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Oświęcim (Auschwitz) in the war

10 articles · 1940–1945

The Germans set up a concentration camp in former Polish army barracks in Oświęcim, a town annexed to the Reich; the first mass transport of Polish prisoners, from Tarnów, arrived on 14 June 1940. In 1942–1944 Birkenau became the main site for the murder of Jews deported from all over Europe. At least 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz, the overwhelming majority of them Jews. On 27 January 1945 the Red Army found about 7,000 prisoners in the camp.

1940

  1. 19 September 1940EventWitold Pilecki arrives at AuschwitzOn 19 September 1940 Witold Pilecki let himself be caught in a Żoliborz roundup to enter Auschwitz. As prisoner no. 4859 he built a camp resistance network.

1941

  1. 1 March 1941EventHimmler orders the expansion of AuschwitzOn 1 March 1941 Himmler first visited Auschwitz. He ordered the camp enlarged for 30,000 prisoners and 10,000 prisoners provided to build the IG Farben plant.

1943

  1. 19 April 1943EventThe attack on the Twentieth Convoy from MechelenOn 19 April 1943 three young Belgians with one pistol stopped a train taking Jews to Auschwitz near Boortmeerbeek. More than 230 people escaped.
  2. 24 May 1943EventMengele at AuschwitzOn 24 May 1943 Josef Mengele was posted to Auschwitz. From 30 May he was doctor of the Gypsy camp at Birkenau, conducting selections and criminal experiments.
  3. 2 August 1943EventThe Gypsy family camp at AuschwitzFrom February 1943 the Germans held whole Roma and Sinti families in section BIIe of Birkenau. About 23,000 people were sent there; most did not survive.
  4. 15 November 1943EventHimmler's order on the RomaOn 15 November 1943 a circular for the occupied USSR equated “itinerant” Roma with Jews and sent them to camps. The Auschwitz decree dated from December 1942.

1944

  1. 7 October 1944EventThe Sonderkommando revolt at AuschwitzOn 7 October 1944 Sonderkommando prisoners at Birkenau rose against the SS and set Crematorium IV on fire. About 450 prisoners and three SS men died.
  2. 26 November 1944EventThe end of the gas chambers at BirkenauIn autumn 1944 the SS stopped gassing at Birkenau. On 26 November, by the accepted date, Himmler ordered the crematoria destroyed to hide the crime.

1945

  1. 12 January – 3 February 1945BattleVistula–Oder offensiveBetween 12 January and 3 February 1945 Zhukov's and Konev's fronts drove from the Vistula to the Oder, smashed Army Group A and took Warsaw, Kraków and Łódź.
  2. 27 January 1945EventThe liberation of AuschwitzOn 27 January 1945 soldiers of the Soviet 60th Army entered Auschwitz. They found some 7,000 prisoners, hundreds of bodies and stores of victims’ belongings.

People

Born or died here

  • Rudolf HössCommandant of Auschwitz concentration camp (1940–1943), head of Office D I of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office (1943–1945)