Definitions for "Auschwitz"
Keywords:  poland, birkenau, camp, monowitz, buna
The city of Auschwitz, Poland, located in southwestern Poland, was the site of one of the largest of the Nazi extermination camps. The camp was expanded in August, 1942. Camp II was named Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The largest Nazi concentration camp, located 37 miles west of Cracow. Established in 1940, it became an extermination camp when it began receiving deportees in March/April 1942. Eventually it consisted of a number of sections. Auschwitz II-Birkenau was designated as the main extermination camp.
Nazi death camp built near Oswiecim, Poland. Heinrich Himmler ordered its creation on April 27, 1940. Composed of three large camps which housed five crematoria and forty-five subcamps. An estimated 1.1 million people were killed at this death camp.