4
Kim
Sun Jae Kim; Wendy
Mr. Malone
English 9 2B
25 Nov 2009
The Death Factory
The holocaust is a terminology used to describe the genocide carried out under Nazis, during World War II. The genocide was carried out systematically. For example, concentration camps were established to exploit the prisoners as slave labor until the death. The structure of the camp was elaborately designed and the actual life in Auschwitz was horrible. Auschwitz was the biggest among the concentration camps during that period. It was the worst place for humans to live. Auschwitz was a death factory.
To begin with, Auschwitz was originally intended to torture prisoners. The main purpose of Auschwitz was to carry out the economic and extermination tasks of the Nazis in most efficient way. Thus, Auschwitz was built in a very organized way. As it expanded rapidly, it was divided into three camps when it became so extensive to manage. Auschwitz I camp was made of administrative offices and the main SS warehouses, workshops, and companies. Auschwitz III camp was to rent the labor of prisoners. Auschwitz II camp, which is also called Birkenau, was a center of the extermination of Jews. It had two functions: concentration camp and extermination center. In the concentration camp, prisoners were imprisoned. The camp was originally designed to make long-term survival impossible, so the prisoners were exterminated slowly. In an extermination center, prisoners were exterminated directly. Jews were mainly exterminated and prisoners from other categories were killed in a smaller scale. “These two constituent institutions that made up the Auschwitz camp complex, which went under the name Konzentrationslager Auschwitz, did not exist in parallel; rather, they functioned in mutual symbiosis.” The extermination center enabled the concentration camp to accept human labors continuously. On the other hand, the concentration camp supplied the extermination center the labor that would work in the center such as unloading ramps and gas chambers. This quote supports the idea that the camp is designed to not only make the inmates suffer but also take economical advantages from them.
Furthermore, the methods that were used to exploit prisoners were awful. Gas chamber is a perfect example. From late 1941 to October 1942, the mortuary at Auschwitz main camp was adapted as a gas chamber, which measured approximately 835 square feet. Two more gas chambers were constructed out of peasant huts in the spring of 1942. These gas chambers are known as ‘bunkers’. The first ‘bunker’ was operated in 1942 and it had two sealed rooms. The second ‘bunker’ had four airtight rooms and became redundant in the spring of 1943. However, it used again in 1944 for the murder of Hungarian Jews and the liquidation of the ghettos because there were tremendous amount of prisoners to kill. In August 1942, Nazis planned to build four large-scale gassing facilities. These were able to hold 4,420 in total but it only took 20 minutes to kill people. “Between January 1942 and March 1943, 175,000 Jews were gassed to death here, of whom 105,000 were killed from January to March 1943. Up to this point, Auschwitz accounted for only 11 percent of the victims of the ‘Final Solution’.” This quote explains how gas chambers were effective at exterminating prisoners. People were killed in the underground rooms and the death bodies were carried to the five ovens by the electrical lift. Before cremation, valuable properties such as gold teeth and rings were taken away.
In addition, holocaust survivors who actually have once been in the Auschwitz assert that life in the concentration camp was horrible. Bella Camhi, a holocaust survivor, describes her life in Auschwitz during the interview. “And then the—everything it was done, we were in line again and we had our number put on. And it was dot by dot by dot and it was painful.” According to this quote, she had to get tattooed the number 41194 that she received after the shower. “And then they start throwing them like animals. The—everybody who had a baby and then they were dead of it. They didn’t even wait for the shots. They were already gone.” This quote from the interview with Bella also shows that inmates were treated badly in the camp. Although the meals were very poor, she felt it was good because she was very exhausted and hungry. The living conditions such as clothes were poor as well. There were prisoners from various groups – Polish, Jews, Gypsies, Hungarians, and Greeks.
In the Auschwitz camp, terrible things were happening. They were exploited and murdered by Nazis ruthlessly. By looking at its structure, methods that are used to exploit inmates, and real survival stories from holocaust survivors, now it is obvious that Auschwitz was the worst place to live during this period. This holocaust was a very cruel event and this must not be repeated ever again.
Word count: 794
Bibliography
Web sites, e-sources
· Camhi, Bella. Interview. Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive. Sidney Bolkosky, n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2009. <http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/interviews.php>.
· Franciszek Piper. “Auschwitz I.” Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum., 2009. Web. 1 Nov. 2009. <http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/h/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6&Itemid=6>.
· Vincent Châtel, and Chuck Ferree. “Auschwitz-Birkenau - ‘The Death Factory.’” Auschwitz-Birkenau - “The Death Factory.” Vincent Châtel, n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2009. <http://www.jewishgen.org/ForgottenCamps/Camps/AuschwitzEng.html>.
Nonperiodicals
· Byers, Anne. The Holocaust Camps. library ed. Berkely Heights: n.p., n.d. Print. The Holocasut Remebered Series.
· Lawton, Clive A. Auschwitz. 1st U.S. ed ed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2002. Print.