Auschwitz

Auschwitz was the largest Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz is located in Poland, near Krakow

The camp commandant, Rudolf Hoess testified that 3 million people had died at Auschwitz.

Most deaths were a result of the gas chambers Other causes for death included starvation, forced labor, disease, execution and “medical experiments

Auschwitz was operated by members of the SS. Approximately 6,000 SS members worked at Auschwitz

Auschwitz II is the most well known of the three camps at Auschwitz

By 1942, the SS began conducting selections for incoming Jews. Jews were divided between those who were fit to work and those who were deemed unable to work

Nearly all children, women with children and the elderly were not deemed fit Thousands of others were deemed unfit following a brief inspection by an SS doctor

Roughly ¾ of arrivals are believed to be deemed unable to work Those deemed unable to work were immediately gassed

20,000 people could be gassed and cremated each day

Those deemed able to work were used as slave labor. Roughly 85% of these died due to executions, beatings, starvation and sickness.

The camp was staffed partially by prisoners. Kapos Sonderkommandos

Kapos were prisoners who served as orderlies. Kapos kept order in the barrack huts. Kapos were often times former convicts.

Sonderkommandos prisoners who worked at the crematoria. Sonderkommandos prepared new arrivals for gassing.

Sonderkommandos made sure that prisoners removed their clothing and relinquished all personal possessions. They also checked corpses teeth for gold and moved the corpses from the gas chambers to furnaces

However, Kapos and Sonderkommandos were supervised by members of the SS and killed periodically. Often times the first duty of a Sonderkommandos was to prepare the previous Sonderkommandos for the gas chamber.

1944 was the deadliest year at Auschwitz

Hungarian Jews made up the bulk of deaths during this year.

In 1944, Hitler demanded that Hungary give Germany control of their Jewish population. Hungary, an ally of Germany, refused

Hitler sent the German army into Hungary and set up a puppet government. In April, Hungary began deporting all Hungarian Jews

Most of the Hungarian Jews were sent to Auschwitz

During this period, the German war effort was collapsing

136 trains were used to send these Jews to Auschwitz 90% were immediately exterminated

By the end of 1945 only 190,000 people Jewish descent were alive in Hungary

Following World War II, persecutions of the Hungarian Jews continued under Communist rule. In 2001, only 12,871 Hungarians claimed Jewish descent

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the massacre of Hungarian Jews “the greatest and most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world”

Questions How much did the Allies know about Auschwitz? What could have been done to stop the massacres?