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Auschwitz

Auschwitz was a Nazi controlled concentration, extermination and labor camp located in Poland. Opened in 1940, the camp was liberated in 1945 by Soviet troops. Questions and answers about Auschwitz can be found here.

731 Questions

What happened to Auschwitz after the Soviets liberated it?

Auschwitz I, II and III were liberated by the Soviet Army on 27 January 1945. The remaining prisoners (about 7,500) were nursed back to health, but some were extremely ill and died after being liberated. (The survivors included a baby girl who had been born about 36 hours before the Soviet Army arrived: mother and daughter both lived).

In 1947 the Polish government decided to turn parts of Auschwitz into a museum. The museum is standing and is open to the public.

Why didn't the allies bombed Auschwitz?

Because we were never in war with them. We were really only in war with Japan, because of the bombing of pearl harbor and stuff. Germany just sorta got in our way.

Germany declared war on America in December 1941. Atomic bombs weren't used because Germany surrendered in May 1945, before atomic weapons had been produced.

What were Auschwitz punishments?

  1. Whippings.
  2. Having big, hungry dogs unleashed on you.
  3. Being made to spend a whole night squashed together with three other people in a really tiny cell, then having to do a full day's work.
  4. Wrists tied behind the back, then hoisted off the ground.
  5. Death by hanging on a short drop.
  6. Death by starvation.

What were the ages of the people sent to Auschwitz?

Every age of Jews were sent to the camps, from newborns to centegenarians.

Why were the Birkenau gas chambers destroyed and why won't they rebuild them?

The allies after the war didnt rebuild Birkenau gas chambers because they were responsible of killings of thousands of jews

How many times a day did prisoners at Auschwitz eat?

Calling it 'Eating' is quite misleading. But it was three times in a day, they were served 'tea' and soup.

Different categories of prisoner would be given different rations. The Jew's ration of 200 Calories per day was almost never met, as though this much food was ordered, often some would be spoiled and that which was not spoiled would often be reduced by anyone picking the best bits before it got to the end-user.

What did Auschwitz prisoners wear?

If you have seen Boy In the Striped Pyjamas you would kind of get the idea of what they wore in some concentrationn camps, faded blue and white striped jumpsuits. But in some the wore old, big, Grey, baggy and stinky clothes or jumpsuits.
Blue or gray stripe pajama type tops and pants. It wasn't much. No coats were given in the cold weather.

What did prisoners at Auschwitz have tattooed on their arm?

Prisoners in the camps were tattooed for two reasons. Firstly, it was their "Prison ID Number", and second (and more cruelly) it is against Jewish law to become tattooed or to desecrate ones flesh. So, the Germans tattooing the mostly Jewish prisoners was a sick joke almost, as it would not allow them to enter their heaven or to even be buried in a Jewish cemetery as this is not permitted.

Why did the Auschwitz camp open?

to put more jews in there cuz the other camps where already filled up

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Auschwitz opened in May 1940 as a harsh concentration camp for:

  • Members of the Polish resistance.
  • Polish intellectuals.
  • Habitual criminal (mainly from Germany).

A handful of these early inmates were even released ...

Auschwitz did not become a Nazi extermination centre till 1942.

When did the Nazis first start sending Jews to Auschwitz?

Jews were miinly sent to Auschwitz between 1942-1944 but some Jews were sent to Auschwitz in 1940-1941 and 1945.

Why didn't prisoners revolt at Auschwitz?

they did. Several hundred inmates learned in October 1944 that they were to be killed and rose up against the Nazis, killing three guards. They also blew up one of the crematoriums and a gas chamber with explosives smuggled in by inmates who were used as forced labor at an arms factory.

The Nazis crushed the uprising, killing almost everyone who was involved. The women who smuggled the explosives into the camp were hanged in public.

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The revolt only included some 400 of the Sonderkommando. Unfortunately the resistance group of the main camp, with whom the SK had been planning a revolt for the previous few months, refused to join in as knew that the Soviets were not far away.

How many Jews were murdered at Auschwitz?

About 1.3 millon

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No, that's one estimate of the number that were killed there. The extermination camp at Birkenau (Auschwitz II) was a highly efficient killing centre. Trainloads of Jews arrived, the majority was classified as unfit for work and were dead with 24 hours.

The number of Jews living in the Auschwitz complex as slave labourers was not more than 20,000 at any one time.

What did the Auschwitz inmates eat?

none really if you where lucky you where feed stale bread crust and a very small portion of water.

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there was food, but the Jews were not allowed to eat it.

Which country built Auschwitz?

Auschwitz isn't a country, it is a town in Southern Poland just West of Krakow, made famous by the Germans who set up many concentration camps in the area during the Holocaust.

How many people died before the Auschwitz was liberated?

assuming that you mean how many were dead there, as opposed to anywhere else or had died at any other time: Almost all of the dead that had died before the 19th had been disposed of, so the only dead were from those too weak to march out of there in the (just over a) week before they were liberated. The figure i think is about two thousand.

How many miles would Anne Frank have traveled as a prisoner of the Germans from Amsterdam to Westerbork to Auschwitz-Birkenauand Bergen-Belsen?

Anne Frank was moved by the Germans from Amsterdam to Westerbork, from Westerbork to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and then to Bergen-Belson where she died. How many miles did Anne travel while prisoner of the Germans?

2000 miles

What are some groups that were killed at Auschwitz?

Gypsies, lesbians, handicapped, Jewish, or anyone who oppsed Hitler.

Male homosexuals and soviet pow were a big target

How many people were sent to Auschwitz?

In a 1989 article by Franciszek Piper, the head of research at the Auschwitz Museum:

  1. At least 1.3 million prisoners entered the Auschwitz complex.
  2. Just under 200,000 left alive. This does not of course mean that they all survived. Many, like Anne and Margot Frank, were moved to other camps, where they perished.
  3. 1.1 million were killed at Auschwitz, of whom about 85-90% were Jews.

What was the year Auschwitz was established?

The camps that were officially and only designed for killing occured right after the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942 in Poland.

These included the six infamous camps:

Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Majdanek.

However, the nearly hundred or more other detention and slave labor camps in other areas occupied by Nazi Germany starting with Dachau in 1933 had horrible conditions any many times served effectively as killing camps.

For example, just to name two camps that were not set up as killing camps, but ended up killing thousands and thousands were:

Bergen Belsen -- 50,000 killed

Theresienstadt -- 33,000 killed

It's very important to remember also that the Nazis didn't just kill in concentration camps.

They also killed in prisoner of war camps. For example they killed 3.5 Soviet prisoners of war.

It is estimated Nazis killed about one million Jews and others by hanging or shooting within several weeks of invading the Soviet Union.

Lastly, Nazis even planned to kill entire cities by starvation. Consider the 872 day seige of Leningrad where the Nazis killed about another million.

Who was held in Auschwitz?

Anyone the Nazi's wanted to get rid of - old people, insane people, crippled people, catholics, polish people etc. And of course Jews. Lots and lots of Jews.

What was Dr Josef Menegele's job at Auschwitz?

Mengele performed medical experiments on the inmates. This included atrocities such as sterilization and unnecessary surgery (even sewing twins together to make them "conjoined"). Perhaps most famous is his experiments on twins. He believed that he had a rare opportunity to make sure a set of twins would die at the same time, and he would perform autopsies. He was known as the Angel of Death.