The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum stands on the site of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp established in 1940 on the outskirts of Oświęcim, a Polish town annexed by the Third Reich. The first transport of Polish political prisoners arrived from Tarnów on June 14, 1940. What began as a concentration camp remained one throughout its existence; from 1942, the Germans also made Auschwitz a major center for the systematic murder of European Jews. The historical record is precise about the perpetrators: Nazi Germany built and operated the camp in occupied Poland. Using that description matters because it does not confuse the location with responsibility for the crime.
The complex grew into a network that included Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Auschwitz III-Monowitz and dozens of subcamps. The Museum estimates that about 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz and approximately 1.1 million were murdered. Around one million of the victims were Jews; the others included Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet prisoners of war and people of other nationalities. These are estimates based on historical research, not complete registration records: the SS did not register many victims murdered immediately after arrival and destroyed documents as the camp system collapsed. The Museum’s historical account explains both the scale of the crime and the limits of the surviving evidence.
