Essays

nazi germany

Everyone is remembering those who died and suffered in Auschwitz. While I commend this, and I know why they are doing it, remember it was not just "Auschwitz" where people died. It was the Auschwitz-Birkenau-Monowitz compound, and most of the death occurred in the Birkenau subcamp. There were 51 subcamps in the Auschwitz-Birkenau-Monowitz compoud... 51. Each with their own name, their own horrors.

Auschwitz-Birkenau-Monowitz was liberated January 27, 1945, and I feel that the liberation should be celebrated. But, people need to also remember that Auschwitz-Birkenau-Monowitz was not the only extermination camp that existed, and it was only responsible for about 1.1 to 1.5 million of the assumed 6 million who died during the Holocaust.

Arbeitsdorf - Germany - 600 - October 11, 1942
Auschwitz (51 sub camps) - Poland - 275,000 - January 27, 1945
Belzec - Poland - 500,000 - December 1942
Bergen-Belsen (2 sub camps) - Germany - 70,000 - April 15, 1945
Birkenau - Poland - 1 million - January 27, 1945
Breendonk - Belgium - 391 - September 1944
Buchenwald (174 sub camps) - Germany - 56,000 - April 11, 1945
   Hinzert - 300
   Langenstein Zwieberge - 2000
Chelmno (Kulmhof) - Poland - 220,000 - January 18, 1945
Dachau (123 sub camps) - Germany - 30,000 - April 29, 1945
Falstad - Norway - 200 - 1945
Flossenbürg (94 sub camps) - Germany - 30,000 - April 23, 1945
Gross-Rosen (77 sub camps) - Germany - 40,000 - February 1945
Herzogenbusch (11 sub camps) - Holland - 750 - September 1944
Kauen - Lithuania - 50,000 - August 1, 1944
Krakau-Plaszow (4 sub camps) - Poland - 8,000 - Jan.14.1945
Le Vernet - France - 800 - 1944
Lublin (Majdanek) (4 sub camps) - Poland - 230,000 - July 1944
Maly Trostenets - Belarus - 350,000 - Bombed by the Nazis themselves in June of 1944, there are no survivors of Maly Trostenets
Mauthausen-Gusen - Austria - 100,000 - May 5, 1945
Mittelbau-Dora - Germany - 20,000 - April 11, 1945
Monowitz - Poland - 25,000 - January 27, 1945
Natzweiler-Struthof (70 sub camps) - France - 10,000 - September 22, 1944
Neuengamme (96 sub camps) - Germany - 55,000 - May 4, 1945
Niederhagen - Germany - 1,285 - May 1, 1943
Ravensbrück - Germany - 92, 000 - April 30, 1945
Riga-Kaiserwald (16 sub camps) - Latvia - number of dead unknown - August 6, 1944
Sachsenhausen (44 sub camps) - Germany - 50,000 - April 29, 1945
Sobibór - Poland - 250,000 - October 14, 1943
Stutthof - Poland - 65,000 - May 9, 1945
Theresienstadt - Czech Republic - 33,000 - April 20, 1945
Treblinka - Poland - 840,000 - October 13, 1943, Treblinka ceased operating after an inmate uprising, all inmates that survived the uprising were sent the Sobibor extermination camp
Vaivara (22 sub camps) - Estonia - 950 - February 1944, Viavara ceased serving as a transit concentration camp and all remaining inmates were sent to Saki.
Warschau - Poland - 20,000 - May 16, 1943, Warschau Ghetto revolted for 28 days, but the Germans bombed the city after starving a vast majority of the population to death before the uprising and then sent the remaining inmates they did not kill in the uprising to Treblinka

While you mourn the memory of those who suffered in the Auschwitz-Birkenau-Monowitz compound, remember those who died in the other 31 (or more) extermination and labor camps. Their lives mattered, too, and they deserve candles lit in rememberance. The Holocaust was a horrible, heartrending spot in the history of mankind, and none deserve to be left out.

Designed by Endless-Light.com | Artwork by Luis Royo