Irene Weiss (Holocaust Survivor): We never heard of Auschwitz. We never heard of large concentration camps. We never heard of Auschwitz.
Narrator: During the Holocaust, the Nazis imprisoned and murdered Jews and other groups at thousands of camps throughout Europe. The largest camp complex was Auschwitz. It included three large sites: a concentration camp, a forced labor camp and a killing center. It was central to the Nazi plan to murder all European Jews in the Holocaust. Initially the camp was created to hold Polish political prisoners, but the Nazis quickly expanded to imprison victims from all over Europe. Between 1940 and 1945, the Nazis and their collaborators deported at least 1.3 million people to Auschwitz, located in Nazi occupied Poland. Most were Jewish. The Nazis also deported non-Jewish Poles, Roma and Sinti, and others. More than 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz, nearly one million of them were Jews. Nazis forced Jews from all over Europe into overcrowded rail cars and sent them to Auschwitz. German authorities did not give the deportees food or water, often for days on end. Many died on the trains. When they arrived at the camp, Nazi officials carried out selections for those who would live or die.
Irene Weiss (Holocaust Survivor): The doors opened and they started yelling, "get out, get out and leave everything behind." So, we all jumped out and there was bedlam because they were immediately beginning to separate families.
Narrator: The Nazis selected some prisoners for forced labor. Their hair was shaved, and they received tattoos–a number that would be their new identification. Laborers suffered starvation, disease, and constant violence. Often the purpose of labor was exhaustion to the point of death. From the rail cars, the Nazis forced most Jews into gas chambers and murdered them. Specially designed furnaces, called crematoria, ran all day and night to burn the bodies. As the Soviet army approached in January 1945, the Nazis destroyed the gas chambers to get rid of evidence and burned documents. They evacuated Auschwitz and other sites and forced tens of thousands
of prisoners to march to different camps. These were called death marches. Thousands of prisoners died of exposure, starvation, and exhaustion. Soviet troops entered Auschwitz on January 27, 1945. They liberated 7,000 prisoners, most of whom were ill and dying. They also found warehouses full of the victims’ belongings: shoes, clothing, and even their hair. In less than five years of operation, the Nazis murdered more than one million people at Auschwitz.
Irene Weiss (Holocaust Survivor): I just felt terrified the whole time. They had all the power, and I felt that we were nothing.
