Auschwitz I & II
By Isabella Walle
Auschwitz I
Background & Facts:
- Opened in the spring of 1940
- One of the most notorious death camps
- The original Auschwitz housed between 15,000 and 20,000 political prisoners
- Originally intended to be a concentration camp, but was deemed a death camp after Hitler's "Final Solution" was put into play.
- Approximately 1.1 million Jews were killed in Auschwitz
Auschwitz II
Background & Facts:
- Located in the village of Birkenau, was constructed in 1941
- Was the largest of all Auschwitz facilities
- Housed 90,000 prisoners
- Had bathhouses where victims were gassed to death, and crematory ovens where the bodies were burned
- The majority of Auschwitz victims died in Auschwitz II
Living Conditions
- Those who were unable to work were typically the first to be killed
- Prisoners who were unfit to work were never registered as inmates, making it impossible to accurately determine the death toll
- People who weren't killed often died from overwork, disease, or starvation
- Some prisoners were subjected to inhumane medical experiments led by Josef Mengele
Important People
- Rudolf Hoess - first commandant of Auschwitz
- Oskar Schindler - smuggled people out of Auschwitz
- Emilie Schindler - wife of Oscar, aided him in helping people escape
- Josef Mengele - led barbaric medical experiments that were conducted on inmates of Auschwitz