.

1942 - The first prisoners at Auschwitz are largely Poles – people the Third Reich rounds up for being dangerous or subversive. Its early residents are academics, political leaders, scientists and cultural leaders. But in early 1942, Auschwitz assumes a new role. Jews begin to be sent here by the thousands.

March 31, 1942 - An SS order establishes a minimum work day at all concentration camps of 11 hours.

March to June 1943 - Four large crematorium buildings are built to carry out mass gassings. Gas chambers remain in operation until November 1944. At their peak, the crematoria could burn 20,000 bodies a day. The highest single day toll was 24,000.

1942 - 1944 - Auschwitz becomes the centre of the Nazi's "Final Solution" – the extermination of all Jews living in the parts of Europe occupied by the Third Reich. Jews arriving in packed railcars are selected right at the arrival platform by SS doctors as being "fit" or "unfit" for labour.

a) As many as 75 per cent of Jewish arrivals are declared "unfit" and are immediately sent to the gas chambers. More than half of those declared "fit" subsequently die from starvation, disease, forced labour, execution, torture or medical experiments. Dr. Josef Mengele, the most notorious of the SS doctors at Auschwitz, specializes in the study of twins and dwarfs.
b) The living conditions are unimaginable. Prisoners are assigned 700 to each barrack with little heating. Sanitation is completely inadequate. The barracks are swarming with vermin. Diarrhea is rampant. There is never enough food to sustain the hard labour demanded.

1942 - 1944 - The Auschwitz death camp expands further with the construction of 40 "sub-camps" that use slave labour at various industrial plants and farms around Auschwitz. The largest of these camps, "Buna," has 10,000 prisoners.
Oct. 7, 1944 - Hundreds of prisoners assigned to one of the crematoria at Auschwitz-Birkenau rebel, killing three guards and blowing up the crematorium and one of the gas chambers. The uprising fails and the prisoners are executed.

Late 1944 - The Soviet Red Army is closing in on Auschwitz. The SS begins destroying documents, demolishing buildings and planning for the evacuation of Auschwitz – all to try to eliminate evidence of war crimes.

Jan. 18, 1945 - The last serial number assigned in Auschwitz is tattooed on a German prisoner.

Jan. 18 to Jan. 21, 1945 - More than 50,000 prisoners are forced to evacuate Auschwitz and head west into Germany. Many thousands die from starvation or hypothermia in the subsequent "Death March" to other camps. Many others are executed when they fail to keep up. Most of the survivors end up in other concentration camps like Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald and Dachau.

Jan. 27, 1945 - First Soviet soldiers (the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front) enter Auschwitz and liberate the 7,000 remaining prisoners. At least one million Jews were murdered at Auschwitz, along with 75,000 Poles, 20,000 Roma, 10,000 Russian POWs and tens of thousands of homosexuals and others. But these are only estimates. No firm counts were taken of the countless numbers who were sent straight to the gas chambers on arrival.

More information is available here

Location information

The Auschwitz extermination camp is located in Poland. The following map shows up a view of all Nazi camps in Europe:

More information on the camp can be found on Wikipedia here.

There you can namely learn that in Poland, denying the Holocaust by propagating "public and contradicting facts" is a crime punished by a sentence of up to 3 years in prison (article 55, Dz.U. 1998 nr 155 poz. 1016).

Personal note

Photos were taken when digital cameras were not existing yet. Photos presented here were scanned from paper photos.
The camp is a invaluable testimony for history and deserves a visit once in your life.

Year of Visit :
2000 by Robert Mary
2008 by Isabelle Vienne