An Annotated Bibliography: Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Rachel Rothermel

Miss Schmidt

Honors English 9

February 26,2018
Rachel Rothermel

Miss Schmidt

Honors English 9

February 26, 2018

“Auschwitz.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust

Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005189.

In this website, one is able to find plenty of helpful information based on one of

the largest concentration camps during the Holocaust, Auschwitz. This camp was

comprised of 3 main camps: Auschwitz 1, Birkenau, and Monowitz. The Nazis

established this collection of camps in the early 1940s near the city of Oswiecim.

It was written that the SS Officers collected about 1.3 million prisoners and

murdered about 1.1 million of them at Auschwitz through 1940-1945. Throughout

the years of the Holocaust, Auschwitz had many commanders who were in charge

of the camp complex and they made sure everything was going in the correct

order. These commanders include: SS Lieutenant Colonel Rudolf Hoess, SS

Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Liebehenschel, and SS Major Richard Baer. At these

three death camps, the Nazis used the prisoners for forced labor. One of the Nazis

main reasons for creating concentration camps was to serve as a site to target

groups whose death was determined by the SS and police authorities to be

essential to the security of Nazi Germany.

Like many other death camps, Auschwitz had gas chambers so that the Nazis

could eliminate massive amounts or prisoners at a time by using a poisonous gas.

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At Auschwitz, there were also many physicians who would perform horrific

medical experiments on babies, twins, dwarfs, etc. One of the most famous

physicians who performed these awful trials was Dr. Josef Mengele. Jews would

arrive at these camps by being forced out of their homes by SS Officers and

stuffed into train cars with about 90 people per car. The Germans would transport

Jews from all across Europe to the camps, without them even knowing where they

were going. Eventually, on January 27, 1945, the Soviet Army entered Auschwitz,

liberating over 6,000 Jews who were suffering and dying. Overall, the actions

caused by the Nazis were horrifying and unacceptable, yet the Germans had no

respect towards the Jewish people and decided to put them through torture all

because of their religious beliefs.

Auschwitz III - Monowitz - History of the camp,

www.scrapbookpages.com/Poland/Auschwitz/MonowitzHistory.html.

Another one of the concentration camps that made up Auschwitz was Auschwitz

III or Monowitz. Out of all three of these death camps, Auschwitz-Monowitz was

the most significant. Germany relied on this camp the most because its factories

were essential to their war effort. Surprisingly, the Jewish prisoners who were

sent to Monowitz had a much better chance of surviving than any of the other

camps at Auschwitz. This was the case because the prisoners who worked at the

factories were considered too valuable for the Nazis to kill and get rid of. Two of
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the most famous survivors who worked at the factories in Monowitz were Elie

Weisel and Primo Levi who both ended up writing about their experiences during

the Holocaust. The factories of which the Jews worked at were built by IG Farben

Company. Some of these factories at Auschwitz III still remain standing yet

abandoned, while others are still in use as factories.

The Monowitz sub-camp was also known as Bunalager or Buna. In November

1943, it became the Auschwitz III camp with its own administrative headquarters.

Auschwitz III also consisted of 28 sub-camps. This area was known as “Black

Triangle” because of its coal deposit. In the sub-camps, the workers worked with

the Buna plant, which attracted the attention of Germany’s allies. The Monowitz

camp remained open just a week before the Russian liberators arrived. The last

roll call of all three of the Auschwitz camps combined showed a total of 67,012

prisoners remaining and set free from Auschwitz.

“Glossary.” Wollheim Memorial, www.wollheim-

memorial.de/en/auschwitz_i_stammlager_2.

The main camp of Auschwitz was Auschwitz 1, which was built in May and June

1940. Since the Germans weren’t happy with they Jewish people’s beliefs and

race, they decided to persecute them and work them to death to lower the Jewish

population. Jews all over Europe were forced out of their homes and many of

them were deported to Auschwitz. The living conditions for these prisoners at
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Auschwitz 1 were very unpleasant and difficult to survive through. Many

prisoners suffered from diseases and illnesses that were spread throughout the

barracks and were not able to be treated. In Auschwitz 1, there were many blocks

that each served for a different purpose in the camp. For instance, Blocks 1 to 10

were considered a “women’s concentration camp” where many women, mainly

from Slovakia, were forced to work. Block 11 served as a site for torture and

punishment where thousands of Jews were executed in front of a brick was.

In September 1941, this death camp experimented with a poisonous gas called

Zyklon B. The Nazis used this deadly gas to exterminate a massive amount of

prisoners at a time. Since Auschwitz 1 had one of the four largest gas chambers at

the time, the Germans were able to murder about 2,000 Jews at a time. The Nazis

would also tire the Jews out by sending them on death marches. On death

marches, the SS Officers would send about 16,000 surviving prisoners the go on

runs. The innocent Jews would have to run until they get too exhausted to

continue the journey or if they couldn’t keep up with the others, they would be

shot to death. More than 1,000 prisoners would be liberated along the marches at

Auschwitz 1.

Wiesel, Elie, et al. Night. Avon Books, 1969.

Elie Weisel was about 15 years old when his family was forced out of their home

and into a train car not knowing where anyone was going. Weisel’s family
consisted of his mother, father, two older sisters, a one younger sister. In his book,

“Night,” Weisel describes the struggles he confronted during his time at the

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concentration camps. His family along with other fellow Jews were loaded into a

train car and transported to Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp during the

Holocaust. Everyone on the train had no clue where they were going, and due to

the long ride, many of the travelers were going insane because of the lack of food,

water, and air in the train. Once Weisel and his family arrived at Auschwitz, they

were sent immediately to selection, where they would be sorted into two different

directions. His mother and sister were sent into opposite directions than Weisel

and his father. During this moment, Weisel didn’t know that that would be the last

time he would see his mother and little sister before they perished in the gas

chambers.

Elie Weisel and his father continued to obey the rules of the Nazi soldiers

throughout their day as they were forced into doing difficult and tiring work. The

conditions at the death camp were horrible. The prisoners were stuffed with 3

people per bed in a barrack, very scarce amounts of food, frigid weather in the

winter, etc. As time went on, Weisel and his father began to get weaker and

weaker. Hundreds of neighbors around them were dying and struggling to

continue on. Unfortunately, Weisel’s father became way too weak to continue on
 and none of the doctors would help him, and he eventually passed away. Weisel

continued to push through these harsh conditions without his father. Eventually,

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the concentration camp of which Weisel was imprisoned at was liberated, and

Weisel was set free. As a young boy going through all of these unfortunate and

cruel events, Weisel was able to find the strength he needed to finish this journey,

and he documented his story to share with the rest of the world.

www.auschwitz.org. “AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU.” Polski,

auschwitz.org/en/history/auschwitz-ii/.

Another one of the concentration camps that made up Auschwitz was Birkenau.

The construction of Auschwitz II, also known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, took place

at Brzezinka in October 1941. Out of all of the camps at Auschwitz, Auschwitz-

Birkenau had the most amount of prisoners at the time of the Holocaust. The

camp was separated into ten sections divided by electrical barded wire. This death

camp contained mainly Jews from Germany, Austria, the Protectorate of Bohemia

and families from the Moravia Theresienstadt ghetto.

During the summer and autumn of 1941, Zyklon B gas was introduced to the Nazi

leaders, which led them into creating a quicker way of killing: the gas chambers.

In Birkenau, the SS converted two farmhouses into what the Germans would use
as the gas chambers. Birkenau also became a place where prisoners were

concentrated before being transferred to labor in German industry in the depths of

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the Third Reich, which is the name given by the Nazis to their government in

Germany in 1933-1945.

In Birkenau, Four large crematorium buildings were also constructed between

March and June 1943. Each of these had three components: a undressing area, a

large gas chamber, and crematorium ovens. The SS continued gassing operations

at Auschwitz-Birkenau until November 1944. 90% of the prisoners who entered

the concentration camp of Auschwitz were murdered in Birkenau. This means

approximately 1 million Jews. Overall, Birkenau functioned in these ways

throughout the Holocaust. Auschwitz remains as a symbol of terror and genocide

as the rest of the world continues to learn more about these horrible acts.