80: Auschwitz

Today (January 27, 2025) marks the 80^th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was a series of 40 Camps in German-Occupied Poland – 31 miles from Krakow where Jews, Ethnic Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet Prisoners of War, Homosexuals, Political Criminals were sent from all over German-Occupied Europe and North Africa.

Auschwitz I was the Main Camp and the Administrative Headquarters.

 It was the Site of the First Gas Chamber where on September 3, 1941, 850 Inmates—Soviet Prisoners of War and sick Polish Inmates—were killed with Zyklon B in the basement of Block 11 in Auschwitz I.

The Building proved unsuitable, so Gassings were conducted instead in Crematorium I, also in Auschwitz I, which operated until December 1942.

Auschwitz II-Birkenau was the Death Camp. It had 744 Barracks.

The First Gas Chambers (Bunker 1 or the “Little Red House”  and Bunker 2 or the “Little White House”) were opened in March 1942 and stopped in the Spring of 1943.

They were replaced by Crematoria II–V.

Each Crematorium had a Dressing Room with wooden benches along the wall and numbered pegs for clothing.

Those selected to be gassed were told they needed to take a Disinfection Shower before they could enter the Camp and so were made to undress before being forced into the Gas Chamber where Zyklon B Gas were poured into the room, by the Germans, from the Roof.

20 Minutes of screaming and clawing (People trying to climb onto of the already dead to the fresh air at the ceiling) and everyone inside the Gas Chamber was dead.

Afterwards, the Sonderkommando (Prisoners forced by the Germans to work in the Crematorium) went into the Gas Chamber, cut the hair of the Women (to be used in German U-Boat Blankets), took out the Gold Teeth (to be melted down and used to finance the War) and then dragged the bodies to the Elevator and the Ovens where they were burned.

Each Gas Chamber could kill 2,000 People at one time.

The last Prisoners were Gassed in the Gas Chambers on November 2, 1944 and on November 24, 1944 Heinrich Himmler ordered the Gas Chambers and Crematorium to be destroyed  - to hide the German War Crimes from the advancing Soviet Red Army.

The Other 38 Sub-Camps of Auschwitz were Forced Labor Camps where the Prisoners had to work for German Companies making different things for Germany’s War Effort.

Arrival At Auschwitz: Every Man, Woman and Child entering Auschwitz went through the Selection immediately after getting off the Cattle Cars. Men were separated from the Women and Children and each forced to stand in long lines before a German Doctor.

The Doctor would send those deemed fit for Forced Labor to the Right and those deemed unfit for Forced Labor (the Elderly, the Disabled, Children, the Sick, etc.) were sent to the Left and to the Gas Chambers.

Diary Life Of the Prisoners:

Prisoners received a cup of Coffee Substitute or Herbal Tea in the morning, but no food.

They then had to stand in Roll Call for hours while every Prisoner, including those who had died the night before, were counted.

The Prisoners then went to their Forced Labor Battalions and worked 11 hours.

Lunch was a cup of Watery Soup at midday, reportedly foul-tasting, with meat in the Soup four times a week and Vegetables (mostly potatoes and rutabaga) three times.

The Evening Meal was 300 grams of Bread, often moldy, part of which the Inmates were expected to keep for Breakfast the next day, with a tablespoon of Cheese or Marmalade.

A Second Roll Call, often taking hours, counted every Prisoner before they returned to their Barracks and went to sleep (with 4 Prisoners sleeping together on one bunk.)

In Auschwitz-Birkenau there were 3 Special Areas:

The Zigeunerfamilienlager ("Gypsy Family Camp") where 23,000 Men, Women and Children were kept together from February 1943 until August 2, 1944 when 20,000 where sent to the Gas Chamber.

The Theresienstädter Familienlager (Theresienstadt Family Camp) where 17,517 Jewish Men, Women and Children from the Theresienstadt Ghetto in German-Occupied Czechoslovakia were held from September 8, 1943 until Julu 12, 1944. They were kept alive and together in families for when the International Red Cross visited the Camp (as they had in Theresienstadt in 1943.) After the IRC visited 14,000 were sent to the Gas Chambers.

Frauenkonzentrationslager (Women’s Camp) where 32,066 Women were held.

Mädchenorchester von Auschwitz (The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz) was formed in the Women’s Camp in April 1943 and lasted until October 1944.  They were forced to play for the Prisoners when they left for Work in the Morning, when they returned from Work at Night, for those going to the Gas Chambers and for the SS every Sunday.

Kanada (Canada) where Large Warehouses of Personal Items stolen from People as they arrived to Auschwitz was stored, sorted and later shipped to Germany and given to German Families.

Prisoners brought food, currencies, jewels, alcohol, household items, utensils, clothing, prams, medication, valuables, and professional tools, with their names, addresses and dates of birth on the luggage, all of which ended up in Kanada.

Liberation:

Starting on January 17, 1945 58,000 Prisoners were sent on a Forced Death March from Auschwitz to Concentration Camps in Germany – due to the advancing Soviets. Any Prisoner who stopped to rest was shot.

7,000 Prisoners (those too sick to move) stayed behind in Auschwitz and were liberated by the  322nd Rifle Division of the Soviet red Army on January 27, 1945.

4,500 Survivors were treated at Red Army and Polish Hospitals.

Red Army Soldiers also found 600 Corpses, 370,000 Men's Suits, 837,000 Articles of Women's Clothing, and seven tons (7.7 tons) of Human Hair.

The Prisoners Held at Auschwitz:

Of the 1.3 Million People sent to Auschwitz, 1.1 Million were murdered.

 The number of Victims includes 960,000 Jews (865,000 of whom were Gassed on arrival), 74,000 Non-Jewish Poles, 21,000 Romani, 15,000 Soviet Prisoners of War, and up to 15,000 others.

Those not Gassed were murdered via Starvation, Exhaustion, Disease, Individual Executions, or Beatings. Others were killed during Medical Experiments.

Medical Experiments were especially conducted on Homosexuals and on Identical Twin Children.

Escapes From Auschwitz:

At least 802 Prisoners tried to escape, 144 successfully.

One of those Escapes was done on April 10, 1944 by two Slovak Jews, Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler.  They wrote a 33 detailed page of Auschwitz including the Gas Chambers called the Vrba–Wetzler Report. The first English Report was published in November 1944 by the US War Refugee Board.

Post War:

After the Holocaust ended, only 789 Schutzstaffel Personnel (no more than 15% who worked at Auschwitz) ever stood trial.

In 1947, Poland founded the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on the site of Auschwitz I and II, and in 1979 it was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Auschwitz is the site of the largest Mass Murder in a single location in history.