As one of the world’s largest concentration camps, Auschwitz remains a highly contentious site and forms the focal point for this volume of articles.
As soon as new arrivals arrived at a train platform or ramp, SS doctors conducted “selections.” If found unsuitable for slave labor, they were sent directly to gas chambers.
The History of the Camp
Auschwitz is synonymous with mass murder of Jews during World War II; Nazi officials termed their execution “the Final Solution.” Additionally, Auschwitz served as a place to kill Poles and other Holocaust victims from other nationalities as well as war prisoners from across Europe.
Auschwitz opened for operations in May 1940 and quickly became one of the Nazis’ primary concentration camps and death centers on Polish soil. Surrounded by electrically charged barbed-wire fences and protected by towers with machine guns and automatic rifles, its entrance bore the words Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Will Set You Free).
As soon as they arrived at Auschwitz, prisoners were stripped of all of their belongings and forced to stand in line for visual inspection by an SS physician who determined whether they would be suitable for slave labor or sent directly to gas chambers. Elderly and sick individuals rarely survived this selection process. Those deemed fit for slave labor were registered, tattooed with serial numbers, undressed, deloused of clothes and hair cut off before receiving Zyklon-B gas showerings.
Surviving selection at the camp meant starvation, torture, pseudoscientific experiments, and slave labor. More than half of those entering were murdered in some form, either directly through death from shootings or indirectly due to overexertion, malnutrition, disease or harsh living conditions in the camps.
In 1942, concentration camp rations were drastically cut back, leaving many who remained living near or below starvation point. Any excess food could be traded on the camp’s thriving black market for anything from buttons to coats; unfortunately many died simply from lack of nourishment.
After World War II, many Europeans struggled to understand what happened at Auschwitz and the vast scale of human evil that ensued from it. Guilt was often difficult to assign by nationality; many continue to wonder how a group of seemingly rational and sane individuals could perpetrate such atrocities. KCET’s series Auschwitz provides a lens through which viewers can explore this period and its aftermath – as well as those individuals responsible for key decisions leading to six million people dying there.
The Extermination Process
As World War II progressed, German forces increased their rate of extermination. Exterminations was carried out at Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Sobibor and Treblinka – each site offering unique characteristics and serving distinct functions.
Auschwitz conducted its exterminations through the use of poison gas known as Zyklon B in several gas chambers. There was also a crematory where Jewish prisoners known as Sonderkommandos prepared the bodies for incineration. Men and women sent as mass transports would be inspected upon arriving and separated into groups based on age, physical condition and sexuality – those over the age of 60 years, pregnant women with children, the sick or those suffering from illness had little hope of survival; once selection had taken place people would be forced onto rail transports before sent off to their camps
At the time of World War II, Auschwitz consisted of two main camps and over 45 subcamps around them. Auschwitz I and II, known as Birkenau respectively, were concentration camps; Auschwitz II hosted gas chambers and crematoria as well as family camps and labor education camps.
Prisoners deemed suitable for labor were employed in German factories that manufactured weapons, synthetic rubber products and other goods integral to Nazi war production. Furthermore, these prisoners were often forced into slavery at concentration camps.
From August 1944 through mid-January 1945, German authorities transferred approximately 65,000 men and women out of Auschwitz via what were known as evacuation columns. German guards forced these prisoners to march hundreds of kilometers; many were sick or otherwise incapacitated, yet still required to march for extended periods. Children also accompanied some evacuation columns even if they were underage.
Prisoners destined to spend their final moments in gas chambers often rose up against SS guards. On 7 October 1944, rebelling prisoners attempted to destroy one of the gas chambers – partially succeeding but all involved being executed shortly afterward by the SS who destroyed all remaining gas chambers and crematoria except one.
The Final Solution
As soon as war broke out in Europe, Nazi decision makers began building a place which would become central to one of their most insidious policies ever developed: The “Final Solution.” It meant murder on an industrial scale: A “factory of death”.
As the camp expanded, its surroundings included forests and marshes which would prevent escape, as well as proximity to railway routes making transport of prisoners and corpses much simpler – an environment perfectly suitable to facilitate Jewish murder. It was an optimal setting to bring about genocide.
At Auschwitz and other camps such as Belzec and Treblinka, the Final Solution was implemented through mass shootings or gassings, inmates were subjected to cruel medical experiments conducted by Dr Josef Mengele of SS – most often targeted against dwarfs, twins, or children under six – intended to improve methods of sterilization; many died as a result.
As people arrived at a camp, they were assessed by a team of SS medical specialists. Once their arrival at camp was registered, a physician would quickly evaluate each individual to select those suitable for forced labour and send any others directly to gas chambers; those deemed disabled, elderly, pregnant women or those suffering from serious illnesses had little chance of surviving this process.
By the time it closed, nearly 1.3 million individuals from over 20 nationalities, mostly Jews, had been murdered there.
Himmler ordered that the gas chambers were destroyed when the Red Army approached in January 1945, in order to conceal evidence of their crimes before their advancing Soviet troops arrived at his doorstep. Additionally, his SS unit burned clothing, tonnes of hair and other personal effects before proceeding with their operations.
Soviet troops liberated this camp in January 1945 with only a few thousand survivors remaining, most emaciated and sick from starvation. When searching the camp for evidence of Nazi’s Final Solution they discovered heaps of bodies hidden away by Nazi’s.
The Aftermath
As World War II neared its close, SS commanders issued orders to 56,000 prisoners from Auschwitz to march on foot to other concentration camps such as Gross-Rosen and Bergen-Belsen to attempt to clear out these facilities of evidence of murders that had taken place there. Unfortunately for some prisoners still alive who made the journey, their trek became too long and any who fell behind were shot immediately; additionally SS personnel burned large stacks of camp documents as part of an attempt at covering up evidence of their crimes
After years of malnutrition and disease had left their victims looking like walking corpses, survivors faced the challenges associated with recovering from such horrific experiences. Recovering physically from starvation proved challenging while grieving for loved ones who had died and recognizing a reality that no longer included freedom and security posed an additional hurdle to overcome.
Daniel Fabian of Berlin recounts the story of how his grandmother survived Auschwitz but rarely spoke about her experience, even with him. However, when Daniel signed up for German military service he received an envelope containing liberation papers from Auschwitz that allowed the officers in charge to exempt him from military service altogether.
After the Holocaust, survivors struggled to comprehend its events and ways they could have been avoided. While those who died would always remain remembered, those left alive faced daunting tasks in rebuilding their lives and finding safety again in a world seemingly without morality or values.
Auschwitz and its many Nazi death camps remain a vivid part of modern world culture, as reminders of human evil and warnings against complacency. Elie Wiesel once commented that Nazi crimes represented “an event on an immense cosmic scale that altered mankind’s future”. We all must do everything possible to ensure this moment in history never happens again.
Related Guides
- LOT Polish Airlines Baggage, Check-In + Boarding Guide — Airline guide