Were the buna and buchenwald concentration camps the same camp?

Answer 1

(a somewhat briefer and more concise answer):

Auschwitz I - was the original camp (mainly for political prisoners)

Birkenau (Auschwitz II) - was the expansion, mainly for Jews, where 99% of the Auschwitz gassings took place.

Monowitz (Auschwitz III) - built mainly for slave labour for the Buna works.

Auschwitz-Birkeanu was just one part of Auschitz.

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Yes, and no.

It is camp number II, or 2, of the Auschwitz complex, and is only slightly removed in distance from the first camp, the main Auschwitz I camp closer to the town of Osweicim. Executions and murders took place in both camps, though the main barracks for forced laborers seems to have been in Auschwitz II (Auschwitz Birkenau), while the main gas chambers seem to have run fulltime in camp I, or Auschwitz I.

Both camps had railyards for loading and unloading detainees and prisoners. Auschwitz II seemed much larger to me than Auschwitz I, when I was there. But much time has passed and it may be that parts of each camp have been given over to farming or businesses, over time.

The Polish word for the German name Auschwitz, is Osweicim (I am missing the accent marks over certain letters here, but if you Google either the German or Polish name, you will find it). The town existed before the camps did, but the town is now irretrievably linked with the camp's history. These 2 camps (plus clusters of officers' and other housing for camp workers and their families) were approximately 40 miles from Krakow (Cracow), Poland.

The camps were set amidst homes and farms, off a main road, about a 15 minute walk from the main train station, and the two camps are roughly 15-20 minutes walk from one another. The area was wooded, but was quickly deforested as the camps were being built; the camps were visible to and could be heard (and smelled by) townspeople and farmers in the area at the time, and also would have been visible to travelers going to and from the area by train.

I lived in Poland for 3 years, in Krakow, and often went to the different camps when there.

There were quite a few other camps in the area, not just these 2, and some were within 15 minutes walk or drive from Krakow city center itself; Podgorze ghetto, Plaszow camp, Skawina village, etc.

In Skawina (another close suburb of Krakow) were small, temporary forced labor camps and railroad sidings where prisoners and forced laborers were sent by train to the companies operating there, some of which are the same companies or subsidiaries of the same firms, which stayed open during and after the war.

Not all camps were built as, or were intended to be, killing camps. Some, the ones in Kliny/Borek Falenski (suburbs of Krakow now), were forced labor camps for captured POWs from the UK or US or France, or for Polish army AWOLs. Harsh treatment definitely happened there, forced labor, too, and very little food was given; deaths occurred, and plenty of other bad acts, but there were no gas chambers at many of these other camps nearby.

The camps did not completely disappear after the war. Some camp sites were later re-used in part, for labor or reeducation camps for Polish dissidents, anti-Communists. Some Jews who returned to the area after the conflict of WWII ended, who were later thrown out of the country in the 1940s and again in the 1960s, were sent to these places to await being evicted from the country. However, during those periods, they were run more like jails or way stations and less like the killing camps they were during the war. The worst act was the forced evictions themselves, where those who returned were sent away with nothing, and their Polish passports and lands were stripped from them.

There were 6 camps similar to Auschwitz throughout the country; many more existed, but were not considered extermination camps, where the goal was to kill most or all of those sent there. Many were forced labor or reeducation camps, and some were de facto jails for dissidents, where not much forced labor occurred. In all, I think there were approximately 16-20 camps in Occupied Poland being run by the Germans, and which were manned by Poles or neighboring Ukrainians or Czechs, at times.

None of the conditions were good. All of the people who survived them suffered greatly. The camps which do still exist are sad, dark places to visit, and do reflect that sad past, but it is encouraging that people are trying to properly restore and maintain what they can. Many of the exhibits in the camps are deteriorating rapidly, because of poorly handled restoration efforts long ago, or due to no preservation efforts being made at all.

Vandals and homeless people often attack and deface the walls, gates, statues and open grassy areas within the gates of these places. The main gate sign to Auschwitz I was removed and cut into pieces a few years ago, and hidden away by thieves, but it has been returned and is now repaired. Plaszow, particularly, has been hard hit by vandals with litter, graffiti and people destroying signs, gates and fences, and homeless people and unemployed youth hanging out, drinking and setting fires in the caves on the site.

If you ever visit the areas, be sure and see all that you can while you can, as there is a concerted effort ongoing there, to open up more camp land for road and home building, and farming, and in some places, very little effort is being extended to preserve what is left.

Answer 2

No. Buna was a nickname for Auschwitz III. Buchenwald was 200 miles or more to the west, near Weimar.