AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU THE PAST AND THE PRESENT - 1 - CONTENTS: BEFORE AUSCHWITZ 3 NAZI IDEOLOGY 3 OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II 3 NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS 4 AUSCHWITZ 1940-1945. AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE CAMP 4 ESTABLISHMENT 4 EVICTION OF THE LOCAL POPULATION 5 EXPANSION 6 AUSCHWITZ SUB-CAMPS 7 CUT OFF FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD 7 RESISTANCE IN THE CAMP AND ITS ENVIRONS 7 AUSCHWITZ AS A CONCENTRATION CAMP 8 AUSCHWITZ AND THE EXTERMINATION OF JEWS 9 LIBERATION 12 VICTIMS OF KL AUSCHWITZ (FIGURES AND NATIONALITIES) 12 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL 13 BEGINNINGS 13 CALLED INTO BEING 13 MUSEUM SURFACE AREA 14 FINANCIAL SUPPORT 14 INTERNATIONAL AUSCHWITZ COUNCIL 15 PROGRAMME COUNCIL OF THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR EDUCATION ABOUT AUSCHWITZ AND THE HOLOCAUST 15 MUSEUM ACTIVITIES 16 COLLECTIONS 17 ARCHIVES 17 CONTACT WITH FORMER PRISONERS 18 DIGITAL REPOSITORY 19 LIBRARY 19 PRESERVING THE COLLECTIONS AND MUSEUM STRUCTURES 20 CONSERVATION STUDIO 20 RESEARCH AND WORK ON THE HISTORY OF AUSCHWITZ 20 EXHIBITIONS AND MEMORY 22 MAIN EXHIBITION AT FORMER KL AUSCHWITZ I 22 COMMEMORATING BIRKENAU 23 NATIONAL EXHIBITIONS 23 TEMPORARY AND TOURING EXHIBITIONS 24 PUBLISHING 24 INTERNET 25 EDUCATION 25 INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR EDUCATION ABOUT AUSCHWITZ AND THE HOLOCAUST (ICEAH) 25 VISITING THE FORMER EXTERMINATION CAMP 26 OPENING HOURS 27 VISITORS – GENERAL COMMENTS 27 FORMER CAMP AT AUSCHWITZ I 28 FORMER CAMP AT AUSCHWITZ II-BIRKENAU 28 EDUCATORS 28 GUIDEBOOKS 28 DOCUMENTARY FILM 29 MOVING BETWEEN THE FORMER CAMPS 29 MUSEUM ADDRESS 29 HISTORY OF AUSCHWITZ – CALENDAR 30 - 2 - BEFORE AUSCHWITZ “JEWS ARE A RACE THAT MUST BE TOTALLY EXTERMINATED”. Hans Frank, Governor General of occupied Poland. “WE MUST FREE THE GERMAN NATION OF POLES, RUSSIANS, JEWS AND GYPSIES”. Otto Thierack, Reich Minister of Justice. “THE MOST IMPORTANT TASK IS TO ROOT OUT ALL POLISH LEADERS [...] IN ORDER TO RENDER THEM HARMLESS. [...] ALL SPECIALISTS OF POLISH DECENT WILL BE EXPLOITED FOR THE NEEDS OF OUR WAR INDUSTRY. AND THEN ALL POLES WILL DISAPPEAR FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH”. Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer SS. NAZI IDEOLOGY The basic elements of Nazi ideolo- War II was the Nazi ambition to gain gy were: hatred of Communism, Jews new territory on which Germans were Photo: Heinrich Hoffman and democracy, and the conviction expected to settle. In November 1937 Nazi Party Convention that the German nation was superior Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Third in Nuremberg in 1937. to all other nations. In their attempt to Reich and the founder of the Nazi Members of the Hitlerjugend greet Adolf Hitler, who addresses create a “racially pure” society the Na- Party (NSDAP) which gained power them as follows: “We will educate zis planned the extermination of Jews, in Germany in 1933, summed up war our young so that the entire as well as Slavs, Gypsies (Romanies), objectives in the following manner: “In world will shake in front of them. and others. our case it is not a matter of vanquish- I want the young to be capable One of the reasons behind German ing people, but of exclusively gaining of violence, imperious, aggression and the outbreak of World space for agricultural purposes.” indomitable, cruel.” OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR II After the German invasion of Poland aged by the Nazi administrative and po- countries, which led to the majority on 1 September 1939, and the occupa- lice apparatus. The territory to the east, of Europe being occupied by Germa- tion of the country by German soldiers, in accordance with the German-Soviet ny. In April 1940 the German army followed by the Soviet invasion of 17 treaty of August 1939, was incorporat- attacked and occupied Denmark and September, Poland was divided. One ed into the Soviet Union. It was only in Norway, in May 1940 it attacked part, Oświęcim and its surroundings, June 1941, after the German invasion Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg was incorporated into the Third Reich. of the Soviet Union, that these lands and then started occupying France. In The central part of Poland became the were occupied by the Germans. April 1941 it turned on Yugoslavia and so-called Generalgouvernement, totally The occupation of Poland was fol- Greece. In June 1941 it struck its ally – controlled by the Germans and man- lowed by aggression against other the Soviet Union. - 3 - Auschwitz was located almost in the heart of occupied Europe. The Third Reich and the satellite countries were marked black, the wartime occupied or controlled territories were marked grey. State borders prior to 1939. NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS The Germans started creating con- tration camps in other countries they the SS Central Economic-Administra- centration camps in Germany in 1933. occupied. tive Office (Wirtschaftsverwaltung- The political opponents of the Nazi Konzentrationslager (KL) Auschwitz, shauptamt, WVHA) whilst human regime, people seen as “undesirable much the same as other Nazi concen- deportation to the camp and exter- elements”, and Jews were imprisoned. tration camps, was a state institution, mination was the responsibility of the After the outbreak of World War II managed by the German state cen- Reich Security Main Office (Reichs- the Germans started opening concen- tral authorities. It was run directly by sicherheits-hauptamt, RSHA). AUSCHWITZ 1940-1945 AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE CAMP ESTABLISHMENT The world has come to associate The immediate reason for creating KL Auschwitz personnel comprised the Nazi German concentration camp the camp was the growing number of SS members (Schutzstaffeln). These Auschwitz as the symbol of the Holo- Poles arrested by the German police, units were created to act as an elitist caust, of genocide and terror. It was set which lead to prisons becoming over- guard, whose initial task was to offer up by the German occupying forces in crowded. At first, this was to be yet an- protection at NSDAP assemblies. Over mid-1940 in the suburbs of Oświęcim, other concentration camp, created as the years the meaning of the SS in the a Polish town that the Nazis incorporat- part of the Nazi terror machine active Third Reich grew immensely; the organ- ed into the Third Reich. Its name was since the early 1930s. This was indeed ization took over many state adminis- changed to “Auschwitz”, which also be- the function of the camp throughout its tration functions, as well as the role of came the name of the camp: Konzentra- existence, even when – from 1942 on- the police and army. SS units also acted tionslager Auschwitz. wards – it started becoming the largest as personnel at concentration camps. centre of mass murder of Jews. - 4 - AUSCHWITZ WAS SET UP BY THE GERMANS IN THE SUBURBS OF OŚWIĘCIM, A POLISH TOWN THAT THE NAZIS INCORPORATED INTO THE THIRD REICH. ITS NAME WAS CHANGED TO AUSCHWITZ WHICH ALSO BECAME THE NAME OF THE CAMP: KONZENTRATIONSLAGER AUSCHWITZ. Photo: SS SS camp staff. During its existence the camp saw more than 8,000 members of the SS. The SS acted as camp management called Volksdeutsche, i.e. citizens of oth- and guard authorities, and also partici- er states with proof of German descent pated in the mass extermination of Jews who had signed the Volksliste. Through- and in executions. Initially only Ger- out the existence of KL Auschwitz the mans and Austrians were members of camp saw more than 8,000 SS male the SS. Later on recruits included the so- and 200 female supervisors. EVICTION OF THE LOCAL POPULATION Tarnów. Polish political prisoners guarded by the Germans prior to being deported to In 1940-1941, the Germans evict- buildings, left behind by the evict- KL Auschwitz. The first transport arrived ed the inhabitants of one of the dis- ed, were occupied by SS officers and at the camp from the prison in Tarnów tricts of Oświęcim where the camp NCOs employed at the camp, many on 14 June 1940. was set up as well as the local popu- of whom resided there with their lation of eight villages in its vicinity. families. Other buildings were allo- All the Jews, who constituted about cated to German families of re-set- 60% of pre-war Oświęcim, were also tlers, clerks, and policemen. The evicted and sent to ghettos, whilst Germans took over pre-war local in- many Poles were deported to Germa- dustrial plants, some of which they ny and submitted to forced labour. expanded, whilst others they closed Unknown photographer Unknown photographer One thousand two hundred hous- down in order to create new space es were demolished in the town and for the Third Reich war production. the surrounding area. The immedi- These factories, particularly the huge ate surroundings were developed as IG Farbenindustrie chemical plant, the camp’s technical support sector were filled by 11,000 forced labour with workshops, warehouses, offices workers, mainly Poles, Russians and Uprooting the Polish population from and barracks for the SS. Part of the French. areas around the camp. Wartime photograph. - 5 - EXPANSION The location of the camp – almost The Polish population was expelled in the centre of German-occupied Eu- from the village and its houses were rope – and its good communication demolished. In Birkenau, the Nazis Unknown photographer routes led to the German authorities built their largest installations of April 1941. expanding it on a massive scale and mass murder in occupied Europe – Germans displacing Jews from Oświęcim. deporting people to it from virtual- the gas chambers – and exterminat- Before the War this town of 12,000 ly the whole of Europe. At its peak, ed the majority of Jews deported to was inhabited by 7,000 Jews. KL Auschwitz comprised three main the camp; sections: – the third part was Auschwitz III- – the first and oldest was Auschwitz I, -Monowitz (also called Buna; in the so-called Stammlager (the num- the summer of 1944 it held more ber of prisoners here was between than 11,000 prisoners).