The Evolution of Auschwitz

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A Polish prisoner in Auschwitz, Pavel Stemin, stated, “Death, death, death. Death at night, death in the morning, death in the afternoon. Death. We lived with death. How could a human feel?” (“The History”). Contraction camps played a huge role in the Nazi’s plan to slaughter the Jewish people, and throughout the holocaust they succeeded in killing approximately two-thirds of the Jews in Europe (“Concentration Camp”). It’s been estimated that 1.1 million to 1.5 million people were murdered at the Nazi concentration camp called Auschwitz (“1945: Liberated”). Over time Auschwitz evolved into a horrific place of torture and injustice and became a destination of mass murder and inhumane treatments. It all began on April 27, 1940 near Oswiecim, Poland when Heinrich Himmler ordered the camp’s construction (“Encyclopedia”). Later, Rudolf Höss, the posted commander, and additional SS men arrived at what was then the town’s deserted army barracks (“AUSCHWITZ”). Originally, Auschwitz was not designed to be a death camp, but merely meant to restrict and persecute the Polish descendants, who were considered to be a threat (“The History”). The first mass transport consisted of 728 Poles, who came as political prisoners accused of either enmity to Germans, participation in resistance, helping Jews, spreading propaganda, and/or other acts of rebellion towards the German government (“AUSCHWITZ”). The site was initially created to accommodate for only ten-thousand people, but as the intake of prisoners grew, it was forced to expand (“The History”). Exceeding its limits, Auschwitz developed into a whole complex of death camps with three main camps and forty-five sub-camps (“AUSCHWITZ”). The original camp, known as Auschwitz I, housed prisoners as w... ... middle of paper ... ...n Jew men, women, and children perished due to the holocaust (“Encyclopedia”). Eugenia Samuel, a Treblinka villager, declared, “I’ll never forget what I saw. Those little children, those people. What did they ever do to anyone? It was a terrible thing” (“The History”). Never become callous to the suffering that took place during the holocaust in this barbaric time of history, and always remember. Works Cited The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Auschwitz (concentration Camp, Poland).” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2014. “1945: Auschwitz Death Camp Liberated” BBC News. BBC, 27 Jan. 1945. Web. 04 Apr. 2014 “AUSCHWITZ” YouTube. YouTube, 16 June 2013. Web. 04 Apr. 2014 “The History of Auschwitz.” PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2014 “Auschwitz Concentration and Death Camp.” About.com 20th Century History. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2014.

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