The document provides information about Auschwitz concentration camp through a series of questions and answers. It details that Auschwitz was the largest Nazi concentration camp, established in 1940 in German-occupied Poland, where over 1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed or died. Prisoners were subjected to cruel medical experiments, forced labor, starvation, and execution in gas chambers. The camp was liberated in 1945 by Soviet forces but not before thousands of prisoners were force marched to other camps in what became known as the Death March.

1. Year 10 History – Area of Study 2: Nazi Germany
Year 10 History
Area of Study 2: Nazi Germany
Auschwitz - Answers
View the PowerPoint “Auschwitz” and answer the
following questions.
1. ‘Arbeit macht frei’ is a German phrase. In English its equivalent would be?
It is a German phrase that can be translated as “Work liberates” or “work makes
one free”.
2. Auschwitz was the largest concentration camp established by the Germans in World
War II.
a. When was it built?
It was built in 1940
b. When did it cease being a concentration camp?
It ceased being a concentration camp in 1945.
c. How many people died within the walls of Auschwitz before it was liberated?
Between 1940 when it was built and 1945 when it was liberated over half a
million most of them Jews died within the walls of Auschwitz.
d. Why was Auschwitz I established?
Auschwitz I it was established in 1940 mainly as a penal colony
e. Why was Auschwitz II established?
f. Auschwitz II was primarily a Death Camp executing ‘The Final Solution’.
g. Why was Auschwitz III established?
Auschwitz III was a forced labour camp supplying workers to Buna Rubber
Works
3. Auschwitz had four large gas chambers.
a. What was the reason behind having four gas chambers?
This was found as being the best way in exterminating the Jews and
undesirables (The Final Solution). The Jews and undesirables were led into
these chambers, disguised as showers and poisoned with a gas called Zyklon-
B previously used for fumigation.
b. Ovens, in Auschwitz, were designed especially for what purpose?
After the Jews and undesirables were gassed en masse their bodies were then
burnt in ovens designed especially for that purpose.
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2. Year 10 History – Area of Study 2: Nazi Germany
4. There was a ‘process’ that was followed by the Auschwitz Guards when a new batch
of ‘undesirables’ arrived.
a. Explain ‘the process’.
The Auschwitz Guards divided the new batch of arrived ‘undesirables’ into
those who look fit for work and those that don’t. The unfit, included children,
elderly and the weak were sent straight to the Gas Chambers.
b. What was the reasoning behind ‘this process’?
“The Final Solution” that is: either way whether chosen fit or unfit eventually
they would end up in the Gas Chambers or dead.
5. Those prisoners who survived the ‘process’ were only expected to survive a few
months. Apart from the ‘quasi medical experiments’, which other two ways did they
die?
They died from malnutrition, from disease due to brutal conditions in the camp, or
being shot for any or no reason
6. Fill in the Gaps:
Many died as a result of inhumane tests on their ENDURANCE, exposure to HEAT or
COLD and forced STERILIZATIONS.
7. The Auschwitz victims were not all Jews; victims included anyone they believed was
undesirable.
a. State ‘which victims’ were ‘imprisoned and/or executed’ at Auschwitz?
The Nazis also imprisoned and executed political prisoners, homosexuals,
disabled people, Jehovah's Witnesses , Catholic Clergy, Eastern European
intellectuals, common criminals and anyone else they considered undesirable.
b. How many non-Jewish Poles, Roma (gypsies) and Soviet prisoners of war were
killed there?
75,000 non-Jewish Poles, 18,000 Roma (Gypsies), and 15,000 Soviet prisoners
of war were killed there.
8. “For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity where the
Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women and children mainly Jews
from various countries of Europe. AUSCHWITZ – BIRKENAU 1940-1945”
a. What does Auschwitz mean?
It is the German name for the Polish town of Oswiecim, near Krakow, where
the camp stood.
b. Could there be a reason why Auschwitz Concentration Camp [Death Camp]
was built in ‘Auschwitz’?
The original reason the camp was established was that the mass arrests of
Polish people that followed the seizing of their country was becoming
unmanageable by the regular prisons.
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3. Year 10 History – Area of Study 2: Nazi Germany
c. Victims were also brought in by train to Auschwitz from occupied Nazi
countries. State five (5) of those countries.
Five of those countries would be: Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands,
Belgium and Yugoslavia.
d. “In 1942 it became one of the largest death camps as part of Hitler’s “Final
Solution.” What was Hitler’s “Final Solution?
Nazi Germany’s plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European
Jews (and undesirables) during World War II, resulting in the final, most
deadly phase of the Holocaust.
9. Did prisoners ever rebel against the Nazi ‘Auschwitz’ Regime? If so, when and why?
What was the outcome?
In fact, they did. Several hundred inmates learned in October 1944 that they were
to be killed and rose up against the Nazis, killing three guards. They also blew up
one of the crematoriums and a gas chamber with explosives smuggled in by
inmates who were used as forced labour at an arms factory.
The Nazis crushed the uprising, killing almost everyone who was involved. The
women who smuggled the explosives into the camp were hanged in public.
10. Who was Rudolf Hoess? What happened to him?
Rudolf Hoess was the camp commandant at Auschwitz. He was tried in Poland,
sentenced to death and executed in 1947.
11. What is so significant about the date: 27th January, 1945?
Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Union’s Red Army.
12. Today Auschwitz is run by the Polish Culture Ministry. What is its purpose?
Inside, the museum is taking steps to preserve what it controls - to stop the
crematoria from disintegrating completely, and to stop the thousands of victims'
shoes and the piles of hair from rotting away.
13. What is UNESCO? What was/is its objective?
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) is an
agency with representatives from 181 member states. The General Conference is
the decision-making body that works with other intergovernmental organizations.
UNESCO was created in 1946 to promote world peace by focusing on 2-year
programs for women and developing countries in areas of
 culture and communication
 education
 natural sciences, and
 social and human sciences
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4. Year 10 History – Area of Study 2: Nazi Germany
14. “Little was wasted at Auschwitz. Victims' possessions were confiscated, and
efficiently sorted for recycling.” What items are we talking about?
Gold teeth were particularly highly valued.
Human hair was shorn off and used for stuffing mattresses.
Glasses, shoes, clothes, suitcases and even false limbs were accumulated in large
numbers.
15. When Auschwitz was being liberated the Nazis took some 58,000-60,000 Auschwitz
prisoners on a march away from the liberators.
a. Who were the liberators?
The Soviet Union’s Red Army were the liberators.
b. How many prisoners did the liberators find at Auschwitz?
They only found 7,000 inmates.
c. This March was eventually known as “The Death March” why?
58,000-60,000 were forced to march; 15,000 died during the march. [those
who fell behind or collapsed were shot]
16. Josef Mengele was infamous. How so?
Doctors under the infamous Josef Mengele conducted pseudoscientific experiments
on twins.
17. What happened to children in Josef Mengele’s care?
They received blood transfusions, mysterious injections, and eye drops that caused
temporary or permanent blindness. Some were castrated, and some died during
their ordeal.
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