Auschwitz: Life In Concentration Camps During The Holocaust

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Auschwitz was built by the Nazis as both a concentration camp and death camp. It was the largest of the Nazi 's camps and the biggest killing center ever created. In Auschwitz, 1.1 million people were murdered. It became a symbol of death during the Holocaust and the destruction of European Jewish population. (Rosenberg, J. n.d.) Auschwitz included three main camps, all of which forced prisoners into labor. One of the camps also worked for an extended period of time as a killing center. (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005189) The first part of Auschwitz was built on the outskirts of Poland and was started in May, 1940 and finished in June, 1940. (http://www.wollheim-memorial.de/en/ig_auschwitz_en) Auschwitz 1 was also called Stammlager. Over the main gate stood a sign that said "Arbeit Macht Frei" or “Work Makes One Free.” (http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/blauschwitz.htm) Auschwitz 2, also known as Auschwitz Birkenau was opened in March, 1941. (http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/blauschwitz.htm) Birkenau served as a labor camp and as the center for the fast killing of Jews. Birkenau had several extermination facilities and crematoriums. There were 4 gas chambers in the camp that used Zyklon B gas. The camp functioned as a factory for mass murder, receiving victims from all over Europe. Most of the people brought to the camp were immediately sent to gas chambers. Only a small amount were selected for labor in the camp. (http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/about/05/auschwitz_birkenau.asp) In late October, 1942 Auschwitz 3, also known as Buna/Monowitz Concentration Camp, opened. The camp was built on the Polish village of Monowice. The entire population of Monowice was forced to leave their homes so the camp could be built. The first 2,100 prisoners arrived from the concentration camps Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, and Dachau, as well as prisoners from the Netherlands, in October and November, 1942. In the …show more content…
In March 1942, the first women 's section was established in Auschwitz I by dividing the men’s camp with a brick wall. The first women were 999 inmates of Ravensbrück concentration camp. (http://www.wsg-hist.uni-linz.ac.at/auschwitz/html/Frauen.html) From that point on, certain individual camps and certain areas within concentration camps were designated specifically for women prisoners. (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005176) There were a lot of pregnant women in Auschwitz. Gisella Perl, a famous Jewish prisoner who worked as a doctor at Auschwitz, performed many abortions to save the lives of the women who were pregnant. If the pregnancy had been discovered, the pregnant woman would have been beaten to death or sent to the gas chamber. (https://furtherglory.wordpress.com/tag/gisella-perl/) Small kids brought to Auschwitz were usually killed immediately because they were too young to work. Mothers who held their babies in their arms were gassed together. A child made a mother look like she was unable to work. (http://www.wsg-hist.uni-linz.ac.at/auschwitz/html/Kinder-II.html) The Germans killed as many as 1.5 million children, over a million being Jewish children, tens of thousands of Gypsies, German children with physical and mental disabilities living in institutions, Polish kids, and children located in the Soviet Union. …show more content…
During the first several months, the prisoner’s rooms didn’t have beds or any other furniture. Prisoners slept on straw-filled mattresses on the floor. The rooms were so overcrowded that prisoners could only sleep on their sides in three rows. Three-tiered bunks began appearing gradually in the rooms from February 1941. Designed for only three prisoners, they would pack as many people as they could in a bunk. Aside from the beds, the furniture in each room included a dozen wooden wardrobes, several tables, and several stools. Coal-fired tile stoves provided heat.

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