Auschwitz and Buchenwald
Calvin Spitznagle
Calvin Spitznagle
Mrs. Botti
8th Grade Language Arts
9 February, 2023
Did you know that around 4 million people, mostly Jews, died during the Holocaust (Russel)? Most of these people died in concentration camps due to starvation, murder, and medical experiments. The largest concentration camp during World War II was Auschwitz. Auschwitz, also known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, opened in 1940 and was the largest of the Nazi concentration and death camps (“Auschwitz”). Another major concentration camp during World War II was Buchenwald. The Buchenwald concentration camp was constructed in 1937 about 5 miles Northwest of the city of Weimer in east-central Germany (“Buchenwald”). Auschwitz and Buchenwald were two concentration camps that had different
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There are no records of the deaths resulting from starvation, exposure, exhaustion, or murder by guards”(“Buchenwald”).
On April 11, 1945, in expectation of liberation, prisoners stormed the watchtowers. They seized control of the camp. Later that afternoon, US forces entered Buchenwald. Soldiers from the 6th Armored Division, part of the Third Army, found more than 21,000 people in the camp (“Buchenwald”). US forces and the prisoner uprisings were what liberated Buchenwald in 1945 (“Buchenwald”). The Nazis and SS killed over a million of Jews in Auschwitz and Buchenwald (Russel). Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp and it alone killed over a million people through gassing, shooting, and starvation (Russel). Buchenwald was a working prison and many Jews died from executions, malnutrition, and experimentation (Russel). Auschwitz and Buchenwald were both terrible concentration camps and they left a giant impact on Jews and others involved in the