It was divided into more than a dozen sections separated by electrified barbed-wire fences and, like Auschwitz I, it was patrolled by SS guards. After 1942, even SS dog handlers were used as well.
The camp included sections for women, men, a family camp for Roma (Gypsies) deported from Germany, Austria and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. There was also a family camp for Jewish families, deported from the Theresienstadt ghetto.
Auschwitz II also contained the facilities for a killing center. It played a central role in the German plan to kill the Jews of Europe.
Gas Chambers
During the summer and autumn of 1941, Zyklon B gas was introduced into the German concentration camp system as a means for murder. The deadly gas was first tested at Auschwitz I but became an instrument of mass murder at Auschwitz II.
Near Birkenau, the SS initially converted two farmhouses for use as gas chambers. One of these gas chambers was “Provisional” Gas Chamber I. It went into operation in January 1942 and was later dismantled. Provisional Gas Chamber II operated from June 1942 through the fall of 1944.
The SS continued gassing operations at Auschwitz II until November 1944.
Deportations
Trains arrived at Auschwitz II frequently with transports of Jews from virtually every country in Europe occupied by or allied to Germany. These transports arrived from 1942 to the end of summer 1944.
With the deportations from Hungary, the role of Auschwitz II was an instrument in the German plan to murder the Jews of Europe. The camp’s goal was to achieve these murders
at its highest effectiveness. Between late April and early July 1944, approximately 440,000 Hungarian Jews were deported. 426,000 of them were sent to Auschwitz II.
New arrivals at Auschwitz II underwent selection. The SS staff determined the majority to be unfit for forced labor and sent them immediately to the gas chambers, which were disguised as shower installations to mislead the victims.
The belongings of those gassed were confiscated and sorted in the "Kanada" (Canada) warehouse for shipment back to Germany. Canada symbolized wealth to the prisoners.
During one of the uprisings, the prisoners killed three guards and blew up the crematorium and adjacent gas chamber. The prisoners used explosives smuggled into the camp by Jewish women who had been assigned to forced labor in a nearby armaments factory. The Germans crushed the revolt and killed almost all of the prisoners involved in the rebellion. The Jewish women who had smuggled the explosives into the camp were publicly hanged in early January 1945.
Gassing operations continued, however, until November 1944, at which time the SS, on orders from Hitler, disabled the gas chambers that still functioned. The SS destroyed the remaining gassing installations as Soviet forces approached in January 1945.
In total, approximately 1.1 million Jews were deported to Auschwitz II. At least 960,000 of these Jews were killed.
Auschwitz III
Auschwitz III was created in October 1942 to house prisoners assigned to work at the Buna synthetic rubber works. It is also called Buna or Monowitz. It was located on the outskirts of the Polish town of Monowice. The SS had transported prisoners from Auschwitz I to the “Buna Detachment,” at first on foot and later by railroad from May 1941 until October 1942. With the construction of Auschwitz III in the autumn of 1942, prisoners deployed at Buna lived in Auschwitz III. Auschwitz III had a Labor Education Camp for non-Jewish prisoners who were perceived to have violated German-imposed labor discipline.