Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp established by the Germans during World War II. It was made up of three camps: Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II, (also named Birkenau), and Auschwitz III (also named Buna). Auschwitz I was the main part and concentration part of the camp, Auschwitz II was the extermination (or killing) part, and Auschwitz III was the labor part. The prisoners of Auschwitz III worked for the I.G. Farben works, an SS war plant, and many other nearby factories. In Auschwitz II, trains arrived almost daily, conveying hundreds of Jews from practically every Jewish-populated country in all of Europe. In the end, at least 1.1 million Jews were killed in Auschwitz. But not only Jews were murdered. 75,000 Poles, 21,000 Roma, and approximately 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war were killed, bringing the total number of deaths at Auschwitz to a minimum of 1,211,000 people! About 18% of Jews killed in World War II were killed at Auschwitz!

Auschwitz was a horrid place. The prisoners were literally starved and ill clothed. The SS often amused themselves at the Jews' expense. They would lock a massive amount of people in a barrack and leave them there without food. After a few days, they would place some soup or bread just outside the door and let the people out. They would laugh at the spectacle of Jews trampling each other to death to get at the food. That wasn't all, though. The gas chambers and crematorium were kept going every day, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air constantly.


But for some people, that was nothing. For the 3000 twins at Auschwitz, life was even more horrid, but not at first. Dr. Mengele, the physician at Auschwitz had a passion for twins. He ordered every pair of twins in the camp to be put in separate barracks and be fed better… temporarily. But after a while, the "fun" began. He would draw blood from the twins' arms and necks, sometimes daily. And if he had finished his "experiments" with one pair of twins, he would either have them gassed or injected with a lethal poison.

 

Auschwitz II (Birkenau)

 

Auschwitz

Visit the Kindertransport Page

The above pictures of Aushwitz are from "www.spectacle.org/695/krema.html"