Auschwitz-Birkenau
Auschwitz Birkenau was a complex of Nazi concentration camps located in the Polish town of Oswiecim during World War II. The Nazis established the first camp, Auschwitz I, in 1940, and subsequently built the much larger extermination camp, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, in 1941.
Initially, Auschwitz was used as a detention center for political prisoners, mostly Poles. However, as the war progressed, the Nazis began deporting Jews from across Europe to the camp. Other groups targeted for persecution by the Nazis, such as Roma and Sinti (often referred to as "Gypsies"), homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others, were also sent to Auschwitz.
Auschwitz-Birkenau became the site of the largest mass murder in human history. The Nazis constructed gas chambers and crematoria in Birkenau, and began using them to kill thousands of people at a time. The camp's inmates were subjected to forced labor, starvation, disease, and brutal violence. Many were also subjected to cruel medical experiments conducted by Nazi doctors.
In January 1945, as Soviet forces approached Auschwitz, the Nazis began evacuating the camp, sending many of its remaining prisoners on forced marches to other camps. The Soviet army liberated the camp on January 27, 1945. An estimated 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz, the vast majority of them Jewish.
Today, Auschwitz-Birkenau is a memorial and museum dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. It serves as a powerful reminder of the atrocities committed by the Nazis and the importance of working to prevent such horrors from happening again.
