Auschwitz-Birkenau

Birkenau, also known as Auschwitz II, was a Nazi concentration and extermination center located in Poland. Established in 1941. It consisted of a series of barracks, gas chambers, and crematoria, designed for mass murder and forced labor. It was part of the larger Auschwitz complex and played a central role in the genocide of approximately 1.1 million people, primarily Jews, but also Poles, Romani people, and others. From 1942 until late 1944 freight trains delivered Jews from all over German-occupied Europe to its gas chambers. Of the 1.3 million people sent to Auschwitz, 1.1 million were murdered. The number of victims includes 960,000 Jews (865,000 of whom were gassed on arrival), 74,000 non-Jewish Poles, 21,000 Romani, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, and up to 15,000 others.[8] Those not gassed were murdered via starvation, exhaustion, disease, individual executions, or beatings. Others were killed during medical experiments.

Transport 

Freight trains carrying 80 to 100 people per car, were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Two buckets were provided one for water and one as a toilet.  Several days of travel, many died along the way from sickness, decease and exposure.  

Arrival Gate 

The SS extended the railway line directly into Birkenau, ending near the crematoria. This allowed entire transports to arrive directly at the selection platform, where most people were sent immediately to their deaths.

Arrival and Separation 

After arrival the the people were quickly taken off the train, told to leave their belongings telling them they would pick it up later. The men and women and children were separated and lined up. 

“‘Out, out, out, out!’ We were shocked, we didn’t know what was going on, where we are, we saw only SS with dogs and we saw in the distance symmetric lights–thousands of lights. Out we came from these wagons and we had to line up, and there were people with striped uniforms. … I asked one of them, ‘Where are we?’ Without looking at me he said, ‘Auschwitz.’ … ‘What is Auschwitz?’”

Ruth Elias

Ruth Elias, Auschwitz survivor

Selection 

They slowly moved forward where an SS doctor selected those who are fit for work and become prisoners of the concentration camp before they too are put to death, and ones he's needed for medical experiments. All others were told to go to the right to "shower" and will then go to a work camp where they would be reunited with their families. Hot coffee would be waiting for them after they shower.

Road to the "Showers"

Up to %90 of a transport were chosen for the gas chamber.  People walked along the road told they were going to take a shower and return to their families. towards the showers. They carried with them small belongings as they walked towards their ultimate fate. 

Underground Undressing Room

The people were then led to an enclosed area with a large smoke stack. They were told to descend the stairs into an underground undressing room where they were told to fully undress and to remember the hook they put their close on so they could retrieve them after the shower. 

Gas Chamber

After they undressed, they were hastily led a short distance to the gas chamber where they were crammed into the chamber and now realizing the reality of their fate. The large door with a small peep hole was closed and Zyclon B was dropped into the room from openings above. screams could be heard as people chocked on the gas. In about 20 minutes the door was open and the bodies were polled from the room and processed" checking body cavities and removing gold teeth.

Crematorium

After the bodies cavities were searched and gold teeth were removed, for the bodies were placed on a lift and taken up to the crematorium where they were placed in the oven. For efficiency they would stack bodies on top of fat bodies so the ones on top would burn better.  Towards the end of the war, the SS began to remove the evidence of the atrocities committed at Auschwitz, and in November 1944 the installation was dismantled. On January 20, 1945 dynamite was used to destroy what remained.

Any bones that didn't burn in the crematory oven were crushed and then dumped in a pit behind the crematory or dumped in the river. 

Kanada

The confiscated property of a transport was taken to a storage facility reared by the prisoners as “Kanada” associated with riches. The looted items were then funneled from Auschwitz through an extensive distribution network that served many individuals and various economic branches of the Third Reich.

Block 25 - "Death Barrack"

This barrack, known as the “death Barrack”, was used to house female prisoners deemed unfit for further labour by the SS during selections in the camp and sentenced to detain the gas chambers. Often, they had to wait here for several days before being killed, receiving neither food nor water. As a result, many women died while waiting to be sent to the gas chamber. When this barrack was overcrowded, some of prisoners had to remain outside in the enclosed courtyard. (on site info)