From it's establishment in 1940, Auschwitz became the epitimy of terror and the inhumanity of man towards his fellow man. The first camp (Auschwitz I) was established during the Nazi occupation of Poland at the abandoned Polish army barracks near Oswiecim (Auschwitz is German for Oswiecim). At it's peak in 1942 it held 20,000 prisoners.

In 1941 the Nazis opened a purpose built second camp, Auschwitz II (later called Birkenau) three kilometers away in the village of Brzezinka. This was built on an horrific scale and is the camp that most people know simply as Auschwitz. It covered a huge area of about 1.5 by 1.25 miles and included 4 combined gas chamber and crematoria facilities. Until the liberation of the camps on the 27th of January 1945 it is estimated that between 1.1 and 1.5 million people lost their lives at the hands of the Nazis in the Auschwitz camps.

 

"ALL THAT IS REQUIRED FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS THAT GOOD MEN DO NOTHING"

-Edmund Burke