Located approximately 37 miles west of Krakow, Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp complex established by the Nazi regime in April 1940. It contained three other subcamps within the camp which they all used prisoners for forced labor, one doubling as an extermination center. Nazi Germany conquered this area of ​​land after invading and conquering Poland in 1939. The three main Auschwitz camps were called Auschwitz I, founded in April 1940, Auschwitz-Birkenau (also known as Auschwitz II) founded in October 1941, and Auschwitz-Monowitz (also called Auschwitz III), established in October 1942. “The best estimates of the number of victims in the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, including the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination center, between 1940 and 1945 are: Jews (1,095,000 deported to Auschwitz, of which 960,000 died); Poles (147,000 deported, of which 74,000 died); Roma (23,000 deported, of which 21,000 dead); Soviet prisoners of war (15,000 deported and dead); and other nationalities (25,000 deported, of which 12,000 died)”. Reports state that the police and SS deported at least 1.3 million victims to the Auschwitz complex in the years between 1940 and 1945, of whom approximately 1.1 million were murdered by the camp authorities. In November 1943, the SS decided that Auschwitz-Birkenau and Auschwitz-Monowitz would become independent concentration camps, but this lasted only until November 1944, when Auschwitz II was reunited with Auschwitz I. Auschwitz III remained independent and was renamed the concentration camp of Monowitz. There were many commanders of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex including: SS Lieutenant Colonel Rudolf Hoess, from May 1940 to November 21943; SS Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Liebehenschel, November 1943 to mid-May 1944; and SS Major Richard Baer, ​​mid-May 1944 to 27 January 1945. At Auschwitz-Birkenau (November 1943 to November 1944) the camp commanders were SS Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Hartjenstein, November 1943 to May 1944 ; and SS Captain Josef Kramer, from May to November 1944. Unlike Birkenau, Monowitz maintained a commandant by the name of Captain Heinrich Schwarz, who commanded the camp from November 1943 to January 1945. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Auschwitz I was built in April 1940 near Oswiecim in an abandoned Polish army barracks. The SS authorities used the prisoners to expand the camp using forced labor, freeing up approximately 40 square kilometers as a development zone for the camp's exclusive use. Prisoners from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp were transferred to Auschwitz to serve as the first prisoners of Auschwitz I, where they had been incarcerated for repeat offenders. Polish political prisoners from Lodz via the Dachau concentration camp and from Tarnow in the Krakow General Government district were also the first to be brought into the camp. Auschwitz was built for three main reasons, like most concentration camps; “imprison real and perceived enemies of the Nazi regime and German occupation authorities in Poland for an indefinite period of time”, “provide a supply of forced laborers for employment in SS-owned construction-related enterprises (and, later , armaments and other war-related production)” and “to serve as a site for killing small, targeted groups of the population whose deaths were determined by SS and police authorities to be essential to the security of Nazi Germany.” Like other concentration camps, Auschwitz I had gas chambers and acrematorium. Initially, engineers developed an improvised gas chamber, but over time they built a larger permanent gas chamber. SS doctors conducted medical experiments, such as forced sterilizations and castrations of adults. and pseudoscientific research on newborns, twins, and dwarfs. SS Captain Dr. Josef Mengele is the best knownthis type of doctors. The "Black Wall", which was located between the medical experiments and the prison block, was where SS guards executed thousands of prisoners. Construction of Auschwitz II, also known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, began in the Brzezinka area in October 1941. The Auschwitz-Birkenau camp had the largest total number of prisoners of all three camps. Birkenau was divided into ten different sections separated by electrified barbed wire fences. Just like Auschwitz I, Birkenau was patrolled by SS guards, including SS dog handlers, after 1942. The camp had sections for women, men, a separate family camp for gypsies deported from Germany and Austria, and a family camp for Jews deported from the “Theresienstadt Ghetto”. Auschwitz-Birkenau played a central role in the German plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe. Zyklon B gas was introduced during the summer and fall of 1941 and used as an instrument of mass murder in the gas chambers of the Auschwitz complex. The SS initially converted two farms near Birkenau for use as gas chambers until they judged these facilities to be inadequate for the scale of gassing they had planned. In June 1943, four large crematorium buildings were constructed. “Each [building] had three components: an undressing area, a large gas chamber, and crematorium ovens. The SS continued gassing operations at Auschwitz-Birkenau until November 1944. Monowice. In 1941, the German conglomerate IG Farben built a factory where executives intended to use concentration camp labor to make synthetic rubber and fuel. IG Farben allocated more than 700 million Reichsmarks (about 2.8 million US dollars, in 1941 terms) to Auschwitz III. From May 1941 to July 1942 the SS transported the prisoners from Auschwitz I to the "Buna Detachment", initially on foot, then by train. The prisoners deployed to Buna lived in Auschwitz III. Monowitz also had a labor education camp for non-Jewish prisoners who were believed to have violated any German-imposed labor discipline. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom EssayLate January In 1945, the SS and German police forced over 4,000 prisoners to evacuate Blechhammer, a subcamp of Auschwitz-Monowitz, on foot. It is estimated that during the march to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp the SS killed around 1,000 people due to delays, those who could no longer continue, illnesses or even the failed attempts of some Jews to hide. After much delay, the SS transported approximately 3,000 Blechhammer prisoners from Gross-Rosen to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army bombed Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Monowitz, freeing more than 6,000 prisoners, most of whom were sick and/or dying. Works Cited Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. (n.d.). History of Auschwitz. Retrieved from https://auschwitz.org/en/history/United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). Auschwitz. Retrieved from https://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/special-focus/auschwitzDwork, D., & van Pelt, R. J. (2003). Auschwitz. W. W. Norton & Company.Gilbert, M. (2009). The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During World War II. Henry Holt and Company. Gutman, Y., e..