Auschwitz

The German name for the Polish city Oswiecim in the province of Upper Silesia, which was occupied by the Nazis in 1939 and annexed to Germany. Auschwitz was the site of the largest complex of Nazi labor and concentration camps.

The main camp, Auschwitz I, was opened in May 1940, and initially housed Soviet prisoners of war. In 1942, an expansive new camp, Auschwitz II, was established in the nearby town of Brzezinka. Also called Auschwitz-Birkenau, it would become the largest Nazi killing center. A labor camp, Auschwitz III, was established near the village of Monowice in October 1942, also called Monowitz or Buna, after the Buna rubber factory operated by IG Farben on the premises using slave labor of inmates.

Transports of Jews from throughout Europe arrived at Auschwitz daily between 1942 and 1944. Those deemed capable of work were condemned to forced labor and often transferred to other sites.

The use of Zyklon B gas and crematoriums as a means of mass murder were developed at Auschwitz. During the Auschwitz camp system’s operation between 1940 and 1945, an estimated 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz and some 1.1 million of them were murdered.

Just before the Soviet army reached Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, the camp was abandoned by the SS. Close to 60,000 prisoners were forced on a death march into German territory, where they were to supply labor to the continued German war effort.