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"AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU." Auschwitz II-Birkenau / History / Auschwitz-Birkenau. Web. 31

Mar. 2016. <http://auschwitz.org/en/history/auschwitz-ii/>.
Although the shortest site found on the subject of Auschwitz-Birkenau, it proved to be
very descript and to the point. It is sure to be reliable because it is the official site of
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. The site goes over different facts such as
how many camps were within Auschwitz-Birkenau, how many people died there, and
specific dates such as when the construction of Auschwitz-Birkenau first began, which
was October 1941. The main theme of the website would be death and how many people
died. It is nice that included within the website are what types of people perished there.
For example, 20,000 gypsies died there. The website also offers an online lesson
including pictures, videos, and short paragraphs describing what each picture is of.

"Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945)." UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Web. 31 Mar. 2016. <http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/31>.

In a paragraph called Statement of Significance on the website for the United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Website, the author talks about the origins of the
camp, the history of it, and why it was first necessary to build a camp of this magnitude.
The Nazi policy of spoliation, degradation and extermination of the Jews was rooted in a
racist and anti-Semitic ideology propagated by the Third Reich, which was said by the
Author/s of this website. The reason I included this in the annotated bibliography is
because I think this statement best describes the Nazis beliefs and way of doing things.
The structure of the website is built around how Auschwitz-Birkenau was built, the

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materials used, and the general structure of the buildings and property. For example,
included within is how the walls were fortified, the barbed wire, railway sidings,
barracks, gallows, gas chambers, and crematoriums. This website also answers questions
to commonly asked questions about World War II such as how the Nazis performed the
systematic mass murder and exterminations of European Jews and undesirables. Many
others are included as well that shows how cruel the Germans really were to the people in
the camp.

"The Holocaust." Holocaust History. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/about/05/auschwitz_birkenau.asp>.
The World Holocaust Remembrance Center covers some more far out topics in World
War II such as ways of exterminating Jews and people you may have encountered at
Auschwitz-Birkenau such as Dr. Josef Mengele. If you are interested in how the people
died at the camps, this website may be for you. It goes in to in depth detail of how the
Jews and others were killed. Included as well is the jobs and functions other prisoners
would perform at the camp. Mainly how the veteran prisoners would act and what kind of
work they would do when new prisoners arrived. An interesting fact I found from this
website was, In the spring and summer of 1944, the rate of extermination was increased
as the Jews of Hungary and the Lodz ghetto were brought to the camp. This website was
also extremely interesting and useful because it explained the steps of what would happen
upon arrival to the camp, what would happen during and after selections, and finally, the
inevitable death that occurred there.

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Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print.
In the small town of Sighet, Elie Wiesel and his family ignore the warning of what
Germans were doing to European Jews and decided to hang around. This proved to be the
wrong decision. The Germans invade his town not long after, and take him and the few
others that stayed to a concentration camp. There, selections were performed and Elie and
his father were separated from his mother and sister, not knowing he would never see
them again.
While Elie Wiesel is performing forced labor in the camps with his father and many other
Jews like him in a similar situation, he struggles to survive and keep a positive faith.
Nearing the end of the war and the holocaust, Wiesels father becomes deathly ill and is
forced to watch him suffer and be beaten because there is simply nothing he can do about
it. It take a toll on him.
Shortly after this, Elie Wiesels father passed away and is left in this world all alone.
Soon the camp is liberated and Wiesel is left to start a life for himself. Although Wiesel
lost much of his faith through this experience, he gained some of it back at the end of the
war so he could tell his story in his series of memoirs. This one being Night.