Auschwitz-Birkenau Fact Sheet

Auschwitz is the German name for the Polish town

of Oświęcim.

Before WWII, like many Polish towns, Oświęcim had a large Jewish communi-ty. By 1939 this made up 58 per cent

of the population.

Between WWI and WWII large brick bar-racks were built on the outskirts of Oświęcim to be used by the government. Some of the buildings were used to house Polish refugees and soldiers of the Polish army. It was later these same barracks that formed the main camp of Auschwitz.

Glossary Barracks: Where soldiers stay. Combined: Total (all numbers added together). Refugee: a person who cannot stay in their own country because they are not safe there—usually because of their religious or political views.

1.1 million people died in Auschwitz. This is more than the com-bined British and United States military losses during the whole of World War Two.

A memorial plaque at the site where Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp stood. When you are doing your project you should think about why it is so important that we re-member the Holocaust—why it hap-pened and why it was allowed to hap-pen. In your conclusion you should remember to include a couple of sentences explaining why YOU think we should never forget about the tragedy of the Holocaust.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

Below are a selection of quotations from individuals that experienced first-hand the effects of Auschwitz. The quotations come from a selection of individuals including—Jewish prisoners; political prisoners and SS soldiers.

Glossary First-hand: This means that the person was an eyewitness, this makes the source a primary source and very useful. Indifferent: No feeling, emotionless. Horrified: Shocked.

“There were people screaming, they didn’t know what to do. Scratching the walls, crying, until the gas took effect.” - Dario Gabbai. A Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz from 1944—1945. He was a prisoner used to drag the dead bodies out of the gas cham-bers. Here he describes the ter-rible events that took place dur-ing a gas chamber execution.

“They said they wanted to hang me. They hung me up by my arms, both shoulders were breaking out of their joints.” - Jerzy Bieleckr. A Polish polit-ical prisoner held in Ausch-witz describes a form of pun-ishment he experienced dur-ing his time there.

“How does one feel when this is going on? One becomes indiffer-ent. Today it is your turn. To-morrow it will be mine.” (Kazimierz Piechowski, Polish political prisoner held in Auschwitz. This was his answer when asked how he felt when he saw other prisoners being taken to the gas chambers.

“I have to admit that the gas-sing had a calming effect on me. I was always horrified by execution by firing squad. Now I was relieved to think we would be spared all those bloodbaths”. The comments of Rudolf Höss—the first Com-mandant of Auschwitz when he heard about the ‘successful’ use of gas chambers to kill prisoners at Auschwitz.

Entrance to Auschwitz concentration camp.

Soviet troops liberate the Auschwitz-Birkenau

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Glossary: Liberate—to free.

The words above the gate are in German, they say “Arbeit

Macht Frei”. What does this mean in

English? Considering what happened in

concentration camps why do you think the Nazis would put this at the entrances?

Did the problems for concentration camp inmates finish once they were freed?

Can you think of dif-ficulties they may

still face?

An infamous view towards Auschwitz looking down the train lines that prisoners would be taken to their deaths.

A pile of victims’ glasses found at Auschwitz Death Camp.

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Glossary: Infamous: famous/well known but for bad reasons.

Remember to describe the conditions on

board the trains that took the victims to the

camps.

Children in concentration camp uniform at Auschwitz con-centration camp. January 1945.

Explain why you think the Nazis

kept the belongings of victims of the gas chambers and

firing squads.

Think about how old the children pictured here may have been. How do you think that the surviving children

may have been affect-ed by their experi-

ence?.

A memorial plaque to the murdered victims at Auschwitz concentration camp.

One of the storage warehouses at Auschwitz concentration camp.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

It is VERY important that you try to explain why you think we should remember the Holocaust. Especially

in your conclusion.

Explain what you see in this photo-

graph. Think about what the picture

tells you about the scale of the number of victims. What are the objects in the picture, why

would they be kept by the Nazis?

Living conditions in Auschwitz concentration camp: Female barracks—sleeping quarters.

Describe the liv-ing conditions for the prisoners—what types of

problems do you think this would

cause.