22 March 1943 | The Zentralbauleitung of the #Auschwitz camp (Central Construction office) completed the construction of gas chamber and crematorium IV at Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. The undressing rooms, gas chamber and crematorium were located on the ground level. 1/5
The gas chamber space was divided into three smaller rooms and had a total of 236.78 square meters. The exterior walls had holes with gas proof trapdoors for inserting Zyklon B. 2/5
The crematorium was equipped with one eight-oven furnace. According to the calculations made German manufacturer Topf & Soehne, 768 corpses could be burned in this crematorium every 24 hours. 3/5
15 March 1948 | District Military Court in Warsaw sentenced to death Col. Witold Pilecki, officer active in the underground. In 1940 he voluntarily submitted to arrest & deportation to the German Auschwitz camp to gather information about the camp. He was executed on 25 May 1948.
Learn more about Witold Pilecki and Polish military resistance movement at KL Auschwitz google.com/culturalinstit…
"I've been trying to live my life so that in the hour of my death I would rather feel joy, than fear."
(Witold Pilecki)
12 March 1943 | 14-year old Polish girl Czesława Kwoka (camp no. 26947) was murdered in #Auschwitz with a phenol injection into the heart. She was deported by Germans from Zamość region as part of their plan of creating „living space” in the east. [Thread 1/4]
According to the testimony of a survivor Wilhelm Brasse, who took the registration picture of Czesława Kwoka, just before it was taken, the girl was beaten by one of the guards. In the picture, you can see the cut in her lip. 2/4
Czesława Kwoka was born on 15 August 1928 in Wólka Złojecka, a village in region. She arrived at #Auschwitz on 13 December 1942 in a transport of 318 women. Her mother Katarzyna was also deported. She received number 26949 & perished in the camp on 18 February 1943. 3/4
8 March 1941 | In a 15-minute period Germans evicted the inhabitants of the village of Pławy without any previous warning. The residents were brought in lorries and oxcarts to the assembly hall of the Praga company in Brzezinka where they remained until the next day.
On Sunday they were all transferred to Gorlice in the General Government. Miners living in Pławy were resettled with their families in Brzeszcze and Jawiszowice on March 10 and 11.
In total, in connection with the creation & expansion of #Auschwitz Germans deported from the town of Oświęcim (Auschwitz) & nearby villages around 8-9 thousand Poles. Moreover, they deported the entire Jewish population of Oświęcim - about 7,000 people to nearby ghettos.
1,3 million people were deported to Auschwitz. Among some 400,000 people registered as prisoners, there were 131,000 women: 82,000 Jewish, 31,000 Polish, 11,000 Roma as well as Russian, Belorussian, German, French, Czech & Yugoslavian. #InternationalWomensDay#WomensHistoryMonth
Women became prisoners of the German Nazi #Auschwitz concentration camp in late March 1942. The first two transports - of German female prisoners transferred from the Ravensbrück camp & Slovak Jewish women deported from Poprad - arrived on 26 March. #InternationalWomensDay
From transports of Jews deported by Germans for extermination to #Auschwitz SS doctors selected hundreds of thousands of women & girls to be murdered in gas chambers immediately after their arrival. Pregnant women & mothers with babies were murdered too. #InternationalWomensDay
6 March 1939 | A Dutch Jewish boy, Willem Philip van Naarden, was born in Amsterdam.
In March 1944 he was deported to #Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber after selection.
Willem Philip van Naarden was a son of Levie and Elisabeth. In 1943 they decided to go into hiding. Willem was placed with a family of 7 children in Bennebroek.
At some point Betty wanted to check how her son was doing, and asked a family friend, who worked for an organization that helped Jews in hiding, about him. The brother of this person most probably denounced Willem. In mid-November 1943 Willem was arrested.
A visit to @AuschwitzMuseum is a unique personal & educational experience. Thanks to our free online lessons everyone can learn about different aspects of the history of Auschwitz.
"Auschwitz – concentration and extermination camp"
This is a compendium of knowledge about the history of the German Nazi camp. The lesson explains the two functions of the camp that was used to persecute different groups of people.
The lesson is dedicated to a unique document that shows the reality of functioning of Auschwitz and the fate of its victims through the works of art created by the prisoners.