OSWIECIM : AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU
After the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, concentration camps were set up in Oswiecim and the area around it. The name was changed to Auschwitz. An abandoned Polish army barracks was chosen as it was relatively in a remote location and yet, it was convenient due to availability of communication links such as rail-ways.Auschwitz was transformed from a detention camp to a death camp as the gassing of millions of European Jews were carried out. A second camp, Birkenau, had to be set up nearby to cope more ‘efficiently’ with the elimination of Jews.Jews were transported here, thinking they were going to work in factories or farms and hence, brought along their personal belongings. Those categorised as ‘unfit’ for work were stripped of their clothes and advised to enter a ‘shower room’ for a cleansing. Instead, they were all gassed with Zyklon B cyanide gas. The others had to endure...
