Auschwitz: Residence of Death

Forever let this place to be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity-... A famous sentence written in the memorial stone in Auschwitz II Birkenau extermination camp. What truly happened in Auschwitz during the Second World War

Cruellest of Them All

For millions of men, women and children the last thing they saw before entering the camp, a place where there was no return, was the red brick gate leading to the Birkenau extermination camp. Approximately 2 - 2.5 million people died in Auschwitz, 1.5 million of them in Birkenau. With starvation, diseases, inhuman conditions, dehydration, gassings, Auschwitz was one of the cruellest camps. And no doubt one of the cruellest things ever in the human history. Auschwitz was a complex of three camps: the main camp (Auschwitz I) was the extermination camp where most of the gassings took place; Auschwitz II Birkenau and a quite small labour camp; and Auschwitz III. All camps were quite close to each other, creating Auschwitz, the residence of death.

History of the Camp

Arbeit macht frei / Work makes you free - The sentence written in the metallic gate of Auschwitz I, the main camp. The first prisoners (30 german criminals) arrived in May 1940. Later on, in 1941, a train full of Polish prisoners arrived, twenty of them being Jews. Auschwitz I was originally a prison camp for criminals and prisoners of the war, but later on some Jews were sent there. Approximately 70,000 people died in Auschwitz I. During the second world war, one gas chamber was built in Auschwitz I, but most of the people died of starvation, torture, were killed by shooting or hanging, or died in the medical experiments by Josef Mengele ("angel of death") who killed many children, especially twins.

Construction of Birkenau, the extermination camp, started in 1941. The first gassings took place in September of the same year. Crematorium II was built in the early 1943 to increase the gassings in Birkenau. By the end of 1943 all four crematoriums were built and operating, killing thousands of Jews every day. Trains arrived from all over Europe. At first people healthy enough for labour would be separated from the too weak ones and sent to work in other camps, but later on most of the arriving people were gassed upon arrival. Unlike for example in Treblinka in Auschwitz II, the Zyklon-B poison was used to kill people in gas chambers. During its years of operating, about one and a half million people were killed in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Auschwitz III, also known as Buna, was a small labour camp. It held about 12,000 prisoners, mainly Jews, and was established in 1942. Prisoners worked in factories producing for example synthetic rubber (buna).

Escapes

During the years of Auschwitz's existence 802 people attempted to escape, but less than 150 succeeded. A common punishment for escaping attempt was death by starvation.

Liberation

Nearly 60,000 prisoners were forced on a death march in late 1945 in an attempt to hide the crimes of Auschwitz. Approximately 20,000 people made it to Bergen-Belsen camp where they were liberated by the British in April 1945. Gas chambers of Auschwitz two were blown up as an attempt to hide the truth about gassings. The ones who were too sick to walk and were not expected to live long were left behind in the camps where some of them were liberated by the Soviet army in January 27, 1945. January 27 is still known as the Holocaust Memorial day.

Today

In these days both Auschwitz I and II are museums and open for tourists. Auschwitz II was almost completely destroyed as an attempt to hide the truth about the camp, but some of the barracks have been rebuilt and the ruins of crematoriums can be seen there. Also the red brick gate and railroad tracks leading trough it are still there.

Even though Auschwitz is no longer in operation, it is still there, reminding us what hate and jealousy can do at worst.