Children…

“For the first time been present outside at
3 a.m. in the morning during a ‘Special
action’ [Sonderaktion]. Compared
with this, Dante’s Inferno seems almost
like a comedy. It is not for nothing that
Auschwitz is called the extermination
camp!
(…)
Participated in a ‘Special action’ from the
women’s concentration camp (“Muslims”):
the most horrible of horrors. Camp doctor
sergeant Thilo is right when he told me
today that here we find ourselves at the
anus mundi [arse-hole of the world].”
FROM JOHANN P. KREMER’S DIARY. SS DOCTOR
AT THE AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU EXTERMINATION CAMP,
2 AND 5 SEPTEMBER, 1942
Auschwitz-Birkenau
From 1940, Auschwitz served as a German concentration
camp for Polish political prisoners. Situated near a
major rail junction, the camp soon grew into a gigantic
complex of some 40 different camps. Best known are
Auschwitz I (Stammlager), Auschwitz II (Birkenau)
and Auschwitz III (Monowitz).A large number of doctors
were at these camps, many of them conducting
pseudo-medical experiments on prisoners.
Mass gassings at Auschwitz began towards the end
of 1941. In spring 1942, they moved to Birkenau, where
two small farmhouses were converted into crude gas
chambers. In spring 1943, four large specially constructed
and technically advanced crematoria with
gas chambers were completed. The gigantic murder
process culminated in spring and summer 1944, when
Hungarian Jews were deported to Birkenau. During
this period, as many as 3 to 4 trainloads could arrive
every day, each carrying 3,000-3,500 people. About a
quarter were selected for labour. The rest were gassed
immediately. Yet even the recently improved crematoria
at Birkenau could not handle the strain, and many
thousands of corpses were burnt in open pits near the
crematoria. The last gassings took place in November
1944. Before the Soviet Army liberated the camp in
January 1945, the SS dismantled and blew up the crematoria.
At Auschwitz, at least 1 million Jews from all
over Europe were murdered, along with approximately
75,000 Poles, 21,000 “Gypsies”, 15,000 Soviet prisoners
of war and 15,000 others.The camp claimed at least
1.1 million victims.
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