Auschwitz-Birkenau
Auschwitz-Birkenau, also known as Auschwitz Concentration Camp, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II and The Holocaust. It was established in 1940 initially for Polish prisoners but later expanded to include Jews, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, and other groups deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime.
History and Establishment
- Establishment: Auschwitz was set up in May 1940 by the SS in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish town annexed by Germany during the war. The camp was originally intended for political prisoners but soon evolved into a major center for the extermination of Jews as part of the Final Solution.
- Expansion: The camp complex expanded rapidly, with Auschwitz I (the main camp), Auschwitz II-Birkenau (the extermination camp), and Auschwitz III-Monowitz (a labor camp). Birkenau was the largest part of the complex, designed specifically for mass murder.
Function and Operations
- Genocide: Auschwitz-Birkenau became the site where over 1.1 million people were murdered, the majority of whom were Jews. The camp employed various methods of killing, including gas chambers and Zyklon B gas.
- Labor: Some prisoners were selected for forced labor, working in the camp's factories or at nearby industrial plants. The harsh conditions, starvation, and brutal treatment meant that survival was rare.
- Medical Experiments: Infamous for its medical experiments, Auschwitz was a site where horrific procedures were performed on prisoners by doctors like Josef Mengele.
Liberation and Aftermath
Context
The establishment and operation of Auschwitz-Birkenau were part of the broader Nazi occupation of Poland and the Nazi Racial Policy, which sought the systematic extermination of Jews and other groups considered 'racially inferior' or politically undesirable. The scale of the operation at Auschwitz-Birkenau was unprecedented in the history of human atrocities.
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