Auschwitz Research
by Jeffrey Holzman
Auschwitz
Auschwitz is the most well known Holocaust concentration camp due to it being one of the largest and having half of the prisoners being Jewish. It was used to labor the prisoners into doing things such as heavy labor. Most of the prisoners actually left the camp for their work. Some of the survivors at Auschwitz such as Eugene Black, Iby Knill, and Trude Silman.
Birkenau
Birkenau was the largest death camp during the entire Nazi regime. It was the death camp of the concentration camp Auschwitz. 1.1 Million prisoners died here and 90% of which were Jewish. That means out of the 6 million casualties of all of the holocaust, 1 in 6 died in Auschwitz. At its peak, up to 200,000 inmates were housed in the Birkenau barracks. There was no running water or sanitary equipment, resulting in the rapid spread of disease. Vermin and insects infested the living quarters and work sites of the inmates. The strong scent of charred flesh and burned hair were detected from the living quarters to the work sites. Some well know people that were once in Birkenau include Estella Agsteribbe, a gold Olympian for the Dutch gymnastics team. Heinz Alt was a composer and Lea Deutsch was a famous child actor.