Chris Schaefer

Annotated Bibliography

Source 1:

Schwartz, Terese P. "Auschwitz - Largest Nazi Concentration Camp of the

Holocaust."Holocaust - Non-Jewish Victims of the Holocaust - Pictures - Stories.

Web.

15 Mar. 2011. <http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/journey.htm>.

This article outlines important dates and events at Aushwitz during WWII.
In 1940, approximately 300 local Jewish forced laborers are engaged in putting the site
of the future concentration camp in order. On June 14, 1941, the first transport of Polish
political prisoners arrives in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. This is the beginning of the
great human tragedy that will play itself out in Oswiecim. Between 1940 and 1944 the
occupiers carry out many expulsions in nearby areas. In 1941, IG Farben makes
construction plans for the camp. “IG Farben is a chemical manufacturing company that
made rubber, oil, and the infamous Zyklon B, which was used in the gas chambers at
Aushwitz” (3). All local Jews are expelled from Oswiecim during this time. In October of
1941 construction of the first segment of Birkenau Concentration Camp begins.
Later, IG Farben Werk Auschwitz is built in nearby Dwory. In 1942 Auschwitz III-
Monowitz Concentration Camp is established.

Source 2:

“Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945)

UNESCO World Heritage Centre." UNESCOWorld Heritage Centre - Official

Site.

UNESCO World Heritage Center. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.

<http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/31.>

This source shows how the Nazi’s tried to cover up what had happened at
Aushwitz. In 1944 allied air raids on August 20, September 13, and December 18 and 26
bombed the camp that they thought at the time was a factory. Liquidation of the camp
occurred January of 1945. The first step the Nazis took to cover up what had happened
was to march all the prisoners out and into Germany, to other camps. The Nazis tried to
destroy any evidence of what they had done. “The SS dynamited the Birkenau gas
chambers and crematoria, and set fire to the barracks where victims' property was stored”
(4). The chemical plant construction site in nearby Dwory was also evacuated. On
January 19, 1945 the last prisoners were marched out of the camp
 Source #3

"A Holocaust Survivor Recalls Auschwitz 65 Years Later - TIME." Breaking News,

Analysis,

Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 16 Mar.
2011.

<http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1957088,00.html>.
This source gives the first-hand account of a prisoner at Aushwitz during
WWII. Alberto Israel arrived at Aushwitz Aug. 3, 1944. He and his family had been
transported to Nazi-occupied Poland from their home on the Italian-occupied island of
Rhodes in the Mediterranean . "We knew it was an abattoir when we arrived,” He
recalls. “We could smell the melting flesh." "We got there at 10 in the morning, and by 2
in the afternoon, my mother and father had been gassed" (3). When the Nazi’s thought
the camp was going to be found, they tried to evacuate it by marching the prisoners into
Germany. Israel was one of the marchers. He says they “walked for about 60 miles in
temperatures dropping as low as –10°F until they reached the town of Wodzislaw Slaski
in southern Poland” (2). "We only had our thin prison clothes and broken shoes. If you
wanted a warm drink, you had to drink your urine," he recounts. When he was finally
freed, Israel weighed a mere 64 lb. He gained 17 lb. after only a week in the Americans'
care. Looking back at the desolate, snow-covered compound, Israel winces. "We have to
remember, always," he says. "But it's never easy."

Source #4

"Auschwitz." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.

<http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007718>.
This source gives some good facts about Auschwitz during WWII. “An estimated
1.1 million people died at the camp” (2). The majority of them were Jews. Most were
killed in gas chambers. About one-sixth of all the Jews exterminated during the
Holocaust died at Auschwitz. When the Soviet Red Army finally liberated the camp, only
a few thousand prisoners remained. Just a week earlier, Nazi officials had evacuated the
facility, destroyed the camp's records and blown up the gas chambers. Most of the
prisoners, some 60,000 of them, were then sent on a death march to other camps as
their Nazi guards fled the Soviet advance.
Source #5

"Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp Complex --data and Summary

Facts." Holocaust Remembrance, Sanctuary, and Tribute to Survivors. Web. 29

Mar. 2011. <http://isurvived.org/AUSCHWITZ_TheCamp.html>.

This source shows the horrors that happened at Aushwitz. A Star of David was
placed above the entrance to the gas chamber and a sign was painted in Hebrew on a
purple curtain covering the entrance to the gas chamber that said "This is the Gateway to
God. Righteous men will pass through” (5). · The train ramp to Auschwitz was disguised
to look like a regular railway station with signs, timetables and even a clock painted on
the wall. Joseph Mengele was a scientist who operated on many prisoners of Aushwitz.
He conducted horrible studies. They often involved studies of twins. If one twin died, he
would immediately kill the other and carry out comparative autopsies.