Birkenau The concentration and death camp complex at Auschwitz-Birkenau IS the largest killing center in the entire Nazi universe; the very heart of their system. Of the many sub camps affiliated with Auschwitz, Birkenau, or Auschwitz II, IS by far the largest. The main camp, Auschwitz I was on the outskirts of the Polish city Oswiecim. Birkenau was in a suiburb named Zasole. This is the map of Birkenau: Unlike the main camp at Auschwitz, Birkenau is not a museum, research archive, or publishing house. It is preserved more or less in the state it was found at liberation in January 1945. However, only a few of the wooden barracks remain and are now being restored. The brick barracks and other structures in the women's camp still stand. All four Birkenau krematoria were dynamited by the retreating SS, however their ruins can still be seen.     This is not a pleasant site, not one that will distract from the pressures of everyday existence. But Birkenau, the largest and most lethal of the Auschwitz camps, is as much a part of the world as any aspiration for freedom and peace. In this sense, the authors and publishers of this exhibition feel we need to constantly explore this place and the ideas that created it, in the hope that eventually we will understand why people do such terrible things to other human beings, and why some were able, despite the tremendous role luck played, to find the strength to survive it. The search for this kind of meaning has, as paradoxical as it may sound, enriched our lives.

Inhumane Actions There were many different inhumane ways the Nazis treated the people they captured. Mostly Jews. The Nazis forced the Jews to get out of their homes; the Jews were forced to live in ghettos. They were moved from one ghetto to another, or place. The Jews were then put in trains for a long journey with out food and water, the Nazis made them suffer, they would threaten them if any one escaped from the train they would all be punished (killed). They could not wash themselves (Bathe), they would be told what to do and when to do it. Many Nazis would burn babies, hang people for no reason; they were forced to do slave labor. The Nazis would steal all their belongings from them many Jews were separated from their families, woman, and men separation. They were put into the concentration camps where they would be crowded together, and were imprisoned. The Nazis would sexually abuse and rape the Jews. Then they would take all their clothes away from them and left them naked. The Nazis took away their names and were gassed. They were treated very violently. These were the inhumane ways the Nazis treated the Jews; they were treated very badly. Many Jews suffered a lot, some more than others did. Here is an example:

Mauthausen On August 8, 1938, just a few weeks after the Nazi occupation of Austria, prisoners from the Dachau, concentration camp near Munich, were transferred to the Austrian town of Mauthausen, near Linz. They were brought to the rock quarry there, known as the "Wiener Graben", where they began to build the granite fortress-prison of the main camp, mostly with their blood, bodies, bare hands and backs. It was known as the "mother camp" for all of Austria, comprising some 49 sub-camps. Between Aug. 8, 1938 and May 5, 1945, about 195, 000 persons, men and women, were forced into these camps. Most of the people were imprisoned under the Nazi "protective custody" laws, that is, they were consider dangerous to the Third Reich of Germany and Austria, and therefore, these two nations, now joined, had to be "protected" from these people because of their racial origin, nationality, political affiliation or religious belief. It should be noted that Austria contributed more volunteers for the SS, per capita , than did Germany. The Mauthausen camp is one of the most infamous in the entire Nazi alternate universe of human destruction. Many people, most of whom were innocent of any crimes, were tortured to death in its rock quarry, and in the tunnels of Mauthausen-Gusen, the most infamous of the sub-camps. The policy of death through work was instituted by Chief of SS, Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler. Prisoners were to be given only the most primitive tools, and also, whenever possible, they were to work with their bare hands. This policy was known as "Primitivbauweise". In Mauthausen it resulted in a harsh, stone world, deprived of any human kindness and compassion. It is there today still... sitting on a small mountain-top in the astonishingly beautiful and bucolic Austrian countryside, maintained by the Austrian government. Here is Map of the camp-

These are some pictures of the camp Mauthausen:

Arrival of political prisoners at the Oranienburg concentration camp. Oranienburg, Germany, 1933.         Prisoners at forced labor in the brick factory at Neuengamme concentration camp. Germany, date uncertain.     BE VERY CAREFULL