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Joseph Gani: Maps

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Greece occupation Auschwitz deportations

Born to a Jewish family in Preveza, Joseph Gani was endangered by the German occupation of Greece. In March 1944, the Nazis deported the Jews of Preveza to Auschwitz. Joseph was killed several months later, at the age of 18.

These maps add geographic context to Joseph's experience.

Greece, 1933

Greece, 1933 [LCID: gre19010]

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Occupation of Greece, 1941

Occupation of Greece, 1941 [LCID: gre76060]

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Occupation of Greece, 1943

Occupation of Greece, 1943 [LCID: gre76070]

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Europe 1943-1944, Auschwitz indicated

Europe 1943-1944, Auschwitz indicated [LCID: auc62040]

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Major deportations to Auschwitz, 1941-1944

Major deportations to Auschwitz, 1941-1944 [LCID: auc78060]

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Auschwitz environs, summer 1944

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.

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Auschwitz II (Birkenau) camp, summer 1944

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.

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Auschwitz

Auschwitz played a central role in the “Final Solution,” the Nazi plan to murder the Jews of Europe. The Nazis deported Jews from nearly every European country to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center in German-occupied Poland. In all, more than 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz, including approximately one million Jews.

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Last Edited: Aug 15, 2018

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