Auschwitz: The Story of a Nazi Death Camp Hardcover - 2002

Excerpt

"We were forced into line and herded into a cattle wagon, packed in like sardines. As the train progressed, it grew hotter. We could not sit down as it was too cramped, and we were all hungry. An old woman collapsed, and within minutes was dead. When at last we got out, there was a long concrete ramp leading from the station into the camp, along which streamed an endless line of people. As I got closer I realized that they were separating people into two rows. The left-hand row was full of children and old people, and I knew I must avoid that one at all costs." - Arek Hersh

B y the end of 1941 Auschwitz was set up to receive prisoners, mainly Jews, from all over Nazi-controlled Europe. Exploiting the excellent rail network, the Nazis ensured that Jews in many different countries were rounded up and transported there. Most often they were sent in cattle trucks or sealed freight cars, with as many as 100-150 people crammed into each one.

The first transports to arrive were from Poland and all of these Jews were immediately killed. In March 1942, transports arrived from Slovakia and France. The first transports from Holland came in July, and further transports in 1942 came mainly from Belgium, Yugoslavia, Norway, and Germany.

In 1943 transports also arrived from Greece, Italy, Latvia, and Austria, while in 1944 most arriving prisoners came from the large Jewish community in Hungary, the last to be liquidated.

Occasionally, Jews were brought from other communities, too, and many
non-Jews were also sent to Auschwitz, including at least 60,000 non-Jewish Poles, 119,000 Gypsies, and 12,000 Soviet prisoners of war.

On arrival the vast majority of prisoners went straight to the gas chambers. For example, on one day, from an arrival of 1,710 deportees from Holland, 1,594 were immediately gassed, and only 116 were sent to the barracks.

A uschwitz was never designed to accommodate all the prisoners sent there. What's more, there was no desire to keep most of the prisoners alive. In particular Auschwitz II was specifically developed to kill the maximum number of Jews as quickly as possible.

However, the Nazis recognized that it could be profitable to use some of the prisoners as slave labor for at least a period of time. Therefore, as soon as the transports arrived, prisoners were made to stand in line and a selection process took place.

Those who were judged capable of hard work - on average about 20 percent of the arrivals - were told to go to the right side. The remainder - the old, the infirm, children with their mothers, and any apparently weaker people - were sent to the left and immediately taken to the gas chambers and killed.

No attempt was made to record this instantly condemned 80 percent. We can only estimate the number of people who were immediately killed by referring to the fact that so many are known to have been sent to Auschwitz who were never seen alive again. Usual estimates range from 1.5 million to 4 million people murdered at Auschwitz.

"When we arrived, they did not interrogate everybody, only a few. And on the basis of the replies, they pointed in two different directions. Someone dared to ask for his luggage: they replied, 'luggage afterward.' Someone else did not want to leave his wife: they said, 'together again afterward.' Mothers did not want to leave their children: they said, 'Good, good, stay with child.' They behaved calmly, like people doing normal jobs. In less than 10 minutes all the fit men had been selected. From our convoy, 96 men and 29 women entered Auschwitz I and Auschwitz III. Of the more than 500 others, not one was living two days later." - Primo Levi

AUSCHWITZ: THE STORY OF A NAZI DEATH CAMP by Clive A. Lawton. Copyright (c) 2002 by Clive A. Lawton. Published by Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.