Auschwitz was one of the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camps during World War II. Auschwitz was composed of three large camps, Auschwitz I (Stammlager), Auschwitz II (Birkenau), Auschwitz III (Buna-Monowitz) and 45 sub-camps. Each camp was growing year after year with an increase in prisoners. This complex was located in southern Poland outside the town of Oswiecim (which the Germans called Auschwitz) on the Wisla (Vistula) River about 30 miles southwest of the city of Krakow. (Sanford, p.1) This area was annexed to the Third Reich after the defeat of Poland in September 1939. (Gutman, p. 107) The Nazis established Auschwitz on April 27, 1940 under the direction of Heinrich Himmler. Himmler was the chief of two Nazi organizations-the Nazi guards known as Schutzstaffel (SS) and the secret police the Gestapo. Under Himmler's command, Rudolph Hoss was appointed camp commandant. (Sanford, p.1)

Beginning in June 1940, the first prisoners brought to Auschwitz were Polish political prisoners. The population was 10,900 after the first year. Afterwards, Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, asocials, criminals, and prisoners of war accompanied them, mainly Jews. (Rosenberg, p.1

The fifth method was a phosphorous bomb. This bomb was thrown into a ditch and death was near when the explosion came about. This was one of the rare forms of extermination. The Sonderkommandos had this death destiny at the end of their four months at times along with prisoners. (Nyiszli, p. 129)

Death was definitely the outcome for most of the prisoners of Auschwitz. Whether you were sent straight to the gas chambers when you stepped of the train or forced to vigorous labor, death was bound to meet you at some point. There were six murder methods carried out by the SS guards. (Nyiszli, p.198)

The second method was injections with chloroform to the heart. This would cause blood of the ventricle in coagulating, would deposit on the valves and cause instant death by heart failure. This method would be used on a lot of the prisoners being used for medical experiments, mainly twins for the exact same time of death. (Nyiszli, p.62)

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2929
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)