Auschwitz Concentration Camp

The main concentration camp was Auschwitz. Auschwitz was the largest camp that was created by the Nazi. It was broken down into three main camps. The first camp was built in April 1940. It was known as Auschwitz 1. The second camp was built in October 1941. It was known as Birkenau. The third Camp was built in October 1942. It was known as Buna. The number of Victims in the Auschwitz Complex alone were absurd. The SS and police killed about 1.1 million people of all different backgrounds out of the 1.3 million that were deported to the complex.
Even though the camps were in the same complex, they all had different commanders. Auschwitz I had three different commanders. The first commander was SS Lieutenant Colonel Rudolf Hoess. He was in command
from May 1940 to November 1943. The second commander was SS Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Liebehenschel. He was in command from November 1943 to mid May 1944. The third commander was SS Major Richard Bauer. He was in command from Mid May 1944 to January 27, 1945. Auschwitz II had two commanders. The first commander SS Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Hartjenstein. He was in command from November 1943 to mid May 1944. The second commander was SS Captain Josef Kramer. He was in command from Mid May 1944 to November 1944. Auschwitz III only had one commander. The one and only commander was SS Captain Heinrich Schwarz. He was in command from November 1943 to January 1945.
The first of the three camps in the Auschwitz complex is Auschwitz I. Auschwitz I is the main camp. It is a forced labor camp. A forced labor camp is a nazi concentration camp in which the prisoners were used as slave labors. The prisoners were used to expand the camp. The Nazis had 40 square kilometers reserved. It was reserved as a “development zone”. This meant that it was for the prisoners to work. Auschwitz I had a gas chamber and a crematorium. A gas chamber were sealed rooms in death camps. Jewish prisoners were crowded into there rooms and poison gas was released, killing the prisoners. The poison gas was Zyklon B. A crematorium was an oven in which death camp victims’ bodies were burned. Medical Experiments were performed on the prisoners by the SS physicians. The adults were forced to have sterilization and castration. In Auschwitz I there was a “black wall”. It was were the prisoners would stand before they were executed. There were three main purposes of Auschwitz I. The first purpose was to imprison and priceive the Nazi’s enimies. The second purpose was for it to be a way to maintain the enterprise owned by the SS officers by forcing the incarcerated people to do manual labor. The third purpose was to target and kill groups of people whose death was determined by the police and the SS officers.
The second of the three camps in the Auschwitz complex is Auschwitz II.
it was also known as Buna. Birkenau was constructed in october of 1941. This camp had the largest total prisoner population. It was divided into ten different sections. All of the ten sections were surrounded by barbed wire. After 1942, the camp was being patrolled by SS guards and SS dog handlers. The camp was divided into a section for men and a section for women. Birkenau was a family camp for families from Germany, Austria, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It was also a family camp for Jewish families being deported from the Theresienstadt ghetto. Birkenau contained the facilities for a killing center. It was a key role in the German plan to kill all of the Jewish people in Europe. In the Summer and autumn of 1941, Zyklon B was starting to be used. Birkenau had four large crematorium buildings. The crematoriums were constructed between March and June of 1943. The chamber had three components. The components were a disrobing area, a large gas chamber, and a crematorium oven. The way of killing with gassing was used until November 1944. There was a revolt that took place in Birkenau. In the revolt the prisoners killed 3 guards. They blew up the crematorium that was next to the gas chamber. The Germans shut down the revolt. The Germans also killed almost every prisoner that was involved. The Jewish women that were involved were publicly hanged for smuggling in the explosives into the camp for the revolt. The third of the three camps in the Auschwitz complex was Auschwitz III. It was also known as Buna. it was created in October of 1942. It had a labor education camp for the non- Jewish
prisoners. The prisoners after all that they were put through were eventually given freedom. The Auschwitz complex was eventually evacuated. Soviet forces approached the camp in mid - January 1945. The SS began evacuating the prisoners before this because they knew that the Soviet forces were coming. They made all of the prisoners march. This was known as the death march. The Auschwitz complex was liberated on January 27, 1945. This was the actual date that the Soviet army entered the Auschwitz complex. There were about 7,000 prisoners were liberated. Most of the prisoners that were liberated were ill and dying.
Concentration camps are a place where people are detained or confined without trial. All of the prisoners were kept in extremely harsh conditions without any rights. The first camps in Germany were set up as detention centers. They mainly wanted to stop people from revolting against them. Transit Camps were where Jews were kept before they went to concentration camps. Work Camps were camps where prisoners were forced to work. A good portion were satellite camps. Satellite camps were section of concentration camps. Auschwitz had more than 40 satellite camps. Forced labor prisoners were kept in horrible conditions.
Extermination Camps were camp that had the sole purpose of killing prisoners. In extermination camps there were no selections. They were killing centers. Everyone who came in was sent directly to the gas chambers.