Auschwitz
By Rachelle Castillero
Auschwitz I
Auschwitz I camp had expanded to about 40 sq. km. by 1944. It held about 135 thousand people. Because the camp was so big this caused the camp to be separated into 3 different parts. In the camp they slept on straw stuffed mattresses. In the morning they were called for roll call. After that they ate breakfast & began their work for the day. They had to cut the clothes of the people who had been killed in the crematoria. This made the people in the camp depressed getting rid of these clothes. The purpose of this camp was labor and extermination but more of labor.
Some of the important people are Elie Wiesel. He was at the camp at the age of 15.
Auschwitz II
Birkenau was the largest camp. The purpose of this camp was to exterminate people. It had 125 thousand prisoners. About 90% of the people at Auschwitz died in Birkenau. More than 700 people were assigned to a barrak. Barraks were made of either wood or brick. There was a minimum of 11 hours of labor a day. The prisoners were used for building and fixing up the camp such as leveling the grounds, laying roads, and digging drainage ditches.
Estella Agsteribbe was a Jewish women in the camp. She was a gold medalist in the 1928 Olympics. She died at the age of 34 in 1943.