About the Camp

• The extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of the six extermination camps constructed. The camp was located in Poland. It was originally an emigration camp for seasonal workers, called Sachsenganger constructed in 1916 that the Nazis later turned into a concentration camp. More than 1.1 million Jews were killed at the camp. It was liberated on January 27, 1945 by the Soviet Red Army.
  
  

The Crematoria

• There were a series of crematoria constructed at Auschwitz. The first crematorium was in operation until 1943. Crematorium II was first planned to be constructed in 1941 and went into use in 1942. In 1942 plans were made to construct further crematoria, which were completed in 1943. Crematorium III was built alongside crematorium II. Crematoria IV and V followed were built in a similar fashion. These four crematoria were located far away from the prisoners' barracks and were hidden from view by plants and trees in an area that was sealed off by guards.
  
  

Layout

• The largest of the crematoria were II and III, which each had a capacity of burning 1,440 corpses per day. The incineration chambers were located on the ground floor of each building. Downstairs, in the basement was the changing room and gas chamber as well as a mortuary. The gas chamber and the hallway leading up to it was designed to make the room look like a bathroom. In crematoria IV and V the changing rooms and gas chambers were located on the ground floor along with the incineration room. Ashes from all four buildings were poured into nearby trenches and later transported to rivers or ponds or spread as fertilizer.
  
  

Capacity

• The crematoria ovens used at Auschwitz were manufactured by Hartmut Topf, a company that constructed cremation ovens for ordinary cremation use. A 1943 letter from a Topf employee said that the capacity of the cremation ovens at Auschwitz could be increased to 2,650 per day or 80,000 per month, an amount which he was told by a military official at the camp would not be enough to meet their needs. As more corpses were burned than were initially planned for, there was damage to the equipment and the crematoria were prone to failure through overheating.