The Horrors of Auschwitz

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The words inscribed above the Auschwitz concentration camp read; "Arbeit Macht Frei,” meaning, “work brings freedom.” These deceiving words gave unsuspecting prisoners hope that they could get out of the most destructive concentration camp during the entire Holocaust. This concentration camp would kill over one million people. Auschwitz will be fully analyzed, starting with the early stages of Auschwitz, then the Jews and the horrors of Auschwitz, and finally the final days of Auschwitz. The events that took place at Auschwitz concentration camp were horrifying and led to the death of millions.
Auschwitz was founded as a German concentration camp on April 27, 1940. The camp served as a Polish artillery base before the camp was formed in southwestern Poland. The direct reasoning for Auschwitz being formed was to quarantine over ten thousand Poles that were arrested and have them do forced labor (Laqueur and Tydor 32). Rudolf Hoss was selected to be the head of the camp. Hoss was the youngest sergeant in the German army during World War I, but did not hold a high rank when he was chosen for the job at Auschwitz (Laqueur and Tydor 34).
At first, Auschwitz was a very small camp that had buildings, called “blocks” that couldn’t hold very many prisoners (Laqueur and Tydor 34). Auschwitz may have been a small camp that only held 15,000 to 20,000 prisoners and produced synthetic rubber and fuel but there were big plans in store for this camp (Auschwitz Museum). Hoss and the leaders of Auschwitz saw the capture of several million Red Army men as an opportunity to grow their camp, and the German army agreed to hand over several hundred thousand men to Auschwitz (Laqueur and Tydor 34). In October of 1941, work began on extending the camp by...

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... Home Page - Museum. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 1999. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. .
Berenbaum, Michael. "Auschwitz (concentration Camp, Poland)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. .
Curry, Andrew. "Can Auschwitz Be Saved?" Smithsonian. Smithsonian Magazine, Feb. 2010. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
Doerrry, Martin. "Auschwitz Survivor Ernest W. Michel: "My Interview with Göring" - SPIEGEL ONLINE." SPIEGEL ONLINE. SPIEGEL ONLINE, 28 Nov. 2006. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
Laqueur, Walter and Judith Tydor Baumel- Schwartz. The Holocaust Encyclopedia. 2001. Print

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