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Auschwitz was a series of 3 camps. The first camp was known as Auschwitz 1. It was the main camp and the first to be made in 1940. It was continuously expanded by forced labor. It was mainly a concentration camp.
But it also had a gas chamber and crematorium. Auschwitz 2 was known as Biirkenau, also. Its construction started in October 1941. It had the largest Prisoner Population. It was divided by electrical fences into 9 different sections. It is guarded by SS guards and dogs.
There were sections for women, men, Roma's, and their families deported from the Therisienstodt Ghetto. It was mainly an extermination camp. Auschwitz 3 was the least known of all of them. It was also called Buna of Monwitz. It was established near by Monowia to provide forced laborers for the Buna Synthetic Rubber Works. The transportation to Auschwitz was by train.
They rode on cattle cars for up to three days at a time, with no bathroom, sometimes cramming up to 75 men, women, and children in at a time. The little ones and the weak ones had to be careful when they opened the doors because of the rush of the people getting off, they would often be trampled. When they reach the train station Soribor Station. They were hurried along so fast that they never realized that the station was fake and was just connected round to deportation centers. The hands on the clock did not move, and the timesheet arrivals were fake also. When they first arrived at Auschwitz, the victims were checked in and given an I.
D. number. The I. D.
number was then tattooed onto their body, usually the arm. Over 404, 000 I. D. numbers were given out all together. 237, 426 went to male prisoners, 133, 496 went to female prisoners. After they got all the people in order and all the numbers assigned, they were assigned a bunker. This was were they would be able to sleep when time allowed.
There was single bunk beds in there, about 40 of 25 each, when space got limited, they would sometimes make people share beds, even though they were singles. After they got all that arranged, all the prisoners were divided up into different classes. First they were divides by age, and gender. Then they were also divided up into there ability to work. If they are not able to work very well, then sometimes they would be worked to death in days, and sometimes they would be sent straight to the gas chambers. But they did not know they were going to the gas chamber, they were told it was a hot shower, and since they had not had a shower in such a long time, they had to follow.
If they were able to work, then they were dressed and then sent directly to the working lines. If there was work to be done like expanding, then they were required to do it. If there was a repair, then they were required to fix it. But if there was no work to be done, then they had to dig ditches and then fill them back in. They were worked very hard no matter what, and received only enough to eat to keep them alive.
Sometimes, they were fed as little as the water that they washed potatoes in, and if they were lucky, they would find some potato skin or if really lucky, a chunk of meat. But not usually. The way they got their prisoners around was really awful. They had things called death marches. A death march is a very long march they take the prisoners on. Sometimes to move them, and sometimes just to kill them.
The marches were anywhere from 3 - 20 miles long. They would walk all this way, if they couldnt keep up they would be shot. If they broke their ankle or leg or just couldnt go on for any reason, they would either be shot or left there to die. If the Nazis thought they were just trying to fool them, so they could run when everyone else got far enough away, then the Nazi would shoot him or her in the leg or somewhere so they couldnt move, and just leave them their to die. A total of about 250, 000 people died during them.
The Nazis also murdered them. They would line them up, one behind another, then shoot a bullet to see how many people they could shoot through with one bullet. Then, they would move the dead out of the way and do it again. They would also line the bodies up along huge pits in the ground, that other prisoners have dug. They would be forced to remove their closes, and then the Nazis would take turns shooting them in the back or the back of the head.
Then they would just let them fall into the pit. If they were lucky the shot would kill them, if they werent, they would be covered with other dead bodies and then when the pit got full of them, they were covered with dirt. It is estimated about 261, 000 inmates died in Auschwitz. About 80, 000 of those deaths was from the infamous death marches. Auschwitz takeover began in January 1945. As the Soviets advanced, Auschwitz was abandoned.
About 7, 650 inmates were freed by the Soviets. All the others were freed on January 17, 1945. When they reached Auschwitz, the Nazis had dynamited the four gas chambers and crematoriums. The holocaust had a terrible affect on people. It made some people believe that killing people just because they are different was the right thing to do. But, it also made some people realize that not everyone should be alike.
The world would get too boring if you saw basically the same face everyday. The families that were involved in the Holocaust were torn apart. Not only the victims families, but the soldiers also. They were sentenced in a set of trails known as the Nuremberg Trials. Some of the families were never the same.
It just shows what one stupid powerful man can do to a country. You have to be careful of who you listen to, or something will go wrong. Take Hitler and all the young, innocent teenagers, some even just as old as you and me. He took them and molded them into mean, killing machines.
They thought what they were doing was right, because Hitler had them brainwashed to. Now, people look back, and said they would have done something sooner. I dont think so, they would have been too scared if the time came. I know I would be. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Gas Chambers Death Marches
