Auschwitz concentration camp (Poland, nearby Krakow) was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was the largest of the German concentration camps, consisting of Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II–Birkenau, Auschwitz III–Monowitz and 45 satellite camps.

Auschwitz had for a long time been a German name for Oświęcim, the town by and around which the camps were located. The name “Auschwitz” was made the official name again by the Germans after they invaded Poland in September 1939. Birkenau, the German translation of Brzezinka (= “birch forest”), referred originally to a small Polish village that was destroyed by the Germans to make way for the camp. More…