Auschwitz (actually, it was a complex of camps) was established on 27 April 1940 by order of SS chief Heinrich Himmler in the German-occupied part of Poland, namely on the outskirts of Oswiecim (Auschwitz in German), 60 km southeast of Krakow. The area was chosen because it was a railway junction with 44 lines, so trains carrying displaced Jews from every corner of occupied Europe could arrive with ease.
Initially Auschwitz 1, a concentration camp for political prisoners, mainly Poles and Germans, was established. In October 1941, construction began on a second camp, Auschwitz 2 (also known as Birkenau), with four gas chambers. There the "final solution" of the Jewish people was realized (1942-1944) as a result of the Wannsee Conference, reaching at one point the number of 20,000 cremations per day. In this camp, SS doctors treated the prisoners as guinea pigs, conducting gruesome eugenics experiments.
In May 1942, Auschwitz 3, a forced labour camp, was created, supplying labour to the IG Farben chemical consortium, which was formed by well-known post-war companies such as BASF, Bayer, Hoechst (now Sanofi) and AGFA.
In May 1942, Auschwitz 3, a forced labour camp, was created, supplying labour to the IG Farben chemical consortium, which was formed by well-known post-war companies such as BASF, Bayer, Hoechst (now Sanofi) and AGFA.
With the Soviet advance on the Eastern Front, Auschwitz gradually began to be abandoned and prisoners were transferred west to other concentration camps. In the infamous "death marches" thousands of prisoners died from hardship or were killed by the Germans. 7,650 helpless prisoners remained at Auschwitz, released by Red Army men on 27 January 1945.
From Greece, about 55,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz, the majority of them from Thessaloniki. This was the most numerous ethnic group after the Jews from Hungary (430,000), Poland (300,000), France (69,000) and the Netherlands (60,000). 3⁄4 of the Greek Jews were exterminated in its gas chambers shortly after their arrival.
On October 7, 1944, the only act of resistance at Auschwitz by Greek Jews occurred when they attacked the German soldiers who had come to select 200 condemned to death in the crematoria. The uprising was drowned in blood and only 26 of the 300 Greek Jews survived. But it was also the first time the Germans suffered casualties at Auschwitz. Three non-commissioned officers were killed and 14 soldiers were wounded.
Although the Germans destroyed parts of the camp before abandoning it, much of Auschwitz 1 and 2 (Birkenau) remained intact and was later turned into a museum and memorial. In 1979, Auschwitz-Birkenau was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
January 27, the date of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army in 1945, has been declared by the UN as the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust and by Greece as the Day of Remembrance of the Greek Jewish Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust.
January 27, the date of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army in 1945, has been declared by the UN as the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust and by Greece as the Day of Remembrance of the Greek Jewish Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust.
Source: sansimera.gr
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