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Auschwitz I (Polonia : campo di concentramento)   Cerca

Definizione

Auschwitz I was the first and main camp (Stammlager) of the Auschwitz camp complex. Established near the town of Oswiecim in Polish Upper Silesia, it was 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of Cracow and located in a former Polish military compound. On April 27, 1940, Heinrich Himmler ordered the establishment of a concentration camp at the site. Construction began in May 1940 and the officially reported date of the camp's opening was May 20, 1940. The first prisoners were Germans and Poles, sent from Sachsenhausen and Tarnów. By March 1941 prisoner ranks had swelled to 11,000. Primarily a concentration camp serving penal functions, Auschwitz I included a crematorium and, in late summer 1941, the camp briefly operated an experimental gas chamber. From 1940 to 1942, prisoners were primarily Polish political, civic, and spiritual leaders, the intelligentsia, and members of the resistance. Beginning in 1942, some of the Jews deported to Auschwitz were admitted to this main camp. Auschwitz I was also a testing ground for SS physicians carrying out inhumane and pseudoscientific medical experiments in the camp "hospital" (Block 10). Near the hospital was the Death Wall (a.k.a. "Black Wall") where thousands of prisoners were shot. Auschwitz I, expanded rapidly and by late 1941 held 18,000 prisoners; by 1943 it held approximately 30, 000 inmates. The evacuation from the camp started on January 18, 1945. On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated 1,200 prisoners at Auschwitz I. (en-US)

Fonte

Weinmann, Martin, ed. Das nationalsozialistische Lagersystem. Frankfurt am Main: Zweitausendeins 1990. p. 343

Termini più generici

• Cracovia (Polonia : Voivodship)

Termini più specifici

• Block 10 (Auschwitz I)