Understanding How Auschwitz Death Camp Turned Into Centre of Nazi Holocaust

 

During the Holocaust, six million Jews were killed, not to mention millions of others who were deemed "undesirable" by the Nazi regime. It is estimated that over one million people were killed at Treblinka. Hundreds of thousands were killed at Sobibor, and tens of thousands were killed at Dachau. In addition, almost one million Jews were killed in that other, often lesser known and discussed part of the Holocaust on the Eastern Front, when local Jews were simply rounded up, taken into a gigantic mass grave in the woods, and brutally killed on the spot.

And yet, the symbol for the Holocaust, the brutality mixed with chilling bureaucratic efficiency, was and remains to this day Auschwitz. Auschwitz was so big, that it was actually three separate camps. Unlike some other death camps, particularly Treblinka and Sobibor, Auschwitz physically survived and remained intact as a testament to the brutal history that transpired there. It is estimated that over one million Jews were killed there.

Below is a link to a fascinating article by the BBC on just how Auschwitz in particular came to be the center of the Holocaust, and how it now symbolizes that terrible chapter in history in ways that none of the other places can.

Auschwitz: How death camp became centre of Nazi Holocaust by BBC News, 23 January 2020:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50743973