Oswiecim was one of many towns in southern Poland annexed to the German Reich after the fall of Poland in 1939. Germans called it Auschwitz, and it was here, outside the town proper, that a complex of three particularly infamous Nazi extermination camps were built during 1940-42.

Auschwitz I, built in June 1940, was intended to hold Polish political prisoners. Auschwitz II, also known as Birkenau, was much larger and could accommodate more than 100,000 inmates; it opened in October 1941. Auschwitz III developed from a camp at Monowitz, a facility that supplied slave labor for a nearby I. G. Farben synthetic rubber and oil works. At Birkenau, gas chambers and crematoria were installed, primarily to murder and incinerate Jews as part of Adolf Hitler's Final Solution. It is reported that by 1944, more than 6,000 inmates were murdered each day. About a quarter million Hungarian Jews were killed here during a single six-week period. Birkenau was also the site of grotesque and sadistic medical "experiments" performed by Dr. Josef Mengele, known as the "Angel of Death."

A resistance movement developed within Auschwitz, though very few inmates managed to escape. Two who did in 1942 first carried to the world reports of the genocide. Three more escapees in 1944 carried even more horrific reports. A major revolt took place in October 1944, when slave laborers at a nearby armaments plant managed to convey explosives to some inmates. These were used to blow up a gas chamber, and in the resulting chaos 250 inmates escaped, only to be shot down. An additional 200 inmates, accused of complicity in the uprising, were also executed. All three camps were liberated by advancing soldiers of the Red Army in January 1945. However, before their arrival, the Waffen SS began the demolition of the camp and "evacuated" all ambulatory inmates to Germany. They left behind the sick and dying--as well as mountains of corpses awaiting cremation. The Soviets hurriedly announced that Auschwitz had been the place of death for some 4 million. This was a gross exaggeration, but the reality was horrific enough: 1.2 million to 1.5 million killed.

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