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{{Infobox_location|title = Auschwitz|image = Auschwitz.JPG|imagecaption = Top: The Arbeit macht frei ("work sets you free") gate to Auschwitz I, the main camp | {{Infobox_location|title = Auschwitz|image = Auschwitz.JPG|imagecaption = Top: The Arbeit macht frei ("work sets you free") gate to Auschwitz I, the main camp | ||
Above: Train track, in operation May–October 1944, leading through the gate to the gas chambers at Auschwitz II-Birkenau|map = Auscwitzmap.JPG|mapcaption = The location of Auschwitz within Europe.|inhabitants = 1,300,000 inmates, 7,000 guards}}''Content Warning: This article contains extensive | Above: Train track, in operation May–October 1944, leading through the gate to the gas chambers at Auschwitz II-Birkenau|map = Auscwitzmap.JPG|mapcaption = The location of Auschwitz within Europe.|inhabitants = 1,300,000 inmates, 7,000 guards}}''Content Warning: This article contains extensive discussion of disturbing subjects around genocide, racism, torture, murder, death, violence and rape.'' | ||
'''Auschwitz''' is the name of a complex of 40 [[Concentration Camp|concentration camps]] within [[Republic of Poland|Poland]] built by [[Nazi Germany]] during [[World War II]] and the [[Holocaust]] for the purpose of [[Mass Killing|mass extermination]] of over a million people. | '''Auschwitz''' is the name of a complex of 40 [[Concentration Camp|concentration camps]] within [[Republic of Poland|Poland]] built by [[Nazi Germany]] during [[World War II]] and the [[Holocaust]] for the purpose of [[Mass Killing|mass extermination]] of over a million people. | ||
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On the 7th of October, having learned the Nazis planned to kill them all, the Sonderkommando rose in revolt, set fire to the crematorium and attacked the Nazi guards with tools, makeshift weapons, rocks and stolen guns and grenades. The flames around the crematorium signaled an uprising, and several hundred people escaped from Auschwitz. Many were later recaptured and killed by Nazis who forced them to strip and lie down before being shot. Around 454 people were killed in the uprising, mostly camp victims. The ringleaders of the uprising, Róza Robota, Ester Wajcblum, Ella Gärtner and Regina Safirsztain all refused to name any other co-conspirators and were hung in front of the camp members.<ref>https://www.ushmm.org/research/the-center-for-advanced-holocaust-studies/miles-lerman-center-for-the-study-of-jewish-resistance/medals-of-resistance-award/auschwitz-revolt</ref> | On the 7th of October, having learned the Nazis planned to kill them all, the Sonderkommando rose in revolt, set fire to the crematorium and attacked the Nazi guards with tools, makeshift weapons, rocks and stolen guns and grenades. The flames around the crematorium signaled an uprising, and several hundred people escaped from Auschwitz. Many were later recaptured and killed by Nazis who forced them to strip and lie down before being shot. Around 454 people were killed in the uprising, mostly camp victims. The ringleaders of the uprising, Róza Robota, Ester Wajcblum, Ella Gärtner and Regina Safirsztain all refused to name any other co-conspirators and were hung in front of the camp members.<ref>https://www.ushmm.org/research/the-center-for-advanced-holocaust-studies/miles-lerman-center-for-the-study-of-jewish-resistance/medals-of-resistance-award/auschwitz-revolt</ref> | ||
== Victims == | |||
=== Killed === | |||
* [[Sascha Schapiro]] | |||
=== Survivors === | |||
* [[Maus|Vladek and Anja Spiegelman]] | |||
== References == | == References == | ||
Revision as of 22:52, 12 May 2019
</image> <image source="map"></image> <label>Type</label> <label>Level</label> <label>Location</label> <label>Inhabitants</label> </infobox>Content Warning: This article contains extensive discussion of disturbing subjects around genocide, racism, torture, murder, death, violence and rape. Auschwitz is the name of a complex of 40 concentration camps within Poland built by Nazi Germany during World War II and the Holocaust for the purpose of mass extermination of over a million people.
History
Construction
After the War
Mass Killings
Resistance
As soon as prisoners were placed in the camp, secret resistance cells composed of rebel fighters and ex-soldiers were formed, who's goals included:
- Help prisoners survive the camp for as long as possible
- Collect information and distribute it to the outside world about Nazi atrocities within the camp
- Help organize escapes for prisoners
- Prepare for an eventual uprising which would destroy the camp[1]
Uprising
An uprising occurred in October of 1944, inspired by the Warsaw Revolts, nearby bombings of factories by the US air force and the capture of nearby towns by the Red Army. Many in the camp thought their nightmare would soon finally be over, young Jewish women like Ester Wajcblum, Ella Gärtner and Regina Safirsztain had been smuggling small amounts of gunpowder from the munitions factory they were forced to work in.
Gunpowder was wrapped in bits of cloth or paper, hid it on their bodies, and then passed along in a smuggling chain. Once she received the gunpowder, Róza Robota then passed it to her co-conspirators in the Sonderkommando, the special squad of prisoners forced to work in the camp’s crematoria. Using this gunpowder, the leaders of the Sonderkommando planned to destroy the gas chambers and crematoria, and launch the uprising.
On the 7th of October, having learned the Nazis planned to kill them all, the Sonderkommando rose in revolt, set fire to the crematorium and attacked the Nazi guards with tools, makeshift weapons, rocks and stolen guns and grenades. The flames around the crematorium signaled an uprising, and several hundred people escaped from Auschwitz. Many were later recaptured and killed by Nazis who forced them to strip and lie down before being shot. Around 454 people were killed in the uprising, mostly camp victims. The ringleaders of the uprising, Róza Robota, Ester Wajcblum, Ella Gärtner and Regina Safirsztain all refused to name any other co-conspirators and were hung in front of the camp members.[2]