Auschwitz
By Patrick Cur
Auschwitz I
Facts
- Held about 16,000 prisoners in 1944
- Main offices for political and prisoner labor departments
- Storages and workshops were located here
- Executions were done in public by hanging
Living Conditions
- Prisoners in different buildings, called blocks
- Each block shared it's own bathrooms
- For a two story block designed to fit 700 prisoners, there were actually 1200
- Blocks were brick and had no reliable source of heating
- Prisoners had three-tier bunk beds
- The food rationed was based on work, but maxed out at around 1,700 calories.
- 10 hours per day were spent doing labor.
Important Figures of Auschwitz I
- SS Major Richard Baer - The last commander at Auschwitz I
- Kazimier Piechowski - One of very few prisoners who managed to successfully escape from Auschwitz
- SS Captain Dr. Josef Mengele - One of the most known SS Doctors in Auschwitz
Auschwitz II (Auschwitz-Birkenau)
Facts
- Held the largest population of prisoners in Auschwitz
- Separated into ten different sections by electrified, barbed wire fences
- Contained the "killing center" and crematorium.
- Approximately 90% of the victims in the Auschwitz Camp as a whole died in the Auschwitz II concentration camp.
Living Conditions
Each section typically held different groups of people, such as a camp for gypsies, a camp for jews, and so on. Auschwitz 2 was the main concentration camp, using barns as gas chambers.
Important Figures
- Rudolf Höss - Started the usage of gas chambers upon appointment.
- Heinrich Himmler - Issued decrees for camp expansion and upgrades, including bigger barracks.