Auschwitz II (or "Birkenau") was completed in early 1942. Located near the town of Oswiecim in southern Poland, Auschwitz was actually three camps in one: a prison camp, an extermination camp, and a slave-labor camp. Auschwitz was Discovered … Succeeded as commandant by Arthur Liebehenschel, Höss joined the SS Business and Administration Head Officein Oranienburg as director of Amt DI, a po… During the Second World War between 1939 and 1945, the National Socialists wanted to systematically murder European Jews. They were also forced to work in coal mines, in stone quarries, in fisheries, and especially in armaments industries such as the SS-owned German Equipment Works (established in 1941). Jun 9, 2020 Ian Harvey. Periodically, prisoners underwent selection. In Auschwitz-Birkenau alone, more than a million victims. In April 1940, Rudolph Höss, who become the first commandant of Auschwitz, identified the Silesian town of Oswiecim in Poland as a possible site for a concentration camp. Born in Baden-Baden in 1900, Rudolf Höss was named the first commandant of Auschwitz when Heinrich Himmler ordered on 27 April 1940 that the camp be established. The cache found in Block 17 includes scissors, shoemaker's tools and utensils.

When the Soviets arrived, only 7,000 prisoners remained, unable to walk and follow their comrades on what became known as "Death Marches" to other camps. The sprawling Auschwitz-Birkenau complex in southern Poland, liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945, was gradually dismantled from mid-1944 and its more than 60,000 prisoners evacuated. It was discovered by Nazi Germany after the Invasion of Poland in September 1939 and were converted to Labor/POW Camp but converted into Concentration Camp. It was also discovered after the war that by the time Auschwitz had been liberated the Allies had photographed the camp at least 30 times during the course of the war. Auschwitz, Nazi Germany’s largest concentration camp and extermination camp. Initially, the camp was meant to intimidate Poles to prevent them from protesting German rule and to serve as a prison for those who did resist. Auschwitz III, aka Monowitz, was established in 1942 at the site of the chemical factories of IG Farbenindustrie near the small village of Monowitz, which was located four kilometers from the town of Auschwitz. It was in Birkenau where the dreaded selections were carried out on the ramp and where the sophisticated and camouflaged gas chambers laid in waiting. It was also perceived as a cornerstone of the policy to re-colonize Upper Silesia, which had once been a German r… Chilling. Auschwitz inmates were employed on huge farms, including the experimental agricultural station at Rajsko. Living with his wife and children in a two-story stucco house near the commandant's and administration building, he served as commandant until 11 November 1943, with Josef Kramer as his deputy. Auschwitz Plans Discovered. Hidden Stash of Prisoner Artifacts Discovered Inside Auschwitz Chimney.