Auschwitz-Birkenau 2011

April 26th

By Watracz Is Traveling

History

Auschwitz was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oświęcim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis. Its name was changed to Auschwitz, which also became the name of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz.

“During the first 3 years at Auschwitz, 2 million people died; over the next 2 years - 3 million.”

- Witold Pilecki, Polish cavalry captain, the founder of the WWII resistance movement Secret Polish Army, who deliberately let himself get caught and imprisoned in Auschwitz in order to organize resistance there.

The first and oldest was the so-called “main camp”, later also known as “Auschwitz I” (the number of prisoners fluctuated around 15,000, sometimes rising above 20,000), which was established on the grounds and in the buildings of prewar Polish barracks.

The second part was the Birkenau camp (which held over 90,000 prisoners in 1944), also known as “Auschwitz II”. This was the largest part of the Auschwitz complex. The Nazis began building it in 1941 on the site of the village of Brzezinka, three kilometers from Oświęcim.

The Germans isolated all the camps and sub-camps from the outside world and surrounded them with barbed wire fencing. All contact with the outside world was forbidden. The local population, the Poles and Jews living near the newly-founded camp, were evicted in 1940 and 1941. Approximately one thousand homes were demolished.

The pre-war industrial facilities in the zone, taken over by the Germans, were expanded in some cases, or demolished to make way for new plants associated with the military requirements of the Third Reich. The camp administration used the zone around the camp for auxiliary camp technical support, workshops, storage, offices, and barracks for the SS.