Auschwitz Essay -- Essays Papers

Auschwitz Auschwitz was one of the most infamous and largest concentration camp known during World War II. It was located in the southwestern part of Poland commanded by Rudolf HÃ ¶ss. Auschwitz was first opened on June 14, 1940, much later than most of the other camps. It was in Auschwitz that the lives of so many were taken by methods of the gas chamber, crematoriums, and even from starvation and disease. These methods took "several hundreds and sometimes more than a thousand" lives a day. The majority of the lives killed were those of Jews although Gypsies, Yugoslavs, Poles, and many others of different ethnic backgrounds as well. The things most known about Auschwitz are the process people went through when entering the camp and throughout their time there, the conditions at the camp, and the experiments performed by Dr. Josef Mengele. In the concentration camp, Auschwitz, there was an elaborate process that the people went through when they arrived. Freight cars filled with people arrived daily in the camp. From that point the people were ordered to unload any of their belongings that they brought with them. At that point they are immediately told to line up to go through the first selection. Those were old or unfit to work, such as children, were automatically sent to the gas chambers. The others were then tattooed with a specific identification numbers, had their hair cut off, and were given prisoner uniforms to work in. These who passed the first selection then were forced to perform excruciating labor jobs. Each morning and afternoon a roll call was held and yet another selection was made. The SS, German soldiers and doctors, would make the prisoner’s strip from their clothes in order to make a full examination of t... ... march out of Auschwitz to different camps. The SS feared that liberation was coming. They told the prisoners that if any fell behind or stopped that they would be killed. Only a small number remained at Auschwitz. On January 27, 1945, the Soviet Army finally liberated Auschwitz. There were over one million lives that perished at this camp, only sixty-five thousand people survived. Many of these lives died by the gas chambers, crematoriums, effects of experimenting, torture, starvation, and many more reasons. Auschwitz will always be seen as a place that shall be remembered throughout history. Lives were taken but the memories shall prevail. Works Cited 1. Adler, Jerry. "The Last Days of Auschwitz." Newsweek (1995): 46-59. 2. Fischel, Jack R. The Holocaust. London: Greenwood Press, 1998. 3. Swiebocka, Teresa. Auschwitz. Indiana University Press, 1993.