Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp Jaryd Herbert Dustin Soller

Location The camp was built in Poland. It remains there, near the city of Auschwitz. Birkenau is referring, in German, to the many Birch trees surrounding the complex. The town it is technically located in the Polish town of Oshwiecim in Galacia.

Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (Birkenau) There was an original camp built and it was called Auschwitz I. It was used as administrative center. Then, to relieve stress on the first Auschwitz, they built Birkenau.

Why is it so Popular? It became the killing center for European Jews. They started experimenting with gassing in September of 1941. It is estimated that over 3 million Jews were gassed, starved, and burned. First camp to begin mass gassing their prisoners.

What happened there Children were killed on arrival, and children born in the camp were killed on the spot. In order to save expenses and gas they began throwing children directly into the ovens and into burning pits. So called “Camp Doctors” would torture and cause suffering on many children by putting them in pressure chambers, tested with new drugs, castrated, frozen to death, and exposed to other various traumas.

Josef Mengele He was nicknamed the “Angel of Death” He performed many twin studies. He would drop chemicals in children’s eyes to alter the eye color. He would bring them candy and clothes and then take them to his lab for experiments, which almost always resulted in death of the children.

Division… Trains ran directly into the camp. Women weak and old were put on one side, and the strong were put on the other. The woman that were weak were sent directly to extermination and the strong were worked for a few months then exterminated.

“Canada” Their heads were shaved and the hair was used for insulation in submarines and aircrafts. Their belongings were sent to Germany. Gold teeth and wedding rings were melted down. After cremation their ashes were used as fertilizer. A section of the camp was used for storage which they called “Canada”, because it was thought to be a land of prosperity and plenty.

Oskar Schindler He is credited with saving almost 1,200 Jews from concentration camps. He bribed Nazi soldiers to reroute 1,100 Jews to another location, a safe location. He saved all the women from certain death.

The Gas Chambers In the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp more than 20,000 people could be gassed each day. At Birkenau, the Nazis used a cyanide gas produced from Zyklon B pellets, which were manufactured by two companies. The two companies were Tesch& Stabenow, of Hamburg, who supplied two tons of the crystals each month, and Degesch, of Dessau, who produced three-quarters of a ton.

Liberation Day The soviets finally arrived in January 27, 1945 to free all the Jews being executed, starved, and worked to death in the camps. They found 2,800 sick and frail survivors.