Day 4 : Solo visit to Auschwitz & Birkenau

Occupying German forces built the original camp at Auschwitz as a labour camp for Polish political prisoners in 1940. 

It opened in June of that year and was soon expanded so that by 1942 it contained a total of 3 main camps and 36 sub-camps.

Auschwitz III housed slave-labour for the nearby I G Farben plant.

No exact figures are available, but estimates put the total number of people who died at Auschwitz at over 1.25 million*, of whom roughly 1 million were Jewish. About 100,000 inmates survived. Other groups murdered at Auschwitz included Polish political prisoners, Soviet prisoners of war, gypsies, homosexuals, people with disabilities and prisoners of conscience or religious faith.

Birkenau, officially Auschwitz II, was operational by late 1941. 

As the main site of killings, it contains gas chambers and crematoria with a capacity of 2,000 per day. It is believed that total deaths were at a rate of 6,000 per day by 1944.

Birkenau was the largest of the more than 40 camps and sub-camps that made up the Auschwitz complex. During its three years of operation, it had a range of functions. When construction began in October 1941, it was supposed to be a camp for 125 thousand prisoners of war. It opened as a branch of Auschwitz in March 1942, and served at the same time as a center for the extermination of the Jews. In its final phase, from 1944, it also became a place where prisoners were concentrated before being transferred to labor in German industry in the depths of the Third Reich.

The majority—probably about 90%—of the victims of Auschwitz Concentration Camp died in Birkenau. This means approximately a million people. The majority, more than nine out of every ten, were Jews. A large proportion of the more than 70 thousand Poles who died or were killed in the Auschwitz complex perished in Birkenau. So did approximately 20 thousand Gypsies, in addition to Soviet POWs and prisoners of other nationalities. 

The Nazis tried to destroy the camp;

Following the liberation of the camp by Soviet soldiers on 27th January 1945, a total of some 7,000 staff and guards were identified. Only 750 were prosecuted.