made much of this industry possible.
The Nazis chose Auschwitz because
Jewish labor could be redirected to Polish
manufacturing deemed necessary for the
war. Most young men were conscripted
for forced labor in nearby industries. The
Nazis executed most of the women, children, sick and elderly who were not as capable of hard work.
Although early in the war, firing squads
killed many Jews, most (and several other minorities) were sent to Auschwitz or
another nearby death camp, Birkenau,
known for its efficiency in killing by poison gas. There they were killed and their
bodies cremated in the coal-fired ovens
(furnaces).
There were 22 Nazi concentration centers scattered across Europe at the height
of the war. Auschwitz, like most of the
camps, was located on a rail line not easily visible. The Nazis attempted to make
the death camps as inconspicuous as possible by locating them in small towns near
industrial cities. Other notorious examples
The German invasion of Poland in 1939,
then Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway,
the Netherlands and France in 1940, and
Greece, Yugoslavia and Russia in 1941 allowed the Nazis to take control of most of
Europe’s Jewish population. Most European Jews were urban dwellers, and the
Nazis methodically rounded them up and
sent them to the concentration camps. ApNeal Lineback
proximately two thirds of the continent’s
Jews were exterminated.
and Mandy Lineback Gritzner
Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz on
January 27, 1945, commemorated annually
around the world as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Poland founded
a museum on the Auschwitz site in 1947.
In late December 2009, the infamous sign
The solemn 65-year anniversary of the libabove the entrance to the Auschwitz death
eration will be observed in this year.
camp in southern Poland was stolen. The
When five men stole the “Arbeit macht
sign, which was quickly recovered, reads
frei” sign, Polish officials declared a state of
“Arbeit macht frei,” or “Work makes you
emergency. They tightened border controls
free.” It is a potent reminder of the atrociand conducted random police checks atties that occurred at Auschwitz during the
tempting to locate the missing sign. When
Holocaust.
police found it in a nearby home, the sign
The Holocaust refers to the mass murder
had been chopped into three pieces and
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portedly
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Geography in the News 01/15/10
Source: http://history1900s.about.com
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million
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reSources: GITN #273, Auschwitz, Poland, January 28, 1994; and http://www.nydailynews.com/news/
the Ausmind
the
world/2009/12/20/2009-12-20_poliice_find_infamous_arbeit_macht_frei_sign.html
chwitz
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of death camps include Dachau near Muties should never occur again.
heart of densely populated, agricultural
nich and Buchenwald near Leipzig in GerAnd that is Geography in the News™.
and industrialized southern Poland. Two
many.
January 15, 2010. #1024.
cities, Krakow to the east and Katowice to
Hitler’s Nazis planned to extermiCo-authors are Neal Lineback, Appalachian
the north, represent the two most impornate Europe’s entire Jewish population.
State University Professor Emeritus of
tant industrial centers of southern Poland,
When Hitler rose to power in 1933, govGeography, and Geographer Mandy Lineback
producing chemicals, iron, steel and heavy
ernment-supported persecution of GerGritzner. University News Director Jane
machinery. Large coal deposits nearby
many’s Jews began almost immediately.
Nicholson serves as technical editor.
Geography
In The
News™
AUSCHWITZ
REMEMBERED
“Work Makes You Free”: Remembering the Holocaust
©2010 Maps.com