Auschwitz Concentration Camp Timeline 1940-1945
AUSCHWITZ CAMP OPENS
May 20, 1940
The Auschwitz I concentration camp opens with the arrival of 30 German prisoners. They are the first prisoners to receive serial numbers in the camp. German authorities will begin the deportation of Polish prisoners to Auschwitz in June 1940. Auschwitz I, the first camp opened in the Auschwitz complex, is located near the Polish town of Oswiecim. Construction began in early May using the existing Polish military barracks in the Oswiecim suburb of Zasole. The camp is about 37 miles west of Krakow, near the prewar German-Polish border in Eastern Upper Silesia, an area annexed to Germany in August 1939. Auschwitz I, primarily a concentration camp, functions as a detention facility for prisoners. The Auschwitz complex will expand over the next few years with the establishment of forced-labor camps throughout the region and an extermination camp near Birkenau (Brzezinka).
HIMMLER INSPECTS AUSCHWITZ
March 1, 1941
Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS and chief of German police, inspects Auschwitz. Because nearby factories use prisoners for forced labor, Himmler is concerned about the prisoner capacity of the camp. On this visit, he orders both the expansion of Auschwitz I camp facilities to hold 30,000 prisoners and the building of a camp near Birkenau for an expected influx of 100,000 Soviet prisoners of war. Himmler also orders that the camp supply 10,000 prisoners for forced labor to construct an I.G. Farben factory complex at Dwory, about a mile away. Himmler will make additional visits to Auschwitz in 1942, when he will witness the killing of prisoners in the gas chambers.
SS TESTS GASSING FACILITIES
September 3, 1941
The first gassings of prisoners occur in Auschwitz I. The SS tests Zyklon B gas by killing 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 other ill or weak prisoners. Testing takes place in a makeshift gas chamber in Auschwitz I. Zyklon B was the commercial name for crystalline hydrogen cyanide gas, manufactured by I.G. Farben and normally used as an insecticide. The "success" of these experiments will lead to the adoption of Zyklon B as the killing agent for the yet-to-be-constructed Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. Mass killings will begin at Auschwitz-Birkenau in the spring of 1942.
CONSTRUCTION OF AUSCHWITZ II
October 8, 1941
Construction of the Auschwitz-Birkenau (Auschwitz II) camp begins. Of the three camps established in the Auschwitz complex, Birkenau will have the largest prisoner population. The camp will include sections for women, men, Roma (Gypsies), and families deported from the Theresienstadt ghetto. Auschwitz-Birkenau will play a central role in the Nazi plan to kill the Jews of Europe. At the height of killing operations, deportation transports will arrive at Auschwitz-Birkenau daily from across Europe--including western and southern Europe.
GASSING OPERATIONS BEGIN
March 20, 1942
The SS puts the new gas chambers at Auschwitz into operation. The gas chambers are located in specially renovated farmhouses near the Birkenau section of the camp. The SS forces an entire transport of Polish Jews directly to the gas chambers without a selection (the separation of prisoners chosen for forced labor from those to be killed).
DEPORTATIONS FROM FRANCE
March 30, 1942
The first mass transport of Jews from France arrives at Auschwitz. There are about 1,000 people in this transport. Almost all the Jews in this transport are processed into the camp upon arrival. Transports from France will continue to arrive on a regular basis until August 1944. The majority of the 75,000 Jews deported from France will be killed in the gas chambers in Birkenau.
FORCED-LABOR CAMP OPENS
May 31, 1942
German authorities open the I.G. Farben labor camp at Monowitz (Auschwitz III). This camp is to provide forced laborers for the Buna synthetic rubber works (part of the German conglomerate I.G. Farben). I.G. Farben chose to establish installations at Auschwitz because of its available pool of forced laborers and also for its access to gravel pits and other resources located in the region. Prisoners selected for forced labor are registered in Auschwitz I before they are assigned to labor projects in Auschwitz III or any of the other forced-labor subcamps in the Auschwitz camp system. Over the next three years, an estimated 25,000 prisoners will die in the Monowitz labor camp.
TYPHUS EPIDEMIC
July 3, 1942
A typhus epidemic breaks out in Auschwitz-Birkenau. 184 male prisoners and an unknown number of female prisoners die in this epidemic.
DEPORTATIONS FROM THE NETHERLANDS
July 17, 1942
The first transports of Jews from the Netherlands arrive at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Out of two transports carrying close to 2,000 people, nearly 500 people are gassed or shot immediately. SS doctors select the remaining group, mostly men, for forced-labor projects in Auschwitz. Between July 1943 and September 1944, over 60,000 Jews will be deported from the Netherlands to Auschwitz. The majority will be gassed upon arrival in the camp.
DEPORTATIONS FROM BELGIUM
August 5, 1942
The first transport of close to 1,000 Jews from Belgium arrives in Auschwitz-Birkenau. After a selection, nearly 750 people are registered in the camp. The others are gassed or shot. Close to 25,000 Jews will be deported from Belgium, the majority to Auschwitz, by June 1944.
DEPORTATION OF ROMA (GYPSIES)
February 26, 1943
The first transport of Roma (Gypsies) from Germany and Austria arrives in Auschwitz. The SS places the arrivals in a section of Birkenau that becomes the Gypsy family camp. More Roma will arrive in transports throughout the spring of 1943 and will be sent to the same family camp. Approximately 23,000 Roma will be interned at Auschwitz during the camp's existence. Throughout 1944, thousands of Roma will be transported to other concentration camps, used for forced-labor projects, or killed in the gas chambers. Between 6,500 and 16,000 Roma will be killed at Auschwitz.
DEPORTATIONS FROM SALONIKA
March 20, 1943
The first transport of Jews from the ghetto in Salonika, Greece, arrives in Auschwitz. Of 2,800 deportees, the SS registers about 600 men and women in the camp to work as forced laborers. The remaining men, women, and children are killed in the gas chambers. By June 1943 the Germans will have deported 46,000 Jews from Salonika--and another 7,000 from other Greek areas--to Auschwitz.
NEW GASSING FACILITIES CONSTRUCTED
March 22, 1943
The first of four new gas chambers and crematoria in Auschwitz-Birkenau is ready for use. The other three will be completed by June 1943. The new facilities each have three components: a disrobing area, a large gas chamber, and crematorium ovens. Each chamber has the capacity to gas about 2,000 people daily.
DEPORTATIONS FROM THERESIENSTADT
September 9, 1943
Over 5,000 Jewish prisoners from the Theresienstadt ghetto in the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia arrive in Auschwitz-Birkenau. A special family camp is set up for the Jews deported from Theresienstadt. The SS has maintained the Theresienstadt ghetto, since 1941, as a "model ghetto." Propaganda primarily for public consumption in the Reich sought to use Theresienstadt to dispel reports of deplorable conditions in ghettos and deportations to extermination camps. The propaganda ploy continues when deportations of Jews from Theresienstadt arrive in Auschwitz. The SS allows new arrivals from Theresienstadt to remain together in families. They are permitted to keep their civilian clothes and are not forced to have their hair shorn. Living conditions, however, are not better than those elsewhere in Birkenau. More than 1,000 of this first group will die within six months. More deportations, with another 5,000 Jews from Theresienstadt, will arrive in December 1943.
DEPORTATIONS FROM ITALY
October 23, 1943
The first train carrying Jews from Italy arrives in Auschwitz-Birkenau, with over 1,000 people. Only about 200 men and women are admitted to the camp. The rest are killed in the gas chambers or shot. Some 8,300 Jews will be deported from Italy to Auschwitz over the next year.
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF AUSCHWITZ
April 4, 1944
An Allied aerial reconnaissance plane takes photographs of the I.G. Farben complex at Auschwitz. This is the first of many aerial reconnaissance missions resulting in photographs that show Auschwitz barracks and crematoria. Allied bombings of the I.G. Farben factory works and of some of the satellite camps will occur during the summer and fall of 1944, but there are no direct bombings of Auschwitz I, Auschwitz-Birkenau, or the gas chambers and crematoria.
WETZLER AND VRBA ESCAPE
April 7, 1944
Two Slovak Jews, Alfred Wetzler and Rudolf Vrba, escape from Auschwitz and flee to Slovakia. They make contact with representatives of the Jewish council in Zilina, Slovakia, and present a detailed report of their experiences in Auschwitz. Their report is sent to Allied governments, the Vatican, and the Polish and Slovak governments-in-exile. Although much is already known about the German killing of Europe's Jews, this report presents detailed information about how it is possible for the Germans to kill millions of people.
DEPORTATIONS FROM HUNGARY
May 16, 1944
Following the German occupation of Hungary, the first transports of Hungarian Jews begin arriving in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Nearly 440,000 Hungarian Jews will be deported from Hungary, most of them to Auschwitz, by July 1944. The majority of deportees will be taken directly to the gas chambers or shot. The transports of Hungarian Jews are the last of the large transports to Auschwitz.
PRISONER UPRISING
October 7, 1944
Members of the Jewish prisoner detachment (the Sonderkommando) that was forced to remove bodies from the gas chambers and operate the crematoria stage an uprising. They successfully blow up Crematorium IV and kill several guards. Women prisoners had smuggled gunpowder out of nearby factories to members of the Sonderkommando. The SS quickly suppresses the revolt and kills all the Sonderkommando members. On January 6, 1945, just weeks before Soviet forces liberate the camp, the SS will also hang four women who smuggled gunpowder into the camp.
GASSING OPERATIONS END
November 25, 1944
As Soviet and Allied forces continue to move into German-occupied territory, Heinrich Himmler orders the destruction of the Auschwitz-Birkenau gas chambers and crematoria. During this SS attempt to destroy the evidence of mass killings, prisoners will be forced to dismantle and dynamite the structures.
SS EVACUATES AUSCHWITZ
January 18, 1945
As Soviet forces approach from the east, the SS begins evacuating (to the west) the prisoners of the Auschwitz camp complex. Tens of thousands of prisoners, mostly Jews, are forced to march to the city of Wodzislaw in the western part of Upper Silesia. During the march, SS guards shoot anyone who cannot continue. In Wodzislaw, the prisoners will be put on unheated freight trains and deported to concentration camps in Germany, particularly to Flossenbürg, Sachsenhausen, Gross-Rosen, Buchenwald, and Dachau, and to Mauthausen in Austria. In all, nearly 60,000 prisoners are forced on death marches from the Auschwitz camp system. More than 15,000 die during the death marches. Thousands more were killed in the days before the evacuation.
SOVIET FORCES LIBERATE AUSCHWITZ
January 27, 1945
The Soviet army enters Auschwitz and liberates the few thousand prisoners remaining in the camp. At least 1.1 million Jews from across Europe were killed in Auschwitz during the camp's existence. Other victims included between 70,000 and 75,000 Poles, between 6,500 and 16,000 Roma (Gypsies), and 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war.
LIST OF TRANSPORTS FROM BERLIN TO THE EAST
No. Date Destination Number of Deportees
18 October 1941 Lodz 1,013,
2. 24 October 1941 Lodz 1,024,
3. 27 October 1941 Lodz 1,009,
4. 1 November 1941 Lodz 1,033,
5. 14 November 1941 Minsk,
6. 17 November 1941 Kovno 3,715,
7. 27 November 1941 Riga,
8. 13 January 1942 Riga 907,
9. 19 January 1942 Riga 579,
10. 25 January 1942 Riga 905,
11. 28 March 1942 Travniki (Lublin area) 972,
12. 2 April 1942 Travniki (Lublin area) 728,
13. 2 April 1942 Travniki (Lublin area) 642,
14. 14 April 1942 Travniki (Lublin area) 72,
15. 13 June 1942 East 748,
16. 26 June 1942 East 201,
17. 11 July 1942 Auschwitz 210,
18.15 August 1942 Riga 1,004,
19. 5 September 1942 Unknown 790,
20. 3 October 1942 Unknown 816,
21. 19 October 1942 Unknown 944,
22. 26 October 1942 Unknown 800,
23. 29 November 1942 Auschwitz 980,
24. 9 December 1942 Auschwitz 1,000,
25. 14 December 1942 Auschwitz 811,
26. 12 January 1943 Auschwitz 1,190,
27. 29 January 1943 Auschwitz 1,000,
28. 3 February 1943 Auschwitz 952,
29. 19 February 1943 Auschwitz 1,000,
30. 26 February 1943 Auschwitz 913,
31. 1 March 1943 Auschwitz 1,682,
32. 2 March 1943 Auschwitz 1,592,
33. 3 March 1943 Auschwitz 1,732,
34. 4 March 1943 Auschwitz 1,143,
35. 6 March 1943 Auschwitz 657,
36. 12 March 1943 Auschwitz 946,
37. 19 April 1943 Auschwitz 338,
38. 17 May 1943 Auschwitz 395,
39. 28 May 1943 Auschwitz 319,
40. 4 August 1943 Auschwitz 99,
41. 24 August 1943 Auschwitz 50,
42. 10 September 1943 Auschwitz 53,
43. 28 September 1943 Auschwitz 74,
44. 14 October 1943 Auschwitz 74,
45. 29 October 1943 Auschwitz 49,
46. 8 November 1943 Auschwitz 50,
47. 7 December 1943 Auschwitz 55,
48. 20 January 1944 Auschwitz 48,
49. 22 February 1944 Auschwitz 32,
50. 9 March 1944 Auschwitz 32,
51. 18 April 1944 Auschwitz 30,
52. 3 May 1944 Auschwitz 27,
53. 19 May 1944 Auschwitz 24,
54. 15 June 1944 Auschwitz 29,
55. 12 July 1944 Auschwitz 30,
56. 10 August 1944 Auschwitz 38,
57. 6 September 1944 Auschwitz 39,
58. 12 October 1944 Auschwitz 31,
59. 24 November 1944 Auschwitz 28,
60. 8 December 1944 Auschwitz 15,
61. 5 January 1945 Auschwitz 14,
62. 5 January 1945 Bergen-Belsen 6, 2 February 1945 Males ¯ Sachsenhausen 14, 2 February 1945 Females ¯ Ravensbruck 11,
63 Men ¯ planned for Sachsenhausen 11 Women ¯ planned for Ravensbruck 13
Total: Deportation from Berlin to the east 35,738
