The food was transported in wooden barrels consisting of a thick and heavy soup prepared mainly with vegetables.

Each person received approximately one liter of this soup served with a ladle into a brown plate which was for individual use and remained hanging on the belt beside a spoon.

Losing this set was unthinkable because without it was not possible to eat.

In such an environment, everyone had to focus on their own survival.

After the day’s work, the prisoners were escorted back to the barracks, being tasked with carrying the bodies of those who had died during the day to be burned.

Dinner was not much better than lunch, consisting mainly of bread and sometimes a small piece of meat or cheese.

Around mid 1942, the Germans realized that tens of thousands of prisoners were dying of starvation and were forced to improve these conditions.

This did not happen out of humanitarian concern, but only for practical reasons as they were running out of sources of forced labor.

However, this did not apply to Jews and Soviets who had been marked for total extermination.

They continued to suffer from extreme hunger until the end of their captivity.

The Jews are a race that must be completely destroyed.

We must free the German nation from Poles, Russians, Jews, and gypsies.

The most important mission is to find all Polish leaders so they can be destroyed.

All Polish professionals will be used in our war armament industry, and then all Poles will disappear from the face of the earth.

Today, we will show never-before-seen color images that reflect how brutal it was to live in the Avitz concentration camp.

Get ready.

After the attack on Poland on September 1st, 1939, and its occupation by the German army, followed on September 17th by the Soviet occupation, the Polish territory was divided.

In the central part of Poland, the so-called general government was created, entirely controlled by Germany and administered by the Nazi administrative and police apparatus.

The eastern part of the country according to the German Soviet treaty of August 1939 was annexed to the Soviet Union after the beginning of the war between Germany and the USSR in June 1941.

This part also came under German occupation.

In April 1940, the German army attacked Denmark and Norway.

In May, it invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France.

In April 1941, the Germans attacked Yugoslavia and Greece, and in June of the same year, their recent ally, the Soviet Union.

By the fall of 1941, most of Europe was under German occupation.

In Germany, concentration camps had been created since 1933 to imprison people considered undesirable elements, such as political opponents of the Nazi regime, criminals, and Jews.

After the start of World War II, Germany began building them also in occupied territories.

The concentrations logger like other Hitler concentration camps was a state institution administered by the central power of the German government.

Administration was carried out directly by the SS central economic and administrative office while the deportation of people and their genocide were under the responsibility of the Reich Central Security Office.

The German Nazi concentration camp Avitz became for the world a symbol of the Holocaust, genocide and terror.

It was created by the Germans in mid 1940 on the outskirts of Ashvian, a Polish city that had been annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis.

The city received the German name Ashvitz, which was also used to designate the camp concentrations logger Avitz.

The creation of the camp was directly motivated by the increase in Poles imprisoned by the German police, which caused overcrowding in the prisons.

Initially, it would be just one more of the concentration camps created by the Nazi terror system since the early 1930s.

This function was maintained throughout its entire existence, even when starting in 1942, it gradually began to transform into the largest mass extermination center for Jews.

It was composed of members of the SS organization.

These troops were initially created to protect meetings of Nazi party members.

Over time, the SS’s importance in the Third Reich grew considerably, becoming a multifunctional organization with administrative, police, and military duties.

In addition to guarding the concentration camps, the SS played an active role in the mass extermination of Jews and in the execution of prisoners.

Initially the SS garrison at the camp was composed only of Germans.

Later the so-called folks Deutschi were also recruited citizens from other countries who could prove German descent and who signed the German nationality list.

During the entire period of KL Awitz’s operation, around 8,000 SS soldiers and inspectors served at the site.

Although the camp had not yet been converted into an extermination center, the Nazis did not care whether their prisoners died.

On June 22nd, 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and within a few months conquered hundreds of kilometers of territory along with all the inhabitants of that region.

Hitler saw the Jews as a threat to the Germanic race, viewing this from a biological perspective.

He also saw communism as a threat to western civilization.

And in the view of Hitler and many Nazi leaders, the Jews were behind this Soviet threat.

For him, Jew meant Bolshevik.

So if he could destroy the Soviet Union, he would be killing two birds with one stone.

Due to the invasion, the Nazis once again had thousands of prisoners to detain, and many of them were sent to Ashvitz.

The population, which had been 700 prisoners, grew to approximately 11,000 in just one year.

It was no longer just Poles, but also Jews, slaves, gypsies, communists, and many others, considered by the Nazis as inferior and subhuman.

In October 1941, the construction of Avitz 2 began, better known as Beer Canal.

The Germans intended for this new facility to be capable of housing more than 30,000 people.

Once again, prisoners were used for its construction.

Much of the work was carried out during the harsh Polish winter, prisoners were forced to sleep in the barracks while they were being built, and since the roof was the last part to be installed, there was no protection against the relentless weather.

Weakened by months of terrible conditions, many did not survive the cold, exhaustion, hunger, and beatings from the Germans, who killed several.

The German killing machine was beginning to gain momentum, and in addition to the barracks, four gas chambers were built that would be used for a dark purpose.

In the years 1940 to 1941, the Germans expelled the residents of a district of Oshvanchim where the camp was founded as well as eight neighboring villages.

All the Jews who before the war represented about 60% of the population of Oshvim were taken to ghettos while many Poles were sent to the Reich for forced labor.

In the city and surrounding area, 1,200 houses were destroyed on the land in front of the camp.

The Germans organized technical support structures such as workshops, warehouses, offices, and lodging for the garrison.

Some houses of the expelled residents were handed over to SS officers and non-commissioned officers who often brought their families.

Other residences were assigned to settlers, officials, and German police officers.

Factories that existed at the site before the war were either repurposed or destroyed and replaced with new ones geared toward the war production of the Third Reich.

To work in these factories, especially in the massive IG Farbin industry chemical plant, the Germans brought in 11,000 forced laborers, including Poles, Russians, and French.

The location of the camp, practically in the center of German occupied Europe, along with good communication links, led the authorities to expand the camp on a large scale and to deport people from almost every part of the continent.

At the height of its operation, the Avitz camp consisted of three main parts.

Ashvitz the Fri created in mid 1940.

It occupied land and buildings of the former Polish barracks and was systematically expanded to meet the camp’s needs.

Its capacity ranged from 12,000 to 20,000 prisoners.

Avitz to Burkanau.

the largest part of the complex.

Construction began in the fall of 1941 in Braza, 3 kilometers from Oshenim.

The Polish population of the area was expelled and their homes were dismantled.

Burkanau became the largest mass extermination center in occupied Europe with gas chambers where most of the deported Jews were murdered.

In 1944, it housed more than 90,000 prisoners.

Ashvitz 3-mon created in 1942 in Monovitz 6 km from Oshvim next to the IG Farbin industry synthetic gasoline and rubber factories it had over 11,000 prisoners in 1944 unlike Avitz Burkanau was designed primarily as an extermination center and would soon become operational at the beginning of 1942 Adolf Hitler Ler and the rest of the Nazi leadership began discussing the best way to consolidate their Macabra plan.

The time had come to employ the final solution with which they sought to annihilate the Jewish population housed in concentration camps.

For this, the newly constructed gas chambers would begin to be used.

Due to its large size and the number of prisoners held there, Avitz would become one of the deadliest extermination centers of the entire Third Reich.

As soon as they got off the trains, the prisoners were separated into two large groups by the SS guards.

Those who appeared healthier were shaved, tattooed with an identification number, and sent to the barracks.

The weaker ones, including the elderly, pregnant women and children, were almost without exception sent to the gas chambers.

The smoke rising from the chimneys was a constant reminder to the other prisoners of the fate that awaited them if their performance began to falter.

The barracks where they slept were designed for 700 prisoners each, but with the constant influx of new captives, they ended up being crammed with nearly double that number.

Some buildings did not even have beds, only straw mattresses where fleas and other pests proliferated.

Sometimes not even that was available and the only option was to sleep on the cold hard floor.

The coal stove was not enough to heat the space.

Many died due to these brutal conditions.

Prisoners were awakened early by the guards even before the sun rose.

By 5:00 a.

m.

they had to be standing for breakfast.

This consisted of an herbal infusion or boiled water with grains replacing coffee.

Its origin was unknown, but it was so bitter that many could not swallow it or refused to drink it, even though it was one of the few meals offered.

If they were lucky, they might receive a piece of bread.

Next, the SSmen pulled them out of the barracks to form lines for roll call.

If someone took longer than allowed or if the count didn’t match the expected number, this procedure could last for hours.

It didn’t matter if it was raining or snowing.

It was just another opportunity for the sadistic Germans to torture their prisoners.

Between 1942 and 1944, 47 subcamps and external commandos associated with the Awitz complex were established.

These subcamps used the slave labor of prisoners and were mainly formed in German mines, power plants, and other industrial facilities located in upper Cisia.

Additionally, some subc camps were established on farms dedicated to agriculture and animal husbandry.

All camps and subcamps of the Avitz complex were surrounded by Germans with watchtowers and barbed wire fences.

Any contact by prisoners with the outside world was strictly forbidden.

The isolation extended beyond the areas demarcated by the fences encompassing an additional surface of about 40 km equivalent to 5,600 football fields known as the interesting gabit zone of interest which surrounded the main camps Avitz the firster and Avitz the Tex Banana.

There were times when some people, so weakened by the entire experience, died during roll call, collapsing in exhaustion onto the frozen ground.

This, far from ending the issue, only prolonged the agony even more.

When the Germans were finally satisfied, they ordered the prisoners to march to their labor detachments.

Many worked in the manufacturer of war products, such as parts for vehicles or weapons.

Others were employed by companies like Bayer and IG Farbin to increase their wealth.

In fact, Avitz 3, also called Monovitz, was built by these companies to produce synthetic rubber.

These and other companies took advantage of slave labor, paying the Nazi government to employ prisoners.

Many were also used to expand the concentration camp, which was constantly needing to house more captives, or to work in the coal mines outside the camp.

Some women were taken to warehouses where they sorted out the prisoners valuable belongings, such as clothing and jewelry.

Although these items were theoretically sold to fund the government, many were appropriated by the guards as gifts for their wives.

Work days could last 11 hours or more, and any mistake made was often brutally punished by the guards, either with the removal of lunch, beatings, or even summary execution.

The food provided consisted of soup with potatoes, grains, and flour, similar to breakfast.

Many would vomit upon eating it, becoming weaker for the rest of the day.

Hunger was a constant companion for the inhabitants of Ashvitz, and malnutrition killed almost as many as the gas chambers.

Prisoner resistance.

Even under extremely harsh living conditions and intense terror, the prisoners strove to preserve their human dignity.

One manifestation of this effort was the resistance movement, which occurred both spontaneously and in an organized manner.

The prisoners main struggle focused on saving their comrades from death.

Resistance took different forms including military, political, cultural, and religious activities.

The first resistance organizations emerged in the second half of 1940.

Founded mainly by Polish political prisoners who represented the largest group of prisoners in the camp.

Between 1942 and 1943, resistance organizations formed by prisoners of other nationalities began to appear.

On October 7th, 1944, a group of prisoners from the Sonder Commando organized an armed uprising, killing SS soldiers and destroying one of the crematoria.

Furthermore, an important part of the resistance involved informing the world about the crimes committed by the Nazis in Ashvitz.

This was made possible thanks to contact with the resistance movement operating around the camp, which functioned as an intermediary in the transmission of information.

Since the founding of the camp, Poles living in Oshventim and surrounding areas risked their lives to help prisoners by providing food, medicine, and organizing escapes.

By the end of 1942, the final solution was in full operation.

Many prisoners from other camps were sent to Birkanau to be killed there, as several gas chambers had been built for this purpose.

Upon arrival, to avoid panic, they were told that the rooms they were being sent to were for disinfection.

But once the doors were closed, the Germans released the gas, which was a pesticide called cyclon B.

Immediately, people began banging on the walls and begging for mercy, but it was all in vain.

Minutes later, the screams stopped and certain selected prisoners entered to remove the bodies.

During the initial period of operation, Nazi authorities mainly sent Polish political prisoners considered dangerous due to their roles as social and religious leaders, members of the intellectual, cultural, and scientific elite.

resistance movement participants and officers.

The first transport of prisoners arrived at the camp on June 14th, 1940 with 728 Polish political prisoners transferred from the Tarnof prison.

This day is considered the official beginning of the camp’s operations.

Throughout its existence, the camp received Poles arrested in repression operations, mass roundups, and deportations, such as during the German colonization of the Zamusht region, and the repression of 1945, the Warsaw uprising in 1944.

Over time, the Nazis began to send prisoners from other occupied countries.

Roma, gypsies, Soviet prisoners of war, and from 1942 onward, Jews destined for mass extermination.

These latter were subjected to selections conducted by SS doctors being considered fit for labor or used in medical experiments.

In 1944, it is estimated that around 20,000 people were killed in this manner per day.

The crematoria often could not handle the number of corpses and they accumulated rotting or freezing depending on the time of year.

Executions, however, did not happen only in the gas chambers.

Guards were explicitly permitted to unleash their fury on the prisoners.

Any minor infraction was severely punished, and these tortures often ended in the victim’s death.

Prisoners barely reacted when a fellow inmate was shot in the head, as the Germans had conditioned them to such crimes inside Achvitz.

Block 11 was designated exclusively for punishments.

According to reports, putting one’s hands in their pockets or daring to ask for a second food ration were the most common reasons for being sent there.

Inside this block, SS men whipped offenders with lashes or hung them from metal hooks until they were off the ground.

They even held their heads inside chimneys, indifferent to their screams of pain.

If the prisoner was too weak after the torture, they were sent to the gas chamber without a second thought.

Block 10 was another section of Avitz designed for sadistic uses.

It was there that German doctors conducted experiments on prisoners who were used as test subjects and eliminated those considered inferior.

They also sought to prevent these prisoners from reproducing.

Tests were carried out to find an effective sterilizer.

Many women were exposed to high doses of radiation to test its effect.

Many others were injected with dangerous chemicals that rendered their wombs incapable of bearing children.

Several died from these tests or were so damaged that they were no longer useful to the Nazis and were sent directly to the gas chambers.

Outside of sterilization, other experiments were also conducted in block 10 of Ashvitz.

Ysef Mangal, the angel of death, carried out his dark tests, for which he became infamous.

Any prisoner with anomalies such as dwarfism or hereditary diseases was sent to a bareric reserved for him as well as twins.

The Nazi scientist was obsessed with these conditions and performed many tests on these prisoners.

When he obtained the information he was looking for, he killed them and then dissected their bodies.

Tens of thousands entered his laboratory, but only a few survived.

Now if we look at the camp’s statistics we will see that statistics of prisoners and their conditions among a minimum of 1.

3 million people deported to Ashvitz around 400,000 were registered 200,000 Jews 150,000 Poles 23,000 Roma 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war 25,000 prisoners of other nationalities more than 50% of these people died due to starvation, forced labor, executions, inhumane conditions, diseases, epidemics, torture, and medical experiments.

About 200,000 prisoners were transferred to other concentration camps where many also lost their lives.

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