Auschwitz Camp

April 12, 2009 in Europe

Auschwitz Camp is one of the Nazi’s notorious mass extermination and concentration camps. It was located in a town called Oswiecim, from which it derives its name, 50 kilometers on the western side of Krakow while 286 kilometers on the southern side of Warsaw, Poland.
After the Nazis invaded Germany in the month of September, of the year 1939, the town along with some of the surrounding areas was merged together and was renamed as the Auschwitz. Since Auschwitz was the middle intersection point for many Polish cities, the idea of turning it into a concentration camp was first initiated by the Gestapo Inspector “SS-Oberfuhrer Wiegand”. It was thought of as the ultimate position for bringing in the prisoners from the regions around to work in the camp.
Rudolf Hoss, who was designated as the commandant in the camp, decided the main goal of the camp to be extermination as well as elimination of the prisoners who were admitted into the camp.
The Auschwitz concentration camp spanned over 40 square kilometers as its total area and another 5 kilometers as radius kept for isolation. It was comprised of 28 buildings, mainly 2 storied and the whole camp was segregated into three parts: Auschwitz I, which served as the central office and the base, Auschwitz II, which is more popularly known as Birkenau, and finally the Auschwitz III, known as Monoscwitz with Buna and the sub camps.
Auschwitz I
Auschwitz I have the words, “Arbeit Macht Frei” carved onto the entrance. That meant “Work will give you freedom”. But it was fake and only death will give freedom from the work. The Auschwitz I was the smallest part and the main base of the camp. It was mainly comprised of the commandant’s office, living accommodation quarters, the death block, criminals living place, the infirmary and kitchen for the prisoners, the administration building, the guard station, the Gestapo Camp, the group gallows and the first gas chamber and the crematorium. There were the barracks, with the courtrooms for the trial of the prisoners, while the firing wall was the punishment place of the guilty. It was surrounded with nine watchtowers and wire fences, doubly barbed.
Auschwitz II
This was built on 1942 and was more popularly known as the Birkenau. It was the largest part of the Auschwitch camp, in the style of horse stables, and was even worse than the previous one. It housed around 200000 inmates. It was comprised of the gas chambers, the cremation chambers (II-V), the commandant’s office of this camp, the incarceration area, kitchen barracks, followed by the experimental and the execution blocks. It was fenced with barbed wire and had 28 watchtowers that stationed armed guards.
Auschwitz III
This was also known as the Monoschwitz and included the small area with the “buna” and the sub camp. The function of this camp was to produce synthetic rubber and fuel. But due to the extension of the part of the Auschwitz camp in the year 1942, it was also used for prisoner’s confinement and mass graveyards and pyres – Visit Auschwitz camp