Although the name Oświęcim means little to foreigners, its German equivalent, Auschwitz , evokes fear in almost everyone. It was here that
the Nazis established their largest concentration and extermination camp.
Auschwitz is synonymous with death, cruelty, the annihilation of the Jews and
the Holocaust. It is a massive graveyard. No visitor can leave unmoved.

The Auschwitz camp, known as Auschwitz I, opened in June 1940 when the first
Polish political prisoners arrived. In March 1941 a much larger camp at Birkenau  (Brzezinka in Polish), Auschwitz II, was started, 3km
(2 miles) from Oświeçim. Auschwitz III, a labour camp, was built nearby in
Monowice in 1943. The Nazis brought in people, overwhelmingly Jews, from all
over Europe. The gas chambers, which had the capacity to kill thousands daily,
started working ceaselessly in 1942. Trains drew up to the ramp where people
would be herded out for selection for extermination (the fate of the majority),
forced labour or medical experiments. Those selected for extermination would be
gassed and their bodies incinerated in one of the four crematoria. Apart from
Jews, a number of Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, gypsies and homosexuals died
here too.

For the Poles, Auschwitz is a particular symbol of their own suffering. It was
here that St Maksymilian Kolbe died from starvation after volunteering his life
for that of a fellow prisoner, who survived. Soviet forces liberated the camp in
January 1945. They found 7,650 sick and dying prisoners when they arrived.

Above the entrance to Auschwitz are inscribed the words “Arbeit macht frei”
(“Work makes you free”). The camp has been preserved as a memorial, and the
prison blocks that survive have been turned into a museum 
charting the history of the camp and of persecution in wartime Poland. In all,
between 900,000 and 1.5 million Jews and others were murdered in the
extermination camps here. The camp is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.