In the largest concentration camp in the Third Reich, the atrocities of the Nazis claimed the lives of about 1.5 million people
At the end of the war, the Germans foresaw the victory of the Allied forces and began to destroy the crematorium and documents, while evacuating prisoners from Auschwitz. Those who could not walk remained there and were released by the Red Army on January 27, 1945. There, about 1.5 million people died, most of them in gas chambers.
Arbeit Machr frei (“work liberated” in Portuguese). That is the inscription at the entrance of the largest Nazi concentration camp. It was built in 1940 and is located on the outskirts of Auschwitz, Poland. It consists of three parts: Auschwitz Concentration Camp One, the oldest; Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which will extinct instruments Integrate together; Auschwitz III-Buna (Auschwitz III-Buna), with about 40 sub-domains.
Among the many victims was Olga Lengyel. A Jewess who lived with her husband and children in the city of Cluj, capital of Transylvania. Hearing reports about the atrocities committed by the Nazis in occupied lands, they did not believe that this could become a real nightmare.
In 1944, her husband, who was a doctor, would be deported to Germany. She believed that her partner could be sent to fill the shortage of doctors, and so she chose to follow him with her children. However, it was an ambush. The family’s final destination would be Auschwitz. On the spot, Olga lost her family. However, he survived to tell his story. In Hitler’s Ovens, Olga detailed one of the first accounts of the horror of Nazi death camps.
“(…) The Germans survived thousands of deportees at a time, but this was only to wipe out millions of others. They let these victims do dirty work. They are part of Sonderkommando. Three or four hundred people served in each oven in the crematorium. His duty was to push the prisoners into the gas chamber, and after the massacre, open the door to transport the corpses. Today, Auschwitz is a museum that preserves the memory of the greatest genocide in history. Dealing with difficult routine work in concentration camps.
Prisoners arrive on cattle trains and are selected by doctors. Those able to work are placed in a queue and are tattooed with a registration number. Old people, sick people, pregnant women, children and most of the Jews go to another line, straight to the gas chamber. Those able to take a disinfection bath (against typhus), shave their hair and leave their belongings.
Slavery
Prisoners work at least 11 hours a day to boost the German war machine. They build concentration camp buildings and roads and produce coal, synthetic rubber, chemicals, weapons and fuels in industries like Krupp and IG Farben. Although there are no official figures, several died of fatigue during the works.
Prisoners work at least 11 hours a day to boost the German war machine. They build concentration camp buildings and roads and produce coal, synthetic rubber, chemicals, weapons and fuels in industries like Krupp and IG Farben. Although there are no official figures, several died of fatigue during the works.
The country kitchen prepares food rations three times a day, which usually include a piece of bread, coffee and potato soup. Those who make little physical effort receive about 1300 calories daily. Those who work hard eat 1700 calories. After a few weeks, this starvation diet leads to exhaustion, deterioration of the body and even death.
In Auschwitz I, some 20,000 prisoners sleep in brick pavilions. There are insufficient treliches, and one prisoner sleeps over the other. There is no bathroom or heating – even with temperatures below freezing. In Birkenau, the housings are blocks of wood and bricks made on damp soil. About 700 people occupy each one.
During counting assemblies, prisoners spend hours in the cold, often without their uniforms (long pants, striped shirt and beret), waiting for the Nazis to decide who will be sent to the gas chamber. Intellectuals, politicians and other people considered dangerous are shot at the Wall of Death, at the back of block 11, or hanged.
In general, the destination of 70% of prisoners is the gas chamber. Most of the victims are locked up naked in closed places – the Nazis said they were going to take a shower. Inside, a pipe expels hydrocyanic acid. Death comes in a maximum of 10 minutes. The bodies are then burned in one of the five crematoriums – together, they can burn 4,765 bodies a day.
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