Stop 3: Auschwitz

Welcome to the third stop! Here you will learn about one of the most well-known Concentration Camps during the Holocaust. On this page I want you to be able to tell me what Auschwitz was and who happened there.

The three main camps were Auschwitz I, II, and III. Auschwitz I, the original concentration camp, was the administrative center for the whole complex, and was the site of the deaths of about 70,000 people. Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was an extermination camp, and was the site of the deaths of at least 960,000 Jews, 75,000 Poles, and 19,000 Gypsies. Birkenau was the largest of all the Nazi extermination camps. Auschwitz III (Monowitz) served as a labor camp. The cruel work requirements, combined with poor nutrition and hygiene, led to high death rates among the prisoners. Some prisoners were made to spend the nights in "standing-cells". These cells were about 16 sq ft, and four men would be placed in them; they could do nothing but stand, and were forced during the day to work with the other prisoners. In the basement there were "starvation cells"; prisoners incarcerated here were given neither food nor water until they were dead.

Here is a clip from a BBC film about Auschwitz, please be warned the content is gruesome:

Now that you have a better understanding of one of them most well known

Concentration Camps, Auschwitz, let's learn about the liberation of the camps.

Please continue to Stop 5 by clicking on the link on the right margin!