Koncentracijski logori nacističke Njemačke bili su mjesta masovnih zarobljavanja i istrebljenja ljudi. Vlasti nacističke Njemačke su ljude u logore isprva zatvarale iz političkih, a kasnije iz rasnih razloga. Prvi koncentracijski logori osnovani su tridesetih godina prošlog stoljeća, ali su u najvećoj mjeri djelovali za vrijeme Drugog svjetskog rata, kad je njima upravljao SS. U Drugom svjetskom ratu njihova je primarna funkcija bila istrebljenje ljudi. Mnogi su zatvorenici logora umrli od okrutnih zlostavljanja, bolesti, loših uvjeta, gladi, teškog fizičkog rada i nehumanih medicinskih eksperimenata. Većina je logora bilo u Poljskoj, koja je bila pod njemačkom okupacijom. To su logori Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor i Treblinka.

Auschwitz-Bireknau bio je najveći koncentracijski logor za vrijeme Drugog svjetskog rata, a nalazi se u poljskom gradu Oswiecimu. Bio je smješten na jugu Poljske, u Šleskoj, i sastojao se od 3 glavna kampa: Auschwitza I u Oswiecimu, Auschwitza II – Birkenau, radnog kampa Auschwitz – Monowitz, i desetaka drugih zasebnih kampova.

Reichsführer SS-a, Heinrich Himmler, 27. travnja 1940. godine naredio je osnivanje Auschwitza u staroj poljskoj vojarni u Oswiecimu. Prvi zatvorenici (728 Poljaka iz grada Tarnowa) bili su dovezeni u logor u lipnju 1940, a kasnije je broj zatvorenika varirao od 13000 do 20000 zatvorenika odjednom. Ti su zatvorenici najvećim dijelom bili Poljaci i sovjetski ratni zarobljenici. Prvi eksperiment u Auschwitzu I proveden je u rujnu 1941. godine. Ciklonom B su ubijali ljude. U tom nacističkom logoru u velikoj su se mjeri provodili i medicinski eksperimenti na ljudima. Krematorij u Auschwitzu I radio je od studenog 1940. U razdoblju od siječnja do lipnja 1942. godine, sagrađena su dva bunkera sa 6 plinskih komora. Komore su napravljene za masovno ubijanje, i u svaku je komoru moglo stati do 2000 ljudi.

U listopadu 1941. godine, na Himlerovu naredbu osnovan je Auschwitz II – Birkenau. Nacisti su slijedili okrutan plan nacističkih vlasti o progonima i masovnom istrebljenju  raznih etničkih i društvenih skupina: Židova, sovjetskih ratnih zarobljenika, Poljaka, Roma, homoseksualaca, masona, ljudi s poteškoćama, i ljudi iz mnogih drugih europskih zemalja.  

U Auschwitzu II – Birkenau sagrađeno je 4 krematorija i 10 plinskih komora, čija je svrha bila istrebljenje 10 do 12 tisuća ljudi u roku od 5 sati.

Auschwitz III – Monowitz počeo je raditi u listopadu 1942. godine. Sastojao se od 47 „vanjskih logora“ koji su uglavnom bili smješteni u Šleskoj. Zatvorenici su radili kao robovi u njemačkim rudnicima, metalurškim pogonima i drugim poduzećima u Gornjoj Šleskoj, kao i na velikim poljoprivrednim gospodarstvima. Zatvorenici su u logoru mogli preživjeti od jednog do četiri mjeseca.

Medicinski eksperimenti bili su naveliko provođeni u logoru. Neki od njih su; utjecaj kemikalija na ljudsko tijelo, testiranje najnovijih lijekova, namjerno širenje zaraze malarijom, hepatitisom i drugim bolestima. Nacistički SS liječnici izvodili su kirurške operacije na zdravim ljudima. Vrlo često su kastrirali muškarce i sterilizirali žene. Romi su također bili žrtve ovih eksperimenata. Liječnici ubojice SS-a Joseph Mengele i Karl Klauberg radili su u Auschwitzu.

Prema raznim izvorima, od 75 do 90% ljudi koji su dovezeni u nacističke koncentracijske logore bili su odmah istrijebljeni. Neke od njih su odabrali nacistički liječnici kako bi na njima izvodili eksperimente, i kasnije su ti ljudi bili ubijeni. Ostalima su tetovirali registracijske brojeve na ruku i izrabljivali ih, a to se najviše događalo u Auschwitzu III – Monowitzu. Sveukupni broj ljudi koji su dobili tetovaže s registracijskim brojevima bio je 405 tisuća. Rad zatvorenika donio je značajnu dobit njemačkim poduzećima i nacističkoj državi. Svake godine logor je prebacio 2 milijuna maraka u državnu blagajnu. Mnogo je njemačkih tvrtki profitiralo od dijelova ljudskog dijela – zlatni zubi su se slali Njemačkoj banci, ljudska kosa koristila se u proizvodnji madraca, itd.

Krajem 1944. godine, približavanjem Crvene armije, nacističke vlasti pokušale su sakriti tragove zločina tako što su naredili uništenje plinskih komora, krematorija i potpuno uništenje Auschwitza. 17. siječnja, 1945. godine, oko 60000 zatvorenika logora krenulo je u marš prema Njemačkoj (preko 7500 zatvorenika ostalo je u Auschwitzu jer ne bi mogli izdržati marš do Njemačke i oni su bili istrijebljeni). Međutim, nacisti nisu uspjeli uništiti logor, a ni istrijebiti preostale zatvorenike.

Auschwitz je oslobodila Crvena armija (oružane snage Sovjetskog Saveza) za vrijeme operacije Visla-Odra koja se izvodila od 12. siječnja do 3. veljače 1945. godine, s ciljem oslobođenja Poljske. Crvena armija je 27. siječnja oslobodila 30 lokacija, uključujući glavni nacistički logor Auschwitz. Prema riječima zapovjednika ove divizije, borba za oslobođenje Auschwitza bila je žestoka, i izgubio je oko 180 ljudi. Sovjetske vojne snage su tokom oslobođenja Auschwitza i glavnih logora, prema neslužbenim podacima, izgubile 231 vojnika.

Sovjetske vojne snage oslobodile su oko 7000 zatvorenika iz nacističkog logora. Većina zatvorenika bila je bolesna i fizički iscrpljena. Medicinsku pomoć su zatvorenicima pružili liječnici iz odjela za infektivne bolesti 60. postrojbe Crvene armije. Kasnije su sovjetske bolnice i doktori poljskog Crvenog križa radili na teritorijima nacističkih kampova.

Povjerenstvo za istragu zločina u Auschwitzu počelo je raditi u veljači 1945. godine. Precizni podaci o broju zatvorenika i žrtava Auschwitza nisu dostupni zbog toga što nije postojao registracijski proces za one koji su poslani na istrebljenje. Na kraju Drugog svjetskog rata govorilo se o broju od 4 milijuna. Prema podacima sa suđenja u Nurnbergu, umrlo je 2.8 milijuna ljudi, a 90% on njih bili su Židovi. Kasnije se broj žrtava procijenio na 1.5 milijuna ljudi, a 1.1 milijuna ljudi od toga su bili Židovi. Ostale žrtve bili su Poljaci, Romi, sovjetski ratni zarobljenici, ostali europski narodi, vjerske manjine i homoseksualci. Sveukupni broj ubijenih Židova u Drugom svjetskom ratu je 6 milijuna.

Tijekom oslobađanja Auschwitza u 6 preostalih skladišta  nađeno je  preko 348800 setova muške odjeće, preko 836200 setova ženske odjeće i velika količina dječje odjeće. Nacisti su uspjeli spaliti ostalih 29 skladišta.

1947. godine osnovan je muzej Auschwitz – Brzezinka na teritoriju logora, a on je 1999. godine preimenovan u Državni muzej Auschwitz-Birkenau. Teritorij nekadašnjeg logora je 1979. godine na prijedlog Poljske uvršten na UNESCO-vu listu svjetske baštine.

Odlukom Opće skupštine Ujedinjenih naroda, Rezolucijom broj A/RES/60/7, koja je donesena 21.11.2005, 27. siječanj obilježava se diljem svijeta kao Dan sjećanja na holokaust.  

 

 

 

 

The system of concentration camps of Nazi Germany are places of mass imprisonment, detention and destruction of people by the authorities of Nazi Germany initially for political, later for racial reasons. First concentration camps appeared in 30-es, but these huge concentration camps mainly operated during World War II by SS. During WWII, the first function of concentration camps was extermination of people, many concentration camp prisoners died from cruel abuse, illness, poor conditions, hunger, hard physical labour and inhuman medical experiments. The major camps were in German-occupied Poland and included Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, and Treblinka.

A Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkena in a Polish city Oswiecim, was the biggest concentration camp during the World War II. It was situated on the south of occupied Poland in Silesia region and consisted of three main camps: Auschwitz I in Oswiecim, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, a labour camp Auschwitz III-Monowitz, and dozens of other subcamps.

Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler ordered to establish Auschwitz on April 27, 1940 in the former Polish barracks of the city of Oswiecim. The first prisoners (728 Polish people from the city of Tarnów) were brought to the camp in June 1940, later the number of prisoners varied from 13 to 20 thousand people at a time, most of which were Poles and Soviet prisoners of war. The first experiment was carried out in Auschwitz I in September 1941 to kill people by Zyklon B gas. The Nazi concentration camp also carried out criminal medical experiments on people on a large scale. The crematorium operated in Auschwitz I since November 1940. In period January-June 1942, two bunkers with six gas chambers were built, designed to destroy batches of prisoners up to two thousand people each.

In October 1941 Auschwitz II - Birkenau was established by order of Himmler, who was operating under Hitler's orders. The Nazi were following the atrocious plan of a persecution and mass destruction by the Nazis of representatives of various ethnic and social groups: Jews, Soviet prisoners of war, Poles, Roma, homosexuals, Masons, hopelessly ill and disabled people, and people from many other European countries. In Auschwitz II - Birkenau, four crematoria and 10 gas chambers were built with the purpose of extermination of up to 10-12 thousand people within five hours.

Auschwitz III - Monowitz started functioning in October 1942. It consisted of 47 "outer camps" located mainly in Silesia. The slave labour of the prisoners of this camp was used in German mines, metallurgical plants and other enterprises of Upper Silesia, as well as on large agricultural farms. Mostly the life expectancy of prisoners of this camp was one to four months.

Medical experiments were widely practiced in the camp: the effects of chemicals on the human body; the latest pharmaceutical drugs; prisoners were artificially infected with malaria, hepatitis and other diseases as an experiment. Nazi SS doctors were performing surgical operations on healthy people. Common things were castration of men and sterilization of women. Particularly a lot of Roma were victims of those experiments. The SS killer doctors Josef Mengele and Karl Klauberg operated in Auschwitz.

According to various sources, from 75 to 90% of the persons transported to the Nazi concentration camp were immediately sent for extermination. Some of them were selected by Nazi camp doctors for experiments and later were killed. The rest received tattoos on their arms as registration numbers and were used as slave labour, mainly in Auschwitz III - Monowitz. In total, the number of prisoners of Auschwitz who received registration numbers is 405 thousand people. The work of the prisoners of the camp brought significant income to both German concerns and the Nazi state. Every year the camp transferred about two million marks to the treasury. A variety of German companies economically benefited from human body parts - golden teeth were sent to German banks and human hair was sent for making matrasses, etc.

At the end of 1944, in the conditions of the Red Army approaching, the Nazi leadership, trying to hide the traces of crimes, ordered the destruction of gas chambers, crematoria and the complete liquidation of Auschwitz. On January 17, 1945, about 60 thousand prisoners of the camp began to ''evacuate'' on foot to Germany (over 7.5 thousand prisoners remained in Auschwitz who could not withstand the march and were subject to extermination). However, the Nazis did not manage to liquidate the camp and destroy the prisoners who remained in it.

Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army of Soviet Union during the Vistula-Oder offensive operation carried out on January 12 - February 3, 1945 in order to complete the liberation of Poland. On January 27, the Red Army liberated 30 locations, including the main Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. According to the commander of this division, the fighting for the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau was fierce, and he lost about 180 people. In total, Soviet troops during the liberation of Auschwitz and the main camps, according to unspecified data, lost 231 soldiers.

Soviet troops freed about seven thousand prisoners of the Nazi camp; most of them were sick and physically exhausted. Initially, medical assistance to former prisoners was provided by doctors from units and the infectious diseases hospital of the 60th unit of the Red Army. Later, a Soviet therapeutic hospital and doctors of the Polish Red Cross worked on the territory of Nazi camps.

The Commission for the Investigation of Atrocities in Auschwitz began to work as early as February 1945. Precise data on the number of prisoners and victims of Auschwitz are not available, since there was no registration of persons sent for destruction. At the end of the Second World War, the number of four million people was called. According to the documents of the Nuremberg Tribunal, 2.8 million people died, 90% of whom were Jews. Subsequently, the number of Auschwitz victims began to be estimated at 1.5 million people, of which around 1.1 million Jews. Other victims included Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, other European nations, religious minorities and homosexuals. Overall, the number of Jews killed during WWII is 6 million people.

During the liberation of Auschwitz, over 348.8 thousand sets of men's clothing, over 836.2 thousand sets of women's clothing and a huge amount of children's clothing were found in six surviving warehouses alone. The Nazis managed to burn 29 other warehouses.

In 1947, the Auschwitz-Brzezinka Museum was established on the territory of the concentration camp, which in 1999 was renamed to Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oswiecim. The territory of the former camp in 1979, at the suggestion of Poland, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

By decision of the UN General Assembly - Resolution No. A/RES/60/7 of November 21, 2005, January 27 is commemorated worldwide as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.