Rediscover The Past Of Auschwitz With These Mind-Blowing Facts
History is one of humanity’s greatest treasures, for it is the beginning of what it is now. History might not be 100% true, but we as the next generations tend to believe in them; without our past ancestors, we couldn’t be here living in the present. Some are still seeking the truth, but some accepted history and move on with their lives.
In the history of World War II, there are stories about victories, pain, death, and the unseen. One of the darkest parts of this is the Holocaust, which is considered to be the darkest one during that era. This might not be the best facts you need to know, but learning what is behind this to make sure that this history will never repeat again in our time.
Auschwitz Concentration Camp
The Auschwitz concentration camp was known to be the word’s symbol of genocide, terror, and Shoah. The Germans created this concentration camp in 1940 near the Polish City of Oswiecim. The Nazis created this camp due to the mass number of prisoners captured that can no longer be accommodated in the local prisons.
In history, this camp built by the Nazis was a place where they could imprison all the European jews they captured during their invasions in Europe. Below are some of the historical Auschwitz facts that you should know before visiting the concentration camp.
The Shoah Site
Nazis, the German army under Adolf Hitler’s command, have created six different extermination camps across Europe. One of them is Auschwitz, which stood to be the largest and deadliest camp among the six. Under the orders of Adolf Hitler’s order, the soldiers brutally tortured, enslaved, and murdered millions of people, and 90% of them were jews.
The 3 Main Functions Of Auschwitz
There are three main functions in the Auschwitz concentration camp that we didn’t know. First is this camp serves as a prisoner camp where germans tend to imprison all the politicians and jews that they have captured. Second, it served as the slave-labor camp where all prisoners were being slaved by the Germans and having them make all their demands.
Lastly is the extermination camp; yes, this camp that became now a historical site in Poland is used to be the grounds of murder, slaughter, and torture. This camp has become the symbol of final solutions, a place where Adolf Hitler ordered to kill millions of people for five years.
A Destination For The Jews
Adolf Hitler had everything strategized before he built the Auschwitz Concentration camp. The place was near a railway junction with 44 railways that never intersect with each other. This place served as a destination where the Nazis could easily transport all their captured jews to this place to meet their painful and awful deaths.
The Story Behind The First Volunteered Prisoner
One polish soldier named Witold Pilecki volunteered to be imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was a cavalry officer in the Polish Army, and he was willingly arrested and detained in Auschwitz in 1940 September. He spent his time inside the prison, gathering information and organizing a secret union to all the camp prisoners.
On the night of April in the year 1943, he successfully escaped from the camp. In the same year, Witold Pilecki released all the information he gathered when he was in prison and was the one who provided the world the information of all the cruelty that was happening inside the camp.
Who Are The Prisoners of Auschwitz
Auschwitz had millions of prisoners inside the camp; one of them is Tadeusz Wiejowski, who used to be a polish maker, made the first attempt to escape and succeeded but later captured and killed. Aside from him, yes, there were women imprisoned in this camp around 170 young women, and they were being raped, tortured, and forced into labor.
One of the known women among the 170 is Irma Grese in where she was accused of committing crimes against humanity and got executed when she just turned 22 years old on December 13 of 1945.
Doctor Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele was a german physician who served in the Nazis army in World War II. Mengele was known to be a Todesengel, also known as Angel of Death. He was the only doctor who used prisoners as testers for different kinds of methods. He used vast amounts of uterine injections and radiations and even performed sterilizations.
Imagine how awful Germans were to their prisoners? Yes, it is tough to swallow all the things she performed. One of his most known experiments is the injection of inmates into the eyes of the prisoners. The result of this cruel experiment is the inmates got infected with horrible diseases.
What Is Inside The Death Camp
Auschwitz is known to be the largest death camp in history. There are 300 barracks for prisoners and four large bathhouses where innocent people were gassed until their last breath. This camp also has a corpse cellar where they can store dead bodies and cremating ovens.
Nazis didn’t spare anyone as per the order of Adolf Hitler; they didn’t murder men but also children, mothers, old ones in which they are being sent directly to the gas chamber. This might be the reason why they have collected 2 tons of human hair from Auschwitz.
Takeaway
Back then, the Germans were very cruel and inhumane to all jews because of Adolf Hitler’s orders on murdering them. Until this very day, the real reason behind Adolf Hitler’s mind is still unknown to many. Auschwitz will live on for many centuries as a symbol of genocide, horror, and terror.
Learning these shocking facts makes you realize how cruel humanity is even when you turn back time; killing has been one of humans’ greatest pleasures like we are programmed to do it. The best thing about history is its learnings and understanding of what are the mistakes of our ancestors and to make sure that the past will never repeat again.