The Auschwitz concentration camp complex was the largest of its kind established by the Nazi regime. It included three main camps. All three camps used prisoners for forced labor. One of them also functioned for an extended period as a killing center. More than 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz, including approximately one million Jews.
![Europe 1943-1944, Auschwitz indicated [LCID: auc62040]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/e904823f-a280-4f5b-8914-03e1df871164.gif "Europe 1943-1944, Auschwitz indicated [LCID: auc62040]")
![Auschwitz environs, summer 1944 [LCID: auc42030]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/341a5fd2-ed4d-4067-b988-f7b0fe940fdb.gif "Auschwitz environs, summer 1944 [LCID: auc42030]")
This map shows the Auschwitz camp complex in the summer of 1944.
The SS established Auschwitz in spring 1940 as a concentration camp for Polish political prisoners. It was located in German-occupied Poland on the outskirts of the town of Oświęcim. Over the next several years, the camp was expanded and transformed into a sprawling camp complex. In March 1942, the SS began operating a killing center at Auschwitz where they murdered Jewish people from all over Europe.
By 1944, the Auschwitz camp complex included multiple camps that served different purposes. The largest of the Auschwitz camps included the Auschwitz main camp (Auschwitz I); Auschwitz-Birkenau (Auschwitz II), which included the killing center; and Auschwitz-Monowitz (Auschwitz III). There were also numerous smaller subcamps.
At Auschwitz, the Germans killed about 1.1 million people, including approximately 1,000,000 Jews; 70,000 Poles; 21,000 Roma and Sinti; and 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war.
Item View![Auschwitz I camp, 1944 [LCID: auc22013]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/b1e260a8-3289-49de-8cd6-dbfdd79df0b7.gif "Auschwitz I camp, 1944 [LCID: auc22013]")
Selected Features
1. Camp Commandant's House
2. Main Guard House
3. Camp Administrative Office
4. Gestapo
5. Reception Building/Prisoner Registration
6. Kitchen
7. Gas Chamber and Crematorium
8. Storage Buildings and Workshops
9. Storage of Confiscated Belongings
10. Gravel Pit: Execution Site
11. Camp Orchestra Site
12. "Black Wall" Execution Site
13. Block 11: Punishment Bunker
14. Block 10: Medical Experiments
15. Gallows
16. Block Commander's Barracks
17. SS Hospital
Item View![Auschwitz II (Birkenau) camp, summer 1944 [LCID: auc22023]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/3d7ef175-0194-4d2e-b4d2-7e9535404954.gif "Auschwitz II (Birkenau) camp, summer 1944 [LCID: auc22023]")
In October 1941, the Nazi authorities at Auschwitz began building a second camp located in the Polish village of Brzezinka (called Birkenau in German). Beginning in March 1942, Auschwitz-Birkenau functioned as both a concentration camp and a killing center, where the Nazis murdered Jews in gas chambers. From November 1943 to November 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau was designated as a separate camp and officially referred to as Auschwitz II.
Item View![Auschwitz III (Monowitz) camp, 1944 [LCID: auc22120]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/78bb3b3a-955f-419b-878d-55dfc692f64f.gif "Auschwitz III (Monowitz) camp, 1944 [LCID: auc22120]")
![Major deportations to Auschwitz, 1941-1944 [LCID: auc78060]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/c9ec53c0-5a86-46de-872f-2489ebc9feda.gif "Major deportations to Auschwitz, 1941-1944 [LCID: auc78060]")
![Major death marches from Auschwitz, January 1945 [LCID: auc72080]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/04d8c8d8-53fe-4d04-b3fb-438c2fab113b.gif "Major death marches from Auschwitz, January 1945 [LCID: auc72080]")
On January 17, 1945, the SS began evacuating the Auschwitz camp complex. The SS forced tens of thousands of prisoners, mostly Jews, on death marches. Prisoners from Auschwitz, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Monowitz were forced to march either northwest for 55 kilometers (approximately 30 miles) to Gliwice (Gleiwitz) or due west for 63 kilometers (approximately 35 miles) to Wodzisław Śląski (Loslau). Once they arrived in Gliwice and Wodzisław Śląski, most prisoners were put on unheated freight trains and transported to other concentration camps in Germany. There were also death marches from Auschwitz subcamps. During the marches, SS guards shot anyone who fell behind or could not continue. Prisoners suffered from the cold weather, starvation, and exposure.
Item View
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