Auschwitz Birkenau Research Paper

Auschwitz-Birkenau Being a prisoner at Auschwitz almost certainly meant death. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest operating death camp, killing well over 4 million people in the end. Auschwitz was composed of three sub-camps, Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II (Birkenau) and Auschwitz III (Monowitz). Each camp had a purpose of its own. People were slaughtered, forced to work, starved, and forced to cremate their fellow prisoners. In the first camp, Auschwitz I, there were many gas chambers. This camp had 4 large gas chambers, which ran constantly. About 2,000 people could fit in one single chamber. The prisoners were gassed with a chemical called Zyklon B, which is a cyanide based chemical that is extremely fatal. The chemical was previously only used to disinfect
They were given small amounts of food, usually too small. Their food was often rotted, and diarrhea was common. Many contagious diseases, like typhus, spread quickly due to the closeness of the inmates. As many as 500 people were forced into one barrack. Finally, some prisoners were forced to run the crematoriums. Prisoners in all three sub-camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau were subject to the assignment. The detainees would run the ovens to dispose of the bodies. The ovens were located in each of the sub-camps, and there were multiple in each. During an uprising, one oven was blown up, to attempt an escape.There were about 4 million people that passed through Auschwitz, and only about 200,000 people survived. People would have to burn family members, friends, and thousands of others every day. The emotional trauma, as well as physical, that was put on these prisoners every day for the duration of their time at the camps is completely insane. Auschwitz-Birkenau is referred to as the “harshest camp of all time”. There were very little survivors compared to the mass amounts of people that were shipped there. Prisoners were enslaved, starved, and slaughtered, with immense amounts of pain and suffering