Published in: Ruotuväki, 14/04

- THE DEATH FACTORY OPERATED FOR A FIVE YEARS

- AUSCHWITZ WAS THE LAST STOP TO 1 500 000 PRISONERS

- A Polish little girl stole a doll from a German girl. She was taken to a concentration camp and shot. Just one shocking story among many others. The Nazis destroyed 6 million people from this planet during the Second World War. Like the girl who stole a doll, a quarter of them was destroyed in Auschwitz, in the death factory.

- An anxious feeling overcomes the mind even before you have walked through the gate into the Auschwitz. Looking at the tall barbed wire fence, gives you chills to your spine. It's hard to realize that just 59 years ago, the horrors of the Nazis were a reality in this same spot. The symbol of the genocide, the Auschwitz, was the biggest concentration camps that the Germans established. During the five years, 1,5 million Jews, Gypsies, Russians and Polish were destroyed there. According to the estimates, 232 000 of them were children. Different estimates of the actual number of victims are still going around and the actual number is still under investigation. The information in this article is based on the information found from the State Museum in Auschwitz. 

- Originally Auschwitz was established to hold Polish political prisoners in 1940. The camp however started to fill out from prisoners brought from other European countries. From Scandinavian countries, at least Norwegian people were held here. After an year, the Nazis started to build Auschwitz II, which is better known as Birkenau. Unlike the Auschwitz I which was build to old barracks, Birkenau was build just to serve the purpose of genocide. Later Auschwitz III and 40 other smaller camps were build. 

- The longest journey to the camp took 10 days. The prisoners were transported in sealed cattle wagons, which didn't have any water, food or sanitary facilities. When the cattle wagons were opened, some of the peoples were already dead. After the wagons were opened, the SS-doctors divided with their fingers, the prisoners into a two groups. To the right one group were ordered mostly women, children and old and sick people. They were promised a shower, which meant a death immediately. The left one group contained those people, who could work. Some 20% to 30% of the transports contained these kind of people.

- "The shower rooms" could held 2 000 people. The Zyklon B- toxic which was poured from the ceiling, would kill the prisoners in 15 minutes. The first commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss estimated that 5 to 7 kilos of the toxic, could kill 1 500 people. In two years Auschwitz alone used 20 000 kilos of the toxic.

- The dead ones were ripped off from the gold teeth's and jewelries. The hair from women were cut and send to Germany where the hair was processed into a fabric. When the soldiers of the Red Army liberated the camp in 1945, they found some 7 000 kilos of human hair, that the Nazis haven't been able to send to different factories. At the start the dead ones were burned outside and the camp was constantly covered in a burned stench. The ovens could held 3 to 4 corpses and the ashes were used as a fertilizer. Sometimes the prisoners had to burn their relatives. During the first day they were told that the only way out, is through the chimney in the crematorium. 

- Most of the victims in Auschwitz were destroyed immediately. Additionally it is estimated that in Auschwitz there was 400 00 prisoners from which 40 000 to 50 000 survived until the end of the war. The women survived in the camp approximately three months and men six months. Some saw the whole history of the camp. When the prisoners arrived to the camp, they were disinfected and photographed. When the camp had grown into a huge death factory it wasn't possible to photograph everyone anymore and so Auschwitz became the only camp, where a numbers were tattooed into the prisoner arm. The babies and small children were too small for this and so the numbers were tattooed into their leg. The barracks which were full of people, contained an earth floor and they were full of rats and insects. The 300 barracks in Birkenau were made from wood or were bricked and were heated with a stove. The lavatories were a series of holes in the middle of the building and there was no paper and only a few seconds was allowed in the morning and in the evening to use the lavatories. The prisoners worked at least 12 hours in the camp, in the mines, farms, factories, in construction sites and in armament factories. The heavy work load, epidemics, malnutrition and a beatings increased the death rate. Some of the female prisoners weighted only 23 to 25 kilos when they were found.

- After the German defense had collapsed and the Red Army was closing in Auschwitz, the SS-men started to evacuate the camp from valuable items. Also the buildings and documents were started to burn. They tried to destroy the evidence of their crimes. The prisoners that were able to walk, were sent to the death marches to the nearest railway station where they would be sent to Germany. To many weak prisoners, the marches were too much. The Red Army found Auschwitz in January 1945 and liberated the prisoners that were in the camp. From the liberated prisoners, 450 were under 15 years of age. After the war, the Nazi leaders were sentenced to death of crimes committed against humanity. The first commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, was hanged in Auschwitz, right across the crematorium in 1947.

Commercialized Concentration Camp:

- The bright colored busses doesn't fit too well to the Auschwitz yard, which is otherwise very gray. The signs remind people to behave well and respect the memory of the victims. Smoking isn't allowed. We are visited nearly a half a million tourists every year, says the guide while smiling. If a visitor stays too long in one spot, the guide starts to instruct people to move further. The next group is already coming. If there is too many people at the same time, there's a danger of suffocating he tells in a routine manner. The Nazis most likely were not worried about prisoners suffocating 59 years ago. The souvenir shop and a restaurant in the area feels a very grotesque after the gas chambers and crematoriums. Hunger is the last concern of a tourists after visiting the camp. However, the commercial aspect of the place is a very troubling.