Auschwitz Concentration Camps Essay

Holocaust What were the three main camps in the Auschwitz concentration camp system?

According to history.com Auschwitz was a system of concentration camps, death camps, and labor camps located in Poland. Auschwitz initially served as a detention center for political prisoners. In June of 1940 Auschwitz included Jews in their camps as part of the “Final Solution”. The “Final Solution” was a plan implemented by the Nazis under Adolf Hitler’s rule during WWII. The purpose of this plan was to annihilate the Jewish people, which eventually lead to the genocide, or mass destruction of the Jews that became known as the Holocaust. (ushmm.org) During the Holocaust death, labor, and concentration camps were set up to help the Nazi’s acheive their

The camp was located in the small Polish town of Oswiecim. It was established in April, 1940 and liberated by the soviet army in 1945. On January 27, 1945 Soviet forces marched into Auschwitz and freed the remaining prisoners. Auschwitz I went through 3 commanders during the five years it was running. Rudolf Hoess, the most infamous, was commander from May 1940 until November 1943. SS Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Liebehenschel was commander from November 1943 until mid-May 1944 and finally SS Major Richard Baer from mid-May 1944 until January 27, 1945. (ushmm.org) According to History.com “Auschwitz initially served as a detention center for political prisoners. However, it evolved into a network of camps where Jewish people and other perceived enemies of the Nazi state were exterminated.” Auschwitz I was exclusively a concentration camp, it was a place of slow killing, many people were starved to death or contracted a deadly disease due to the filthy and inhuman conditions of the camp. However according Ushmm.org “SS engineers constructed an improvised gas chamber in the basement of the prison block” The people who were sent to Auschwitz were mainly Jews, Poles, Roma, and soviet prisoners of war. Although almost anyone who didn't agree with “Nazi ideals” was put into camp, like homosexuals, communist, Socialist, etc. It is unclear exactly how many people died in just Auschwitz I but the numbers are very