Auschwitz is one of the most notorious concentration camps established by the Nazis during the Second World War. The name of the camp alone is synonymous with genocide and extermination. Auschwitz was located near the town of Oswiecim, Poland, and it grew into a vast complex of three main camps and over 70 subcamps.

From the camp’s beginnings in May 1940 until January 1945, when most surviving Auschwitz prisoners were marched off by their German captors and Soviet troops liberated the camp, approximately 405,000 prisoners of both sexes, from nearly all European countries were registered, assigned serial numbers, and incarcerated there. Only a fraction of the 2.5 million people who passed the gates survived the camp.