Auschwitz Concentration Camp Research Paper

Auschwitz Concentration Camps
Auschwitz was a huge impact on our history. It all started with one man Rudolf Höss. He was the first commandant of Auschwitz. All of the horror and death in Auschwitz lasted little over a year. This is the background of the massacre.
The largest camp established by the Nazi’s was Auschwitz (“Auschwitz”). It is a symbol of terror, genocide, and Holocaust. Auschwitz had more than 40 subcamps (“KL Auschwitz-Birkenau”). There were three main camps in Auschwitz. All of the camps were located 37 miles west of Krakow. Auschwitz had three main purposes. The first purpose was to incarcerate real and perceived enemies of Nazi’s. The second main purpose was to provide a supply of forced laborers. The last purpose was to …show more content…
A&E Television Networks). Transports first started early 1942 and ended the summer of 1944 (“Auschwitz”). By mid-1942 a majority of people were Jews. There would frequent trains that would arrive at Auschwitz with Jews. All the trains would arrive daily holding Jews from Europe. Each train held around thousands of victims. They would have no room, no food, and about two buckets: one for water and another to use for the bathroom. Many died on the trains because they would last days on end. They usually died from suffocation, hunger or illness (History. A&E Television …show more content…
They destroyed all evidence of the horror that had been taken place. They burned and blew up all buildings (History. A&E Television Networks). On October 7, 1944, hundreds of prisoners rebelled after finding out they were going to be killed. When all prisoners rebelled they killed three guards and blew up the crematorium and adjacent gas chamber. All the Germans killed almost everyone involved in the rebelling (“Auschwitz”).
In mid-January 1944, Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz concentration camp complex. They began evacuating Auschwitz and the subcamps. SS forced about 60,000 prisoners to march. All prisoners were forced to march west from the camp system. Thousands of people were killed before the marches even began. SS guards shot anyone who fell behind or could not continue in the marching. Around 15,000 died during the evacuation. Most of the deaths occurred because of the cold weather, starvation, and exposure on the marches (“Auschwitz”).
Later in January, the Soviet Army entered back into Auschwitz. They found around 7,600 sick or emaciated detainees left behind. Those who made it to the sites after marching were sent away. They would be sent to a concentration camp in Germany. The prisoners were sent away on trains. About 144 prisoners are known to have escaped from Auschwitz successfully (History. A&E Television

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