Essay on Auschwitz Pp

Submitted By Formicate
Words: 394
Pages: 2

Auschwitz Auschwitz was a concentration camp. It was built by the Third Reich in Poland. The camp was divided in three parts. The first being Auschwitz I, the original camp. The second was Auschwitz II - Birkenau which was an extermination camp and a concentration camp. Finally, Auschwitz III - Monowitz, was a labor camp. The original purpose of the camp was to hold Polish political prisoners. The first extermination of prisoners began in September of 1941. From 1942 until 1944 trains delivered prisoners from all over German-occupied Europe. 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz. Ninety percent of that was Jewish people. One in six Jews that died during the Holocaust died at this camp. After this part of Poland was annexed by Nazi Germany, Auschwitz was located administratively in Germany, Province of Upper Silesia, Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz, Landkreis Bielitz. Rudolf Höss oversaw the development of the camp and served as the first commandant. Local residents were evicted, including 1,200 people who lived in shacks around the barracks. Around three hundred Jewish residents of Oświęcim were brought in to lay foundations. The Germans also ordered to expel people from many other villages. Construction on Auschwitz II-Birkenau began in October 1941 to ease congestion at the main camp. Plans called for the expansion of the camp first to house 150,000 and eventually as many as 200,000 inmates. Around 10,000 Soviet prisoners arrived at Auschwitz in 1941, by March of 1942 there was only 945 left. Each barrack was to house up to 550 people at a time, but later got changed to 744. Himmler visited the camp in person on July 17 and 18, 1942. He was given a demonstration of a mass killing