Auschwitz

Also known as KZ Auschwitz, Birkenau, Auschwitz death camp, Auschwitz concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Au., Auschwitz Birkenau Concentration and Extermination Camp, Oświęcim

German network of concentration and extermination camps in occupied Poland during World War II

AI overview

Auschwitz was a network of concentration and extermination camps built by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It is historically significant as the site where hundreds of thousands of people, primarily Jews, were systematically killed, making it a central symbol of the Holocaust.

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Wikidata facts

Area: 191.97
Official website: www.auschwitz.org
Image: Birkenau múzeum - panoramio (cropped).jpg
Number of deaths: 1100000

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P12749: Piano Sonata No. 20
Commons category: Auschwitz concentration camp
prisoner count: 152000
catalog code: camps/0
P8168: carbonatite
exact match: data.niod.nl/WO2_Thesaurus/kampen/3653
inception: 1940-05-20
dissolved, abolished or demolished date: 1945-01-27
native label: Obóz Koncentracyjny Auschwitz
date of official opening: 1940-05-20
Polish cultural heritage register number: A-714/95 z 1995-08-02
visitors per year: 1830000

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Article

Auschwitz ( German: [ˈaʊ̯ʃvɪts]), also known as Oświęcim (Polish: [ɔˈɕfjɛɲ.t͡ɕim]), was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschwitz I, the main camp (Stammlager) in Oświęcim; Auschwitz II-Birkenau, a concentration and extermination camp with gas chambers, Auschwitz III-Monowitz, a labour camp for the chemical conglomerate IG Farben, and dozens of subcamps.

After Germany initiated World War II by invading Poland in September 1939, the Schutzstaffel (SS) converted Auschwitz I, an army barracks, into a prisoner-of-war camp. The initial transport of political detainees to Auschwitz consisted almost solely of Poles (for whom the camp was initially established). For the first two years, the majority of inmates were Polish. In May 1940, German criminals brought to the camp as functionaries established the camp's reputation for sadism. Prisoners were beaten, tortured, and executed for the most trivial of reasons. The first gassings—of Soviet and Polish prisoners—took place in block 11 of Auschwitz I around August 1941.