What Happened At The Death Camps Of Auschwitz-Birkenau

Have you ever heard of Auschwitz-Birkenau? Have you ever wondered what happened inside its walls? Auschwitz-Birkenau was a concentration camp constructed for labor, punishing the prisoners inside, and making life difficult for the Jewish people of the camp.

This concentration camp was constructed for prisoner labor. During the fall of 1941,
Heinrich Himmler ordered SS commissioner, Odilo Globocnik, who was occupied at Poland during the time, to construct labor and death camps around the area. Auschwitz was one of these six death camps. On February 21, 1942, Auschwitz was officially established in Auschwitz, Poland. This camp’s purpose was originally supposed to be for Polish political prisoners, but that was soon changed. It transformed into
Poland had the largest concentration of Jews in Europe with a total of four million Jews. When the Jews were being taken to Auschwitz, the cars used could only fit up to eight horses. On the cars, the problem wasn’t hunger, but thirst and in the summer, the problem was even worse. Disease and pregnancy was a huge problem as well since it caused many deaths on the cars. When the people arrived at the camp, an orchestra could be heard playing nearby. The prisoners were ordered to move in a single file line and any prisoners who complained or obliged were beaten by the soldiers. At Auschwitz, there were also people called Kapos. Kapos were prisoners who worked with the SS guards. Many prisoners were terrified of the Kapos. Auschwitz had many methods of death. The main cause was gassing the prisoners with a gas called Zyklon-B in a gassing chamber. There are other methods as well. Some methods include cremation, hangings, being shot, and suicide by jumping onto the electric barbed-wire fence. The pain didn’t just stop at death. Many prisoners were forced to work in factories and Jewish women had to go through sterilization. This is an example of a hanging that happened at Auschwitz. On January 6, 1945, four young women were hanged at Auschwitz for having smuggled weapons inside the camp. One woman said this to an SS guard as she was being prepared to be
The carriage doors were thrown open...Our escorts, who up until now had been relatively calm, suddenly started on us as if possessed. Using their rifle butts, they shoved us out of the carriage and amid ear-splitting shouts, drove us through a gate into a large square surrounded by a thick barbed-wire fence. At every corner, perched on tall wooden beams, was a watchtower with a machine gun manned by SS-men.” Kazimierz was the 118th prisoner at Auschwitz so he was given the number 118 when he arrived. During the time Kazimierz spent at the camp, a prisoner known who is only known as Number 220 had gone missing. None of the other prisoners had known where Number 220 went. The soldiers had beaten them anyway. It was later revealed that Number 220 escaped. Due to this event, Kazimierz’s friend, Franek planned an escape plan. On the night of February 27, 1943, Kazimierz and Franek escaped Auschwitz. The two made their way to Poland and lived there under assumed names. The two also helped out a Polish group who was resisting the