Auschwitz I

 Auschwitz was probably chosen to play a central role in the “final solution”
 On April 27, 1940 Heinrich Himmler ordered the establishment of the first camp.

Auschwitz II (Birkenau)

 In October 1941, work began on Auschwitz II, or Birkenau

 eveloped a huge concentration camp and extermination complex

 Badeanstalten

Auschwitz III

 in May 1942 a slave-labour camp supplying workers

 Auschwitz became the nexus of a complex of 45 smaller subcamps in the region

 1940 to 1945, the commandant of the central Auschwitz camps was SS-
Hauptsturmführer (Capt.) and ultimately SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieut. Col.)

 The death camp and slave-labour camp were interrelated.

 young and the able-bodied were sent to work

 Young children and their mothers and the old and infirm sent directly to the gas
chambers.

 Thousands of prisoners were also selected for medical experiments

 In 1942 Farben alone invested more than 700 million Reichsmarks in its facilities
at Auschwitz III.