Auschwitz

The Auschwitz concentration camp was a group of camps built by Nazi Germany during World War II next to the Polish city of Oswiecim. The camp was operational between 1940 and 1945. By today's estimate 1.3 million people died in the camp, 90% of which were Jewish. The camp consist of a number of sites. Auschwitz I, the initial camp, served as the administrative center for the whole complex. The much larger Birkenau site (Auschwitz II-Birkenau) was set up at the end of 1941 to ease congestion at the main camp. The Auschwitz concentration camp has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1979.