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In March
1941, Himmler issued orders for the construction of a second wing at
the Auschwitz camp, a much larger facility three kilometers away
from the original camp known as Auschwitz I. The new division would
be called Auschwitz II-Birkenau. To make room for the new camp,
2,000 residents of several Polish villages, including Brzezinka,
known in German as Birkenau, were evicted from their homes. The
villagers’ homes were razed and a vast area of 40 square
kilometers was declared off-limits.
Intensive
construction of barracks and other facilities at Auschwitz II began
in October 1941. In its final stage, Auschwitz II was composed of
nine sub-units, separated from each other by electrified barbed-wire
fences.
Auschwitz
II (Birkenau) was the most populous of the concentration camps at
Auschwitz, and the most brutal and inhuman in its conditions. Most
of its prisoners were Jews, followed by Poles, Germans and Gypsies.
It was Auschwitz II that became the extermination center containing
all gas chambers and crematoria, except for the first which had been
built in Auschwitz I. |
