Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Concentration camps are defined by places where people are detained under harsh conditions. There is no regard for legal norms of arrest or detainment that is looked at as acceptable by society. The first concentration camps were established in 1933 after Hitler was appointed chancellor. The purpose of the concentration camps was to hold “undesirables” and opponents of the Nazi political party. Some of the most infamous concentration camps were Dachau and Auschwitz. At these camps, prisoners were forced to live under inhumane conditions, their sleeping space was crammed, they worked all day, and were treated like animals. Even though most camps were initially just used for labor many people died just from the living conditions. Eventually …show more content…
It was also the largest camp created by the Nazi and had three main parts. The first part was Auschwitz I, located in Oświęcim and held approximately 16,000 prisoners. Unlike other camps Auschwitz I was also the location of the SS Garrison, the commander of the local garrison, the commandant of Auschwitz, and the seat of the main offices of the political department and the prisoner labor department. ("AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU") To grow and build Auschwitz SS officers mainly used forced labor from the prisoners. Auschwitz II, Birkenau, was the largest of over 40 sub-camps in Auschwitz. It was opened as a branch of Auschwitz in 1942, and was also used a place to exterminate Jews as efficiently as possible and about 90% of the killing happened at this camp alone. ("AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU") The killing center at Auschwitz II held two gas chambers, provisional gas chamber I started operation in January 1942 and provisional gas chamber II started operation later in June 1942. ("Auschwitz") The camp also held 4 large crematoria buildings that were built between March and June of 1943. ("Auschwitz") The final part of the Auschwitz concentration camp was Auschwitz III, also referred to as Buna or Monowitz. Buna was used mainly as a labor camp that forced prisoners to work at a factory established by a German officer to produce synthetic rubber and fuel. ("Auschwitz") Prisoners were often …show more content…
Prisoners were treated poorly and millions ended up dying of starvation, disease, or just being overworked by the SS. A few hundred thousand of the prisoners may have been freed because their camp was liberated, but there lives would never be the same again. The trauma and experiences the prisoners were forced to go through would impact them for the rest of their lives and it would be an experience they could never forget. Most wouldn't be able to believe how one group of people could manage a genocide like the Holocaust, and be able to run camps like Auschwitz and