The conditions of Auschwitz were unlike anything anybody could ever imagine. The Auschwitz concentration camp was the largest of it's kind established by the Nazi's in 1940.  Prisoners were required to preform numerous tasks, and they never received the basic human needs vital for survival such as enough food and water.  Auschwitz was known as a death camp because of the brutal deaths that occurred there and the unforgiving conditions and Nazi soldiers.  Conditions were repulsive, about 750 people were crammed into barracks, all sharing beds with at least 5 others.  About 1.1 million people were killed at the camp out of the 1.3 who were deported to Auschwitz.          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The entrance to Auschiwtz

 

     Normal days in Auschwitz concentration camp were unlike any other.  Before dawn, the prisoners were woken up and started roll call, which is were prisoners are lined up and numbers are called to to see who is there and who is not(Auschwitz)  Inmates were required to make their beds in the morning, if not done to guard satisfactions punishment followed (Auschwitz).  Prisoners would not be surprised if in the morning if they woke up to find the person next to them dead(Auschwitz). Prisoners had three roll calls a day, each one lasting about four four hours(Auschwitz).  Prisoners were so sick that some died in the middle of role call and they just fell to the ground(Auschwitz).  Roll call was held 

in any type of weather and prisoners who complained we punished(Auschwitz).  After the morning roll call prisoners labored eleven to twelve hours completing numerous jobs(Auschwitz).  The prisoners also had three meals a day, but the meals were just barley enough to keep them alive for labor jobs(Auschwitz).  The Holocaust Research Center states "The entire function of the Auschwitz camp was the extermination of prisoners within its fences."(Auschwitz: The Camp of Death)                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beds at the Auschwitz Camp

     

     Auschwitz conditions were repulsive, and no human should have to live like that.  Auschwitz had no running water, no heat, and very few bathrooms(Auschwitz).  750 people lived together in one barrack and aroundten people shared one wooden bed(Saldinger).  

There was also overcrowding in Auschwitz, which resulted in cramming a house built 10 to 50 people(Saldinger).  Auschwitz was very unsanitary, from its rooms to food, it was all full of disease, such as  typhus and tuberculosis(Saldinger).  That helps to explain why so many people who were not executed died.  The Holocaust Research Center declares that“However, the sad truth was the prisoners were doomed to slave labor and death was the only real way to escape.” (Auschwitz: The Camp of Death)  The food at Auschwitz consisted of same amounts of bread along with tasteless coffee(Auschwitz).  The barracks were infested with disease.  Barracks contained lice, rats, and bed bugs which added to the unsanitary conditions(Saldinger).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Block 11 was where most horrific tortures took place

     Death in Auschwitz was gruesome.  Some people died natural deaths while 

others died painful deaths.  At first in 1941, Nazis killed Jews at close range(The Killing Evolution).  Then, Bach-Zelewski said that killing Jews at close range 

might be to traumatizing for his men and that they needed to find a new method(The Killing Evolution).  One solution to this was carbon monoxide and Zyklon B. (The) Carbon monoxide was used in “Hell Vans"(The Killing Evolution).   “Hell Vans” were used to suffocate people by releasing gas in the back of the van where people were packed together(The Killing Evolution).Zofia Szalek, a German resiting in a polish town, describes what she witnessed,  “They were loaded and murdered there.  It was hell.  That’s why we called them “Hell Vans"(The Killing Evolution).  Zyklon B was used in the gas chambers at the concentration camps, and was a quick and effective way to cause death(The Killing Evolution).  Auschwitz had eight gas chambers, along with forty-six ovens that were used to burn bodies(The Killing Evolution).  Others died of sickness or they were shot or tortured to death.

 

One of the many Crematorium's at Auschwitz

 

 

 

 

 

     Prisoners at Auschwitz were overwhelmed in this point of their live.  Prisoners at Auschwitz were afraid of their fate and what was happening to them (The Killing).  They were uncertain about what the future had in store for them (The Killing).  “Be prepared: You’ll be walking in the ashes of the dead” said a colleague before she went and visited the Auschwitz camp (Auschwitz).  Zanne Farbsteins quotes “ My middle sister, Sara and I were together in Auschwitz for three years where we could say we waited for death.  I waited for it everyday” (Gera).  Another Auschwitz survivor, Eva Kor, remarks, “I remember being pushed onto a platform.  There were lots of Germans shouting” (Gera).  Eva Brown, a Holocaust survivor proclaims, “After you were tattooed you became a number and lost all you identity” (Gera).

 

 

 

 

                               Zanne Farbstein tells her story

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     The Auschwitz Concentration Camp was to blame for the million people killed.  It is estimated that 1.3 million people were transported to the Auschwitz camp (Auschwitz Untied).  Out of the 1.3 million about 1.1 million of the people were murdered 

(Auschwitz Untied).  Alone, the Jews were most of the population at Auschwitz, there were about 1.1 million Jews at Auschwitz (Auschwitz United).  960,000 people killed at the Auschwitz 

camp were of the Jewish religion (Auschwitz United).  74,000 Poles, 21,000 Roma (Gypsies) ,and  15,000 Soviets were among the others killed at Auschwitz (Auschwitz United).  10,000-15,000 people killed at Auschwitz were of other nationalities such as Czechs, Yugoslavs, French, and Austrians  (Auschwitz United).  A total of 11 million people were killed in all Nazi Camps throughout the Holocaust (Hilberg).  An Auschwitz survivor, Simon Veil, announces that "It's here, where absolute evil was perpetrated, that the will must resurface for a fraternal world, a world based on respect of man and his dignity" (Gera).   

 

 

Wires that surround the Auschwitz Camp

 

The sign that is displayed at the Auschwitz enterance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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